The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 412: The Nutrients of the Empire

Sometimes people's discussions are still very interesting, and it doesn't hurt to listen. After Li Chengqian ordered Qinling to sweep the streets, he left the court early.

After today's morning court session ended, everyone walked out of the Taiji Hall with a relaxed look on their faces.

Chu Suiliang felt that he had finally gotten away from a year of busyness. He first looked at Duke Zhao who was walking in front, and then looked at Yu Zhining who was standing beside him, and said, "I didn't expect that His Majesty would really let Qin Ling sweep Suzaku Street."

Yu Zhining replied: "More and more people are living in Chang'an City, and we need people to sweep the streets."

"I thought he would be appointed a general in Chang'an like Ashina Simo and allowed to raise horses."

Yu Zhining asked again: "Otherwise, what do you think?"

Chu Suiliang sighed and said, "That's right, there is no shortage of grooms in the army."

"Your Majesty has done all these things in order to control Songtsen Gampo and Lu Dongzan, in order to gain control of Tubo."

Chu Suiliang raised his head and said with emotion: "Minister Yu hopes that Songtsen Gampo can personally hand over Tubo to the Tang Dynasty to rule?"

As the two were talking, Xu Jingzong came up and said, "The Tubo Society will belong to the Tang Dynasty."

They both bowed and said, "Minister Xu."

Xu Jingzong also bowed and said, "Minister Yu, Minister Chu."

The Minister of War Yu Zhining, the Minister of Civil Affairs Chu Suiliang, and the Minister of Rites Xu Jingzong, the three ministers walked together and talked in low voices.

On the other side, the Minister of Personnel Ma Zhou was talking to Di Zhixun and said, "Liu Dewei is still the Minister of Justice, but now he has come to Yangzhou in person, and many matters of the Ministry of Justice need you to arrange."

The post of Minister of Justice is now vacant, so Di Zhixun is temporarily taking over the duties of the Minister of Justice. Of course, he is still not among the ministers in terms of official position. Only after Liu Dewei finishes his work in Yangzhou and retires smoothly, can he be considered as a minister in the true sense.

Except for the Minister of Works Xu Xiaode who was still very busy, everyone else was relatively free.

There are more and more craftsmen in Guanzhong now. There are endless houses to build and roads to repair. At the same time, he has to continue planting trees in Guanzhong. After leaving the court, he has to rush to Jingzhao Prefecture to discuss.

The six ministers of the court have all been replaced by new people. Since Prime Minister Fang retired and Lord Zheng passed away, except for the Secretariat, which still retains the old people, the six ministries of the court are all ministers trusted by Your Majesty.

From the Zhenguan period to the Qianqing period, the transition of power was very smooth. This was because Your Majesty had been supervising state affairs for many years when he was still the Crown Prince, and now that you have ascended the throne, you have also successfully built up your team.

This situation in the court is inseparable from the arrangements made by the current regent minister, Zhangsun Wuji.

In fact, Changsun Wuji was quite dissatisfied with Chu Suiliang, and also had quite a few opinions about Xu Jingzong, not to mention that Xu Xiaode, a man of mediocre ability and talent, was appointed as the Minister of Works, and he was not very satisfied with this person either.

But these candidates were arranged by Changsun Wuji himself to positions in the court, and he had discussed them with His Majesty.

After the morning court session, Li Chengqian left his uncle and Duke Ying in the new palace to have dinner.

Li Chengqian looked at the three or five dishes in front of him and said, "The food in the palace is a bit simpler. I caught two big fish and had one grilled and one fried."

Chang Sun Wuji picked up the chopsticks and took a bite and said, "Well, the cooking skills in the palace are still as good as ever."

Li Chengqian picked up some spinach for Ying Gong and said, "I heard from Dongyang that Ying Gong should eat more vegetarian dishes and drink less meat and wine on weekdays."

Li Ji nodded, held up the bowl, and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Li Chengqian served Duke Zhao another bowl of fish soup and said, "Actually, since I ascended the throne, I have rarely cooked."

The atmosphere at the dinner table was very good. The king and his ministers did not discuss state affairs but talked about family matters.

The sky was gloomy in Yangzhou in November. This was Jiangdu of Yangzhou, the place where Yu Wenzhi launched his troops and killed Emperor Yang of Sui.

As an old man from the former Sui Dynasty, Liu Dewei was deeply moved when he arrived here.

At this moment, he was sitting in the office of the governor of Yangzhou. In fact, he had gone to Hebei before coming to Yangzhou. After the Chongwenguan was opened in Hebei, everything there became very good.

Liu Dewei once again wrote a memorial and asked someone to send it to the court, hoping that the court could open the Chongwenguan in Yangzhou.

