Chapter 36: Relocation Plan, The Crown Prince Visits

Only after the old man expressed his utmost gratitude.

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

Upon hearing this, a trace of reminiscence appeared in the old man's eyes. He immediately said, "When Emperor Yang of Sui was building the Eastern Capital, I was already a veteran 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 severe drought in the six northern provinces. My hometown, Ningzhou, didn't have any surplus grain, so my little grandson and I fled here to Changan."

"Sigh... up until now, I've been setting up my stall here in the West Market for several months."

"At the time, we were 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 Er was indeed a good emperor. If not for Su Liang, Li Er would certainly have handled the matter properly as well.

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

Seeing the old man's aged and frail appearance, Su Liang immediately understood the reason behind the whole situation.

Last year, when Su Liang was recruiting artisans on a large scale, the old man had not yet arrived in Changan City, so his skills naturally hadn't been recruited by Su Liang. Later, when building Taoyuan County, Su Liang had also selected young and strong men.

At this moment, Su Liang couldn't help but feel puzzled... After Taoyuan County was built, it had nursing homes and children's welfare homes. Why hadn't the old man gone to Taoyuan County?

That way, the two of them, grandfather and grandson, could have lived without worry for food or clothing!

After pondering for a moment, Su Liang couldn't figure it out no matter how he thought about it.

So, not wanting to overthink it, he asked directly, "Old man, your lives are so strained. Why don't you go to Taoyuan City? There are nursing homes and children's welfare homes there."

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

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

"Besides, my little grandson would be alone in that children's welfare home, and I couldn't rest easy."

Su Liang listened quietly as the old man finished speaking, and finally understood what was going on.

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

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

Su Liang became interested upon hearing this. He wanted to see what the old man's living conditions were like now, so he immediately said, "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 of noble status; how could you go to a place like mine?"

"To be honest, Young Master, that place of mine can barely accommodate the two of us. If you were to go, I fear there wouldn't even be a place for you to stand."

"Haha, no matter... no matter. Old man, just lead the way," 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 were such dilapidated houses, varying in size, some a few dozen square meters, others one or two hundred.

Su Liang shook his head helplessly, but at this moment, a good idea couldn't help but arise in his heart.

That was relocation and building 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 had to be discussed properly with Li Er; after all, Changan County was not Taoyuan County.

In Taoyuan County, Su Liang could have full authority.

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

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

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

It wasn't up to Su Liang to decide; after all, this was Changan City, not Su Liang's fief!!

Recently, not only were there many affairs in the Great Tang, but Su Liang had even more. At this moment, Su Liang felt he was about 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 was already mostly arranged; the workshop construction didn't need Su Liang to worry either, as they just needed to build according to the blueprints Su Liang provided.

Today, he had already scouted the market conditions for glassware, and it was time to put the sale of glassware on the agenda.

He had to make the noble clans bleed properly!!

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

These days had truly exhausted Su Liang. Two days ago, he had even gone without sleep or rest to tinker with hand grenades and mortars.

Sigh... stealing half a day of leisure from a busy life, Su Liang couldn't help but sigh softly.

Today, he had finally arranged everything properly. Next, he just needed 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.

A long time later, Su Liang returned to Furong Garden.

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

Li Chenggan? Why would he come over today? Su Liang hadn't seen Li Chenggan for a long time; the last time he saw him was at Taoyuan Manor before the new year.

Su Liang asked with immediate confusion, "Gaoming, how do you have time to come over today?"

As the words fell, Li Chenggan walked toward Su Liang excitedly. He grabbed Su Liang's shoulders with both hands, 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. Before, he was a gentle and refined man, but now he seemed possessed, lacking any royal etiquette.

Su Liang then asked, "Gaoming, you should speak slowly about whatever is on your mind. If I can solve it, I certainly won't shirk."

"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 couldn't help but lament: Could it be that Li Tai hadn't been behaving himself recently?

"Why would you ask that?" 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 brothers, yet they have targeted me so much."

Then, Li Chenggan began to recount the things they had done to target him...

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

Prince of Wei, Li Tai, and a few others suddenly made things difficult for Li Chenggan, asking him on the spot for his views on the current state of the Great Tang.

Li Chenggan, after all, had not yet participated in government affairs, so he couldn't say much of value.

But Kong Yingda was relatively satisfied at the time; if the Crown Prince could have such insights at sixteen, surely Li Chenggan would become a wise monarch in the future.

