Don't be a prince

Page 248

In the next period of time, Li Chengqian really enjoyed his vacation.In Lingnan in winter, the climate is still pleasant. Unlike Chang'an, many days in winter can only be nested in the house.

Hunting, fishing, and occasional picnics, such leisurely days did not come to an end until the imperial decree of Chang'an came.

In the meeting hall of the Feng family, Li Chengqian sat at the top, followed by Feng An, Li Yongshu, the leading craftsman of the shipyard and others.

Unfolding the imperial decree, but not reading it, Li Chengqian said: "Although the New Year is approaching, but with this imperial decree, we can't slack off. His Majesty has ordered that Dengzhou Shipyard and Lingnan Shipyard must be in the shortest time. Complete the arming of the Ship Division of Linhai Prefecture in the Tang Dynasty. The north of Yangzhou is the task of Dengzhou Shipyard, and the south of Yangzhou is ours. You should have heard about what happened in Suzhou. This time, the father is I was really angry. So, this order, we must complete it beautifully."

The shipyard director and craftsman Chang Huaichun stood up and cupped his hands and said, "Since it is His Majesty's order, it's okay for me to wait less than a year. However, the wood in the shade of Lingnan is limited, and it is already very difficult to manufacture the ships of the Lingnan Fleet. Your Highness, you Is there a way to deal with it?"

As the top craftsman excavated from the folk by the East Palace, Chang Huaichun would never allow himself and his subordinates to cut corners.Shade-dried wood can ensure that the wood does not have too many gaps. If other wood is used to make up the number, who can guarantee that a certain ship will not capsize due to this little problem in the future?

Li Chengqian naturally knew this, but the previous plan to hoard the wood that had been dried in the shade was fixed, and now, it is impossible to conjure up new wood.

Recalling the practice of later generations of carpenters, Li Chengqian put down the imperial decree and asked, "I wonder, if we build a warehouse and heat it with a fire inside, can the speed of drying in the shade be accelerated?"

Chang Huaichun thought for a while, then shook his head: "Your Highness, this is indeed a good idea, but I haven't tested it, and no one knows whether the wood dried in this way can meet the standard. To be on the safe side, I can't take any risks until the inspection is confirmed. .”

Li Chengqian nodded and signaled Chang Huaichun to sit down.Indeed, without testing, no one can guarantee whether accelerated drying wood can be used in shipbuilding.Although the emperor's order is full of urging, it is definitely not a good idea to reduce quality for the sake of speed.

Seeing that the crown prince was struggling to find any results, Feng An cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, in fact, there are still a lot of dried wood in Lingnan, it's just..."

"Just what?"

Hearing Feng An's words, Li Chengqian immediately got a little hope. ,

Arching his hands, Feng An said helplessly: "It's just that the Li family has the most shade-dried wood in Lingnan. Even the He family, which is the strongest shipbuilder, doesn't have as much wood as their family. After all, the Li family has always been making wood. business."

"The Li family?"

Only then did Li Chengqian remember that among those chattering Patriarchs back then, one of them opened his mouth.Turning his head to look at Li Yongshu, Li Chengqian felt that he should be more clear.

Li Yongshu got up and cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, the Li family's wood is indeed sufficient, and all of them are top-grade. When I first arrived in Lingnan, they made things difficult for me in every possible way. They sold the same dry wood to Haigang for three or four dollars. twice the price. Otherwise, the construction of the seaport and shipyard would not have been delayed for so long.

However, since you arrived in Lingnan, the Li family has suddenly become honest, and even the owner of the Li family is eager to sell the wood to low-priced officials.Although they are not of the same sect, Beizhi has the same surname as them, because they were worried that buying it would cause criticism, so Beizhi did not accept it. "

Thinking of the grass-like deeds of the Patriarch of the Li family, Li Yongshu couldn't help curling his lips.Perhaps, a single person, or family, would be overjoyed to be recruited by the clan with the same surname, but this definitely does not include their family.

