The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 279 Inventory
Inside the farm, a group of servants were being beaten by people from Chongwenguan.

Another group of soldiers ran out from the rear.

It seemed that a group of soldiers armed with sticks were about to fight with the scholars from Chongwenguan.

A county magistrate came quickly with his soldiers. He walked up to Li Yifu and whispered, "Master Li, don't make a big deal out of this."

Just as they saw someone trying to persuade Li Yifu, a servant shouted to his subordinates, "Go and tell Master Cui Yao! Chongwenguan bullied us servants."

Upon hearing this, Li Yifu angrily kicked the servant and glared at him, "How dare you not pay taxes, and you still say that we are bullying you!"

The servant huddled together in fear, pointed at Li Yifu, and shouted, "County Magistrate, you see, we are unarmed, and he is bullying us! How domineering the people of the East Palace are!"

Li Yifu was about to take action again, but the soldiers not far away stopped moving and allowed Li Yifu to lead his men to beat the servants.

Suddenly, Li Yifu understood the servant's intention of complaining, and in front of the county magistrate, he fabricated a name for the Eastern Palace that was domineering.

Even though the servant was cowering with his head held high, Li Yifu could even sense the smiling face of success hidden underneath.

Li Yifu stretched out his leg and kicked him again, saying, "We want taxes, why are we bullying you?"

"The disciples of the Eastern Palace are beating people up! The disciples of the Eastern Palace are beating people up!"

Some servants were still shouting loudly.

The county magistrate standing aside looked solemn and conflicted.

Li Yifu looked at these people and felt how pathetic they were.

The Cui family's followers, the Cui family's servants, a county magistrate and Luoyang Chief Clerk Li Yifu, three parties are in confrontation.

Suddenly, another group of officers and soldiers came riding on horses. They were wearing dark blue official uniforms and official hats.

The visitor was none other than Zhang Da'an, the Secretary of Jingzhao Prefecture in Guanzhong.

Li Yifu stood up and looked at the person who came.

Zhang Da'an stopped his horse and said in a loud voice: "Zhang Da'an, the secretary of Jingzhao Prefecture, has been ordered to conduct a thorough investigation of Luoyang's taxes."

The county magistrate asked, "Does your majesty have a decree?"

Zhang Da'an said in a clear voice: "The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is the governor of the Shandong Road, in charge of Luoyang, Tongguan and all Shandong affairs. He is responsible for checking the taxes for the past 20 years."

Hearing this, Li Yifu felt a huge boost, and a fire was burning in his heart. He shouted, "Did you hear that? Check for 20 years! Open the warehouse and take all the grain away!"

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

The servant who was beaten shouted, "This matter will not end like this."

Li Yifu kicked him again and said, "How dare you help others cheat on taxes? How dare a servant like you to be so bold? I want to see how strong your family's backbone is."

The scribe of Jingzhao Prefecture came with the decree of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, and even the county magistrate could not stop him.

Just as Zhang Da'an said, when the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace turned twenty years old, His Majesty granted him the power to govern the Shaanxi East Road, in charge of Luoyang and Tongguan.

The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace will be one step ahead of the Grand Chancellor of the Shaanxi East Circuit, just short of leading all the officials in the court like the King of Qin did back then.

Zhang Daan’s words have another meaning, which is that Luoyang is under the control of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace.

This is the power granted to the Crown Prince by His Majesty. Last year when the Crown Prince turned twenty, he did not care so much. Now the Crown Prince of the East Palace is just exercising power.

Li Yifu ordered his men to open the granary and carry out bags of grain.

Zhang Da'an dismounted and said, "The governor and the chief clerk want to see you."

The current governor of Luoyang is still Ma Zhou, and the chief clerk is Zhang Xuansu, who was transferred from Chang'an last year.

Someone came to report: "Report to the chief, the total amount of grain is 3,000 dan."

Li Yifu said: "We still need another 5,000 shi, let's check slowly."

With a wave of his sleeves, he captured all the servants who were causing trouble.

The county magistrate reported to Zhang Da'an: "This servant's surname is Cui, and his given name is Yun. His original surname was Qiu, but it was given to him by a young master of the Cui family."

Li Yifu nodded and took the people and food away.

Zhang Da'an said in a clear voice: "The Jingzhao Prefecture has issued an order, ordering the county officials not to transport grain out of Luoyang."

In Luoyang city, in the governor's residence, Ma Zhou and Zhang Xuansu were discussing that since His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu was about to get married, they would return to Chang'an first.

Quan Wanji stayed in Luoyang and would come to Luoyang again after the King of Wu's wedding. This was arranged last winter.

Ever since the Crown Prince took office as the Grand Administrator of the East Shaanxi Road, in charge of the affairs of Luoyang and Tongguan, he entered the Secretariat and took charge of agricultural construction. From the beginning of last year to now, personnel from the Chongwenguan and Jingzhao Prefecture have come to Luoyang in waves.

It was not until this year that the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace ordered the Jingzhao Prefecture to issue an order to investigate the taxes in Luoyang.

