The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 598
"I pay homage to my father!" Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin came to the Imperial Study Room of the Wude Palace and saluted respectfully.

Seeing the second son coming, Li Yuan waved his hands and said, "Sit down!"

Seeing that their father was in high spirits, the two brothers couldn't help but look at each other, seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.The two looked away as soon as their eyes met, and they didn't speak. Although the conflict was only due to different ideas of governing the country, the tit-for-tat dispute created a rift in the fragile relationship and trust.

"Jiancheng, do you think the news that Yang Tong has expanded his army by 50 is true?" Li Yuan looked at Li Jiancheng, and Li Jiancheng was the only one who had contact with Yang Tong between the Li family and his son.

"Father!" Li Jiancheng sighed, and said with a wry smile: "He is really good at pretending, what he says is very honest, and what he does is on the bright side, but we are always fooled by him. To be honest, I can't guess whether it's true or not. But to me, Tang, it doesn't matter whether he really increased his troops by 50 or deliberately spread rumors."

The underlying meaning of Li Jiancheng's words is very obvious: Yang Tong is now fully dispatched, which is enough to deal with Li Tang. Whether he increases troops or not, the result will be the same.

Li Yuan nodded silently, and sighed: "Actually, from preparing to raise troops to entering the main pass, everything was in my calculations, but Yang Yu was an odd number. This person is really weird, or he was lucky, it seems The right time, the right place, and the right people, he has everything in place. Now the Sui Dynasty is stable inside and outside, and there are no enemies outside. But we don't have much time for the quasi-army to fight. If my prediction is correct, Yang Tong will definitely wait for the next day. After the beginning of spring, he will send troops immediately , Of course, this is not the scariest thing, the key is that we don't know what other schemes he has, but he can always see us as poor. Naturally, we will fight passively and adapt to the situation on the battlefield! But these are external troubles, so what are our internal troubles? If the internal troubles are not eliminated, how can we calm down the foreign troubles?"

Li Jiancheng was taken aback for a moment, then lowered his head helplessly. His father knew what the internal worries were, but he wanted him to talk about them. Obviously, he was quite dissatisfied with the recent performance of the big clans, which brought the topic here. I feel that now is not the time to break with the big clans, but if there are such people as the internal support of the Sui Dynasty, when the Sui army attacks again, the Tang Dynasty will be trapped internally and externally. "Internal worries mainly lie in two aspects. One is the aristocratic families. Among them, the Guanlong nobles are the most powerful. The children of various powerful families are either engaged in business or are officials or generals. They are extremely powerful. They are like emperors in the local area. As for the local government, I once told my father to take certain measures against them to limit their excessive expansion, but my father thought that they had meritorious support, so he couldn't bear to treat the meritorious officials lightly, so he adopted a tolerant policy, which led to them gradually monopolizing the big power. At all levels of military and political positions in the Tang Dynasty, they held political and military power; and in terms of the land they depended on for survival, they used the name of troubled times to secretly turn private soldiers into bandits, and slaughtered villages one by one at night. , the village’s fields became unowned, and by daylight the next day, these lands were assigned to their names.”

"There are such evil deeds?" Li Shimin, who was silent, was shocked.

"A lot, a lot!" Li Jiancheng said with a wry smile, "You have been stationed in Xicheng County for many years, don't you think there are no people fleeing north?"

"Yes! Because a large number of self-cultivating farmers fled to Hanchuan in Xicheng County, the population of the whole county has dropped sharply. It has reached the point where the imperial court's taxation has been seriously shaken. I have to set up a block to stop it." Li Shimin said.

"What about the vacated land, is it still abandoned by the imperial court?"

"Well, of course this is not deserted." Although Li Shimin has always been in charge of the army, ignoring people's livelihood and government affairs, he still knows that the grass growing in the fields is still rice.

"Now it has all become the land of the big clans." Li Jiancheng ignored Li Shimin, but said to Li Yuan: "Father, the big clans wantonly annexed the land and ran the manor, and because they don't need to pay taxes, the treasury is empty." , Gradually, it became the trend of splitting the soil to become the king and separatist rule, so that the government's government orders could not be effectively implemented in many cases. If this matter is taken seriously, it will become a huge disaster sooner or later."

Li Yuan smiled coldly, "The nobles of Guanlong are the foundation of my Tang Dynasty. They made a lot of contributions at the beginning of the uprising. Some preferential treatment is deserved. I have no objection, but if you can't keep your own place, then don't blame me. I'm welcome."

Li Jiancheng's words made Li Yuan more vigilant towards the big clans. Although Bashu is Li Tang's rear area, it has not been peaceful in the past few years. "Rebels" attacked villages from time to time. Bandit', can only be forced to become a refugee, and the brutal methods used by the major clans in Guanlong to return to the peak after losing Guanzhong, everyone agrees, and they all acquiesce in the behavior of other clans, and If they can't compete for more and better land, one and two are competing vigorously, slaughtering and expelling the local people who were born and bred, so as not to be occupied by others first. In this way, it is the innocent people who suffer.

