Duke of Zhenguan

Chapter 116 Entering the Palace to Plead Guilty to His Majesty

In addition to his position as Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Lin Chuan also held the position of Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince.

After asking Yan Xiangshi, Lin Chuan learned that this position was actually a core staff position in the Eastern Palace.

The Eastern Palace was essentially a simplified version of the imperial court, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was a simplified version of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Left Spring Palace was a simplified version of the Secretariat.

The position of Crown Prince's Attendant was an official position in the Left Spring Palace, similar to the Yellow Gate Attendant in the Secretariat. They could offer advice and review documents.

Although the official positions in the Eastern Palace may seem like a makeshift organization, the officials in the Eastern Palace and the officials in the imperial court are the same group of people. It's just that a separate team has been set up so that the Crown Prince can become familiar with the operation of various departments of the imperial court as early as possible.

Li Shimin appointed Lin Chuan to this official position, possibly to show his regard for Lin Chuan, and also to have Lin Chuan teach mathematics to Li Chengqian.

Lin Chuan naturally had to go to the Eastern Palace to report to Yuwen Shiji, the Crown Prince's tutor. Yuwen Shiji was very polite to him. He had also received instructions from Li Shimin to assign Lin Chuan the task of teaching mathematics to Li Chengqian.

As for the tasks of advising and reviewing documents that the Crown Prince Zhongchong was responsible for, Lin Chuan didn't need to worry about them.

Lin Chuan was naturally happy to see this happen, and he could accept simply teaching Li Chengqian arithmetic.

As arranged by Yuwen Shiji, he would go to Li Chengqian every few days to explain the contents of Sun Tzu's Mathematical Classic and Zhou Pai's Mathematical Classic.

Since he had to teach the Crown Prince and occasionally visit the Institute of Physics, he could openly and legitimately postpone his work at the Ministry of War.

Even so, Lin Chuan is still very busy.

Lin Chuan handed the memorial regarding the imperial examination to Li Shimin after attending the court assembly on the first day after New Year's Day.

Although Lin Chuan was anxious because it concerned Yan Liu Niangzi's imperial title, there had been no further developments since he submitted the document, so he could only wait patiently.

He is currently planning to establish a third research institute within the renowned Gewu Research Institute, specializing in the study of grain varieties and fertilizers, and is looking for people who are experts in agriculture.

The people they were looking for not only had to be experts in farming, but also understand the characteristics of various grains, and ideally, they should also be literate, so progress was very slow.

Another matter is the Gewu Academy. The academy is almost finished and can enroll students at any time.

Lin Chuan of Gewu Academy did not intend to be as low-key as Gewu Research Institute, so he planned to hold a grand opening ceremony.

It would be best to invite Li Shimin as well.

Moreover, he plans to turn Gewu Academy into a full-time school, similar to a modern middle school. In that case, in addition to teachers, the school will also need some administrative staff.

For the first term, he only planned to recruit about two hundred people, preferably around ten years old, but finding a place to recruit them was a headache.

There's also the issue of fees; the Gewu Academy is only prepared to collect a symbolic amount for tuition.

However, the salaries of teachers and administrators cannot be reduced. Even if the school has a small number of people, the annual expenses are still considerable.

The plan he wrote for Li Shimin was to use the output of the Gewu Research Institute to support the expenses of the academy, but the Gewu Research Institute was currently unable to support the Gewu Academy at all.

After thinking it over, he decided that he had no choice but to swallow his pride and ask Li Shimin for funds.

Time flies, and it's already the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

On the Lantern Festival, Li Shimin generously granted officials a three-day holiday and even lifted the curfew, allowing the people of Chang'an to enjoy themselves all night long.

Lin Chuan had made an appointment with Cheng Churou to go see the lantern festival together on the Lantern Festival. In the evening, Lin Chuan, dressed in a moon-white scholar's robe, arrived at the Cheng family home. Under Cheng Yaojin's warning gaze, he led Cheng Churou away from the Cheng family home.

