LFHYB -Chapter 85 Returning to Daxing to Visit Their Brother-in-Law

Yang Guang originally wanted to keep the two boys on the battlefield, to forge them into champions even greater than Huo Qubing of Emperor Wu of Han’s time. Everyone around him advised against forcing them to grow too fast, so he sighed and agreed.

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba let out a sigh of relief and then opened their mouths wide like lions asking for rewards.

For those who had rendered great service, the more wealth they asked for, the more at ease Yang Guang felt.

He himself loved luxury. Judging others by himself, if someone did not like riches and splendor, Yang Guang would suspect that person of having ulterior motives.

All of the close ministers around him now—Yu Shiji, Yuwen Shu, Pei Yun, and the like—loved luxury, and he trusted them greatly.

Only Su Wei stood out. He didn’t care much for luxury, caring only about collecting books, calligraphy, and paintings. Thus, although Su Wei was the oldest and most senior among Yang Guang’s trusted ministers, he ranked lowest in Yang Guang’s heart.

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba had displayed their fondness for glory and wealth in front of Yang Guang since childhood, asking for plenty of rewards the first time they met the emperor.

Now the two little boys had grown into young men, and their love of gold and silver had not changed at all. Yang Guang felt a warm sense of familiarity.

Li Shimin said, “Your Majesty, I just want fine horses and strong bows. The best ones at home always get taken away by Father.”

Li Xuanba said, “Your Majesty, please grant us residences in both the Eastern Capital and the Western Capital. My second brother and I have grown up—we need places where we can invite friends to visit.”

Hearing Li Xuanba’s request, Yu Shiji thought of something his younger brother had once sighed about.

Although Yu Shinan was not favored by the emperor, out of respect for Yu Shiji—and because Yu Shinan’s calligraphy and prose were excellent—after his mourning period he was recalled to office and continued as an imperial diarist. The two brothers thus went together to Luoyang.

Yu Shinan had a solitary temperament and almost no friends at court, but he cared deeply for his two disciples, Li Shimin and Li Xuanba.

After arriving in Luoyang, he visited the two disciples and then sighed to Yu Shiji that the place where they lived was far too cramped: “The Duke of Tang is wealthy, yet he treats Li Erlang and Li Sanlang differently. This is truly lacking in kindness.”

Yu Shinan lived in poverty, while Yu Shiji was extremely prominent and wealthy. Hearing his brother’s words, Yu Shiji thought Yu Shinan was subtly asking him for money, and happily asked how much he wanted to borrow.

Yu Shinan refused him in a very strange manner. Only then did Yu Shiji realize that Yu Shinan was genuinely upset solely because his disciple had suffered unfair treatment at home.

Thinking of this, Yu Shiji said kindly to Li Shimin and Li Xuanba, “Boshu once mentioned to me that the place you two are living in is far too cramped. You really ought to move to a better residence.”

Yuwen Shu asked curiously, “How cramped could it be? The Tang Duke’s estate is huge—how could it be small?”

Recalling what his younger brother had told him, Yu Shiji replied, “I’ve heard that it’s just a small courtyard by a side gate, without even a single tree inside.”

Li Xuanba thought to himself: [The trees were cut down by you, Second Brother—you had people chop them because they blocked your view.]

Li Shimin shot his brother a glance. That was exactly because it wasn’t spacious enough that the trees had to go.

Yang Guang frowned. “Near the side gate? That’s a terrible location.”

Li Xuanba hurriedly explained on behalf of their parents: “This courtyard was chosen by Second Brother and me. We go out a lot, so being near the side gate is more convenient. Father also gave us a country villa outside the city, and we usually live there—it’s actually very spacious. But I still want to ask Your Majesty for a grand mansion. If the Emperor bestows us one, it sounds much more impressive!”

Yang Guang also remembered how the two boys had once been forced to live in a villa outside the city. “Zhang Heng was negligent in his duties and has been demoted to commoner. I confiscated his residences in both the Eastern and Western Capitals and will bestow them upon the two of you. Zhang Heng’s estate is quite large. I will also give you the nearby houses—when you two marry in the future, it will be more than enough to divide into two mansions. And if you achieve more merit later, I will reward you with even better residences.”

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba hurriedly thanked him.

