Chapter 340 Aye's Pattern Has Been Opened
"That depends on Uncle San." After a moment's silence, Li Xiang said to Li Chengqian, "Han is too far away from the heartland of the Tang Dynasty, and Fulin is further west of Persia. The Tang Dynasty cannot send troops to escort the caravan, so if Uncle San wants to do business with Fulin, he can only rely on himself."

"So we can only do as Zhinu said, and give him all support except for help?" Li Chengqian was a little unwilling: "Even though the third brother is my brother, he is also a prince who has expanded the territory for my Tang Dynasty. How can we not give him some help?"

Li Xiang stretched out his hand and made a flower-blooming gesture.

"What's that gesture?" Li Chengqian always felt that his elder son was holding back on something good.

"Aye's mindset has been opened up." Li Xiang replied with a smile, and pointed to the map and said, "Actually, it's not something worth worrying about. Uncle San will give him money and food, and he can figure out the rest on his own."

"But..." Li Chengqian still felt unbearable.

"Brother, I think that since we have given you autonomy, you should not help you too much." Li Su suddenly said, "Since you have chosen this path, you must bear the corresponding responsibilities."

"Why do you say that?" Li Chengqian asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The problem is that if we give all our support to the Han Kingdom, there will always be a day in the future when we are unable to meet our needs. What if other vassal states ask us to follow the Han Kingdom's example? What should we do?" Li Shu asked in return.

Li Chengqian thought about it carefully, nodded and said, "Shu'er, what you said makes sense, but Han is the first foreign vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. Whether it can gain a foothold in the Western Regions is related to the reputation of the Tang Dynasty. What if the third brother cannot gain a foothold in the Western Regions?"

"That's because he is not capable enough." Li Shu shook his head and said, "Brother, I know that you and my third brother have a deep relationship, but the only way the Tang Dynasty can help the Han Kingdom now is to provide them with money and food, or to order the Anxi Protectorate to assist them."

"I have one more thing to add." Li Xiang held up a finger: "If we can save one stone of the thirty stones of grain and grass delivered to the Han Kingdom, it would be great."

"Alas." Li Chengqian sighed and tapped the table with his fingers: "This is the only way. You two have a point. It's my fault for not considering it carefully."

"Ayena is very eloquent in giving advice, and he really has the spirit of an old man." Li Xiang raised two thumbs up and praised him sincerely.

Upon hearing this, Li Chengqian sat up.

"Really?" He had an expression that said, 'I won't be sleepy if you say that.'

"When has Xiang'er ever lied?" Li Su smiled and said, "I also think that even if you can't compare to Emperor Wen of Han, you are more than enough to compare to Emperor Xuan of Han."

Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun, was temple-named Zhongzong. In the Han Dynasty, when temple names were not yet commonly used, the fact that he was given one of the "Taigaozhongshi" titles was enough to prove its value.

Several Zhongzongs in history, such as Emperor Zhongzong Taiwu of Shang Dynasty and Emperor Zhongzong Xuan of Han Dynasty Liu Xun, are all well-known monarchs in history.

Even Liu Yilong, the Emperor Jing of the Southern Song Dynasty, who was called "hasty in the Yuanjia period" by Xin Qiji, was at least one of the best in terms of civil and administrative affairs. Although he won the battle in a hurry, he was still better than Wanyan Gou. At least he still had the intention of conquering the Wolf and the Lair.

Of course, Liu Yilong's temple name and posthumous name were later changed. His temple name was changed to Taizu, and his posthumous name was changed to Emperor Wen.

This... is a bit inappropriate.

Hearing his sister and son praising him so much, Li Chengqian couldn't help feeling a little elated.

He coughed twice and said to them, "Alas, I am not that good..."

Finally, he suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, I remember Xiang'er once told me that he would confer the title of Princess Anguo on you in the future?"

When Li Shu suddenly heard Li Chengqian mention this matter, his heart skipped a beat.

In fact, she never expected Li Chengqian to give her a higher title. If she wanted to be given any higher title, it would have to wait until Li Xiang ascended the throne.

However, now that Li Chengqian suddenly brought it up, does that mean...

"You have worked hard for the Tang Dynasty, and I have seen it." Li Chengqian nodded to Li Su to show his approval: "The title of Anguo... I think it is not appropriate. Su'er is a female Zhuge Liang, but she is the think tank of our Li family, so I think the title of Fuguo is good. I will issue an order in a few days, and then you will be given the title of Fuguo Gaoyang Princess, with the same status as a prince, and you will be allowed to open a government office. How do you think?"

Li Shu never expected that Li Chengqian would suddenly give her such a surprise.

