Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 512 Prelude
The sixteenth year of Longwu should have been an ordinary year.

The common people and clans of the Tang Dynasty all thought so. After all, nothing major happened that year. In their eyes, Chen and the emperor did not make any other unnecessary moves.

Everything was normal.

The voice of the Tai Chi Hall still spreads loudly throughout the world, and countries around the world still have to obey the voice of the Tai Chi Hall and move slowly.

The technology in the Academy of Sciences is still being developed.

Taiji Hall
It rained today, and a light drizzle fell on the ground, covering everything on the ground. The fragrance from afar spread throughout the palace. Li Cheng stood in the hall and watched the rain fall from the sky.

A burst of hurried footsteps was heard in the distance.

Chen Xian walked in hurriedly from outside the hall. The wind caused by his footsteps blew out the candles in the hall, and a cold atmosphere came into the hall.

"His Majesty."

Chen Xian's voice was a little hurried. He looked at Li Cheng and said, "It has been raining heavily in Qianzhou for more than a month. The local county magistrate had been hiding this matter until now, when he could no longer hide it and reported the matter to the emperor."

"Now there are countless disaster victims in Qianzhou!"

Li Cheng raised his head and looked at Chen Xian, but he did not talk about the heavy rain. Instead, he talked about other things: "Yesterday. Did you have a dream yesterday?"

Dream?
A strange look flashed across Chen Xian's face. He subconsciously raised his head and looked at Li Cheng, trying to see something from Li Cheng's eyes, but in the end he saw nothing. He could only sigh and say, "What did your highness dream about?"

His words without any denial made Li Cheng look serious.

"Could it be that the dream was real?"

Li Cheng slowly raised his feet and walked out of the hall. He stood on the corridor outside the hall. The sound of rain echoed in his ears. The palace servants around him did not dare to speak. Only the attendant who had been serving Li Cheng dared to step forward and put a cloak on Li Cheng.

"Your Majesty, it is raining heavily and the weather is cold. Please take care of yourself."

Li Cheng ignored the attendant, but stretched out his hand, tightened his cloak, and then walked into the heavy rain. The many attendants behind him also hurriedly held up a canopy to protect the two of them from the wind and rain.

"I dreamed that in the endless darkness, a long river ran through the past and present, and there were countless phantoms in it."

"That illusion seemed to contain all the history of the Central Plains of China, but there were some histories that I had never seen before. Dayu did not exist in that history, and the Qin Dynasty did not end until the fifth emperor. The emperor of the Han Dynasty actually came from the grassroots, and Emperor Wu of Han did not give the throne to his eldest son Liu Ju."

He said silently: "In addition to these, I also saw the Tang Dynasty. The Taizu Emperor of my Tang Dynasty became the Taizong Emperor."

"The rise and fall of so many things in the world are all in the midst of the storm."

"On the other side of the long river, there is a figure of a person. When you first see that figure, it seems extremely small, but the more you look at it, the taller and more majestic it seems, as if it is infinitely high and infinitely large."

"Finally, I heard that figure say to me that this is the last disaster for the land of China."

"If we survive this "fate", then this whole history will be completely rewritten. There will no longer be any destiny, no longer any predestination."

"Everything depends on my decision."

After a moment of silence, Li Cheng continued, "In the dream, that person didn't seem to say that, but I "felt" that way. I don't know if it's true or not."

"But I have a vague feeling that the man is the ancestor of your Chen family, the Duke of Anguo Chen Ye who was revered as the emperor of enlightenment during the Han Dynasty."

"Brother Chen, tell me, is this dream true or false?"

Chen Xian sighed silently. He stood there without hesitation: "It should be true."

This was the first time that the secret of "Chen's" was known to outsiders.

Li Cheng looked stunned. He looked at Chen Xian with an expression full of disbelief. He didn't know what to say, what he could say, or even how he should react at this moment.

"Really?"

"Is the Enlightened Emperor real? Has he really become a being that can fight against 'God'?"

"But hasn't Chen always denied this matter?"

Chen Xian smiled bitterly. He stretched out his hand from behind the curtain and used it to catch the raindrops falling from the sky. "Your Majesty, there is no point in saying this now. What you saw in your dream was probably a reminder from your ancestors."

"Now, what choice do you want to make?"

"The flood in Qianzhou came very strangely, and the governor of Qianzhou was also very strange."

