Thief Emperor

Chapter 978 The Emperor's Test
In the Manna Palace.

Du Xianggong arrived late. After he entered the Ganlu Palace, he saw the emperor who had changed out of his court robes and was sitting in a rocking chair fanning himself. Du Qian took two or three steps forward, bowed his head and saluted the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."

His Majesty the Emperor waved at him, then turned around and told the palace servants around him to bring a chair over. Soon a chair was placed next to the Emperor. Emperor Li said, "Come on, Brother Shouyi, come and sit here."

Du Qian thanked him, then sat down next to the emperor, looked at him, and whispered, "Your Majesty, this happened too suddenly. How do you think we should deal with it?"

"Check it."

His Majesty the Emperor said calmly, "Since it has all come to light, we should do what we should do. We have already set the rules when we founded the country. The imperial examination is a national solemnity, and no one can interfere. If you are involved, it is a capital crime."

Emperor Li said calmly: "I am not a wimp. If someone breaks the rules, I will kill them in a moving way."

"Of course this matter should be investigated."

Du Qian bowed his head and said, "But the incident happened suddenly, and it involved the Ministry of Rites, the Secretariat, and the Censorate, as well as Prime Minister Zhuo, Prime Minister Tao, and more than 200 Jinshi who were admitted last year. Your Majesty is going on an eastern tour at this time..."

"This won't stop me from going out."

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said with a smile, "Brother Shouyi, you are in charge of government affairs in Luoyang, so you can handle it. The crown prince is also involved in government affairs. I will issue an imperial edict to the crown prince and ask him to be responsible for investigating this matter in detail."

At this point, the emperor looked at Du Qian and said, "Brother Shouyi, relax. Even if this matter is confirmed, it has nothing to do with you. You are the leader of our Jiangdong civil officials."

"It has nothing to do with the old officials of Wu Zhou."

"I know."

Du Qian smiled bitterly, lowered his head and sorted out his words, then whispered, "Your Majesty, I just think that this Imperial Censor Cao Yu has a big problem. How did he know that there was a problem with the imperial examination last year? When did he know about this?"

"If he knew about it last year, why didn't he tell us last year? If he only found out recently..."

"Just when the Minister of Rites Gu Ling was demoted by Your Majesty, he stood up at the Grand Court Meeting and reported Gu Ling for cheating in the imperial examination. I think this person is suspected of currying favor with Your Majesty, and for this purpose, he deliberately made the matter bigger."

"What a coincidence."

Emperor Li thought for a moment, then turned to look at Du Qian with a calm expression: "So what?"

"No matter what his purpose is, as long as what he reported is true, he is a competent censor."

"this matter."

Emperor Li counted on his fingers and said, "I will be on an eastern tour in ten days or so, so I won't ask about this matter."

"The Crown Prince and Brother Shouyi will handle this matter together. When I come back, I will take responsibility for whatever you do."

Emperor Li said, "Even if you kill Cao Yu with one blow to calm the situation, I will approve it and won't say a word to you."

Du Qian's heart skipped a beat when he heard this.

The intention of His Majesty's words was very clear. This matter was an examination for the Crown Prince and the entire Secretariat.

Or, a test.

If the Crown Prince and the Secretary of State can do a good job, that would be great. But if the Crown Prince and the Secretary of State just fool around, or even kill Cao Yu and wait for the Emperor to come back, that would be great.

Things were not as simple as they are now.

While Du Qian was thinking, His Majesty the Emperor looked at him and said, "Brother Shouyi, I have a question for you."

Du Qian came back to his senses and quickly lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, please speak."

"Does Brother Beneficiary approve of the new tax?"

The new tax law is the one that distributes the tax based on the amount of land.

Li Yun's method of spreading the poll tax into the land tax is simply to spread the head tax into the land tax. It is quite simple and clear.

The new tax law was piloted in some places for three years starting from the first year of Zhangwu, and is now implemented throughout the country.

This tax law directly harmed the interests of the aristocratic class and the gentry landlord class.

In just a few years, there were at least five or six riots in various places due to this new tax law.

But they were all suppressed.

Up to now, it has been difficult for anyone to overthrow the rule of Li Tang by force, and it is also unlikely for anyone to overthrow the laws of Li Yun, the founding lord, politically. This new tax law was implemented by Li Yun with an extremely strong attitude.

But the fact that no one openly opposes it does not mean that everyone is convinced, nor does it mean that everyone agrees with this tax law.

Because of this tax law, even among the officials under Li Yun, there were many people who opposed it, but no one dared to say it openly.

Du Qian looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head and said, "Of course I approve of the new tax. With this measure alone, the lives of the local people will be much better."

"As long as the beneficiary brother approves it, that's fine."