A trace of regret flashed across the faces of Yuwen Shu and Yu Shiji. Both of them had coveted Zhang Heng’s estate and wanted to tear it down and turn it into their own private garden residences—they had been trying to curry favor with the emperor for exactly that reason.

Still, having it given to Li Erlang and Li Third wasn’t bad either. Among the emperor’s close ministers, rivalry was constant; to both Yuwen Shu and Yu Shiji, it was better that someone else got the prized estate than for their rival to have it.

Li Yuan was staying behind in Luoyang this time and had not followed Yang Guang on his southern tour.

After receiving the reward, Li Shimin and Li Xuanba immediately returned to Luoyang, claiming they missed their parents.

Yang Guang had originally wanted to keep the two young heroes by his side to accompany him on hunts, but when he heard that they longed for their parents, he laughed and teased them for still being children, and let them go.

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba had barely left when Pei Shiju arrived in Luoyang.

When he heard the emperor say that only one head of Fuyun remained, Pei Shiju stood there in a daze for a long time.

He forced a bitter smile. “Li Erlang must be terribly disappointed. Although the Tiele people all said that Li Erlang personally captured the Tuyuhun khan, I have always believed that he is too young, and that it was really the Tiele who did it. Li Erlang surely intended to bring the Tuyuhun khan before Your Majesty in person, to argue over whose credit was greater. Now the only witness is gone—given Li Erlang’s love of showing off, who knows how angry he must be.”

Yang Guang burst into laughter. “Li Erlang really does love showing off. Even without that witness, I still believe it was his achievement. Hahaha—he must be truly miserable.”

Seeing that the emperor believed it, Pei Shiju finally relaxed, though inwardly he couldn’t help cursing those two brats.

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba had once argued with him that Fuyun must not be kept alive—that even if Sui were to install a puppet ruler in Tuyuhun, they should choose a more easily controlled noble instead. Pei Shiju had not agreed, and the two boys had not pressed him further.

Who would have thought those two youngsters were so bold that they actually killed the Tuyuhun khan on their way back to Sui? Weren’t they afraid he might expose them?

After thinking it over, Pei Shiju realized they truly were not afraid.

Compared with him, the emperor would certainly trust Li Shimin and Li Xuanba—his own grandnephews—far more. Besides, bringing the khan back alive would have earned far greater rewards than just a severed head. If the boys had killed him deliberately, what would they gain? So no one would believe they had done it on purpose.

“Are they really that wary of Fuyun… or just that willful?” Pei Shiju muttered to himself.

On the way back, Li Shimin and Li Xuanba discussed how to arrange their new estate.

They needed their money for more important things, so they planned to keep the house as it was, without renovations.

Li Shimin said, “I’ll go beg Father and Mother to let us take some new furniture from the Tang Duke’s storerooms to furnish our new home.”

Li Xuanba replied, “They should agree. That’s such a small request. Besides the main residence, the emperor also gave us Zhang Heng’s other properties. The ones near the city wall should go to me—I have a big use for them.”

Li Shimin waved his hand. “All yours. I can’t be bothered with these petty affairs.”

Li Xuanba raised an eyebrow. “Sorry to disappoint you, but from now on, you’ll have to deal with these petty affairs with me.”

Li Shimin dragged out his words. “Ahhh? So boring. I don’t want to.”

Li Xuanba said, “You’ll have to do these boring things for the rest of your life. Affairs of state are built up from one copper coin and one grain of millet at a time.”

Li Shimin snapped back, “At this rate I won’t even need Wei Zheng—A-Xuan, you’re even more annoying than Wei Zheng!”

Li Xuanba replied, “Heh.”

When I meet Wei Zheng in the future, I’ll join forces with him to annoy you to death—standing right beside you, nagging from both sides like stereo remonstration!

After finishing their discussion of property and finances, Li Shimin sighed. “Zhang Heng… I remember him. When we left, he was still the emperor’s most favored minister. When His Majesty returned from his first western tour, he even made the people of Taiyuan cross mountains and valleys to build a special imperial road just so he could visit Zhang Heng’s home.”

In the third year of Daye, when Yang Guang returned from Yulin to Taiyuan, Zhang Heng was still second only to Yuwen Shu among the emperor’s favorites.