"Normally, no matter what happens in Qianshou, we will know it immediately, but this flood is probably caused by the so-called "fate."

Chen Xian said with a serious expression: "And next, perhaps there will be more so-called "coincidences"."

"If Your Majesty wants to retreat and wants to preserve the foundation of our ancestors, I can understand. We will be able to get through it if we are fully prepared. As long as we get through it, fate will no longer have the opportunity or ability to secretly influence the world."

At this moment, Chen Xian looked stern.

"We can ignore the flood in Qianzhou for now. We should free up our hands immediately to strangle all the forces within the Tang Dynasty. The Zhang family, the Qin family, the Zhao family, the Three Lius, the Cao family, and the Zhang family will all cooperate with us."

"Instantly, there was no rival left in the Tang Dynasty."

"After we have swiftly eliminated the internal troubles, we can then slowly deal with those foreign forces that are eyeing us covetously."

"It doesn't matter if we can't defeat those barbaric countries with lightning speed for the time being. The 'aircraft' and 'tanks' that the Academy of Sciences is researching will soon produce results. Once these two real war machines appear, it will only take a moment to wipe out those barbaric countries."

"After we have suppressed all the forces at home and abroad, we will go and appease the disaster situation at home."

Li Cheng stood in the rain, the rain slowly became smaller, until it finally stopped. He turned around and looked at Chen Xian standing there, and smiled: "Brother Chen, why do you have to test me again?"

"How many dynasties have there been in the Central Plains?"

"But none of these dynasties would make such a decision. Once they make such a decision, they will lose the support of the people, and losing the support of the people means losing the Chen family."

He smiled casually: "My choice is simple, I follow my heart."

As he walked, Li Cheng said, "I've heard that the Chen family's ancestral motto is 'Look up to the heavens without shame, look down to the earth without shame, and have a clear conscience without shame on yourself'. The Chen family was established during the time of Duke Mu, and it has been more than 1,300 years until now."

"You can always stick to the three sentences of our ancestors' teachings. Would I ignore the people of Guizhou for the sake of the empire's existence?"

At this point, Li Cheng smiled again: "Besides, if I choose this option, I am afraid that Brother Chen will immediately turn hostile and then follow the example of your Chen family's ancestors to leave the court and then plot to overthrow the Tang Dynasty, right?"

There was a mixed expression on his face as he just stood there.

"Provide disaster relief."

"There are always opportunities to wipe out domestic forces, but the victims cannot wait any longer."

"If we wait one more hour, hundreds or even thousands of disaster victims may be displaced, and tens of thousands of Tang people may die in the disaster and flood."

"Pass on my edict."

"Three provinces and six ministries put aside all their affairs and devote all their efforts to disaster relief."

“Anyone in this world who dares to take advantage of the disaster to raise the prices of grain and vegetables, if they raise the prices by one cent, I will kill his entire family. If they raise the prices by ten cents, I will kill all nine generations of his clan.” At this moment, Li Cheng was filled with murderous aura, and his whole body was filled with blood, like an evil spirit.

"Also, mobilize all the left and right secret guards to go out at full strength."

"You must not allow local affairs to be concealed from me."

"Whoever stands behind those who take advantage of the disaster to exploit the people will be killed by me."

"I don't care who his father, mother, or grandfather is."

"I don't care who he grew up with, how noble his family background is, or how much contribution his ancestors made to the Tang Dynasty."

"In the face of such a disaster, they are making money from the people's national disaster."

"I will never tolerate it!"

In the 16th year of Longwu, a great disaster occurred in Qianzhou.

Floods never occur alone. They are always accompanied by plagues. Corpses soaked in water will definitely produce viruses, and the viruses will spread along with water and corpses.

They can even become airborne.

The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to this matter and issued an order that whoever dared to take advantage of the disaster to make a fortune would be killed. Most of the businessmen were indeed afraid.

But there are always people who value money over their lives.

黔州
"Deng He Tang"

"Boss, wasn't it ten cents a bushel of rice yesterday? Why has it risen to thirty cents today?"

There were many common people standing at the door of Deng Hetang, with angry looks on their faces, and some of them even started to talk about the emperor's edict.

It’s no wonder that the people are angry, the main reason is that Deng Hetang’s grain prices have risen too drastically.

