A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 695 Get up quickly, stop pretending to be a dead dog

In Xiande Hall,

Some people burst into laughter.

And it wasn't just one person.

Li Shentong's face flushed red. He had been listening intently for a long time, but his name wasn't on the long list of officially appointed officials.

Out of anger, he stepped forward.

Unexpectedly, the new emperor showed no respect, publicly calling him a perpetually defeated general.

A general who is always defeated

That's not wrong.

When Li Shentong first raised an army in Guanzhong, he also built up a force, but he was not as good at fighting as his niece, Princess Pingyang. Later, he handed over the command of his army to Li Sanniang.

After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, he gained the trust of his cousin Li Yuan, who appointed him to govern Shandong with considerable power. However, he was no match for Li Mi of Wagang, nor for Wang Shichong of Luoyang, and he couldn't even defeat Yuwen Huaji, who was advancing north. Let alone Dou Jiande of Hebei.

He lost almost all of Li Tang's maps in Shandong, and he himself became Dou Jiande's prisoner.

Li Shentong was not only frequently defeated, but more importantly, many of his defeats were not actually lost. For example, in the Battle of Liaocheng against Yuwen Huaji, Yuwen Huaji's army ran out of food and sent someone to beg for surrender, but Li Shentong refused. His reason was that he wanted to capture the city, and then all the wealth that Yuwen Huaji and his men had brought north from Jiangdu would become his spoils of war.

Let's fight then.

When Zhao Junde, the prefect of Beizhou, led his troops to the city wall, Li Shentong, not wanting Zhao to steal the credit and share the rewards, ordered a retreat simply because Zhao was a leader of a peasant army from Shandong who had surrendered.

As a result of this delay, Dou Jiande led his army to attack, and Li Shentong missed his chance and suffered a great defeat.

Li Yuan entrusted Shandong to Li Shentong.
As a result, after several years of wreaking havoc, he lost almost the entire Shandong province. Even Li Shiji followed him, and as a result, his father was captured by Dou's army, and he himself had no choice but to surrender.

Li Shimin's assessment of Li Shentong was very accurate.
"Xuanling and Keming have followed me for a long time and have participated in many campaigns. Their strategic planning and decisive action are not empty words."

Li Shimin's expression grew increasingly unpleasant as he spoke.
He simply stood up.

"My uncle did indeed have merit when he raised the banner of righteousness in Guanzhong to welcome the royal army."

However, after the retired emperor established the country, he immediately bestowed the title of Prince upon his uncle. Not only his uncle, but also his uncle's younger brother, Shenfu, was bestowed the title of Prince of Xiangyi.

In the same year, several of your brothers' sons were also granted the title of king.

To this day,
You two brothers have a total of fifteen sons, all of whom have been enfeoffed as princes.

Uncle, what merits did they have?

Even the youngest among them are only a few years old?

"Since my uncle insists on awarding titles and honors based on merits today, I will certainly discuss this matter further today."

I believe that the Emperor Emeritus appointed too many members of the imperial clan indiscriminately.

Not only were most of the members of this branch of the Li family granted the title of king, but many members of the Li family who were not related by blood and had no merit were also granted the title of king.

So many royal princes, without any merit, live in luxury and waste the nation's resources.

Especially those who were made kings while still children.

I believe that
Those princes of the royal family who lacked military merit and were distantly related by blood should have their titles reduced to Duke of a prefecture or Duke of a county.
Those who are not yet adults and have no military merit should all have their titles revoked. They will be granted lower-ranking titles upon reaching adulthood, and promoted to higher ranks upon future military achievements.

"Prince of Huai'an, you are a close relative of the imperial family within five degrees of kinship. Even if you have not rendered meritorious service to the country, you have certainly worked hard for it."

I can retain your and Li Shenfu's titles of Prince.

But your eight sons and the seven sons of the King of Xiangyi are all still young and have no merit for the country, so it is too much for them to be granted the title of Prince.

Let's demote them all to county officials, what do you think?

Li Shentong stood there.

His face had already turned a deep purplish-red; he never expected that in a moment of anger he would stand up and oppose the reward.

This is the final result.
Not only was he rebuked by the emperor without any dignity,

Now they want to demote the title of Prince of the County to the title of County Duke for all fifteen of his brothers' sons.

