Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 221 Grandpa! When my flower blooms, all other flowers will die? [Seeking monthly votes]

At today's court meeting, Li Shimin publicly announced the great victory of the Tang Dynasty over the Turks, which made all the ministers cheer.

After the court was dismissed, Changsun Wuji took the initiative to find Li Chengqian for the first time.

This was their second meeting since returning from Shuofang, and it was also the most candid one.

It seemed as if I had returned to more than a year ago, when Li Chengqian helped Zhangsun Wuji become the Right Prime Minister.

But then Changsun Wuji smiled and said, "Your Majesty already knows about the Crown Prince's recent visit to the Minister of the Central Secretariat."

"So, my father didn't agree?" Li Chengqian replied as if he had expected it.

Changsun Wuji nodded, and said in a calm but meaningful tone: "Your Majesty's character may seem tolerant, but in fact he is quite strict!"

"Uncle, do you think it's possible for me to let Ma Zhou be the Minister of Revenue?"

"Does the prince know what has happened recently in the court?"

Li Chengqian frowned slightly, his eyes revealing a hint of vigilance: "Uncle, if you want to say something, just say it directly."

"hehe."

Changsun Wuji smiled faintly and didn't rush to express his thoughts. Instead, he strolled in the imperial garden until there was no one else around. Then he spoke slowly, "Crown Prince, you are the heir to the throne. Your every move not only affects the country, but also the attitude of His Majesty towards you."

"Ever since the Crown Prince made his mark in Shuofang, everyone in the Tang Dynasty has taken a new look at him, including Your Majesty."

"Especially the Crown Prince's recent tactics against the aristocratic families have made everyone wary, including some of my Changsun family."

"So, uncle is here to persuade me?"

Li Chengqian raised his eyebrows and said calmly and indifferently, "You want me to not become a public enemy, right?"

"That's not it."

Changsun Wuji smiled and shook his head, saying, "Your personality is very similar to His Majesty's. If you were really that easy to persuade, you wouldn't need ministers like Wei Zheng and Sun Fujia!"

"Uncle, the more I listen to what you say, the more confused I become."

Li Chengqian frowned deeply.

Changsun Wuji no longer kept the secret, but lowered his voice to remind Li Chengqian, "As far as I know, the King of Yue has been very close to the Five Surnames and Seven Noble Clans, as well as other aristocratic families recently. Has the Crown Prince noticed this?"

"This"

Li Chengqian was surprised for a moment, then rolled his eyes and said with a smile, "Uncle must have misunderstood. The King of Yue's teacher was the Imperial Censor Wang Gui, and Wang Gui himself was the head of the Wang family. The five surnames and seven great families are of the same blood, so it's natural that they are very close. It's not surprising."

"As for the other aristocratic families, perhaps it's just an academic exchange. As an older brother, should I still doubt my younger brother?"

Changsun Wuji knew that Li Chengqian was still angry about rejecting him, so he smiled slightly and said with a deep gaze, "It's naturally a good thing that the Crown Prince values ​​family ties, but power struggles have always been ruthless. Although the King of Yue is still young, don't underestimate him."

Li Chengqian was silent for a moment, then said in a slightly more serious tone, "Uncle also knows Mother's expectations of me. If I become suspicious of my brothers, wouldn't that chill Mother's heart?"

Zhang Sun Wu shook his head slightly and said firmly, "Your mother is the Queen. She is concerned about the harmony between the monarch and his subjects, and the friendship between brothers and respect between younger brothers. But the Crown Prince must understand that although benevolence is the foundation of governing a country, too much is as bad as too little."

Having said this, he paused, then added meaningfully, "In the past, Emperor Jing of Han and Prince Liang also had a deep brotherly love, but Prince Liang was ultimately obsessed with power and caused great disaster. The Crown Prince should take this as a lesson and prevent future misconduct."

"Then according to my uncle's opinion, how should I respond?" Li Chengqian asked in a low voice with a serious expression.

Zhang Sun Wuji glanced at him, his gaze piercing, and said, "The Crown Prince's situation is already established. There's no need to rush for quick success. We should remain calm and build up our strength in secret. We can then defeat them in one fell swoop. Otherwise, continuing to fight them will only make the gains more than the losses outweigh the gains."

"Oh, I see. What my uncle means is that the reason why the King of Yue can now rely on the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats is because I haven't defeated them in one fell swoop. Once I have enough strength to defeat them in one fell swoop, the King of Yue will no longer be a concern?" Li Chengqian said suddenly.