This incident did not come suddenly. With the growing power of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, Luoyang would probably become what the other counties in Chang'an were like, and what the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace wanted.

The prince's hand had already reached Luoyang long ago, and he had done so legitimately and with the approval of His Majesty.

Zhang Xuansu said: "In the beginning, I advised Your Majesty several times to sort out the taxes."

Ma Zhou looked at the prince's decree and whispered, "When we fought in Songzhou, I felt that Luoyang's taxes were not right."

Li Yifu came over quickly, brushing off some sand from his official uniform, and said, "We have only found 3,000 dan of grain. Zhang Da'an has already gone to various counties to investigate. Not a single grain can leave Luoyang without the Luoyang governor's permission. Luoyang's grain can only go in but not out."

Quan Wanji said worriedly: "If this happens, the counties and the Luoyang nobles will definitely conflict with each other."

Zhang Xuansu said: "After all, the food in Guanzhong is limited. I don't know how long the war in the Western Region will last. Food and grass must continue to be transported to Guanzhong. This is related to the overall plan for the Western Region. Food and taxes must be preserved. If we check well, we have to check for twenty years."

Quan Wanji added: "There will be trouble in Luoyang."

Ma Zhou had a gloomy face. He had been in Luoyang for three years. He said, "They dared to delay the taxation when the emperor was using the army. They didn't want the war to go too smoothly. Even if the Western Regions lost the war, do you think His Majesty would compromise with the noble families? The noble families took advantage of the war to put pressure on the court."

There are undercurrents surging, and one can invisibly sense the evil intentions and dirty plots of those people.

Zhang Xuansu added, "For some people, the country is nothing. What they want most is to shake the emperor's opinion. When the Central Plains is peaceful, they think about annexing land. When the emperor wants to go to war, they dare to delay paying taxes. What do they want to force the court to give them? Promises? Wealth? High positions and generous salaries? Hereditary nobility?"

Quan Wanji knew very well how important Luoyang and Tongguan were to Guanzhong. The emperor gave the prince such great power in the hope that he could take charge of Luoyang and import grain to Guanzhong.

This was also the emperor's plan. The battle in the Western Region might have been prepared several years ago.

The confrontation between countries depends not only on the bravery of the soldiers, but also on the strength of the country. Li Yifu took out a knife and stabbed it hard on the table in front of him. He said loudly: "To deal with those people, we can't use reason, let alone courtesy, righteousness, and shame. We have to use knives and fire to deal with them. We will work day and night for this."

Quan Wanji sighed. He now realized what kind of people Ma Zhou and Li Yifu were. Ma Zhou was not afraid of the powerful and wealthy, while Li Yifu harbored resentment towards the children of aristocratic families.

With these two people in Luoyang, the sky in Luoyang... is also going to change.

That night, Ma Zhou, the governor of Luoyang, ordered Chai Zhewei to lead 3,000 soldiers to various counties to check the taxes going back twenty years together with the scholars of Chongwenguan led by Li Yifu.

These twenty years went up to the Wude period, and the Tang Dynasty had only been established in the Central Plains for twenty-two years.

It is now the twenty-third year of the Tang Dynasty's rule over the Central Plains. The Wude period lasted for nine years, and the Zhenguan period has entered its thirteenth year.

Rows of torches emerged from Luoyang City, and Luoyang garrison general Chai Zhewei led his troops to surround the granaries of various counties.

In fact, this is reasonable. Luoyang needs to develop workshops and become an important place for transporting grain and taxes to Guanzhong. The prosperity of Luoyang, which is located at the center of the canal, is also closely related to Guanzhong.

Before Luoyang could prosper, a major purge was necessary.

I don't know when the words came out in the court, but it was the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace who said that treating the symptoms but not the root cause is the same as not curing the disease at all.

In everyone's understanding, the words spoken by the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace have another meaning, that is, it is better to remove the firewood from under the pot than to try to stop the boiling water by adding more water.

Over the next half month, nobles were brought out from their households one by one, and granaries were opened one by one.

The investigation led to the discovery of two brothers of the Wu family, the two sons of the current Ying Gong.

"My father is the current Lord Ying, and my sister Wu is the disciple of the current Princess Changle. How dare you bully my ministers!"

Zhang Daan sat on the horse, looked calmly at the person who shouted, and said in a loud voice: "Jingzhao Prefecture is following orders. The Wu brothers are engaged in timber business. Since the sixth year of Zhenguan, they have not paid 60,000 strings of market taxes."

"You're talking nonsense!" Wu Yuanshuang shouted, "Why do you have the right to interfere with what happened in the sixth year of Zhenguan?"

Zhang Daan said coldly: "Even if someone comes to manage it, you can ask someone to file a complaint with Chang'an if you don't agree. Let's see if the court will care about your life or death. So what if it's Ying Gong? Your sister is Princess Changle's disciple, so what!"

People were constantly being brought in, all of them were nobles of the current dynasty or those who had made great contributions in the past.

