Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2795 Faded Friends, Empress's Passing Away

In March of the second year of the Tianchen era, under Li Xiang's insistence, Zhuge Liang took the lead and Zhang Juzheng assisted him in reforming the land system and implementing the land tax reform.

Although this method caused some unrest in some areas, it was completely suppressed by the local army and was eliminated without even causing any disturbance.

Some ordinary locals were unaware that some unrest had occurred during the night.

The emperor's determination to reform agriculture was unwavering, and even the opposition from some meritorious officials was forcibly suppressed by him.

After all, these meritorious officials may have come from humble backgrounds, but after the establishment of the empire, each of them, as meritorious figures, possessed a large amount of land.

Implementing such a policy would also harm their interests.

Li Xiang even picked out a few of the most energetic jumpers and made an example of them.

Even those who have rendered meritorious service to the empire will not be tolerated by Li Xiang if they obstruct the empire's development.

Over the next two years, with the thorough implementation of the land tax reform policy, agricultural development in the Great Jin Dynasty entered a period of rapid growth.

At the same time, Li Xiang vigorously developed official schools, establishing official schools at all levels of prefectures, counties, and districts, and incorporating school teachers into the ranks of officials.

In fact, at the highest level of state schools, teachers directly entered the ranks of officials.

Not long after, he issued another policy that all those who participated in the provincial examinations should, beforehand, teach in county schools for a year under the arrangement of local governments.

Those who participated in the imperial examinations were also required to teach at county schools for a year under the arrangement of local governments.

This was to ensure the mandatory implementation of official schools.

After all, with the advent of papermaking and printing, what is lacking now is not the dissemination of knowledge, but how to make these books understandable to ordinary people.

Let alone illiterate people, even those who can read and write would not be able to understand the contents of those books without a certain level of cultural foundation.

Simply recognizing characters and being able to understand the meaning of a sentence in a book are two completely different things.

Since those who wanted to participate in the imperial examinations had passed the preliminary examinations, it meant they already had a certain foundation, so they were more than qualified to teach in rural areas.

From the first to the tenth year of the Tianchen reign, under the diligent governance of Emperor Li Xiang and his court officials, the country was well-governed.

During this period, granaries were full and the national treasury was overflowing. The eight major granaries that Li Xiang established in various places had ample reserves and were always full.

People are well-off, cattle and sheep roam the fields, granaries are full, doors are left unlocked at night, and lost items are not picked up on the road.

The population also grew significantly during this period, with the number of newborns in the last ten years increasing by a full 30% compared to the Jian'an period.

Compared to the Shenlong era before unification was completed, the number of newborns more than doubled. Compared to the subsequent Yuanshi era, the average number of newborns per year increased fourfold.

After all, the Yuanshi era was a special period for the whole world, a painful memory that the whole world could not shake off.

From the first to the tenth year of the Tianchen era, the country was well-governed. However, what pained the emperor greatly was that fewer and fewer of his old brothers were following him.

After all, even the emperor is already seventy years old this year.

Even though the emperor had been leading his brothers in practicing the Five Animal Frolics every day since the Jian'an era, hoping to improve their health, they still couldn't escape the erosion of time. Guan Zhong, who had once been Wang Meng's right-hand man among the civil officials, had also passed away, without even being able to see the emperor one last time. After that, there were Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui.

Du Ruhui died at the beginning of the Tianchen era, but compared to his historical counterpart, he had lived for far too many years.

Fang Xuanling was a bit later, passing away in the ninth year of the Tianchen era.

In the third year of the Tianchen era, Wu Qi passed away.

Mao Xiang, Wei Xiaokuan, Tian Feng, Zhang Yi, Han Fei, Li Gang, Li Kui, Xiao He... such a large group of civil officials, as if they had planned it together, left him one after another during the Tianchen era.

The same applies to military figures such as Meng Tian, ​​Feng Yi, Yue Fei, Meng Gong, Han Shizhong, Qi Jiguang, Hulü Guang, and Huang Tianhua.

Xing Tian, ​​Dian Wei, Li Cunxiao, Yuwen Chengdu, Hou Yi, and Ran Min—once invincible warriors on the battlefield, they too eventually succumbed to the ravages of time.

Nowadays, only a few familiar faces remain in the imperial court, such as Zhuge Liang, Liu Ji, Zhang Liang, Changsun Wuji, Zhang Juzheng, Li Jing, Huo Qubing, and Guo Ziyi.

However, even among these people, apart from Huo Qubing who still had some spirit, the rest were all old and gray.

Especially Li Jing, who has been bedridden for years. Who knows how much longer he can hold on?

These once familiar faces are now hard for Li Xiang to see again, even in the imperial court. Some of them have gradually stopped attending court due to health reasons.

Even if Li Xiang wanted to see them, he would have to specially summon them or go on a private visit outside the palace.

Of course, among the group of old brothers, there were some who were particularly energetic. Guo Ziyi and Cheng Yaojin, although they were also quite old, were just as energetic as the emperor.

Every day without fail, the emperor would lead them in practicing the Five Animal Frolics, and occasionally he would even bring his children and grandchildren to join them for a get-together.

Of course, only the emperor took care of his sons; they all took care of their grandsons.

After all, their grandsons were older than Li Ju and Li Yan, let alone their sons.

And then there's Luo Shixin, that silly old man, who's also in excellent health. Of course, he's two or three years younger than Li Xiang.

However, although this silly old man was in excellent health, Li Xiang never invited him to participate in the Five Animal Frolics activities.

There's nothing I can do. This guy is so old, yet he's still incredibly stupid. No matter how I try to teach him, he just can't learn!
Sometimes, Li Xiang was so angry that he wanted to beat him up!
From the first year of the Tianchen era to the tenth year, it was a decade of immense sorrow for Emperor Li Xiang.

Not only have his old brothers who fought alongside him passed away one by one, but many of his concubines in the harem have also passed away.

Even Li Wu, one of the eight kings he had enfeoffed in Southeast Asia, died in the ninth year of Tianchen.

Over the course of ten years, many of my old friends have passed away!
Li Xiang went from being devastated at the beginning to gradually becoming numb.

In the past ten years, he has seen too many people leave.

Until the tenth year of Tianchen, the Empress passed away.

(End of this chapter)