My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 250 King of Wei: Expose the Crown Prince's Rebellion
The matter concerning the prince ultimately came to nothing.

Li Shimin's attitude was unclear.

I'm not ready to fall out with the prince.

Chu Suiliang actually knew this too, but he had to say that he got the money for show, and he couldn't just take the money and not do the job.

Whether things can be accomplished or not, that all depends on fate.

In the end, you can only waste time.

After the meeting.

Li Zhi came to the palace to report.

About the recent situation in Changan.

Li Zhi now comes to the palace more often than Li Tai. Although he is nominally here to report on official business, he can still see Li Tai every two or three days.

Over the past six months, Changan has been developing rapidly.

For example, this winter, almost half of the households in Chang'an City were burning coal.

After Li Chengqian's eastern expedition, the coal factory's business did not stop.

Han Wang Li Yuanchang and Zhao Jie were busy recruiting workers and mining.

According to the system that the prince had previously organized, the movement was carried out according to the model. Although there were some minor problems, overall it was relatively smooth.

Because of the Crown Prince's eastern expedition, Li Shimin took the opportunity to put the profits of the coal factory directly into the treasury.

This made Li Shimin's pocket bulge suddenly.

Of course, the shipbuilding work did not stop. More than 20 shipyards of various sizes were opened in various parts of Jiangnan, specializing in building large ships for transporting coal mines.

Coal was so profitable that even after deducting all costs, tens of thousands of strings of cash could be deposited into Li Shimin's treasury every month.

Tens of thousands of strings of cash are tens of millions of dollars.

With so much money coming in all at once, Li Shimin didn't know how to spend it.

And there's something about the cement factory.

Now, more than half of the streets in Chang'an City have been paved with cement, including the four city walls, which are all covered with cement. By summer, Chang'an City will no longer be covered with yellow sand.

Today's Chang'an City can be said to be a true civilized capital.

All foreign businessmen will be shocked.

Especially for people from foreign countries, there is no comparison at all when they enter Chang'an and compare it with the capital of their own country.

Inside the palace.

Li Shimin took the document handed over by Li Zhi and looked at it carefully.

This is a summary of various cases in Chang'an City.

According to current statistics, about 70% of old cases have been cleared up.

As for the remaining 30%, most of them can no longer be found.

"Well done."

After reading it, Li Shimin nodded with satisfaction.

As for Li Zhi, since he was his legitimate son, he naturally liked him.

He is just slightly inferior to the Crown Prince and the King of Wei.

At this time, Li Shimin had no intention of letting Li Zhi inherit the throne.

"Thank you for the compliment, Father. This is all part of my duty."

Li Zhi bowed and said.

Li Shimin thought about it and handed a document on the desk to Li Zhi.

"Chinu, take a look. This is your elder brother's new policy in Liaodong, and some arrangements for official positions."

When Li Zhi heard that it was the prince's new policy, his heart skipped a beat and he quickly took it to check.

Seeing this, he was terrified and even more convinced by the prince's ideas. He couldn't help but keep looking down.

As the legitimate son of the emperor, Li Zhi usually considered issues on the side of the royal family.

Li Zhi found the document's views on the division of power among officials very insightful.

Subconsciously, I think this system is better than the current Tang Dynasty system.

"Not bad right?"

Li Shimin asked as he looked at Li Zhi's immersed expression.

Li Zhi replied subconsciously: "Great, great."

As soon as he finished speaking, he reacted and quickly explained: "Father, I..."

This is the Crown Prince's new policy. What does his father think when he praises it so much?
Li Shimin waved his hand and said, "I am not a corrupt and stubborn person. I am more optimistic about the Crown Prince's new policy."

"And we intend to implement the new policies of the Crown Prince in the Tang Dynasty as well."

"It's just that the Tang Dynasty is different from Liaodong, so we can't just copy and paste it, we should modify the expenditure."

"Zhi Nu, take a good look at it and see if you have any opinions."

Li Shimin was a monarch who listened to advice. After all, he was able to accept Wei Zheng's advice. As for the crown prince, after being angry about the new policy at first, he calmed down and thought about it. He felt that the crown prince's method of dividing the power of local county magistrates was actually a good one.

Power leads to corruption, which is a drawback that can never be eradicated in any dynasty. After all, in this world, officials are in charge of the people.

The prince's way of decentralizing power, only on paper, can effectively divide the power of the county magistrate, thereby achieving a structure of three powers within the county. Under such a structure, the county magistrate, county lieutenant, and county magistrate will check and balance each other, which, to a certain extent, is conducive to the emergence of corruption.

In the past, the county magistrate could do whatever he wanted, but now there are three people, making corruption more difficult.

