My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 105 This Military Academy is the Prince's Military Academy
For five consecutive days, Li Chengqian kept giving lectures to five classes.

He spoke for two hours every day, which is equivalent to four hours in later times.

The equivalent of a morning.

For Li Chengqian, this is equivalent to giving ideological and political lessons to students.

Feeling the change in the students' eyes, Li Chengqian felt very fulfilled.

Fundamentally speaking, this is equivalent to a new type of military theory concept.

The overall effect is not very obvious at present, and it is more of a novelty for students.

After all, Li Chengqian was surrounded by the aura of the crown prince, which naturally gave him an extra layer of trust. Coupled with the crown prince's approachable attitude, the students naturally felt close to him.

Tai Chi Palace, Liang Yi Palace.

"What did the prince say recently in the Military Academy?"

Li Shimin had already arranged people to eavesdrop on the prince's lectures.

Zhang Ananda hesitated and said, "The prince's lectures are mainly about chatting about family matters."

"Chatting about family matters?" Li Shimin was a little confused, but then he suddenly realized that it was probably about getting close to the students, which was not much different from his guess.

Zhang Ananda actually didn’t know what to say specifically, as the content of the prince’s lectures was too disorganized.

"The Crown Prince should mainly talk about protecting the country."

Defend the country?

Li Shimin chewed over these four words softly, feeling that they were very meaningful.

In today's army, there is no idea of ​​defending the country, and no one cares about what the soldiers at the bottom think.

In the view of the generals, soldiers should not have their own ideas and should just obey military discipline.

Morale is usually boosted by the temptation of money and power.

Besides, most of the lower-level soldiers were conscripted by the imperial court and forced to serve in the military. What's the point of talking about these things?

There are also generals who are close to the people and live and eat with their soldiers to cultivate feelings and strengthen their loyalty.

Li Shimin didn't care too much about this.

"Oh, your majesty, the crown prince has ordered the Minister of the Imperial Household to tailor uniforms for all students in the Military Academy."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "Let the prince do it. As long as it is not too absurd or out of line, let the prince do it."

"Yes, Your Majesty."
-
Prince Wei's Mansion.

When Li Tai heard the news about the prince, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Does the prince really regard himself as a teacher?"

"It's only the prince who can think of teaching these palace soldiers to be loyal to the emperor and love their country."

"I thought he would do something big, but it turns out it's just this."

"Have you ever inquired about whether the prince has taken any other actions besides this, such as contacting certain brigade commanders privately?"

Chai Lingwu replied: "Not yet. The prince always comes to teach and leaves immediately after class without staying. But I heard that the prince asked the supervisor of the Ministry of Households to take measurements for these students."

"Besides that, there was no other movement."

Only then did Li Tai feel relieved.

He felt that he had been too worried about the prince because of the Military Academy incident. He thought that the prince would take the opportunity to win over a large number of military core members and use them for his own purposes. Now it seems that it was not a big deal.

Chai Lingwu added: "It must be due to your Majesty."

Li Tai nodded: "Father will not let the Crown Prince do whatever he wants. Besides, there are so many generals here. Aren't they better at training troops than the Crown Prince?"

"Now it seems that we have overestimated the prince."

"We can't ignore it. Perhaps this is the prince's delaying tactic. When we relax, he will launch a sneak attack."

"We have sent someone to keep a close eye on the prince's behavior."

Chai Lingwu replied: "Yes, King Wei."

Then he said, "King of Wei, Censor Zhang may be convicted of slander. The false evidence we prepared earlier has now been verified."

"The Censorate was very dissatisfied with Censor Zhang because of this incident, so he even submitted a petition to plead guilty."

Li Tai felt that the situation was a bit tricky after hearing this.

Censor Zhang was a member of the Wei Wang party, and it was he who secretly instructed the appeal.

Now that something has happened, if we do nothing to help, our credibility will be greatly reduced.

"What do you think we should do?" Li Tai asked with a frown.

Chai Lingwu replied: "I asked the Dali Temple, and according to the law, he should be sentenced to dismissal and exile, probably to Lingnan."

"I'm afraid this crime of exile cannot be changed, and the Crown Prince will also be stuck with it."

“But there may be other explanations for the Exiled Land.”

"For example, exile to Wujun."

Li Tai said: "Can it be done? The Dali Temple is now controlled by the Crown Prince. He wants to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, but it may not work."

Chai Lingwu said: "You can try Sun Fujia."

Li Tai said: "Didn't he reject our kindness before?"

Chai Lingwu whispered, "Sun Fujia doesn't want to get involved in the dispute between the King of Wei and the Crown Prince, and is trying to protect himself. However, the Dali Temple has now become Su Tan's place, with the Shaoqing suppressing the Temple Minister. Doesn't Sun Fujia have any thoughts in his mind?"

