The group was curious about all the poems written by the ministers.

Yuanying didn’t like hunting with the Emperor as he felt like a follower and that it boring, so he declined.

He told the group with a smile: “If you’re curious, go grind ink and I will write it down!”

Wei Shu saw his happy face with “Sister Shu come and serve me” written on it and she wanted to pinch him. But friends were around so she kept her thoughts as just thoughts. She loved calligraphy anyway, so grinding ink was really easy for her. She took the inkstone and ink block that Huang Ying and Huang Li brought in and skillfully ground them.

Yuanying looked proud and smiled brightly at Di Renjie and others. It meant “Look, my wife is so great! You hurry up and find one.”

No one wanted to argue with him. Ya, Ya. What’s so great about getting engaged early?!

Di Renjie even rolled his eyes. Who is so childish to be jealous over two teenagers showing off their lovey dovey side. He is a man with ambition, he will not make the mistake of being troubled by romantic affairs!

Yuanying just wanted a quick tease, after that he wrote down the poems. It took him quite some effort to write down what he memorize but since this was just a draft, he wrote quickly without caring too much about calligraphy style.

As he wrote one poem, the rest read it quickly and could imagine how grand the banquet were even-though they didn’t get to attend it.

After finishing, Yuanying massaged his wrist and then proceeded to critique the poems.

“To be honest, I think the poems written by Brother and his men is mediocre. But since they are praising the Pavilion and the Palace, I will still print a copy!”

Wei Shu read them and nodded, joining in the rebellious thoughts. The poems are beautiful but they are all the same and offers nothing new. After reading, it’s all about praises.

“I told you guys to join the banquet didn’t I? This is my project, why can’t my friends join? Old man Fang brought his whole family and a few young ones who were about our age and they wrote poems really well.”

Yuanying then pulled out their works for the others to read.

This poem is fresh and meaningful, quite interesting, and completely different from those beautiful and meticulously crafted “scenery poems” just now. As expected of a young man, he has not been worn down by the officialdom and turn into a slick old man yet!

Wu Mei glanced at the signature: “Lu Zhaolin?”

Di Renjie who had some understanding of the many noble families: “Fanyang’s Lu family?”

Yuanying thought and nodded: “I think one of Old Fang’s wife is from the Fanyang Lu family. This Lu Zhaolin is quite good, handsome, and quick to react. The Emperor praised him for writing a good poem.”

Di Renjie and others all agreed with Li Yuanying that this was the best piece of work.

Yuanying immediately became interested: “Why don’t we look for him and invite him to play!”

Since everyone is out hunting, they shouldn’t be sitting around just reading poems. Everyone nodded in agreement. Yuanying asked Huang Ying and Huang Li to take the manuscript and put it away. He then took his friends to play at the hunting ground.

The adults went hunting, but the women and young children also had entertainment. Gao Yang was active and organized two teams to play polo.

Yuanying and his group walked into the vicinity of the polo field and saw an unexpected scene: Gao Yang was sitting on a horse holding a polo stick, staring blankly at a boy standing outside the field.

The boy had a handsome face and looked like a gentleman. He was holding a polo ball that he had just picked up. There was dirt on the polo ball, which made people feel that the ball had stained his hands!

Gao Yang was stunned for a while before she came back to her senses. She felt a little uncomfortable and her ears were inexplicably turning red.

She angrily screamed: “It’s my ball. Give it back!”

The youth also came back to his senses and quickly returned the ball.

Li Yuanying recognized the young man and ran up with great interest.

“Brother Lu!”

The young man was Lu Zhaolin.

“Your Highness.”

“There is no need for formalities. We are peers. Just treat each other as ordinary friends.”

Lu Zhaolin heard from Mrs. Lu to stay away from Li Yuanying. But when he met him in person, he felt that he was friendly and kind, very different from the rumours.

Gao Yang dismounted her horse: “Uncle, why didn’t you go hunting with father?”

Yuanying’s words were extremely treasonous: “I won’t go as a playmate.” He didn’t like hunting and had no interest in chasing prey. After all, it was tiring chasing a prey that was stronger than him, and there was no sense of accomplishment when he killed a prey weaker than him. Boring!

Compared to hunting, it was more important to meet new friends!

Yuanying took Lu Zhaolin to his friends and introduced Di Renjie and others one by one.

Only then did Lu Zhaolin realize that the bright and beautiful girl who had stunned him was his cousin’s ex-fiancée, Princess Gaoyang. The cancellation of the engagement did not affect her at all and she looked cheerful from the inside out, and played polo happily and freely.

Although Mrs. Lu had warned him, he could not resist the temptation of getting to know people of the same age and was soon part of the group of friends. Seeing that Lu Zhaolin didn’t go hunting, Yuanying said: “You also think hunting is boring, right? It’s tiring! But playing polo to relax after studying is good, let’s play with Gao Yang.”

Except for Sizi who was weak, Li Xiang and Hengyang who were too young, the rest joined for a game of polo. As the only boy left as a spectator, Li Xiang bravely became the cheerleader and led a group  to cheer: “Yaoyao, the ball is there! The ball is there! Beat them, beat them!”

Gao Yang got angry. Li Xiang, this little brat, only cheering for Yaoyao but I’m his aunt too!

