Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Concubine Yan Shu, who was standing next to Li Shimin, also read the poem carefully and said with a bit of surprise in her tone.

"Duke Hanguo is still young, and his career has been progressing rapidly in recent years. How could he have such a sad feeling?"

"If this poem was written by Duke Song, it would be somewhat appropriate for the occasion."

Duke of Song Xiao Yu had been dismissed from his position as prime minister five times, so it is not surprising that he had many insights.

But in recent years, Du He has been getting whatever he wants, so what is there for him to be sad about?

It's just a completely imaginary sadness!

Wu Meiniang covered her mouth and said, "The poet may not necessarily have his own insights. He may be inspired by the deeds of other court officials or hear similar stories, and then write poems that are not in line with his age."

"Han Guogong is a man of keen mind, so it is normal for him to have such insights."

Many scholars in the Tang Dynasty had never been to the frontier.

However, many frontier poems written by scholars can make people feel as if they are at the frontier.

Li Shimin nodded and said, "Mei Niang is right."

"Poetry comes from inspiration. When inspiration comes, poetry can be easily written. If there is no inspiration, it is useless to think about it for a long time."

Hearing Li Shimin's words, Wu Meiniang's brows twitched slightly.

She walked quickly to the imperial desk, took out a piece of rice paper from it, then walked up to Li Shimin with a smile and said.

"Your Majesty, I think your poem Ode to the Wind is also a masterpiece that will be passed down through the ages."

Then she spread out the paper and read aloud in a rhythmic manner.

"Depression rises from the frontier, and the waves sway down to Penglai."

"The flowers in the forest are in all their colors, and the birds in the valley are singing."

"The shadows of the clouds are scattered, and the weaving patterns on the water are born."

"The song of labor is a great song, and its power spreads to the whole world."

Because he had formulated a battle plan to open up the Western Regions and the Indian countries, Li Shimin was filled with the ambition to conquer the world and conquer the four seas, so he wrote this poem out of inspiration.

The last sentence of this poem also reveals Li Shimin's ambition to unify the world.

After Wu Meiniang finished reading, Concubine Yan Shu immediately applauded and praised her.

"Your Majesty is the Heavenly Khan. You will surely conquer the four seas and become the common ruler of the world!"

"And Your Majesty will surely surpass all previous kings and become the greatest emperor of all time!"

Her words of praise made Li Shimin laugh out loud.

Everyone likes to hear good words, and Li Shimin, the greatest emperor of all time, is no exception.

The three chatted for a while.

Li Shimin waved his hand and said, "Shufei will serve you, Mei Niang, you should go back and rest early."

Wu Meiniang's expression changed slightly, and she bowed gracefully.

"Chen and concubine retire."

After returning to her own bedroom, Wu Meiniang's expression became extremely complicated.

I thought His Majesty would keep her by his side and have the opportunity to visit her, but I didn't expect that His Majesty's mind was all on Concubine Yan Shufei.

If this continues, when will she be able to conceive a dragon seed?

"No, we need Du He's help!"

Wu Meiniang murmured in a low voice.

Her almond-shaped eyes, which were full of charm, were now extremely firm.

She was selected into the palace when she was fourteen years old, and as she grew older, her ambition grew.

If she is unable to conceive a dragon seed before His Majesty dies of illness, she will be in a passive position.

If Du He is unwilling to help her at that time, then she will really have to live alone in Ganye Temple for the rest of her life.

Wu Meiniang didn't like to leave her fate in the hands of others, she wanted to control it in her own hands.

...

Ever since Li Shimin went to Mount Zhongnan for recuperation, all the important government affairs that were originally handled by Li Shimin now fall on the shoulders of Li Chengqian and Du He.

Inside Mingde Hall.

Du He looked at the pile of memorials on the desk, and said to Li Chengqian who was not far away with tears in his eyes.

"Your Highness, as a minister, it is inappropriate for me to review memorials, right?"

"If the censors and counselors knew about this, they would definitely impeach me."

"How about I go back first to avoid suspicion?"

Hearing Du He's words, Li Chengqian raised his head from behind a pile of memorials.

He curled his lips and said, "Du He, don't even think about it. You can't go anywhere until you finish reviewing this memorial!"

"If you had a heart to complain, you would have dealt with the memorial long ago."

"The Eastern Palace is my territory. No one will know that you are reviewing memorials. Just relax."

After saying this, Li Chengqian continued to lower his head and work hard.

Hey ~

Du He sighed secretly.

During this period, the Secretariat was busy preparing for the war, and they threw all the relatively important memorials to Li Chengqian to handle.

I don’t know if it was Li Shimin’s secret instruction.

Du He flipped through a book of densely written memorials, and after reading the entire book, he only saw one thing.

"In mid-April, the Yellow River flowing through Hengzhou overflowed, submerging more than 4 mu of fertile farmland. More than 820 households were affected. We requested the court to allocate funds for disaster relief."

However, the memorial written by the governor of Hengzhou was ten pages long.

"What a waste of time."

Du He muttered something, then made a suggestion to Li Chengqian.

"Your Highness, the memorials written by these officials are long and boring, wasting a lot of our time."

"How about you give them an order to write more concisely?"

"I think it is enough to just write down the time, place, people and events clearly."

In order to show off their literary talent, these officials kept the important matters secret and used flowery words as much as possible.

Du He had never seen many of the unfamiliar words, but he still had to rack his brains to understand their meaning.

How does this allow him to carry out his work?

Doesn't this cause trouble for him?

When Li Chengqian heard Du He's suggestion, his eyes lit up and he then slapped the table and said.

"Du He, your suggestion is good!"

"Write a few sample essays now. I will issue an order to all officials at the court tomorrow, asking them to change this bad habit!"

Du He is truly his good brother, even his ideas are the same as his.

He has been annoyed by these long memorials!

Not only does it waste a lot of his time every day, but it also almost makes his eyes blind.

Du He moved his mouth, then bowed and said.

"As ordered."

In order to reduce his workload, he had no choice but to take on this job.

Otherwise, he would have to spend half a day every day to help Li Chengqian review memorials, and he would go crazy.

...

The next day.

A meeting of hundreds of officials.

After the heads of various departments had finished speaking about important matters, Li Chengqian took out the sample memorial written by Du He and gave orders to all officials with a serious face.

"My dear ministers, in order to reduce communication costs and improve the efficiency of handling government affairs, I have drawn up several templates for the memorials you write."

"During the period of my supervision, everyone must follow the template format to write. Your memorials must not be bloated or filled with useless words."

"Anyone who violates the order will be fined one month's salary!"

hum~

As Li Chengqian's order was issued, a burst of discussion suddenly broke out in the Taiji Hall.

Chu Suiliang, a literary master who loved to pile up words, immediately stood up with his tablet in hand and gave an admonition.

"Your Highness, the civil and military officials have become accustomed to the original document carrier. If we rashly change it now, I'm afraid it will have a huge impact."

"Your Highness, please take back your order!"

Many elderly officials stood up and advised Li Chengqian to withdraw the order.

They won the appreciation of Li Shimin with their flowery words, but now Li Chengqian wants to destroy their jobs. How can this be possible?

Li Chengqian frowned, then spoke loudly.

"Do you know how many memorials I have to deal with every day?"

"Because the memorials you wrote were long and you couldn't express the core points in half a day, it seriously affected my handling of the matter."

"This rule is set, my dear ministers, no need to say more!"

As Li Chengqian finished speaking, important officials including Du He, Fang Xuanling, Hou Junji, Ma Zhou, Gao Shilian and Li Ji stood up and responded.

"Sir, obey the order!"