Common people, since ancient times, have been synonymous with honesty and honesty.
Especially the people of the Tang Dynasty, because of the oppression of feudal society, they learned to accept hardship early and passed it on from generation to generation.
Going to Beijing to ask for an explanation from the emperor was, in the final analysis, just the result of the emperor's manual instigation. The most they dared to do was make a noise. If someone really wanted to set off, it would be strange if they didn't disperse immediately.
Because of this, Li Xian visited two construction sites one after another. The people at these two construction sites had already picked up their tools and continued working. Li Xian was not surprised by this. In the final analysis, there was no direct interest relationship between him and the people, and there was not much friendship entanglement. They were willing to shout for him, which was considered to be the most benevolent and righteous.
perhaps....
To truly reach the point where people will support him even if they go to Beijing to meet the saint, three to five years of preparation may not be enough.
After walking to two construction sites and talking about it, Li Xian returned to the East Palace.
The result of the treatment of those stewards was that the people died and the crimes were eliminated. As for what promises they got from the emperor, it was not something Zhou Quan could find out.
In any case, the emperor's plan was successful. A prince who has been praised by the people must be competent. Coupled with the success of the two annotated books and the high probability that the emperor's eldest grandson will be born in the coming year, the prince Li Xian can be said to have made a splash in the court.
but....
To be honest, this was not what Li Xian expected.
Being in the limelight is okay once in a while, a small one, but being in the limelight all of a sudden is not a good thing.
Li Xian, who returned to the East Palace, made up his mind to lurk for a period of time. Apart from arranging disaster relief work every day, he spent the rest of the time with his wife.
After all, the Five Surnames and Qi Wangs were from an aristocratic family. Just from the food they mobilized, one could see how terrifying their background was. According to incomplete statistics, the food used by the five surnames alone for disaster relief is twice as much as the national treasury reserves. In addition, what they coerced from the small family and the son-in-law amounted to three times the national treasury.
It is no exaggeration to say that the five surnames actually have the strength to rebel. It's just that they are used to being aloof from the world and have chosen to avoid the strange circle of dynasty changes.
The construction of a total of four roads has completely absorbed the labor force affected by the disaster in Guannai Road and surrounding areas, and even left some vacancies. As a last resort, in order to take this opportunity to complete the road construction project as early as possible, at least as close to completion as possible, the surrounding people who were not affected by the disaster were also called to join the road construction project.
Each of the four roads is in full swing.
As for the Zheng family...
To Li Xian's great surprise, this time, the Zheng family showed no intention of bargaining when negotiating terms. Even with heavy bleeding, fresh blood came out. They provided all the money and food needed for the official road from Chang'an to Luoyang without hesitation, and they didn't even ask where the money was going. They looked like Kaizi who was at his mercy.
It seems that in order to solve the problem left by Zheng Wen, Zheng Shuo really did not care about the cost.
A battle of strategies is like doing business. Since the Zheng family has chosen to surrender, they can no longer resort to traps without the ability to truly eliminate the other party. In order not to become too rigid in the future, they must act appropriately. Give the other person a little sweetness.
As a result, the manager of the Zheng family was pleasantly surprised to find that although his grain was delivered to the Chang'an warehouse in empty sacks, when the sacks needed to be transported to the construction site, the sacks would be specially written with "Xingyang Zheng Family" The words "food for disaster relief" would be mentioned by the construction site manager when distributing food. This time, the Zheng family also contributed to disaster relief.
Because of this incident, Zheng Shuo had to give Donggong another generous gift.
As the saying goes, the tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop. Li Xian's original intention was to hide from the limelight. However, just when he was hiding in Cheng'en Hall and kissing and pinching his little wife while playing drums, Zhang Xuan, the minister of Honglu Temple, , but the door was opened.
After cleaning up Cheng'en Hall, Li Xiancai invited Zhang Xuanze to come in.
The Minister of Honglu Temple, one of the Nine Ministers, has an official position and power similar to that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He manages diplomatic affairs with foreign countries and spies for spying on intelligence.
Yes, a spy.
