The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 629: Archery Competition
Watching Li Yan and his men disappear on the official road, Wu Qing quietly walked up and whispered, "General, this is good. The prince really asked you to be in charge of the Zuotun Guard."

"We can repeat the same trick. When the canal is almost finished, we can find a strategic location to dig it up. We can delay until the food supply in the capital is cut off. Then we can use Sun Da's strategy and contact Jie Li's army to attack the border. With internal and external troubles erupting at the same time, we can surely put the Tang Dynasty in a desperate situation."

Chang Sheng shook his head worriedly: "I'm afraid this idea won't work."

"how?"

Wu Qing was anxious and asked sternly, "Are you afraid of death, or do you not want to avenge your old master?"

"neither"

Chang Sheng sighed dejectedly and said helplessly: "Just now, the prince revealed to me before he left that Li Shimin still has more than one million dan of grain stored in several large granaries in the capital. He secretly accumulates it every year in order to deal with Jie Li."

"This matter was done very secretly. Even in the court, only a few core officials knew about it."

"What?"

Wu Qing immediately showed a surprised expression: "More than one million dan? Did you hear it wrong? Could it be that the prince is lying to you?"

"Absolutely not."

Chang Sheng's face was solemn, and he said indignantly: "From today's situation, the court has no doubts about Cheng Huailiang's death. The prince also trusts me. He told me to repair it slowly, one month or two months. The court is not that critical at all."

"Besides, Li Shimin plans to launch a campaign against the Turks this winter and next spring, and it is reasonable for him to secretly accumulate money, food, soldiers and other supplies. Once the Central Plains and the Turks go to war, the scale will be huge and it will take a long time. Let alone a million dan, even a few million dan of food will not be enough. How could there be a shortage of food?"

"Why is the price of grain so high in the capital? There is no rice to sell outside." Wu Qing asked unwillingly with a grim look on his face.

Chang Sheng told the story of the wealthy families in Beijing hoarding grain and slowly shook his head: "Those people hide grain and don't sell it, just to wait until the price is high and sell it at a good price."

"Also, the prince had already suspected something about the breach at the Dragon King Temple, but he didn't suspect us. He only suspected that it was the wealthy families in the capital who did this in order to prevent the Yongtong Canal from being connected and causing grain prices to fall."

"The prince will report to the emperor when he returns to the capital. On the one hand, we will secretly investigate the cause, and on the other hand, we will send people to guard the various sections of the canal."

"Wu Qing, we only took advantage of the conflict between the Crown Prince and the King of Shu yesterday to catch them off guard. Now the court is prepared and we must not do anything else. Otherwise, even if there is no crisis in Chang'an, our identities will be exposed and we will be caught in one fell swoop."

"Hey"

Wu Qing said in despair: "General, this plan won't work either. When can we avenge our old master?"

"No matter what, we must first take possession of the 5,000 imperial guards from Zuotunwei. The court is about to launch a war against the Turks, and the crown prince is in charge of finances and grain. As long as he can continue to be in charge of logistics, we are in a core position and will always find an opportunity."

"By then, even at the critical moment of the battle, it is not impossible to burn the logistics and food supplies of the Tang army."

"Stop for now, it's important to stabilize the situation. If you insist on doing it your own way, I'm afraid those brothers will be sacrificed in vain and it won't help!" Chang Sheng looked up at the setting sun, comforting Wu Qing and himself.

"Well, that's all there is now."

Wu Qing was also stunned, then nodded dejectedly. He could have avenged his old master right away, but now it seemed that he would have to postpone it again.

The relationship between the two could not be exposed, and since the matter was settled, Wu Qing left first, leaving Chang Sheng standing alone in the afterglow of the sunset, feeling lost. Chang Sheng thought of Li Jiancheng's kindness to him, his own mission, and his father who was abandoned by him and his wife who had not yet married him.

Ever since Suizhou refused to recognize him, Changsheng's heart has been in torment. His father raised him up, and he had not fulfilled his filial duty yet, but he let their father be displaced and leave their hometown. He heard from Caiji that his father was very ill and he didn't know if he could survive.

Suizhou is located on the border, and the entire city was destroyed in the war. I don’t know where they are now?
Sun Da was defeated in battle, but lost himself first. Wu Qing and his men urged him to keep moving. The prince's words just now shattered his original plan. Chang Sheng felt that his future was like this setting sun, with no hope or future.

For a moment, Changsheng's will was a little depressed, and he didn't know what to do in the future.

After returning to the East Palace, Li Yan did not report to Li Shimin the suspected digging of the canal. He just told Chang Sheng to let Chang Sheng work for him. If he really reported to Li Shimin, wouldn't that absolve the King of Shu, Li Ke, of his guilt?

Moreover, with the emperor's special attention, he could not show his ability. Li Yan knew that this mission contained a huge opportunity and test. Moreover, as a man of three generations, although he was small, his mind was unlimited. If he couldn't do such a small thing, it would be a waste of all his years.