The Lantern Festival is celebrated not only by the common people with grand lantern displays, but also by the imperial court, with the area around Zhuque Gate being the most lively.

Cheng Churou was also dressed in men's clothing. The weather was cold, and her clothes were thick. She was also tall and only half a head shorter than Lin Chuan. If you didn't look closely, you really couldn't tell that she was a woman dressed as a man.

Perhaps because she was dressed as a man, Cheng Churou became much more lively. Seeing that no one was watching her, she quietly tugged at Lin Chuan's sleeve, and when she saw something she liked, she would coax Lin Chuan, "Lin Lang, I want this!"

Before long, Lin Chuan was carrying several exquisite little lanterns.

Besides all kinds of lanterns, there are various acrobatic performances, vendors carrying exquisite trinkets, and of course, plenty of food.

As the eldest daughter-in-law of the Duke's mansion, this was the first time Cheng Churou had been so close to these things. She wanted to buy anything that looked good and anything that tasted good.

Lin Chuan wasn't going to spoil the fun. As long as Cheng Churou was happy, that was all that mattered. If she couldn't carry all the things, he would ask Xu Laosan, who was following far behind, to come and help carry them.

Lin Chuan didn't take Cheng Churou back until around midnight. Cheng Yaojin's warning look was still fresh in his mind, and he didn't want to fall into Cheng Yaojin's hands.

The next morning, Lin Chuan was still fast asleep in his bedroom when there was a sudden knock on the door.

"What is it?" Lin Chuan asked groggily.

"My lord, Lord Cheng is looking for you!" Mei Xiang called out loudly from outside.

Lin Chuan got up, quickly washed up, and went to the main hall in the front yard. He saw Cheng Yaojin sitting in a chair with a sullen face, and quickly went up to ask, "Uncle Cheng, what happened?"

"I just received news from the Dali Temple that Li Cang's entire family of more than twenty people was completely wiped out on the official road twenty miles from Chang'an, and their horses and carriages were all burned to ashes!" Cheng Yaojin said in a deep voice.

"...

""

Lin Chuan opened his mouth, then asked uncertainly, "Burned with gasoline?"

Cheng Yaojin nodded.

"Uncle Cheng, it wasn't me who did it!" Lin Chuan said with a wry smile.

"I know you didn't do it, but a man named Wang Sanzhu turned himself in at the Dali Temple, saying that the murderers were more than ten strong men, and that he was the one who gave them the gasoline!" Cheng Yaojin said.

Wang Sanzhu was Wang the blacksmith's nephew, and he had been helping out in the blacksmith's workshop in the front yard of the east wing.

Lin Chuan frowned, his face somewhat grim, and asked softly, "Where is Wang Sanzhu? Is he still at Dali Temple?"

"He's dead. He committed suicide. The Dali Temple had just locked him up when he tore off his belt and hanged himself!" Cheng Yaojin said softly.

Lin Chuan nodded silently and said to Lin Jiu outside the door, "Uncle Jiu, go and find Uncle Wang to come over here!"

About half an hour later, Wang the blacksmith came to the front yard and nervously greeted Lin Chuan: "County Lord Lin!"

"Uncle Wang, have you seen Wang Sanzhu these past few days?" Lin Chuan asked.

Wang the blacksmith looked rather grim and shook his head: "Wang Sanzhu left with his mother and younger brother the day before yesterday, saying they were going back to Hedong!"

"Uncle Wang, what exactly happened?" Lin Chuan asked in a deep voice.

After hesitating for a moment, Wang the blacksmith suddenly knelt down in front of Lin Chuan with a thud, and said with a face full of self-reproach, "Wang Sanzhu has gambled away a lot of money and owes a lot of debt. He said he was going back to Hedong to hide from his debts. I only heard about it in the last two days. He also stole things from the workshop and took them out—"

Lin Chuan sighed inwardly and turned to Cheng Yaojin, asking, "Uncle Cheng, what do we do now?"

"Go to the palace to apologize to His Majesty!"