From the Qin and earlier periods, states had built imperial highways to support military logistics and regional administration. After unifying the realm, Qin Shi Huang built especially many such roads.

But even Qin Shi Huang—whom Li Shimin disliked the most—built roads for state purposes. For a ruler like the current emperor to exhaust the people’s labor and resources just to visit a minister’s home… this was truly unprecedented.

Li Xuanba said calmly, “Zhang Heng… After the emperor finished building the Fenyang Palace, he felt it still wasn’t big enough and ordered Zhang Heng to expand it. Zhang Heng remonstrated, saying that corvée labor over the past few years had already been excessive and burdensome, and begged His Majesty to postpone the palace expansion. This angered the emperor, and Zhang Heng fell out of favor.”

Li Shimin paused slightly. “Just because of that?”

Li Xuanba nodded. “Yes, just because of that. Once the emperor became displeased with Zhang Heng, the flatterers around him began desperately hunting for his faults. Small mistakes that had once been overlooked while he was favored now became unforgivable crimes. As for his imprisonment, that came from when he told Yang Xuangan that our teacher Lord Xue had died unjustly. Yang Xuangan reported it to the emperor. But now that our teacher is safe, I don’t know why Zhang Heng still ended up in prison. I’ll look into it when I get back.”

Li Shimin pressed his lips together. “Just because of that? Just because he spoke up for Teacher Xue?”

Li Xuanba nodded.

Li Shimin snorted. “Even Yang Xuangan’s father died partly because of His Majesty’s suspicions. Yet Yang Xuangan goes around informing on others, making His Majesty suspicious of even more loyal ministers.”

Li Xuanba said, “The Duke of Chu’s entire family is still under the emperor’s suspicion. To curry favor, of course he has to resort to every possible tactic.”

Li Xuanba did not mention Zhang Heng’s eventual fate.

Even after Zhang Heng had been dismissed and reduced to a commoner, Yang Guang still had him monitored. Later, he was executed on charges of “slandering the court.”

Compared to Gao Jiong, Yuwen Bi, and Xue Daoheng—three ministers whose great prestige made Yang Guang even more wary of them—Zhang Heng’s death was even more unavoidable.

Those three teachers were highly respected, and in the past they had not been especially friendly to Yang Guang. So as long as they later showed him deference and voluntarily withdrew from the center of court politics, Yang Guang could think, They used to scold me, but now they treat me respectfully—I’m satisfied, and thus they would be safe.

Zhang Heng was the opposite.

He had supported Yang Guang from the very start of the struggle for the throne, and all his favor depended entirely on Yang Guang. When he was respectful before, Yang Guang liked him. But once Yang Guang grew to hate him, anything he did only deepened that hatred. Worse still, he knew far too many of Yang Guang’s secrets—so he had to die.

Li Xuanba wasn’t worried that, if Li Shimin knew Zhang Heng’s ending, he would rashly try to save him. But every time Li Xuanba had previously “spoiled” someone’s death, that person had somehow ended up becoming his teacher. That kind of metaphysical bad luck was terrifying, so he didn’t dare say any more.

He already had enough teachers. And besides, Zhang Heng was far too deeply entangled with Yang Guang—he truly could not be saved.

Li Shimin did not ask further about Zhang Heng’s fate.

In his eyes, Zhang Heng had already been dismissed to commoner status, and all his property in the two capitals had been confiscated. That was already miserable enough. That must have been the end of him.

No one would have imagined that after failing in the Goguryeo campaign, Yang Guang, in a fit of rage, would arrest Zhang Heng—who had already been stripped of office for more than a year—and execute him on charges of “slandering the court.”

After returning to Luoyang, Li Xuanba finally learned the real reason for Zhang Heng’s imprisonment.

It turned out that when Zhang Heng was mourning the crown prince, he had complained that the emperor had not listened to the crown prince’s remonstrations. Although he had only muttered one sentence and had not explicitly said that the deaths of the crown prince and Princess Leping were the emperor’s fault, the emperor was still furious and threw him into prison.

By coincidence, the one who informed on him was again Yang Xuangan.

Li Xuanba guessed that Zhang Heng knew such words could not be spoken, but he had been holding them in for too long. Since he was on good terms with Yang Xuangan—and Yang Xuangan himself was also distrusted by the emperor—Zhang Heng must have confided a few words of his true feelings to him.

