Don't be a prince

Hearing Wei Zheng's words, everyone put down their work, left the table, knelt down and saluted, and greeted the emperor in unison.

Yes, the year is not over yet!

Chapter 469 Sickness

The 14th year of Zhenguan has arrived.However, no one pays attention to the joy of the new year, and no one visits relatives and friends.After Xiazhou's cotton was sent out, the monarchs and ministers all bowed their heads and went back to their respective homes.

For the time being, the mission has been completed.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the nobles did not walk back and forth.Everyone unanimously postponed the first day of junior high school for one day.

On the second day of the junior high school, the imperial court held the Yuanri Grand Meeting.

Wei Zheng had the hardest time commuting between Jinzhou and Chang'an because of the cold, and the number of food towns increased by [-] households.At the same time, because of the disaster relief this time, those who failed to live a peaceful life, regardless of whether they were high-ranking officials or small officials, were rewarded.

After resting for a day and a night, Changsun Wuji's expression has improved a lot, and he went out to play and said: "Your Majesty, I received a reply from Ningzhou this morning. The cotton has arrived and distribution has begun."

"Oh, I see."

Although he rested for a day and a night, Li Shimin was still very tired.Even if he himself is like this, he has no objection to some people in the court who are clearly dozing off, such as Li Chengqian.

After eldest grandson Wuji, Fang Xuanling also stood up.

Unlike Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling's complexion was very serious.After cupping his hands and saluting, Fang Xuanling sighed and said, "Your Majesty, the statistical results have come out. In this cold year, a total of thirty-eight people died of freezing in Chang'an City, of which 34 were slaves and four were lowly citizens. In Wannian, Lantian, and outside Chang'an, 72 out of 590 lowly citizens froze to death, and [-] and [-] slaves froze to death. The total number of beggars was [-]. And civilians...."

If Fang Xuanling could still read the previous data with a blank expression, then even he would not know how to read the next number.

Li Shimin on the throne sighed, stood up and said: "Read it, I can accept it."

Fang Xuanling took a deep breath, and read out a number that made everyone sleepless: "Twenty-one common people died of freezing, and the total number of old people who died of illness due to cold weather was 230."

After reading this number, Fang Xuanling closed his eyes.

The aloof Li Shimin also shook his body when he heard this number.

This was a period of peace. There was no war, no weapons, but there were more than 20 people who died of freezing. Strictly speaking, more than half of the elderly who died of cold illness should be counted among them.

More than 20!This is just the data around Chang'an. There are [-] prefectures from Xiazhou to Jinzhou. How much is this?

What kind of bullshit peace and prosperity is this!

In the blink of an eye, the sleepy courtroom was suddenly replaced by a sad atmosphere.Who would have thought that this time, even with such a timely response from the imperial court, there would still be such a loss in this disaster.

In comparison, the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty is clearly a joke!Which imperial court in the prosperous age can be mixed up like this?

Li Shimin sat down on the throne, weeping, "It's my fault! It's my fault! If I could have reacted earlier, I'm afraid..."

Hearing the emperor's words, all the courtiers bowed their heads.

At this time, Li Chengqian stood up: "Father, although you were at fault for this disaster, it was not because you failed to deal with it in time. I will explain the reason to you in detail when I prepare a note."

Li Shimin just waved his hand and didn't say anything.

This time, there was no acting element at all, and even he, who was always confident, began to doubt whether he was a qualified emperor.

No one dared to disturb the emperor at this time, even Li Chengqian, also slowly retreated to his position.

He could tell that the emperor was really hit this time.

After the silence lasted for half an hour, the door of the main hall opened, and Jin Wuwei General Chang He rushed in without taking off his saber.

Kneeling with the knife in his arms, Chang He excitedly said: "Your Majesty, I will report something urgent at the end."

Under normal circumstances, Chang He is more honest than anyone else, and it is impossible for such a thing to break into the court with a saber.Now it happened, could it be, yes...

Li Shimin asked in surprise, "What happened?"

Chang He raised his head, the joy on his face could not be concealed: "The last general has the courage, please Your Majesty and all the ministers to take a look at the city gate!"

This is a trick.Seeing the undisguised smile on Chang He's face, Li Shimin thought of a possibility, but ruled it out by himself.How can it be?

