Thief Emperor

Chapter 1110 Right and Wrong

Looking at the thick memorial before him, Emperor Li hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take it. He glanced at the four people and asked, "Have you all read it?"

All four bowed their heads and replied, "Yes."

Emperor Li then realized what was happening, and he gave a self-deprecating laugh: "So, just now, they weren't testing my attitude, but rather trying to get to know me about this document..."

"Disassociate yourself from the relationship."

He glanced at the document in his hand, narrowed his eyes, and said, "Then what's written here must not be anything good?"

After a moment's hesitation, Prime Minister Du said, "There are indeed some treasonous words, but there are also good things said about His Majesty."

Emperor Li thought for a moment, placed Tao Wenyuan's last words on his desk, then looked at the four prime ministers and said, "This matter has nothing to do with you. You may all return to your respective posts."

The four of them lowered their heads, let out a long breath, and then carefully left Ganlu Palace.

After they left, Li Yun sat back down in his seat, looked at the documents on the table, and muttered, "I'd like to see what you dare to say after you're dead."

"If you have anything to say, your descendants should risk their lives to send it to the Secretariat. All four prime ministers of the Secretariat should send it to me together."

He opened the document and found that it was not a memorial to the throne, but rather sheets of paper bound together with thread, like a small book.

I glanced at the thickness; it's about 10,000 words.

Turning to the first page, I saw a few words written on it.

"Your subject, Tao Wenyuan, risks his life to speak out on ten matters concerning the Zhangwu reign."

"The first thing."

"Your Majesty comes from humble origins and is single-mindedly seeking merit and quick results."

“If this continues, the nation will prosper, but if morality is not cultivated, people's hearts will inevitably be corrupted, and this will be the case from top to bottom.”

“If this continues, the world will value profit over loyalty and righteousness, and become shameless and vulgar.”

"If morality is not valued, the court may still be able to maintain its power if it is strong, but if the court weakens, the country will perish in the next day."

Tao Xiangong wrote over a thousand words in a long and eloquent manner.

"The second issue is that His Majesty has not been careful in delegating power."

"When generals lead troops in the field, the court does not ask about them at all, and does not care at all. In the early years of the dynasty, Your Majesty's imperial might is awe-inspiring and can control the army. If this is passed down to future generations, it will surely sow the seeds of disaster."

"The third thing."

"Since ancient times, the power of the imperial court has been difficult to extend to the counties. County officials can only govern together with local gentry in order to maintain peace."

"Therefore, there are strict laws limiting household registration."

"Now Your Majesty's martial virtue is flourishing, the imperial army is powerful, and the local population can still be maintained. But if the imperial court weakens in the future, or if there are natural disasters, any wicked person with disloyal intentions could easily create hundreds of thousands of rebels in even a single county..."

"The fourth thing... Your Majesty often shows the kindness of a woman."

"This matter concerns the stability of the nation; those who should be killed must be eliminated completely. However, Your Majesty has been too lenient with officials and common people."

"The court is lenient with people, but people may not appreciate it."

"If they are not completely eradicated, the seeds of disaster will be sown."

"The fifth thing..."

"The sixth thing..."

……

"The tenth thing."

It took Li Yun more than half an hour to read through the ten thousand words. When he finished reading the last word, Emperor Li closed the document, his gaze already wavering.

He was indeed angry.

Tao Wenyuan served in the Secretariat for many years, and he could read all the documents from prefectures, counties, and districts throughout the country. Over the years, he had read countless documents.

Therefore, everything he said seemed to make sense, and sometimes he could even provide many examples to support his points, making it seem completely reasonable.

Of the ten points, he did praise Li Yun, but he mostly said that some of Li Yun's policies were too presumptuous.

Some policies are able to be maintained now because Li Yun was able to maintain them, and his Zhangwu Dynasty was able to maintain them. If the rulers of later generations were to become even slightly weaker, the country would immediately be in turmoil.

Some of Li Yun's policies were based on "womanly benevolence."

Because they wanted the people to live a better life, they undermined the foundation of the court's rule and the cornerstone of its stability.

The most typical example is the movement of people.

In this era, what the imperial court and government feared most was the movement of people.

Under the old travel permit system, the number of people who could move or move around in a county might be one hundred, two hundred, or even less.

Now, it could be a population activity involving hundreds of thousands of people!
Once people start moving, it means huge danger, after all, at this time the local government is a small government and it is simply unable to withstand these fluctuations.

In this era, having a large population means you can do whatever you want.

Upon reading this, Emperor Li's first reaction was anger.

He felt that Tao Wenyuan was talking nonsense and slandering the new policies that he had painstakingly designed.

For a moment, he even thought of immediately sending people to arrest and imprison all the descendants of the Tao family for interrogation!

