Chapter 449 Ji Song’s flattery
The library was not built in a day. According to Ji Song's estimation, it will take at least ten years. If something unexpected happens in the meantime, it may even take 50 to [-] years to build!
So he is not in a hurry. It will be a blessing if it is completed in his lifetime, and he no longer dares to hope for anything else.
After the arrangements were made, he stopped paying attention to them. Otherwise, why would he train these people? He continued to teach in the academy, and in addition to Li Tai and the others, he also led several classes.
But in comparison, the other classes are much easier to teach.
Seeing that the January deadline was coming soon, Ji Song could feel the solemnity of the students at this time, and they went to do various experiments after every get out of class.
He didn't care, it was up to them to see how they performed when the time came.
Of course it's good if they can answer it, but it doesn't matter if they can't. It's okay to let them experience setbacks.
On this day, Li Shimin returned to the harem from court. After reviewing the memorial, he seemed to have thought of something and asked Chen Shou, "What day is today?"
Chen Shou was a little strange. Today is the third day of the month, the day of the imperial court. How could your majesty not remember it?
But as a servant of the royal family, it was his duty to do so. He replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty, today is September [-]th, and in a few days it will be the Double Ninth Festival."
"Oh? Then the Academy Saltpeter Ice Making Competition is tomorrow?"
Chen Shou was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly!
You can leave the palace as soon as you want. What are you doing here and there? Isn't it just that the court officials have remonstrated? Is this the case?
It turns out that a few days ago, some courtiers came to remonstrate with Li Shimin that he often took several people out of the palace to play, which was disrespectful to the emperor's majesty and posed a great security risk. It would be better for him to leave the palace less often in the future.
The courtier was also kind-hearted, so Li Shimin didn't think much about it at the time and agreed immediately.
But within a few days, he wanted to leave the palace again, which was a bit of a slap in the face, so he wanted Chen Shou to tell him what he said, and he would follow the trend. If someone asked about it, he would say that it was Chen Shou who instigated it.
What can Chen Shou say? "Your Majesty, do you want to go and have a look?"
Li Shimin nodded reservedly, looking at the memorial in his hand without leaving his eyes.
Chen Shou even felt the pain in his teeth and could only say cautiously: "Your Majesty is the president of the academy. If you go to watch the students' debate, no one will say anything!"
Li Shimin seemed to have reacted at this moment, and said in surprise: "Is it okay? No one is gossiping, right?"
"No!" Chen Shou said with a sad face.
Li Shimin was overjoyed and said immediately: "Well, the academy has been open for several months, but I, the mountain chief, have not visited it for inspection. It is indeed a bit derelict in my duty."
Then he looked at Chen Shou and said, "Let's do this! The academy is still some distance from Chang'an. I'll call Shangfang Aiqing, Du Aiqing, Wei Qing and others later to take a look together and learn about the achievements of the academy."
"It's too late to call the captain, otherwise someone will give me advice again."
Chen Shou was overjoyed when he heard that the emperor still knew the importance. Not only was the prime minister accompanying him, but also the general was escorting him. Now he felt relieved.
"No, I'll do it now!" So, after saying that, he went out.
On September [-]th, the atmosphere in the academy was a little different because the gentlemen were actually given a day off yesterday.
As for the reason, everyone in the academy knows it.
Today is the day for Mr. Hou Jisong, the academy teacher, to check and accept the students' speaking, this kind of thing happens every day in the academy, so it’s not a holiday, so we all went to watch it.
But they knew that this 'homework' was particularly different because it was the first time since the establishment of the college that the teaching results of the college were shown to the outside world.
I heard from my husband yesterday that His Majesty rushed to the academy yesterday evening and said he wanted to see the academy in person.
On the way to the Academy Square, they found that what was different from the past was that there were many soldiers with bright armor on both sides.
These are the troops guarding the emperor led by General Wei Chigong. Each of them has bright armor, firm eyes, and stands upright.
There was also the aura coming from them. Even those who didn't know military skills could guess that these people must be elite soldiers who would fight for the rest of their lives.
They were not afraid. The scholars of the Tang Dynasty were not the scholars of the later Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many of them were not only sensible in reading, but also often wielded swords and bows. They were not weak scholars.
Scholars at this time all had the highest goal in life of becoming a general or a prime minister. Even today's scholars such as Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng, etc. would still kill people on the battlefield, and they were all unambiguous.
Therefore, when they saw this, they were not afraid at all, but only had the ambition that I would be like this in the future.
At this time, Li Shimin, several prime ministers and many gentlemen from the academy were sitting on the high platform of the academy square, with Li Shimin taking the first place among them.
The only difference is that today he is not wearing a court uniform, but a blue scholar's uniform, as are several others.
After all, this is an academy, not a court, and these students are also his students.
He has only one identity today, that is, the headmaster of Taibai Academy and the teacher of the students.
If everyone wasn't really worried about his safety, none of these soldiers would take him with him.
But when he saw the students walking leisurely through it, the smile on his face never disappeared.
"Good, good, good, good at book business, calm and unhurried. He is a good young man of my Tang Dynasty and a good student of mine. You gentlemen must have contributed a lot to it!"
Fortunately, he didn't get carried away. He still knew that he was just a mountain chief in name only, so he knew how to praise the achievements of the gentlemen! “What kind of emperor the Tang Dynasty had was like the kind of people, what kind of prime ministers there were were like the kind of students, what kind of generals there were were like the kind of people, and their ultimate goal was to become generals. To become a prime minister is to serve the Tang Dynasty."
"So, these are all the contributions of His Majesty and the generals!"
Ji Song appeared on the high platform at some point. Hearing Li Shimin's words, he stepped forward and said.
Completely ignoring the murderous look in teacher Li Gang's eyes and the disgusted expressions of many gentlemen, it was like finding a mouse in a rice vat.
But Ji Song remained unmoved, and the expression on his face did not change at all, as if what he said was the truth.
If Li Shimin hadn't known Ji Song, he would have truly believed his words, but he was still very happy to hear someone say that about him.
Especially when he saw Li Gang's expression of wanting to block his disciple's mouth, he burst into laughter with joy.
Fang Xuanling glanced thoughtfully at Ji Song, who was extremely abnormal, and her heart moved, but she didn't say anything.
Du Ruhui stroked his beard and smiled, nodding appreciatively, as if he was very satisfied with Ji Song's performance!
Wei Zheng had no expression on his face, while Yuchi opened his mouth wide and looked at Ji Song in disbelief. If he hadn't confirmed that the person in front of him was Ji Song himself, he would have thought he had been tricked! It's a good thing that the students below didn't hear it, otherwise Ji Song's tall image in their hearts would be ruined!
(End of this chapter)