Chapter 47: The Crown Prince's Marriage, Chai Shao Pays a Visit

"I will certainly have the paper produced as soon as possible, so that the Great Tang Bookstore can open its doors early."

"Haha... very good, very good, then I shall trouble you with this matter, Brother-in-law!" Li Shimin laughed heartily.

Among his several brothers-in-law,

Li Shimin was most satisfied with Chai Shao, Duan Lun, and Yang Shidao.

Among Li Yuan's sons-in-law, Chai Shao had the greatest military achievements, but he rarely went on campaigns with Li Shimin.

Back when they were conquering the world, Duan Lun had fought alongside his brother-in-law, and he was the brother-in-law with whom Li Shimin had the best personal relationship, which was why he was highly valued by Li Shimin.

Chai Shao was Li Shimin's only brother-in-law by marriage to his own sister. His wife, Princess Pingyang, was Li Yuan's only daughter by his primary wife. Empress Taimu (posthumously honored) Dou bore Li Yuan five children, four of whom were sons and only one a daughter. Princess Pingyang was a remarkable heroine, and the "Lady's Army" she established was world-renowned.

As for Yang Shidao, Li Shimin's original intention was, firstly, to win him over, as Yang Shidao came from the Hongnong Yang clan; and secondly, because he was a pure and kind person with excellent literary talent, and he deeply pleased Li Shimin, so Li Shimin was naturally very happy.

However, what Li Shimin did not know at this moment was that, historically, Yang Shidao almost brought about the downfall of the Li Tang dynasty.

Although Yang Shidao did not enter the ranks of the meritorious officials in the Lingyan Pavilion, he was the brother-in-law with the highest official rank under Li Shimin. Yang Shidao served successively as Attendant Gentleman and Secretariat Chancellor, both prime ministerial positions, becoming the representative figure of the Yang family.

After Wu Shihuo died, his sons inherited the family property, and his stepsons could not tolerate their stepmother, Lady Yang, nor could they tolerate their three half-sisters.

Lady Yang had no choice but to take her three underage daughters and seek refuge with the representative of her maiden family, Yang Shidao.

In the time that followed, in order to make the Yang family prominent, Yang Shidao constantly curried favor with Li Shimin and even presented his two nieces, Lady Yan and Lady Wu, to Li Shimin.

The Lady Wu among them was naturally Wu Zhao, Wu Zetian!

"Hehe..."

Hearing this, Duan Lun also laughed. It had been a long time since Li Shimin had addressed him that way: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will certainly handle this matter properly."

"Very good, very good... I am naturally at ease when Brother-in-law handles things. Another day, I will treat you to something delicious!" Li Shimin could not help but set his sights on the crayfish in the Furong Garden.

"Brother-in-law, there is one more thing I would like you to advise me on."

"Now that the Crown Prince has reached the age for marriage, which minister's daughter do you think is suitable to be the Crown Princess?"

As the words fell, Duan Lun could not help but frown and ponder.

This was a major matter; the Crown Princess would be the future Empress. Since His Majesty was actually asking for his opinion, he had to think about it carefully.

Before this, Li Shimin had already discussed it with Zhangsun Wuji, and they already had a relatively suitable candidate.

Today, since his brother-in-law happened to be here, he wanted to hear his opinion to see if he could get a different answer from him.

It was not until half a quarter of an hour later that Duan Lun spoke slowly.

"Your Majesty, I believe the daughter of Su Xu is quite good. Both in talent and appearance, as well as family background, she is worthy of the Crown Prince."

"Hahaha... very good, very good." Li Shimin laughed heartily upon hearing this.

He then looked at Duan Lun with a smug expression and said: "Hehe... I will not hide it from you, Brother-in-law, the Duke and I have the exact same intention."

Su Xu was one of the eighteen scholars of the Hongwen Hall and the grandson of Su Wei, a famous minister of Northern Zhou, a prime minister of the Sui Dynasty, and one of the Four Nobles.

His grandfather Su Wei's background was even more impressive; his prestige during the Sui Dynasty once reached its peak.

He not only reformed the tax system, reducing taxes and labor burdens, which was conducive to the recovery of the country in the early Sui period, but also led the revision of the "Kaihuang Code," establishing general standards for legal provisions and institutional regulations.

During that period, he also recommended many capable officials who left their names in history, playing a positive role in the healthy development of the Sui administration and contributing to the prosperity of the Sui Dynasty.

