Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 238 The Great Hermit in the Water
Li Longji was truly unafraid of criticism. Since ascending the throne, he rectified the wrongs and suppressed many powerful and influential people who had been favored during Wu Zetian's reign. At the same time, he also dealt with the relatives of the empress, noble families, and high-ranking clans.

He had already considered these issues when he was considering Wang Maozhong.

Li Longji, a diligent ruler, had his own unique insights into personnel selection and assessment. Compared with Li Shimin, there were similarities in personnel selection, but also some differences.

As a monarch, holding the power of life and death, he naturally has a ruthless side. Based on this, being sentimental and benevolent is a plus for an emperor.

Leaving aside those who challenged imperial power, Li Shimin was actually more sentimental than Li Longji. For example, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng served for many years until their deaths.

Li Longji was also sentimental, but his current idea was to replace him every three years. No matter how well you performed, I would still replace you to avoid future complications.

What they have in common is that their methods are actually very sophisticated. They don't need to use the simplest and most brutal methods, like indiscriminate killing, because that would be a sign of a lack of confidence.

Emperor Xuanzong (Li Longji) had already replaced three prime ministers, all of whom were meritorious and held great power. However, neither the national strategy nor the court experienced much chaos, and all three prime ministers died peacefully.

This is the foundation of the Kaiyuan era's prosperity.

If the emperor fights with his ministers every day, or vice versa, it can only mean one thing: the emperor is incompetent, the ministers are incompetent, and it's all over. There's no hope for anything good.

After giving Wang Maozhong a dressing down, Li Longji did not go directly to Zhang Shuo, but instead went to Yuan Qianyao.

"I have carefully considered your previous suggestions."

Li Longji said, "Indeed! Yu Qin is indeed exceptionally talented and upright. It would be a waste of his talents to only serve as Minister of Works. Fortunately, the position of Censor-in-Chief has been vacant for a long time. I plan to promote Yu Qin to Censor-in-Chief and at the same time appoint him as Vice Minister of Works."

Yuan Qianyao immediately asked, "What does Your Majesty intend to do with the position of Minister of Works?"

Li Longji hesitated for a moment before saying, "I still want Wang Maozhong to be appointed Minister of Works. What is your opinion?"

Yuan Qianyao said, “Your Majesty, please reconsider. With Wang Maozhong’s knowledge, he is not qualified to serve as Minister. Moreover, he is arrogant and has often clashed with the Prime Minister in the past. If he is at odds with the Prime Minister, what will the other Ministers think? Will the Three Departments still be able to manage things? I hope Your Majesty will prioritize the overall situation.”

Li Longji said, "I have already warned him. If he commits any offense, I will immediately dismiss him. Besides, isn't there still Yu Qin in the Ministry of Works assisting him?"

The Imperial Censor was in charge of supervising all officials, and at the same time, he also served as the Vice Minister of Works. In reality, he was supervising Wang Maozhong. To put it bluntly, it was just a show for everyone.

Yuan Qianyao sighed, “Your Majesty, why do this? I know that Your Majesty intends to use the Taoist ideas of that nameless man. I do not object to this. Wouldn’t it be better to make Wang Maozhong the Vice Minister of Works?”

Li Longji also truthfully said, "I have considered it, but who in the court would value qigong? If Wang Maozhong is only serving as the Vice Minister of Works, his suggestion is unlikely to be adopted. Instead, it will cause discord between superiors and subordinates and will not achieve my purpose."

Seeing that Li Longji seemed to have made a decision, Yuan Qianyao nodded and said, "What Your Majesty said makes sense, and I do not object, but Minister Zhang..."

Li Longji coughed.

Yuan Qianyao glanced at Li Longji with a troubled expression, and seeing that Li Longji was looking at him for help, he sighed and said, "Alright, I will go and talk to Minister Zhang."

Li Longji quickly replied, "I'll have to trouble you then."

He knew very well that it was absolutely impossible for him to persuade Zhang Shuo to support Wang Maozhong, and he was very unwilling to have a conflict with Zhang Shuo at this time.

