Thief Emperor

Chapter 1095 Avoiding Offending Anyone

The wives of the two sons became pregnant one after the other, which was naturally a good thing.

This also signifies the official beginning of the third generation of the Li family.

Li Yun's sons were divided into two batches, with the first three sons being at least six years older than the later sons.

In other words, the current third generation of the Li family is just the beginning. It will not be until the princes born after the founding of the dynasty grow up, that is, after the sixteenth year of Zhangwu, that the third generation of the Li Tang imperial family will experience explosive growth.

At that time, the Li family will experience a population explosion.

Now, after Consort Lu gave birth to her twelfth son, several other concubines have given birth to princes and princesses for Li Yun in the past year or so. So far, if we only count the princes, he already has fourteen princes.

Even if not all of these princes grow up, in another ten or twenty years, the number of the third generation of the Li family will reach a point where Li Yun himself cannot recognize them all.

And this royal family will be completely stable, so even if the main lineage declines or becomes extinct, there will be no need to worry about no one to inherit the position.

This is the rise of a family.

But at the same time, it is also a curse.

The Li family will rise and fall along with the fate of the entire Tang Dynasty. This rise and fall does not mean that the Li family is parasitic on the national political system and does not move at all, but rather that they interact with each other.

In this era, the prosperity of the Li family will stabilize the country. If a few talented people can emerge from the imperial clan, it will actually benefit the court and the country.

If the Tang Dynasty still exists a hundred years from now, the Li family will become a burden on the country, and the burden will only grow heavier.

This process is two-way; the country prospers because of Li Yun and the Li family, but it may also decline because of the Li family in the future.

The Li family, who rose to prominence and honor because of the rise of this country, will inevitably be wiped out along with it when the country falls.

If you rise by this, you will surely fall by this.

Inside the Ganlu Palace, the couple exchanged a glance. Emperor Li, holding Empress Xue's hand, said with a smile, "Later, have someone send some things to the Qian family as a reward."

Empress Xue sat next to Li Yun and shook her head slightly: "It's uncertain whether it's a grandson or a granddaughter of the emperor."

Emperor Li said with a smile, "Whether it's a grandson or a granddaughter, we should spend the money that needs to be spent. Now that our family is rich, we don't need to worry too much about money."

After the founding of the country, Li Yun only assigned tasks to the Secretariat and the Six Ministries in terms of general strategy, and also spent time at the beginning and end of the year and occasionally looking at the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue and the national treasury.

The ministers of the Ministry of Revenue were all quite capable, and he did not spend too much time or effort on the national treasury's finances.

However, he put his own effort into managing the imperial treasury.

Whether it was the grain store he had Xue Fang, the Marquis of Xue, establish in another region, or the businesses that branched off from the workshops in Jinling after the founding of the country, these were all Emperor Li's private property, and the profits would not be turned over to the national treasury.

This means that Emperor Li was probably the richest emperor in history.

Sometimes, he could even pool funds with the Ministry of Revenue for certain projects within the imperial court.

Moreover, he might not even care about the annual allocations from the Ministry of Revenue to the palace and His Majesty the Emperor.

The most direct benefit of this extremely strong and independent economic power is that whenever Li Yun intends to do something, he doesn't need to argue with the court officials or try to get money from the national treasury; his own money is enough to get things done.

For example, Emperor Li personally funded projects such as maintaining workshops and the established official gazette office.

Leaving aside His Majesty's properties outside the palace and his cash holdings, the palace treasury currently holds over two million strings of cash, making him incredibly wealthy.

Of this money, part was naturally used by His Majesty the Emperor, and the other part was given to the Empress to support the expenses of the harem.

After hearing Li Yun's words, Empress Xue couldn't help but glance at him and said reproachfully, "I know you're rich."

This remark made Emperor Li very proud. He took Empress Xue's hand and said with a smile, "Isn't that right? Your husband is very good at earning money."

Empress Xue chuckled upon hearing this: "If this were to be overheard by others, no one would believe that the current emperor could say such a thing."

Li Yun shook his head and laughed, "So what if he's an emperor? Even emperors have to spend money to eat."

He smiled and said, "If I don't earn money myself, I have to ask the Ministry of Revenue for it. Whether I can get it or not is another matter, after all, they are not the same."

Empress Xue asked in surprise, "Your Majesty is the ruler of all under Heaven, why do you make such a clear distinction?"

"Of course we need to distinguish between them."

Li Yun looked at Empress Xue and said solemnly, "The imperial court is a public institution, but it has been managed by our family for generations. Since it is a public institution, the money in the national treasury is public money."

"To put it grandly, it's the money of everyone in the country; it's just that the imperial court has centralized this money for more convenient and extensive use."