"He doesn't dare to offend the crown prince, but he doesn't want to hand over all the power in his hands to Su Tan either."

Li Tai felt that this was the truth, so he said, "Then I'll leave it to you to take charge."
-
Side hall of the East Palace.

Li Chengqian is taking a day off today.

The lectures at the Military Academy are also called big classes.

Originally this was prepared for Erfeng, but Erfeng did not go today. Although Li Chengqian did not inquire, he guessed that Erfeng should have gone to Taiye Lake for rafting and enjoying the snow.

No need to worry about falling into the water and drowning.

Erfeng lived a very comfortable life, not as arrogant as Zhu Yuanzhang in later generations.

This also has a lot to do with decentralization. Most government affairs are handed over to the ministers below to handle, and finally only some important matters need to be reviewed.

The imperial power was decentralized, but the emperor himself became more free.

There are both pros and cons to ruling from behind the scenes.

At least you won’t be exhausted to death due to overwork.

Will Erfeng have a stroke on time as in history?

Li Chengqian was a little worried.

Originally, Erfeng was sad and depressed because the crown prince rebelled and the King of Wei was exiled.

Erfeng is indeed a very sentimental person, and also a very emotional person.

It can be seen that he is an emperor, but he still cries at every turn. After all, he no longer needs to act at this time. His true feelings can be expressed.

Prolonged grief has a great impact on a person's body, which is almost the same as suffering from depression.

Generally speaking, people who suffer from depression are more emotional.

Li Shimin meets these conditions very well.

His wife died, his eldest son rebelled, and his second son was exiled, leaving only Li Zhi, whom he half-loved.

It is complete nonsense to say how much Li Shimin loved his son Li Zhi.

After all, after eliminating the two options of the crown prince and the King of Wei, Li Shimin began to consider the King of Wu, Li Ke. This shows that Li Zhi, his legitimate son, was not as important to him as his illegitimate son.

If it weren't for the unanimous and strong opposition from Zhangsun Wuji and other ministers, Li Shimin might have really wanted to make Prince Wu Li Ke the crown prince.

"Your Highness."

The eunuch Wen Zhong called out softly, which made Li Chengqian, whose mind was distracted, react. Looking carefully, he saw that the eunuch Wen Zhong was holding a painting in his hand.

There were also several painters and tailors from the Shaofujian.

Li Chengqian took the painting and looked at it, then said, "The cuffs don't need to be so loose, tighten them a little."

"The top and pants should be separated, and the top should be shorter so as not to cover the pants."

"Don't use a round collar, use a stand-up collar."

"The belt is not a loose decoration, it is used to tighten the belt, and the overall look should be simple and capable."

As Li Chengqian spoke, he made a simple sketch with a pen.

However, his painting skills are obviously not that good, so he can only understand it intuitively.

Round-necked robes were popular in the Tang Dynasty, and students at the Military Academy also wore round-necked robes.

Li Chengqian made some slight modifications to it, changing it from loose to slim-fitting, which was somewhat similar to the German officer uniforms of later generations. In the eyes of others, it felt similar to military uniforms, but it also incorporated the style of the Tang Dynasty.

Fortunately, the painters had a good understanding ability. After some thinking and experimenting, they drew several styles that Li Chengqian liked.

After a style was selected, the tailors from the Shaofujian were asked to make a sample garment.

After finalizing the military uniform, Li Chengqian began preparing lessons.

A new round of ideological and political education.

Cultivate students of the Military Academy and help them form a correct world view, outlook on life and values.

Cultural confidence as a student of the Tang Dynasty Military Academy.

Although these students are not young, they are already in their twenties.

But for their life experiences, it is almost like a blank sheet of paper on which Li Chengqian can write and fill in the blanks.

This is a point that other people, or people in this era, have not realized.

Ideological theories were mainly circulated among scholars. Who would care about illiterate military men?

Talking to the soldiers would be like talking to a cow.

Li Chengqian's lectures attracted a lot of attention at first. The people of King Wei, His Majesty, including Li Jing, Li Daozon and other lecturers would sometimes come to listen.

But after listening to it a few times, I felt it was of no use.

Besides, Li Chengqian would go back after every lecture, and there was not much communication between them.

Even Su Dingfang, who was the prince's confidant, rarely met with the prince during lectures.

But no one noticed that these students were quietly changing.

No one realized that when listening to the prince's lectures, almost no one was distracted. Everyone listened carefully. Even if there were some parts they didn't understand, they would secretly write them down and ask other students after class.