"Move to the Suzaku Gate!"

Accompanied by the emperor's order, all the courtiers walked to the gate of the Taiji Hall one after another, found out their own warm clothes and put them on.At this time, no one pays attention to appearance, and those who pay attention will probably be frozen to death.Although the temperature has risen in recent days, it is still a dangerous temperature.

The distance from Tai Chi Hall to Suzaku Gate was very long, but no one chose to take a sedan chair, but walked quickly, so that their bodies could be warmer.

They finally reached the Suzaku Gate and climbed up to the top of the wall. When they saw the scene outside, everyone's eyes widened.

At this time, outside the imperial city, there are people all over the place, and the eyes are anxious, even when they arrive at Anrenfang, the street is full of people.

These people are common people, and there are even some old people who need to be carried by the younger generation.They walked to the gate of the imperial city at the same time, bowed in the direction of the inside, and after saluting, they diverted to the two sides of Guanglufang and Xingdaofang, and detoured out of the city.

No organization, but no chaos.

Under the city gate, you can see Yu Qiusheng, the magistrate of Chang'an County, and Zhang Jianzhi, the magistrate of Wannian County.Li Shimin pointed to the city, Li Jian understood, and immediately went down to summon the two to come up.

After a while, both Yu Qiusheng and Zhang Jianzhi went up to the top of the city wall, different from the usual bowing of hands, the two of them knelt down, fulfilling the etiquette of today's court meeting.

After the two got up, Li Shimin pointed to the outside and asked, "What's going on? You two prepared it?"

Yu Qiusheng shook his head again and again: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I don't know. It's just that there are too many people entering Chang'an City, so I realized something was wrong and sent people to monitor Zhuque Street. As for where these people came from, I don't know yet. .”

Seeing what Yu Qiusheng said, Li Shimin turned his attention to Zhang Jianzhi.He was rather curious about the talents the crown prince designated to invest in the three provinces in the future.

Zhang Jianzhi cupped his hands and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I didn't prepare these things, but I also know some inside information. In fact, this time the collective entry into the city and the pilgrimage in front of the imperial city were organized by the people themselves. It was first Wan Unexpectedly, the idea put forward by a household in Guashan Village in Nian County gradually became like this. After Wei Chen knew about it, he only had time to send yamen servants to escort him back and forth. As for persuading the people not to do this, Wei Chen really didn’t have the time courage."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Don't have the guts? What do you mean by that?"

Zhang Jianzhi was stunned for a moment, he just said it casually, who knew that the emperor would catch this sentence.

After thinking about the answer in a moment, Zhang Jianzhi cupped his hands and said, "My minister believes that it is the first time in history that people spontaneously come to Chang'an to worship the emperor. The direction. What happened today will definitely be recorded in the annals of history, and His Majesty will shine forever.

Wouldn't it be disloyal if the lower officials obstructed it?What's more, the common people did this spontaneously, and my humble official aspires to be an official close to the people, so naturally I can't stop it, lest when I go back, the common people will not like me as a bastard official. "

Send out a flattery, and then laugh at yourself, Zhang Jianzhi's answer is already a good one.

Li Shimin nodded, very satisfied that Zhang Jianzhi could organize such a suitable wording at such a young age.The college really produces talents in large numbers. In the past, I could only visit the mountains and fields to find talents, or simply recruit them.Now that the world is peaceful, talents generally appear among noble families, which causes the roots of their families to be deeply rooted in the land of Tang Dynasty, which cannot be easily shaken.

When the college was first established, there was such a plan, but Li Shimin was very pleased when he saw the results.Since someone as strict as Linghu Defen praised Zhang Jianzhi as the talent of Zaifu, it must be right.

Nodding his head, Li Shimin said: "I have accepted your flattery. It is still very cold today. The common people volunteered to come to Chang'an to worship me. Naturally, I will let them go home safely. Zhang Jianzhi, I will give you five thousand dollars." Soldiers and horses must escort all the people home safely, do you know?"

As a civil servant, or a county magistrate, it is tantamount to fantasy to have the opportunity to lead [-] soldiers and horses.But now I got it, which made Zhang Jianzhi overjoyed, imitating the etiquette of a military general and knelt on one knee and said: "My minister takes orders, don't worry, Your Majesty, if something goes wrong, I will come and see you!"

