The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 596

When the people in Luoyang were wearing red and festoons and celebrating the new year, Xiangyang, the capital of Li and Tang Dynasties, seemed relatively deserted. On the cold streets, people were rarely seen walking, and even if they happened occasionally, they were in a hurry.

Ever since Li Yuan's Eastern Expedition failed and he withdrew to Xiangyang, the entire Emperor Li Tang was shrouded in a depressive uneasiness and turmoil. The most typical is the slowly rising prices. What is worrying is not only food, but all daily necessities are in Shanghai. From firewood, rice, oil and salt to basic necessities of life, the prices of various industries are rising.

In fact, this is an inevitable thing. Once a war breaks out, it will inevitably consume countless materials, such as food, meat, medicinal materials, pig iron, livestock, cloth and silk, etc., which must be supplied to the army in large quantities. As a result, there will naturally be fewer items circulating among the people. Yes, rare things are expensive, and price increases are a matter of course.Another reason is that a large number of Kaiyuan Tongbao poured into Xiangyang, which led to an increase in the prices of various materials. Although the Department of Commerce of the Sui Dynasty was operating here, it was more of the handiwork of the big players. These people hoarded a large number of copper ingots and When Li Yuan discarded old money such as Sui five baht and Daye money, everyone began to mint money one after another, and a large number of coins poured into the market where items were scarce, causing Kaiyuan Tongbao to depreciate faster.

However, after so many years of wars, the people seem to be forced to get used to the difficulties of life brought about by the war. However, the impact of Li and Tang's repeated defeats is not limited to prices. More importantly, it lies in the people's confidence in the Li and Tang Dynasty. When the Sui army approached the banks of the Han River and the Tang emperor returned to Xiangyang, this already meant that the Eastern Expedition launched by Li Tang's all-powerful power had completely failed. The streets and alleys and neighbors were full of dissatisfaction with the Tang army. This is the defeat of the war, and the second is that after the defeat, everyone's life is difficult, and everyone naturally blames the incompetent Li Tang court.It's just that in the minds of the common people, the 'imperial court' is a colossal entity, which cannot be provoked by ordinary people, so they can only complain quietly.

At noon on December [-]th!

As usual, the Weinan Restaurant in Xiangyang was crowded with officials from various ministries who came to eat. In a private room on the third floor, ten Beijing officials from the Ministry of War gathered for a drink.

These people's positions are not high. They are all low-level officials of the Ministry of War, such as Langzhong, Yuanwailang, Chief Bookkeeper, and Recorder. This year, the war has continued. Every family needs to be comforted and appeased. In addition, the Li and Tang courts followed up with the expansion of the army, so the Ministry of War is definitely the busiest department this year. The small officials like them almost broke their legs if they talked about it.Now that New Year's Eve is approaching, officials from other ministries are on holiday, but they are still too busy to touch the ground, and all of them are full of complaints.

Everyone ordered more than ten dishes and five pots of wine. While drinking and eating vegetables, they discussed government affairs and the current situation in a low voice.

Eat and eat.

A Yuanwailang asked softly: "Mr. Shen, you have the most extensive sources of information. How is the situation outside the battle? I only heard that King Zhaojun is in Chongling, but there is no news about whether to fight or not. , is it just a confrontation like this?"

The official named Shen Shijun is Shen Qian, a child of the Shen family in the south of the Yangtze River. He is about [-] years old. He is the doctor of the driving department in the Ministry of War. He is the highest-ranking person in the room. , often able to get some top-secret news from the court.

Everyone's expectant expressions satisfied Shen Qian's vanity and made him feel that if he didn't reveal some information, he couldn't show his superiority and connections.

Shen Qian drank the wine in his glass, and said with a sneer: "What are you talking about about King Zhao Jun now? This happened hundreds of years ago. Let me tell you, the Sui Dynasty did something big."

"My lord, what did the Sui Dynasty do?"

Everyone looked at Shen Qian, full of nervousness and anticipation. The nervousness was because Li Tang would be the next one to mess with if there was any movement in the Sui Dynasty. As for the anticipation, it was naturally the desire to know about the unknown.

Shen Qian hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "This matter was strictly sealed by the imperial court. In order to prevent anyone from bringing this news to Xiangyang, the Holy Majesty even sent troops to set up a card to prevent business travelers from entering."

Everyone was even more curious.

"I just heard something by chance, and I can reveal it to everyone, but you can listen to what you hear, and you must not go out and talk nonsense, otherwise, it will be as simple as losing your job." Shen Qian solemnly confessed.