At present, Deng Hetang is the only one in the whole Qianzhou who still has grain. All the grain in the hands of other grain merchants has been bought by Deng Hetang at a low price.

Yes, buy it at a low price.

Someone found out that Deng Hetang bought grain from other merchants for nine coins per bushel, and when they sold it to the people, they charged thirty coins per bushel.
As for why those grain merchants are willing to sell?
the reason is simple.
The shopkeeper of Deng He Tang stood at the door with a smile on his face. He looked at everyone, cupped his hands and said, "Everyone, thirty cents a bushel of grain. This is life-saving stuff. The owner of Deng He Tang also spent a lot of effort to transport the grain from outside."

“That’s the price.”

"There are still some quantities. If you want to buy, you'd better hurry up. In the whole Qianzhou, only Deng Hetang has grain. Maybe by tomorrow, the grain at 30 wen a dou will be sold out, and there will only be 100 wen a dou, or even 1 tael of silver a dou left."

The shopkeeper of Deng Hetang looked gentle and polite, but his words were sarcastic and made people angry.

A middle-aged man in the crowd had an angry look on his face. He glared at the shopkeeper of Deng Hetang and said, "His Majesty has issued a clear order that no one is allowed to raise the price of grain during a disaster. Do you dare to disobey the imperial order?"

The shopkeeper of Deng Hetang laughed disdainfully. He looked at the middle-aged man and said, "I'm not afraid of you knowing."

"Do you know who the owner of our Denghetang is?"

He bowed his hands towards the distance, and then said, "The owner of our Deng Hetang is the most beloved daughter of the late emperor, the eldest son of Princess Chengping, and the study partner of the current emperor when he was young."

"A person who grew up with His Majesty."

"Do you think anyone in Qianzhou would dare not give my boss a little face? Who would dare to make a scene in front of His Majesty? Even if they did, do you think His Majesty would punish my boss for such a small matter?"

The boss, who had looked so kind and benevolent just now, now had a serious look on his face.

He said coldly, "Everyone, don't blame me for saying this. You should think clearly about who is closer and who is farther away from you."

"We have done something really bad today. When the time comes, His Majesty will punish our boss a little for the sake of face and then let this matter go. But we can wait until after the fact."

"hey-hey--"

There was no more talk after this, but everyone had already understood the meaning of his words and they all fell silent.

For a moment, a sad atmosphere spread throughout Qianzhou City.

Taiji Hall
Li Cheng slowly opened his eyes. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when listening to the report from the secret guard in front of him: "Oh? Who is so arrogant and powerful that he dares to disobey my orders and even warn the people in the street?"

He stood up: "I want to see if this man's neck is as hard as his mouth!"

"Besides, does Chengping know about this?"

Li Cheng looked towards the secret guard, his voice was a little low, and there was a hint of murderous intent in it.

The secret guard whispered, "According to our investigation, Princess Chengping knew about this matter and was willing to condone it. It seems that someone from the Cui family was instigating it."

Cui family?

Li Cheng frowned.

Back then, Chengping was in trouble because one of Cui's men insisted on marrying Cui, who was already half-dead. Later, out of friendship, he allowed Cui to breathe a sigh of relief, and they were barely considered a first-class family in the world.

Now you dare to instigate behind my back?
He sneered, "Pass on my decree."

"Deng Hetang, a subordinate of Cui Yun, disobeyed the imperial edict and committed treason!"

"Cui is guilty of the same crime as them. The entire family will be executed. All boys under the age of five will be exiled to the western border, and all women will be made servants of the government!"

"Chengping Zongzi, you are guilty of the same crime as Cui Yun! Send him to prison immediately!"

"Cui Yun, Cheng Ping, and the head of the Cui family will all be lingchied!"

"All his property was confiscated."

At this point, Li Cheng paused again, and then said, "In addition, please ask the Shangshutailing to come over. I have something to discuss with him."

Qianzhou.

Only half a year had passed, but the situation in Qianzhou had changed.

Deng Hetang's sign had been thrown on the ground, and officers and soldiers were distributing relief food around it. Apart from the emergency food, the rest of the food was sold at the market price of ten cents per dou.

What about those who really have no extra money at home?

They could then go to the government offices to do some work, and then exchange it for some food and money.

The disaster in Qianzhou was thus quelled, and the hand extended by the Cui family and many other aristocratic families was also cut off.

But this is just the prelude to things.

(End of this chapter)