Chapter 36: Relocation Plan, The Crown Prince's Visit

Only after the old man expressed his deepest gratitude.

Su Liang also became curious about the old man’s background, and looking at him, he asked, "Old man, I see your craftsmanship is excellent, no worse than those old artisans in the Ministry of Works. Why have you fallen into such a state?"

Upon hearing this, a look of reminiscence appeared in the old man's eyes, and he immediately said, "When Emperor Yang of Sui was building the Eastern Capital, I was already an old artisan. Back then, I was the one who led the men to build the imperial palace."

"It’s just that last year, there was a great drought in the six northern prefectures, and my hometown of Ningzhou had no surplus grain, so my little grandson and I fled here to Changancheng."

"Sigh... it has been several months since I started setting up my stall here in the West Market."

"At the time, it was fortunate that Young Master Su took the lead in donating grain; otherwise, we would have starved to death long ago."

"That wouldn't have happened. Nowadays, His Majesty loves the people as his own children. Even if I hadn't taken the lead in donating grain, His Majesty would not have let you go hungry," Su Liang said slowly.

What Su Liang said was the truth; Li Shimin was indeed a good Emperor. If not for Su Liang, Li Shimin would certainly have handled the matter properly.

As for whether he could have handled it as well as Su Liang did, that was unknown.

Seeing the old man’s frail and elderly appearance, Su Liang immediately understood the reason for the whole situation.

When Su Liang was recruiting artisans on a large scale last year, the old man had not yet arrived in Changancheng, so his skills naturally went unnoticed by Su Liang; later, when building Taoyuan County, Su Liang also chose young and strong men.

At this moment, Su Liang could not help but feel puzzled... After Taoyuan County was built, it had nursing homes and orphanages, so why hadn't the old man gone there?

If he had, the two of them, grandfather and grandson, could have lived without worry for food or clothing!

After pondering for a moment, Su Liang could not figure it out no matter how he thought about it.

So, not wanting to dwell on it, he asked directly: "Old man, since you and your grandson are living in such straitened circumstances, why not go to Taoyuan County? There are nursing homes and orphanages there."

"If you had gone to Taoyuan County back then, you two wouldn't have to suffer so much."

"Hehe... Young Master, you are joking," the old man laughed. "Although I am old now, I can still do a few years of manual labor, and at the time, I really didn't want to trouble you, Young Master."

"Besides, my little grandson is all alone in that orphanage, and I can't help but worry."

Su Liang listened quietly until the old man finished, finally understanding what it was all about.

Hearing that the old man was a refugee, Su Liang immediately asked: "Old man, where are you and your grandson living now?"

"We live on the outskirts of Changan County, right in Pinghe Ward. I bought it with the wages I saved up over decades."

Su Liang became interested upon hearing this. Wanting to see what the old man's living conditions were like, he said immediately: "Old man, could you take me there to sit for a while?"

Seeing this, the old man waved his hands hurriedly: "Oh... no, no, Young Master, you are a person of noble status, how could you go to a place like mine?"

"I won't hide it from you, Young Master, my place is barely enough for the two of us to live in. If you were to go, I fear there wouldn't even be a place for you to stand."

"Haha, no matter... no matter, just lead the way, old man," Su Liang said with a wave of his hand.

The old man bowed to Su Liang, no longer refusing, and immediately led Su Liang toward his home.

Two quarters of an hour later, inside Pinghe Ward on the outskirts of Changan County.

Su Liang carefully examined the dilapidated house before him. It was only thirty or forty square meters in size, with a small courtyard attached, which was packed full of jars the old man had made himself.

Su Liang then looked around; everywhere there were such dilapidated houses, varying in size, some only a few dozen square meters, others one or two hundred.

Su Liang shook his head helplessly, but at this moment, a good idea could not help but arise in his heart.

That was to carry out relocation and build resettlement housing.

In this way, not only could the living environment of the common people be improved, but a large amount of land resources could also be saved.

However, this matter must be discussed thoroughly with Li Shimin; after all, Changan County was not Taoyuan County.

In Taoyuan County, Su Liang could make all the decisions.

But carrying out relocation in Changan County was a different matter. Not to mention that the Tang Dynasty's land management laws were extremely strict, there were too many things involved.

The population of each household, the house deeds, and the land deeds—these would all need to be calculated and coordinated by the Ministry of Revenue.

Furthermore, the construction of the houses would have to be handed over to the Ministry of Works!!

It was not up to Su Liang alone; after all, this was Changancheng, not Su Liang's fief!!

Recently, there had been many affairs in the Tang Dynasty, and even more for Su Liang. At this moment, he felt like he was going to explode from busyness; he couldn't even be a peaceful slacker if he wanted to.

Regarding this, Su Liang shook his head helplessly.