Li's house is located in the south of the Five Ridges, in the final analysis, it is a rat's nest that does not know the heights of the sky and the depth of the earth.Their family is now serving under the crown prince, and without accident, they will definitely be able to grow up with the crown prince's protection.It won't take too long, three to fifty years later, their case is not something that people in Lingnan can hold a candle to.

Li Chengqian knew what Li Yongshu was thinking, but he still sighed and said: "Although they are rushing to buy wood, we refuse, which is cool, but now that we are short of wood, there is no need to suppress them for a moment of enjoyment." .Forget it, Li Yongshu, since you are familiar with Li's family, you can get in touch with them. However, there is no need for them to lower the price, the price is whatever it should be. Even if they insist, you should tell them clearly, if you want to impress Gu, it's not that easy."

"That's natural! The Li family doesn't weigh how much they weigh themselves!"

Arching his hands, Li Yongshu knew that he had nothing to do next, so he got up and prepared to go to Li's house.He is very clear that the crown prince likes people who sit up and walk without procrastination.

Seeing that Li Yongshu had left, Li Chengqian looked at Chang Huaichun again: "Director Chang, I ask you alone, is the current craftsman in the shipyard enough?"

Chang Huaichun shook his head: "Not enough, although there is a surplus of manpower. But there are not enough master craftsmen, you also know that, except for the deck and other components, important places, including installation, must be experienced craftsmen. Back then, half of the craftsmen stayed in After leaving Dengzhou, it’s okay for a master craftsman to maintain normal manufacturing, but it’s definitely not enough to equip the rest of the place.”

Hearing what Chang Huaichun said, Li Chengqian sighed, and said to Feng An: "Then count the He family, this time, the father is completely determined to build the border of the Tang Dynasty into an iron wall, and even Haihai, which was not very important before, is so caring. It can be foreseen that the next few years will definitely be a few years for Datang to strengthen its national defense in an all-round way. Since Haihai is fortunate to be the first batch, although it is not taken seriously, but, We still have to make a good start!"

Feng An cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness, don't worry, the He family would not dare to play any tricks. I will go to the He family in person. If the He family dares to be sloppy, I will lead someone to pacify him!"

Feng An was also very clear that there was no other way to choose the emperor's will, other than perfect execution.

Seeing that Feng An also got up and left, Li Chengqian looked at Li Tai: "Tell me, what are you doing at the shipyard these days?"

Li Tai smiled, glanced at Li Ke and Li Xiaogong, took out a picture and put it in front of Li Chengqian and said, "Brother Emperor, this is the blueprint designed by us. It is definitely not possible to build an invincible ship like the Prince." However, we can still build ships that are far above the average level. After all, these ships not only have the task of guarding the territorial waters, they also have the task of escorting merchant ships. Once they arrive at someone else's territory and are beaten, wouldn't it be shameful? Well. So, we designed Lingnan's ships together, and the combat power can be increased by [-] to [-] percent!"

Just by looking at the blueprint, Li Chengqian knew that most of this blueprint was actually written by Li Xiaogong. Although Li Tai was smart, he was only making some flirty ideas at most. to do it.

Arching his hands to Li Xiaogong, Li Chengqian said: "The King of Hejian is worthy of being a famous warrior on the water in the Tang Dynasty. These improvements made Gu's eyes wide open. In terms of the angle of collision, the power has been reduced even though the materials used have been reduced. It has improved, and this alone is admirable."

Li Xiaogong smiled and said: "This old man is just talking casually. It is His Royal Highness Wei Wang who actually designed and drew the picture. To be honest, besides His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Highness Wei Wang is the most talented person I have ever met."

Li Tai was not angry because Li Xiaogong put himself under the emperor's brother, but looked complacent.He is very clear that although he has always been praised by others, he is really not as good as Brother Huang.

Patting Li Tai on the shoulder, Li Chengqian said: "Since you think it should be changed, then change it. With this grand shipbuilding event, you will never be bored in Lingnan."

Li Tai nodded with a smile, and glanced at Li Ke from the corner of his eye.

Li Ke scratched his head, glanced at Li Xiaogong who was next to him, he held back and didn't attack.