Li Yuan is actually well aware of the shady methods of the Guanlongmen clan. Not only have these lands become the land of the big clans, but the people who are forced to wander are actually hidden by the clans. If these hidden people are released Come out, the imperial court increased the population of Bashu by at least nearly one million, which played a vital role in improving the imperial court's taxation.If you really want to do this, of course it will offend the Guanlongmen Clan, and it will violate their vital interests, so Li Yuan has been holding back for many years, but now the court has not only been reduced to the point where it cannot maintain its operation, it has even been subverted Even if he didn't want to, he would have to break with the seizing of the Guanlong dignitaries in advance.

"Tell me about the second one!"

"Here!" Li Jiancheng frowned, and said in a deep voice: "Recently, there has been a group of ferocious bandits in Bashu. There are Han people and Liao people. There are about ten thousand people! These people call themselves the Taihe Army. They are mysterious and haunted. The manors of the big clans are quite vicious. Anyone who is related to the big clans will be tortured, and then use the money and food they seized to help the refugees. They are very popular in Bashu. According to local reports, this too The number of peace troops has a tendency to expand."

"Taihe Army?" Li Yuan's face changed slightly, the number of more than [-] people made him vigilant.

"The word 'Taihe' looks a bit like Taoism. Could it be that the Taoists in Central Shu took the lead?"

"Not only like Taoism, but also the reign name of an emperor!"

"Emperor Wei Xiaowen."

"During the period of Emperor Xiaowen, in order to defend the capital Pingcheng, many military towns were established along the Great Wall, the most important of which were Wuchuan Town, Woye Town, Huaishuo Town, Fuming Town, and Rouhuang Town, collectively referred to as the Six Northern Towns. These six The town was an important military town in the Northern Wei Dynasty to resist the invasion of northern nomadic peoples. Most of the guards were noble relatives of the Tuoba family and virtuous officials of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the 17th year of Taihe, Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, which caused the status of the six northern towns to decline rapidly. At the same time, it also made the court The control over the six towns is rapidly weakening, and the generals of the six towns are ready to move, form cliques, form friendship with each other, and fight for power and profit with each other, becoming warlords. Yuwentai in Wuchuan town and Gao Huan in Huairou town have gradually risen and become the two most powerful separatist forces. Quickly dominated the political situation in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and then the famous "Twelve Generals of the Eight Pillars Kingdom" appeared. It can be said that the "17th Year of Taihe" has profound significance for the powerful and powerful in Guanlong!" At this point, Li Yuan's eyes were icy cold, and A trace of fear.

Li Jiancheng asked: "Father is saying that the so-called Taihe army is most likely the army of the Guanlong nobles?"

"Thieves shouting to catch thieves, planting blame, and annexing each other, don't they do too little?" Li Yuan's temples bulged from time to time, showing that he was extremely angry.

The Li brothers were terrified. They knew that their father was going to attack the nobles of Guanlong. This time, they were not only asking for money, food, and population, but also uprooting them like Yang Tong did. But Li Tang did not have the same good conditions as Yang Tong. , and there is not enough time to suppress the civil strife, because after the beginning of spring, the Sui army will invade on a large scale. If the Guanlong nobles are moved at this juncture, the consequences will be disastrous.

But the brothers knew very well in their hearts that the father deliberately led Li Jiancheng to say this, the purpose was to make the threat of the powerful officials in Guanlong clear.

In fact, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuan had discussed the issue of dealing with the powerful and powerful in Guanlong.

Since the Guanlong nobles gave Li Yuan a lot of money, food and manpower support at the beginning of the army, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan gave the Guanlong nobles the treatment of no taxation on the manor land, and the Guanlong nobles encountered difficulties in the Li Tang Dynasty. From time to time, they also spent a lot of money and food to support the Tang army in combat. After a long time, everyone formed a tacit understanding.

Just after the Battle of Guanzhong, Li Jiancheng and Xiao Yu went to the Sui Army camp to negotiate with Yang Tong in order to gain time to evacuate Daxing. Yang Tong not only gave him three days, but also talked with him a lot about Li Jiancheng deeply believed in the threat of the Kanto gentry to the imperial court and imperial power.

When he arrived in Xiangyang, he thought that the various privileges of the Guanlong dignitaries should be taken back, and the tacit donation should be replaced by normal tax payment. Considering stability, Li Yuan continued to implement the previous tacit understanding.

Li Yuan's considerations are actually very reasonable. Any dynasty would not dare to attack its supporters rashly at the beginning of the founding of the country, but Li Jiancheng believes that the later the reform is made, the more difficult it will be, and it will form a privileged group in the Tang Dynasty.