After issuing the military order, Zhang Jianzhi happily withdrew.

Looking at the people outside who were still going back and forth, Li Shimin felt his heart burning.God knows how envious he was when he saw the people paying New Year's greetings to the prince and sending wedding gifts to the East Palace.

Since Lao Tzu came to the throne, he tried his best to govern, but he was angry with that bastard Wei Zheng every day; he couldn't eat well and sleep because of government affairs; he was trapped in the palace and couldn't go anywhere. What was the reason?

Isn't that what it is!

but....

Glancing at Li Chengqian next to him, Li Shimin still said: "Prince, the common people can't come here for nothing. On your behalf, go out and accept their worship!"

"Ah? Erchen instead? You don't want to go by yourself?"

Li Shimin tightened his clothes tightly, and said as it should: "When have you ever seen that the emperor can appear in front of the people casually?"

After speaking, Li Shimin left with the courtiers.

After rubbing his hands and covering his ears, Li Chengqian was sure that the reason why this old bastard didn't want to go out was [-]% because of today's weather.As for the remaining [-]%, perhaps it is to maintain the mystery of the emperor.However, [-]% to [-]% of the reasons are nonsense.Just imagine, if a stage is set up at this time and a loudspeaker is given to him, how can this fellow give up such an opportunity?

But there is no way, the emperor's father ordered, and the prince can only do as he wants.

In the two counties of Chang'an Wannian and some villages in Lantian, the number of people is still terrifying.Especially the people near Chang'an knew that it was not easy for people from afar to come to Chang'an, so they spontaneously stayed until dark in the afternoon before entering the city without asking.This caused Li Chengqian to thank the people on behalf of the emperor without even eating lunch.

For the common people, even though they didn't see the emperor when they came to Chang'an, it was good to see the prince.

Living in this peaceful and prosperous age, I don't know how many lifetimes of blessings I have cultivated!Don't worry about military disasters, and now you don't even have to worry about eating.The food in the family is enough to last for two or three years. Although the money is a little less, it can still buy a lot of things for the family in normal times.It's too cold this year, and the price of fabrics has risen too much, so I'm not willing to buy them.But who would have thought that if he was reluctant to buy it, the court would issue it.Although it is necessary to restart the agricultural tax, this is also what should be done.

Originally, I thought it would be a good idea for the imperial court to send cloth, but who knows, the emperor ordered that the thing called cotton be transferred from the East China Sea to Chang'an.Clothes with interlayers, after stuffing those balls of willow catkins, even if you go up the mountain to cut firewood, as long as the time is not long, you can still bear it.

The imperial court has achieved this level, as an old farmer who should keep his duty, what else can he say?

"His Royal Highness, please give New Year greetings to His Majesty on my behalf. I wish His Majesty a long life, no, a thousand years is not enough!"

"Well, Gu will definitely bring this sentence. It's already dark now, and when you pass the city gate later, there will be soldiers to take you back. Next time, don't delay it so late. "

The dark-faced farmer scratched his head and smiled, "His Royal Highness, please worry, I know."

Seeing the back of the black-faced farmer leaving, Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief.

Thanking the common people, of course they can't find a chair to sit on, and they look like they are receiving tribute.From eight or nine o'clock to thank five or six o'clock, Li Chengqian only felt that he was going to be tired and lay down.

The cold wind at night is bitingly cold. There is no one around at this time, so there is no need to wear the prince's clothes to pretend to be a high-profile here.Putting back on his down jacket, Li Chengqian felt a little better.

When Zhang Jianzhi came back to pay the order, someone would naturally accept it, so there was no need to worry about it.Right now, Li Chengqian just wanted to go back to the East Palace's bathtub and take a good bath.

Walking all the way back to the East Palace, it was obviously not a long way, but after a day of exhaustion, Li Chengqian was still sweating all over.

I ran to the bathtub and took a hot bath, drank a bowl of ginger soup, and then got back under the covers.

Almost as soon as the quilt was covered tightly, Li Chengqian fell asleep.