Her lips moved but she couldn't utter a word for a long time.

It couldn't be blamed on Li Su for losing her composure. Although she was born rich and had seen many storms and waves, and had seen all kinds of dignitaries in the Western country... no, she had seen all kinds of dignitaries, but this was her first time to experience such an award.

Opening a mansion here is not as simple as opening a princess's mansion.

Opening a separate Princess Gaoyang Mansion is just like renovating a house and has no special significance.

The power to establish a government that the emperor mentioned is equivalent to forming a leadership team and setting up a government office.

The practice of setting up palaces for princesses in the Tang Dynasty began during the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, Li Xian. There were seven princesses in total, namely Changning, Anle, Yicheng, Xindu, Ding'an, Jincheng and Taiping, all of whom had their own palaces and officials, and their status was equivalent to that of princes.

There is no such precedent in the Tang Dynasty today, so Li Su would of course be very excited.

"Aunt?" Li Xiang nudged Li Shu's arm with his elbow: "Are you back to your senses?"

Li Shu finally came to her senses and quickly bowed to Li Chengqian: "Thank you for your grace, brother!"

"Well, you should thank me." Li Chengqian smiled and did not help Li Shu. He accepted the gift in a grand manner.

He could fully accept this courtesy. From the perspective of family, he was Li Su's elder brother; from the perspective of monarch and ministers, he was the monarch, so there was certainly nothing he could not accept.

"But," Li Shu suddenly said, "Sister Xiangcheng and Sister Changle have not yet been given titles. It is not in accordance with etiquette for me to be a sister before an elder sister."

"What's wrong with this?" Li Chengqian crossed his legs. "Then let's confer titles on them together. Xiangcheng is my eldest sister, and Changle is my sister from the same mother. There's nothing unreasonable about conferring titles on them together."

"Excuse me for being blunt, Father." Li Xiang suddenly said, "It's okay to set up a palace for one princess, but if you confer titles on three princesses at the same time, it will seem like a wholesale deal."

Li Chengqian also reflected on what wholesale means, and then thought of the wholesale of seafood in Dengzhou...

You know what, after Li Xiang said that, he also felt that it seemed like a wholesale business.

If it is conferred upon just one person, it would seem that this honor is unique to Scorpio Papa and is the supreme honor.

If you seal a bunch of them at once, it would seem like they are not worth much.

"Then what do you think we should do?" Li Chengqian asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Then let's first confer a higher title on Aunt Gao Yang." Li Xiang spread his hands. "Aunt has helped us so much over the years. It is reasonable to confer a higher title on her. Don't you think so?"

"Yes, that's right." Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Then it's settled. In a few days, I will issue an edict to confer Su'er the title of Princess Gaoyang of the Auxiliary State. Her status will be equal to that of a prince, and her fiefdom will be increased by 2,000 households."

According to the current rules, even for a prince, the actual fiefdom he is granted is generally around 800 households.

Li Shu's fief was increased to two thousand households, which was no ordinary favor.

Li Shu had forgotten how he left the Daming Palace, and when he returned home he still felt it was not real.

Seeing Li Shu's absent-minded look, Fang Yiai asked with concern: "Shu'er, what's wrong with you?"

Li Shu tilted his mouth, looked at Fang Yiai, and snorted in a very hereditary way: "Please call me princess, my husband!"

Fang Yiai shuddered. He was different from ordinary people. He was a man who had been tortured by Li Shu, both mentally and physically. If you want to ask if he had the courage to contradict Li Shu, then he definitely didn't.

Without saying a word, he immediately knelt on the ground.

"Your subordinate greets the princess!"

"What are you doing?" Li Shu hurriedly helped Fang Yiai up, pinched his chin in a reproachful manner, then bent down to give him a kiss to comfort him, and then, in Fang Yiai's eager eyes, he chuckled and said, "You asked me what's wrong, right? Then I'll tell you, from now on, I'm Princess Gaoyang of the Fuguo! My status is equal to that of a prince~"

"Really?" Fang Yiai's eyes lit up.

"Yes." Li Shu nodded: "My elder brother also gave me the power to open a government office."

"Then the position of Chief Secretary must be reserved for me." Fang Yiai immediately began to express his opinion.

"Why?" Li Shu narrowed his eyes.

"I don't feel comfortable letting someone else be the chief secretary." Fang Yiai said bluntly.

Seeing her husband acting so silly, Li Shu chuckled and patted his shoulder with her hand.

"Okay, okay, whatever you want to do is up to you—"

"Really?" Fang Yiai's body trembled.

"Of course it's true." Li Su's eyes were like water.

"Then I won't be polite!" Fang Yiai straightened his burly back and lifted Li Shu up amid her screams of fear.