"The prince is very intelligent, there is no need for me to say much." Changsun Wuji bowed with a smile.

The two smiled at each other, and then soon parted ways.

After Li Chengqian left the palace and boarded the carriage back to the Crown Prince's residence, he turned to Lai Fu and said, "Lai Fu, have you submitted all the drawings I asked you to submit to the Ministry of Works?"

"Your Highness, it has been paid." Lai Fu replied while driving the carriage.

Li Chengqian nodded slightly and continued, "Then our people should be able to participate in the Double Ninth Festival in September, right?"

"According to Lord Cen, our people have trained very hard and have basically mastered the rules of the game. There is absolutely no problem for them to participate in the Chongyang Banquet!"

"Well, go watch it when you have time. I'm planning on doing something big that night!"

"This"

Lai Fu hesitated for a moment, then nodded heavily: "I understand, Your Highness."

"Report!"

As soon as Li Chengqian's carriage turned into Zhuque Street, a knight on horseback came up to him.

The knight dismounted and said, "Your Highness, the Emperor is waiting for you outside the city. I want you to go with a small entourage!"

"Ok?"

Li Chengqian was slightly surprised, thinking, Li Yuan actually came back? And at this time!
Could it be that he knew he was going to make a big splash, so he came back specially?
Thinking of this, Li Chengqian excitedly lifted the carriage curtain and asked the knight, "Do you have any proof?"

"Have!"

Upon hearing this, the knight immediately pulled out a musket and handed it to Li Chengqian, saying, "This was given to me by the Emperor. He said that once Your Highness sees this, you will understand."

"Hmm. Yes, it belongs to the Emperor."

Li Chengqian smiled and nodded, then asked curiously, "Why did the emperor invite me to go outside the city? Did something happen?"

"This subordinate doesn't know, I'm just here to deliver a message!"

"Okay, then lead the way. I haven't seen Grandpa Huang for a long time!"

"promise!"

The knight agreed, then climbed back on his horse and took Li Chengqian and the other two out of the city gate.

At the same time, in Chang'an, the office of the Minister of Works.

Several officials from the Ministry of Works were studying the blueprints sent by Li Chengqian. An elderly official, stroking his beard, said, "In all my years at the Ministry of Works, I've never seen armor of this style. Even the armor of foreign races captured on the battlefield has never been of this standard!"

"Since it was sent by the prince, I'm afraid it was his original invention, just like the hot air balloon."

An official who had participated in the hot air balloon project said this thoughtfully, then picked up the blueprint, took a look, and asked with a puzzled look, "But what exactly is the use of this armor? It's so thick and heavy. Could it be the new equipment of the Sixth Commander of the Eastern Palace?"

"You're talking about the Iron Pagoda, right? I've seen that equipment, and it's quite different from this!" The older official frowned and shook his head, then pointed at the design on the blueprint and said, "The shoulders of this equipment are obviously wider than normal armor. It doesn't look like heavy cavalry equipment!"

After saying that, he fell into confusion again: "But I have never heard of any military branch that has such requirements for shoulder armor!"

"There's another point. Look at the armor. It's too tight, even covering most of the face. Wouldn't it affect the communication and vision?" The young official said again.

Another official came over and added, "And this armor only has the upper body, not the lower body. It's so weird!"

"Yeah, it's a bit messed up."

The middle-aged official curled his lips in disdain, then looked at the older official and said, "Although this thing was created by the Crown Prince, his research on weaponry is still a bit superficial. I guess he just drew it casually and sent it to us to make. Don't take it seriously!"

Hearing this, the official who had participated in the hot air balloon project was about to say something when he suddenly saw the Minister of Revenue Duan Lun walk in.

Several officials immediately put down the blueprints, but Duan Lun ignored them and picked them up. He took a look at them and said, "I heard what you said just now. Do you have any objections to this set of armor?"

"This"

Upon hearing this, the officials looked at each other in confusion.

The older official quickly explained with a smile, "The design the Crown Prince sent doesn't resemble the armor styles we're familiar with, which is why we believe it was a spur-of-the-moment, thoughtless design. Therefore, we want to wait for the Minister to arrive and report this to him, so as not to waste the craftsmen's work."

"Ah!"

Duan Lun sneered upon hearing this, then put down the blueprint in his hand and looked around at everyone, saying, "You think His Royal Highness is an outsider and doesn't understand military equipment, right? Then do you know who invented gunpowder weapons? And who invented the horseshoe, the iron pagoda armor, and the Tang sword and the Mo sword?"