Stealing secrets has appeared as early as the Warring States Period. Now in the Tang Dynasty, although they are only called spies, the nature of their work is the same as that of spies. In the caravan going to the Western Regions, from the team leader to the clerk, I don't know which one is the spy set up by Honglu Temple, who specializes in snooping for news from foreign countries.
The previous changes in various countries were the news sent back by spies.
Li Xian naturally did not look down on these two people as the foreign minister + the spy chief, and even got up to greet him at the entrance of the palace.
"There was some clutter in the hall before, so I quickly tidied it up before I dared to let you in. Zhang Honglu, don't worry about it."
Henry Zhang was still a little unhappy when he was not allowed to meet directly and was blocked from the palace just now, but now that he heard the prince say this, he immediately felt respected.
The prince treated the minister of Honglu Temple with such courtesy, he could only hold his hands and say: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Your Highness, the prince, is so courteous and virtuous, but it makes me don't know what to do."
It would be a waste of words to continue to be polite, so Li Xian invited Zhang Xuan to move to the study room to talk.
As soon as he entered the study room, Henry Zhang couldn't help but look at it.
It was his habit to judge a person's character from details such as their food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Even when he was in the prince's study, he couldn't help but do it.
Entering the study, he first stepped on a carpet. He lowered his head and realized that this carpet was just for people to step on. Next to the carpet, there was something like a cabinet, with shoes like clogs placed on it.
Seeing that the prince was changing his shoes, Henry Zhang chose not to ask, and imitated the prince's actions and put on these strange shoes for himself.
The soles of the shoes are very hard, but the tops are very soft. They are much more comfortable to wear than official boots.
Do you have to change your shoes after entering the door? Although there will be some dust on the soles of the shoes, if you do this deliberately, the prince must be too mystical!
What Henry Zhang doesn’t know is that although Li Xian has to be a little bit obsessive about hygiene, he is not so obsessive about these small aspects of life. The reason for this arrangement was that he couldn't stand Shangguan Wan'er having to wipe the entire floor of the study room every day. Especially during thunderstorms, she would have to use the thinnest rag to wipe away all the dirt from the gaps in the floor before she would give up.
I tried telling her, but the stubborn girl never compromised. As a last resort, Li Xian set these up in order to make her feel more relaxed and to look taller.
When you walk into the study, you can see the prince's office desk.
The desk given to the emperor was so friendly to the waist and neck that Li Zhi liked it so much that he arranged it wherever he might stay and work.
The emperor started using it, so Hao Chujun and others who often went to the palace to meet the emperor were naturally attracted.
At this time, the wood shop under General Supervisor launched a desk customization service. From top to bottom, new desks and chairs soon became popular in the court.
Even if the emperor recognized something, the Ministry of Rites could only pretend not to see it. In fact, the Minister of Rites even customized a set for his sake.
The entire court has fallen, so the fall of Chang'an is only a matter of time.
Although the desk has successfully replaced the case and has become a popular office tool for everyone, the impact of status cannot be completely replaced by one tool. As a result, the Ministry of Etiquette formulated the etiquette for using desks and chairs almost overnight.
As the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the emperor's desk must be the highest in the Tang Dynasty, followed by the Queen of Heaven and the Crown Prince. Even if there is only a small gap, no one is allowed to surpass the highest height of his status.
As for the materials used, they are also very particular. With an order from the Ministry of Rites, sandalwood was completely removed from the selection of materials by the merchants, leaving the merchants speechless and the generals going crazy.
Li Xian wasn't very particular about the materials he used. The original desk was just poplar wood. But who would have known that after the Ministry of Rites came over to look at it, they forcibly replaced it with sandalwood ones...
After noticing the desk, Henry Zhang looked at the table almost subconsciously.
It's very neat, everything is neatly arranged. And judging from the fact that the prince's movements of holding the teapot after sitting down were not unfamiliar at all, it should have been done by the prince himself.
From small to large, you can see from the small details of the desk that the prince's life is very organized.
