Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Chapter 74

Yan Lide needs to take responsibility for the chaos at Xiangcheng Palace.

But the issue is his family background.

Yan Lide’s eldest daughter is Li Tai’s concubine, so he is in-laws with the royal family. His other daughter was married to Tang Jian’s son. Tang Jian is an important official who supported the Emperor since the beginning and had a wife who is a princess from the Yuan family from the Northern Wei Dynasty. Also, another son of his married a princess from the Li family!

To put it simply, Yan Lide is a close relative and he comes from a prominent family.

Remembering that Yan Lide was Li Tai’s father-in-law, Li Er wanted to let him off easy. But it can’t be helped. If he doesn’t punish him, the officials will never let this slide. Plus, he’s also quite angry with  Yan Lide himself.

As for Xiangcheng Palace, it can no longer be used as a summer palace. But so much money has already been spent on this property, he’ll get hell from his people if he left in idle.

Li Er summoned the ministers for a discussion.

Since his Majesty has just recovered, Wei Zheng gave him face and it was a rare incident where Wei didn’t bash the Emperor with criticism. Wei Zheng thinks that since Xiangcheng Palace is not suitable for staying, they should tear part of it down and give the remaining areas to the common people. Just act as if this palace has never been built.

Fang Xuanling and the others have no comments. After all money has already been wasted.  Let’s just be thankful that this palace only started construction for half a year and its scale and cost not too much. If His Majesty is extravagant, then that would be a pain in the ass!

The discussion on Xiangcheng Palace concluded but Li Er did not give orders immediately.

There’s still work to be done to its the field now. Even if there is spare manpower,  Li Er would not ask them to dismantle the Palace immediately. If he really were to tear it down immediately, Li Er felt that he would be ridiculed everywhere he goes. Who builds something and then tears it down immediately? Is the emperor a fool?

Yuanying is aware that the Emperor is back to working hard and talking about government affairs, so he didn’t want to bother him. With his letters of recommendation in hand, he worked on organizing a Zen tea party in Luoyang.

There are many famous temples in Luoyang and the number of monks considerable. According to Yuanying’s understanding, monks and Taoist priests are in a category of profession that is exempted from paying tax. Even so, why should we just leave them alone to chant scriptures in the comfort of the temple every day? Just focusing on self-cultivation cannot benefit others and cannot be regarded as performing divine intervention!

Yuanying requested that Dai Ting bring out his formal clothes and went out in the hot summer weather to meet them at a pre-align location. Today he specially asked his helper to bring out powdery red sand and put some on his forehead. The red dot looked like a precious stone. While he obviously still look like a royal prince, his dressing made him look approachable.  

Li Zhi was shocked with young uncle’s dressing.

“To meet monks, you dress like this? Aren’t you hot?”

Yuanying had people fanning him and sheltering him with umbrellas so he couldn’t really feel the heat.

“Isn’t there a saying about Buddha relying on gold clothes while human relies on fine clothes’? ^[1]Fine clothes make the man. I need to intimidate them in order to have a fruitful discussion. This is call learning from Buddha.”

When in Chang’an, he was recommended by Ouyang Xun. Therefore, he could easily fooled many. But now in Luoyang, he only have a few flimsy letters, so he needed to pay more attention to the details!

Li Zhi was rendered speechless.

Yuanying shooed Li Zhi away to go play with the girls while he left to the tea party. While Yuanying is not good at a lot of thing, he is quick-witted and spontaneous. He is able to talk with famous monks  without revealing his secrets. He even received a comment about having fate with Buddha.

Li Yuanying disagreed in his heart. What’s the use of having fate or a relationship with Buddha? No meat, No good clothes, Can’t get married and have children. But disagreement is one thing, Yuanying still actively listened to the lectures given by the monks. He even injected some of them with bits of stories about tea in a timely manner to enhance the association between religion and tea.

After half a day, the boy managed to taste all the delicious snacks and vegetarian dishes in Luoyang. He also successfully sold tea to major Buddhist temples. This made tea and snacks the two necessary ingredients when discussing religion moving forward.

