Yuanying made promises that he would write to Chang’an every day, but in fact Chang’an and Tengzhou were located quite a distance apart, otherwise Wei Zheng wouldn’t have repeatedly dissuaded His Majesty from visiting Mount Tai.

Yuanying’s team was really huge, and they attracted attention wherever they went. In order not to disturb the people along the way, only female relatives will rest in the cities while the rest of them will camp outsie of town so that they do not overcrowd any cities.

Friends like Tang Guan were fine with the arrangement. They had played together for a long time and were accustomed to things like camping. They cooperated with the guards and choose a campsite.

Ouyang Tong, Lu Zhaolin and others were much more unfamiliar with this. They stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do.

Yuanying wouldn’t ignore his friends in need, and it was a rare opportunity for him to show off. He happily showed them how to set up tents together.

Lu Zhaolin finally understood why Yuanying had so many things. He obviously planned to stay away from cities and had prepared all these things as needed.  

Since he is on this “pirate ship” with his teacher Wang Yifang, he could only start preparing for his first camping experience before nightfall.

The assistants that the Emperor selected for his brother is not limited to only Wang Yifang, several scholars from Hongwen Academy were also selected. The people chosen to serve a vassal prince were of high standards and the Emperor personally looked into choosing the right people. SInce Prince Teng didn’t ask them to start working, they rested and watch the young people get busy.

Yuanying naturally selected mostly young people. The slightly older ones were the accompanying guards, such as Li Jing’s son Li Dejian, who was the oldest. A group of lively young people were happily running around and just watching them would make people happy.

Wang Yifang was also quietly observing Li Yuanying.

The duties of a chief secretary is not easy. If you met a Lord who is content, things be fine. But if you met a Lord who is not, life will be difficult. If you dissuade him from thing, he might hate you; if you don’t and he does poorly, the Emperor would find fault with you. In short, this is a thankless job.

Someone like Li Yuanying is a complicated case. If you think he has a bad reputation, some would praise him; but if you say he is great, many would scold you. The only certain thing about his is he willl not stay idle and do nothing. Just look at the commotion he caused to move to his fiefdom!

It was not easy to be the chief secretary at Prince of Teng’s Palace!

He was quietly doing his duty at the Hongwen Academy so why did His Majesty suddenly choose him? Was it Wei Zheng who recommended him? Thinking of Wei Zheng who had at one time wanted to play matchmaker, Wang Yifang felt that it might be possible.

While Wang Yifang was thinking, Yuanying had already finished showing off and came running to talk to him.. These were scholars from the Hongwen Academy. Why did the Emperor send them along? Because  he wanted him to build a large academy!

After settling his friends, Yuanying took Wei Shu to meet his chief secretary and his team to avoid making them feel leftout.

Hearing that they had no objection to camping outside, Yuanying thinks the people chosen by His Majesty were great, and he told them about his plan to build a large Academy.

He has decided to include a large mountainous area behind the Prince Teng’s Mansion into the scope of the academy. The fields on the plains were just right to operate an academy and use them as school fields. Anyone who study here and passed the exams will be exempted from taxes and will also receive money for their families!

This academy will not limit the knowledge you learn, as long as it’s a useful subject, you will be taught. Those who have  talent for reading will go for the imperial examination, and those who don’t will learn physical skills that will make them useful to the Tang Dynasty.

Since the students will receive money and food from the academy, they should later fulfill their obligations. If they learn to read in the academy, they should teach others to read. If they learn arithmetic, they should return home to teach others arithmetic. Soon enough knowledge will spread and they will ideally be no illiterate people in Tengzhou!

Wang Yifang and others were refreshed. They were sitting outside the eastern suburbs of the capital county, without any magnificent view of pavilions and towers, and without beautiful and charming entertainers. The weather had turned cold, and the wind freezing. However, Yuanying’s words dispelled all their coldness, and they even felt something stirring in their bodies.

If Yuanying had said that he wanted a certain number of Jinshi, they would think that he was ambitious and unrealistic. But Yuanying wants everyone in Tengzhou to be literate!

It is normal for common people to be illiterate and unable to count. For a farmer’s family to have one child who can read and write, the whole family has to work to support him. How can it be so easy? If he can recognize a few characters and do maths, he can be an accountant in the city, and may even be quite in demand!

Who would go through the trouble of teaching common people to read and count?

Yuanying didn’t think so much. He just felt that books were like a treasure mountain that carries truths, and writing was the best invention. However, even if he did open a library, only scholars would come in. Most common people would still never step into a library in their entire lives.

This was because although books were like a treasure mountain, they still couldn’t get in. For manual work like agricultural, he could write down a step by step guide and others could follow it and be successful. But if you wanted to train people, you had to do it personally face to face and hand in hand!

Yuanying felt that if basic education could be popularized in Tengzhou, many things would become convenient! He hoped that in the future, when his children and grandchildren went out, they could chat with the people they met.

He couldn’t choose his fiefdom, but he could change the future of his fiefdom. This is his chance to leave a good foundation for his future generations, so of course he had to lay a good one!

