The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 144 Chapter 143 Name Giving
Li Ying's Mansion.

Li Heng half-leaned on a chair in the courtyard, looking at the familiar scenery, and recalled the second day after he and Yang Yuhuan got married. It was here that Yang Yuhuan wanted to use "music medicine" to relieve his physical symptoms.

In a blink of an eye, it's already the fifth year.

Li Heng was just thinking about it when a servant suddenly came to report, "Your Highness, Wang Wailang from the Ministry of War wants to see you."

Wang Wailang of the Ministry of War was Wang Wei's younger brother Wang Jin.

Li Ying said, "Please ask him to come in."

"Yes." The servant retreated.

After a while, Wang Jin came in with another man and saluted Li Heng together.

Li Ying took a look at the man Wang Jin brought and saw that he was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with an average appearance, but full of energy.

After Wang Jin entered the room, he introduced: "Your Highness, this man's surname is Liu, his name is Yan, his courtesy name is Shi'an, and he is from Nanhua, Caozhou."

Li Ying was startled when he heard this.

There is a line in "Three Character Classic" that goes "Liu Yan of the Tang Dynasty was only seven years old. He was selected as a child prodigy and became a formal calligrapher." It is talking about this Liu Yan.

Throughout his life, Liu Yan reformed the salt monopoly system, the grain transport system, and the Changping system, and implemented a series of financial reform measures. He was a rare political talent.

Historically, Wang Jin was attached to Yuan Zai, and Wang Jin was implicated in Yuan Zai's murder. It was because Liu Yan spoke for Wang Jin that Wang Jin was spared from death.

After Wang Jin's explanation, Liu Yan respectfully saluted Li Heng and said, "I am Liu Yan, meeting your Highness."

"Shi'an became famous at the age of seven. I have long wanted to meet him. It is a great relief to meet him today."

After Li Ying finished speaking, he invited Wang Jin and Liu Yan to sit down and asked the servants to serve them tea.

After Wang Jin sat down, he said frankly: "To be honest with you, Your Highness, I came to visit you today to ask for a favor."

Wang Wei and Wang Jin were both people employed by Zhang Jiuling before. Now Li Linfu was in power and he purged all the people employed by Zhang Jiuling and squeezed Wang Wei out to the south. Wang Jin was also trembling with fear in the court and had a hard time.

As for Liu Yan, he was hailed as a child prodigy at the age of seven, which had a lot to do with Zhang Jiuling's uncle Zhang Shuo.

At that time, Li Longji was offering sacrifices to heaven and earth at Mount Tai, and Liu Yan presented an ode to Li Longji. Li Longji was curious about Liu Yan's ability to excel in writing at such a young age, so he asked Zhang Shuo to investigate Liu Yan.

After Zhang Shuo inspected Liu Yan, he reported to Li Longji, saying: "Liu Yan is a national treasure."

In this way, Liu Yan was given the title of child prodigy.

After that, Zhang Shuo took more care of Liu Yan. Later, when Zhang Jiuling came to power, he took over some of Zhang Shuo's power, including Liu Yan.

Therefore, in Li Linfu's eyes, Liu Yan was also a member of Zhang Jiuling's party.

Li Longji gave Zhang Mujin to Li Heng and asked Li Heng to send Zhang Jiuling. His purpose was to let Li Heng take over some of Zhang Jiuling's people in order to split Li Heng and Li Linfu.

Now, Wang Jin brought Liu Yan to visit Li Heng, and it was obvious what they wanted to ask for.

Li Heng understood the clues, but he did not point it out. He smiled and said, "What is the matter, Wang Wailang? Just tell me. I will do my best to do what I can."

Wang Jin said: "Anxi is expanding its army and recruiting more officials. Shi'an is quite talented, so I brought Shi'an to visit Your Highness today, hoping that he can find a job here."

Li Heng nodded, looked at Liu Yan, and said, "Anxi is remote, and it's a long way to go. Can Shi'an be willing to leave Chang'an?"

