Chapter 151: Got Herself Entangled Too

Burping heavily, Li Tai poked his head out from behind a pillar. Seeing this scene, he let out a startled cry, walked over, and helped the martial arts master up with two greasy hands. "I truly deserve death, to have forgotten to tell Master Chen that the Marquis of Chang'an's estate is overflowing with supreme experts. You must not shout arrogantly here, or even a random person sweeping the floor might beat you to death. Are the esteemed gentlemen unharmed? Ahem... if nothing is wrong, let's go back and practice martial arts! Ahem... though I ate far too much today, so practicing martial arts is unsuitable, or my internal organs might not be able to bear it. Let's make it tomorrow instead!"

Li Tai burped again, speaking triumphantly as he used the pretext of helping people up to constantly wipe his grease onto their clothes. The imperial guards were not overly upset and calmly said, "Today the Prince is indeed unsuited for practicing martial arts, but rather suited for building courage. Let's take the Prince to the Dali Temple to watch prisoners being executed."

Li Tai's expression shifted drastically. It was already too late for him to run as two guards grabbed him by the arms and carried him away just like that. Master Chen cupped his fists toward Cai Cong and left without saying a single word. Cai Cong and the others felt a wave of deep sympathy for Li Tai; having eaten that much, vomiting later on was bound to be a truly magnificent spectacle.

"I should also take my leave. The punishments at the Dali Temple are cruel, and younger brother Tai will likely not be able to endure it. I shall go arrange some imperial physicians for him."

"I have some top-quality pearls here, take those. They can help calm his nerves later," Cai Cong hurriedly said. The Dali Temple had recently arrested several Tubo spies. To extract intelligence, he had heard they had already tortured one to death—reportedly being roasted alive in the end.

"The Marquis holds the entire world in his heart and possesses a compassionate soul. Why can you not show mercy to my Buddha's path?" Liaoran asked with a pitiful expression. The Daoist true deity had descended to earth to banish the locust plague, so where could Buddhism possibly find a true Buddha? If anyone dared to claim that the Buddha had descended into the mortal world, Li世民 (Li Shimin) would immediately issue an imperial decree to eradicate Buddhism.

"I told Kun'e long ago that your disaster comes from within your own walls. Can you, Liaoran, tell me with absolute certainty and conviction that all the monks in those temples truly and piously worship Siddhartha?"

Cai Cong spoke calmly. Liaoran struggled with a painful expression for a long time before finally falling silent; he could not tell a lie, for that would break his precepts. Cai Cong pushed past him and walked forward, then looked back and said, "Purify your Buddhist sect first! It is a murky, foul-smelling mess, and no one you turn to can help you. When your Buddhist sect no longer covets wealth and accumulates riches, come talk to me again about paying taxes."

"This poor monk will convey the Marquis's words to the sages of our sect upon my return. Yet, as people transcending the secular world, why should my Buddhist sect pay taxes?" Liaoran asked in bewilderment. Since ancient times, Buddhism had never been required to pay taxes, yet Cai Cong wanted to discuss taxation with him, which utterly baffled him.

"Since you are people transcending the mundane world, what are you doing seeking out a worldly person covered in mortal dust like me? Since you are beyond the secular world, why do you eat grains and demand money? Why do you seize those fertile fields? What I despise most in this world are you bald donkeys who produce nothing yet occupy massive amounts of land and wealth, all while loudly proclaiming yourselves to be free of desires and demands. Bah! Get out of my sight. If you don't get lost right now, I'll break your legs!"

Cai Cong suddenly turned back and spoke with utter contempt, spitting a mouthful of saliva directly onto Liaoran's face. Liaoran closed his eyes in sorrow, silently chanting Buddhist scriptures, and stepped out of the Marquis's estate step by step.

Buddhism had already fallen into depravity. Alcohol, lust, wealth, and anger had invaded the minds of the monks. Under the banner of bringing wellbeing to the common people, they gathered the peasants' fields under the names of the temples. The peasants naturally agreed in order to avoid taxes, only to discover later that the tenant rents they had to pay were even higher than the government taxes. Regardless of whether it was a year of famine or not, you could never fall short, or else you would be showing disrespect to the Buddha and suffer retribution. Thus, while others relied on granary relief grain to survive, these people handed their grain over to the temples, then sold their young children to scrape through the famine year. If that still didn't work, they would sell their wives, just to manage to stay alive.

"My Lord, you've lost your temper again. If the eldest miss sees this, she'll start lecturing you again," Xu Jie said from the side.