Moreover, the separate systems of the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple led to conflicts and contradictions among the county magistrate, county lieutenant, and county magistrate. Each had its own interests, and it was difficult to get them to work together completely.

Most importantly, such a power structure undoubtedly strengthened the power of the court and increased the influence of imperial power.

The only price to pay is more official positions and more salaries.

But the coal mine owned by the prince brought Li Shimin huge income, and fundamentally solved the salary problem.

Naturally, Li Shimin wanted to implement the prince's new policies in Liaodong in the Tang Dynasty.

However, there is still a problem here.

That is to imitate the Crown Prince's new policies, which cannot be proposed by Li Shimin himself.

What would it look like if he proposed that?

Doesn't this mean that he acknowledges the prince's new policies?

Do you still want my face?

So Li Shimin suddenly had an idea and thought of Li Zhi.

If it was Li Zhi who proposed it, it would be different.

Li Zhi obviously failed to understand the deep meaning of his father's words.

After thinking for a while, he hesitated and said, "Brother's is very good. I think it's good."

In history, after Li Zhi was designated as the crown prince, Li Shimin took great pains to train him and even wrote the Imperial Rules for him.

At this time, although Li Zhi was talented, he was not familiar with the art of ruling.

The so-called art of emperorship is not just about the art of weighing pros and cons, but also includes the understanding of the political system.

Li Zhi had just read about his elder brother's political reforms, and it was really difficult for him to express his opinions all at once when Li Shimin asked him to do so.

However, Li Shimin didn't really want him to express many opinions.

"Go back and think about it carefully. Then tell us your thoughts at the court meeting tomorrow."

Li Shimin did not beat around the bush and pointed it out directly.

Li Zhi was still a little confused, but since it was his father who said so, he naturally agreed.

After the matter was over, Li Zhi took his leave.

Li Shimin looked at Li Zhi's back and shook his head slightly.

In his mind, he subconsciously compared the prince with Li Zhi. People are afraid of comparison.

When compared, the gap is too big.

The Crown Prince has implemented new policies in Liaodong, but Zhinu doesn't even understand the pros and cons of the new policies.

It's probably the same with Qingque.

After comparing, the best candidate for successor is still the crown prince.

It’s just that the prince is too outstanding, so outstanding that even he, the old man, can hardly control him.
-
According to convention, Li Zhi would naturally not leave the palace directly.

Instead, he came to the place where he and Wu Zhao got along better.

It's not the same place.

Every time he entered the palace, Li Zhi would send a message to Chunxue, Mei Niang's maid, early.

The new location is usually decided by Mei Niang. After all, Mei Niang has been in the palace for a long time and is more familiar with the situation.

At this time, Chunxue would quietly wait for Li Zhi to come out and then lead the way.

In a palace.

Wu Zhao has been waiting for a long time.

When she received the news, she would wait here in advance, and when Li Zhi arrived, she would light a stick of incense in the incense burner.

After not seeing each other for many days, Li Zhi couldn't help feeling excited when he saw Mei Niang again.

I couldn't help but hold Mei Niang's hand.

People, after all, can never get what they want and will always be in turmoil.

Wu Zhao did not shake it off, but held it tightly with her four hands.

After a moment of tenderness, Li Zhi began to talk about what happened today.

Then he showed the document to Wu Zhao.

Wu Zhao quickly read through it, was amazed, and asked, "Your Majesty is asking you to express your views in court tomorrow?"

Li Zhi nodded somewhat depressedly and said, "Yes, I don't know why my father would do this."

"From now on, these things will not happen to me."

"How can I give my opinion on my elder brother's new policy in Liaodong? It's neither good nor bad. It really puts me in a difficult position."

"A few days ago, Fourth Brother invited me to a drink and specifically told me not to make things difficult for him regarding the succession."

"If I cheer for the prince and the news gets to my fourth brother, he will definitely think that I am helping his eldest brother."

"But the emperor seems to be supporting my elder brother."

"Does Mei Niang have any solution to satisfy both parties?"

Li Zhi could not offer any opinions on the Crown Prince's new policies, but he knew that the King of Wei would definitely have his own ideas.

The most difficult thing about the current fight for succession is how to extricate yourself.

Don't be involved by the King of Wei.

Going forward in Chang'an City, the King of Wei was fighting with the Crown Prince and had no time to pay attention to him.

Now that the prince is not in Chang'an, he can be easily targeted.

Wu Zhao thought about it carefully and said, "No matter how you say it, as long as you talk about this matter in the court, it will definitely make the King of Wei think that you support the prince."

"In that case, why don't you go to the Prince of Wei's mansion now and tell the Prince of Wei everything that His Majesty has said."