From Prince of the County to County Duke
That meant a direct demotion of three ranks.

"His Majesty,
Although Li Yi had military merits, he was not a true member of the royal family. He was a member of a collateral branch of the imperial clan and an official of the imperial clan. So why was he granted the title of king?

"On the contrary, why is His Majesty so distant with his own imperial relatives?"

"You want to compare yourself to Wu Yi? What do you have to compare yourself to? You can't compare."

Not only are you no match for Wu Yi, but you're also no match for Prince Yi'an, Xiao Chang, or Prince Yan, Li Yi.

“If your uncle were not the grandson of Emperor Taizu Jing, you would be lucky to be granted the title of Duke of a County based on your achievements.”

"From now on, only the emperor's brothers, sons and nephews can be directly granted the title of king. Other members of the imperial clan and collateral branches will need to have sufficient military merits to be granted the title of king."

The implication of these words is that, for you two brothers, Prince Li Shentong of Huai'an and Prince Li Shenfu of Xiangyi, it is already a great favor that I have reserved for you the title of Prince of the County. You should not expect any real fiefdoms or fiefs.

Even the fifteen sons of your brothers were demoted to county dukes, which is a special privilege. Otherwise, given their age and their merits, they could have been granted no titles.

Taking this opportunity,
Li Shimin used Li Shentong as an example.

He swung his sword at the collateral branches of the royal family.
Li Yuan was very generous to his descendants; he granted titles to almost all the grandsons and great-grandsons of Emperor Taizu Jing, Li Hu.

Li Yuan was generous not only to his own family, but to everyone.

At that time, he was conquering the country and fighting for power, so it was quite normal for him to bestow official titles and ranks everywhere.

Now that Li Shimin has ascended the throne and become emperor, only Liang Shidu remains, barely clinging to life. His main problem is not vying for the throne, but how to govern it.

These numerous royal princes and nobles were undoubtedly a huge burden.

When Li Shimin was ruthless, he would even kill his own brothers. Would he care about these minor relatives?

Li Shentong never expected that he had almost stirred up a hornet's nest. He was filled with regret, but what was the use now?

After this ringleader was beaten,
There were many people in the hall who were dissatisfied with the list of rewards just now, but now they don't dare to speak out.

Who would have thought that Li Shentong, a prince of the imperial clan with considerable seniority and prestige, could be utterly refuted by the emperor and lose all face? How could anyone else possibly fare well?

Although the list is long, ultimately only a portion of the ministers can make it onto the list.
The majority of those who didn't make the list won't receive a formal recognition.

Of all the royal family members, how many could possibly make the list?

There were only three: Prince Zhao, Li Xiaogong; Prince Wei, Li Daoxuan; and Prince Rencheng, Li Daozong.

Liu Hongji failed to make the list, as did former prime ministers Yang Gongren and Chen Shuda.

Of the seventeen meritorious officials who were originally appointed by the retired emperor in Taiyuan, less than half were actually listed.

Faced with this list of meritorious officials who were granted food and real titles,
Regardless of whether they still have objections in their hearts.
With Li Shentong as their role model, no one dared to step forward again.

Li Shimin asked several times.
Yuwen Shiji read it aloud again.

"Since there are no further objections, then the rewards shall be conferred accordingly."

Li Yi was granted a fief of 1,800 households, which meant he would receive two-thirds of the taxes and corvée labor paid by these 1,800 households each year.
In fact, this income is not much. A Ding's annual rent and tax is two shi of millet, half a bolt of silk, and three liang of cotton.

Even with this meager amount of millet, silk, and cotton, Li Yi, the feudal lord, had to send his state officials to his fiefdom to collect it together with local officials. After collection, one-third would go to the imperial court, and two-thirds would go to the feudal lord's family.

You'll have to transport it back yourself, or sell it locally.

Basically, the fiefs of the vassals were not located within the capital region; Li Yi's fief was in Hebei.

Aside from collecting some rent and adjusting accounts, those fiefdoms actually had no dependence on him, the fiefdom lord.

Normally, a household in a fiefdom could select three able-bodied men. So, a household with a fiefdom could only receive four shi of millet, one bolt of silk, and six liang of cotton per year.

