My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 168: Drawing Pieces for Li Shimin
Chongrenfang, teahouse.

Although tea drinking had become popular in the Tang Dynasty, wine shops were the mainstream.

The main customers of the teahouse are still the aristocratic families.

Helan Chushi felt a little uncomfortable kneeling. Ever since the prince started using a chair, he seldom knelt.

"Mr. Lu said he was indebted to me. I'd like to hear what it is about."

Helan Chushi did not take the teacup that Lu Zhijie handed over, but looked at him closely and said.

Lu Zhijie laughed and said, "There's no such thing as a favor. I just helped you out a little."

Helan Chushi still refused to accept the offer and pressed on, "What's the small favor?"

Lu Zhijie did not show any displeasure at Helan Chushi's directness, and said, "I heard that General Helan was trapped at home and was not allowed to go out."

"So I spent some money and found Madam Hou's good friend to help put in a few good words at the tea ceremony held by Madam Suguo at Daxingshan Temple last time."

"Otherwise, General Helan should still be at home right now."

Hearing this, Helan Chushi was somewhat skeptical.

It is true that after returning from the tea ceremony, my wife's attitude towards me has improved a little, and she is no longer as dismissive as before.

Just two days later, they talked about what happened before.

"How can I trust you?"

Helan Chushi's tone became much calmer, not as sharp as before.

Lu Zhijie laughed and said, “There is no evidence for this kind of thing.”

"But if General Helan wants an explanation, it's actually quite simple."

"Originally, Madam Hou was not invited to this tea ceremony. I, a humble person, put in some effort and that’s how Madam Hou and her friends participated."

"General Helan will know about this matter after he goes back and talks to Madam Hou."

Helan Chushi was silent for a moment.

This is indeed the case.

There was no such thing as a tea ceremony before. My wife was very happy that day and said she was very surprised and unexpectedly invited.

The wife of Duke Suguo was the legitimate daughter of the Qinghe Cui family whom Cheng Yaojin married.

As the head of the Five Surnames and Seven Families, the Qinghe Cui family has always been famous. Madam Cui is not only the legitimate daughter, but also the wife of Duke Suguo.

The banquets she hosted were always the best in the entire ladies' circle.

Hou Changyan's most honorable identity is being the daughter of Hou Junji, but this is not enough, unless she is Hou Junji's wife.

And that good friend is just the daughter of a small clan and has no qualifications to participate.

Helan Chushi didn't think Lu Zhijie was lying to him.

The five surnames and seven noble families are of the same blood. As the eldest son of the Fanyang Lu family, if he asks for help, Mrs. Cui will definitely give him this face.

Thinking of this, Helan Chushi picked up the teacup and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lu, I was too suspicious before."

Lu Zhijie also picked up the teacup: "I was too abrupt and asked someone to stop the car on the road, but if I didn't do this, I couldn't get rid of the prince's eyes."

The prince's spy?

Hearing this, Helan Chushi paused.

He said in a deep voice: "What does this mean?"

Lu Zhijie was a little surprised and asked, "General Helan doesn't know?"

Helan Chushi frowned: "Please speak clearly, Master Lu."

Lu Zhijie put down the teacup and said, "General Helan, do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?"

Helan Chushi remained silent.

Lu Zhijie continued: "I will just assume that General Helan doesn't know."

"Earlier, Donggong Di Zhixun found a clue that Lu Sili's death had nothing to do with General Helan. Someone framed him."

"General Helan should have known about this matter while he was in the Dali Temple prison."

Helan Chushi nodded, he did get the news.

"Logically speaking, finding out this information means that General Helan is innocent."

"But the Dali Temple has no intention of releasing him."

Helan Chushi's eyes narrowed.

When he first got the news, he thought he would come out immediately, but after waiting for many days, there was no response.

He asked, "What does Mr. Lu mean by this?"

In fact, he already had some guesses in his mind.

Lu Zhijie narrated: "Su Tan of the Dali Temple is the prince's father-in-law, so he naturally follows the prince's instructions."

"Now that we have the evidence, whether to release or imprison is just a matter of the Crown Prince's words."

"As far as I know, before General Helan was released, the Crown Prince met with Hou Junji once. As for what they talked about, I don't know."

"Then the next day, General Helan was released."

Hearing this, Helan Chushi's face became a little gloomy.

How could he not understand the implication of Lu Zhijie's words?

In fact, I already have some ideas in my mind.

It seemed that Hou Changyan was very angry about what happened in Pingkangfang, but in fact, it was just like that.

