Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Just as the civil and military officials were guessing in their hearts, a loud shout rang out.

"Yuwen Youcheng, follow me back to the Secretariat!"

"If you don't give me a satisfactory answer today, I will make you pay!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Hou Junji striding out with a dark face, while Yuwen Jie followed behind with a nervous look on his face.

When the officials saw this scene, they all laughed in low voices.

"Yuwen Jie is in trouble!"

"When impeaching Duke Han just now, they definitely bypassed the Right Servant of the Marquis!"

"Earlier, when Hou You Pushe was conquering the Western Turks, Yuwen Jie's clansmen were involved in colluding with the Western Turks, causing Hou You Pushe to lose his position as Grand Marshal."

"Now it's time to settle all the old and new accounts together!"

Since Hou Junji was promoted to the position of Right Prime Minister, he rarely directly intervened in the dispute between the Crown Prince and the Prince of Jin. At most, he assisted Du He behind the scenes.

Now that Yuwen Jie doesn't take Hou Junji seriously, Hou Junji should be unable to resist and deal with him, right?

...

Four days later.

The Taifu Temple sent 100,000 strings of cash to the Yongzhou Governor's Mansion. Du He immediately summoned a group of officials from Yongzhou to discuss matters and gave them instructions on all matters, big and small.

Du He did not transport the 5 strings of cash to the Eastern Palace, but instead ordered people to store them in the warehouse in Yongzhou.

Now all the civil and military officials in the court are keeping an eye on this money. They can only wait until the money starts to flow, and then find an opportunity to transport it to the Eastern Palace bit by bit.

Yongzhou Mufu.

Du He exhorted Jia Dunyi, "Jia Dunyi, your primary task during this period is to assist Xi Junmai in developing the spiritual and material culture of the Yongzhou soldiers."

"I have only one request, and that is to ensure that these palace soldiers are well fed and clothed, in memory of the Crown Prince and His Majesty's kindness!"

Jia Dunyi, the deputy governor of Yongzhou, had been immersed in officialdom for more than 30 years. He immediately heard a different meaning in Du He's words.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is placed before His Majesty?

Did Du Fumu mean to let the Yongzhou soldiers only remember the good things about the prince?

Considering that Xi Junmai had frequently replaced generals during this period, Jia Dunyi immediately guessed what Du He was thinking.

He hesitated for a moment, then stood up and answered.

"Subordinate to obey!"

He owed Du He a favor, and since this matter did not violate his principles, he did not refuse.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Crown Prince was about to ascend the throne, and that it was legal for the palace soldiers to pledge allegiance to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Du He explained a lot of things before taking a carriage back to the princess's mansion.

As soon as he entered the lobby, Li Yi waved to him excitedly.

"Husband, the Institute of Gewu has brought mahjong here. Please teach us how to play."

"Okay." Du He nodded with a smile, then walked over and grabbed a few mahjong tiles to check them.

The mahjong tiles carved from rosewood have a hard texture and fine grain. The mahjong symbols inside are filled with watercolor colors, which looks very high-end.

“Excellent workmanship!”

Du He praised, then waved to his four wives and concubines: "Sit around the mahjong table, I'll teach you how to play."

Two hours later.

The four pregnant women began to fight slowly under Du He's instructions.

After a cup of tea.

Li Yi was shocked and said, "Husband, please help me check if I have won the game."

So fast?

Du He leaned over to take a look and nodded: "Yier, you won the game."

Hearing Du He say this, Li Yi smiled happily.

After they all mastered the basic rules, Du He did not stay here any longer, but went back to the study to think about Li Shimin's fantasy novel.

...

Ever since Du He invented mahjong, his four wives and concubines stopped pestering him to tell stories and instead gathered in the mansion to have fun.

Within two days, the Crown Princess, Princess Changle, Princess Baling, Princess Qinghe, Princess Xiangcheng and others also knew about mahjong, and they all gathered at Princess Chengyang's Mansion.