His distant ancestors could be traced back to the famous minister of Cao Wei, Attendant Gentleman Su Ze; his grandfather Su Xie was the Governor of Wugong Commandery in Northern Wei; his father Su Chuo was a famous minister of Western Wei during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, reaching the rank of Minister of Revenue and being posthumously honored as Duke of Pi, a name famous at the time.

However, by comparison, the most formidable person was Su Wei's father-in-law, the top power-broker of the early Northern Zhou, Grand Preceptor Yuwen Hu.

That was a man who had killed three emperors in four years!

Yet, when such a ruthless man met Su Wei, he not only treated him with great courtesy but also married his own daughter, Princess Xinxing, to him.

Later, when Su Wei saw that Yuwen Hu was monopolizing power and acting tyrannically, fearing that disaster would implicate him, he once fled to live in the deep mountains, finding joy in reading.

"Then has Your Majesty set a wedding date for the Crown Prince?" Duan Lun asked.

"Hehe... Brother-in-law, you joke. I have not yet mentioned this to Su Xu," Li Shimin laughed.

"Since Your Majesty has long had this intention, you should pick an auspicious day for the Crown Prince to marry soon. Chang'le has already been married for several months now," Duan Lun urged.

As the words fell, Li Shimin nodded repeatedly.

Last year, Li Shimin had already set his sights on Su Xu's daughter, and his son also had the same intention.

"I will naturally arrange this properly. After the renovation of Changancheng is completed, I will have them marry. After all, the Crown Prince's marriage cannot be rushed."

"Very good, very good, then I shall go and get busy."

Seeing that there was nothing else, Duan Lun immediately took his leave.

Since his brother-in-law treated him so generously, he certainly could not let His Majesty down and had to handle this matter well.

At this moment, inside the Furong Garden.

Su Liang was drawing a simple map of the Changancheng renovation. Now that the curfew had been abolished, some of the basic infrastructure in the wards and markets needed to be properly modified.

Su Liang was quite confident in the wisdom of the Tang court officials; they would certainly be able to arrange the management of the residential quarters properly.

Su Liang was merely incorporating modern police stations and patrol offices into the plan and planning them out properly.

He set up patrol offices in each residential quarter and established a police station every few quarters.

Just at this moment, Chai Shao came to visit.

"Hehe... Uncle, what brings you here today?" Su Liang teased with a smile. Regarding Chai Shao's arrival, Su Liang probably knew what it meant.

It was nothing more than coming for the renovation work of Changancheng.

Now that Chai Shao was the Grand General of the Left Gate Guard, Li Shimin would naturally put him in charge of this matter.

"Prince of Chu, you joke. I am just here to discuss the future security issues of Changancheng with you." Chai Shao did not beat around the bush and immediately stated his purpose: "I am ashamed to say, I should have come to visit the Prince of Chu earlier."

"Hehe... Uncle, you are too formal."

"Didn't you just transfer from the Left Guard this year? It is normal that you didn't have time before," Su Liang laughed.

He had met Chai Shao a few times before. To be honest, Su Liang admired Chai Shao quite a bit. Since Princess Pingyang passed away in the sixth year of Wude, Chai Shao had not remarried.

This situation was rare in ancient times. When Princess Pingyang passed away, Chai Shao was only thirty-six years old.

"Alright, let's not say anything else. I have already arranged the personnel for the various wards and markets of Changancheng on my way here."

"Today, I just want to chat with the Prince of Chu about building the government offices." After all, Chai Shao had official duties and did not have much time to chat with Su Liang.

"Cough, cough... Uncle, you might as well just call me Little Su."

Su Liang did not expect Chai Shao to be so direct, so he stopped dawdling and explained the general situation of building the police stations and patrol offices to Chai Shao in detail.

"Tsk tsk... Little Su, your idea is very novel. According to your design, we won't need twenty-five thousand people."

"If an accident occurs, the soldiers will also be able to provide support in time."

Facing Su Liang's renovation plan, Chai Shao could not help but praise it highly.

A full half-hour later.

The two of them finally determined the personnel arrangements for each ward and market, as well as the number of police stations and patrol offices to be built.

After all, the functions of the various wards and markets in Changancheng were different, and their sizes and areas were also different, so naturally, the number of people, police stations, and patrol offices required would be different.

After Chai Shao left, Su Liang continued to devote himself to the cause of building small automobiles.