Thief Emperor

Chapter 1080 Siege of Jingzhao Prefecture!
The following day, during the grand court assembly, Prime Minister Tao Wenyuan, who had been staying at home for a long time, also attended the assembly. The four prime ministers of the Central Secretariat jointly submitted a memorial to His Majesty the Emperor, presenting the "handling opinions" drafted by the Central Secretariat.

This can be considered the basic function of the Secretariat.

After seeing it, His Majesty the Emperor felt a little sorry for it and asked if it was too much.

Unexpectedly, the prime ministers unanimously demanded that these traitors who plotted rebellion be severely punished. The emperor had no choice but to agree to the proposed punishment and ordered the three judicial departments and the capital prefecture to handle the matter accordingly.

At the same time, the emperor ordered the relevant government offices to post notices in Luoyang and other cities throughout the country explaining the situation, so as to prevent those with ulterior motives from using this to make a big fuss and smear the court and the emperor.

As soon as the notice was posted in Luoyang, the people of the city were immediately outraged and began to curse incessantly.

In the end, hundreds or even thousands of people gathered at the gate of the Jingzhao Prefecture, completely blocking the entrance. If it weren't for Prince Jin's intervention, it would have been difficult to enter or leave the Jingzhao Prefecture.

After finally managing to disperse the enraged crowd, Prince Jin thought for a moment and then left the Jingzhao Prefecture, arriving in the imperial city. Upon seeing the emperor, Prince Jin plopped down in a chair, glanced at the emperor who was reviewing documents, and said with a wry smile, "Second brother, you seem to have it easy. My Jingzhao Prefecture was surrounded by several hundred people today, and I almost couldn't even get out of the Jingzhao Prefecture office."

Emperor Li looked at him and said speechlessly, "What wrongful case has your Jingzhao Prefecture handled that has offended so many people?"

Prince Jin stood up and protested, "How could I have committed any wrongful conviction?"

He looked at Li Yun and said helplessly, "Isn't it because you had the Jingzhao Prefecture post a notice about dealing with rebels that angered those people?"

His Majesty the Emperor frowned deeply and asked, "How did dealing with the rebels anger the people? Is someone instigating trouble?"

"Go find Meng Hai and ask him to investigate."

Prince Jin looked at Li Yun with a strange expression: "Second brother, do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?"

Li Yun shook his head and said, "I haven't been feeling well lately, and I haven't been paying attention to many things in detail. What's wrong?"

Ever since meeting Prince Chen Wuheng, Li Yun's mood has been rather so-so, as if he has lost his spirit and is no longer in the high spirits he used to be.

Now, he only deals with things that absolutely must be dealt with each day, and spends the rest of his time either visiting his children in the harem or spacing out by himself.

In conclusion, although Emperor Li is still doing things in an orderly manner, his enthusiasm is far less than before.

Looking at Li Yun's expression, Prince Jin sighed and said, "Second Brother probably doesn't know what kind of people you are in their hearts. After the people learned that the court had caught the traitor who tried to assassinate you last year, they all felt that the court's punishment was too lenient, so they were indignant."

Prince Jin walked up to Li Yun and said, "Just now, several hundred people surrounded me, demanding that I severely punish the criminals, especially the ringleaders, who should be executed by slow slicing."

"Hundreds of people shouted at me to be executed by slow slicing."

Prince Jin shook his head and clicked his tongue: "It's quite a grand affair."

Upon hearing this, Li Yun remained silent.

In the ten years since the founding of the dynasty, the emperor did not accomplish many important things. Apart from restoring the old territories, the more important things were equal distribution of land, the implementation of new taxes, and the reduction and exemption of local taxes on a number of occasions.

These policies, such as the new tax, naturally hurt the entire aristocratic class. As a result, after a few years of implementation, Li Yun had accumulated a large number of enemies.

However, the new tax policy is undoubtedly a policy that benefits the people.

The people have benefited tangibly.

In particular, the people who had no land at the end of the Wu Zhou dynasty were not only given land by the new dynasty, but for the first two or three years after the land was distributed, the court not only did not charge them taxes, but also distributed grain seeds for free.

More importantly, after the three-year tax exemption period ended, the new tax laws of the new dynasty were gradually implemented, which meant that the court exempted poor people from the poll tax again.

These policies benefited the people of Henan Province and the former capital region of Zhou near Luoyang, which is now the capital region of the current dynasty.

After all, the Central Plains had been occupied by several groups of people in succession, leaving it riddled with holes.

Now, Li Yun has given the entire Central Plains a much-needed breather.

Furthermore, Luoyang City did not prohibit people from the outskirts of the capital from entering the city to do small businesses or set up small stalls. With all these policies, aside from the people of Jiangdong and Henan, Emperor Li's image in the hearts of the people of the capital region was undoubtedly lofty and great.