"This will completely dispel the King of Wei's doubts. Besides, the King of Wei will not ask you to disobey His Majesty's orders."

Wu Zhao's idea immediately made Li Zhi's eyes light up.

He couldn't help hugging Wu Zhao and said happily: "Mei Niang, you are really my female Zhuge."

After a stick of incense.

Li Zhi hurried to the Prince of Wei's palace.

In the palace of King Wei.

The heat was overwhelming.

Just as I reached the door, I could feel it was warmer than the surrounding area.

Li Tai has always been favored by Li Shimin.

After returning from this eastern expedition, Li Shimin, whose private treasury was well-stocked, gave Li Tai a large reward.

Although Li Tai had no shortage of money because of the support of the Five Surnames and Seven Noble Families, the reward from his father was more of an attitude.

In addition to basic rewards such as money, it also included a large amount of coal.

From Li Shimin's perspective, coal has almost no cost, so he naturally gave thousands of kilograms of it to the Prince of Wei's Palace.

It’s not delivered once or twice, but every few days.

Tens of thousands of kilograms of coal, can Li Tai use it all in one winter?

The people of Yankangfang benefited from this.

Li Tai waved his hand and gave a hundred to eighty kilograms of food to all the people living in Yankangfang.

Not only that, coal was used in every house in the Prince of Wei's mansion, and even a large amount of coal was used to burn in order to keep the temperature in the garden suitable.

Li Chengqian: I don't feel sorry at all for spending my money on love.

If he had known that such a scenario would occur, perhaps Li Chengqian would not have developed such good technology in water-washing coal.

Maybe I can do something weird to the King of Wei.

Of course, the fact that burning coal can easily cause poisoning is already well known.

The Prince of Wei's Palace burned a lot of coal, so ventilation was guaranteed.

When Li Zhi arrived, the sheng and xiao were playing in the Prince of Wei's mansion every day.

Waves of pleasant vocal music continued to be heard.

"King of Jin, King of Wei invites you."

Upon hearing that it was Prince Jin who was coming, the butler hurried out to greet him.

The matter between the King of Wei and the King of Jin is between princes and brothers, and they, the servants, dare not be negligent in the slightest.

As Li Zhi entered the hall, he was greeted by the warmth of stringed instruments and the sound of bamboo. He looked up and saw Li Tai lazily leaning on the couch, holding a wine cup and looking slightly tipsy. Seeing Li Zhi coming in, Li Tai raised a faint smile and put down the cup and said, "Zhi Nu, how come you have time to come to my Wei Wang Mansion today? Is there something important?"

Li Zhi cupped his hands, with a helpless look on his face: "Fourth brother, to be honest, my father gave me a difficult problem today. I really have no idea what to do, so I can only come to you for help."

As he spoke, he told him exactly what his father had asked him to do, that is, to speak in court the next day about his views on the Crown Prince's new policy for Liaodong.

After listening to this, Li Tai raised his eyebrows slightly, a barely perceptible sharpness flashed in his eyes, and he waved his hand, asking all the dancers to leave and dismiss the people around him.

He immediately burst into laughter: "Haha, father is testing you."

Then he walked to the charcoal fire, stretched out his hands to warm them, and said nonchalantly, "In my opinion, my father may not really want to hear your opinions, but just do it for others to see."

Li Zhi looked embarrassed: "Fourth brother, what you said makes sense, but no matter what I say, I am afraid that I will be blamed, so I hurried to inform you, and I hope you can give me some advice."

Li Tai patted Li Zhi on the shoulder and said earnestly: "Zhi Nu, you and I are brothers, there is no need to be so formal. In my opinion, you should just tell the truth tomorrow about some insignificant things, and don't praise or criticize too much."

Li Zhi understood what Mei Niang had expected, and nodded immediately: "Thank you, Fourth Brother, for your advice."

Afterwards, Li Tai asked the dancers to continue singing and dancing, and then he pulled Li Zhi to sit down and handed him a glass of wine: "Come on, since you are here, drink a few glasses with Fourth Brother, and don't be so sad anymore."

After three rounds of drinking, Li Zhi left.

Li Tai put away the confusion in his eyes and asked the dancer to leave again.

Then he asked Chai Lingwu, "It seems that the emperor seems to attach importance to the crown prince."

Chai Lingwu said in a deep voice: "If Your Majesty follows the Crown Prince's new policies in the Tang Dynasty, the people of the world will certainly think that the Crown Prince is stable, which will be very disadvantageous to the King of Wei."

Li Tai was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "If that time really comes, don't blame me for making the Crown Prince's rebellion public."

(End of this chapter)