It was just unexpected that...

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

Not only that, Kong Yingda informed Li Er of this matter.

Li Er 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 father didn't see it. In a fit of temper, he retorted to Li Er on the spot.

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

Su Liang could tell from this kind of thing that what the Prince of Wei said was definitely taught to him by someone behind the scenes.

"Today's incident could not possibly be a coincidence; it was Prince of Wei Li Tai deliberately targeting me! If no one was teaching him behind the scenes, I wouldn't believe it even if I died."

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

Although it was embarrassing to talk about this, Li Chenggan wouldn't feel comfortable if he didn't.

Since he had come here, he couldn't return empty-handed; some things were better clarified before asking Su Liang for advice.

Previously, no matter what Li Tai and the others did, Li Chenggan wouldn't care too much; after all, 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 Xuanwu Sect incident had already left a shadow in Empress Zhangsun's heart; no matter what, she didn't want to see the events of that year happen again among her own children.

Although Su Liang had said he could solve this matter, the heart was willing but the spirit was weak.

Up until now, Li Tai had never visited Su Liang.

Su Liang didn't believe Empress Zhangsun hadn't given instructions to Li Tai.

Su Liang listened patiently as Li Chenggan finished, then looked at him with deep eyes and asked in a low voice, "Gaoming, when I was treating your foot ailment and asking 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?"

Seeing this, Su Liang frowned slightly and looked at Li Chenggan.

It seems Li Chenggan's foot ailment really does have a hidden story, 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. Later, it wasn't treated properly, which is why it left a root cause."

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

Perhaps Li Tai hadn't meant to, it was hard to say.

If it had truly been 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 then was...

Su Liang found it hard to say anything easily about this.

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

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

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

Compared to him, Li Er's other sons were different; most of them didn't want to be emperor, or didn't want to be emperor proactively.

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

As for Li Ke and Li You, in Su Liang's view, they didn't want to be emperor.

But some people kept pushing them, and they had to act according to their wishes, ultimately meeting a miserable end.

At this moment, Li Chenggan was very conflicted: "I can listen to my mother 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 think that one is that kind of person.

This time, the incident wasn't a big deal, but Li Er had scolded Li Chenggan for too long, saying the Great Tang Crown Prince couldn't compare to the Prince of Wei. This wasn't a good thing. Or was it that Li Er hadn't 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; showing excessive favor to other princes to suppress the Crown Prince was not a good thing.

Li Er had indeed acted inappropriately 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 smart. At this moment, he realized that what Li Tai and the others wanted wasn't just to target him, but the position of Crown Prince. As long as he remained in the position of Crown Prince for one day, they wouldn't give up on this matter.

Li Chenggan wanted to listen to Empress Zhangsun, but he couldn't be so indifferent.

Not only was he targeted everywhere, but he also had to be good 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 he meant.

Simply put, Li Chenggan didn't want to use the position of Crown Prince to bully Li Tai and the others, but they repeatedly targeted him because of the position of Crown Prince.

Seeing Li Chenggan silent, Su Liang knew that Li Chenggan still wanted to be emperor.

"Since you don't intend to give up the position of Crown Prince, you shouldn't be so cowardly. Besides, the Great Tang doesn't need a cowardly monarch."

The current Li Chenggan was still very innocent, gentle, and refined, treating people with courtesy. Su Liang didn't know if his words would have any negative impact on Li Chenggan.

A glimmer of light gradually appeared in Li Chenggan's eyes; he seemed to have grasped something.

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

"Very well... Gaoming, if possible, you should temporarily not win over anyone, not even your uncle Zhangsun Wuji; do not show excessive closeness either."

Since he had already intervened in this matter, he might as well give Li Chenggan some good guidance. As for the scheming among the princes, Su Liang had absolutely no interest.

Li Chenggan looked at Su Liang in surprise upon hearing this, unable to understand why Su Liang wouldn't let him win people over.

If his father hadn't won over court officials back then, the grass on his grave would already be several meters high.

Today, Su Liang was truly shocking; was he trying to scare him to death here? First, asking if he wanted to give up the Crown Prince position, then warning him not to win people over. Every move in Li Chenggan's eyes was a rhythm of courting death.

If someone else had said this, Li Chenggan certainly wouldn't have listened.

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

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

"If it is not given to you, you must not go and snatch it!" Su Liang stared at Li Chenggan with deep eyes and said in a low voice. ===== CHAPTER 37 =====