Li Yuanying’s idea was finished, and Wei Jiu and the others were very curious about what poems were written on the scrolls.
Li Yuanying disliked accompanying Emperor Li on hunts, feeling it was like playing games and lacked any fun. He didn’t go with them. He said with a smile, “If you want to know, you can grind ink for me, and I’ll write it for you!”
Wei Jiu saw the smug look on his face, as if he was about to write “Sister Jiu, come quickly and serve me” on his forehead. She wanted to pinch his face. But with others present, Wei Jiu had to give him some face. She loved calligraphy and grinding ink was a simple task for her. Upon hearing Li Yuanying’s request, she readily took the inkstone and ink block brought by Huang Ying and Huang Li and expertly began grinding ink for him.
Li Yuanying became even more proud, smiling at Di Renjie and the others with a radiant face, implying, “Look, my wife is so good, you guys hurry up and find one.”
The others didn’t want to argue with him. Getting engaged early, what a big deal!
Di Renjie rolled his eyes at him. Who would envy their childish show-off? He had grand ambitions and wouldn’t be entangled by love like Li Yuanying!
Li Yuanying just wanted to have fun. After his amusement, he wrote the poems made by Emperor Li and the others for his friends. It took him quite a while to memorize and write down the poems, but these were drafts, so there was no need to write them beautifully. His calligraphy naturally flowed like dragon and phoenix dancing.
Li Yuanying wrote one poem, and Wei Jiu and the others read one. Though they didn’t participate in the grand feast, they could imagine the scene.
After memorizing the poems, Li Yuanying rubbed his wrists and began to evaluate them: “Honestly, I think the poems written by my Imperial brother and the others are not very good. But for the sake of them praising the Teng Wang Pavilion and Cui Wei Palace, I’ll still have them printed!”
Wei Jiu looked at a few poems and agreed with him, defying convention. These poems were beautiful, but they were all the same, lacking originality and any striking lines. As Li Yuanying said, reading them gave only one feeling: they were praising!
As for how good the praise was, they couldn’t make demands.
Li Yuanying continued, “I told you to come earlier, but you wouldn’t. I built the Teng Wang Pavilion, how could my friends not come? I told you, Old Fang only brought his wife’s nephew, about my age, and he writes pretty good poetry.” He picked out a scroll from the drafts and passed it to Wei Jiu and the others to read.
This poem was fresh and elegant, with a touch of humor, completely different from the previous “grandiose poems” with beautiful rhetoric and exquisite workmanship. It was no wonder he was a young man, not yet honed by the court into a seasoned veteran!
Wu Mei glanced at the signature and read, “Lu Zhaolin?”
Di Renjie knew quite a bit about the many prominent families. “The Fanyang Lu Family?”
Li Yuanying thought for a moment and nodded, “Old Fang’s wife seems to be from the Fanyang Lu Family. This Lu Zhaolin is pretty good, he’s quite handsome, and his wit is quick. My Imperial brother even praised his poem.”
Di Renjie and the others agreed with Li Yuanying’s choice of “best overall.”
Li Yuanying immediately became interested, “Why don’t we go find him to play?”
Everyone had gone hunting, and it wouldn’t be good for them to stay here reading poems. Everyone nodded, agreeing to go. Li Yuanying asked Huang Ying and Huang Li to take the poems and store them with the “Preface to the Teng Wang Pavilion and Cui Wei Palace,” and then led his friends to the hunting grounds.
The adults had entered the hunting grounds, but the womenfolk and those who were young or not good at archery didn’t go. But there was entertainment. Gao Yang was very active, organizing two polo teams to play.
As Li Yuanying and his group approached the polo field, they witnessed an unexpected scene: Gao Yang sat on her horse, holding a polo mallet, staring blankly at the young man standing frozen outside the field.
The young man was handsome with refined features, clearly a promising young gentleman. He held a polo ball he had just picked up, with some dirt on it, making it seem as if the ball had sullied his hand!
Gao Yang was stunned for a moment before coming to her senses, feeling slightly uncomfortable, her ears inexplicably turning red. She said fiercely, “My ball, give it back to me.”