He almost called for help.

However, in the end, Emperor Li calmed down, took a deep breath, and read it a second time. A third time.

By the time Emperor Li had read the document for the fourth time, it was already completely dark outside. He put the document aside and remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Go and invite Minister Du over."

The palace servants outside immediately bowed and responded. Not long after, Prime Minister Du Qian carefully entered Ganlu Hall and bowed to Li Yun.

"Your subject Du Qian greets Your Majesty."

Emperor Li glanced at him and said quietly, "Brother Shouyi has arrived very quickly."

Du Qian bowed his head and said, "I was on duty at the Secretariat tonight, which is why I arrived quickly."

Emperor Li pointed to the chair, gesturing for him to sit down, and then said, "Were you waiting for me to summon you to speak in the Secretariat?"

Lord Du lowered his head and did not refute.

Emperor Li pointed to the documents on the table, lowered his head to drink tea, and then slowly said, "Does Tao Wenyuan mean that my Li Tang dynasty will perish after only two generations?"

An ordinary person would probably be scared half to death upon hearing this, but Prime Minister Du remained calm. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Your Majesty, I have carefully read this document. Mr. Tao's point is that some of Your Majesty's policies are fraught with hidden dangers."

"It will erupt when the court weakens."

"Throughout history, dynasties have generally flourished for about a century. Mr. Tao may mean that a century from now, the world may have changed..."

At this point, Du Qian added, "However, if His Majesty's policies continue, the Tang Dynasty might remain strong forever. If that were the case, then Mr. Tao would be worrying unnecessarily."

Li Yun sneered: "Eternal prosperity?"

"is it possible?"

Du Qian lowered his head obediently and said, "That's unlikely. So throughout history, the rules and policies established by the imperial court were not tailor-made for courts in times of strength, but rather..."

"It was tailor-made for the weak imperial court."

Lord Du said calmly, "This is how it is with the registered households. With the registered households, the people cannot move around freely or change their professions."

"There is no way to cause major unrest, and even if the court is weak, it can be quelled quickly."

Emperor Li narrowed his eyes: "If it's so effective, why did the previous dynasty fall?"

"Few ordinary people are among those who bring about the downfall of a nation."

Minister Du continued, "It was more about warlord infighting and the downfall of court officials."

The emperor remained silent for a moment before letting out a cryptic "Heh": "It's you scholars who really know how to be an emperor."

He looked at Du Qian and said slowly, "I have read Tao Wenyuan's memorial four times, and some of it makes sense."

"The policy I envision."

Emperor Li remained silent for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps it is not entirely suitable for the present situation. Perhaps we should make corresponding revisions based on practical experience."

He looked at Du Qian and said firmly, "But I don't think Tao Wenyuan's idea is correct."

Minister Du bowed deeply: "Your Majesty, I understand. Your Majesty loves the people..."

"Surpasses the imperial court."

Emperor Li waved his hand and said, "I think it's better to look at it from another perspective. In my opinion, as long as the court can enable the people to live a good life and have enough to eat, the people have no reason to oppose the court."

Du Qian thought for a moment and replied, "Many scholars believe that the common people are ignorant, even wicked, and will not know gratitude, much less repay kindness."

Emperor Li slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Then teach them a lesson and enlighten the people!"

Du Qian lowered his head and remained silent.

Li Yun took a few deep breaths, a sense of helplessness rising in his heart.

That's too difficult; it's unlikely he'll be able to do it in his lifetime.

Or rather, he needs the help of many like-minded people; it would be extremely difficult for him to do it on his own.

Seeing that Li Yun had calmed down, Minister Du said, "Mr. Tao believes more in rules and regulations. He thinks that only by putting shackles on the people can the world be at peace."

"But His Majesty... wants all the people of the world to live a good life."

At this point, Du Qian's tone became somewhat confused: "This is the difference between rule by tactics and rule by principles. I don't know who is right and who is wrong, or rather..."

He looked at Li Yun and said, "Throughout history, there has never been an emperor like Your Majesty, who has to wait until the future, twenty, thirty, or even fifty years after Your Majesty's policies are implemented."

Only then can one distinguish right from wrong.

Du Xiangong murmured, "His Majesty and the Zhangwu dynasty are both too powerful."

"So powerful that even if there are some flaws, these flaws..."

"These mistakes will not surface during Zhangwu's reign."

Emperor Li closed his eyes.

"No one is allowed to publicize Tao Wenyuan's memorial, including the Tao family. Just pretend that this document never existed."

"As for right or wrong, I don't think I'm necessarily wrong, and besides, right and wrong..."

The emperor opened his eyes, his voice calming down.

"Perhaps it doesn't necessarily depend on whether the court lasts long."

(End of this chapter)