The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 232

"I want to wipe out the powerful and powerful in Guanlong, but I know I can't. Because my Tang Dynasty can't bear the price of chaos in Guanzhong! Therefore, I can only ignore the contradictions between the aristocratic families and the people at the bottom."

Li Yuan lost his temper, and then said very solemnly, "Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, wars have continued, and the court's money and food have been on the verge of collapse. In the south, all the flags and drums must be quieted, and the people's livelihood should be recuperated. A Tang Dynasty with a united heart and great morale should deal with the threat of the Sui army!"

Li Jiancheng stood up and said in harmony: "Father is absolutely right. When I visited the market, I really felt that the people are tired of war and afraid of war. Now morale is low. Father advocates that the truce is a move that conforms to the hearts of the people and the army. My son firmly agrees." .”

When Li Shimin saw that Li Yuan was about to give up the good situation in Hexi, he said anxiously: "Father, now Liang Shidu and the Xue brothers are extremely weak, and it is the best time to get through Hexi. Most of the horses in my Tang army are already old. , it is time to change horses. If we miss this opportunity, we will have no cavalry in the Tang Dynasty. How will we deal with the cavalry of the Sui Dynasty? Father, brother, the source of horses in Hexi is very important. Threatening to give up this good opportunity, if Master Liang and the others recover, they will become a burden to Datang again."

Li Jiancheng saw his father's gloomy face without saying a word, and he knew very well that his father's livelihood and recuperation were all excuses. In fact, to put it bluntly, he was frightened by Yang Tong's beating.However, Li Jiancheng himself was quite opposed to fighting, as the burden of war on the court was too heavy.Quickly persuaded Li Shimin: "Second brother, of course Father doesn't want to, but now we need to consider the overall situation. The truce with Liang Shidu and the others is only temporary. We can fight again when we have enough strength."

In the past, Li Yuan always felt that the Tang Dynasty had Guanzhong, Longyou, Bashu, and Jingxiang. It had an army of more than [-] and was powerful. Even if it was defeated by the Sui Dynasty, it would only be temporary.

But ever since he saw with his own eyes that Yang Tong led [-] cavalry in Guanzhong, and even burned the palace city to the ground, he was really afraid of Yang Tong, so he wanted to release the elite army. by your side.

"What do you mean by waiting for enough strength? Don't we have enough strength? Guanzhong now has 25 troops, and there is the danger of Xiaoguan. Isn't it enough to defend against Yang Yu?" Li Shimin was a little annoyed, and his voice became severe. , He begged Li Yuan: "Father, as long as you have an army of [-], you can take the whole of Hexi after the spring."

Seeing that Li Yuan was showing signs of getting angry, Li Jiancheng said: "This year's grain harvest is poor, the tax is only half of last year, and it was burned by Yang Tong. Even if Dugu and Dou donated some, they still can't satisfy the court and officials. For the daily expenses of the team, we originally had surplus food in Guangtong warehouse to support the year-end Lumi payment, but whether in Hexi or the south, we have sacrificed many soldiers. I calculated that the food in Guangtong warehouse was used for pensions There are not enough soldiers killed in battle! The second brother is the leading general, so he should know the serious consequences of insufficient pensions. We have hundreds of thousands of troops, but daily support has become a heavy burden for us. What will happen if you get into a stalemate in Hexi ? We really can't fight anymore, because we can't afford the consequences of defeat, even a stalemate."

Li Shimin suddenly turned off the fire, and Li Jiancheng's words hit the point. Even the money and food to support daily expenses are difficult, so what should we use to fight?

After a long while, Li Shimin said: "Why don't we also implement the taxation of officials and gentry together! When the people see that the aristocratic families have also paid taxes, the people are also balanced. The contradictions between the aristocratic families and the low-level people will not shake the foundation of our Tang Dynasty. .”

The Guanlong nobles occupy [-] to [-]% of the fertile land in Guanzhong. They gave a lot of money, food and manpower support at the beginning of Li Yuan's army. Therefore, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan reciprocated and did not levy taxes on the manor land of the Guanlong nobles, and the Guanlong nobles also took out from time to time. A large amount of money and food was used to support the imperial court, and a tacit understanding was formed over time, that is, the Guanlong dignitaries replaced taxes with donations, and the amount of donations was much higher than taxes. , still needs to pay more things in return, and Guan Long's lifeline is choked, which makes Li Yuan very insecure.

On the issue of whether to levy taxes on the Guanlong noble manors, the father and son discussed many times in private. Li Jiancheng tended to maintain the status quo, but Li Shimin advocated taxing the land of the Guanlong nobles.

Li Yuan agrees with Li Jiancheng's prudent view, because he is also worried that the taxation of the Guanlong nobles will trigger a strong rebound from the Guanlong nobles, which will lead to the instability of the foundation of the newly established Tang Dynasty. For the sake of stabilizing the foundation, Li Yuan insisted on "donating A tacit agreement to replace taxes'.

It should be said that this statement is relatively reasonable and stable, and it really could not touch the interests of supporters at the beginning of the founding of the country.But what Li Shimin said is also reasonable. He believes that the later the taxation system is reformed, the greater the resistance will be, and the powerful Guanlong dignitaries will be further strengthened. Even if the world is unified in the end, Li Tang will be like the Sui Dynasty in the period of Yang Jian and Yang Guang , under the control of the Guanlong dignitaries everywhere!
But Li Yuan still did not change this tacit understanding. He believed that the territory of the Tang Dynasty would continue to expand, and then hand over unowned fertile land to the people, so that the tax revenue of the court would not be affected.