"Don't worry, my lord, we all know it well."

"It is said that Yang Tong summoned civil servants in Luoyang to discuss important military affairs. In order to ensure a big victory in the coming year, he decided to expand the army by 50 and recruit 20 slaves from various mining areas. If the expansion is successful, plus the original ten legions, and The county soldiers in various places, the Sui Dynasty will have more than a hundred and nearly two hundred troops."

Everyone was shocked when they heard the words!

The Sui and Tang Dynasties have fought for many years. Li Tang's troops have always had the upper hand, but they have always been defeated miserably. If an army of one million and nearly two million came to attack Li Tang, Li Tang must have at least one million troops to resist. ?

As a member of the Ministry of War, everyone knows that Li Tang's defenses are leaking everywhere and must be defended everywhere. The equipment, combat power, morale and fighting will of Li Tang are inferior to human beings. The powerful attack of the army.

"Then how did the court decide?" an official asked stammeringly.

"You ask me, who do I ask? It is estimated that the Tai Chi Hall is in an urgent discussion, and no one is in the mood to eat."

"This Tang Dynasty is in danger." Shen Qian muttered again, drank the fine wine in his glass, put the wine glass on the table, and said angrily: "If the imperial court doesn't make up its mind to restructure, I don't think there will be any change next year." Can't make it through."

"Next year?" Another young man snorted, "If it wasn't for the approaching winter and the Sui army didn't take advantage of the victory to pursue, I don't think this year will last."

The one who said this was Dugu Ming, the concubine son of the Dugu Clan, whose status in the family was not high. If it wasn't for the name of the Dugu Clan, he wouldn't even be a military secretary. Since he was a child, he lived in a prosperous family, and his knowledge is also extraordinary.

Although these small officials are in the imperial court, they are actually representatives of public opinion, because ordinary people can't recognize a few characters in Dou Da. The gangsters who hacked came in, and whoever ruled the world or became the emperor didn't care.

Only those with a bit of experience and knowledge and a bit of family background will be free to care about and discuss military and state affairs, and only such people can truly represent the public opinion of a country.

"It's true. People in the imperial court are panicking now. Although many officials don't do anything, they sit together to discuss the current situation all day long. The series of major events that have happened in recent years are indeed too frustrating, and they are being talked about everywhere now."

Dugu Ming spoke the truth, since the failure of the Eastern Expedition, the army of the Sui Dynasty suppressed the border, the whole court, the people inside and outside the court felt uneasy.Some children of aristocratic families who have nothing to do gather together all day long to discuss the current situation.

Shen Qian sighed and said: "Actually, there is still hope for me in Tang Dynasty, but I have to learn how geckos cut off their tails to survive."

"That's the envoy's idea. I don't think there is any hope." Dugu Ming sneered, and said: "A court that has been defeated repeatedly, and even the land of Longxing and the capital was easily breached by the Sui army. Where? Everyone can go to Xiangyang to inquire about it. Who would say that there is hope for the Tang Dynasty? It’s more than 200 yuan, and it’s still soaring. What about Luoyang, Daxing, and Yecheng? The selling price of Dasui Supply and Marketing Cooperative is [-] yuan per bucket of rice, and the difference in grain prices is about seven times.”

Although Dugu Ming's words were somewhat reasonable, everyone dared not accept them, and one person smoothed things over and said, "Mr. Shen said just now that I still have hope in the Tang Dynasty. Can you tell me about it?"

Shen Qian tasted a glass of wine, and then said slowly: "As long as you find out where the crisis of the Tang Dynasty is, you can prescribe the right medicine."

"Please tell me, Your Majesty." A person picked up the jug and poured him a glass of wine.

"After the Battle of Bingzhou that year, the court discussed the reasons why the Tang army was unwilling to fight to the death. The final conclusion was that the reason why the army was unfavorable in fighting was due to unfair rewards. Less than [-]% of the pensions actually went to the families of ordinary soldiers. Later His Royal Highness said that the crisis of the Tang Dynasty is actually land. As long as a soldier has a field, he will have a concern. In order to protect his field and house from being taken away by the Sui army, he fought bravely. At that time, everyone said The Sui Dynasty's land equalization system was to be implemented, and the system of raising the army with high salaries was implemented. But after so many years, there is no news. As far as I know, the Sui Dynasty is now implementing the land equalization system on a large scale in the Central Plains, Qingzhou, and Jingyang. One person can In order to encourage the people to move to the north and prosper the sparsely populated counties such as Fanghan, Jincheng, Lingwu, and Wuyuan, as long as the people are willing to settle down here, the court will not only provide food and lodging along the way, but also provide food and lodging for each person. Fifty mu of land was distributed. What is the shortcoming of my Tang Dynasty? The reason is that the government has no land to distribute to the people and soldiers."

