A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1258 This is Your Majesty's Family Affairs

Spring March.

A general's platform was built on the outskirts of Chang'an.

The Crown Prince Li Chengqian, the Regent, ascended the altar and was appointed commander-in-chief. Together with Li Ji, the third-rank official of the Secretariat, the Crown Prince's Secretary, and the Minister of War, he was appointed as the chief military commander of the Shuozhou Road.

Li Chengqian held out a big seal.

"The Saint is recuperating in Lishan Palace and cannot come here, so he has someone send a general's seal to be given to Lord Ying."

The seal box was opened, revealing a silver seal.

This seal is made of silver, with a crouching tiger button, square shape, weighing six pounds and four ounces, and the inscription "Zhengbei General Seal" is in willow leaf seal script.

The left side above the seal is engraved with regular script in negative relief, reading "The 16th Year of Zhenguan".

The official seals of the Tang Dynasty were basically made of copper.

Li Ji's silver seal of the General of the Northern Expedition is very special, and even his title of General of the Northern Expedition is very special. The Tang Dynasty no longer has various general titles since the Han and Wei dynasties.

This time, the emperor specially awarded him a seal of the General of the Northern Expedition, which shows how much the emperor valued him.

"Your Majesty, I, Li Ji, thank you."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Holding the seal that was as heavy as a string of coins, Li Ji was overwhelmed with emotion. Seven armies, totaling 200,000 troops, were marching north, all under his command. This was also the first time for him to be in charge of so many troops.

He knew that there were many voices in the court and the public recently, all of which believed that Li Ji was not qualified to lead the army. Many people said that Wu Huaiyu should be invited to lead the army, as he was an invincible general. Some people also said that Li Jing should be invited to lead the army, as he was Wu Huaiyu's teacher and a master of military tactics.

Some people said that Li Ji was a general who always lost, but he could not accept it.
He had indeed lost many battles in the past, but in the past decade or so, he had been guarding Bingzhou, devoting himself to studying military tactics, training the army, and also asking for advice from Li Jing, Wu Huaiyu and others. He believed that things were different now, and all he lacked was an opportunity to prove himself.

Took over the seal of the General of the Northern Expedition,
Li Ji began to select his generals.
He awarded fish tokens from the officials of the Ministry of War to the generals, deputy generals, and sub-generals.

The central army directly led by Li Ji was composed of soldiers from the nine prefectures of Shuobing and part of the imperial guards in Chang'an, with a total of 60,000 elite soldiers from the palace, as well as 30,000 soldiers from the six governorates of the Eastern Turkic Khan Li Simo, the deputy general manager, and 10,000 young and strong men in charge of baggage.

A full 100,000 soldiers and horses.

Li Ji believed that with only the 100,000 troops in the middle, he could directly attack the enemy's nest.

On the same day,

Troops and horses marched to the front line and rushed to the battlefield.

The morale of the Tang Dynasty soldiers was high. From generals to soldiers, everyone was excited and looking forward to this war. The Tang Dynasty had never lost a foreign war in these years.
Fighting in wars can not only earn you fame, but also earn you honors and official positions. The benefits of war are huge. After a battle, if you are lucky, you can not only get rich, but also get honors and official positions, and go home to share land.

In the previous expedition to the Western Regions, many soldiers made fortunes.

Many people settled there directly, were awarded honors, positions, and land, and were even given wives directly by the government, and were rewarded with slaves, cattle, and horses.

Take off from the spot.

Class leap.

This will make you prosperous faster than farming or doing any business.

Who wouldn't be excited.

Many people missed the Western Expedition and now don’t want to miss the Northern Expedition.

Peach blossoms are in full bloom,

Wu Huaiyu, who was widely discussed as the best candidate to lead the Northern Expedition, was still on vacation in the hot springs at Mount Li. His eldest son, Wu Chengsi, Duke of Taiyuan, was also in the Ministry of Personnel, where he received a certificate of appointment as the magistrate of Luoyang County and headed to Luoyang to take up his post.

Imperial City Ministry of Personnel,

A deputy official personally escorted Wu Dalang out of the house.
I just happened to run into Wei Shuyu.

"When did my uncle return to Chang'an?"

Wei Shuyu had been serving as a military officer in Luoyang for several years.

"I just got back today too,"

He explained to Chengsi with a smile that he had come back for a transfer.

"Moved back to Chang'an, transferred to the position of Counselor of the Crown Prince's Office in the Eastern Palace."

"Congratulations, uncle."