Li Yuan thought that the country of the Tang Dynasty would gradually expand, and the population and land would increase, so that the tax revenue of the court would not be affected, so he insisted on his point of view.Unexpectedly, the territory of Li Tang did not expand, but kept shrinking. Bashu is the back garden of Guanlong dignitaries, and the most fertile land of abundance is occupied by Guanlong dignitaries and local tyrants. And the Guandong gentry who settled in Bashu and the southern gentry practiced the brutal method of killing a village late and occupying the fields the next day, resulting in less and less land for the imperial court to collect taxes, and the tax revenue was also decreasing year by year.

In the past, the big families had nowhere to go, so they had to follow Li Tang all the way to the end. It was a relationship of prosperity and loss, so no matter whether Li Yuan asked for food, money or population, he would strongly support him, but with Yang Tong's release of reconciliation They saw Li Tang lingering, and his future was bleak. They all stopped supporting the Li Tang Dynasty's money and food one after another for fear of dissatisfying the new owner. , The army collapsed without a fight.From then on, Li Yuan had the idea of ​​mobilizing the powerful and powerful in Guanlong. When he was in Nanyang, he let Li Yuanji take over the 'eye'. In fact, he was collecting evidence of collaborating with the enemy. Seeing that the Guanlong dignitaries are becoming more and more presumptuous, coupled with the fear of their army, they have murderous intentions, even if they die, they must fight. If the Guanlong dignitaries can be wiped out before the Sui army breaks through, it is absolutely possible. Following the example of Liu Bei, he calmly retreated into Bashu, closed the country, and developed west and south.If you don't do this risky trick, you will surely die without life.
Li Yuan's mentality is actually to eat meat together when he has money, and to use his subordinates for surgery if he has no money. Who let the rich and powerful in Guanlong accumulate for more than a hundred years, and all of them are so rich that they will be slaughtered when the pigs are fattened. , Li Yuan asked his two sons in private, which was exactly the same as asking about the slaughtering skills.

Li Yuan let out a long sigh of relief. Guanlong's dignitaries are very powerful both in the military and in the local area, especially when they control the lifeblood of money and food, they have the confidence to wrestle with the imperial court.He said slowly: "It's not that we can't eliminate the Guanlong dignitaries, but that the foundation of the Tang Dynasty is very weak. If we forcibly eliminate them, the price will be too high for us to bear. But the Guanlong dignitaries are always a cancer, because they have a strong relationship with the fertile land. A large number of occupations prevents us from implementing the land equalization system and the government military system; they occupy a large number of officials and military officers, which prevents us from opening courses to recruit scholars. The reason why Yang Tong is successful is that he controls everything and can do whatever he wants This is the fundamental reason why the Sui army has repeatedly defeated us."

"Father still wants to compromise?" Li Jiancheng frowned upon hearing this.

"No! This time it will definitely not work." Li Yuan shook his head and said with a sneer: "Guanlong dignitaries have bet on Yang Yu, and it is very likely that they will cooperate with the Sui army. They are exactly the same, they are all ten dead and no life. So I have to strike first to be strong."

The "Twelve Generals of the Eight Pillars Kingdom" established by Yu Wentai is actually similar to the tribal system on the grassland. Since its establishment, the struggle between the nobles in Guanlong and the imperial power represented by the "Twelve Generals of the Eight Pillars Kingdom" has been going on and on. It's never been broken, the Yuwen family was defeated, the Yang family was defeated, and now it's Li Tang's turn, and the contradiction between the two has reached the point where they cannot coexist.

Li Shimin pondered for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "Royal father, I don't have to worry about anything else, but I'm afraid that something will happen to the army."

The nobles of Guanlong started their family with military power, military power and the army are their heirloom weapons, just like the family education of famous families, family education is the key to their cultivation of children and disciples, and the construction of a huge bureaucratic network. Giving up family education is equivalent to giving up the inheritance of interests , and for the Guanlong dignitaries, giving up the army is tantamount to giving up the weapons to protect their family wealth. Once they lose the army, they can only be slaughtered.

But allowing the rich and powerful in Guanlong to raise private troops was the price Li Yuan paid for their support, but it became the biggest obstacle for them to stabilize the country's foundation.This is exactly the same as Yang Jian back then, except that after Yang Guang's repeated fights and Yang Tong's direct suppression, the military influence of the Guanlong dignitaries Li Yuan faced has been much weaker.

"It doesn't matter, as long as their generals are supervised! Get rid of these people, and then select grass-roots military officers in a way that can be superior and mediocre, and the morale of the army will be completely changed. As for the officials, I will let Wu Chuan die Surveillance."

"Can I do something?" Li Jiancheng asked.

"You two can monitor Guanlong officials and military officers separately, and leave the rest to me."

"Here!" The Li brothers responded.