"Is there no land in Bashu?" the man said unconvinced.

"Bashu really doesn't have any extra land." Shen Qian glanced at Dugu Ming and said with a smile: "Jizhou, Qingzhou, Central Plains, and Yongliang have experienced years of large-scale wars. In the past ten years, those places have died. There are too many people, and there is no land everywhere, so there is plenty of land to distribute in the Sui Dynasty. Just because of this, many people fled to the land under the Sui Dynasty, hoping to get a piece of land to survive. There is no major turmoil in Bashu , the land is owned by the owner, the imperial court can't take the owner's land and distribute it to others! There will be big troubles."

Dugu Ming sighed silently. He was an official in the court from the Bashu Manor of the Dugu Clan, so of course he knew about this problem; It is clean and can be distributed to the common people to buy people's hearts.It can also attract people from all over the country to join them. With a large population, not only taxes, money and food are abundant, but also the source of soldiers is very abundant. Then, huge taxes are used to support the army with high salaries, and the soldiers will naturally use their lives.

In contrast, the Li and Tang dynasties had no extra land in their hands, and only a little land was distributed to the clan and royal relatives and various families. As a result, the land equalization system could not be implemented, and many soldiers from Guanzhong, Central Plains, and Jianghuai seemed to have no roots. Duckweed was also ostracized by the locals, fearing that they would seize their own land. They followed the imperial court to Xiangyang, but the imperial court did not give them any protection, making them like refugees. The soldiers were worried that their relatives would not be able to get enough food and clothing, blamed the court for not giving them land, resented their superiors for exploiting them, and were even more afraid that after their death, their families would starve to death. So how could the Tang army have morale?How could it be possible to defeat the high-spirited Great Sui Dynasty?

Shen Qian also said: "The only hope for my Tang Dynasty now is to seize some land from the powerful, distribute it to the landless people, and appease the soldiers, so as to stimulate the will of the people at the bottom to defend their homes and the country. Otherwise, we can still count on the powerful to carry the land. Wouldn’t it be possible to protect the Tang Dynasty with a sword? If we get to that point, I’m afraid that the first ones to surrender will be these dignitaries.”

Dugu Ming frowned.

In his opinion, the theory of seizing power and nobles and distributing land to the people is simply a big joke. If the court really wants to do this, civil strife will immediately unfold in the Li and Tang dynasties. When the Sui army arrives, this fragile court will not fight And crash.

"boom!"

Just when Dugu Ming was about to appear on the stage to refute, the door of the private room was kicked open, and a dozen soldiers in black armor and white robes with swords across their waists rushed in.

Seeing the outfits of these soldiers, everyone's expressions changed drastically.

These people belonged to the Wuchuan Division, which was created by Li Yuan after he withdrew from Nanyang, and was in charge of Qi Wang Li Yuanji.The original intention of its establishment was to attack and arrest all kinds of secret agents who sneaked into Datang.

The Wu Chuan Division was developed by Li Yuanji on the basis of the assassination supervision organization 'One Eye'. It was originally a force that walked in the dark, but after Li Yuanji took over, it went from darkness to sunlight. The fine work was mostly used to supervise the officials of the dynasty, and later the power was further expanded to supervise the army and civilians.After several months of development, it quickly became a spy agency inside and outside the supervision.

Most of the members of the Wuchuan Division come from Li Yuanji's Xinjun. This division consists of three parts: the military office, the prison and the barracks. Except that the barracks are still located in the Xinjun barracks, the other two are not far from the Qi Palace.

In the past few months, Wu Chuansi arrested many people who talked about government affairs, most of them went in vertically and came back lying down.

Every day before noon, the people of Xiangyang would come to hear the sound of bang bang gongs on the street, and then they would see the soldiers of Wu Chuan Division escorting the "spies" to be beheaded. The reason is that since the establishment of the Wu De Division, this kind of thing has happened every day, causing the people of Xiangyang to sew up their mouths, for fear that if they are not careful, disaster will come out of their mouths and the family will suffer.