Sigh... the road construction had already been arranged; there was no need for Su Liang to worry about the construction of the workshops either, as they only needed to be built according to the blueprints he provided.

Today, he had already inquired about the market conditions for glazed glass, and it was time to put the sale of glazed glass on the agenda.

He had to make the aristocratic families bleed a little!!

Aren't you all so capable? You could even develop snow salt.

These days had truly exhausted Su Liang; just two days ago, he had worked without sleep or rest to tinker with hand grenades and mortars.

Sigh... stealing half a day of leisure from a busy life, Su Liang could not help but sigh softly.

Today, everything had finally been arranged properly; the next step was to teach the soldiers how to use the mortars well.

However, the mortars wouldn't be made that quickly in these few days, so Su Liang could finally get some good rest.

After a long while, Su Liang returned to the Furong Garden.

But just as Su Liang stepped into the Furong Garden, he saw a familiar figure.

Li Chenggan? Why would he come here today? Su Liang had not seen Li Chenggan for a long time; the last time he saw him was at the Taoyuan Shanzhuang before the new year.

Su Liang immediately asked in confusion: "Gaoming, how do you have time to come here today?"

As his voice fell, Li Chenggan walked excitedly toward Su Liang, grabbed Su Liang's shoulders with both hands, and then looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he asked straight to the point: "Brother-in-law, I have something I would like to ask your advice on."

Su Liang frowned slightly upon hearing this.

This Li Chenggan seemed a bit off today. He used to be a gentle and refined man, but now he seemed possessed, lacking any royal etiquette.

Su Liang then asked: "Gaoming, if you have something to say, say it slowly. If it is something I can solve, I will certainly not shirk it."

"Actually, it's not a big deal. I just want to know how I should treat my younger brothers, that is all."

Su Liang became interested upon hearing this, and at the same time, he could not help but sigh inwardly: Could it be that Li Tai had been restless lately?

"Why do you ask this?" Su Liang inquired.

"Actually, I don't want to talk about this either. After all, I consider myself to have been very good to every one of my younger brothers, yet they have targeted me so much."

Then, Li Chenggan began to recount how they had targeted him...

It turned out that today at the Imperial Academy, Kong Yingda was giving them a lecture.

The Prince of Wei, Li Tai, and several others suddenly attacked Li Chenggan, asking him on the spot for his views on the current state of the Tang Dynasty.

After all, Li Chenggan had not yet participated in government affairs, so he could not say much of value.

But Kong Yingda was quite satisfied at the time, thinking that if the Crown Prince could have such insights at sixteen, he would surely become a wise ruler in the future.

It was just unexpected that...

The Prince of Wei, Li Tai, suddenly spoke up, talking eloquently about the current situation of the Tang Dynasty, covering every aspect. This made Kong Yingda so happy that he instantly felt Li Chenggan's answer was like... trash! Afterward, he mocked Li Chenggan.

Not only that, Kong Yingda reported this matter to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin not only severely criticized Li Chenggan but also told him to learn from Li Tai. This infuriated Li Chenggan; he had clearly been schemed against, and he couldn't believe his own father couldn't see it, so he retorted to Li Shimin on the spot.

If not for Empress Zhangsun, Li Chenggan would have been grounded.

Su Liang could tell from this that the things the Prince of Wei said were definitely taught to him by someone behind the scenes.

"Today's incident could not possibly be a coincidence; it was the Prince of Wei, Li Tai, deliberately targeting me! I refuse to believe that no one was teaching him behind the scenes."

"This was definitely a premeditated attack!" Li Chenggan complained to Su Liang.

Although it was embarrassing to say this, Li Chenggan would not feel comfortable if he didn't.

Since he had come here, he couldn't return empty-handed; some things were better said clearly so he could ask Su Liang for advice.

Previously, no matter what Li Tai and the others did, Li Chenggan would not pay much attention, as they were his own younger brothers. Li Chenggan also often remembered Empress Zhangsun's warning: no matter what, you must take good care of your brothers.

Last year's incident at the Xuanwu Gate had already left a shadow in Empress Zhangsun's heart; no matter what, she did not want to see the events of that year happen again to her own children.

Although Su Liang had said he could solve this matter, the sentiment was one-sided.

To this day, Li Tai had never visited Su Liang.

Su Liang did not believe that Empress Zhangsun had not given instructions to Li Tai.

Su Liang listened patiently until Li Chenggan finished, then looked at him with deep eyes and asked in a low voice: "Gaoming, when I treated your foot ailment and asked about your condition last time, I saw you were hesitant. Is there some hidden story behind this?"

"This... this..." Li Chenggan stammered, unable to speak for a long time.

"What, is it inconvenient to say?"

Su Liang frowned slightly as he looked at Li Chenggan and asked.