This time, the Minister of Justice of the court came to Yangzhou in person. It has to be said that the current emperor attaches great importance to Yangzhou and other places in Jiangzuo.

Just as he finished writing the memorial, he heard exclamations from outside the government office.

Looking up again, Liu Dewei saw Li Yifu coming with several human heads.

There was no more blood dripping from the head, as if some time had passed since it was chopped off and it was no longer fresh.

Li Yifu placed a few heads on the table and said, "I went to Lingyin Temple and killed a few people."

Liu Dewei said in surprise: "You don't have to bring the head."

"Without the heads, we cannot show the strictness of the law, and we cannot deter the people."

"Whose head is this?"

Li Yifu said: "The head of the Wang family's patriarch, as well as several heads of the Xie family, are all elders and important figures in their families."

Judging from the age of these heads, they must be the elders in the family.

Li Yifu took out a memorial from his bosom and said, "This is the list. We have arrested more than 300 people, including some salt households. I hope you can take a look at it."

During his time in Yangzhou, Liu Dewei had heard about what Li Yifu had done in Yangzhou. He had killed many people, and he had personally suppressed any chaos in various places.

In Liu Dewei's opinion, Li Yifu was a person who had lost control. He had been out of control since he went to Yangzhou.

Seeing that the other party was still looking at the roster, Li Yifu sat aside and took off his bloody robe.

Liu Dewei said: "You shouldn't kill people like this. What if you kill the wrong person?"

"I won't kill the wrong person." Li Yifu shook his head and said, "Every time I go to a place, I will ask people to disguise themselves and ask the villagers to confirm that the person is indeed annexing the land or endangering the village. Only then will I take action to arrest the person."

Liu Dewei continued: "How did you arrange things after that?"

Li Yifu added: "I have confiscated the land of those who rebelled against the government, seized their property, and sold the land and salt fields to the villagers. In this way, the villagers bought the land from the government. If there are still remnants who want to take revenge, they cannot take revenge on the villagers. They will go after a certain family, because it was the government that sold it to the villagers."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "I will give you ten coins for one mu of land. I, Li Yifu, love charity."

Liu Dewei's eyes were still on the record on the roster. If Li Yifu went to Jiangdu this time to make profits for himself, Liu Dewei would naturally kill him.

The Ministry of Justice beheading someone and the Censor beheading someone are two different things. The Censor needs to have evidence of a crime before he can arrest or behead someone, but the Ministry of Justice can behead someone first and then ask about the crime.

Liu Dewei felt somewhat relieved, but then he said, "If you do this, it will be bad for you in the future."

Li Yifu laughed and said, "What's wrong with that? I killed people who deserved to die."

Liu Dewei shook his head and said, "If you kill people like this, everyone in the court will be afraid of you in the future, and it will be difficult for you to gain a foothold in the court." Li Yifu did not take Shangshu Liu's words to heart.

Liu Dewei only said this. After all, he had also heard that Li Yifu had a hard life since childhood. Whether he was studying as a borrowed student or on the way to the imperial examination, he had been bullied by the children of aristocratic families since he was a child.

This was his previous experience, and there was no mercy in the boy's eyes.

Li Yifu was an official of the Censorate, not the Ministry of Justice. Liu Dewei could only give him some advice, but how he acted had nothing to do with the Ministry of Justice.

Besides, Li Yifu has his own experiences and he is not a child. His actions are ultimately his own business.

"I heard that you have been taking care of a mother and child."

"That child is Luo Binwang, a student of a certain family."

"Don't take your child with you to kill someone."

"Of course not."

Liu Dewei nodded, then picked up the pen and wrote comments on the list submitted by Li Yifu.

Di Renjie, Li Zhi and Li Shen have become good assistants to the Minister of Justice Liu Dewei. They are not like Li Yifu who just kills people and then leaves the matter alone.

Di Renjie and Li Zhi also had to help the Ministry of Justice govern this place and sort out the aftermath, which included redividing the land, confiscating property, and re-setting up the market.

When the winter snowflakes came, winter also came to the south of the Yangtze River. And this winter was a very cold winter for the medieval families in Jiangzuo.

In Qinhuai Wuyi Lane, there is a Confucius Temple. Shangguan Yi, with a hundred imperial censors and three thousand soldiers, took the prisoners one by one to the front of the Confucius Temple.

Shangguan Yi was much more merciful than Li Yifu. Except for some people who resisted on the spot, the rest were escorted to Chang'an City.

Shangguan Yi stood in front of the Confucius Temple and said to the crowd, "We, the Imperial Censors, are following the orders of Your Majesty to investigate the hidden households of the land. We have never intended to clean up the noble families. Those we have arrested are all criminals, and have nothing to do with you."