Li Xian, who had already sat on the chair and poured the tea, saw Zhang Xuan staring at his table and couldn't help but laugh: "Why is Zhang Honglu looking at Gu's table? Could it be that you looked at the decoration on Gu's table? Can you infer Gu Gu’s personality?”
Hearing the words of the prince, Zhang Xuan was shocked, raised his hands in confusion and asked: "How did your highness know the thoughts of the minister?"
Li Xian laughed and said: "As a prince, you also need to learn the art of observing people. Although you are not good at it, you can still make some guesses. Zhang Honglu is the minister of Honglu Temple, and what he is best at is not to guess people. Are you thinking about it? So I asked you this question."
Henry Zhang thought for a while and then smiled with relief. The prince was right. He didn't know exactly what the Emperor's Studies taught, but there must be something like observing words and emotions. This was not surprising, but he was overreacting.
After saluting again, Henry Zhang looked at the height of the chair in front of him, and then sat down with confidence.
"Your Highness, it's almost July. Envoys from all over the world usually choose to go to Hajj at this time. Especially when news about the drought in the Tang Dynasty this year has spread, they will definitely send envoys under the pretext of Hajj. Come to find out the details. How do you think they should be entertained, Your Highness?"
? ? ?
Looking at Henry Zhang's serious look, although Li Xian understood that he was his subsequent course teacher, he really did not expect that he would encounter such a diplomatic problem.
Pushing the tea cup to Zhang Xuanze, Li Xian couldn't help but lower his head and think.
The so-called diplomacy means to flatter the powerful and bully the weak. When facing opponents of similar strength, you must show your strength as much as possible.
And in this era, including all the countries on the planet, Datang is also the top.
In this case, you have to choose to show strength or dominate with authority.
Although everyone knows that land annexation has become a problem and the food and salary of the border guards have become a problem, there are only a few people who know about this problem and are worried. It is basically impossible to reveal such news.
In this case....
Li Xian raised his head and met Zhang Xuanze's eyes, and said seriously: "First, from the time they entered the country, we sent troops to escort them. It is called courtesy, but it is actually a kind of deterrence. Second, when they arrive in Chang'an From now on, the euphemistic name is to let them adapt to the soil and water, but in reality it is to expose them to the sun until they ask for an audience, and then to receive them again.”
"Third, since the disaster has been revealed, there is no need to cover it up. This is because the reason why Datang used work-for-relief this time is that in their view, we are still building roads despite the drought. It can be said that it is very It's shocking. After they arrive in Chang'an, there is no need to trap them. Let their spies go out and intentionally guide them to see what they need to see. Then the deterrent will naturally be formed."
"Fourth, no matter what, we must show them the power of the army."
"To sum it up, it is to show strength and dominate others. What do you think of Zhang Honglu?"
"this...."
Henry Zhang choked.
Although the words were different, this was what he reported to the emperor.
Could it be that Dai Pushe and others were bragging that the prince indeed had the appearance of a celestial being and the ability to draw inferences from one instance?
This is too outrageous!
Breathing a long sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan held his hands and said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's insights are indeed wonderful. At the same time, this is also the content of the document submitted to the saint by the minister. As for the saint's approval, it is for the minister to guide the prince and receive the foreign envoys together. I understand foreign races. But now it seems that Wei Chen really has nothing to teach His Highness..."
After speaking, Henry Zhang showed his disappointment that could not be concealed.
Originally, he was very happy to be able to teach the prince with the permission of the saint. Who knew that if the student was too good, it would be a blow to the teacher!
Seeing that Zhang Xuan was like an eggplant beaten by frost, Li Xian had no choice but to say: "Zhang Honglu, you have been the minister of Honglu Temple for many years. Just because my opinions are comparable to yours, it doesn't mean that I am definitely comparable to you." Ah! Besides, I really don’t know anything about foreigners, so I always want to ask you for advice, right?”
Hearing this, Henry Zhang's eyes couldn't help but light up again.
After taking a look at the sky, Zhang Xuan immediately jumped up and said with cupped hands: "Your Highness, it's still early. I will send someone to Honglu Temple to get a map and give you a good explanation of the enemy countries around the Tang Dynasty!"