Unexpectedly, in the past few years, not only did the territory not expand, but even the land of Longxing and Bingzhou were lost, followed by defeats one after another, in exchange for huge compensations again and again!However, the taxes in Bashu need to prepare for the war against Xiao Xian, which makes the imperial court can only count on the taxes in Guanzhong, but [-] to [-]% of the fertile land in Guanzhong is occupied by the rich and powerful in Guanlong who are exempt from paying taxes. Li Tang's tax income this year is only half of last year, and still Li Yuan couldn't be in a hurry to be burned to pieces by Yang Tong.

After hearing what Li Shimin said, Li Yuan was also a little tempted, and asked Li Jiancheng: "What will happen if we change the tacit understanding of 'donations instead of taxes' and instead collect taxes from officials and gentry?"

Li Jiancheng said with a wry smile: "Father, if taxes are levied on the Guanlong family now, they will definitely not donate a penny or a grain of rice. And even if taxes are to be collected, it will not be a one-day effort, because not only the tax rate must be approved, Measuring the fields, you have to face all kinds of resistance. I don’t know that it will take until the year of the monkey to collect taxes. Even if the measurements are clear this year, you will not receive a grain of grain, and the court needs their assistance to solve the urgent need. Therefore, you can’t offend them The most urgent thing is to need their donations to make up for the lack of money and food from the court, not to tax them."

Li Yuan thought for a while, and felt that it made sense, and asked again: "Will they donate?"

"There is no lack of understanding people in the Guanlong family. They are very clear about the truth of the death of the lips and the coldness of the teeth, and they have no choice but to support my Tang Dynasty to the final victory. My son thinks that the Dugu family and the Dou family should be clear about the court. Difficulties, please mobilize the Guanlong family to support the imperial court. It is best to draw up a total amount and each family will claim it! In this way, it will be much more than their own donation. And this is just the first step!" Li Jiancheng said with a smile.

Li Yuan said: "What is the second step?"

"We have won successive victories in the south. If it wasn't for defending against the Sui army's invasion of Yang Tong and transferring back the southern army, maybe Xiao Gong would have taken the Jingxiang area! The successive victories in the south also made the Guanlong family feel good about it." I have confidence in the army of the Tang Dynasty." Li Jiancheng sighed regretfully, and continued: "We might as well split up each industry in Jingzhou's counties and sell them to the Guanlong family at a high price to operate them for ten years. Different prices are different!"

Li Shimin was amazed!Although it is still far away to conquer the south, but on the premise of seeing hope, the aristocratic family who are only interested in profit will not be tempted.At the same time, he also felt that he was much younger than his elder brother, which made him reflect.

Li Shimin was born in a general family. He learned the art of war and strategy since he was a child, and his martial arts and archery are all at the first-class level, but he only knows superficially about politics and doesn't understand the three flavors.Therefore, he did well in the army and was deeply loved by the soldiers.But in government affairs, he is always tied up, especially when it comes to dealing with people, he is even more ignorant and often offends people.

For example, Li Yuan's favorite concubine Yin De and Zhang Jieyu, as the emperor's favorite women, their role cannot be calculated in terms of material.Li Yuan was originally a person who couldn't bear the wind around his pillow, let them blow it numbly, and his whole body softened. As long as they asked for something, they would even pluck a star from the sky and give it to them.

However, Li Shimin was not politically savvy enough, so he offended Concubine Yin Defei and Zhang Jieyu to death.Because the world is not peaceful nowadays, the princes of all parties pay more attention to military merits, as long as they make military merits, they can be promoted easily, so Concubine Yin Defei and Zhang Jieyu wanted to put their relatives in the army and go to Li Shimin's command to make military merits, but Li Shimin was ashen-faced. Here, a group of trash who rely on women to become generals, won't they exhaust the entire army?Go dreaming you guys.

Also, Concubine Yin De's father took advantage of his daughter's favor and became Li Tang's head of state. The villain gained power, and since then he has been arrogant and domineering and lawless.The main street in front of the Guozhang Mansion is set as a pedestrian area, and anyone who passes by here must dismount and walk to show respect for the Guozhang.Some foreign officials and gentry did not know that they violated this rule, and they would be dealt with severely.Upon hearing this, Li Shimin, the shepherd of Yongzhou, immediately went to the door to arrest Guozhan, and punished him according to law.

This also made him, Li Shimin, offend Li Yuan's most trusted woman to death.

But Li Jiancheng is different, he has long known the huge energy contained in Concubine Yin Defei and Zhang Jieyu.Moreover, these two people have the same advantage, that is, they are beautiful like flowers, with big breasts and no brains, so as long as Li Jiancheng gets rare treasures, he will give them to them without hesitation.Li Jiancheng's dedication has also been rewarded generously. The two of them took it for granted to speak well for Li Jiancheng at a critical moment, and the effect was a thousand times better than fighting for it by themselves.

And Li Shimin now, after witnessing Li Jiancheng's performance, also feels that he should make up for his political skills, otherwise, sooner or later, everyone will be offended.

With this in mind, I will no longer mention the cancellation of the privileges of the Guanlong family!He decided to wait for Li Jiancheng to collect the food money before raising the war. Anyway, there are still two or three months before he can send troops to Hexi, and he can afford to wait.

Seeing that Li Shimin had no objection, Li Yuan nodded his head to show his approval of Li Jiancheng's approach, and then turned serious, and said to Li Jiancheng, "Draft a reasonable plan as soon as possible."

"Here!"

"By the way, the business of Lin Shihong's site is also sold!"

"..." Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were speechless.

(End of this chapter)