Soldiers broke into the mansions of every household and confiscated all their property.

In order to carry all the gold, silver, jade, and silk, the carriages were not enough, so they were built overnight.

Who could have imagined that these powerful families were so incredibly wealthy, enough to support the imperial court in launching more than ten expeditions to the east.

After finishing the work at hand, many villagers from all over the country came to file complaints. Any matters related to taxes, land, and hidden households could be reported to the Censor.

No matter if one is a farmer, a commoner, or even a servant, one can sue his master. As long as the evidence is confirmed, the censor will arrest the criminal.

At one time, more and more people came to complain, and Shangguan Yi had no choice but to assign dozens of imperial censors to go to various places to handle the affairs.

Late at night, Shangguan Yi walked into Wuyi Lane. He came here to feel the heritage that Wang Xizhi had experienced here in the past.

But the heritage was no longer there, and Shangguan Yi had no mood to appreciate Wang Xizhi's original works. He could only shake his head and sigh.

In the dead of winter in December of the second year of the Qianqing reign, many people underestimated the officials in the court who were investigating the land and hidden households.

The determination of the court's will, the intensity of the investigation, the number of killings and arrests have not been seen in hundreds of years.

The Wang and Xie families declined from then on, and the aristocratic families that remained in the Central Plains would never be the same again. In the next few decades, the aristocratic families would no longer threaten the imperial power.

Perhaps decades later, when remote teaching spreads throughout the Central Plains, no one will remember what the aristocratic families looked like back then.

Shangguan Yi took the genealogy from the censor beside him and asked in a low voice, "Is this the genealogy of the Wang and Xie families?"

"Yes."

Shangguan Yi nodded and looked through it.

The younger censor said, "Some people say that the noble families did not obey the edict of the retired emperor to ban marriage, and now the new emperor is here to take revenge. For an edict, the emperor came to Jiangnan to kill so many people. Future generations will hold a grudge against him."

Shangguan Yi chuckled and said, "How ridiculous and pathetic."

Several imperial censors lit the braziers. Yes, even now some people still think that the noble families at that time were unwilling to obey the ban on marriage during the Zhenguan period.

If this investigation is just for the old grudges between Li Tang and the aristocratic families, it would be too ridiculous. What is ridiculous is their narrow-mindedness. What is ridiculous is that they cannot understand the overall situation and the will of the current Majesty.

The emperor's will is firm, and even after this time, there will be many such things in the future.

Shangguan Yi knew that so-called supervision was not something that could be done overnight, but was a long-term plan that would last for hundreds of years and would continue for many, many years.

After saying this, Shangguan Yi walked to a high platform where countless villagers gathered.

In front of thousands of farmers, servants and villagers, he threw volumes of family genealogy into the brazier. From then on, there was only Wuyi Lane left, and there were no more Wang and Xie families.

When the family tree was thrown into the brazier and burned, crying sounds were heard from behind the platform. It was the crying of the children and elders of the aristocratic families.

There were cheers from the villagers and many servants in front of them. From then on, they had their own fields to cultivate and could do the business they wanted, and the court gave them many benefits.

The cheers and the wailing behind him merged together. Shangguan Yi's expression was calm as he watched the flames devour the family tree. Then pieces of ashes floated out from the flames and scattered in the air. It was like a fallen tree, whose dead wood would nourish the earth and make new buds grow on the earth.

This vast empire needs such nutrients to make it stronger.

The emperor's power is no longer limited to the temple. What the emperor wants is the whole world, not just a chair.

Let the will of the court be conveyed to every corner of the world.

Shangguan Yi didn’t know what the future would be like, but what he was doing now was for the prosperity of the empire.

In fact, Li Yifu's work was much more tiring than his, because Li Yifu had to travel to various places, while he only investigated Qinhuai.

It was also in this December that Shangguan Yi heard that King Wu Li Ke had killed many people in various places in Shandong.

Shangguan Yi came to a place in the south of the Yangtze River, where he erected a stone tablet for Liang Zhu.

In this story, in the turbulent times of the Jin Dynasty, it remains unknown whether the poor couple Liang Zhu really existed.

But their story is touching. Shangguan Yi searched many places in the south of the Yangtze River, but couldn't find Liang Zhu. He had no choice but to erect a monument here.

It is a story of crying out against the injustice of the world. Even though Liang Zhu's cry was very low, at least they cried out.

Shangguan Yi stood in front of the stone tablet in silence for a long time.

The Shangguan Yi who lived under someone else's roof, almost tossed around and compromised is no longer here. The current Shangguan Yi is a passionate person.

(End of this chapter)