The young man also came to his senses and walked forward to return the polo ball to Gao Yang.
Li Yuanying recognized the young man and ran up excitedly to greet him, “Brother Lu!”
The young man was naturally Lu Zhaolin, whom Emperor Li had allowed Fang Xuanling to bring to the feast. Seeing Li Yuanying, he bowed politely, “Your Highness.”
Li Yuanying said, “No need for all this formality, we’re equals, just treat each other as ordinary friends.”
Lu Zhaolin had heard many negative things about Li Yuanying from his family, urging him to stay away from him. But now, seeing him, he found Li Yuanying to be friendly and approachable, quite different from what he had heard.
Gao Yang dismounted and asked Li Yuanying, “Yu Shu, why didn’t you go hunting with Father?”
Li Yuanying’s response could be considered quite audacious, “I wouldn’t be a plaything.” He didn’t like hunting, having no interest in chasing after prey. After all, chasing after prey that was stronger than him was exhausting, and hunting prey that was weaker than him was not rewarding, boring!
Making new friends was more important than hunting!
Li Yuanying pulled Lu Zhaolin aside and introduced him to his friends, and then introduced Di Renjie and the others to Lu Zhaolin.
Lu Zhaolin learned that the dazzling young lady who had left him speechless earlier was Gao Yang, the former fiancée of his cousin. Breaking off the engagement hadn’t had any negative impact on her. She radiated a natural cheerfulness, playing polo with joy and freedom.
Though warned by his family, young people are easily tempted by their peers. Soon, Li Yuanying had drawn Lu Zhaolin into their circle. Seeing that Lu Zhaolin hadn’t gone hunting, he said, “You think hunting is boring too, don’t you? It’s so tiring! But it’s good to relax with polo after studying. Let’s go play with Gao Yang.”
Everyone except Sizhi (who was weak), Li Xiang and Hengyang (who were young) could join in. Li Xiang, the only man left behind as a spectator, bravely took on the role of leader, leading a group of servants on the sidelines, cheering for Li Yuanying, “Yao Yao, the ball’s there! The ball’s there! Beat them, beat them!”
Gao Yang was furious. This little rascal Li Xiang was only cheering for his Yao Yao. They were his aunts!
Gao Yang was not one to easily concede defeat, and she threw herself into a fierce competition with Li Yuanying.
Emperor Li returned from hunting and heard the commotion from the polo field. On one side, Li Xiang and Li Yuanying’s people were cheering for Li Yuanying, while on the other side, Gao Yang’s attendants, having lost, were also yelling at the top of their lungs. It was just a few kids playing polo, but they were making a huge fuss, like a full-scale brawl was about to break out!
Li Xiang was yelling so hard his face was red and his neck was thick, but when he saw Emperor Li and his entourage approach, led by Emperor Li and his father Li Chengqian, he suddenly felt like his neck had been choked, his face reddening. He closed his mouth and stepped forward to greet Emperor Li.
Since everyone was out playing, Emperor Li didn’t think there was anything wrong with Li Xiang leading the cheers. He asked him who was winning after playing for so long.
Li Xiang honestly replied, “I don’t know.”
Li Yuanying’s polo skills were also a bit of a show, dazzling the audience with his moves, frustrating his opponents to the point of stamping their feet. As for who was winning or losing, no one cared. They all wanted to see what new tricks they could pull off and what kind of shouting matches they could have.
Emperor Li saw that Li Xiang was only focused on leading the crowd in shouting, not even paying attention to the score. He suddenly felt that this child was too attached to Li Yuanying, fearing he might be led astray by him. He said, “Your voice is quite suitable for leading troops to battle. Maybe one roar from you could shock them.”
Li Xiang blushed in embarrassment.
Li Yuanying was also tired from playing. Hearing the silence, he turned his head and saw Emperor Li and the others standing on the sidelines watching. He immediately called out to his friends, “I’m tired, let’s stop playing!” He was playing polo for fun, not to put on a show for others!
The others naturally dismounted and followed Li Yuanying to greet Emperor Li.
Emperor Li asked Li Yuanying to take him to see the horses.
On the way to the stables, Fang Xuanling asked Li Yuanying, “I heard you promised the horse breeders that they would get one horse for every ten good horses they raised?”