The dispute between the Prince's Party and the Prince of Wei's Party seemed to have suddenly calmed down because of the incident at the Military Academy.

The prince did not cause any trouble, and after the King of Wei suffered losses several times, he did not cause any trouble again.

Erfeng felt a little bored instead.

"The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess compiled a set of drum beats, saying that they would be used for training at the Military Academy."

Zhang Ananda reported.

After all, this kind of thing is no longer just about teaching.

"Prince wants to train troops?" Li Shimin asked.

Zhang Anan said: "It should be the military training. Maybe the prince has some new ideas. For example, the military uniforms of the Military Academy are very different."

"The Crown Prince ordered the Supervisor of the Imperial Household to make 300 sets overnight, and only gave them ten days to do so. If they fail to do so within the deadline, they will be punished."

"Recently, the Shaofujian has stopped all other matters in order to complete the tasks assigned by the Crown Prince, and has also hired a number of tailors from outside to do the work."

Li Shimin asked curiously, "Bring it here for me to see."

Since Zhang Ananda mentioned this, he had naturally been prepared and quickly had someone bring a set.

And he asked a guard to come over in military uniform to show it.

Li Shimin took a closer look and was somewhat surprised.

This military uniform top has a stand-up collar design. The collar is as straight as a knife and fits tightly to the neck, making it look neat and tidy while adding a bit of majesty.

The top is overall short and stays just above the waist.

The color is dark blue with a hint of ink, which is neither ostentatious nor dignified.

The sleeves are no longer as loose as traditional round-neck robes, but have been tightened, with smooth lines, highlighting the strength of the arms.

The cuffs are fastened with delicate buttons, which is both practical and beautiful. There are not too many complicated decorations on the body of the clothes, only a few simple lines outline, showing the beauty of simplicity and grandeur.

After reading it, Li Shimin couldn't help but say, "I didn't expect the prince to have such a talent for making clothes."

In fact, there is not much difference between the aesthetic taste of ancient people and that of later generations.

Everything that looks good looks good.

Li Shimin was attracted by the military uniform as soon as he saw it.

The culture of the Tang Dynasty was inherently inclusive and tolerant. For example, the chairs previously made by the crown prince were now widely circulated in Chang'an City, and were gradually becoming popular in other places as well.

Zhang Anan said: "I didn't expect that there would be such an approach. It does seem much more capable."

Li Shimin nodded and said: "The prince likes to wear Hu clothing and ride and shoot. It should be inspired by Hu clothing. It is a good match for the army."

Zhang Ananda asked at the right moment, "Your Majesty, do you want to allow the Crown Prince to practice?"

Li Shimin hesitated for a moment.

Considering that the prince has been very motivated recently, it seems unnecessary to undermine his enthusiasm.

"They are originally from the palace soldiers. Since they want to train, let the prince do it."

"Yes, Your Majesty."
-
Zhang Ananda was the Supervisor of the Military Academy, which meant he was responsible for supervising and managing the daily affairs of the Academy.

This is almost the same as the dean of studies in later generations.

Li Chengqian wanted to train the new recruits, which was equivalent to modifying the original regulations of the Military Academy and adding a military training class to the cultural courses.

According to the procedure, this matter needs to be reported by the Supervisor and approved by His Majesty before it can begin.

Li Chengqian asked the eunuch Wen Zhong to talk to Zhang Ananda about this matter.

If he made a strong request, it would easily give people the feeling of bullying. When the prince's eunuch talked to the emperor's eunuch, the situation was more peaceful.

Zhang Ananda was obviously willing to help.

Judging from the current situation, it is very likely that the crown prince will ascend the throne, and the chances of the King of Wei winning the throne are too small.

After all, the prince naturally occupies the orthodox position, and Zhang Ananda will not deliberately cause trouble for himself.

This idea is also shared by many people.

That's why Li Shimin was wary of the crown prince. After all, all his subordinates were on the crown prince's side.

It’s nothing now that he is in his prime, but if he gets old and the prince wants to take the throne, what will the emperor do?

These days, there is no such thing as retirement at a certain point in time. It's all lifelong employment.

Li Shimin also didn't want to be forced to move to the Daming Palace and become an emperor emeritus like his father when he got old.

This is the fundamental contradiction between the Emperor and the Crown Prince, and there is no possibility of reconciliation.

On the other side, Li Chengqian felt very satisfied after listening to the drum beats arranged by the Crown Princess.

In particular, the drum beat for the entire army's charge was adopted from a section of Qin Wang's Breaking Through the Formation Song, which was majestic, moving, high-spirited and extremely infectious.

Next, Li Chengqian began to prepare military training for the Military Academy.

(End of this chapter)