I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

Wang Hongfu and Pei Mingli got up to take their leave, but Wang Xuance stayed behind.

Li Shen sipped his juice and felt his buttocks weren't hurting as much anymore.

It has to be said that the juice wasn't sweet at all at this point; if it weren't for the honey, Li Shen really wouldn't have been able to drink it.

I wonder how the fruits being cultivated at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences are doing, and whether there have been any results.

As Li Shen was thinking, he heard Wang Xuance's voice:

"Your Highness, is something the matter?"

Li Shen then came to his senses, put down the juice, and nodded, saying:

"Yes, there is something I'd like to ask your opinion on. After returning from the manor yesterday, my fourth brother came over and told me..."

Li Shen then recounted to Wang Xuance what Li Tai and Wang Xuance had discussed the previous day, with Shi Tou adding to the conversation.

This made Li Shen feel even more strongly that the saying was true: when God closes a door, he will open a window.

This stone has such a good memory that Li Shen is a little envious, considering it's two or three years older than him.

After listening to Li Shen's story, Wang Xuance also fell into deep thought.

Li Shen wasn't in a hurry and continued slurping his juice.

After a long while, Wang Xuance finally spoke:

"Your Highness, the Prince of Wei's actions do indeed have a provocative nature. He is trying to sow discord between Your Highness and the Crown Prince, and he is also trying to sow discord between Your Highness and the Crown Prince. Finally, he is trying to incite Your Highness to deal with the Prince of Jin."

This is a three-pronged approach, designed to soothe the prince's mind. If the prince is discontented, he could easily be swayed by the Prince of Wei's words.

It seems the King of Wei is not as settled as he appears.

"That's right, that's what I think too, especially since he told me at the end that he was testing me, which completely covered up what he said before."

My fourth brother really did study hard; he's got too many tricks up his sleeve.

"Do you think I should also take a look at some books?"

Wang Xuance's guess coincided with his own, and Li Shen himself thought so too. Li Tai truly lived up to his reputation as a well-read man with high literary attainments.

Reading can enlighten the mind; the ancients were right.

"Well... it would be good for Your Highness to read some books." Wang Xuance's expression became somewhat unnatural after hearing this. He wasn't good at flattery, much less so than Wang Hongfu.

"Oh? Then what do you think I should read, given my temperament and status? The Spring and Autumn Annals? The Zuo Zhuan?"

Li Shen was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately asked Wang Xuance for his opinion.

"Well... Your Highness, the Spring and Autumn Annals has more than thirty volumes and hundreds of thousands of words. Are you sure you want to read it?"

"So many words? Aren't there any books with fewer words?"

When Li Shen heard that there were more than thirty volumes, his head felt like it was going to explode.

The hundreds of thousands of words were not written in vernacular Chinese, but in the language of that time. According to Li Shen's understanding, almost every single word conveyed the same meaning.

It wasn't that he hadn't read the Spring and Autumn Annals; he only glanced at it a few times before realizing he couldn't understand it at all, which is why he gave up.

As for the Zuo Zhuan, Li Shen only knew the two characters "Zuo Zhuan," but he didn't know what was written in it, and he had never read it.

Having dropped out of school at the age of nine, it's fair to say that Li Shen was an illiterate prince.

He can write because he learned the Thousand Character Classic when he was a child.

"Your Highness, the Analects has over ten thousand characters. It's relatively short, so you can read it."

Wang Xuance thought for a moment and then answered.

"I have studied the Analects, though I haven't memorized much of it," Li Shen said helplessly. These were all things he learned in his early education.

Wang Xuance really didn't know what books to recommend to Li Shen.

After all these years, doesn't Wang Xuance know that Prince Ji is simply not cut out for studying? He can't even understand imperial edicts.

Even the legendary stories and novels on the market need someone to read them to him.

"Alright, let's get down to business. What do you think? Should we do something about the Prince of Wei? What happened to him yesterday made me very uncomfortable."

I feel like he's treating me like a fool.

Li Shen got a little angry when he mentioned this. This was too obvious. Didn't he realize it?

"Your Highness, we should not act rashly now. The Crown Prince is about to ascend the throne, and His Majesty needs the stability of the court. You princes are especially important."

Your Majesty, I believe it's best to remain still and observe the situation calmly.

Wang Xuance realized that Prince Ji was about to attack Prince Wei and quickly tried to dissuade him, saying that he couldn't be too impulsive at this time.

"To remain motionless is to be a turtle, but what you said is similar to what His Majesty said. His Majesty also said something similar to me."

Since that's the case, I'll just have to put up with him for now. Anyway, I'll be making the Prince of Wei lose weight in a few days, and then I'll see how I torture him.

Also, have our people keep an eye on his movements. My fourth brother is hiding his true intentions very well. I thought he had already seen the light and was staying at home cultivating his mind and body.

I only found out today that this guy has never been honest; he was just pretending.

Li Shen was truly deceived by Li Tai's behavior over the years. For all these years, he had always believed that Li Tai sometimes targeted him because of his deep brotherly affection for Li Zhi.

I only found out today that this guy is a real schemer. All that talk about brotherhood? Bullshit! He was just trying to get back at Li Zhi by stirring things up.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will send people to keep an eye on the King of Wei, but in recent years our people have not detected any unusual activity from him."

This is why we somewhat neglected the Prince of Wei's residence.

Wang Xuance accepted the order. He had underestimated the King of Wei, assuming that the King had become docile.

After a moment, Li Shen spoke again:

"Xuan Ce, send someone to inform Zhao Lao Si to harass the small coastal countries in the Malacca region."

They raided and plundered the important cities of Zhenla, Linyi, Panpan, Duoheluo, and Tuohuan.

Tell Zhao Laosi that if they are short of manpower, they can recruit local people to form a rebel army, and give 50% of the wealth to the rebel army.

We should try our best to avoid losing our own personnel.

"Your Highness, this is..." Wang Xuance knew that Prince Ji had made another big move. These small countries were all small coastal countries in the southern part of the Tang Dynasty.

He simply didn't understand the meaning behind it.

Li Shen didn't hide anything and explained:

"I have my eye on their land. You may not know, but these places are perfect for three harvests a year."

If we can find a way to occupy their vast tracts of fertile land, our Great Tang Dynasty can obtain a large amount of grain.

This will further ensure that the people of our Great Tang Dynasty can have enough to eat.

This place is very close to Shu (Sichuan). As you know, Shu is mountainous and not suitable for planting. Every year, the imperial court has to distribute a lot of grain to the west.

"I have been thinking about this for a long time. Why not grow grain in these places and transport it to Shu to solve the food shortage problem there?"

“But Your Highness, these places are not so easy to attack. I have read the documents, which say that the weather there is hot and humid, and the terrain is complex, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack.”

After hearing this, Wang Xuance asked, "It's too hot over there, and there are all sorts of snakes, insects, rats, and ants. The terrain is very complicated."

This was very disadvantageous for the Tang Dynasty's cavalry in combat.

(After seeing yesterday's news, I'm too scared to make videos anymore. So many people are saying they want to arrest me. Is that really necessary?)