After all, Zhang Yue had just taken office as the Grand Secretary, and as a new official, he was eager to make his mark. The authority of the prime minister was something he had to consider.

The only option was to find a third party to relay the message, and that's what Yuan Qianyao did.

Everyone says that Chang Chia-chen has a bad temper, but Chang Shuo's temper isn't necessarily that good either. It's just that Chang Shuo is magnanimous, well-liked, and good at uniting his colleagues. Chang Chia-chen, on the other hand, is very irritable and will directly confront anyone who displeases her.

When Zhang Shuo saw Yuan Qianyao come to act as the persuader, he knew in his heart that it would be difficult to change the situation. Moreover, Li Longji was giving him enough face by sending the vice prime minister to persuade him instead of Gao Lishi. Was it necessary to send Wang Maozhong to argue with Li Longji?

The key issues at present are military and political reform, land reform, and tax reform.

Compared to that, the Minister of Works is nothing.

Zhang agreed, but he also made it clear beforehand that he would not offer any support, at most he could only refrain from opposing, and that if Wang Maozhong became unruly in the future, he would not tolerate it.

Zhang Yue was very unwilling to let Wang Maozhong serve as Minister of Works, but this personnel change came too suddenly, and Li Longji was determined to do so, so he was unable to stop it.

The key factor that made Li Longji make up his mind was not because he favored Wang Maozhong, but because of Taoist thought.

Even now, Wang Maozhong has successfully improved ships using buoyancy, but buoyancy still hasn't attracted much attention in the court; people are more focused on discussing Wang Maozhong's ambitions.

Throughout history, there have been many skilled shipbuilders, yet none have ever become prime ministers solely through shipbuilding.

It is clear that Wang Xi's suggestion was correct; if Wang Maozhong had not been the Minister of Works, it would have been difficult to promote it.

However, the marginal utility brought about by buoyancy caused a sensation among the public.

The main attraction was the appearance of the bird wing panel, which drew a large number of wealthy young men in Chang'an and attracted even more young people to come and watch.

At this moment, the riverbank was crowded with people, and cheers could be heard everywhere.

Many people are quite envious of this.

MD!

We're all students, so why can they live such a carefree life, while we study in the college every day and only have one day off, which we have to come here to watch them play?

This is absolutely outrageous!
The more I think about it, the worse I feel.

On the river, a dozen or so young men were seen riding on bird-wing boards, racing along the river.

They were Wang Xi, Wang Shuang, and other students from the nameless academy.

Whenever they were about to get a result, they would automatically detach themselves from the whole thing so that no one would suspect that they were behind it. So they put on a casual friendly match to attract everyone's attention.

They were chasing each other around a pleasure boat.

On the pleasure boat, a group of beautiful young women cheered them on.

It turns out that the girl was a group of junior sisters led by Linghu Changge.

This game wasn't really suitable for them, but they were very active and wanted to participate, so they came to cheer them on in a pleasure boat.

In fact, there were quite a few young girls watching from the shore.

"Sparrow, hurry up, hurry up! Little Shuang has already run ahead of you!"

Xue Bao'er waved and shouted loudly at Wang Xi.

Wang Xi had already regarded Xue Bao'er as his woman, and hurriedly defended himself, saying, "Sister Bao'er, don't panic. A man can't be too fast. A man needs to last. Just wait and see, I will definitely win first place."

Wang Shuang turned around and chuckled, "When it comes to endurance, you can't compare to me."

Then they heard someone shout, "Little Sparrow, be careful, the orphan is coming!"

Wang Xi glanced back slightly and saw that the orphan Cui was already keeping pace with him.

Damn it! This is the game I brought, you bastards can't steal the spotlight! Wang Xi looked a little anxious, the key was that there were girls watching, he couldn't afford to embarrass himself!

Just then, a gasp of surprise rang out, "Wow, who is that? So dashing!"

Wang Xi, Wang Shuang, and Cui Gu'er all turned around at the same time. In a daze, it seemed as if a white shadow had flashed by. They looked closely.