As more and more people knew about it, the civil and military ministers in the court and the women from aristocratic families also tried their best to squeeze into Princess Chengyang's mansion.

A small number of people came simply for entertainment, but most of the women from official and gentry families came with the intention of currying favor with the Crown Princess and Li Yi.

East Palace.

Mingde Hall.

Li Chengqian and Du He chatted while enjoying their meal.

"Du He, the princess's mansion is still bustling!"

"Nowadays, all the noble ladies in Chang'an City are flocking to the Princess's Mansion. Pick any one of them out and they're all daughters of third-rank officials."

A few days ago, Du He sent a set of mahjong to the East Palace, hoping to help the pregnant Crown Princess to relieve her boredom, but unexpectedly the Crown Princess said it was not fun.

You must go to Princess Chengyang's Mansion to experience the joy of playing mahjong.

There was a pause.

Li Chengqian chuckled and said, "The Emperor came to me last night and asked you to bring 20 sets of mahjong to the harem to entertain the Emperor's concubines."

"The Emperor is urging you to quickly write a novel about him."

Now that my father is completely unable to favor these concubines, it would be nice to have something to entertain them.

Otherwise, these concubines in the deep palace would be lonely for too long and might cheat on their father with other people.

These concubines would not bring anyone into the deep palace. They would take the opportunity to visit their parents to do something wrong. Such a thing is possible.

"Okay." Du He nodded slightly.

Anyway, the Gewu Academy used the money from the national treasury, so no matter what Li Shimin wanted to create, the Gewu Academy could meet Li Shimin's requirements without delaying the research of various subjects.

He took money from the national treasury and served the royal family, and all the credit went to him.

Who wouldn’t want to do such a good thing?

Li Chengqian rubbed his hands and said expectantly, "Du He, when will you bring me the 5 strings of cash?"

"There have been frequent heavy rains recently, and many palaces in the East Palace have started to leak. I have to repair these palaces."

"The West Pond in the East Palace is too small and the scenery is not good. I plan to build a pavilion in the middle of the lake."

The Eastern Palace began in the second year of the Kaihuang reign of the Sui Dynasty (582 AD) and has a history of 77 years.

Although it has been patched up many times in recent years, wooden houses are prone to various problems as they age.

Du He curled his lips and said, "Your Highness, you will ascend the throne soon. Why don't you continue to build the Daming Palace?"

"The Daming Palace is located on a high and spacious ground, so it's not afraid of flooding during heavy rains. It also overlooks the entire Chang'an City and the Zhongnan Mountains in the distance."

There was a pause.

Du He continued, "From now on, you will live in Daming Palace, let Crown Prince Li Jue live in Taiji Palace, and Li Xiang can live in the East Palace."

Because the Tang Dynasty has been at war in recent years, the construction of the Daming Palace has been on and off, and only the main palaces have been completed.

It will take at least two or three years to completely repair the Daming Palace.

Li Chengqian frowned and said, "Du He, the corvée labor in Guanzhong and Hedong Road has already been used up by my father to build the Yuhua Palace. I can no longer collect corvée labor!"

"As for conscripting corvée labor from prefectures and counties thousands of miles away, it will surely breed resentment among the people."

My father, the emperor, disliked the small size of the Cuiwei Palace, so he conscripted laborers to rebuild the Yuhua Palace last year. This time, as many as 700,000 people were conscripted.

The people of Guanzhong and Hedong Road had completed their annual 20 days of corvee labor in building the Yuhua Palace.

If he wanted to recruit corvée labor to build the Daming Palace, he would either have to go to the various Jiangnan regions to transfer people to Chang'an, or wait until next year for the corvée labor in Guannei and Hedong regions.

But if hundreds of thousands of people were to travel thousands of miles to Chang'an, something would definitely happen.

Du He smiled and said, "Your Highness, the money in the national treasury is almost being eaten up by rats. It would be better to use some of the money to hire the people to repair the Daming Palace."