Seeing his father's rage, Li Tai quickly lifted his robes and ran away.
However, he was too fat and ran too slowly, and was still hit hard by the inkstone.
However, it was precisely because he was so fat, with flesh all over his back, that he was not injured and narrowly escaped injury.
When Yuchi Fan saw that Li Tai had run away, he immediately ran up to Li Er and asked him what was wrong.
"Your Majesty, should we arrest the Prince of Wei and bring him back?"
Li Er had regained some composure by this time, and upon hearing this, he glared at Yuchi Fan with displeasure.
"Why bring him back? So I can beat him to death?"
"Uh..."
Upon hearing this, Yu Chi Fan knew that his flattery had backfired again, so he could only quietly retreat and continue guarding the door.
After everyone left, Li Er sat on the ground without any regard for his image. After sitting for a while, he got tired and lay down on the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling.
He was thinking about military reform.
Although Li Er knew that the military merit system needed to be reformed, he also knew that it could not be changed rashly, otherwise it would easily cause unrest.
While Li Er was racking his brains about how to proceed gradually, Li Jue, far away in Zhaoling Mausoleum on Zongshan Mountain in Xianyang, was drinking with Yan Lide, the ambassador in charge of building the mausoleum.
Yan Lide used to look down on Li Jue, always thinking that Li Jue had won the emperor's favor through his cleverness. However, after seeing the catapults that Li Jue had built during his trip to Liaodong, he was completely convinced of the skill of this young friend who was decades younger than him.
Now that he saw Li Jue being demoted to Zhaoling to do hard labor, how could he bear to let such a talented person move stones? He immediately recruited him to his side as an assistant, and they ate and slept together every day, living a very comfortable life.
"Eldest grandson, what aspects of the imperial mausoleum do you think need improvement?"
"Improve it..."
Li Jue had been wandering around the imperial mausoleum for several days and saw that the main buildings of the mausoleum were completed, with only the interior decoration remaining unfinished.
However, the reason it wasn't finished wasn't because Yan Lide didn't try, but because of the established rules.
Since emperors never die, their imperial tombs can never be fully completed.
Because once it's completed, it's like building an imperial tomb for emperors to enter, which is very unlucky.
Therefore, regardless of when construction of the imperial mausoleum began, its completion was inevitably after the emperor's death.
Of course, one could also say that Yan Lide was just dawdling and deliberately delaying the project.
Although Li Shimin had tried his best to be frugal, Li Jue still thought it was too extravagant and wished he could smash all the stone boxes in the underground palace that contained gold, pearls and jade.
"There's no need for improvements, let's just cut back a bit..."
"reduce?"
"Build fewer ancestral halls and side halls outside the underground palace to save manpower and resources..."
Yan Lide was stunned when he heard this. He thought to himself, "Is this grandson His Majesty's own grandson? How can a grandson dislike his grandfather's magnificent mausoleum?"
Moreover, the main hall and side halls are not merely decorations, but also places for enshrining ancestral tablets and for descendants to pay homage.
Judging from the tone of the eldest grandson, he has no intention of coming to pay respects to His Majesty in the future!
But thinking about it, it makes sense. The eldest grandson is in a bad mood right now and would definitely not be willing to offer sacrifices to His Majesty.
"Eldest grandson, this is absolutely unacceptable!"
"Since ancient times, there have been established regulations for imperial mausoleums. His Majesty's mausoleum has already been reduced as much as possible, and it really cannot be reduced any further..."
"Can't we cut back?"
Upon hearing this, Li Jue's face was filled with disappointment. He secretly wondered if he should plant some explosives in the underground palace and blow it to smithereens when Li Er moved in.
It wasn't that Li Jue was petty; it was just that Li Er had gone too far this time. He was supposed to exile him, but instead, he found a reason to beat him up, making him afraid to even sit down now.
"The eldest grandson must not be cut!"
"Besides, the side halls and the main hall are almost finished being built, it's too late to cut back now!"
Li Jue sighed upon hearing this.
"Since we can't reduce it, let's expand it!"
"expand?"
"right!"
"Expansion will cost a lot of money, where will we get the money?"
Li Jue answered without hesitation upon hearing this.
"Ask His Majesty for it!"
"Isn't Your Majesty rich? What's the point of keeping the money if you don't spend it?"
Yan Lide smiled awkwardly upon hearing this.
"His Majesty is extremely stingy. The money for building the side halls and the main hall is barely enough, and there is really no extra money. Moreover, if we ask His Majesty for money, we must have a reason. If we just say it's for expansion, His Majesty will not give us any money."
"Old Man Yan, you should tell His Majesty that we want to build Zhaoling into the greatest imperial mausoleum in history. Not only will emperors be buried here, but it will also become a collective cemetery for civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty. Even soldiers and ordinary people from Chang'an can be buried here to share in the royal blessings!"
"ah?"
Yan Lide was terrified when he heard this. He thought to himself that if things were done this way, the construction cost of the imperial mausoleum would increase by at least ten times!
"No, no... This is too wasteful, His Majesty will absolutely not agree!"
Li Jue smiled sarcastically upon hearing this.
"Don't worry, I guarantee His Majesty will agree!"
Upon hearing this, Yan Lide shook his head vigorously, like a rattle drum.
"impossible!"
"The construction of His Majesty's underground palace has already cost over a million strings of cash. If it is built as you say, it will take at least ten million strings of cash!"
"Old Man Yan, what if we told His Majesty that we could complete the project if he allocated another million strings of cash?"
"One million strings of cash?"
Yan Lide pondered this seriously for a moment after hearing it.
"If it were only one million strings of cash, His Majesty would certainly agree. But do we have the capability to build such a massive mausoleum, large enough to accommodate all the officials and even the common people of Chang'an, with just one million strings of cash?"
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