Chapter 5: Taming Taizong

  Five people were having a big feast in the private room, and it's worth mentioning that Dugu Feng also had a cup of wine under the guidance of two little ghosts, which directly led to her face being red all the time. Seeing Dugu Feng's face, Li Jiancheng didn't know if he was drunk or not, but impulsively recited a poem he learned in his previous life:

  "Last year, today, in this doorway, human faces and peach blossoms reflected each other's red glow. Human faces don't know where they've gone, but the peach blossoms still smile at the spring breeze." Listening to Li Jiancheng's poem, although she didn't understand what it meant, Dugu Feng still knew it was about herself, so she happily memorized the poem.

  "It's amazing that Jian Cheng has such abilities, really admirable." Dugu Wen still had some knowledge, so he could also see that the poem was quite good. Of course, he couldn't understand the meaning of the poem, or else he might have been moved to emotion.

  "Haha, ashamed, ashamed!" Li Jiancheng, who was a bit dizzy from drinking, didn't know what I meant by "ashamed", whether it was being ashamed of plagiarizing someone else's poem or being ashamed that Du Guowen's praise was unattainable.

  After eating and drinking enough, the five of them left the wine tower. Du Gu Wen bid farewell to Li Jiancheng and others because he had been out for a long time and didn't want his family to worry, so he wanted to go back early. When he heard this reason, Du Gu Feng, who originally wanted to stay for a while longer, reluctantly said goodbye to Li Jiancheng, excluding Li Shimin and Li Yuanji in the process. Moreover, when leaving, she told Li Jiancheng that they should play together when they have time. Li Jiancheng was speechless, thinking that with his age spanning two lifetimes, what could he possibly have in common with this little kid? However, under her tearful gaze, he could only temporarily agree and then they parted ways.

  "Big brother, you can still write poetry? I didn't know that earlier!" Li Shimin had been tempted by Li Jiancheng to drink wine before, although he wasn't angry, but after all, he was just a child and would forget about it after a while. Now he asked with a smile.

  "Heh... I'm not quite sure either, maybe it was the wine I drank earlier that suddenly gave me inspiration." Li Jiancheng could only give a vague answer in response to Li Shimin's questioning.

  "Oh! Big brother, where are we going next?" Li Shimin excitedly asked, still having a playful nature like a child, and his thoughts jumped quickly, so he immediately forgot about the previous question and asked where they would go to play next.

  "Ah... follow me." Li Jiancheng thought for a moment before leading the way, while Li Shimin and Li Yuanji trailed behind him like tails. Meanwhile, several people hid in the shadows, lurking behind them.

  Li Jiancheng brought Li Shimin and Li Yuanji to a farm outside Daxing City. The September sun was still scorching, and the three of them were already drenched in sweat as they walked there. But Li Shimin and Li Yuanji, who were still young at heart, didn't feel much, while Li Jiancheng had had enough of this hardship, so none of them said anything.

  "Big brother, why have we come here?" Li Shimin saw the lush green crops and felt very curious, but was puzzled as to why they had come here.

  "Do you see those lush green plants? Those are the things that provide us with rice, and those things were planted by the hardworking farmers." Li Jiancheng pointed to the farmers working in the fields as he explained to his younger brother Shidemin.

  "Wow! So this is how our food comes from? But they're really pitiful! It's so hot and they still have to work, I can barely stand walking in such weather, how do they manage to persevere?" Li Shimin said with a puzzled expression.

  "They have to rely on this to make a living, while we don't have to worry about food and clothing because of our father's status. They are different from us." Li Jiancheng continued to explain patiently. Li Shimin seemed to be affected by the scene and listened to Li Jiancheng's words, silently lowering his head in thought. Anyway, Li Jiancheng didn't know what he was thinking either. But after a while, he also responded, after all, children don't have that many thoughts.

  "Big brother looks really comfortable, where are we going next?" The several places they came to today were all very interesting to Li Shimin, so he was full of expectations for the next place.

  "Just follow me and you'll see." Li Jiancheng continued to keep the suspense, then led the way forward. Originally today was supposed to be about understanding the wine market, but later on a whim he brought his second brother to visit these places, as for the third brother it was just incidental.

  He brought Li Shimin and Li Yuanji to a place where poor people gathered, pointing at those in tattered clothes and saying: "Some of them lost their parents when they were young, some became like this after disasters. In short, the people living here are all poor and struggling, yet the country doesn't take care of them but instead persecutes them."

  Li Shimin felt a pang of sadness, but Li Jiancheng led them away from the scene. However, what he saw and heard that day had a profound impact on his heart. Later, when he ascended to the throne, he was deeply concerned about the difficulties faced by the common people. As a result, both officials and ordinary citizens loved and respected him dearly. Officials also lavished praise on him, but he would recall: "This is all because my elder brother took me to visit the lives of poor people when I was young. Perhaps it was his foresight that allowed me to understand their situation and encourage myself to treat them with kindness." By then, however, Li Jiancheng's whereabouts were nowhere to be found.

  After leaving the slum, Li Jiancheng still felt a bit sentimental about the world, but he didn't say much. These things had to be left for him to resolve on his own. Meanwhile, Li Jiancheng was thinking about how to find someone to make high-concentration liquor and where to get the equipment to brew it.

  "Sir, my husband died in battle, now it's just my daughter and me at home, we can't afford to pay the taxes. Please give us some more time, I'll definitely make up for the taxes." As Li Jiancheng was walking, he suddenly heard a voice, turned his head and saw a woman wearing coarse linen clothes kneeling on the ground with a beautiful little girl, begging a man in military uniform.

  "No, the silver tax must be handed over today. You've already been given a long extension and now they're pressing us from above. If you can't hand it over, then hand over your daughter as collateral." The officer said this and had the two small soldiers behind him come forward to drag away the little girl.

  Looking at the little girl's severe sadness, Li Jiancheng thought of his lonely self in his previous life and the scenes where he was bullied in middle school. So he shouted to those soldiers: "Stop."

  When they heard Li Jiancheng's voice, the soldiers subconsciously stopped and looked at him, and the woman and little girl also turned their heads to look. After seeing that it was just a few small children, the soldiers continued to drag the little girl away, while the woman still had a sorrowful expression.

  Li Jiancheng saw that the soldiers still hadn't stopped, so he shouted again: "Stop, I've paid their taxes." He took out some silver and threw it over, asking: "Is this enough?" The soldiers saw how much money he had taken out at once, and initially thought of extorting more from him. But thinking that someone of his age already had so much silver, they estimated that he was either rich or noble, so they took the silver and left with several men.

  "This young master, thank you for your help, but I don't know when I can repay this silver." The woman said with a worried face. Seeing that the woman was thinking about this, he thought to himself that she was also a kind-hearted person. Suddenly, Li Jiancheng's mind flashed with an idea - since that's the case, could he ask her to help him sell wine? The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. So Li Jiancheng said to her: "I have something I'd like to discuss with you, can we go inside and talk in detail?" In order not to let his parents know, Li Jiancheng left Li Shimin and Li Yuanji outside, and went inside with the mother and daughter. This made Li Shimin grumble for a while.