……

Let alone the beauties and the beasts in Princess Gaoyang's mansion, just the fact that Li Chengqian was ennobled after conferring the title of Princess Gaoyang the Auxiliary State made him feel a little lost in thought.

Damei and Lizhi can't come to argue, right? They shouldn't be able to do that, right?
But then again, these two sisters are both gentle and virtuous, not the kind of hot-tempered ones at all, and they probably won’t be picky.

But the more Li Chengqian thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Finally, he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet. Just do it wholesale. Xiangcheng will be given the title of Dingguo, and Lizhi will be given the title of Anguo, he muttered to himself.

In April of the third year of Yonghui, Li Chengqian officially issued an edict to confer titles on Princess Xiangcheng as Princess Dingguo Xiangcheng, Princess Changle as Princess Anguo Changle, and Princess Gaoyang as Princess Fuguo Gaoyang. Their fiefs were all 2,000 households, and they were allowed to establish their own government offices, with status comparable to that of princes.

As soon as the decree was issued, there was an uproar in the court and the country.

However, no one raised any objection. At that time, there was no such thought as Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. In addition, the atmosphere in the Tang Dynasty was open-minded, so it was not a big deal for a princess to open her own house.

Besides, the emperor has been quiet for three years, three years!
Suddenly appearing and conferring titles on three princesses was already a very remarkable achievement compared to Yang Guang!

If Yang Guang had used the energy he put into conferring titles on his sisters and brothers instead of the energy he put into turmoil over the empire, the country would probably still be the Sui Dynasty.

Although it has caused widespread discussion among the government and the opposition, there is naturally no voice of opposition.

The next day, when Li Xiang went for a stroll in Daji Hall, he saw Li Mingda sitting in front of the piano with an expressionless face, playing the black key exercises on a loop.

Well, aunt is in a bad mood, Li Xiang muttered to himself.

"What's the matter?" Li Xiang asked Luoluo by mouthing.

Luoluo shook her head behind Li Mingda and also used her mouth to signal Li Xiang to run away quickly.

However, it was too late for Li Xiang to run away. Seeing that Li Mingda had noticed Li Xiang, he played several wrong keys.

"Aunt, you are upset." Li Xiang waved his claws.

"Ha." Li Mingda chuckled and continued playing: "How come you have so much free time today to come to my Daji Hall?"

"I miss my aunt so I came to see her." Li Xiang said with a strong desire to survive.

"You still have a conscience." Li Mingda continued to play.

Li Xiang walked forward, took out a bag of candied fruit from his arms and placed it on Li Mingda's piano.

"Look at what my aunt said. If I don't have a conscience, who else can have one? If you don't believe me, feel it."

Li Mingda spat at him: "Little bastard, are you making fun of your aunt again?"

"Haha, I heard that my aunt was in a bad mood, so I came to see you." Li Xiang said with a smile: "Here, have some fruit."

Li Mingda picked up the bag of candied fruit, took out a piece from it and put it in his mouth.

"Don't be sad, aunt. Your nephew will definitely give you the highest title in the future!" Li Xiang stretched out his hand high, gesturing a very high height.

Hearing Li Xiang's words, Li Mingda covered his mouth and smiled.

"Look, you're just making up stories again. If I believed them, I'd probably cry my heart out."

Li Xiang: …

Good guy, are you Daiyu too?
He remembered that he had nothing to do recently, so he dictated a passage from Dream of the Red Chamber to Pei Xueqing.

This was out of control. Pei Xueqing had been pestering him to listen to the story of Dream of the Red Chamber every day so that she could write it down and read it from time to time.

For a while, "Dream of Red Mansions" became wildly popular in the harem and even spread to Taiji Palace and Daming Palace.

Li Mingda naturally could not escape either. She liked Lin Daiyu, who was very similar to her, the most, and even learned a few lines from famous scenes.

"Don't you believe in your nephew's sincerity?" Li Xiang covered his chest with his hands. It hurt, it hurt so much.

"Really?" Li Mingda smiled faintly, leaning on the chair, "Is this reward just for me, or for other aunts as well?"

"Of course it belongs to my aunt." Li Xiang patted his chest and assured.

"Hmph, Xiang'er still loves me." Li Mingda's mood suddenly turned from cloudy to sunny. She stopped playing the black key exercise and started playing Ode to Joy.

Li Xiang finally understood that the song played by Li Mingda was a reflection of her mood.

When I am in a bad mood, I sing the black key exercises, and when I am in a good mood, I sing the Ode to Joy.

Well, next time before I come here, I have to ask Luoluo suggestively what my aunt played today.

(End of this chapter)