In just a few months, Commander Wuchuan was terrified, and his prison was called hell.Especially after the Eastern Expedition ended, Li Yuan was worried that people would be confused, so he asked Li Yuanji to strengthen the supervision of the people in Xiangyang.

Under Li Yuan's acquiescence, Li Yuanji was unscrupulous. I don't know how many people were killed and their families were ruined. The screams and screams came from the "hell" all day and night, making that area feel like hell, and many residents were scared to move out. , covering an extremely wide area, no one lives there anymore.

The soldiers of the Wuchuan Division were all survivors of Li Yuanji's cruel training. They were already very cruel, but under Li Yuanji's indulgence, they were like devils out of a cage. Every day they arrested people who slandered and betrayed the court. Officials, the power is terrifying.Not only can arrest people at will, break into houses at will, but also execute officials and people below the seventh rank at will.

They are distributed in every corner of Xiangyang every day, monitoring everyone's words and deeds.A group of people pretended to sneak into various high-end restaurants, brothels, and teahouses, eavesdropping on the conversations between officials and ordinary people, and some of them wore standard armor and robes to arrest people.

The Weinan Restaurant is a place where officials gather, and it is the focus of Wu Chuansi's supervision. It happened that Wu Chuan was eating next door, and he heard the group of military officials discussing the government and there were many voices of dissatisfaction, so they did not wait for the group responsible for arresting them. When the person arrived, he hurriedly changed into the standard armor that he carried with him, and broke down the door to arrest him.

The captain at the head pointed at Shen Qian, and said loudly: "Discussing the state affairs indiscriminately, uttering unruly words, arrest them all!"

Shen Qian, Dugu Ming and others said angrily: "Are you making a mistake? We are not spies, but officials of the Military Department of the Tang Dynasty!"

The school lieutenant held up a gold order, and said coldly: "Wu Chuansi is ordered by the emperor to monitor all officials, and anyone who dares to make false comments on the court will be arrested and investigated. I will arrest all of them. If you dare to resist, it will be regarded as treason and will kill everyone." amnesty."

"Here!"

The burly warriors rushed forward and tied the military officials like rice dumplings. Shen Qian shouted: "We didn't slander the imperial court, you can't arrest people randomly."

"If you have something to say, you can explain it to the Wude military office, and take it away with me!" Seeing this group of civil servants who were usually aloof, he was so frightened that he trembled, the captain was extremely disdainful.

After this group of weak officials were kidnapped, the officials who ate at the Weinan restaurant were in an uproar. Although they knew that Wu Chuansi had acted out of line, he did not expect to be so arrogant that he publicly arrested officials. But now, no one dares to cause trouble. , can only silently watch these unlucky military officials being escorted into a sealed and windowless carriage.

Looking at the carriage going away, everyone's heart was very heavy. Since the Sui Dynasty, the imperial court has always maintained freedom of speech, and there is a special box for anonymous reporting, which is used to report criminals to officials and people who do not want to cause trouble.In this regard, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty did a very good job, and it was not a show in name only. As long as there was a letter of report, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty would read it carefully and ask people to investigate it. , and if it is found to be true, it will be severely punished.

The most typical representative is the son of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, King Yang Jun of Qin. Because of his extravagant life, he built a palace privately and robbed the people of good land and property. He was reported anonymously by the people.Some ministers advised him, and Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty said: "The law must not be violated."After Yang Jun was poisoned to death by his concubine, his Liao Zuo asked for orders to erect a monument for him, but Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty refused to agree, and said: "If you want to be famous, a volume of history books is enough, so why use a monument? Make stone ears with others." Since Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty strictly enforced the rule of law, the officials feared, so that the crimes of corruption were relatively reduced, which was somewhat beneficial to the people.

This regulation is still popular in the Sui Dynasty until now, and has been further expanded. Except for Luoyang, Daxing, Yecheng, and Zhuojun, each county has an anonymous reporting box.Therefore, speech in the Sui Dynasty was quite free.

In the Tang Dynasty, although there was no anonymous reporting box, there was no decree prohibiting speech, and it was normal for officials to chat and complain a few times during meals. Even if people said they wanted to kill people, it was only for a while It's all too soon, and I don't really want to do that.But now, not only are complaints not allowed, government affairs are not allowed to be discussed in private.If this situation continues, I am afraid that even the gathering of friends and colleagues will be punished in the future. When did the court they are loyal to become so dark?

For a while, the Weinan wine shop became dead silent.

The officials didn't even dare to eat, one by one rushed to check out, and went their separate ways.

(End of this chapter)