Liu Yan said: "How can I make a decision without knowing the situation? I want to go to Anxi with Your Highness because I want to know the situation."

Li Heng asked, "What position do you want to apply for?"

Liu Yan hesitated for a moment, then mustered up his courage and said, "If Your Highness trusts me, a county magistrate will be enough."

"The county magistrate is fine too." Li Ying said with a smile.

Liu Yan was startled, bowed deeply to Li Heng, and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

……

…………

Li Heng stayed in Chang'an for a few more days. After confirming with Li Linfu the matter of expanding the army and increasing the number of officials, he went to bid farewell to Li Longji and Concubine Wu Huifei.

Li Longji was in Wu Huifei's palace at this time.

Concubine Wu Hui was reluctant to see Li Heng go, and she gave him many instructions, and finally asked, "By the way, what's your daughter's name? I miss her but don't know how to call her."

Li Ying said, "I rushed back to Chang'an as soon as the child was born, and didn't have time to name him."

Concubine Wu Hui looked at Li Longji and said, "Sanlang, can you give the child a name?"

The matter of asking Li Longji to name the daughter was agreed upon in advance by Li Heng and Concubine Wu Huifei. The reason Li Heng gave to Concubine Wu Huifei was that Li Longji's bestowal of a name would reflect his favor.

But Li Heng's actual purpose was to gradually create obstacles for Li Longji in his attempt to snatch Yang Yuhuan.

After all, he has even named his granddaughter, and now he is trying to snatch his daughter-in-law, which will only lead to even greater criticism.

"Yes." Li Longji had no other thoughts at the moment, so he did not refuse. After thinking for a moment, he said to Li Heng: "I hope that the child can be like medicine, making you healthy, so call her Li Ling. When Li Ling is one year old, I will give her the title of county lady."

Li Heng thanked him hastily, talked about family matters with Li Longji and Concubine Wu Huifei, then said goodbye and went back.

……

……

……

Longzhou, Anrong outside the Pass.

He Tuo's daughter He Jin led a caravan of nearly 200 people back to Anxi. However, not far from Anrong Pass, more than 40 masked men suddenly emerged from the jungles on both sides.

He Jin was shocked and quickly asked the caravan guards to go and resist.

But the caravan guarded by a hundred men was soon beaten by these forty-odd people, with more than half of them killed or wounded.

He Jin knew he had run into a tough opponent, so he got on the car and shouted, "Heroes, we are the He family of Suiye City. What you want is money. As long as you don't kill anyone, we will give you all our wealth."

Hearing He Jin's words, the remaining guards of the He caravan retreated and protected He Jin in the middle.

The masked man in the lead was a tall man. He put a big stick on his shoulder, walked up to He Jin and the others, laughed, and said, "Young lady, what you said is very interesting. If I kill you, all your wealth will belong to me."

He Jin said: "Hero, you don't know that we are here to bring some samples to the Tang Dynasty. We don't have much money on us. Even if you take all of it, it won't be enough for you to use for long. But if the hero lets us go, I can promise to give you enough money to last you a lifetime."

"What a big mouth!" The leader said disdainfully, "Do you know how much we spent?"

"No matter how old, a hero just needs to speak up," said He Jin.

The leader said, "A thousand ounces of gold."

"Okay." He Jin agreed immediately.

The leader said, "I'm talking about everyone."

He Jin said: "I also said one thousand taels of gold for each hero."

The leader was startled, and someone next to him said, "Brother, if she is really from the He family of Suiye City, then she can afford it."

"Oh?" The leader was even more shocked and said, "Damn it! We have worked so hard and have never been able to earn a thousand taels of gold in several lifetimes. And she, a little girl, actually gave it to us just like that!"

The leader was furious when he heard this, and said to He Jin: "You have no evidence. I'll take you hostage and ask them to go back and give us the money."

He Jin hesitated for a moment and said, "If this little girl falls into the hands of a hero, can you guarantee that she will be healthy?"

The leader laughed and said, "You are such a beautiful girl, your life is safe. I am in need of a wife, so it's just right to snatch you away."

(End of this chapter)