Cai Cong snapped at him irritably, "Scram! Go keep your wife company, what are you following me around for? If anything happens to Dongzhu, do you think your parents and my mother will let you off?"

"Fine, kindness treated like a donkey's liver and lungs. I'm going to keep Dongzhu company. She wants to drink some vegetable gruel, so I have to go tell the kitchen to make it for her." Xu Jie had originally intended to go to the kitchen anyway, he had just happened to pass by and come in to pass along a message.

After Xu Jie left, Cai Cong's heart remained unsettled. When Liaoran had left, besides sorrow, his eyes had held absolute despair—not despair toward Cai Cong, but despair toward the Buddhist sect. This monk understood the ways of Buddhism too well; he knew they would not change, and would only resort to filthy, underhanded methods.

"Someone come! Go summon Xu Jingzong, Meng Baolai, and Cai Gang to see me." The more Cai Cong thought about it, the more uneasy he grew, forcing him to take preemptive defensive measures. He no longer relied purely on meeting violence with violence; instead, he had recovered his calm intellect and was now fighting with his brain.

Otherwise, how could he have stirred up so much turmoil during this locust plague? Du Ruhui, Li Tai, the Daoist sect, Fang Xuanling, and even himself—they were all chess pieces in Cai Cong's hands, deployed solely to ensure the smooth execution of the locust eradication campaign.

Inside the palace, Li Chengqian found Li Shimin with a darkened expression. This was the first time he had ever dared to wear a dark expression in front of his father. Li Shimin looked at him with amused interest; his son had finally grown up and dared to give him attitude.

Motioning for Li Chengqian to sit, Li Shimin slowly spoke, "My crown prince has finally dared to express his own thoughts to me, and I am truly pleased. Does the Crown Prince know when the first time I ever gave a dark face to the Grand Emperor was?"

Li Chengqian shook his head. How could he possibly know such a thing? Li Shimin was not annoyed; with a nostalgic tone, he said, "Back then, the tyrannical Sui dynasty ruled, and the people could not make a living. When I requested the Grand Emperor to raise the banner of rebellion, I had this exact expression. Can the Crown Prince tell me why you are wearing such a dark face?"

Li Chengqian shrank back slightly. The last person who gave that kind of expression ended up founding the Tang Dynasty, so what did his own expression amount to? Still, an arrow drawn from the bow had to be fired, so he gritted his teeth and said loudly, "Does Father not feel that treating younger brother Tai this way is too excessive? He is only nine years old. To watch someone being sliced to pieces in the heavenly prison until he vomited his own bile—even after taking calming powders and falling asleep in bed, he was still crying in his sleep."

A flicker of heartache crossed Li Shimin's eyes, but he immediately turned ruthless and said, "Born into the imperial family, one enjoys boundless glory and wealth, but one also bears corresponding responsibilities. I must be diligent and put the world first; your mother is the mother of the nation, serving as a model for all women under heaven, not daring to indulge herself for a single moment. Even your grandfather had to suppress the hatred he felt toward me in his heart, time and again forcing a smile to maintain the dignity of the imperial household.

"And you dare bring up your younger brother's trivial matter as a grievance? Since he was born as the reincarnation of the Martial Star into the imperial family, he must shoulder this responsibility and perform his duties properly. To vomit like that just from watching someone get carved up—how is he supposed to campaign for the Great Tang in the future?"

Li Chengqian wanted to retort that he could conquer the world himself, but unfortunately, he knew Li Shimin would slap him across the face and tell him that a crown prince's duty was to govern the country, so he could inherit this vast domain in the future.

"Do you know what the consequence was of me giving your grandfather a dark face?" Li Shimin asked when he saw Li Chengqian had nothing more to say.

A sense of ominous foreboding rose in Li Chengqian's heart. He hurriedly stood up and said, "Father, please rest more. This son takes his leave."

"I received twenty military beatings and couldn't get out of bed for half a month. But rest assured, I won't beat you. Starting tomorrow, every day after noon, you will go to the Prince of Yue's residence and join him in receiving the teachings of those several guards," Li Shimin said leisurely.

Li Chengqian felt as though he had been struck by lightning. *Good heavens, I failed to save someone and ended up dragging myself down with them!*

Li Shimin watched the retreating figure of the crown prince and sighed. Whether the crown prince could comprehend his painstaking efforts remained to be seen, but he was deeply grateful for Cai Cong's painstaking efforts. If the imperial family could transition smoothly in the future, Cai Cong would undoubtedly deserve the highest merit.