Compared to Wang Xi and the others who were shirtless, the young swordsman was dressed in a white robe, with a long sword strapped to his back, bird-wing boards under his feet, and a wine gourd in his hand, as if he were flying in the air on a sword.

Who else could it be but Li Bai?

Wow, so handsome!

Even Wang Xi sighed.

In a moment of confusion, he lost his footing and fell into the water with a splash.

thump!
thump!
Wang Shuang and Cui Gu'er also fell into the water one after another.

"Hold!"

Wang Shuang, who was influenced by his surroundings, couldn't help but utter Wang Xi's catchphrase and complained to Wang Xi, "Brother Que, where did you find this servant who dares to steal the limelight from his master?"

Cui Gu'er also complained, "That's right, if we don't break that man's legs, how will we manage the servants in the future?"

"Keep quiet."

Wang Xi was very nervous.

"What?"

"It sounds like he's reciting poetry."

"So what?"

"Hey, what do you know! That's Li Bai's poem!" Wang Xi looked up and saw Li Bai drinking wine while riding the waves, shouting something loudly. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear it clearly because of the distance.

When they swam ashore, Li Bai was already lying on a pile of straw, hungover. "You bastard."

Wang Shuang immediately rushed over, demanding, "Who let you come here to play?"

Li Bai squinted at him but remained silent.

"You're not going to say anything, are you?"

Wang Shuang raised his fist.

"stop!"

Huangfu Sengnian walked over, tossed a jar of wine to Li Bai, and then said to Wang Shuang, "I sent him."

Wang Shuang was even more displeased and said, "Seng Nian, when did you become so despicable? You don't dare to go into the water yourself, but you let outsiders steal your brother's thunder."

Huangfu Sengnian glared angrily and said, "How was I supposed to know you were all such good-for-nothings? He was only a stick of incense late in the evening, yet you still managed to catch up with him and even made me lose a jar of wine to him."

Wang Shuang asked incredulously, "You actually blame me?"

Wang Xi, who arrived later, ignored the argument between the two and went to Li Bai's side, chuckling, "Brother Li Bai, you seemed to have recited a poem just now?"

Li Bai glanced at him sideways and asked, "Did I recite a poem?"

Wang Xi said, "You clearly did it; I heard it."

Li Bai shook his head and said, "I don't remember."

He turned around, still holding the wine jar. He had been following Wang Xi for some time and knew what kind of person the boy was. He didn't like to talk about poetry with Wang Xi; it was pointless.

Wang Xi curled his lip and said, "What's with the attitude? So what if he's Li Bai? Once I find Brother Du Fu, I'll resign from your position."

Wang Xi, feeling snubbed, stood up angrily. But after taking only a few steps, he saw a pretty young maid running towards him. He quickly went up to her and said with a grin, "Sister Meng, it's been a long time."

The young maid glanced at Wang Xi fearfully, her face flushed, and she breathed slightly as she said, "Brother Que, this is what my mistress asked me to give you. I hope you can help me."

Then they handed over a beautiful handkerchief.

Wang Xi's face lit up with joy. He took the letter and saw that it was a love poem. He was overjoyed. He wanted to ask the maid where the young lady was, but then he saw the signature: "Young Hero in White."

His expression immediately changed, and he said to the little maid, "What are you still standing there for? Come on!"

"Yes! This servant takes her leave." The little maid quickly left.

Li Jieman suddenly leaned on his shoulder, "Brother Que, what is it?"

Wang Xi hurriedly stuffed the handkerchief into his crotch. "What else could it be but a love poem for me?"

Li Jie said, "Really? You were in such a sorry state just now, and someone still sent you love poems."

"I'm handsome!"

Wang Xi gave a perfunctory reply, but seeing that Wang Shuang was still arguing with Huangfu Sennian, he was very annoyed. With so many girls watching, Li Bai had stolen the limelight, so he rushed over and said, "Sennian, this time I'm on Shuang-ge's side. Are you bored out of your mind to provoke that guy into this mess and make the brothers lose face?"

