A formal edict is not something the Emperor could draft simply. It had to be stamped by various ministers to confirm that there were no problems, then sent to the Ministry of Personnel for review. If not approved, it had to be sent back for rewriting.

The person guarding the gate of the Ministry of Personnel was none other than Wei Zheng, who often put on a bad face. In recent years, countless edicts died tragically at his hands. They died meaningfully and provided Wei Zheng with lots of material to criticize others.

Although the Emperor thinks that old Wei is bad temper, he still accepted him. Wei Zheng is able to speak well and see things accurately? If he were to replace him, who else could do so well?

Although the edict was stuck at Fang Xuanling’s place this time, he felt that it was necessary to drag Wei Zheng into water too. Otherwise he might not be able to persuade the Emperor Li.

When Wei Zheng saw the content, he too think they were right to criticize.

The content included asking Li Yuanying to move to his land. But His Majesty not only gave Yuanying the original Tengzhou, but also the fiefdom belonging to the late Prince Qi! Prince Qi rebelled two years ago and was killed, and his land never distributed to others. His area is connected to Tengzhou, and was wider and richer!

When Li Er initially gave Tengzhou to Yuanying a few years ago, he wasn’t so partial to his younger brother yet. The place he chose was good, but not very big. Li Er pondered over the map and felt that such a small place was unfair to his youngest brother. With a wave of his hand, he took Prince Qi’s fiefdom and the surrounding areas and put them under  Li Yuanying’s control.

The Emperor had many brothers, but only one that he raise personally. How can his fiefdom be small? It must be big!

There must be many prefectures and counties, and the land must be large, it must be grand!

Prince Teng’s Palace had been built much earlier so that would not be changed. He will be based in  Tengzhou, but more places will be under his jurisdiction. Some might argue that he is too young and inexperience? I will send a group of talents to help manage it. Besides, Li Yuanying himself had also recruited a bunch of people, so isn’t this just right?

Li Er felt that his idea is perfect, there’s no problem at all. He freely gave the content to be drafted.

Cen Wenben pinched his nose, wrote the edict, and handed it to the ministers with an expressionless face. He must share His Majesty’s amazing and wonderful idea to the rest!

A thunderbolt appearing out of the blue, sending shockwaves to Fang Xuanling and others——

His Majesty assigned the majority of Henan Road to Li Yuanying.

Fang Xuanling and his men went to block the Emperor in objection.

Li Er was just imagining how happy his annoying brother would be when he gets the edict, but his men told him to send it back for rewriting.

Li Er was unhappy. Fine that he’s not allowed to attack Goryeo, but why can’t he expand his brother’s fiefdom? If the fiefdom is not connected to the sea, why would he build ships? It must be connected!

The Emperor quarreled with his trusted ministers again. Both sides refused to give in and started arguing.

No matter what Wei Zheng and his friends said, the Emperor insisted that he will award his youngest brother the same amount as he had given his sons. What’s more infuriating is when the Crown Prince agrees saying that it’s no problem giving the entire Henan Province to Li Yuanying.

Even if his granddaughter is marrying Li Yuanying, Wei Zheng felt that father and son were either possessed by evil or out of their minds!

Li Yuanying, the person involved, knew nothing and was still waiting for the Emperor’s order. It was not until Zhangsun Wuji reminded Wei Zheng to talk to Li Yuanying that he sent someone to explain to him about the situation.

When Li Yuanying heard this, he felt that his brother and nephew were so nice to secretly give him a large fiefdom. He was happy and complained to Wei Zheng: “Such a good thing, why are you blocking it? Brother, why don’t you give me more land!”

Wei Zheng felt that the Li family was really unreasonable.

Fortunately, Wei Zheng knew that Yuanying is always soft-hearted, so he resisted the urge to scold him and analyzed the situation from all aspects to him patiently. It would sow disasters in the long run and cause dissatisfaction in the near future. Once this precedent was set, the entire Tang Dynasty would not have enough land to be shared.

When the Emperor wanted to establish a hereditary system of provincial governors and make royalty and nobles the rulers, he was opposed by Zhangsun Wuji and others! They gave up this opportunity in order not to set a bad example. Now the Emperor wants to give him Henan Province based on his own preference, how can they not dissuade him?

Yuanying was not someone that don’t listen. After listening to the analysis, the enthusiasm for a large fiefdom also subsided.

Although he had no desire for the throne, he cannot guarantee his future sons were excellent and clear-headed. If he raised an unfilial son, a good thing will turn bad. It would be better not to have special arrangements. If there are any capable children or grandchildren, they can just make a name for themselves; as for those who are not capable, they can just enjoy the royal honor. Why leave such a large fiefdom? It will only harm the people!

In summary, the capable ones don’t need to rely on him to leave anything, and the incapable ones don’t deserve it and will make others jealous!

Yuanying figured it out, sighed and nodded: “I understand. I was thinking that such a large fiefdom, we would have enough to share if we had a few more children!”

Wei Zheng’s face twitched.

A child who isn’t fully grown is thinking about having more children! Giving birth is like walking on the edge of hell!

Seeing Wei Zheng’s bad mood, Yuanying quickly change the topic and patted his chest to assure him that he would reject the large fiefdom. I will never start this bad example.

Yuanying didn’t lie. After knowing why the decree had not been issued, he immediately meet the Emperor to show why he didn’t need such a large fiefdom.

His Majesty had been blocked and he had developed a rebellious streak and was determined to fight to the end. After hearing Yuanying say no, Li Er looked unhappy.

