A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 458 Re-ranking Clans in the World

The emperor's face was gloomy, just as ugly as when he found out that Feng Deyi had stabbed him in the back.

The atmosphere in the hall became tense and depressed.

Everyone is curious about what is on the jute paper that Wu Huaiyu gave the emperor, and it can have such power.

"Let's take a look at the prime ministers."

Li Shimin said.

That list was circulated among the remaining seven prime ministers.

After seeing it, the prime ministers were all a little surprised. They thought it was a big deal, but they didn’t expect it to be such a trivial matter. The manor fields collected by the third-tier sect were partly granted to the central part of the original temple and tenants, and some were supplemented. Some of the short-lived public land in the capital’s yamen, as well as official land, were sold for money to replenish the treasury.

Pretty normal operation.

Due to the limited land, the land sales plan proposed by the Zhidu Shiya intends to take care of the aristocratic family, arrange the purchase of land according to the rank of the family and the rank of the official, and pay for the purchase of the land.

Cui Gan is the second house owner of the Boling Cui family, and the reputation of the Boling Cui family has always been respected by the world. His family ranks first, and it is also ranked according to the rank of the prefects and families of the various surnames today. Boling Cui's second house does have this status.

It is normal to give his family the qualification to purchase nine hectares of land.

But since the emperor has such a bad face, it means that the emperor is very dissatisfied with this.

A confidant of the emperor like Fang Xuanling immediately saw the problem. Cui Gan, the governor of Songzhou, ranked first, followed by Lu Chengqing, Duke of Fanyang County in Yongzhou Zhizhong, who was also the northern ancestral house of Lu family in Fanyang, and then Li Longxi of Cui Zhaojun in Qinghe. Li and other families, followed by Wei Peiliu, Xue Yangdu and others of the six surnames in Guanzhong.

Not to mention that the prime ministers of the current dynasty were behind them, even the Li family of the royal family, the Dou family of the empress dowager, and the grandson's family of the empress dowager were far behind.

This is not to say that those hundreds of acres of land are precious and rare. Those who can be included in this list are not the prefects of a county, or the golden purple in the court, and whoever is short of those hundreds of acres of land.

But the problem is the ranking.

Fang Xuanling always knew that the emperor was very dissatisfied with those so-called famous families, especially the five surnames and seven Wangs in the Kanto region. How could these people be superior and even dare to look down on the Li family of the royal family?
Now even the selling points have to be distinguished in this way, and they are deliberately promoted like this.

The emperor's gaze was like a knife, sweeping over and over among the ministers in the hall.

In the end, he said bluntly in public: "Shandong's gentry has declined for generations, without a crown, and they rely on marriage to make money. I don't understand what is the most important thing in the world?"

"Duke Yi."

"The minister is here."

"Cui Gan is demoted, and the governor is one, how can he be at the top?"

Wu Huaiyu can't say that it was your brother-in-law Dou Luhuai who made the row. He handed in this list, so he knew that this would happen. Originally, he wanted to report to the emperor alone, and by the way, the emperor and his ministers chatted about these five surnames and seven Wangs. Who knew that Wei Zheng would make a mess and insist on reporting it in public.

This made the emperor lose face, and Wu Huaiyu had to take the blame.

"It's the minister who didn't think carefully."

Li Shimin stroked his beard and gave instructions from the palace.

"It doesn't matter how many generations ago, stop taking today's officials and nobles as the rank,"

With the emperor's instructions, Wu Huaiyu took advantage of the situation to present, "I invite the royal family to be the first, and the relatives to be the second, the three princes, the prince's three teachers, the Kaifu Yitong three divisions, and the prime minister of the Zhengshitang again. After the third rank of officials, the grant of land purchases this time is only limited to titles and fifth ranks of ministers, divided into nine grades."

The ninth-class subscription qualification corresponds to the ninth-class title. You must first have a knighthood, and then you must have at least a fifth-rank or higher job. This time you must be a Beijing official to be eligible to get the land quota to buy land.

Although Cui Gan belongs to the Cui family of Boling, he is not an official of the capital now, he is only the governor of Songzhou, a fourth-rank foreign official without a title, not to mention ranking first, he is not qualified to be on the list.

Lu Chengqing, the Duke of Fanyang County who was originally ranked second in Yongzhou Zhizhong, is a fourth-rank official in charge of the county and is also a Beijing official.

The royal family is first, the relatives, that is, the two descendants, the Dou family and the Changsun family are ranked second, and then the first-rank officials and prime ministers are ranked third, the second-rank civil and military ranks fourth, and then the third-rank,

The same rank depends on the title, the same title also depends on whether it is a real title or a false title, and then it depends on the job, and it also depends on the honor.

Anyway, ranked ninth.

The emperor instructed Wu Huaiyu to implement it to the end.

The royal family is the first, no one should fight.

On the surface, it seems that it is only a few tens of thousands of acres of land. With so many nobles to divide, there may be hundreds of acres of land, and tens of acres of land, which is a bit true.

But there is a deep meaning behind this.