Gao Yang is not someone who gives in easily. She put in all her strength, intending to fight Li Yuanying.

When His Majesty returned from hunting, he heard a incredibly lively polo field. On one side, Li Xiang was cheering for Li Yuanying, and on the other side, Gao Yang’s  followers. It was just a game of polo played by kids, but they were so loud that one would assume a large-scale group fight would break out any time!

Li Xiang was shouting until his face turned red and his neck became thick. When he saw the Emperor’s group coming over, led by grandfather and  his father Li Chengqian, he immediately looked like someone had grabbed his neck. He shut his mouth and with a red face stepped forward to greet His Majesty.

Since they were all out to play, there was anything wrong with Li Xiang taking the lead in shouting. Li Er just asked who had the upper hand.

Li Xiang said honestly, “I don’t know.”

 Yuanying played polo with a lot of tricks. He dazzled the audience and made his opponents stamp their feet in anger. As for who is winning or losing, no one cared. They all wanted to see what new tricks were performed and how the two sides yell at each other.

When His Majesty saw that Li Xiang was busy leading the crowd to support young uncle without even watching the outcome, he immediately felt that he was too attached to Li Yuanying and might be led astray.

“Your voice is suitable for leading the army. Maybe you can shock people with a roar.”

Li Xiang blushed with a red face at that statement.

Yuanying was also tired from playing. Hearing that his surrounding had quieten down, he turned and saw the Emperor. He immediately signaled to his team: “I’m tired. I’ll stop playing”. He plays polo because it’s fun, not so that he can be seen as entertainment by the crowd.

Everyone followed and got off their horses to pay respect to the Emperor.

On the way to the horse farm, Fang Xuanling asked: “I heard that you promised the breeders that you would give them one horse for every ten good horses they raised?”

 “Yes.” (Li Yuanying)

 Seeing Fang Xuanling’s painful face, he immediately persuaded him earnestly: “Old Fang, people can’t always calculate the gains and losses immediately. How can you want the horse to run without giving it grass to eat? If there’s mutual benefits, the breeders will do their very best to raise good horses for us. Some experience cannot be gained without waiting for 8 to 10 years.  Let’s take papermaking as an example. The price of paper is cheap now, but I had to ask people to  find ways to lower the cost and I invested a lot of money. At the current rate, I’m afraid I won’t make back the money even if I sell paper for twenty years. This is also thanks to my encounter with smart people like Mei Niang and Deng Qing. So, talent is very important!”

Fang Xuanling was speechless.

Of course he knew that talent was important, otherwise why would all wise rulers be eager for talent?

However, he was still worried about giving horses to these Tibetan tribesmen for nothing, fearing that they would bite back at Tang Empire.

Yuanying saw Fang Xuanling’s worries and he whispered to him: “Dai Ting told me that most of these people have grudges against Songtsen Gampo and Lu Dongzan. We are giving them horses. In their hearts, we are their friends and benefactors who are willing to help them when they are on the verge of despair. The better we treat them, the more they think that Songtsen Gampo and Lu Dongzan are worthless. As long as they have a chance, they will definitely bite Songtsen Gampo like crazy, and will never turn around and join forces with him. In my opinion, we can secretly sell them weapons and armor that the Tang soldiers no longer use!”

Although Songtsen Gampo is his nephew-in-law, Li Yuanying doesn’t feel guilt in attacking his Empire. He felt that Wencheng had married too far away. It would be better to make them a part Tang. This way, Wencheng’s life would be more comfortable and she can return to Chang’an whenever she wants and do whatever she likes.

Li Yuanying said it with a clear conscience and as facts but Fang Xuanling’s scalp tingled when he heard it.

“Is this your idea?”

This trick was also used by Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty. In order to divide the grassland tribes, Emperor Wen supported the weak and resisted the strong. He secretly helped the weak side so that they could fight each other! Later, both Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty and His Majesty Li Er used this trick secretly, but whether it was successful or not is another matter. Anyway, this trick is not new, but is very useful if used well!

“I didn’t think about it at the time. I just felt that these people whose families were destroyed were pitiful, so I promised them. Later, when I discussed it with Dai Ting, I felt that this was feasible. Anyway, it didn’t matter if people knew about it. Can’t we, the Tang, be kind to people? We have always been the most tolerant and friendly!” (Li Yuanying)

Fang Xuanling said nothing more.

Li Er was walking and found Li Yuanying was missing. He turned around and saw him whispering to Fang Xuanling. He waved to him and ask what he was talking about with Fang Xuanling.

“I’m sharing to Old Fang about how Tang should be friendly with neighbors.”

Fang Xuanling almost slipped when he heard what Li Yuanying had said.

God damn it, friendly with neighbors!

Li Yuanying also explained to Li Er with a confident look on how to be friendly with neighbors. The so-called friendliness means that Tang Dynasty should establish a closer relationship with his nephew-in-law Songtsen Gampo, such as turning it into a territory. Isn’t this like a real family? This so-called friendliness with neighbors means that although these poor people have conflicts with family, we have to help the right and not the relatives. They are so innocent and pitiful. Shouldn’t we help them?!

Li Er: “…”

Notes from the author:

Little Prince: Is there anything wrong with what I said? Is there anything wrong with what I said? Is there anything wrong with what I said?