"The Crown Prince can even transform the familiar Kongming lantern into a hot air balloon! How dare you underestimate His Royal Highness?"

"This"

The officials from the Ministry of Works opened their mouths but hesitated to speak.

Duan Lun said in an unhappy tone: "You can't come up with it yourself, but you reject other people's innovations. How can you make progress?"

"It's fine if you're incompetent, but you dare to belittle others?"

"My subordinates dare not!"

The officials from the Ministry of Works were all terrified and bowed in greeting.

The older official, however, thought for a moment and said to Duan Lun, "Sir, calm down. Although this armor is novel, it's not impossible to make. It just will take some time. Once we have the actual piece, we can consult His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and we'll know its use."

“There’s not much time.”

Duan Lun glanced over coldly and said, "Only five days!"

"Five days?"

The older official was a little surprised and said, "Isn't it too late?"

"My Ministry of Works has tens of thousands of craftsmen, yet they can't produce a few sets of armor in five days. Yet, the private weapon workshops in Jiangling, with only a few hundred craftsmen, are able to produce equipment for tens of thousands of people. If Your Majesty finds out, how will you let me, the Minister of Works, cope with this?"

Duan Lun said with an extremely embarrassed expression.

There was another reason he didn't tell his subordinates, which was Li Chengqian's plan to establish an academy of sciences.

Once the Academy of Sciences is established, most of the tens of thousands of craftsmen and hundreds of Ministry of Industry officials will probably be laid off.

If he didn't please Li Chengqian now, he wouldn't even have a place to cry in the future. The older official gritted his teeth and said to Duan Lun, "It's our humble servants' incompetence that have brought shame upon the Minister!"

"Stop saying that. We've made His Majesty very satisfied with our hot air balloon project. So, tell me now, can we finish the Prince's creation in five days?"

The older official glanced at the other officials, then saluted and said, "The Ministry of Industry will definitely do its utmost!"

At the same time, the Ministry of War.

When Du Ruhui learned that Li Chengqian was going to manufacture new equipment, he immediately obtained the drawings and discussed the function of the new equipment with the craftsmen in the weapons workshop.

Du Ruhui then said with some displeasure, "It is said that the protective gear the Crown Prince requested is for close-fitting use. The thickness of this cowhide is sufficient, but the manufacturing process is so crude, you think you can use it to perfunctorily appease me?"

"Your Excellency, please calm down. We in the Ministry of War are only good at forging ironware. We are not good at this kind of lining work!" A craftsman from the Ministry of War explained hurriedly.

Du Ruhui snorted coldly, "A stone from another mountain can polish a jade. If you're not good at it, can't you find someone who is? Aren't those Hu craftsmen good at leatherwork? Let them teach you how to make Hu tools. Is that difficult? You don't need to use your brain at all!"

"Yes, yes, we understand."

"You know, but why don't you go down and do it?"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

The craftsmen quickly retreated as if they had been pardoned.

Du Ruhui threw away the cowhide in his hand, then picked up the drawings from the Ministry of Industry and studied them carefully.

"These shoes are really weird. They even require a rope to be passed through and have sharp edges on the soles."

Du Ruhui muttered to himself for a while, but still couldn't figure it out: "What exactly does the prince want to do?" As he spoke, two officials from the Ministry of War walked in and saluted cautiously.

"Have you made any progress on the muskets you're responsible for?"

"To be honest with you, Lord Shangshu, if it's just a copy, we can probably do it roughly, but the principle of firing a musket is really... It's embarrassing to say..."

"Humph!"

Upon hearing this, Du Ruhui couldn't help but snort coldly: "What else can you say besides shame?"

"This"

"Alright, put the musket aside for now and work with me on these shoes. It would be best if you could make them as soon as possible so I can present them to His Majesty!"

"shoe?"

The two military officials looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

But an official spoke first: "Sir, the Minister wants us to make shoes?"

"What? You dare to look down on shoemaking?"

Du Ruhui asked with amusement, then picked up the blueprint in his hand and handed it to them, saying, "You have one day to make these shoes. If you still say you're ashamed when I ask you tomorrow, you'll be fired!"

"what?"

The two military officials were startled and hurriedly took the drawings to check them.

It would be fine if I hadn't looked at it, but now I'm sweating all over.

"Do not understand?"

Du Ruhui narrowed his eyes and said, "Then take it back and take a good look at it!"