Emperor Li smiled and said, "But many people are unwilling to accept the result."

"Also, the old Zhou Ding tax was not transparent. The population in the court was very different from the actual population in the local area. The local government was able to withhold a large amount of money because of this. Now that it has been spread out among the farmland, they have lost this income."

"therefore."

Li Yun looked at Du Qian and said calmly: "Many people are nostalgic for the Zhou Dynasty."

This is a very interesting phenomenon. The number of acres of land is roughly fixed, and even if more land is reclaimed each year, it is not necessarily possible to reclaim too much land, but the population does fluctuate.

As the local population increases, the tax will naturally increase. However, as long as the local government does not report these new populations, there will be no need to pay more taxes.

For example, the Ming Dynasty in another world.

During the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, the population was 60 million. By the time of Waibozi, the population was still 60 million, without any increase or decrease. It was as if the data had been set and would not change at all.

Then, with a change of dynasty, the population suddenly increased several times, which was really strange.

When Li Yun said that some people "miss the old Zhou", he did not mean that these people missed the Wu Zhou court, but that they missed the Wu Zhou system.

Among them, it was not only the old ministers of Wu Zhou who thought so.

Some civil servants who came from the small court of Jiangdong might also think so.

After hearing Li Yun's casual words, Prime Minister Du felt a chill in his heart. At this moment, he probably understood what Emperor Li meant.

He was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Your Majesty, that Cao Yu from the Censorate..."

Li Yun turned his head and looked at him calmly: "He is the censor, can you still stop him from filing a complaint?"

After hearing this, Du Qian roughly understood what was going on.

That "disciple of the emperor" is most likely a real disciple of the emperor...

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Du took a deep breath and lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, was there really cheating in the imperial examination last year? If so, wouldn't Prime Minister Zhuo be..."

"So, you guys need to check this out."

Emperor Li stood up and stretched himself. "If Zhuo Guangrui is involved, he should be punished. If he is unaware, he should only be charged with the crime of negligence."

"If Cao Yu falsely accused me."

Emperor Li narrowed his eyes and said softly, "Kill him and we'll punish him."

Du Qian took a deep breath and said, "Yes, your Majesty..."

"I understand."

Li Yun still had a smile on his face and said, "This is a case that is neither big nor small. It is very challenging. Brother Shouyi should take this opportunity to take the prince and have some experience."

"I have already set a date. Ten days later, I will leave Luoyang for an eastern tour. At that time, the crown prince will be the regent, and the government affairs will be entrusted to Brother Shouyi."

Du Qian took a deep breath, bowed his head and said, "It's a confidential matter..."

Emperor Li thought about it, shook his head and sighed: "Just ask Jiusi to send it to me quickly."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Du also breathed a sigh of relief.

"I understand."

…………

In a blink of an eye, seven or eight days passed.

During the past seven or eight days, Censor Cao, who made shocking remarks at the grand court meeting, has disappeared. He has not been on duty at the Censorate, nor has he walked around in Luoyang City.

It was as if the world had disappeared.

However, the shock he caused in the Luoyang officialdom was still continuing to ferment. Many people were trembling with fear because of what happened seven or eight days ago. They did not go to work and stayed at home claiming to be sick.

The Jinshi candidates who passed the examination last year also had mixed feelings.

However, the candidates who failed the exam last year and still lived in Luoyang were outraged and even gathered in front of the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture, demanding a detailed investigation by the court.

After all, they were most likely eliminated because of a fraud case.

While undercurrents were surging in Luoyang City, the Emperor in the palace was preparing for his eastern tour and return home.

Among the people traveling together, he decided to let Concubine Lu and the eldest princess Li Shu go with him, and the rest of the royal family members were all to stay in Luoyang and were not allowed to move around.

As for the people from the court, it was Prime Minister Yao Zhong who accompanied him, and he only brought the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue with him, and no other officials.

At this time, in Ganlu Palace, Zhou Bi, dressed in a military officer's robe, bowed his head and saluted to Emperor Li, saying: "Your Majesty, I, your servant Zhou Bi, pay my respects to you."

Emperor Li was very busy at the moment. He put down his brush and waved to Zhou Bi. Zhou Bi hurried forward and came to the emperor's desk.

His Majesty the Emperor patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I will be leaving in a few days. You should come with me."

"Let's go back to our hometown and have a look."

Zhou Bi looked around and saw that there was no one around, so he said in a low voice, "Yes, second brother."

Hearing the name "Second Brother", Emperor Li smiled brightly and asked, "How is Third Uncle's health now?"

Zhou Bi hesitated when he heard this. After a while, he shook his head slightly and sighed.

"not too good."

(End of this chapter)