A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 698
The autumn wind brings coolness.

After leaving Chang'an, the emperor on horseback was particularly refreshed. There was constant laughter and laughter along the way. Wu Huaiyu was half a horse's head behind the emperor, chatting and laughing with him.

That scene aroused the envy of countless accompanying ministers.

This kind of grace is unique.

All the way to Dewanshou Plateau,
Former prime minister Qin Qiong, who had retired here, also brought some troops to greet him early. He was recovering well on the plateau.
"Uncle Bao, today we, the king and his ministers, will compete to see who can shoot more."

Nowadays, Qin Qiong, who only has the third rank of Kaifu Yi, also knows that the emperor is addicted to drugs, so he smiled and said that he could just become the captain of the bodyguard.

Hunting is actually equivalent to a small war exercise.

There are specialized soldiers who are responsible for looking for the herds of animals in the hunting grounds, and then generals are responsible for leading the cavalry to surround the herds of animals, and then gradually shrink. After the herds of animals are driven and concentrated into a small area, the emperor will take the lead in hunting.
Then the princes and ministers shot the prey in order of rank, and finally the soldiers swarmed up and killed all the prey.

The emperor liked hunting, which was actually a way to train soldiers.

Teams of Beiya Qingqi went looking for wild beasts,
Other soldiers began to put up curtains.
The emperor, princes and ministers will rest first.
Boil water and make tea.

"Uncle Bao has been raised well here. When will he return to the court?" the emperor asked.

Qin Qiong smiled and said, "Thanks to Huaiyu's elixir, my body has indeed recovered slowly now. But now that the world is peaceful and my horse is free in Nanshan, I have no place to use it."

Seeing that Qin Qiong really didn't want to return to the court and serve as an official, Li Shimin didn't force it anymore.

The monarch and his ministers drank tea and talked about other things, such as Qin Qiong taking the lead in building the reservoir here, and the Wu family planting cotton on the plateau.

"Huaiyu, I heard that none of the guest daughters of the Wu family are willing to improve their naturalization?"

Huai Yuxin said, why have you heard everything?

The emperor had very good ears and eyes, and he had three secret surveillance departments, so he really knew everything.

Huaiyu quickly explained,
At this time, the prince couldn't help but speak up and told the emperor what he saw the old man Qian of the Wu family said that day, and also talked about the burden of the reformed army.

Huaiyu repeatedly told him not to get involved in this, but the prince still couldn't help it.

Li Shimin listened carefully and kept nodding. He was very satisfied with Cheng Qian's speech, "It's very good that the prince can understand the people's sentiments and know the people's sufferings."

"Then how do you think this matter should be resolved?"

Cheng Qian hesitated for a moment, but still told him about the labor service law and the land allocation.

All the official servants, miscellaneous laborers, sex laborers, etc. were all paid in lieu of cloth, and then they were all spread into the fields. Chengqian also made a rough calculation with the emperor. If all the Dingkou in the country, regardless of their status as official, civilian, military, industrial, or commercial, were all Taking this into account, and then calculating it as one and a half pieces of silk per ding, there are about 400 million pieces of silk for labor, and then spread it over the current land in the country, which is about one penny per mu, that is, ten acres and two feet.

Li Shimin became more and more surprised. He looked at Cheng Qian and then at Huai Yu.

"Are you thinking of these?"

"Back to my father, these are what the teacher told him when I asked him about it. The teacher said that this is actually the same as the land grain in the new three-source two-tax law. It unifies the apportionment of various miscellaneous taxes in the original place. For small grains, spread them into acres of land,
Then the imperial service can also be like this,

The teacher even said that in the future, the imperial court could directly hire people for service. He also said that as the Tang Dynasty became more and more prosperous, it should be added. From now on, the current number of Ding and Zheyong will prevail. From now on, the number of people will never be increased. , a fixed number of 400 million pieces of silk every year..."

Never add gifts,

This one is even more amazing.

Of course, this "never increase in tax" refers specifically to the exemption money for everyone. After all, in the past, every soldier had to serve, and if he did not serve for 20 days, he had to fold the cloth and turn it in.

But now that the current number of dings is fixed, even if it returns to the heyday of the Sui Dynasty, which is about three times the current number, the tax will still be levied at the current number, which means that after it is spread out among the acres, the labor money will no longer be levied. Rising.

Four million bolts of silk a year is a huge number.

There are various types of servants in the imperial court, such as sex servants, regular servants, miscellaneous servants, etc., but the imperial court also has many exempted servants. The actual number of exempted servants is less than 100 million, so in reality, if only the regular servants and reduced servants are counted, the most is More than 100 million horses.

Li Shimin was a little excited.

In the past, the office expenses of the imperial government offices, even the wages of some non-staff servants, and some food subsidies for officials were actually paid by the local government. There was not enough public land, and the loan of public money was cancelled, so it was directly paid to the government. Large local households share the distribution,

They even levy taxes from ordinary people, shops and workshops. There are no rules for levying excessive amounts and they increase taxes at will. It is indeed a mess.
After Wu Huaiyu calculated all the expenses in Sanyuan County, he spread them among the acres for collection, and then added the fire consumption and returned it to the public, leaving half for the prefecture and county. Everything was included in the control and audit, which was obviously much better.