Hearing this, the two officials hurriedly picked up the drawings and retreated tremblingly.

Seeing this, Du Ruhui raised his hand to support his forehead, thinking that Li Chengqian was too troublesome, like a catfish chasing sardines, making everyone afraid to stop.

Jiangling manufacturing, in particular, is becoming more and more high-end, and is even going so far as to set up an academy of sciences, leaving no room for others to survive.

However, as Jiangling's manufacturing became more and more advanced, Li Chengqian came up with more and more things, and the Tang Dynasty became more and more powerful.

Thinking of this, Du Ruhui couldn't help but smile knowingly, feeling that the pressure brought by Li Chengqian was not all bad.

However, just as Du Ruhui was about to report Li Chengqian's new equipment to Li Shimin, another official came out of the door and reported: "Sir, the emperor has returned to Chang'an!"

"what?!"

Du Ruhui was startled for a moment, then immediately stood up from his seat and asked, "Is this true?"

"Absolutely true! They're said to be outside the city!"

"Quick! Prepare the carriage! I want to go to the palace to see His Majesty!"

"promise!"

The official agreed and left.

Soon, Du Ruhui took a carriage to the palace.

At the same time, in the Xishan hunting ground outside Chang'an City.

Although it is only the end of August, the trees in the hunting grounds already look a little withered.

The grass is not as green as it was in the summer, and some of it has even begun to wither.

After the wind blew, the trees on the west mountain swayed in the wind, looking even older and lifeless.

In a place in the woods, several pairs of eyes were fixed on a pile of relatively fresh green grass, where there was a wild rabbit.

The hare had obviously often encountered similar hunting scenes, and when it was stared at, it had already made preparations to escape.

Just as someone took out a bow, put an arrow on it, and took aim, he suddenly started running.

Before he could think about it, the arrow shot out from the string, just grazed the hare's body and nailed it to the ground.

"oops!"

Li Chengqian felt sorry for not hitting the hare.

Seeing this, Li Yuan on the side smiled silently, then rode his horse to chase after him.

Seeing this, the guards around followed.

However, the rabbit's escape route was very cunning, which made the people chasing it spend a lot of effort.

It specifically chooses to run in places with dense trees and overgrown weeds.

This is a huge test of riding skills.

However, although Li Yuan was nearly seventy years old, his riding skills were not as weak as Li Chengqian had imagined. Among all the people present, except Lai Fu and Du Caigan who could keep up with him, the others, including Li Chengqian, did not have such riding skills as them and were left a long distance behind.

The hare ran for a long time and found that he had not shaken off his pursuer. He seemed a little panicked and ran out of the woods.

Seeing the open space ahead, Li Yuan was suddenly happy. He took out his bow, put an arrow on it, and used his legs to control the horse, chasing after the hare.

The hare suddenly made a sharp turn, trying to shake off the pursuer.

However, Li Yuan, who had already determined its route, seemed confident. In just a moment, an arrow flew through the air and pinned the hare to the ground.

Du Caigan and Lai Fu behind him saw Li Yuan shoot the hare while running, and couldn't help cheering for him.

At this time, Li Chengqian also caught up, cheering loudly and praising his archery skills.

Du Caigan handed the hare to Li Yuan and said, "The Emperor is still strong despite his age. The arrow hit him squarely in the head!"

Li Yuan glanced at the rabbit, then said to Li Chengqian beside him, "Grandson, do you know that when hunting, as long as you can understand the prey's escape route, even if it has wings, it can't escape your arrow."

"Grandpa Emperor is quite knowledgeable about hunting!"

Li Chengqian said with a smile.

Li Yuan glanced at him and said meaningfully, "Compared to you, it's indeed better!"

Li Chengqian was embarrassed and thought to himself, "I'm just praising you, why are you acting so arrogant?"

But Li Yuan said nonchalantly, "I heard you've been struggling in Chang'an for a long time, but there's no good result?"

"What does Grandpa mean?"

"Aren't those aristocratic families still falling apart?"

Li Yuan smiled and teased: "Without my grandfather, you still can't do it!"

"Uh, well... To be honest, Grandpa Huang, I've been waiting for you!"

"is it?"

"Of course! Do you remember what my grandson said?"

"What?"

"Wait until September 8th in autumn?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan couldn't help but ask in a strange tone, "When my flower blooms, will all other flowers die?"

Li Chengqian smiled: "Hey! The fun is about to begin!"

　Happy New Year's Eve! If you have monthly tickets, please vote for me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)