Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 618: The Aristocratic Families Are the Biggest Rats in the World (Part )

July 2nd, afternoon.

The imperial ship stopped at Chenzhou Wharf.

Yang Sizhi, along with five elders of the Yang family, boarded the imperial ship under the watchful eyes of the guards on both sides.

He looked up at the Yellow River.

Boats of all sizes passed by, carrying a large number of soldiers and weapons, heading towards Luoyang along the Yellow River.

Flags were waving and spears were everywhere.

A blue-robed eunuch stood at the door and reported to the cabin, "Your Majesty, Wannian County Magistrate Yang Sizhi has brought his clansmen to see you."

"Come in!" The emperor's calm and steady voice came from inside the cabin.

The eunuch stepped into the cabin and stood aside. Only then did Yang Sizhi and others enter the cabin.

"Your Majesty, we are here to pay our respects. May Your Majesty live forever." Yang Sizhi came into the cabin, and then knelt down solemnly with his clansmen to kowtow in salute.

In an instant, Yang Sizhi had seen clearly everyone in the cabin.

Zhangsun Wuji, Chu Suiliang, Tang Jian, Yu Zhining, Yan Lide, Liu Dewei, Yin Jun, Sun Fujia, Liu Shi, Dai Zhide and others knelt on both sides.

Yang Sizhi's heart sank suddenly.

It is clear that Yang Sina had been beheaded, and Yang Siyi and Yang Sixun had been exiled, but why did the emperor still not let the Yangs go easily?

……

Li Chengqian sat on the short couch, looking at the memorial in his hand without saying a word.

For a moment, the cabin was eerily quiet.

Yang Sizhi inexplicably felt a heavy pressure, so heavy that he could even clearly hear his own heartbeat.

It wasn't known how long passed before Li Chengqian finally put down the memorial in his hand, looked up at Yang Sizhi and said, "Minister Chu just said that you have done your utmost to handle all matters, and I am very satisfied."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. This is what I should have done." Yang Sizhi kowtowed solemnly and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Li Chengqian nodded and looked at Yu Zhining beside him.

Yu Zhining immediately stepped forward and unfolded the imperial edict he had prepared long ago, saying, "The Emperor of the Great Tang orders:

The intersection of Chen and Guan is a place where land and water meet, and there are often outstanding people and beautiful places.

The son of Prince Guan Yang's brother, the disciple of Duke Guan Yang Gongren, and the magistrate of Chang'an County, Yang Sizhi, was a man of great talent and strategy. He assisted in government administration, strictly followed his teacher's rules, and respectfully observed the court constitution, making great contributions to the country.

You can see the Duke of Guo and grant him real food to show his special favor and to reward his outstanding achievements.

I pray that I may rest in peace, and that my descendants may protect me."

"Your Majesty, I, Yang Sizhi, would like to thank you for your great grace. May Your Majesty live forever." Yang Sizhi bowed his head heavily to the ground, tears welling up in his eyes.

He is now finally the Duke of Guanguo and the head of the Hongnong Yang family.

He replaced Yang Siyi and became the head of the Hongnong Yang family.

"My dear minister, please stand up." Li Chengqian raised his hand gently. Yang Sizhi, with a gentle expression, said, "This matter has come about so suddenly. I did not anticipate it. I imagine you did not anticipate it either."

"Yes!" Yang Sizhi bowed and said, "Your servants have never felt uneasy for a single day. The rebels have been on guard and have never mentioned this to us even once."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Let it be so. All crimes are settled. All other matters will be handled according to Tang law."

Yang Sizhi hesitated slightly, but nodded and said, "Yes!"

"According to the law, all the property, land, and servants of the three families of Yang Siyi, Yang Sina, and Yang Sixun will first be confiscated by the government." After a brief pause, Li Chengqian said, "Afterwards, the Zongzheng Temple will distribute to you the property, land, and servants that belong to Duke Guanguo and the main branch of the Yang family."

"Yes!" Yang Sizhi couldn't help but look up, with a hint of surprise on his face.

In fact, what he feared most was that after the government confiscated the Yang family’s property, they would want to take it back from the government.

Even though the administration is clean and honest nowadays, every time you pass through a layer, you will still be severely punished, and in the end there will not be many people who will end up belonging to the Yang family.

On the contrary, everything is different if you go to Zongzheng Temple.

Li Baiyao, the Minister of Zongzheng Temple, was a fair person, and Yang Sizhi was the grandfather of Prince Chen.

Even if we just use the name of King Chen, everything will be much more convenient.

"Also," Li Chengqian said, staring at Yang Sizhi, "I know that the Yang family has a thousand private soldiers. Most families also have similar private soldiers to protect their families. I will not interfere too much. However, the Yang family is involved in treason, so I require that your family provide 300 private soldiers to join the Eastern Expedition Army."

In today's world, all the top aristocratic families have their own private soldiers.