Li Yi earns this much income from renting out ten acres of land.

With 1,800 households, the rental income would only amount to two or three thousand mu of land.

but,
We definitely can't just look at the economic aspects.
Those who received official titles and those who received titles but did not are definitely in two different leagues.
Those with and without titles were further divided into different ranks.

Li Yi was the first among the meritorious officials who received official titles.
It is still of great significance.

Many people couldn't even get a fiefdom of three hundred households.

Li Shentong was so angry he was jumping up and down.

Under normal circumstances, princes were only granted a fief of 800 households, and princesses were granted a fief of only 300 households.

Moreover, a princess's official title is usually bestowed upon her only after she gets married.

Don't be fooled by the fact that princes have fiefs of 10,000 households, dukes have fiefs of 5,000 households, and dukes have fiefs of 3,000 households; those are all nominal fiefs with no real benefits.

The palace music began to play.
The Emperor announced,

At today's palace banquet, the meritorious officials who have been granted official titles are seated in the front row.

Li Yi, holding the titles of Grand Minister of Works, Attendant-in-Ordinary, Governor of Yongzhou, General of the Left Guard, Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince, and concurrently Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, deservedly sat at the very front.

Sikong Peiji was behind him.

Then there were Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, Yuchi Gong, and others.

Hou Junji's contributions during the Xuanwu Gate Incident were originally equal to those of Yuchi Gong, and he was also ranked first in merit alongside Changsun Wuji and others.

However, when he was granted real fiefs this time, although he also received the titles of Duke of Lu and Right Guard General, his real fiefs were still ranked in the fifth tier, receiving a real fief of a thousand households, which was two hundred households less than Changsun Shunde and the others.

Ten ranks of true meritorious officials,

Sit forward.

Those who cannot be formally appointed are ranked according to their official rank, honorary title, noble title, and meritorious official rank.

Duke Yuchi Gong of Wu was officially enfeoffed as the sixth in rank, with a fief of 1,300 households.

He was in high spirits after being granted the title of Duke of Wu.

Back in the Sui Dynasty, he started as a blacksmith and later joined the army, where he only obtained a minor official position. However, after joining Liu Wuzhou's rebellion, he rose to become a vanguard general.
But within two years, he also became a prisoner of war of the Tang Dynasty and was forced to surrender to the Tang. The Prince of Qin treated him very well, but in the Prince of Qin's mansion, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin were both dukes and pillars of the state, while he did not even have a baron and his rank was only fifth grade.

In Chang'an,
Of those powerful officials in the court, how many respected Yuchi Gong?

On one occasion, he was even whipped by Li Yi, the Prince of Yan, in his military camp.

Now we can finally hold our heads high.

He swaggered forward.

A figure blocked his way.

It was none other than the heartbroken Prince Li Shentong of Huai'an.
After being spoken to by Li Shimin, he lost all face and stood there, completely bewildered and unable to get off the stage. He couldn't even find his place for a moment.

Li Shentong's current official position in the court is General of the Left Guard.

Yuchi Gong was the Right Martial General.

Therefore, they used to stand together on duty.

"Step aside."

Seeing that Li Shentong was still standing there and wouldn't move aside, Yuchi Gong shouted loudly. Li Shentong was startled, as if a thunderclap had sounded in his ears. He turned his head and saw that it was the big black charcoal.

He was immediately enraged and embarrassed.
You're just a blacksmith from Shuozhou, how dare you bully me?
The new emperor reprimanded him, and he could only endure it.

You, Yuchi Laohei, what right do you have to criticize me?
"How dare you, you barbarian from the borderlands, disrespect me!"

When Yuchi Gong heard that this old fellow dared to insult him, he swung his fist, which was as big as a sandbag, and smashed it over.

One was Yuchi Gong, a fierce general whose arms could support a horse and whose fists could strike a person; the other was Li Shentong, a prince of the imperial clan, who was over fifty years old.
Li Shentong never expected that Yuchi Gong would dare to hit him in the hall.

Caught off guard,

He'd already been punched in the eye.

"Ouch!"

Li Shentong screamed and fell to the ground.

Yuchi Gong stared blankly at Li Shentong lying on the ground, "Get up quickly, stop pretending to be a dead dog."
You're trying to extort money from me!

(End of this chapter)