It could even be described as sacred.

Last year, during the Emperor's birthday celebrations, the entire court and the public knew about the assassination attempt, but the news did not spread widely. The upper echelons knew about it, but the common people did not.

Now that the notice has been posted and some scholars have spread it, Luoyang City is in an uproar.

That's why the siege of the Jingzhao Prefecture happened.

The emperor remained silent for a long time before looking up at Li Zheng. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "You...you're not lying to me, are you?"

Upon seeing Li Yun's appearance, Prince Jin asked in astonishment, "Second Brother, what's wrong with you?"

"How could I dare to lie to you about something like this?" Li Yun took a deep breath, his eyes brightening slightly. He closed his eyes, pondered for a long time, and then said, "The Jingzhao Prefecture must handle this matter carefully. We must not harm the people, nor can we allow them to continue gathering in crowds, lest someone with ulterior motives use this to cause trouble."

He looked at Li Zheng and said slowly, "There are people everywhere in Luoyang who want to see me and my brother get into trouble and be humiliated. At this time, don't let them find any loopholes."

Prince Jin then became serious, lowered his head, and said, "I've got it."

"Don't worry, Second Brother, I will definitely handle this matter properly."

His Majesty the Emperor nodded, then smiled at Li Zheng: "By the way, you know about my second son's marriage, right?"

Prince Jin looked at Li Yun, but didn't reply. Instead, he smiled and said, "Second Brother, feel free to laugh if you want. Why are you bringing up the topic of Second Brother?"

"Wasn't his marriage to the Fei family settled last month?"

Emperor Li coughed and waved his hand, saying, "Nonsense, who laughed?"

"What I mean is, it's almost time. You should pick an auspicious day and go with your elder brother to the Fei family to propose marriage and get things settled."

As he spoke, Li Yun sighed and said, "Erlang has no maternal clan to speak of, so we can only rely on our own family members, our uncles and elders, to help him with this matter."

When the Crown Prince got married, in addition to the help of the court and the imperial clan, the Xue family, the maternal relatives, also contributed a lot. The late Master Xue was busy with preparations for many days.

The King of Yue obviously did not receive such treatment. His maternal clan now consisted of only one concubine, and she was no longer very close to Consort Liu.

Li Zheng quickly said, "We are all family. Second Brother's son is just like my son. Second Brother, don't worry, I will personally oversee this matter and make sure it is handled properly for you."

He said with a smile, "Having been in Jingzhao Prefecture for so many years, I dare not say about other things, but I have gotten to know a lot of people, which makes things much easier no matter what I do."

His Majesty the Emperor glanced at him and said irritably, "Is it because you know people that things are easier for you? Or is it because people know you that things are easier for you?"

Prince Jin chuckled but didn't reply.

Li Yun handed him a piece of pastry. After he ate it, the emperor remembered something and asked, "By the way, I have a question for you."

Li Zheng swallowed the food in his mouth and mumbled, "Who is it?"

"Zhang Sui".

The emperor looked at Li Zheng and said calmly, "He served under you as the Vice Prefect of the Capital for six years. Tell me, what do you think of him? Is he capable of great things?"

Prince Jin finally swallowed the food in his mouth, looked at Li Yun, and blinked: "Zhang Sui is only in his thirties, right? Second Brother wants to appoint him as prime minister?"

"It's not about becoming a prime minister."

His Majesty the Emperor said quietly, "It depends on whether he can shoulder great responsibilities. If he can, it wouldn't be a problem to let him enter the Council of State Affairs after a few years."

Prince Jin thought for a moment and replied, "This person... is a slippery fellow."

He stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and continued, "But he's quite capable. No matter what you entrust to him, he won't make any mistakes."

"It's just that every time it comes to taking responsibility..."

At this point, Li Zheng rolled his eyes: "This guy keeps talking about Prince Jin in front of others."

Upon hearing this, Li Yun couldn't help but smile, and then said, "It seems he can't become the Grand Secretary."

Li Zheng was taken aback and looked at Li Yun.

"Second Brother, isn't Prime Minister Du doing a good job? Why are you starting to look for someone else...?"

The emperor rolled his eyes at him and shook his head, saying, "It's just considering candidates for ten or twenty years from now, making a preparation. We may not even need to use them. However, this Zhang Sui is currently promoting new policies."

“At this time, he has no choice but to contribute.”

Li Yun looked at Li Zheng and said with a smile, "You're his former boss, why don't you secretly send him a letter sometime and tell him..."

“Tell him that I told you in private that if he succeeds in implementing the new policies, I plan to promote him to the Council of State as prime minister and make him Du Shouyi’s successor.”

Prince Jin was taken aback, then gave His Majesty the Emperor a thumbs up and said with a smile.

"Second brother is brilliant."

(End of this chapter)