When Li Shimin heard this, he muttered that compared to Yang Xuangan, who sold out his acquaintances, Su Wei—who merely failed to help a friend—almost didn’t seem so bad after all.

Though Yang Xuangan probably didn’t really regard Zhang Heng as a friend, merely someone he knew.

After sighing over Zhang Heng’s fate, Li Shimin and Li Xuanba returned to Luoyang and were finally able to separate from court affairs for a while and enjoy some leisure.

Even though Li Shimin was immediately given a fierce beating by his mother when he got home, he was still in high spirits. The very next day after being beaten, he called his friends together and went off to wreak havoc in Yang Guang’s imperial hunting park.

Hunting, hunting, hunting! After months of jolting travel, Li Shimin’s hands were itching terribly. Even the bruises all over his body couldn’t stop him from going out to hunt!

Li Xuanba sighed. Could his second brother’s “hunting addiction” still be cured?

Sun Simiao was obsessed with the herbs and medical arts of the Western Regions and had stayed behind in the Hexi region. Otherwise, Li Xuanba really would have liked to ask him to write a prescription and see if it could cure his brother’s “hunting addiction.”

Though he would most likely get the “Sun Simiao triple-pack” meme in response:

No cure. Wait for death. Goodbye.jpg.

With Li Shimin rushing off to hunt, Li Xuanba left him behind and made a trip back to Daxing City.

During the time Li Shimin and Li Xuanba were beyond the frontier, Li Siniang and Li Wuniang had married one after the other, so Li Xuanba went in person to deliver their belated wedding gifts.

When Li Xuanba had just returned from the frontier to Daxing City, he already knew that his fourth and fifth sisters had married. But because he and Li Shimin were on official duty, they couldn’t stop, so he had waited until now to visit.

Li Xuanba had wanted to bring Li Shimin along, but Li Shimin was full of reluctance and only wanted to go hunting.

In the mindset of this era, once an elder sister was married off, she became someone else’s family. Li Shimin wasn’t familiar with his fourth and fifth brothers-in-law, unlike Chai Shao with whom he already had a relationship, so naturally he didn’t want to go.

Li Xuanba went to deliver the gifts in person out of a modern moral sense. He wouldn’t use his own values to “kidnap” others. If Li Shimin didn’t want to go, then he would go alone.

Li Shimin thought Li Xuanba was just using this as an excuse to go visit his fiancée, and when he sent him off, he wore a wicked grin.

Li Xuanba really wanted to beat up his second brother—but unfortunately he couldn’t.

When Li Xuanba returned to Luoyang, Yan Zhen and Xiang Gu, whom he had sent to Chitu, had already come back. He brought the two of them along and questioned them in detail about Nanyang.

When Li Xuanba and Li Shimin had left, they had entrusted their shops to their mother to manage.

After Yan Zhen and Xiang Gu returned, Lady Dou promoted Yan Zhen to manager of the bookshop, and Xiang Gu to steward of the small estates under Li Xuanba and Li Shimin.

The crops that Yan Zhen and Xiang Gu had brought back from the Kingdom of Chitu were already being test-planted on the farm. Half of them had died, and the remaining half probably wouldn’t survive either.

However, the two had already befriended nobles of Chitu, so next time they could travel there to trade on their own. If these crops died, they died—Li Xuanba forced himself not to feel too bad about it.

Li Xuanba also made inquiries about Wa (Japan).

When the Sui diplomatic mission returned, Ono no Imoko did not come back with them. It seemed that the Sui envoys had scolded the Japanese emperor so harshly that he did not send a new mission to Sui.

However, the Sui envoys still brought back a new state letter from the Japanese emperor. Even though he had been reprimanded, the wording of the letter was no different from history: it still opened with “The Eastern Heavenly Emperor respectfully writes to the Western Emperor.”

This time, however, Yang Guang did not find it “quite acceptable.”

The envoys who had just berated the Japanese were already furious at their insolence and angrily told the emperor how outrageous the letter was.

In their eyes, Wa was no different from any other petty barbarian state, and when meeting Sui envoys it should be thoroughly deferential. Who would have thought that the king of Wa would put on airs as though he were on equal footing with the Son of Heaven of Sui?