What the emperor said just now is also clear, what's so awesome about you bunch of shabby settlers?Relying on the lingering shadow of my ancestors, a wolf with a big tail like me?
Suppressing the old gentry is what Li Shimin must do, so the higher the social status of these old gentry, the more they have to find ways to suppress them, and they cannot relax for a moment.

So on the surface, it's just doing the third-level teaching and then sharing the cake, but in fact it's a row of seats to eat fruit.

Ranking was the most important in the era of feudal imperial power, which meant rank.

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there has been a tradition of genealogy, which pays attention to family status, and the county surname is the family status.

The Shang surname is the ethos and tradition of the whole society.

Li Shimin is always threatening the threat of these old gentry, so he has always wanted to improve the status of noble officials, changing the surname Shang to Shangguan, in essence, creating a new gentry and replacing the old gentry with his own people , to ensure the stability of the country.

Right now, this small matter is motivating people, and it can actually be regarded as a kind of temptation by the emperor.

Fang Xuanling understood in seconds.

Wu Huaiyu's reaction was even faster, or he had already made such preparations when he was carrying this list to hand over to the emperor.

Wu Huaiyu is looking forward to this kind of opportunity for the upstart to overthrow the old one.

Not to mention that Wu Huaiyu has never been an official in the last four generations. It is the samurai Xun who has been an official for generations in his ancestors. The gentry were contemptuous. At the beginning, the Supreme Emperor Li Yuan came forward in person, but it was nothing more than letting Hongnong Yang marry an old girl in her 40s.

Wu Huaiyu is now a minister, but in the eyes of those old bosses, he is still just a nouveau riche, and even the people think so.

As an upstart in the new dynasty, I definitely hope that my family can go to the next level.

In this regard, Wu Huaiyu is of course consistent with the emperor's goal.

Based on official titles and grades, the so-called 44 families with five surnames and seven surnames in the Kanto region, the six surnames in Guanlong, and even the Jiangzuo gentry and the Daibei gentry all have to stand aside. , can stand up more.

Shang Yanya of the Shandong gentry, Shang figure of the Jiangzuo gentry, Shang Guanmian of the Guanzhong gentry, and Shang Guiqi of the Daibei gentry.

Of the four major gentry groups, who is really standing at the top of the court now?

The Li family of the royal family called themselves Longxi Li, but they didn't recognize them, saying that they were just Li Po from Zhaojun, but the Li from Zhaojun didn't recognize the royal family as their own.Of the eight current prime ministers in the court, Fang, Qin, Wen, Wang, Wei, Xiao, Dai, and Wu, only Wang Gui belongs to the Taiyuan Wang family, and Xiao Yu belongs to the Lanling Xiao family.

The rest are not top old gentry.

Cui, Lu, Zheng, and Li have five surnames. Now there is no prime minister in the court, not even a minister, and they are just governors who are good at it.

For example, the Zheng family in Xingyang, originally the princess concubine was the daughter of the Zheng family, and the Zheng family was not bad, and Zheng Shanguo had the opportunity to pay homage to the prime minister, but now they are all driven out of Chang'an and far away from the center.

Cui Qian also became the servant of Huangmen, and he was one step short, but he was also kicked out.

Lu Zushang of the Lu family was even beheaded by the emperor because he refused to go to Jiaozhou.

"Dai Zhou, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Tang Jian, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Li Daozong, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, Zhou Shaofan, Supervisor of the Procuratorate, Wei Zheng, Minister of the Secretary, Wu Huaiyu, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, you all draw up this list together."

It is only tens of thousands of mu of land, but three prime ministers and six ministers are required to draw up a list together.

fuss.

However, as witty as Fang Xuanling was, he knew very well that on the surface it was a list of proposed land purchases, but in fact it was a draft of a new clan chronicle.

The court meeting is over.

The emperor was not very happy today, so he didn't give him any food.

Everyone went back to the yamen to cook.

Huaiyu naturally went to Zhengshitang to cook, who made the food standard in Zhengshitang high.

Now the eight prime ministers will basically go to the Zhengshitang for lunch at noon, even if there is no meeting in the Zhengshitang, they still have to come to cook.

Sometimes I can communicate with each other while cooking, instead of talking directly in the hall.

After leaving the palace gate, Wei Zheng deliberately lagged behind a few steps and waited for Huaiyu to come up and walk side by side.

"The court discussion just now was not intended to target Erlang, it was all official business."

Wu Huaiyu has long been used to this old man Wei Zheng, at least now this guy knows how to say sorry to you, before, he would just turn his nostrils to the sky after spraying you.

"Understand."

"Wei Xianggong got the land quota this time, so he should subscribe for the land, right? The land this time is all rich and fertile, not waiting for water to be irrigated, and all of them are large pieces of land. This opportunity must not be missed."

"The land price is not cheap, is it?"

"Compared with this land, it's really not expensive. Of course, the fertile land in Gyeonggi is incomparable with those outside the customs, but it's hard to find a field."

