The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"Yesterday, I was ordered by His Majesty to take His Highness the Crown Prince out of the city to investigate the specific situation of the locust plague, and also to see if the previous order to eradicate the locusts had been effective."

Chen Huai'an slowly began, "Perhaps it's because I have a good reputation among the common people. A commoner met me and told me something, hoping I would stand up for him."

"Originally, I didn't want to get involved. Just as Quan Shiyu said, I have no duty to do so and I can't get involved. So I advised him to go to the county government office where his household registration is located to seek redress if he had any grievances."

"But do you know what he said to me later?"

Quan Wanji frowned and asked, "What did you say?"

"He said it was useless to go to the county government, and if I didn't intervene, he would have nowhere to seek justice." Chen Huai'an's smile was enigmatic. "Then I asked him what had happened and why he said that if I didn't intervene, he would have nowhere to seek justice."

"He told me the problem was with the fields!"

"According to the Tang Dynasty's Equal-Field System, every adult male should be allocated one hundred mu of land, including twenty mu of permanent land and eighty mu of allotted land, right?"

"...Yes." Quan Wanji nodded hesitantly. "Could it be that he didn't get the hundred acres of land?"

If that's the case, then it involves the Ministry of Revenue, and Chen Huai'an isn't entirely without reason to intervene.

"No!" Chen Huai'an said coldly, "He can say he got it."

"But the situation is completely different from what you imagine!"

"Of the 100 mu of farmland, 20 mu are in Jiangnan, 20 mu are in Jiannan, 10 mu are in the border region, and the remaining 50 mu are in the local area."

"In a sense, he does own a hundred mu, but only fifty mu are actually usable!"

"I'm very curious!" Chen Huai'an looked around at the officials. "All the land distributed through the equal land system was approved by the officials of the Ministry of Personnel and by me."

"But there was clearly no problem when I approved it."

"I asked for his name and household registration, and immediately checked the account books. Guess what I found?"

Quan Wanji's expression was as ugly as if he had eaten shit; he really hadn't expected the problem to be like this.

Let's not even talk about how serious this matter is.

As for the matter of land redistribution, Chen Huai'an, as the Minister of Revenue, had no problem intervening.

After all, if you really investigate, no matter what, it was all approved by him.

Now that a problem has arisen, he also has to take responsibility, and Chen Huai'an naturally has the right to intervene!

"What did you find?" Li Shimin asked with a sneer.

"We've discovered it. This commoner owns a hundred mu of land, none of which is in any so-called 'outside the area,' it's all locally." Chen Huai'an said sternly, "I just want to ask, why is it that he owns a hundred mu of land, but the officials below told him that fifty mu are scattered all over the country?"

"Where did his other fifty acres of land go?"

"Minister Quan, you are from Wannian County. Wannian County is your hometown, do you know that?"

Quan Wanji swallowed hard: "I...I really don't know anything about this!"

"Fine, whether it's clear or not isn't important." Chen Huai'an was too lazy to argue with him about this issue. "Let me ask you again, since it involves the land redistribution system and something I personally approved has now run into problems, don't I have the authority to investigate?"

"...Yes." Quan Wanji sighed inwardly and could only admit it.

But he didn't give up. Instead, he said, "Even so, you can investigate, you can order an arrest, conduct a thorough investigation. Why resort to violence, even targeting evergreen trees?"

"Why?" Chen Huai'an laughed heartily. "Why do you think so?"

"I took the Crown Prince to investigate the locust plague outside the city, but we were stopped by the people halfway. That's when I realized the severity of the problem. Tell me, should I give the people an explanation first?"

"You say that as an official of the imperial court, I beat people in front of everyone, which is a violation of the law and damages the dignity of the imperial court. The people will think that our imperial court is full of thugs and ruffians."

"But I want to ask, if I don't fight them in front of them, who will help them vent their anger? If I don't do anything, won't the people think that we're all protecting each other as officials?!"

"If that's the case, what's the point of the so-called equal-field system?"

"How can the militia system, which coexisted with it, continue to be implemented? Will there still be people willing to risk their lives for our Great Tang?"

Upon hearing this, many military officers' expressions immediately changed, especially Li Jing, who was about to go to fight the Eastern Turks.

Now this has happened, and someone is digging into the roots of the equal-field system and the military system, so he can't sit still anymore!

Li Jing sneered, "That's right, well done!"

"The existence of the Fubing system depended entirely on the Equal-Field System. If the Equal-Field System were destroyed, where would the soldiers' fighting power and morale come from?"

"They're struggling to survive themselves, how could they possibly be willing to risk their lives for the Tang Dynasty?"

With their combined efforts, the two instantly escalated a simple corruption case into one that could shake the very foundations of the nation and affect the fate of the Tang Dynasty, causing the faces of all the civil and military officials to change drastically.

Cheng Yaojin, Yuchi Gong, Qin Qiong, Xue Wanche, and Chai Shao all spoke up.

Yuchi Gong's voice boomed: "In this situation, forget about beating him. I think we should just drag that magistrate out and behead him in front of the people."

"That dog-like creature, for its own selfish desires, dares to undermine the foundation of our Great Tang Dynasty and damage its national destiny. If you ask me, it should be cut down!"

Cheng Yaojin crossed his arms and said, "Killing him is too lenient. Didn't he like to divide the people's land up in all sorts of places?"

"Why not exile him to Ningguta, his wife to Lingnan, and his son to Qianzhong? The people can't cultivate land that far away. I'd like to see if he can see his family scattered all over the country!"

Chen Huai'an's eyelids twitched.

That's his mother.

It has to be said, it still has to be a military general.

You're a fucking genius!

"Your Majesty, I suggest that a thorough investigation be ordered!" Fang Xuanling said solemnly, "A thousand-mile dike can be breached by an ant hole. This matter must be dealt with severely. The situation in Wannian County is so serious that he dared to embezzle fifty acres out of a hundred acres. And this is right under the emperor's nose. It is hard to imagine how serious the situation is in other places."

"A thorough investigation is necessary to prevent this from happening again!"

"We definitely need to investigate!" Li Shimin's face didn't show much expression. "However, let's check Wannian County first."

"Minister Chen, yesterday you beat someone and searched through the account books. Did you find anything?"

"Your Majesty, I have indeed uncovered some things, and they are all here. Please take a look." Chen Huai'an handed the prepared memorials and secret reports to Zhang Anan.

For some reason, he felt that Li Shimin was acting strangely today, as if he was holding back something big.

"..."