The returning envoys furiously accused Wa before Yang Guang: “Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, yet he dares call himself a ‘Heavenly Emperor’—what is his intent? Sui is the ‘Middle Kingdom’; he should call himself ‘King of the Eastern Land, respectfully writing to the Emperor of China’! Before, he called Sui the ‘Land of the Setting Sun,’ and now he calls it the ‘Western Land’—his heart is truly treacherous, Your Majesty!”

Yang Guang’s face changed dramatically when he heard this.

Back in February, because the kingdom of Liuqiu (Ryukyu) refused to submit, Yang Guang had sent ten thousand Dongyang troops to wipe it out.

Feeling insulted by Wa, Yang Guang ordered the main general Chen Leng to station troops in Liuqiu and train them there, to intimidate Wa.

Li Xuanba raised his brows.

Could it be that the emperor wants to attack Japan?

If that were really the case, he would definitely appear in a dream to his future self and tell him to burn a few more sticks of incense before the tablet of Sui Yangdi in the Internet Temple.

Yan Zhen said, “Wa has the heart of wolves—it must be guarded against.”

Xiang Gu said, “Wa? The heart of wolves?”

Li Xuanba said calmly, “It does have the heart of wolves, but for now it’s nothing to fear.”

Japan was the kind of country that became a dog when you were strong, and bit you when you were weak. To deal with it, all you needed was to be strong enough yourself—it would obediently wag its tail like a dog. To take it too seriously at its current level was giving it far too much credit.

Xiang Gu was puzzled. “It’s so weak, yet it still dares have such ambition?”

Li Xuanba replied, “Even a weak dog wants to eat more meat.”

With such a blunt metaphor, Xiang Gu understood.

After chatting casually about Wa for a while, Li Xuanba told Yan Zhen and Xiang Gu that they would soon be welcoming a Uyghur noble as a new companion. This Uyghur was a genuine great merchant, and the two of them should learn proper business skills from him.

Yan Zhen and Xiang Gu were astonished.

The two young masters had gone beyond the frontier, not only brought back the head of the Tuyuhun khan, but also won the friendship of an entire tribe—and had even persuaded a steppe tribe to lend them troops willingly.

Yan Zhen was thrilled. He really had not chosen the wrong family to serve.

Xiang Gu was deeply relieved. Fortunately, he had pledged allegiance quickly enough.

When he returned to Daxing City, Li Xuanba did not visit the Prince of Qi, only sending him some gifts.

He first visited his three teachers, handed in his “homework,” tattled on his second brother’s “hunting addiction,” and only then went to visit his sisters.

To his surprise, his third elder sister was wearing mourning clothes.

Li Xuanba sighed. “So Uncle has passed away… Why didn’t you tell us? We are family by marriage—I should have come to pay my respects.”

Chai Shao said, “It was almost a year ago. Why trouble you? I’ve heard of the achievements you and Li Erlang made—truly enviable.”

He did not say that he regretted not going with Li Shimin and Li Xuanba.

Although if he had asked the Crown Prince, he could indeed have gone with them, there was no merit more important than accompanying one’s father in his final days.

Since Li Zhao and Chai Shao were still in mourning, and their elderly mother was in poor health, Li Xuanba did not stay long.

He then went on to visit his fourth sister’s husband Duan Lun and his fifth sister’s husband Zhao Cijing.

Speaking of the fourth brother-in-law—he was actually introduced by Li Xuanba himself.

Li Li Siniang had originally been meant to marry Changsun Xiaozheng, a distant relative of Changsun Sheng. But in this timeline, because Li Shimin and Young Miss Changsun had become engaged early, Li Li Siniang was still being matched with suitors. Since Li Shimin was already allied with the Changsun family, Li Yuan removed them from consideration as in-laws.

Li Xuanba remembered that after Changsun Xiaozheng died young in history, Li Siniang later remarried Duan Lun through Li Jiancheng’s matchmaking, and their relationship was very good. So he had someone investigate Duan Lun’s background and recommended him to his mother.

Duan Lun was the second son of Duan Wenzhen, Minister of War. Though born into an official family, he was not from a powerful aristocratic clan, so Li Yuan was not very satisfied at first.