After thinking for a while, Li Ke said: "Brother Huang, in a few days, I'd better go back to the Wuzhong fiefdom. Now that I have come to Lingnan to see it, I won't stay here any longer."

Li Chengqian wanted to ask him to stay, but when he thought of Li Tai's look, he still nodded.

"It's fine for you to leave now, the Wuzhong fiefdom cannot be left behind for too long."

Seeing that the emperor's brother agreed, Li Ke breathed a sigh of relief.He is different from Li Tai, the shipyard must have a lot of credit after it is completed, it's nothing for Li Tai to enjoy, but he can't get involved.For him now, the only way to be safe is to stay honestly in the fief.

After thinking about this, he didn't want to stay in Lingnan anymore.

Li Chengqian also knew what Li Ke was thinking, and agreed that he should go back first.In fact, this trip to Lingnan was completely incidental. From Dengzhou, Li Ke expressed that he was very satisfied.

Thinking of Li Ke going back to live the life of an otaku again, Li Chengqian was full of sympathy for him.

Think about it, isn't it the same for yourself?Now you can still make waves in Lingnan, but when you return to Chang'an, you will become an ancient office worker.

At this point, sympathy suddenly turned into empathy.

Li Xiaogong looked at the Crown Prince and Wu Wang who were making eye contact, especially Li Tai who was next to him nodding to express his understanding, and suddenly felt that he was superfluous.These three brothers, what kind of dumb fans are they playing?

"Clean it up. Now the shipyard has built several ships. It is still possible to give you a ship to go north. As long as you arrive in Yangzhou, you can hand it over to the governor of Yangzhou."

"Yes, this way, it will save me from suffering by land."

Arching his hands, Li Ke turned around and went back to prepare.

Speaking of the governor of Yangzhou, Li Chengqian immediately thought of the so-called former governor of Yangzhou that he met two days ago.

Looking back at Zhang Yun, Li Chengqian asked, "How is the prisoner who was personally arrested before?"

Zhang Yun replied: "His son suffered from malaria caused by mosquito bites. Even if he was diagnosed by a doctor, it would still be very dangerous to seek medical treatment when he was so sick. But that boy was lucky enough to survive it. It is now in a residential house in the city, does your Highness want to go and have a look?"

Whether it is Li Yongshu or Feng An, it is impossible to complete the negotiation so quickly. Before that, maybe it is good to have a look.

Nodding his head, Li Chengqian looked at Li Tai and Li Xiaogong and said, "I still have something to do, so I'll take my leave first. Over there at the shipyard, Li Tai, you can send the drawings there yourself."

After speaking, Li Chengqian got up and walked out with Zhang Yun.

Although Gaozhou is the center of Lingnan, it just has more people gathered.Except for a few families such as Feng An, ordinary people still live in wooden houses.As for the streets, only the street in front of Feng's house is relatively clean.

After passing through many houses, Li Chengqian came to a slightly dilapidated courtyard.

This is the place that Zhang Yun arranged for Zhao Wenhao. Although it is dilapidated, it is still much better than his previous leaky residence.

At the gate of the courtyard, Zhao Wenhao, who had finished washing and tidying up, was like a different person. Although he was as thin as a piece of chopsticks, he still looked more human than a few days ago.

Seeing the crown prince, Zhao Wenhao knelt down without hesitation. Under Zhang Yun's stop, he didn't continue to smash his head on the ground.

Seeing Zhao Wenhao's obvious long-term malnutrition, Li Chengqian sighed and said: "You said you were the governor of Yangzhou before? Then you can be regarded as a scholar with some knowledge. Even if you can't make a living with your hands, wouldn't you join Lingnan? Family? With your understanding of the Central Plains, how can you make a living."

Zhao Wenhao sighed, didn't get up, and said, "Your Highness, Lingnan people are extremely repulsive to people from the Central Plains. How can those families accept us? It's not that they don't accept us, but the treaty of selling themselves as slaves is too deceptive. .”

Don't eat cheap food, this alone makes Li Chengqian take a high look at Zhao Wenhao.