Wei Zheng's family financial situation is pretty good now, at least he doesn't owe usurious debts. Now that he is promoted to prime minister, not only his salary has been greatly increased, but also various benefits and rewards are also generous. Epitaph, but the price is much higher than before.

He received a few private jobs a month, all of which received a small [-] yuan. Besides, his family's Wei Gong Liquor has now grown to a certain scale and has become a small family winemaking workshop, with a good income.

Even Wei Zheng likes drinking and celebrating books, and when he has some money, most of it is used to buy books and collect books, and he has to buy gifts and dowry for his children, and it is very hard to save.

Wei Zheng also knows that those lands are good, but unfortunately the price is not cheap, especially when you buy the land, you can't rent it out for others to plant. Or hiring long-term and short-term workers, etc., thinking about these makes me a headache.

"Wei Gong, I suggest you to subscribe. The opportunity is rare. After all, the farmhouse can be passed down to the family. Wei Gong also has to think about it for his descendants."

"If you are short of money, I can help Duke Wei pay in advance."

"How much interest?" Wei Zheng asked.

"Wei Gong is joking. We are in-laws. We have a little money, just to help with turnover, and we are talking about interest."

Wei Zhengxin said that it wasn't like this when you calculated the interest with me, but he also believed that Wu Huaiyu would help now.

"I'll go back and discuss it with my wife."

The dignified prime minister has at least three to five hundred acres of subscription qualifications, and the price of one thousand or eight hundred guan is definitely required. If it is close to Chang'an, three to five thousand guan is possible, which is indeed a lot of money for Wei Zheng.

"If Mr. Wei really doesn't want to buy it, I can help Mr. Wei resell the subscription land. It is estimated that we can directly exchange three to five hundred transfer fees."

"I'll go back and discuss it."

On the way, Wei Zheng still brought up the problems he would face after buying the land.

"There's nothing to worry about. If money is tight at the beginning, you can rent out the land first and collect the rent. When you have more money, you can gradually take it back and send someone to take care of it."

"It makes sense," Wei Zheng nodded, "This time the third-tier sect fell, and the court is really full. Just for the tens of thousands of acres of land, at least one hundred thousand will be credited to the account, right?"

"Well, just the monk certificate, the thousand monks left by the third-order sect now have handed over [-] yuan of income to the court."

Wei Zheng secretly marveled, not only marveling at the richness of the third-order religion, but also marveling at Wu Huaiyu's boldness and directness.

"This time not only increased the income of a lot of money and silk fields, but also created more than [-] new households."

The rectification of a third-tier sect immediately allowed the imperial court to have [-] more household registrations, which are all household registrations in a border county.

Yongzhou has 20 households on the surface, but it is not known how many people are hidden.

"Duke Yi bought the land this time, did he buy slaves to cultivate it again?"

"Well, keeping slaves is easier than recruiting long-term workers, and the initial investment is a bit larger, but slaves are also property, and they can reproduce and increase in value. In the long run, it is more cost-effective than hiring."

"Duke Yi never thought that if the rich and powerful keep such a large number of slaves, especially if they are all barbarian Rongdi slaves, wouldn't there be hidden dangers in the future?"

Huaiyu told Wei Zheng a cruel fact, those slaves had no future at all, they were pure consumables, and Datang was not a beautiful country or a Gaul country, so it was impossible for black brothers to devour their masters.

This is cruel and true. Their average life expectancy is only 40 to 40 years old. For example, the samurai family is better treated, and the average lifespan may be 30 years old. However, most of the slaves of noble and powerful families do not live to reach [-] years old. Even for many slaves in mines and manors, it often took no more than ten years from being trafficked to dying.

If it is the kind of second-generation and third-generation domestic slaves, the treatment will be better, and the life expectancy will be longer, but after all, the conditions are there, and it is already very good to live to more than 30 years old.

How can such a group become a hidden danger?
Still worried that their slave uprising will fail?
The dine-in food at Zhengshitang is still very good today, there is also a plate of venison and roast duck.

Tang people generally don’t like to eat duck, but like to eat goose, but goose is too expensive, a small goose can be worth as much as sheep, and duck is more fishy, ​​but if it is seasoned with spices, it can still be delicious.

But more oil and more spices are not conditions for ordinary people.

Today's roast duck is not only seasoned with onion, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, dried chili, but also pepper, pepper, grass fruit and cloves. Especially, it is roasted with rice wine, fried with sugar, and added with soy sauce.

The color of the roast is very good, there is no fishy smell, the meat is firm but not woody, the whole meat is soaked in the aroma of rice wine, although there are many spices, but all the ingredients are appropriate, and the deliciousness of the duck meat itself is not concealed.

Wei Zheng, who has always been a vegetarian, loves this braised duck today.

Wu Huaiyu was also swept away.

The seasonings used are ten times more expensive than the duck meat, but the taste of the duck that is simply stewed by ordinary people is indeed very different.

Eating the duck made Wu Huaiyu think that he should buy more duck eggs and marinate some salted duck eggs, just in time for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Salted duck eggs with red and oily yolks are also delicious.

(End of this chapter)