It seems there really is a hidden story behind Li Chenggan's foot ailment, Su Liang thought to himself.

Seeing Su Liang staring fixedly at him, Li Chenggan had no choice but to compromise and tell the truth: "It was when I was nine years old, playing with Li Tai, that I accidentally fell and injured it. It was not treated properly afterward, which is why the root of the illness remained."

Although Li Chenggan's words were somewhat vague, Su Liang understood what had happened; it was likely that Li Tai had interfered at the time.

Perhaps Li Tai was unintentional, it was hard to say.

If it were truly intentional, that would be too terrifying.

According to Li Chenggan, Li Tai was only eight years old at the time. Although there was no struggle for the throne then, Li Tai's jealousy even back then was...

Su Liang found it difficult to say much about this easily.

After all, some people are different when they are children compared to when they grow up.

For example, the Prince of Wei, Li Tai; he was now coveting the position of Crown Prince, and he would likely have the same mindset when he grew up.

In history, the Prince of Wei, Li Tai, had wanted to be Emperor from the very beginning, and that never changed from start to finish.

Compared to him, Li Shimin's other sons were different; most of them did not want to be Emperor, or at least did not want to be Emperor proactively.

For example, Li Zhi; he picked up the throne for nothing, as it was Zhangsun Wuji who united everyone to support him.

As for Li Ke and Li You, in Su Liang's view, they did not want to be Emperor.

But some people were always pushing them, forcing them to act according to their wishes, and in the end, they all met tragic ends.

At this moment, Li Chenggan was very conflicted: "I can listen to the Empress and not mind what Li Tai and the others do to me, but I don't want to be targeted by them like this either."

Su Liang thought about it carefully, and it was indeed so.

Sometimes, when one is targeted and framed too often, others will begin to believe that one is truly that kind of person.

This incident was not a major matter, but Li Er had scolded Li Chenggan for far too long, saying that the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty was not as good as the Prince of Wei; this was not a good thing, or was it that Li Er had not thought about it in that way at all?

If that were truly the case, Su Liang would definitely have to have a good talk with Li Er another day; after all, the Crown Prince had already been established, and showing excessive favor to other Imperial Princes to suppress the Crown Prince was not a good thing.

Li Er had indeed acted improperly this time, and Su Liang shook his head slightly.

"Then have you ever thought about giving up the position of Crown Prince?" Su Liang asked.

Li Chenggan was not a fool; on the contrary, he was very intelligent. Only at this moment did he realize that what Li Tai and the others wanted was not to target him, but the position of Crown Prince. As long as he remained in the position of Crown Prince for one day, they would not give up on this matter.

Li Chenggan wanted to listen to the words of the Empress, but he could not be so indifferent.

Not only was he targeted everywhere, but he also had to be kind to them; no one could do that.

Su Liang looked at Li Chenggan helplessly; from Li Chenggan's words, Su Liang already roughly understood what Li Chenggan meant.

Simply put, Li Chenggan did not want to bully Li Tai and the others by virtue of his position as Crown Prince, yet they repeatedly targeted him because of the position of Crown Prince.

Seeing that Li Chenggan did not speak, Su Liang also knew that Li Chenggan still wanted to be Emperor.

"Since you have no intention of giving up the position of Crown Prince, then you should not be so cowardly; moreover, the Tang Dynasty does not need a cowardly monarch."

The current Li Chenggan was still very simple, gentle, and refined, treating others with courtesy. Su Liang did not know if his words would have any negative influence on Li Chenggan.

A glimmer of light gradually appeared in Li Chenggan's eyes, as if he had grasped something.

In an instant, Li Chenggan stood up directly and bowed respectfully to Su Liang: "I hope my brother-in-law will provide some guidance."

"Very well... Gaoming, if possible, do not try to win over anyone for the time being, not even your uncle Zhangsun Wuji; do not show an overly close relationship with him either."

Since he had already intervened in this matter, he might as well give Li Chenggan some proper guidance. As for the deceit and treachery between the Imperial Princes, Su Liang had absolutely no interest in it.

Upon hearing this, Li Chenggan looked at Su Liang in surprise, unable to understand why Su Liang would not let him win people over.

If his own Imperial Father had not won over court officials back then, the grass on his grave would already be several meters high by now.

Today, Su Liang was truly shocking; was he trying to scare him to death here? First, he asked him if he wanted to give up the position of Crown Prince, and then he warned him not to win people over; every move felt like a death wish in Li Chenggan's eyes.

If someone else had said this, Li Chenggan certainly would not have listened.

But Su Liang had a serious look on his face, not at all like he was joking.

"Gaoming, you must remember one thing: what is given to you is yours."

"What is not given to you, you must not try to seize!" Su Liang stared at Li Chenggan with deep eyes and said in a low voice.