"The Li family will always remember this parting."

Empress Xue poured Li Yun a cup of tea.

"Throughout history, the wealth of the world has been used to support the emperor, but my husband's mind is filled with these strange ideas."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I'm not asking for the money from the national treasury. The national treasury still allocates money every year, doesn't it?"

He was about to say something more, but after glancing at Empress Xue, he shook his head and said, "Enough, enough, you'd probably find this boring anyway."

He said with a smile, "Our Li family has been blessed with good news lately. In a few days, let's gather all the families together and have Shu'er bring her grandson to the palace so we can have a meal together." Princess Lujiang, Li Shu, had recently given birth to a son and become a mother. The child was personally named Su Heng by Li Yun.

It symbolizes that the friendship between the Li and Su families is enduring and as steadfast as gold and stone.

In other words, Li Yun is now not only a grandfather, but also a maternal grandfather.

Empress Xue knew that the Li family members Li Yun mentioned included the direct descendants of the Li family, the children of the two imperial concubines, as well as the Qian family, the Fei family, and the Su family.

There are probably close to twenty of these people gathered together.

She thought about it carefully and nodded, saying, "Since Your Majesty wants to do it, I will start preparing tomorrow."

Emperor Li glanced at her belly and shook his head slightly: "Let Su Mei take care of it. You should rest well."

Empress Xue thought for a moment and nodded slightly.

"Very well, I will discuss it with my sister tomorrow."

…………

In September, the weather turned cool.

Inside the Ganlu Hall, His Majesty the Emperor first reviewed the documents in his hand, jointly submitted by Qin Tong, the Imperial Censor, and the local government offices of Jinling and Jiangdong.

After reading it once, he looked at the three prime ministers in front of him.

At this moment, Du Qian, the chief minister of the Secretariat, Yao Zhong, the second prime minister, and Guo You, the prime minister who had only been in the Council of State for more than half a year, were all present.

Du Qian is the chief minister, so he should be present for such an important event. Guo You is the prime minister in charge of these matters, so he should also be present.

The reason why Minister Yao was present was because this Vice Minister Qin was his protégé, and the matter in Jiangdong was also assigned to him by His Majesty the Emperor.

Therefore, the usually tactful Prime Minister Yao also sat down in front of His Majesty the Emperor.

"Have you all read this document?"

The three prime ministers all bowed their heads and said, "We have read it."

Emperor Li asked calmly, "What are your opinions?"

His gaze fell on Yao Zhong, who took a deep breath and bowed his head, saying, “Your Majesty, Jiangdong is too far from Luoyang. Although we hold positions in the central government, we are not very clear about local affairs. Furthermore, since we are imperial envoys, we should jointly petition with the local government.”

"The Secretariat... has no objections."

Emperor Li lowered his head and looked at the document again.

In just a few months, this Vice Minister Qin, in conjunction with local government officials, arrested more than 300 people, dividing them into three groups. The first group consisted of only a dozen or so people, who were suspected of instigating trouble and were exiled to Lingnan.

The second group, comprising over a hundred people, were involved in the kidnapping of officials. Each person was punished with forty strokes of the cane, and their entire family, for three generations, was barred from taking the imperial examinations and entering officialdom.

The third category consists of those who participated in vandalizing the examination hall, and they constitute the largest number of people. The document states that they should be given twenty strokes of the cane, their names recorded, and they should never be employed again.

After reviewing it again, Li Yun looked up at the three prime ministers and sneered, "They really are putting things up high and then letting them go easily."

He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Has Qin Tong issued the proclamation yet?"

Yao Zhong quickly lowered his head: "This is an imperial case. His Majesty has not given his approval, so he dares not announce it. All the criminals are in custody awaiting sentencing."

"At least he still has some sense of propriety."

Emperor Li sneered, "If the proclamation is really issued, he won't need to return to Luoyang."

Qin Tong was an imperial envoy, representing the emperor, and theoretically he had the authority to directly adjudicate this case.

However, if you really do that, you will definitely offend the emperor.

Emperor Li glanced at the three prime ministers and said indifferently, "Are you all waiting for me to give a specific punishment? No matter how it is handled, no matter how many people are offended, it is I, the emperor, who will be offended."

"It has nothing to do with you?"

The three were startled and knelt on the ground, repeatedly saying they dared not.

Emperor Li swept the document to the ground, looked at Yao Zhong and Guo You, and said in a deep voice, "Yao Zhong, Guo You."

"You two, go back and represent the Council of State Affairs to draft a new judgment. Once it's ready, send it back to me."

The two bowed their heads deeply: "Your subject obeys."

His Majesty the Emperor grunted: "Go and draft it now!"

"What a bummer."

"You've ruined my good mood for no reason."

(End of this chapter)