This is the case with the Yang family of Hongnong, the Wang family of Taiyuan, the Wei family of Jingzhao, the Du family, and the Dou family.

On the one hand, these people are used to protect the safety of their own clansmen who are serving in various places, and on the other hand, they are used to protect the safety of the traveling caravans. Finally, the largest group of people stay in the family's ancestral land to protect the safety of the ancestral home.

However, the private soldiers of the Hongnong Yang family were the largest and the most secretive.

Of course, it is also because they have bad intentions.

Unlike other families, although there are some who are out of the emperor's sight, their number is definitely not large.

These things are not difficult to check.

Just by keeping an eye on the amount of food, vegetables, meat, and wine shipped out for a day or two, and over the years, you can still estimate the number of these people.

Li Chengqian did not object to them protecting the safety of their family members, nor did he object to them protecting the interests of their own caravan, and of course he did not object to them protecting their ancestral land, but all of this could not be hidden from him.

With three hundred people withdrawn, there are more things to do, and the palace is now easier to monitor.

"Honor and fame will be achieved soon." Li Chengqian sighed softly and said, "Send someone from your family to lead these three hundred men to the front of the army. I will have Duke Ying take charge and arrange them as properly as possible. As for the rest, for the merits earned on the battlefield, I will reward them in full without any discount."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The Yang family members all bowed their hands in gratitude.

Li Chengqian nodded gently and said, "Okay, that's it."

"We will take our leave. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great grace. May Your Majesty live long." The Yang family members bowed in gratitude and then took their leave.

Everyone in the cabin looked at them solemnly.

Only after everyone left them did they look towards the emperor.

...Outside the cabin, the sound of footsteps of a group of people walking down the deck could be clearly heard.

Li Chengqian sat on a short couch, tapping lightly on the table in front of him.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The sounds rang out in the quiet cabin one after another, and everyone in the cabin suddenly felt nervous.

The emperor did not speak, but it was precisely because he did not speak that everyone knew more that the affairs of the Hongnong Yang family were far from over.

After a long while, Li Chengqian turned slightly to look at Chu Suiliang and asked indifferently, "Mr. Chu, how many acres of land are there in the entire Hongnong County?"

Chu Suiliang bowed and said, "Your Majesty, it is about three million acres."

Li Chengqian continued to ask, "Mr. Chu, what do you think, after this investigation is completed, how many hidden households and fields will the Yang family be able to uncover?"

"Your Majesty!" Chu Suiliang bowed solemnly and said, "This time, we've checked the land and slaves of Yang Gongren's lineage. Half of them are from the titles of Duke Guan and his brothers and descendants. Add in the miscellaneous officials, honors, and ancestral inheritance. Adding all of this together, the land holdings are approximately 500,000 mu, and the population is 6,000 households."

Li Chengqian raised his head slightly: "Continue."

"Yes!" Chu Suiliang took a deep breath and continued, "The figure of 500,000 mu is a large-scale calculation based on the crisscrossing of ditches. Of this, 300,000 mu are registered, and another 200,000 mu are not. As for the population, there are nearly 3,000 households that are hidden."

Li Chengqian appointed Wu Yuanqing as the chief officer of Chenzhou and asked him to thoroughly investigate the ditches.

Once the canal map of Chenzhou was drawn up, all that remained was the simplest calculations, things that the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were very skilled at.

"They occupy nearly one-tenth of Hongnong County's fertile farmland, and that's the most fertile part. With a population of 3,000 households, that's nearly 15,000 people." Li Chengqian suddenly couldn't help laughing, gritted his teeth, and said, "And this doesn't even include the other branches... As expected, the aristocratic families are the biggest rats in the world."

The ministers in the cabin couldn't help but bow their heads slightly.

Among all the people present, except for Liu Shi, who came from the Liu family, a powerful family in the world, the others, although not from powerful families in the world, were still top-notch local families.

Even Chu Suiliang himself, the Chu family is unmatched in the whole of Hangzhou, and Hangzhou is such a fertile place.

The emperor's words made their faces slightly red, and there was a hint of tension and worry deep in their eyes.

"Come here, tell the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, Pei Shuang, the Duke of Jiangxia County." Li Chengqian raised his head and looked outside the cabin.

Pei Yan, who had been waiting outside the cabin in advance, restrained his expression, stepped into the cabin, and bowed solemnly to Li Chengqian, saying, "Your Majesty, I, Pei Shuang, pay my respects to you!"

"Pei Shuang, Duke of Jiangxia, father of Princess Xincheng's consort Pei Yin, has just been transferred to the position of Secretary of the Central Secretariat." Li Chengqian looked at everyone and said calmly, "This time, we will thoroughly investigate the hidden households and farmlands of Yang Gongren's lineage. He will be keeping watch in Hongnong on my behalf."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed their heads in unison. However, Tang Jian and Liu Shi were the first to change their expressions slightly, and soon the eyes of the others also flickered.