It is human nature to seek pleasure from women.

Helan Chushi was not hiding the fact that he went to Pingkangfang to have fun from anyone, and Hou Changyan already knew about it.

She was angry because fighting for Hu Ji brought shame to her Hou family.

However, keeping him locked up for such a long time was actually not in line with Hou Changyan's character.

Helan Chushi already felt that something was wrong.

After Lu Zhijie said this, I immediately understood.

Hou Changyan didn't think of locking him up.

That was the idea of ​​my father-in-law Hou Junji and the Crown Prince.

But why did the prince and his father-in-law lock him up?

Those letters!

Helan Chushi recalled that the prince had suddenly killed his trusted guard Hegan Chengji.

It is said that Hegan Chengji colluded with Yin Hongzhi to rebel, and the prince knew about it.

If a person has been a confidant for many years and can be killed at will, there must be real evidence.

The actual evidence is the letters between Hegan Chengji and Yin Hongzhi, which are irrefutable evidence.

He has too.

Correspondence between the prince and his father-in-law.

In order to avoid his relationship with his father-in-law being discovered by His Majesty, the prince usually did not meet him and only communicated with him through letters.

He is the bridge in between.

Rebellion was a serious matter, so Helan Chushi was cautious and left himself a way out by keeping some letters.

Previously, the prince said that there was a spy from the King of Wei in the Eastern Palace. Helan Chushi was afraid that the letters would be discovered, so he burned the ones hidden in the Eastern Palace.

But there are still a few at home.

Did the prince know?

He probably didn't know about it. Maybe the prince had some guesses or told his father-in-law about it.

At this moment, Helan Chushi felt a little nervous.

If he is suspected of being involved in something as serious as treason, the prince and his father-in-law will never show mercy.

Subconsciously, Helan Chushi felt a little thirsty, so he picked up the teacup and took a sip.

All these expressions fell into Lu Zhijie's eyes.

I immediately had an idea in mind.

Helan Chushi came back to his senses and looked at Lu Zhijie with a different look. "I don't know Mr. Lu at all, why are you helping me?"

Stephen Lu smiled and said, “I just want to make friends with General Helan.”

Helan Chushi understood the meaning of this sentence. After a slight hesitation, he bowed and saluted: "Master Lu, I have decided to be your friend."

Lu Zhijie also bowed and crossed his arms: "Friends should help each other."

After that, he added: "I have delayed General Helan for a long time, and it is not good to delay General Helan's trip to the East Palace."

Helan Chushi nodded: "I'll take my leave first."

The entrance of the teahouse.

Lu Zhijie watched Helan Chushi's carriage go away, then turned back to the private room of the teahouse.

At this moment, another person appeared in the private room.

Fang Yizhi was the eldest son of Fang Xuanling.

Lu Zhijie was not surprised and sat back down again.

"It seems that my uncle's guess is correct. Helan Chushi is really related to the prince's rebellion. I just don't know if he has any evidence."

Lu Zhijie spoke.

Fang Yizhi shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter whether there is evidence or not. What matters is Helan Chushi."

"If he can be used by us, even if there is no evidence, we can create evidence."

"I'm sorry to trouble you this time, cousin."

Lu Zhijie laughed and said, "My cousin, you are going too far. We are all family, so there is no such thing as trouble."

Fang Xuanling was born into the Qinghe Fang family, which was from the same place as the Qinghe Cui family.

As a member of a family of officials, he was well-read since childhood and passed the imperial examination as a Jinshi and entered the court as an official as soon as he came of age.

His father specially selected Lu, a lady from a prominent family in Fanyang, to marry him.

Fang Xuanling's wife was the legitimate daughter of the Fanyang Lu family, the elder sister of Lu Zhijie's father, and also the eldest sister.

Strictly speaking, Li Shimin appointed Fang Xuanling as the Grand Secretary of the Wei Wang Academy of Literature, which could not be considered as pushing him to the Wei Wang camp.

Because the core members of the Wei Wang Party are the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

Fang Xuanling was born into the Fang family of Qinghe, and was close friends with most of the people from the Cui family of Qinghe.

He also married the legitimate daughter of the Lu family from Fanyang.

Inextricably entangled with the two major clans of the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

It was also because of this situation that Fang Xuanling, who was in charge of military affairs in the Prince of Qin's Palace, was able to bring a large number of personal connections to Li Shimin.

This is why after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, when Li Shimin ascended the throne, Fang Xuanling, who had made the greatest contribution, was gradually neglected.

