People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1822: The Crown Prince Wears a Sword
On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, although people were coming and going in the palace as usual, in fact not many people were concerned about state affairs.

Li Xuan simply left the Taiji Hall and strolled around the palace with Li Zhizhao and Xia'er.

……

The cold blade stood upright in front of Li Xuan's eyes. Through the shiny blade, he clearly saw Li Zhizhao standing on the left with some curiosity, and Xia'er standing on the right with eagerness to try.

The blade is not long, only four feet three inches and six points.

It’s not too heavy, only 2.6 jin.

The new Tang sword that the Chief Engineer had just created was specifically designed for fighting in Silla.

Li Xuan pulled the straight blade away from his eyes, then turned to look at Li Zhizhao and said calmly: "Prince, it's time for you to learn martial arts."

"Yes!" Li Zhizhao bowed solemnly and glanced carefully at his sister opposite him out of the corner of his eye. Xia'er immediately clenched her fist and smashed it hard at Li Zhizhao.

The corner of Li Zhizhao's mouth twitched involuntarily.

Xia'er, in her purple skirt, looked very cute, but she also had a bit of toughness in her.

Li Xuan waved to Xiaer.

Xia Er immediately came over, smiled and bowed, saying, "Father."

Li Xuan nodded, handed over the knife handle, and said, "Try this knife, how about it?"

"Oh!" Xia Er immediately took it, and then casually and standardly swung the knife, then raised an eyebrow and said, "It's a little light, father."

"Hmm!" Li Xuan took the knife handle again, then looked at Li Zhizhao and said, "Zhao'er, you try it!"

"Yes, father!" Li Zhizhao bowed solemnly, then walked carefully to Li Xuan and took the handle of the knife.

Li Xuan saw clearly that although Zhao'er was cautious in his movements, he held the hilt of the knife very steadily.

After carefully swinging the sword twice, Zhao'er carefully turned the handle over and returned the sword.

Li Xuan smiled, took the knife handle, raised his head and looked around.

There were more than a dozen soldiers on each side of the sword-testing field of the Military Works Bureau. In each straw hut, there were straw men, wooden men, and whole pieces of Zhu.

Li Xuan took a deep breath and walked to each straw hut to try.

Under the long sword, everything was cut into two pieces.

Standing in front of the last piece of pork, Li Xuan turned around, looked at Li Zhizhao, and said, "Prince, come and chop it, just like father did before."

Li Zhizhao's breathing couldn't help but stagnate. He now completely understood that his father brought him here today just to let him make this blow.

"Yes!" Li Zhizhao walked forward with a slightly pale face, took the long knife from Li Xuan's hand, and then looked at the whole piece of pork opposite.

Li Xuan took a step back and said gently, "Take your time. Cut as you like. Pull the knife from the upper right abdomen to the lower left abdomen. At the same time, use your shoulders to push hard."

Li Zhizhao subconsciously placed the blade on the upper right abdomen of the pork. At this moment, Li Xuan suddenly stepped forward and hit Li Zhizhao's shoulder with his right shoulder. At the same time, he grasped his knife handle with his right hand. A powerful force instantly appeared in Li Zhizhao's hand.

Immediately afterwards, involuntarily and uncontrollably, the long knife stabbed into the pork body and then pulled it to the side.

In an instant, half a piece of pork fell directly onto the straw mat below.

Li Zhizhao looked at the half piece of pork on the straw mat, his mind still savoring the feeling of chopping it hard just now.

At this time, Li Xuan said calmly: "Remember, this winter, you executed a lot of prisoners. The executioner felt the same way when he beheaded them."

"Father... Father." Li Zhizhao's face turned even paler, and there was even a disgusting smell rising in his chest.

Li Xuan raised his head, looked behind him, and said, "Someone, bring me a scabbard. I'm taking this sword with me."

Li Zhu walked over quickly, picked up the scabbard on the side and handed it to Li Xuan.

Li Xuan took the long sword from Li Zhizhao's hand, and in an instant, the long sword entered the scabbard very smoothly.

Li Xuan handed the scabbard to Li Zhizhao and said, "Tomorrow, you will take this knife. You will go with the great-uncle of Han Wang, the great-uncle of Huo Wang, the great-uncle of Zheng Wang, the nephew of Wei Wang, and the nephew of Xiang Wang to offer sacrifices at Xianling, Zhaoling, Qianling, and Dingling. The day after tomorrow, you will take it to the New Year's Day court."

On New Year's Day, kings are allowed to carry weapons.

The prince naturally has this right, but few princes do so.

Of course, if the emperor specifically granted permission, that was another matter. "I obey your order." Li Zhizhao's expression suddenly became solemn.

"I'll go with you tomorrow." Li Xuan looked in the direction of the Xian Mausoleum and said softly, "The day after tomorrow, the emperor will confer the title of Prince of Yong on your brother. This matter must be reported to our ancestors."

Prince Yong Li Chongzhao had died, and the emperor appointed Prince Qi Li Zhiming as Prince Yong.

Regarding this matter, he wanted Li Zhizhao to take Li Zhiming with him to sacrifice to the ancestors and make it known to the world.