In my sleep, I seemed to be stewing fish with the old man by the river. It was raining, but there was no shed, so I could only unfold my clothes and protect the old man's wheelchair.

When it rains, I don't know when it will stop.Just when Li Chengqian was about to call Zhang Yun at the top of his voice, and was about to reprimand him, a pungent smell suddenly rushed into his nostrils.

A big sneeze, what fish, what rain, all gone.

Opening his eyes, he saw Sun Simiao.

The old guy is dozens of years old, and his face is still very tender, he looks like a child with white hair. Li Chengqian felt that if he could be like this in the future, he would not ask for anything else.

He wanted to speak, but found that his throat was so dry that he could breathe out fire, and the whole body was cold enough.The quilt was still wet, it felt like we wet the bed.

Yaoshou, such a big person still wets the bed, the key is that he was met by Sun Simiao, how will he get along with him in the future?

Just when Li Chengqian was about to make up an excuse to ease the situation, Sun Simiao actually breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground beside the bed.

Li Chengqian looked around, only to realize that his room was full of people, the emperor, the empress, Su Yuan, Ashina Xue...

Even Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji were at the door.

what's wrong?

4 Chapter Seventy

Before he could ask, Su Yuan rushed to his bedside and cried bitterly.

Not only Su Yuan, but also Ashina Xue, who has always been strong, couldn't help crying. The eldest grandson standing on the other side almost fell down and needed the emperor's support to barely stand still.

At this time, Sun Simiao laughed instead: "Okay, okay, it will be fine when you wake up. His Royal Highness is in good health, this time it's just that the illness has come on a little more urgently, so you'll be fine if you get over it."

"what?"

Hearing Sun Simiao's words, Li Chengqian realized that his body was weak and weak. He raised his hand and touched Su Yuan's head, feeling extraordinarily strenuous.Not only that, his nose was blocked, he couldn't breathe at all, and his throat was so dry that it seemed to be cracked.

This is, have a cold?

For the cold, it is really not to be underestimated.In the absence of effective antibiotics, colds are already equivalent to terminal illnesses.Although allicin has a good bactericidal effect, it is a method that can only be used as a last resort.Seeing the needle hole on his arm, Li Chengqian knew that Sun Simiao must have given him a needle.

Fortunately, allicin was produced, otherwise the symptoms of the cold lasted for too long, and it was not just as simple as physical discomfort.Meningitis, myocarditis... the diseases that a cold can cause, even ordinary people can list a long list.Even, the slow heart rate caused by sinus node disease is often caused by myocarditis caused by a cold.

Datang, there is no pacemaker!

Thinking of this, Li Chengqian couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Don't cry, there are so many people here, go, get me some hot water, I'm thirsty."

Patting Su Yuan and pushing her away, Li Chengqian struggled to sit up, Sun Simiao was the closest, and put a backrest behind him.

Seeing that the prince was able to move, everyone was relieved.Fang Xuanling and others withdrew from the house, leaving space for the emperor's family.He could vaguely hear the voices of Li Tai, Chang Le and others asking outside the door.

Li Shimin helped his eldest grandson to sit in front of the bed, and the couple breathed a sigh of relief.

Holding Li Chengqian's hand, the eldest grandson sighed: "Your child, except for falling from a horse when you were a child, you have never let your mother worry about it. Why did you have such a serious illness this time?"

Twisting his shoulders, Li Chengqian grinned and said, "Maybe it was too tiring to thank the people outside. Besides, the crown prince's outfit is already thin and as cold as a grandson's. Father, not a son-in-law Said, we really need to change our father’s clothes, bright yellow is no problem, but bright yellow cotton and down jackets, how can it be!”

Li Shimin said helplessly: "You boy, many people, including me, are abiding by the rules, but you are thinking about how to break the rules. Forget it, I will talk to the Ministry of Rites and Zongzhengfu. This time, I got involved You, take a good rest, this year you don't have to go to your uncle's house to pay New Year's greetings."

There is one thing that Li Shimin didn't say, that is, Changsun Wuji and Gao Shilian were all frightened. Now that the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are gathered in the East Palace, there is no need to visit anyone's house.

Soon Su Yuan let the hot water cool slightly and brought it over.

After drinking a large bowl of warm water, Li Chengqian felt much better.