Chengsi crossed his hands and congratulated him. Wei Shuyu was previously a prince's assistant, and was sent to Luozhou to join the army. Now he is back in the Eastern Palace.

Promotion.

The Prince's Counselor, with a rank of sixth grade, is the historian of the Eastern Palace and is affiliated with the Zuochunfang. He is in charge of admonishing the attendants and refuting and correcting memorials. All the actions of the Crown Prince that are recorded in the history books are recorded as notes and submitted to the History Museum at the end of the year.

This official position was equivalent to the imperial attendant in the imperial court and was very important.

After one term as a councilor, the next step is to enter one of the six ministries as a doctor. After one or two terms in the central government, you can then be appointed as a provincial governor, which means you have a bright future.

"Are you going to Luoyang to take up your post?"

"Well, I was supposed to meet my uncle in Luoyang soon, but he went back to Chang'an."

The official from the Ministry of Personnel looked at the two men and then looked at himself.

He was appointed as Yuanwailang when he was over fifty years old, while these two men, one in his early twenties and the other only seventeen, had already reached the sixth and fifth rank.

But who can blame them for being the sons of prime ministers?

Wei Shuyu was also Wu Huaiyu's student and brother-in-law. His calligraphy combined the strengths of Wei Zheng and Wu Huaiyu, and even Emperor Li Shimin liked him very much.

Not to mention Wu Chengsi, Wu Huaiyu's eldest son and the emperor's son-in-law.

At such a young age, he was already the Duke of Taiyuan County. In fact, if Wu Huaiyu had not refused, the emperor would have conferred him the Duke of Song.

It is easy to get things done if you have someone in the court.
It is more important to be born with a good father. The old official smiled and welcomed Wei Shuyu back to the government office. Maybe in a few years, this Wei Erlang would become the doctor of his immediate superior.

Wu Chengsi went to Luoyang on horseback, accompanied by a large group of people, including the imperial guards assigned to him by the prince, the servants assigned to him by the Wu family, and a team of staff hired by Wu Huaiyu for his son.

This is the confidence of the wealthy.

Not only does he have a high starting point, but he will also have the support of his family. At the age of seventeen, he was appointed as the fifth-rank county magistrate of Luoyang County. He was about to face very complicated affairs, but he did not have to worry about not being able to handle them, because he already had an experienced team of staff to assist him, including those in charge of criminal law, finance, letters, taxation, and accounting. There were people who specialized in external affairs and those who were responsible for internal affairs, and there was even a clear division of labor, with several people being responsible for a piece of affairs, from judicial affairs to taxation, and even correspondence was taken care of by someone.

With the assistance of such a luxurious team of staff, as long as one is not too stupid or too bad, he or she will be able to do a good job as an official and will never allow local clerks to take over.

Even though Luoyang County is a county magistrate attached to the city, there are many other government offices above it, such as the Luozhou Governor, the Luozhou Governor-General, and the Transportation Bureau, so there is no need to worry at all.

Even if a commoner from a poor family studied hard for ten years, passed the imperial examination, and survived the selection, he would eventually get a small official position of the ninth rank, such as a county lieutenant or a chief clerk. However, he would be excluded by his colleagues or sidelined by the clerks if he had no one to help him.
If things go wrong, you may even become the scapegoat at the local level, which naturally makes it difficult for you to get a good certificate. It is also common for you to be stuck at the same level for ten years, or even be dismissed while working.

Taiwei Mansion,
Chiyang County Marquis Wu Chengye Wu Erlang also changed into a brand new official robe, picked up a Qianniu sword, mounted his horse, and went to the Xuanwu Gate Imperial Guard Hundred Cavalry Battalion to take up his post.

He is now a Qianniu Beishen and the commander of the North Gate of the Hundred Cavalry.

He took over Chengsi's original position.

When Wu Huaiyu first came to the Tang Dynasty, he felt that the aristocratic politics and family hereditary succession led to class stratification and poor social class mobility, which hindered social progress and development.

But now he has become a member of a powerful family.

The Wu family became a member of this interest group. His sons were granted titles of nobility and dukedom when they were young. Now, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, they have all started to enter officialdom through family connections, and all of them started out as sixth or seventh rank officials.

His brothers and students also took advantage of the Wu family's influence and became the peripheral forces or allies of the Wu family.

The warrior who slays the dragon will eventually become a dragon.

Wu Chengsi left Chang'an,
Yesen went to the Tangquan Palace in Mount Li to pay a visit to the emperor's father-in-law and his parents.

Li Shimin liked his son-in-law Chengsi more and more, and said to Huaiyu with a smile that Chengsi was half his son and his most proud student.