Li Yifu rode up and said, "Fifteen families escaped."

Zhang Daan asked, "Why are there so many?"

"We were negligent." Li Yifu clasped his fists and said, "They all fled overnight, and they didn't take a lot of their property and food with them."

Zhang Da'an nodded and said, "We can slowly track down the people, but Luoyang's money and taxes must be left behind. People can leave, but food cannot."

"Here!"

Li Yifu received the order and went to do the work again.

A group of nobles were surrounded by soldiers. They all stood together, looking at the surrounding soldiers in confusion.

Zhang Da'an said in a clear voice: "You can write letters home and pay the taxes owed over the years. I will give you two months. If the taxes owed are not paid within two months, you will be exiled and your property will be confiscated. We will continue to investigate."

One month later, in Luoyang City in April, Li Yifu walked to the dungeon and looked at Cui Yun and said, "Your real name is Qiu Yun. Yun in farming is a very good name. Back then, your family had ten acres of thin land in Luoyang. You sold your property to the Cui family. They gave you the surname Cui because of your loyalty. From then on, you helped the Cui family to be an accomplice to the evil."

Cui Yun said nothing.

Li Yifu lifted the collar of his official uniform and whispered, "A mere servant dares to be superior to others. How ridiculous, really ridiculous."

There are many people in the dungeon, most of whom are nobles or officials of different generations.

Ma Zhou, the governor of Luoyang, and Zhang Da'an, the secretary of Jingzhao Prefecture, arrested so many people simply by checking the taxes over the years.

These days, Zhang Xuansu only slept for two hours a day and had been checking taxes. He sent all the money and grain owed by the officials to Chang'an in the name of Jingzhao Prefecture. No matter whether they were from aristocratic families or officials, they had to pay the taxes owed over the years.

"Zhang Zhubu, someone is coming from Chang'an."

Hearing the words of the clerk outside the door, Zhang Xuansu asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The commotion in Luoyang was quite big, and Zhang Xuansu was not without worry about the reaction of the court.

Zhang Xingcheng served as the Palace Censor in the court, and was responsible for making direct recommendations to the emperor.

Zhang Xuansu sorted out the accounts and asked someone to invite the person over, "Minister Zhang."

Zhang Xingcheng came forward and bowed, saying, "Zhang Zhubu, I am following the order of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. The events in Luoyang have already alarmed the court. The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace has ordered you to increase the city tax collected by ten times."

"Ten times?" Zhang Xuansu was stunned.

Zhang Xingcheng handed over a scroll of the Crown Prince's decree, and said, "This is exactly what is shocking. A few tens of thousands of strings of cash cannot hurt their bones. The fine will be increased tenfold according to the amount. Anyone who fails to pay taxes exceeding a thousand strings of cash will be fined thirty times, and those who fail to pay taxes exceeding ten thousand strings of cash will be fined sixty times. This decree was issued in Luoyang and will be implemented every year thereafter."

Zhang Xuansu bowed and said, "Yes."

Zhang Xingcheng continued, "Your Majesty also asked about the people in the eighteen counties of Luoyang. We need to manage taxes and the people in the counties. We cannot delay the busy farming season, and we cannot delay the collection of taxes."

Zhang Xuansu faced the direction of Chang'an, bowed and said, "I accept your order."

Zhang Xingcheng continued, "Due to the rules of Jingzhao Prefecture, Jingzhao Prefecture has always acted with the villagers of each county as the main body. The workshops to be built can only be built in the counties, and they cannot be built in the capital of Luoyang. I also asked how Chongwenguan is doing to appease the villagers?"

"Reporting to the censor, Li Yifu, the director of Luoyang Chongwenguan, is investigating taxes, and Zhang Da'an, the secretary of Jingzhao Prefecture, is comforting the villagers in various counties and re-demarcating farmland."

Zhang Xingcheng said: "I will go and investigate personally, you just go and do your thing."

"Here."

After sending the people away, Zhang Xuansu sat down again. If they were to collect taxes and fines, they would have to impose a fine that was more than what they earned. If they didn't pay 10,000 taels of tax, they would be fined hundreds of thousands of strings of cash. Faced with such a harsh tax law, who would dare to cheat in the future?

Luoyang was going to have large-scale construction, so purge was inevitable. This purge was like thunder exploding on the heads of the ministers and nobles.

There were also families of nobles and aristocrats who fled Luoyang. They felt that even if the prince's arms were long, they could only reach Guanzhong, Luoyang and Tongguan.

Now the power of this prince is limited to this, and the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace has not yet ascended the throne to become emperor.

Some people are deeply worried about what the world will be like in the future once such a crown prince ascends the throne.

In Chang'an City, over the past two months, memorials have been continuously submitted to the emperor.

On top of the additional penalty, there were penalties dozens of times higher. Throughout the dynasties, some people's property was confiscated, and some entire families were beheaded. Perhaps the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace felt that beheading was too lenient a punishment for some people. Such harsh taxes have never been seen in history books.

(End of this chapter)