Tang Jian's grandfather, Tang Yong, was the Shangshu Zuo Pushe of the Northern Qi Dynasty; his father, Tang Jian, was the governor of Rongzhou in the former Sui Dynasty. He was also an officer of the imperial guard during the former Sui Dynasty.

It is precisely because of this that Tang Jian has a very clear memory of Pei Shuang’s father, Pei Yun.

Pei Yun was the Minister of Revenue during the reign of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty.

When the Sui Dynasty censored the number of households in the country, it was Pei Yunzhu who used the "appearance reading method" to do so, which greatly increased the population of the country.

Of course, this method was effective at first because the noble families in the world were not prepared. Now that this method has been implemented throughout the world, its shortcomings have long been found. It is not so easy to make it effective again.

But the emperor valued Pei Shuang, so did he also have to review the population of the world?

Many people showed a hint of worry in their eyes, and they secretly looked at Changsun Wuji, but Changsun Wuji's expression was terrifyingly calm.

……

Li Chengqian looked back at Chu Suiliang and said, "Mr. Chu, after you have thoroughly counted the number of Yang's hidden households, send them to Bingzhou, Guanzhong, and Heluo to live."

"Yes!" Chu Suiliang's expression grew serious. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Your Majesty, are you worried that these people will be controlled by the Yang family in the future?"

"Hmm!" Li Chengqian raised his head slightly and said, "They have been controlled by the Yang family for many years. If we let them continue to stay here, then these lands and manpower will still belong to the Yang family in the end.

Not to mention the distant future, in three to five years, Chu Qing, you will be transferred away from Chenzhou.

By then, will the officials and clerks below be able to withstand the infiltration and oppression of the Hongnong Yang family?"

Chu Suiliang fell silent, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, what you said makes sense."

Li Chengqian turned to look at Zhangsun Wuji and said, "Uncle, you will be responsible for transferring troops from Guanzhong and Bingzhou. I will let Zhang Daxiang be responsible for transferring troops from Heluo."

"Your Majesty!" Changsun Wuji stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, perhaps transferring troops from Bingzhou would be easier, but Guanzhong and Heluo would be more difficult."

How could the people of Chang'an and Luoyang, the two capitals of the east and the west, easily leave their homes and come to this place?

Li Chengqian raised his hand slightly and said, "I am only giving them a chance. Although the farmland in Hongnong is not as fertile as those in Guanzhong and Heluo, not every family in Guanzhong and Heluo is rich enough to survive. Those who are struggling will naturally be willing to come to Hongnong. If they are not willing, they will just have to wait for the population of Guanzhong and Heluo to grow in the future, and it will become increasingly difficult to survive."

"Yes!" Changsun Wuji bowed solemnly.

"This matter should be completed before the beginning of next spring." Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Chu Suiliang and asked, "How is the grain harvest in Chenzhou this year?"

"Your Majesty, thanks to the reduced rainfall this year and the extensive network of ditches, we've had a good harvest." Chu Suiliang smiled and bowed, saying, "Plus, Guanzhong, Heluo, and Chenzhou are very close, so supplying what we need is not difficult."

"Yes!" Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Only if there are good harvests in the next few years will we be able to have all the food and fodder needed for the Anton War."

"Yes!" All the ministers bowed solemnly.

Li Chengqian suddenly fell silent, and the ministers couldn't help but look up at him.

At this time, Li Chengqian slowly said, "Mr. Chu, summarize the method of using ditches to survey the land this time. After the war is over, I will survey the land all over the country again."

"Yes!" Chu Suiliang bowed solemnly.

Li Chengqian raised his head, his eyes sweeping across the faces of everyone present, and then he said calmly, "Gentlemen, thanks to the improvements in grain planting methods over the past few years, the yield per mu in the country is increasing, and the number of mu of land is also increasing...at least that's what the Ministry of Revenue records."

The ministers in the cabin suddenly became quiet.

Li Chengqian continued, "There have been heavy rains in the past few years, and the court has implemented many tax reductions and exemptions, making it difficult to calculate the actual amount of taxes levied. However, the floods will soon be over.

My Lords, please do not let it happen that in the future, even if the harvest is abundant, the taxes collected by the Ministry of Revenue will not catch up to the amount collected during the Zhenguan period. That would be truly ridiculous."

The faces of the ministers turned pale.

"At that time, if anyone really says that during the Yongwei year, my father's prosperous Zhenguan era was not continued, I will kill him." Li Chengqian said this and then slammed his hand on the table.

The ministers' hearts could not help but jump, and they all bowed and said, "Your Majesty is benevolent and wise. The prosperous Zhenguan era will surely continue, and the prosperous Tang Dynasty will surely continue."

Li Chengqian scanned the faces of everyone present, making everyone tremble with fear. Then he waved his hand and said, "Go."

"We, the ministers, take our leave." The ministers retreated in a somewhat embarrassed manner.

(End of this chapter)