Staring into Zhao Wenhao's eyes, Li Chengqian asked: "Now I ask you alone, why were you convicted and exiled to Lingnan?"

Zhao Wenhao was stunned for a moment, but he still replied in a low voice: "Corruption, before the criminal officials withdrew a lot of national taxes during their tenure. At the beginning of Zhenguan, they were found out by Baiqisi, and the criminal ministers were ransacked. The whole family was exiled to Lingnan."

Through observation, Li Chengqian found that Zhao Wenhao was not resentful, and he accepted his fate.As long as you are not a person who says "the world is wrong, I am right", at least it is not hopeless.

Thinking of this, Li Chengqian said to Zhao Wenhao: "You have been in Lingnan for many years, and you have a good understanding of the customs and customs. To be honest, people like you are the best choice for the Central Plains to send officials to Lingnan. But you also know that you are a Don't even think about getting back in the face of guilt. So, now I will give you a chance to make meritorious deeds. In Quanzhou, I'm going to transfer a governor from the Central Plains. You will be the governor's staff. Although you don't have an official position, you will provide food and clothing for the whole family. It's still fine, would you like to?"

Zhao Wenhao put his head on the ground without hesitation: "The guilty minister is willing, the guilty minister is willing!"

Nodding his head, Li Chengqian was somewhat sure of Quanzhou's strategy.

Before the Central Plains and Lingnan are completely integrated, the supervision of this place cannot be relaxed.Let the Feng family supervise Lingnan, although it will not be self-inflicted, but there is no doubt that it is not safe to do so.The best way is to start from Quanzhou and slowly erode southwestward.

Frogs should still be boiled in warm water.

Chapter 400

If you want to completely bring Lingnan into the control of the Central Plains, the biggest impact is the inconvenient transportation.It is difficult for a situation like Alaska in the later generations of the United States to appear in the era of Datang.There is only one factor that determines whether a territory is strong or not.That is how long it will take for the assembled army to drive over. The saying "the truth is only within the range of the cannon" was the most reasonable in the Tang Dynasty.

The reason why Li Chengqian decided to infiltrate Lingnan is because the Central Plains and Lingnan are no longer independent of each other. The connection between the sea and some waterways has made the Central Plains and Lingnan connected.As for the land route, Li Chengqian believes that any difficulties are nothing in front of the most creative merchants.

Once Lingnan successfully develops the sea trade route, all kinds of things purchased abroad will continuously flow into the Datang market. In the face of this fresh interest, any big businessman with capital can't help but be tempted, even if the sea route There are still some rivers that can meet the needs of transportation, but they will still use their feet to step on the land.

As long as the journey from the Central Plains to Lingnan no longer takes several months, then if Lingnan wants to be independent or something, you have to ask the emperor what he thinks.

There has been a saying in the Central Plains of "unifying the world" since ancient times. Although it is a bit unrealistic to understand it literally, it is still possible to conquer all the areas within the footsteps.Not counting the plateau and the Western Turks, Lingnan, in any case, has to form a whole with the Central Plains.Even if Lingnan can be independent in a short period of time, but when there is enough time and energy in the middle, it will definitely take action against Lingnan.

Feng An knew this very well, so he chose to submit without hesitation at first, at most because he was dissatisfied with the emperor's practice of killing his brother and imprisoning his father, and he was unwilling to submit himself.Nowadays, Datang is invincible in the world, and there is enough time and patience to sort out internal affairs. Lingnan, as the last piece of restless land on the territory of Datang, must bear the brunt of it.To be honest, the arrival of the prince surprised Feng An endlessly.I have to admit that although the prince is considered tough, at least he is not blindly tough. Judging from the previous seaport and shipyard, the prince can still negotiate and get along with each other.

Regarding the changes in Quanzhou, Li Chengqian told Feng An that Feng An only said "in the land of the Tang Dynasty, we should follow the imperial court's arrangements", which is a complete statement of his position.