But after meeting Duan Lun once, Li Yuan was pleased.

Li Yuan was a looks-connoisseur. Duan Lun had handsome features and a dashing, heroic air. Li Yuan liked him immediately and decided on the marriage on the spot.

With Li Zhao’s help, Duan Lun and Li Li Siniang met once—and fell in love at first sight, as though destined.

Only after the marriage did Duan Lun learn from his wife that it had all been arranged by Li Xuanba. Now he clutched Li Xuanba’s hands tightly, practically wanting to sleep in the same bed with him to express his gratitude.

Li Xuanba refused to “share a bed” with his fourth brother-in-law, and instead invited him to visit Luoyang sometime.

As he left, Li Xuanba glanced back at Duan Lun standing in the doorway, waving vigorously and saying goodbye with great enthusiasm.

In history, Duan Lun had sided with Li Jiancheng because Li Jiancheng had introduced him to the Princess of Gaomi. Although Emperor Taizong of Tang did not truly punish him—Duan Lun rose to Guanglu Grandee and Minister of the Imperial Clan, received the posthumous title “An,” and was buried in Zhaoling—he had once been demoted after misjudging Taizong’s temperament and giving him an ill-timed gift, and he had lived in constant anxiety.

From how Duan Lun pacified Bashu, one could see he was truly capable. Now that Li Xuanba had cut off his connection with Li Jiancheng, hopefully he would be able to contribute even more to the Tang dynasty.

Compared to his many thoughts about Duan Lun, Li Xuanba’s impression of his fifth brother-in-law Zhao Cijing boiled down to one thing: Handsome—damn handsome. So handsome that even Li Xuanba, who had been calm most of the time since transmigrating, cursed in his heart.

To be fair, Li Xuanba and Li Shimin were also very good-looking.

Li Yuan inherited the “rakish elegance with a tilted cap” of his grandfather Dugu Xin, while Lady Dou inherited the famous beauty of the Yuwen clan. There was no way the brothers could look bad.

After being used to the faces of his own family, the only one who had ever slightly surprised Li Xuanba was Prince of Qi, Yang Xian, with his beauty “like a fair lady”—after which Li Xuanba repeatedly urged him to grow a big beard.

But Zhao Cijing’s handsomeness still shocked Li Xuanba into momentary speechlessness.

Zhao Cijing was the kind of handsome that was utterly orthodox—sharp sword-like brows, star-bright eyes, a tall and elegant bearing, and overwhelming masculine charm. From his face to his posture to his temperament, whether he shaved or grew a beard, even if he threw on rags and went begging, nothing could hide the blinding word “handsome” that radiated from his entire body.

No wonder Father had fallen for him at first sight, without even asking who Zhao Cijing was before opening his mouth to ask whether Little Zhao was already married.

Family background? Who cares—just come be my son-in-law!

Li Xuanba secretly glanced at Li Wuniang’s eyes as she looked at her husband, eyes full of sparkling starlight.

Well then. Although Li Wuniang’s later husband, Yang Shidao, wasn’t bad either, their son Yang Yuzhi would, while Li Wuniang was in mourning, commit adultery with Yongjia Princess—who, at this moment, hadn’t even been born yet. So Zhao Cijing being alive was definitely better.

When they went to campaign against Yao Jun-su in the future, he would go along and save Zhao Cijing.

If Zhao Cijing didn’t die, maybe Li Wuniang, just looking at that face of his, would happily live another ten years.

Li Xuanba and Zhao Cijing chatted quite pleasantly. As long as Li Xuanba was willing to “perform,” no one could help but admire his talent and bearing.

Zhao Cijing said with a gentle smile, “I must find a chance to be transferred to Luoyang, so I can spend more time with you, worthy younger brother.”

Li Xuanba smiled and cupped his hands. “This younger brother is deeply honored.”

Zhao Cijing personally helped Li Xuanba into the carriage and saw him off.

Li Xuanba turned back to look. Zhao Cijing stood there with hands clasped, smiling in farewell.

And Li Wuniang, who had always been close to him… was now just standing there dazedly, smiling at her newly-married husband.

Younger brother? What’s that? Forgotten in the face of such handsomeness.

Li Xuanba let down the carriage curtain and laughed, rubbing his forehead.