The current substitute service law directly replaces cloth and substitutes for service, which is equivalent to the previous substitution. However, in the past, only old age and other circumstances were eligible for substitution. Generally, those who were not eligible for substitution, or who had not served the full period of service, could be substituted. Now, Instead of directly conscripting people to do service, they folded cloth and spread it among the farmers. Whether it was the court or the local government, they all used money and grain to hire people to do service.

"I think this method is good. Cheng Qian, I will give you a task. You and the officials of the East Palace will discuss it with Huaiyu and draw up a detailed strategy and submit it to the court for discussion."

Cheng Qian was very excited.

Wu Huaiyu was still very calm. He had previously told the prince not to expose this matter, as it would not be the prince's turn to do so, but the prince still couldn't hold it back. Hey, the child is older and has more ideas.

The Beiya Royal Guards Cavalry were very powerful and quickly gathered many wild beasts together.
This time it was just a small hunt, not a large one, but it was faster. Xu Luoren came to ask the emperor to shoot first.

"Let's go, the hunting has begun," Li Shimin laughed and said,
The emperor mounted his horse, and Wu Huaiyu and others followed him.

Riding on the horse, Li Shimin looked like a dragon swimming in the sea.
In the distance, a large group of prey was being chased by the elite guards and cavalry. Li Shimin galloped on his horse, with his bow and arrow drawn on the horse.
I saw the emperor stretching his bow and firing continuously, with no arrows missing.
Shooting four arrows in succession,

Shoot down four big wild boars,

Seeing the four majestic wild boars all fall down in front of the emperor, all the ministers cheered and praised,

Just when Li Shimin was triumphant and turned around to laugh and show off to the generals, another big wild boar suddenly rushed out from the bushes nearby.

The wild boar had red eyes and rammed straight towards the emperor.

Suddenly, countless exclamations sounded.

No one expected that there was a wild boar. Seeing the wild boar rushing towards the emperor, everyone did not even draw their bows and arrows for fear of accidentally hurting the emperor.

At this time, two people ran towards the emperor's horse almost at the same time, hoping to stop the big wild boar for the emperor.

Everyone looked carefully,
Running in front was Tang Jian, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Duke of Ju Kingdom. His speed was almost as fast as that of a wild boar. He ran wildly. He also drew his sword and stood in front of the emperor. He raised his sword high and wanted to fight with the emperor. Wild boars duke it out.

And the other running figure turned out to be Crown Prince Cheng Qian.

The prince shouted while running, his tall and thin body actually had an aura of indomitable energy.

in tension,

Wu Huaiyu, who was not far away, had already shot an arrow quickly. He was not afraid to shoot like other courtiers.

This arrow hit the wild boar right in the eye, showing good archery skills.

The wild boar screamed in pain, and its speed slowed down a bit, but it did not stop.

He was about to bump into the prince and Tang Jian.
At this time, another rider rushed out of the diagonal stab, coming quickly and fiercely, like a bolt of lightning,
The knight immediately roared and stabbed down with a big iron spear. Even though the big wild boar was covered in a layer of armor made of pine oil and other condensations, it also broke through the defense under this stab.
The people discovered that,

That knight is Qin Qiong, Duke of Qi.
Qin Qiong's big iron spear pierced the wild boar, and then with a loud roar, he picked up the rampaging wild boar directly on his horse.

The wild boar ascends to the sky,

Give it another shake,
The wild boar lands again,
He fell to the ground with a bang. He groaned and wanted to get up again, but he was powerless. There was still a white-feathered arrow stuck in one eye, which was wobbling.

The rabbit rises and the falcon falls almost instantly.

But it shocked everyone into a cold sweat.

Even the emperor turned around because he was proud, and few others acted quickly.

The emperor had just given up his bow and raised his spear, but the battle was over.
He held the horse in hand and smiled at Tang Jian who looked nervous, "Tiance has a long history. I don't see generals attacking thieves. Why should I be afraid of this?"

Then he said to the prince, "My son has grown up. Not only does he know how to govern the country, but he also has the courage to go into battle and kill the enemy. Good, good, good."

The emperor said three good words to the prince in a row. Although the prince was a little thin and had just rushed over with a sword, he was no match for the wild boar. However, Li Shimin was very happy to have such courage and filial piety.

Then he turned to look at Qin Qiong and Huaiyu,
"Shu Bao is worthy of being the number one general in our Tiance Mansion. He has been disarmed and returned to the field for a long time, and his precious spear is still young. This stab just now made me feel like I have returned to the time when I was under Luoyang City.
Shu Bao's horse-steed, my big bow, and those guys like Yuchi and Sanshui, we are really invincible. "

"Huaiyu's archery skills are getting better and better. He actually hit the eye with one arrow."

The emperor was very happy,
But all the ministers and guards were so frightened that they broke into cold sweats.

Especially the Crown Prince, it was too risky just now.

The wild boar might not be able to hurt the emperor, but the prince who rushed up on foot to block the front might not be able to withstand the wild boar's brutal charge.

If there is any damage, then...
Tang Jian was laughed at by the emperor for being too nervous, but he criticized the emperor in public with a serious face. This hero of Yuanmou in Taiyuan also served as a long history officer in the emperor's Tiance Mansion in his early years, and now he is also an in-law who is betrothed to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty conquered the world on horseback, but he did not rule the world immediately. Your Majesty controlled the four directions with his divine force, how can you follow your ambitions like a beast?"

To put it bluntly, you are the emperor, and now you are showing off your power to a wild boar. What kind of skills do you have?

"What's more, your Majesty just put the prince in danger,"

(End of this chapter)