Zhao Wenhao's son recovered well, at least he could get up and salute on the bed.Li Chengqian freed the young man from his guilt and allowed him to return to the Central Plains. This alone brought tears to Zhao Wenhao's eyes, and he swore that he would repay His Highness the Crown Prince with his life.

It's that simple to win people's hearts.

Coming out of the residence, the silent Zhang Yun couldn't help but said, "Your Highness, is it inappropriate for you to arrange this? Although you are the crown prince, you don't have the right to forgive sinners. Can your majesty agree?"

Walking on the streets of Gaozhou, Li Chengqian said without turning his head: "Father will definitely agree, this is just the simplest way to win people's hearts. Zhao Wenhao, since he is an official and the governor of Shangzhou, he still has some tricks." .Sending officials to Lingnan can only be promoted from below. Who wants to come here for top officials? What do you expect the magistrate of the previous county to do in the chaotic situation in Quanzhou?

Therefore, aides are necessary, and there is no more suitable aides than criminals from Lingnan.Although they look miserable in Lingnan, at least they understand the affairs of Lingnan. There are definitely not a few people like Zhao Wenhao who were high officials before.You know, if you are not a high official, you will not commit the crime of exile to Lingnan.Although these people are guilty, they have to admit that they are talents.

When employing people, don't ask where they come from.At the beginning, even Cao Mengde said that he should use his talents and not use his people. "

Zhang Yun couldn't help but nodded, and didn't say anything else.In his eyes, the prince is still immature, but he has given him the illusion of being an adult more than once. I'm afraid, this time when he returns to Chang'an and enters the court, among those top bosses, His Royal Highness the prince can also play well!

Li Ke packed up and went back. As a character who can only stay at home, it doesn't matter whether Wuzhong has him or not.But in the face of Lingnan's upcoming achievements, he can only choose to retreat.

Not only Li Tai, but also Li Chengqian went to the shipyard, where they ate and lived with the craftsmen, and even took off their clothes to work together occasionally.With his example, all work in the shipyard remains enthusiastic, hot and fast.

How long will it take to equip the Lingnan Gaozhou Fleet?half a year!How long will it take to equip a coastline from Lingnan to Yangzhou?Then it is not counted by month.Although the size of the Lingnan Shipyard has more than doubled, it still took a full year and a half to prepare the materials for this heavy work, and it took two years to complete the equipment.

When people have something to do, they feel that time passes quickly. When a batch of ships from Yuezhou were sent away, and only half of the shipbuilding in Yangzhou was left in the shipyard, Li Chengqian realized that two years had passed like this. passed.

Two years, now it is the summer of the 12th year of Zhenguan.

"His Royal Highness, the materials for the ships used in Yangzhou have been prepared, and only the final assembly is left. I believe that it will be fully equipped in less than two months."

Chang Huaichun, the director of the shipyard, came out from the corner, holding a list in his hand, and couldn't contain his excitement.In two years, ten state capitals were armed, including Gaozhou, Gangzhou, Xunzhou, Chaozhou, Quanzhou, Kuozhou, Yuezhou, Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Suzhou.Dengzhou Shipyard, which received the order with them, had only completed Haizhou's task at this time.

If they still felt that the emperor was bullying and favoring Dengzhou Shipyard when they got the emperor's imperial decree, now they are relieved.Hey, what about the Dengzhou shipyard?Our tasks are heavier than yours, so we still leave you far behind?

Looking back at Chang Huaichun, Li Chengqian said helplessly: "Dengzhou Shipyard is the property of the imperial court. Because of this, the craftsmen there can only accept the most basic wages. It's different here, my good guys, I'll just give it to you in the past few years." The rewards given out are more than [-] guan, if you don’t work harder, wouldn’t the money be wasted?”

Hearing the prince's words, many craftsmen and workers laughed.In two years, they also recognized the prince's character.At this time, the prince standing in front of them was eight feet tall and handsome. Although his complexion had turned bronze due to long hours of work, it didn't affect the impression at all.At first they thought that the prince's hands-on work was just a gesture, but who knew that this gesture lasted for two years.