It was a customary practice for the kings to offer sacrifices to the various tombs on New Year's Eve. It was also orthodox for the emperor to offer sacrifices to heaven, earth and ancestors on the second day of the New Year.

"Yes!" Li Zhizhao immediately bowed.

Li Xuan smiled, holding Xia'er with one hand and Zhao'er with the other, and said, "Okay, let's go back to Lizheng Palace. We will all sleep in your mother's palace tonight."

"Okay, okay!" Xia'er couldn't help but nodded.

"Let's go."

……

The night is hazy, with only the faint light from the crescent moon shining into the world.

In Lizheng Hall, Liu Jinyu walked out from the side hall and looked at Li Xuan who was sitting on the couch reading the memorial. She said unhappily, "What are you doing, husband? It's almost New Year's Eve, and you're still using this to scare the children."

"It takes experience." Li Xuan put down the memorial and said, "After what happened today, he will remember it for the whole New Year, and his demeanor will be different. This way, when he interacts with people outside, he will look dignified, which will prevent others from easily looking down on him."

With a sharp blade in hand, murderous intent is everywhere.

What Li Xuan wanted was this murderous aura. Only this murderous aura could help Li Zhizhao stand in front of others.

"He's already ten years old, and he'll be twelve in two years. It's inevitable that some people will look at him with strange eyes, either with hope or calculation. At his age, it's a good thing to be a little bit cold." Li Xuan raised his head calmly and said, "A young man should have edges and corners."

"If Zhao'er was still the prince of Peng, it would be fine for my husband to teach like this, but he is the crown prince now." Although Liu Jinyu smiled bitterly helplessly, she still sat down next to Li Xuan. She was also implicitly acknowledging that Li Xuan was right.

Li Xuan picked up the memorial and handed it to Liu Jinyu, saying, "This is a summary of Wugong County's internal and external affairs regarding household grain for the past year. Although Zhao'er is a little soft-hearted, there are generally no problems. So next year, I plan to get in touch with all the criminal law, storage, bridges, waterways, supervision, merit, and corvée affairs of Wugong County, and strive to become a qualified paper county magistrate in three years."

"Paper?" When Liu Jinyu heard this word, he gave Li Xuan a displeased look.

Li Xuan smiled and continued, "After that, I started to get involved in the affairs of the entire Qizhou Prefecture."

"Qizhou, why not Yongzhou?" Liu Jinyu looked up in surprise.

"My lady, have you forgotten that your second son is the governor of Yongzhou? Although he hasn't established a government yet, letting Zhao'er directly come into contact with Yongzhou's affairs now will cause disaster in the future." Li Xuan rolled his eyes at Liu Jinyu in annoyance.

Even though Li Zhizhao and Li Zhiming are brothers, they should be separated.

"Okay." Liu Jinyu leaned on Li Xuan and asked, "So, husband, are you planning to transfer the Wugong County Magistrate as well?"

"Let's gradually infiltrate the country by appointing him as the Crown Prince's attendant and the Inspector of Qizhou. After a few years, let Cheng Xingmou be the Junior Minister of the Sinong Temple, and then transfer him to the Governor of Qizhou." Li Xuan looked ahead and said softly, "Only in this way can he understand the hardships of the world, let him focus on the people's livelihood, know the fundamentals of world governance, and then come back to look at the world differently."

Liu Jinyu nodded gently. The crown prince would always be the one the emperor cultivated most attentively.

Li Xuan lowered his head, breathed a sigh of relief, then casually opened a memorial book. Then, his expression couldn't help but change slightly.

Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan in surprise and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's a memorial from Ren Zhigu, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue." Li Xuan handed it to Liu Jinyu and said, "He suggested that we use money to buy grain from Silla next year."

“Silla.” Liu Jinyu raised his head completely.

"Hmm!" Li Xuan stood up and said excitedly, "There will be a drought in the Tang Dynasty next year. This kind of thing cannot be hidden from Ren Zhigu, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue, so he suggested that in addition to internal allocation, we can also purchase grain from Silla. This way, not only can the food shortage in the Tang Dynasty be alleviated, but also Silla's food reserves can be weakened... It seems that he also knows about the war."

"In this way, a lot of money will be spent!" Liu Jinyu looked at Li Xuan worriedly.

"As for the money, it doesn't matter if it's less." Li Xuan waved his hand, walked back and forth and said, "The reason why Silla can stay in the eastern mountains for a long time is because it has enough reserves in the mountains. As long as the reserves are reduced to a certain level, and once the war starts, Silla will not be able to harvest new grain within three years, it won't be long before the Silla people themselves will become chaotic."

Li Xuan could already see the Silla people killing each other.

He couldn't help but continue, "Food transported from the mountains of Silla to the Tang Dynasty must go through the port. In this way, Silla's port cities will become more prosperous. At that time, the more Silla people there are, the more beneficial it will be to the Tang Dynasty."

Suddenly, Li Xuan stopped and said sternly, "I need to issue an order to completely ban all grain ships from the eastern coast from being shipped to Silla. What if Tang Dynasty is short of grain, but some people are still secretly transporting grain to Silla... No, and ironware... Maybe it's the Silla people who are buying it."

Li Xuan's face turned completely cold.

(End of this chapter)