Huangfu Sengnian immediately retorted, "How dare you talk to me like that? Whose side is Li Bai on?"

Wang Shuang also said to Wang Xi, "You're right. I just don't understand why you brought that guy along. He doesn't help in fights and all he does is beg for drinks."

Wang Xi cursed, "Damn it! I can bring whoever I want, it's none of your business."

Wang Shuang shoved Wang Xi hard, "You're in the wrong and you're still swearing."

"You fucking lay a hand on me? Do you think I don't have hands?"

Wang Xi kicked him.

Wang Shuang casually dodged, "You're using your feet!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was kicked to the ground from the side.

Huangfu Sengnian snorted, "Do I need to use my hands to hit you?"

Wang Xi retaliated with a punch, landing it on the guy's face again. "I'm giving you face by hitting you with my hand."

The three of them immediately started fighting.

This whole thing has everyone really upset, so let's just have a fight and let off some steam.

Li Bai, who was lying on the haystack, saw them start fighting. He immediately bent his arm as a pillow, took a sip of wine, and lazily advised, "Young men, stop fighting! This will kill someone!"

Suddenly, a lump of fat fell from the sky.

Li Bai was startled and quickly rolled aside. Another kick came flying at him, but Li Bai sprang to his feet and skillfully dodged it.

Li Jie cursed, "It's all your fault, you bastard! You were just watching the show. I've wanted to beat you up for a long time."

Li Bai laughed and said, "Just look at you, you fatso."

"And I."

Huangfu Sengnian kicked him from behind.

Li Bai was caught off guard and was kicked in the back. He turned around, glared angrily, and then delivered a flying kick.

boom!
Wang Shuang leaped up and blocked the kick for Huangfu Sengnian.

Upon seeing this, Wang Xi was also enraged and attacked Li Bai, yelling, "Damn it! You've seduced all the girls!"

The four boys surrounded Li Bai and launched a fierce attack, but they couldn't touch him at all.

But Li Bai couldn't bear to hurt them, so he dodged and weaved, or used his unsheathed sword to block their attacks. He also saw that they seemed to have endless strength, and if this continued, he was afraid he would be no match for them.

With a whoosh, he drew his longsword.

Startled, Wang Xi and the others all jumped back.

Huangfu Sengnian pointed at Li Bai and said, "You have no martial ethics. You can't beat them, so you resort to weapons."

Wang Xi immediately shouted, "Everyone come and see! This elder is hitting a child, and when he can't beat him, he's using a weapon!"

Li Jieman and Wang Shuang also joined in the clamor.

Li Bai almost spat out blood. It was clearly a four-on-one fight, yet he was being accused of lacking martial ethics.

"What a bunch of little rascals!"

After saying this, he hurriedly mounted his horse and rode away.

After Li Bai left, the four senior brothers squatted on the haystack, grimacing in pain and complaining to each other about who had hit them harder.

However, this is their usual behavior; given their personalities, it would be almost impossible for them not to fight each other.

"Sparrow! Sparrow!"

Suddenly, a clear, crisp sound was heard.

Wang Xi quickly stood up and saw a carriage parked in the distance, with a tall and beautiful young woman standing on it—it was Ashina Mi.

He hurried over.

Ashina Mi asked, "Que'er, what happened to your face? And why are there shoe prints on your body?"

"I just had a go at Brother Shuang, don't worry, we didn't suffer any losses."

Wang Xi rubbed his chest as he asked, "Mi'er, why aren't you with Changge and the others?"

Ashina Mi said, "I originally wanted to go, but later my aunt sent someone to find me, so I didn't go."

Wang Xi exclaimed with delight, "Your eldest aunt has come to Chang'an?"

Ashina Mi shook his head and said, "My aunt actually lived in the Tang Dynasty all along. Before that, she lived in Guangzhou with her husband."

Wang Xi said, "How come I've never heard you mention this before?"

Ashina Mi said, "I just found out too. My aunt came to see me today because my uncle has recently gotten into trouble and she hopes I can ask you to save him."

"???"

(End of this chapter)