Li Yan was not as busy as the outside world thought, working day and night. Instead, he took advantage of this free time to relax. He slept until the sun was high in the sky every day, ate and drank his fill, and then went to the small parade ground to watch Li Jingxuan, Pei Xingjian, Li Jinxing and other younger tutors practice riding and archery.

This showed how wise Li Yan was. Both Tongguan and Huazhou were being watched by tutors who were eager to prove their talents to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

These people knew that the prince had plenty of positions under him where they could display their talents, and all they were worried about was their loyalty and ability. So, taking advantage of this rare opportunity, these people worked diligently, fearing that they would be outdone by others, and handled their respective tasks in an orderly manner.

He traveled back and forth between the two places every day to report the situation in each place to Li Yan. Although Li Yan never left the Prince's Mansion, he knew the situation and progress of the two places well.

Chang Sheng and Wu Qing saw that the prince had not been to the construction site for several days since they parted that day, and they became more convinced that building the canal was not a big deal for the court. They believed Li Yan's words even more, and redoubled their efforts to repair the canal and take down the position of Lieutenant General of the Zuotunwei Army.

Li Shimin heard from Henglian in the palace that Li Yan was still as lazy as before. He wanted to scold him, but after learning more about the situation, he found out that the work in the two places was proceeding step by step. Although Li Yan was not present, he paid attention to it every day and did not make any mistakes.

When discussing with Fang Xuanling in Chengqing Hall, Fang Xuanling and several other important officials all praised the prince, saying that although he was young, he had the style of a great general, able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away, which was more in line with the requirements of the emperor and all the civil and military officials in the court for a crown prince.

This is what a head coach should do. If the prince really has to go to the scene in person every day, otherwise he will not be able to control the situation, that would be worrying.

Should the Emperor let the Crown Prince go and try his luck, and see if he can shoulder the heavy responsibility without the help of his parents and ministers?
When Li Shimin heard this, he thought it made sense so he ignored it and let Li Yan do whatever he wanted to see what he could do!
It was a sunny day, with bright sunshine. The bright sunshine made people feel warm. Li Yan came to the small training ground of the East Palace. Li Jingxuan, Pei Xingjian and Li Jinxing were competing in archery. Three targets were set up a hundred steps away.

Each of the three men had ten arrows, and from time to time a red star was shot at the target, causing cheers from the surrounding guards.

"See His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Seeing Li Yan coming, the guards saluted. Li Yan waved his hand, and everyone returned to their posts. Li Jingxuan, Pei Xingjian and Li Jinxing greeted him respectfully.

"Go on, I'll see how good your archery skills are."

Li Yan smiled slightly and raised his hand: "The Turks in the grasslands outside the Great Wall are natural hunters. They can herd livestock when they dismount and shoot bows when they mount. They can shoot at a distance of 150 steps without any training. The warriors above the centurion level among them can basically hit the target at a distance of 200 steps."

"Our ordinary soldiers are considered good at shooting at a distance of 100 steps. Only a few brave generals can compare with them."

"With such a huge disparity, how can we not make changes? You should take the lead in narrowing the gap and hold yourselves to a higher standard."

The three men usually think highly of themselves, and when provoked by Li Yan, they became even more unwilling to accept the defeat. They shouted to put the target two hundred steps away and started the competition.

The final result was obviously different. The target, which was usually a hundred steps away, was suddenly twice as far away. After several rounds of test shooting, only Pei Xingjian hit half of the targets. Li Jingxuan and Li Jinxing didn't hit any of them. The three of them were ashamed.

Li Yan didn't take it to heart. Several of them were one or two years younger than Li Yan. It was normal for them to miss the target due to insufficient airway. Not everyone was as cheating as Li Yan.

Seeing Xue Rengui next to him eager to try, Li Yan called out: "Rengui, you are their sergeant, teach them how to shoot arrows?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Without saying a word, Xue Rengui picked up the Chi Le bow given by Li Yan, swung his bow, drew an arrow with his right hand, and with a "swish", it hit the red star directly from two hundred steps away, which immediately aroused cheers from everyone. Pei Xingjian and the other two also excitedly surrounded Xue Rengui to ask for advice.

At this moment, Wang Xuance, who had not been seen for a long time, appeared. He quietly came to the training ground and bowed to Li Yan softly: "Xuance greets His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Well, Xuan Ce is here?"

After Wang Xuance was assigned the task of being close to Chang Sanduo's uncle and nephew at Chunyu Teahouse in the East Market, he has been busy with this matter. He did not participate in the subsequent dredging of the Tongguan Pass and the repair of the Yongtong Canal. He just reported to Li Yan on the latest situation of Chang Sanduo and his nephew every now and then.

"Your Highness, during this period of time, I have completely gained their trust. I have already found out what you asked me to investigate."

(End of this chapter)