Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 41 Li Xian's Former Power

Furong Garden is located in the southeast corner of Chang'an City. It contains the Ziyun Tower, which overlooks Qujiang and offers a distant view of Zhongnan Mountain. There is also an artificial lake where one can admire lotus flowers blooming in the water. It was once a closed imperial garden where the royal family could enjoy themselves and appreciate the lotus flowers.

However, now that Li Xian has regained his status as the Prince of Pei, he can no longer live in the former Eastern Palace. There is no suitable princely residence in Chang'an City for the time being, so the Hibiscus Garden has become the new Prince of Pei's residence.

The Furong Garden was maintained by servants on a daily basis, so Li Xian and Liu Jianjun didn't need to bring any luggage; it was truly a move-in ready experience.

Yeah, I don't even need to carry a bag.

Upon arriving at the entrance of Furong Garden, Li Xian saw that the old "Furong Garden" plaque had been replaced with a new plaque for the Prince of Pei's residence.

Li Xian was dressed in black robes and crimson skirts. The servants guarding the gate easily recognized him and knelt down to pay their respects. Li Xian said, "No need for formalities," and strode into the Hibiscus Garden.

Throughout the journey, Liu Jianjun appeared quite surprised, looking around and touching everything, constantly exclaiming, "Is this really what Furong Garden is like?"

Li Xian couldn't help but chuckle: "So what was your imagined Furong Garden like?"

Liu Jianjun withdrew his hand from a peony plant and patted off imaginary dust from his hands: "Pretty much the same, I guess!"

After saying that, Liu Jianjun pointed to the Zhongnan Mountain in the distance and said, "It's just that the artificial lake in this garden is a bit too lifeless. If we could dig a canal from here to the Zhongnan Mountain to irrigate it, that would be perfect!"

Li Xian was taken aback and looked in the direction Liu Jianjun was pointing.

Then, thinking about the description Liu Jianjun had given her, her eyes lit up: "You're also skilled in gardening?"

"Not really, I've met them!"

Liu Jianjun's words left Li Xian completely bewildered.

……

Neither of them had any luggage, so they only strolled around Furong Garden for a short while. Li Xian had all the servants in Furong Garden remember Liu Jianjun's appearance and announced that Liu Jianjun would be the chief steward of the mansion from now on. Then he took Liu Jianjun to Ziyun Tower.

Liu Jianjun was still very excited. Standing on the pavilion and looking at Qujiang in the distance, he exclaimed, "It's unbelievable that we can actually build a building ten zhang tall!"

Li Xian smiled and shook his head, putting down his teacup.

The yellow tea leaves that were offered as tribute this year were a bit bitter, so I imagine the officials in Lujiang County must have been punished by the Empress Dowager.

Li Xian thought to himself, if his father were to rule alone, he certainly wouldn't punish local officials for such a trivial matter.

Liu Jianjun was right after all; the Empress Dowager's temperament... was not suited to ruling as regent.

But Li Xian didn't say these words aloud; he wasn't as outspoken as Liu Jianjun.

"Good luck!"

Liu Jianjun let out a final sigh, then casually sat down opposite Li Xian, and took a sip from the teapot Li Xian had just drunk from, as if a cow were chewing on a peony.

Suddenly, it sprayed out.

"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey! What is this thing?!"

Li Xian was taken aback. Although the yellow bud tea was slightly astringent, it was still a tribute item. Was it really that bad?
But when Li Xian thought of Liu Jianjun's incredibly picky mouth, he felt relieved.

He chuckled and said, "This year's yellow bud tea is a bit astringent. I'll have someone prepare some Yiyang Maojian later..."

"Pah! You're wasting good stuff! Such fine tea, what did you put in here?" Liu Jianjun interrupted, then lifted the teapot, glanced inside, and said with disgust, "What a junk!"

Li Xian was taken aback, took the teapot, and asked in confusion, "Isn't this just ordinary steamed green rice cake tea?"

"Forget it, just have those servants bring me plain water later. I can't stand this stuff!"

Li Xian chuckled again.