"I heard that Su Dingfang brought you many mountain delicacies, sea delicacies and grass delicacies from Yaozhou. He also made you a dish of dry-roasted elephant trunk. It tasted great?"

Wu Huaiyu was not surprised that the emperor knew so much.
Anyway, the emperor had placed a lot of spies in his house more than ten years ago, and even his concubines were placed by the emperor.

Wu Huaiyu knew it very well and it was all tacitly understood.

"Dry-roasted elephant trunk does taste good, but it is a bit complicated to cook."

"Then hurry up and make one for me to try, and let Chengsi try it too."

So Wu Huaiyu took out a dried elephant trunk and some other delicacies from the mountains, grasses and the sea, and went into the kitchen himself. He worked for the whole afternoon and finally prepared a large table of delicacies for the emperor.

Although Wu Huaiyu was making the dry-roasted elephant trotter dish that the emperor specifically requested,

But the taste is better than Su Dingfang's.

As expected, not only was Su Dingfang no match for his junior brother Huaiyu in fighting, his cooking skills were even worse.

Full color and flavor.

Li Shimin ate a piece and praised it loudly, and Chengsi also liked it very much.

The emperor was full of praise.

After having enough food and drink, Huaiyu made a pot of good tea.
Li Shimin personally instructed his son-in-law on how to be a good county magistrate, and Chengsi listened very carefully.

After finishing the tea, Li Shimin asked Chengsi to go and have a rest.
"Erlang, come with me for a walk to help me digest the food. It's too delicious to eat for a while."

The emperor and his minister walked along the hiking trail to the Wanzhao Pavilion on the mountain, ready to watch the sunset over Mount Li.

"Chengsi looks a bit like you when you were young," Li Shimin praised.

"It's all because of the years I've been with His Majesty and His Majesty's teachings."

All the way up to the Wanzhao Pavilion,

Here you can enjoy the beautiful sunset over Mount Li.

Li Shimin suddenly asked, "I regret now that I insisted on marrying Su to the Crown Prince as the Crown Princess, which led to the current situation."

Wu Huaiyu did not respond. Crown Prince Chengqian had strongly protested against this matter, but Li Shimin simply ignored him, and even Changsun Shi was the same.

Now that Su has been banished to the cold palace, Cheng Qian is certainly at fault, but Li Shimin and his wife are more at fault.

"Cheng Qian now has three sons, the eldest sons born to Han, Li Xiang, the Prince of Dunhuang, Li Jue, the Prince of Yanmen, and Li Xian, the Prince of Longxi, born to Wu," Li Shimin turned his head and glanced at Wu Huaiyu, "What do you think of adopting the eldest son, Li Xiang, to Su?"

Li Shimin had his own considerations when he proposed to adopt a son for Su as the heir instead of deposing Su and making Han or Wu the Crown Princess.

Historically, Han Ming Emperor's concubine Ma was of noble birth, the daughter of General Ma Yuan, and her mother-in-law Yin Lihua particularly liked Ma and wanted to make her the queen. But Ma could not give birth to a son.

Later, someone gave Concubine Ma an idea to adopt a son of a concubine. Emperor Ming of Han favored Concubine Ma, so he gave Concubine Jia's newly born son Liu Xun to Ma.

Empress Ma poured all her love into Liu Tan, and Liu Lun was also grateful for his stepmother's kindness and was very close to her.

Liu Zhuang was cultivated by Empress Ma and was canonized as the crown prince. After Emperor Ming of Han died, Liu Zhuang also became the emperor, Emperor Zhang of Han. Emperor Zhang of Han canonized his stepmother Empress Ma as the empress dowager, but not his biological mother Jia. He also always showed great favor to the uncles of Empress Ma's maternal family.

Li Shimin also wants this now.
Let Su adopt Li Xiang as his own, so that Li Xiang would become the legitimate son.

This is different from the general practice of taking a child in and raising him/herself. Under the patriarchal system, the adopted child has inheritance rights.

Li Shimin proposed this idea at this time. It is not ruled out that he felt he owed Su and did not want to depose her. Secondly, he might want to suppress the Wu Party. After all, Han was Huaiyu's niece and Wu was Huaiyu's cousin.

They become crown princesses and will become queens in the future, but if one of their sons is adopted by Su, then when the child becomes emperor in the future, the empress dowager will also be Su.

"This is your Majesty's family affair and should not be asked to outsiders." Wu Huaiyu replied.

This answer was beyond the emperor's expectations. He was a little surprised, and then laughed.

(End of this chapter)