The monks promised that as long as tea leaves are available they will meet up with those in Chang’an and together the monks would go deep into the Tibetan Empire to spread the teachings of Buddhism.

With the promises shared, Yuanying returned to the palace contentedly while stroking his well-fed belly. On the way back, he chatted with Dai Ting.

“It is said that its forbidden for monks to lie, I guess they wouldn’t lie to me.”

“If they dare to do so, there is always a way to make them regret it.”

Yuanying realized that since returning from Gaochang, Dai Ting’s temperament is slightly different. He’s now more outspoken with his thoughts.

Li Yuanying nodded. “That’s fine, if they go back on their word, I’ll leave it to you to handle it.”

Dai Ting nodded.

The boy continued to rub his full belly, thinking about all the things he has learned today through conversations.

No matter which line of work, a simple person cannot make it to the top. Even among monks, to win believers and have a great reputation is no easy feat.There were many conversations that left him with a cloud of fog but after careful thoughts, he came to realize the truths in them.

Great people are truly amazing!

Yuanying has always been restless. He felt that since he has learned something today he needed to look for the Emperor. He then boldly said that he would teach Li Er about Buddhism.

Li Er couldn’t get rid of him and so he could only tolerate his brother’s non-stop blabbering. They were all vulgar stories about how he got people to carry counterfeit goods for him; the most important thing in life is to be happy and have no troubles in life. Li Er thinks that the teachings his younger brother is trying to brainwash him with originated from “Buddha Yuanying”.

Although annoying, Li Er understood what his younger brother was getting at. This kid just wants him to be happy. In order for Yuanying to be at peace, Li Er responded casually.

“Since you are so free and idle, why don’t you find a solution for Xiangcheng Palace? If you can fix it, I’ll give the place to you as a present.”

Li Yuanying wasn’t expecting such a good gift and he was left in surprise and joy.

“Really?”

“Yup, of course.”

This place is going to be dismantled anyway, if Li Yuanying can transform it properly then it wouldn’t hurt to give it to him. Although this kid likes to mess around, he always produces unexpected results from his actions. Maybe he can think of a good way to remodel Xiangcheng Palace.

“Then it’s settled!”

As soon as he had something to do, Li Yuanying stopped bothering His Majesty. He ran back excitedly to share the great news of his newly acquired Palace.

Sizi was not very interested and was still a little apprehensive at the mention of Xiangcheng Palace. “There are poisonous snakes.”

“Don’t be afraid, there’s always be a solution for it. It’s such a huge place, I need to think about how best to utilize it.”

Gao Yang being the courageous one wasn’t afraid of snakes. She even put forward a constructive suggestion: “I think we should keep animals that eat snakes in the palace.”

Li Yuanying nodded. “It’ll be good to raise some eagles and some beasts. The snakes and insects around may be due to the abundance of vegetation. We should raise 8 to 10 elephants and a large number of cattle and sheep. They will eat up all the surrounding vegetation. If the place is naked, there wouldn’t be places for snakes to hide!”

“Let’s grow more herbs or plants that repel snakes and insects. They may be useful.” (Cheng Yang)

The kids sat around and brainstormed and came up with many solutions to tackle the snake and insect problem. As for the summer heat, it’s not like everyone was privileged enough to move away to avoid it. As long as this place is not used as a summer palace, it doesn’t matter if its super hot in summer.

Li Yuanying summed up everyone’s opinions and concluded that the success in transforming Xiangcheng Palace was high. However, to put it into action successfully only time will tell.

Yuanying dismissed the group. Early the next morning, he got up and ran to the Yan residence to visit Yan Lide who has lost his official position. If there is anyone who knows the structure of Xiangcheng Palace best, it must be Yan Lide. The boy needs  his help if he wants to transform the palace.

His system points are also almost gone. With only a thousand points left, he can’t transform a big like Xiangcheng Palace!

Yan Lide was feeling a little depressed because of his dismissal. His heart skipped a beat when he heard that Li Yuanying had came to visit.

His first thought was: I haven’t done anything to provoked this little demon king!

References

↑1Fine clothes make the man.