Yuanying didn’t hide his thoughts but told Wang Yifang all these considerations. He didn’t want great talents, if they found such a person he would leave it to them to guide him and send him to the Imperial Court to serve the country. He only hoped that Wang Yifang and others would help him to educate other, and not stop him from starting miscellaneous courses. We will teach people what they are talented in.

Although Wang Yifang felt that Yuanying’s thought were to simplistic, he wouldn’t object to things that would help education.

Yuanying did promise that good seedlings will be selected first to learn knowledge. It would be good to teach the rest other things, at least among the accompanying people, there were a group that were taught in Sunflower Garden’s Academy.

Although this group only studied for three years at most, the older ones all looked like useful talents! Those who were lacking still found jobs at the garden or restaurant and at the very least their future was considered settled.

With Li Yuanying’s status, position and financial resources, he wouldn’t raise garbage if he wanted to properly train people!

The group had a heart to heart talk. After that, Wang Yifang and others stopped beign idle and decided to roll up their sleeves to show what they could do and added two dishes to the picnic.

Yuanying pulled Wei Shu to help them.

Seeing that Li Yuanying and his group had started, everyone chip in their efforts. They bought things from the County, collected things from the wild and went fishing for food. Although the finished product was not superbly appetizing, no one cared and felt that it was delicious!

Before Li Yuanying rested, the news about them starting a camp reported back to the capital. People said that Scholar Wang  and others had started cooking!

In those days, the philosophy from Mencius was not yet very popular, so the saying that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen was not use as an excuse. Regardless of gender, being able to cook to entertain relatives and friends was a commendable and elegant thing.

Wang Yifang came from humble background, so it’s not surprising that he could cook. What was surprising is him camping in the wild with Li Yuanying!

Is the Chief Secretary of Prince Teng really reliable? In just 2 short days he has been lured by Prince Teng and is now turning a blind eye to everything Li Yuanying is doing?

Li Er soon heard about this and he just sneered at Yuanying’s behavior but didn’t react further. After all, in his youth, the Emperor had eaten and lived with soldiers and they were as good as brothers. Li Yuanying is just playing with his left over!

Li Er thought about the past and felt a little melancholy. He wanted to reminisce with someone from his youth but  all who had accompanied him  were either dead, sick, or exiled. There were not many left in Chang’an who could talk to him. He sighed and gave up on the idea.

The next morning, the Emperor received a letter from Li Yuanying. He wrote a thick letter, praising Li Er. “My brother, you are so good! My brother, how can you be so good!” After reading several pages of exaggerated praise, Yuanying finally said why he wrote this letter. He had invited Scholar Wang and several others to have a candlelight chat yesterday, and found that these seemingly ordinary scholars were quite extraordinary and powerful. With their help, he was like a tiger with wings.

Next, Li Yuanying shared his plan. He envision his academy in the scale of the Imperial College, and he won’t stop until he has recruited three to five thousand students! As soon as he arrives at his fiefdom, he will immediately ask Yan Lide to draw a design so that brother will be the first to see what the academy will look like.

That’s right, His Majesty had stuffed Yan Lide into Li Yuanying’s team. He knew that Yuanying would definitely want to rebuild the palace, so he told Yan Lide to help him.

Finally, he flatters Li Er, saying that he miss brother very much after just one day away, and hoped that he would be healthy and live a long life, so that he can continue to live like a lawless devil!

His Majesty receives many letters every day, but ordinary people will never write such letters like Li Yuanying. “Imperial Brother, you are so kind” and “Imperial Brother, you are so wise”. He has to be proud!

Li Er didn’t think there’s anything wrong with Li Yuanying’s letters. On the contrary, he feels very comfortable with the praises. He cares about his younger brother, and his younger brother understands his kindness and accepts his feelings. How can this be called shameless? This is called brotherly love and respect. As the Emperor, he should set an example for the world!

His Majesty summons Fang Xuanling and others.

Since Li Yuanying has left Chang’an yesterday, the whole city seems much quieter.

Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji are in good mood. Although Li Yuanying doesn’t harm the world or nd isn’t extremely evil, he is an unstable factor. Now, this unstable factor has finally left!

Many wanted to meet up for a drink to celebrate this happy event.

Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji met in front of the meeting hall. They looked at each other and saw the confusion in each other’s eyes: Not too early or too late, why did His Majesty suddenly summon them?

Their eyes separated after brief contact. Neither knows, so they could only go in together.

Zhangsun Wuji sat down, looked at the hand of the Emperor and his heart suddenly jumped.

This scene is a little familiar!

The last time, the Emperor also called him over to showed him a letter.

That letter made him lose his appetite for several days!

No way, it’s really disgusting!

Fortunately, this time Li Er first called Fang Xuanling’s name: “Xuanling, Yuanying wrote me a letter. I have an idea that I think is good.”

He asked someone to send the letter to Fang Xuanling: “You take a look at the letter first.”

Zhangsun Wuji looked at Fang Xuanling with a smile, and said gloatingly: “I didn’t expect that His Royal Highness would write to Your Majesty just after leaving.”

Fang Xuanling followed with a few compliments. He then took the letter and the smile on his face slowly disappeared.

Notes from the Author:

Zhangsun Wuji: Fortunately, it was not for me to read!

Lao Fang: The smile gradually disappears.jpg

Little Prince: I am telling the truth, what do you think? (pointing)