Of course, having said that, this cannot be blamed on Fang Xuanling.

I had no control over my birth. When I married into the Lu family of Fanyang, that was during the Sui Dynasty.

It is precisely because of this situation that Fang Xuanling would never be able to stand on the side of the prince.

Fang Xuanling had only two choices: either remain neutral or stand with the King of Wei.

If he supported the crown prince, Li Shimin would be furious.
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The fight for the throne is like a huge whirlpool. Once you are drawn into it, don't even think about getting out safely.

Everyone has his or her own wishful thinking.

Li Shimin felt that everything was under control.

The King of Wei felt that with Fang Xuanling's help, he would win without any effort.

Fang Xuanling used one strategy after another with precise aim, hoping to kill the prince with one strike.

Li Chengqian is different.

Break away from the pattern and perspective of the times and create a trend.

The general trend is that all resistance will be crushed to pieces in the rolling torrent.

No one is an exception.

At this time, Li Chunfeng was waiting in the East Palace.

Li Chunfeng didn't wait, but was summoned by His Majesty first.

Tai Chi Palace, Liang Yi Palace.

"Give me a seat."

"Thank you, Father."

Li Shimin said calmly: "What do you think about the Jinzhou coal issue?"

Li Chengqian replied: "Explore it vigorously to replace firewood."

Li Shimin frowned slightly: "You set up a business to do business? With your status as the crown prince, let the people of Chang'an buy your coal instead of firewood."

Li Chengqian did not answer directly. This was a question that contained a trap.

"I am not short of money, Father should know that."

"The amount of money doesn't matter to me. Whether it's tens of millions or hundreds of millions, what impact can it have on me?"

"Mining coal is not for money, but for the Tang Dynasty and for the people."

"Even if it is a business transaction, whose interests have I touched? The Five Surnames and Seven Families, the major families, don't engage in firewood business."

"I sell coal, what does it have to do with them?"

Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "Yes, you did not affect anyone's interests, but you will increase the burden on the people."

"Ten catties of firewood in Chang'an cost only three cents. Now you only give workers one cent for fifteen catties of coal. How much do you plan to sell one catty of coal to the people?"

Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Father, coal and firewood are not calculated in this way."

"Ten catties of firewood, which is enough for an ordinary family, is used up in just two days, but ten catties of coal can last at least five days."

"Since I plan to sell coal to the people, I will not set the price too high. It must be within the range that the people can afford."

"After calculating the cost, even if we can only make two cents per pound of coal, it will be enough."

When Li Shimin heard this, he nodded slightly.

Since the prince doesn't want to do business to make money, then there is no big problem.

What he was worried about was that the prince would do anything to make money.

Even after becoming emperor, he did such absurd things as selling official positions and titles.

"Why do you insist on selling coal?"

Li Shimin was a little confused and felt that it was a thankless task.

"It's for steelmaking." Li Chengqian said seriously.

"Steelmaking?"

Li Chengqian nodded: "The fire burning with charcoal and firewood is not big enough to fully burn the iron."

"After being processed and cleaned, the coal can create a stronger fire, which can completely burn the impurities in the iron, thus forming fine steel."

"After forging, we can create more and better quality Ming Guang armor and Mo Dao."

Speaking of this, Li Chengqian was still a little excited.

"I already have a specific idea, which is to develop a set of detailed dimensions, build each component of the Ming Guang Armor separately, and then merge them together."

"The helmet, breastplate, shoulder armor, arm armor, skirt armor, back armor, and leg armor were made by different craftsmen, using the same size."

"If we can forge a single component, apprentices can quickly get started. For soldiers, if a component is broken, they can easily replace it and recycle it for reforging."

"We can design three regular styles based on different heights and then mass-produce them."

"Yes, and steelmaking. I have some immature ideas, which are still under consideration and experimentation. However, it should be feasible. The most needed thing here is coal. Only the fire generated by coal can meet the requirements of steelmaking."

"The coal mined by the coal mine is sold to the people to make money, just for better steelmaking. In this way, the cost of steelmaking materials can be greatly reduced, and even the salary paid to steelmakers can come from the coal mine."

"In this way, the money earned from the coal mine can be used to make armor and swords, forming a perfect closed loop. The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty have strong armor and sharp swords. On the battlefield, they are naturally invincible and unstoppable."

Blast furnace steelmaking and modularization are the production processes, and coal is sold to make money to subsidize the military expenses of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin soon fell into the blueprint drawn for him by the prince.

(End of this chapter)