Liu Jianjun is truly like a wild boar that can't stomach fine food.

But then, Liu Jianjun suddenly said, "Xianzi, let's talk about the future!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xian sat up straight. "We've achieved some success now, but the Prince of Pei's mansion alone is definitely not enough. We need to recruit soldiers and build up our forces. When you were the Crown Prince, didn't you have any powerful forces under your command that you could reuse?"

Li Xian thought for a moment, then hesitated and said, "Of course there are, but when I was suspected of treason, most of the officials close to me were implicated..."

“Tell me what you need first. I’ve done a lot of research these past few days,” Liu Jianjun interrupted.

Li Xian immediately replied, "Zhang Da'an! Formerly the Left Vice-Chancellor of the Crown Prince, concurrently serving as Prime Minister!"

This man was one of Li Xian's most trusted civil officials when he was still the crown prince, and also the one with the highest position. To accommodate Liu Jianjun's habit of not knowing courtesy names, Li Xian specifically mentioned his given name.

“I know that. Ever since your incident, this person has been demoted to the position of Prefect of Puzhou… Hmm, I’ll make a note of that. Anything else?”

“Liu Nayan, this man was formerly the Crown Prince’s tutor, in charge of teaching classics in the Eastern Palace.”

"I know that too. It's your teacher, right? He was accused of 'failure to provide proper guidance' and was exiled to Zhenzhou. What else?"

Li Xian hesitated for a moment, then said, "And many scholars from the Chongxian Hall, such as Ge Xiyuan, Xu Shuya, Cheng Xuanyi, Shi Zangjie, and Zhou Baoning..."

Liu Jianjun interrupted: "Don't mention these few. Your mother has packaged them all up as border prefects and ordered them never to move inland. Since your treason case wasn't thoroughly overturned, these people probably won't be coming back."

"And... Zi'an?"

"Tsk tsk, this guy is the worst off, he was exiled to Jiaozhi. Who else?"

"And Li Wei and Li Ming, these two are my half-brothers."

"They were also exiled to the wild southwest. These two are even worse off than you. At least in Bazhou, people can live there. The place they were sent to is difficult to climb mountains."

Li Xian pursed his lips.

Li Wei and Li Ming were his closest brothers besides Li Xian, and now they were also implicated in this.

However, Li Xian could understand.

Li Xian was not implicated because the Tang Dynasty still needed a crown prince, and like himself, he was born to the Empress Dowager. However, Li Wei and Li Ming were different; they were merely illegitimate children.

At this point, Liu Jianjun said again: "Not to mention your former low-ranking subordinates such as the Crown Prince's Attendant and the Chief Steward, some died and some were exiled. Moreover, their situations were similar to those of the scholars in the Chongxian Hall. Empress Wu ordered them to never move inland for the rest of their lives."

"Is there anything else besides these?"

Li Xian thought for a moment, then honestly shook his head: "That's all."

Liu Jianjun was taken aback: "Gone? You were once a prince, and now you only have a prime minister under your command?"

Li Xian said with embarrassment and anger, "Didn't I tell you that there were eight prime ministers in the court at that time, four of whom were promoted by the Empress Dowager? It's already rare for me to be close to one of them!"

"Tsk tsk, four out of the eight prime ministers are your mother's people. You say your father can't see your mother's ambition? It just goes to show how blind a woman can be!"

Liu Jianjun sighed, then concluded, "So to put it bluntly, you're basically a lone commander now, right?"

Although Li Xian didn't know what the commander meant, he understood the phrase "all alone" and nodded in agreement.

I felt a little uneasy.

Only then did he realize how distant his wish to ascend the throne truly was.

But then, Liu Jianjun picked up the teapot in front of him and said spiritedly, "It's alright! This whole bunch of people tied up together couldn't compare to me! With me helping you, that's enough!"

As he spoke, he took a large gulp.

Li Xian was instantly moved.

But then, Li Xian saw Liu Jianjun frantically spit out the tea in his mouth: "Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey! How could I have drunk this stuff?!"

……

(End of this chapter)