Yuanying observed and knew that His Majesty is in a very bad mood because he had lost twice!

“My royal brother, if you want to give me a large fiefdom, you can wait until I have made great contributions before giving it to me!If you give me all the good things at once, what else can you reward me with in the future?”

His brother was full of confidence and shamelessly proclaimed about “making great contributions”. The Emperor’s anger disappeared immediately. He pointed at him and said, “You have such confidence in yourself!”

“Of course, if you don’t believe in yourself, who will believe in you?! Brother, wait, I will definitely do you great service! If someone says that you shouldn’t give me a big fiefdom, I will beat them up. No, I will ask people to throw manure at their doorsteps! Write big words! Throw dead chickens, dogs and rats!”

His Majesty was quite moved by the first part, but he started to curse after hearing the second part: “Shut up, where did you learn such dirty tricks?!”

He obediently kept his mouth shut.

The Emperor  now thinks his decision is not right. Yuanying has had many good ideas, but even more bad ones. If he got angry, he would be unstoppable. If he really was given most of Henan Province, who knows how many would suffer.

“Okay, I will discuss this matter with the others.”

Li Yuanying nodded like crazy, and said, “Can I have a small request?”

His Majesty glanced at him.

Yuanying looked at His Majesty eagerly: “I heard that you are not allowed to leave your fiefdom, but I have to go to Mount Tai and play at the seaside. Otherwise, how can I build roads and big ships for you, my brother? You don’t have to assign these places to me, just allow me to walk freely to these places.”

Yuanying had originally planned to discuss this with His Majesty and now that he had a ready-made opportunity, he seize it.

His Majesty nodded  and told him to wait for the Emperor’s order.

Yuanying did not want a large fiefdom, but only the right to walk freely in Henan Province. Fang Xuanling and others discussed it and agreed.

This matter is easy to handle. Li Yuanying is a Jinshi prince after all, so let’s just give him an official position with inspection duties, this is not considered special. If other vassal prince also want such authority, then let them take the imperial examination! Compared with the grand gesture of the Emperor, Li Yuanying’s request is easy to deal with!

The dispute came to an end, and the edict was quickly stamped and sent to Li Yuanying. This edict was naturally full of praise. Yuanying didn’t understand it very well and read it twice before he was sure that all his requirements were met, and the people he wanted were on the accompanying list!

Yuanying was so happy that he couldn’t sleep. The next day he started running around to say goodbye to the people he knew, saying that he would miss them.

Although Yuanying said he woud miss them, anyone with eyes could see that Li Yuanying didn’t feel reluctant at all, and his heart is no longer in Chang’an! Rather than saying goodbye, it’s better to say that he was showing off that he could play freely soon!

The Emperor looked at Yuanying having fun everywhere and felt that this little heartless guy is truly heartless. He was born and raised in Chang’an, but he had no attachment to this place. Before the date was decided, he came every day to express his intention. After it was decided, he couldn’t sit still for a moment!

Li Yuanying said goodbye to everyone he could remember, and not surprisingly, he picked up a few more talents.

For example, Ouyang Xun’s youngest son Ouyang Tong, who is only 19.

In the past few years, he has been practicing calligraphy, but now he has encountered a bottleneck. Knowing that Li Yuanying was going with a group of young talents to the fiefdom, Ouyang Tong wanted to broaden his horizons. Mother was worried about him going out alone, but she would be at ease if he followed such a large team!

Li Yuanying poach one family after another, and the team became larger and stronger. On the night before departure, he remembered that he had not said goodbye to Li Er properly. He hurriedly took mellow and sweet Gaochang wine to have a night talk with His Majesty.

At first, Li Er did not give him good attitude but Yuanying was always ready to face challenges. The two brothers sat and chatted until late. They did not talk about family and national affairs, but only talked about pulling out beards and driving away teachers.

When Yuanying was about to leave, Li Er sternly warn him not to be willful, be a real man, and not to treat himself as a child.

Li Yuanying agreed and ran away.

The next day, Yuanying led the convoy out of the palace. He brought many people and things. The long line of carriages and horses stretched from the start of Tianjie Street to the end, attracting many who watched in amazement. Someone counted how many carts and he got dizzy and had to give up!

Look at the people again. You can’t see those in the carriage, but there are men and women riding on horseback. All looking handsome and extraordinary! We weren’t aware that there were so many handsome men and beautiful women hidden in Chang’an City!

Who are they?!

Some people were well-informed and share that Prince Teng was leaving. Everyone who came out to watch knew about it, and all felt that His Majesty really loved this youngest brother.

Look, how many treasures and how many people he gave him!

In addition to those who came to marvel, there were also those who had received Li Yuanying’s favor and escorted him all the way to the city gate. They watched the convoy leave reluctantly, and it looked like a scene where thousands of people were emptying the streets.

Chengqian personally escorted Yuanying out of the city, after escorting you a thousand miles, you must still say goodbye. He was a little reluctant to leave his youngest uncle but Yuanying was cool: “Chengqian, go back. We are leaving. It’s not good to have so many people blocking the city gate. Old Wei will say that we are disturbing the people!”

Chengqian stopped his horse to watch the group leave for the East.

Notes from the Author:

Little Prince: Goodbye, Chang’an!

Empty-Nested Brother: I’m going to change my nickname today.

Little Prince:?

Note: The Henan Road in Tang Dynasty is not the same as present day Henan, but was in the Shandong Peninsula. In simple terms, the idea of His Majesty was to give the entire Shandong Peninsula to the little prince. So generous!