Li Yuanying replied, “Yes.” Seeing Fang Xuanling’s pained expression, he immediately began to advise him in a sincere tone, “Old Fang, you can’t always be obsessed with immediate gains and losses. How can you expect the horses to run without giving them grass? If they can benefit themselves, they will naturally do their best and show their true skills in raising horses for us. Some experiences can’t be acquired in ten or twenty years. Take papermaking, for example. Now the price of paper is cheap, but I spent a lot of money to find ways to reduce costs in the beginning. At the current price, even selling paper for twenty years might not make back the investment. This is all thanks to me meeting people like Mei Niang and Deng Qing, who are smart. So, talents are crucial!”
Fang Xuanling was speechless.
Of course, he knew talents were crucial, why else were all the wise rulers eager to seek them out?
But he was still uneasy about giving horses to these Tubo tribesmen for free, afraid they might bite back at the Tang Dynasty.
Seeing Fang Xuanling’s worried look, Li Yuanying leaned over to whisper to him, “I’ll tell you, Dai Ting told me that most of these people have a family-destroying feud with Songtsen Gampo and Lu Dongzan. We give them horses, in their minds we are their friends, the benefactors who helped them when they were on the verge of ruin. The better we treat them, the more they will think that Songtsen Gampo and Lu Dongzan are not good people. As long as they have the opportunity, they will definitely bite Songtsen Gampo’s people. They will never turn around and join forces with him. According to me, we can also secretly sell them the unused weapons and armor of the Tang soldiers!”
Although Songtsen Gampo was considered his niece’s husband, Li Yuanying didn’t feel any guilt about targeting Tubo. He thought Wen Cheng had married too far away. He felt that Tubo should become part of the Tang Dynasty and that Songtsen Gampo should become a subject of the Tang Dynasty. That way, Wen Cheng’s life would be more comfortable. She could return to Chang’an if she wanted, and she could do whatever she wanted, without having to compromise like she does now.
Li Yuanying spoke confidently and matter-of-factly. Fang Xuanling’s scalp tingled as he listened. He asked Li Yuanying, “Was this your idea?”
This strategy was also used by Emperor Wen of Sui. In order to divide the tribes on the grasslands, he adopted the tactic of supporting the weak against the strong. Whoever was weak, he secretly supported them, so that they would fight each other! Later, whether it was Emperor Yang of Sui or Emperor Li of Tang, they had secretly used this tactic. It was just a matter of whether it was successful or not. Anyway, this tactic was not new, but if used well, it was quite effective!
Li Yuanying replied, “I didn’t think of it at the time. I just felt sorry for these people whose families had been destroyed, so I promised them. Later, I discussed it with Dai Ting and we thought it was feasible. Anyway, if someone found out, it wouldn’t matter. Would they not allow the Tang Dynasty to be kind to people? The Tang Dynasty has always been the most benevolent and loving!”
Fang Xuanling didn’t say anything more.
Emperor Li was walking when he noticed Li Yuanying was missing. He turned his head and saw him whispering to Fang Xuanling. He beckoned Li Yuanying to catch up and asked what he was talking about with Fang Xuanling.
Li Yuanying said, “I’m chatting with Old Fang about how the Tang Dynasty should promote friendly relations with its neighbors.”
Fang Xuanling almost tripped when he heard Li Yuanying say this.
What the hell is friendly relations with neighbors!
Li Yuanying continued to explain to Emperor Li in a confident tone how to promote friendly relations with neighbors. “Friendly relations,” according to him, meant that the Tang Dynasty should establish a closer relationship with his niece’s husband Songtsen Gampo, for example, by making Tubo part of the Tang Dynasty. Wouldn’t that make them truly one family? “Friendly relations” also meant that the surrounding people, though they had conflicts with Songtsen Gampo and his people, needed to be helped, not because they were relatives, but because they were innocent and pitiable. They had either lost their fathers or been robbed of their mothers. They were so innocent, so pitiful. Shouldn’t we help them? Therefore, he was discussing with Old Fang how to promote friendly relations with neighbors!
Emperor Li: “…”
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