The prince is already bowing down to work, how can they be lazy?In addition, the reward money that the prince gave out after reaching the goal was much more than the wages, which immediately made everyone excited.So what if you are exhausted every day?How can you compare yourself to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?No complaints, hard work, just these two things, the miracle of Lingnan Shipyard has long been achieved.

Although the prince said it was an overall honor, they all knew that if it wasn't for the prince, someone else would never be able to accomplish such an achievement.

Seeing the craftsmen around him looking at him with burning eyes, Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief, raised a hand and said, "I'm quitting today, just throw everything in my hand aside, the ships from Yuezhou have been delivered, let's I have to rest for a few days. The reward that I promised you back then will definitely be distributed as usual, and the caravan sent a lot of fine wine from the Central Plains. Tonight, I will treat you tonight, and you will not return if you are not drunk!"

Hearing this, all the craftsmen roared excitedly. As for those who still had tools in their hands, they happily threw them aside.Work hard when you are working, and rest completely when you are resting.This is something the prince has always emphasized, and they have long been accustomed to it.

Under the coercion of the craftsmen, Li Chengqian was carried out of the shipyard by more than a dozen people.There are no personal guards on both sides, because it is very unnecessary.If an assassin appeared at this time, Li Chengqian was confident that he would be full of guards in front of him.At the beginning, the old man told him that a real king does not need to be ruled by power. Whenever he appears anywhere in the world, there will be people who are willing to sacrifice their lives. Such an emperor is the real master of fame.

It is a bit difficult to make the whole world like this, but it is not a problem to make a factory like this.

At this age, it's okay to drink a little wine, so when the banquet started, Li Chengqian always refused to come. Although he was the one who was poured the most, he still stood at the end.

After the banquet was over, Li Chengqian left the shipyard with Zhang Yun's support, and was going back to Feng's house to rest for a few days.

The work of the shipyard, even if he didn't follow, could still be completed on schedule. Two years had passed, and it was time to return to Chang'an.In the past two years, there have been urging letters from the emperor, empress, and even civil and military officials.In their view, the officials of the imperial court successfully entered Lingnan and gained a firm foothold in Quanzhou, Chaozhou, Xunzhou, and Gangzhou. The prince's action this time has been successful.

As for the west of Guangzhou and Shaozhou, we can't be too hasty.Nearly half of the land in Lingnan is under the control of the imperial court, and the recovery of Lingnan is already a certainty.

Li Chengqian, reeking of alcohol, just returned to the small building, and surprised Su Yuan who was waiting.

"Why did you drink so much alcohol?"

Zhang Yun said helplessly at the side: "Although your highness is drinking wine, but those craftsmen who don't know their dignity take turns to toasting. I have already vomited twice on the way back. Then I will hand it over to the crown princess. The slaves should go out. .”

Although he was an eunuch, Zhang Yun knew how to measure it. After handing the prince over to the two maids for support, he turned and left.

Seeing Li Chengqian whose throat was constantly throbbing, Su Yuan sighed, and beckoned the maid to help her carry the prince to the bathroom.Three women carried a big man, even though Li Chengqian's weight was not overweight, they were still sweating profusely.

It wasn't until the prince was put into the bathtub that Su Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the empty small building, she couldn't help cursing Ashina Xue and Xiuxiu secretly.Since the crown prince released their foot restraint, the two of them seemed to be crazy. In addition, the crown prince's husband had always lived in the shipyard and rarely came back. The two simply moved out and one planted a large area. Huatian became a nympho, and a hunter who had nothing to do in the cottage became a savage.

He was secretly cursing at the two crazy women when he saw the husband in the tub slipping down against the wall of the tub.Su Yuan was startled, and hurriedly reached out to hold her husband's head, and pulled him out.

With a sigh, Su Yuan took off her coat and got into the bathtub.While supporting her husband, she helped him wash his body.

While she was busy, she didn't notice a gap in her husband's eyes, and there was a scheming smile on the corner of his mouth.

Before Su Yuan could wash for a long time, she screamed and pulled out a big mischievous hand from under her bra.