"I'll leave the military and political aspects to you, and absolutely no one can be left behind. Also, only our father and son know about this matter, and we can't reveal a word to others. I will wipe them all out and eliminate future troubles forever." Li Yuan said I am smarter when I go back to school, unlike the last time when I wanted to move the capital, I let the wind out first and made me very passive.

"Please rest assured, my son, I will start preparations today."

"It is said that many refugees are coming to Xiangyang?" Li Yuan asked again.

"Exactly!" Li Jiancheng sighed, and said in a low voice: "People's lives are already difficult. When encountering snowstorms, their lives are unsustainable, and they run to Xiangyang to survive. These people are mainly from Fangling, Jingling, Yi According to statistics, there are more than 30 people in the three prefectures of Lingling. Including the people who came from Nanyang, there are more than 40 people affected by the disaster. They all need relief from the court. If we don’t do something, these people may freeze to death and starve half dead."

Thinking that many of the victims suffering from hunger and cold would die during the Chinese New Year due to the lack of relief from the government, Li Jiancheng showed a look of unbearable expression, and his heart was pierced like a knife.

Li Yuan's expression was also very dignified, he was silent for a while, looked at Li Shimin and said: "Erlang! Immediately lead the troops to set up tents to resettle the victims, select young and strong to join the army, so that as long as they meet the requirements, they will be paid according to the standard of county soldiers. And promised to distribute grain seeds for them to go home to plant in the spring. The old, weak, sick and disabled will temporarily use military rations to help the people tide over the difficulties."

"Here!" Li Shimin was overjoyed. The heavy snow had lasted for a long time, and the old and the weak would probably have died in the ice and snow. With the 40 or [-] refugees who persisted until now, at least [-] to [-] new recruits could be selected. He himself is giving charcoal in a timely manner.

Li Yuan said to Li Jiancheng again: "If Jiancheng stays here, I still have something to say to you."

"My son, leave!" Li Shimin bowed to his father and brother respectively, and left.

Only Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng, father and son, were left in the imperial study room. Li Yuan asked, "You have been in power for so many years, do you have any experience with Yang Tong's land equalization system?"

"I talked about this with Yang Tong in Guanzhong back then, and he asserted that we couldn't implement it." Li Jiancheng said with a wry smile.

Li Yuan was a little curious: "What did he say?"

Li Jiancheng recalled it seriously, and said: "Yang Tong said that the land is the lifeblood of everyone, and it is difficult for the powerful to hand over their land and population. Anything is fine. But my Great Tang is the place where aristocratic families are concentrated. Just relying on an order will not help at all, and there must be real means."

"What means?"

The reason why Li Yuan is very concerned about this matter is that this time he wants to deal with the powerful officials in Guanlong who have military power. The people in the Guandong gentry and the southern gentry rely on nothing but the foundation of classics and righteousness.Their existence has little influence on the imperial court. If the imperial court gets rid of the powerful and domineering Guanlong dignitaries, these people will raise their hands and cheer, which means that [-]% of the official positions will be allocated to them.

Li Mi once also promoted the land equalization system in Xuzhou, which was unanimously resisted by the officials of all counties and counties. The reason is that most of these people are the children of the Dongguan gentry. The national security is in danger, and it will be nothing in the end.On the contrary, it was Du Fuwei and Wang Shichong who copied Yang Tong's method and began to fight local tyrants to divide the land, and the result was quite good.

Li Tang’s situation is very similar to Li Mi’s. Even the nobles in Guanlong, the gentry in the Guandong and the South, and the relatives of the emperor, so the situation of land and population is extremely complicated. There are not only rewards from him, but also many private purchases, and others. Many of them were obtained by Tucun. If he wants to implement the land equalization system, it will definitely violate the interests of many people.Therefore, he wanted to hear how Yang Tong did it, and hoped to learn from it the experience of the Sui Dynasty.

Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly and shook his head: "It is still difficult for us to implement Yang Tong's method."

"You just say it, what method is it?"

"His method is very simple and straightforward. He used brutal means to overthrow the family, and included servants and family members into the official household registration, followed by measurement and distribution." Li Jiancheng glanced at the speechless father, and then said: "If we implement this strategy, we must first touch To clear up the situation of the land, we must know who occupies how many people and land, and then target it accordingly. Fortunately, we are targeting all the powerful officials in Guanlong. We need to re-measure the unreceived manor fields and allocate them one by one. It is not difficult to do this step But the key is that the supervision must be in place, otherwise there will be unfair distribution. As long as you accumulate experience, it will be easy in the future. Mu' system was also popularized, and then extended to self-cultivating farmers, gradually affecting the families of various families, "

Li Yuan nodded again and again and said: "Yes, you can first draw up a detailed implementation plan. As long as our side succeeds, we will promote it under the rule. By the way, we urgently need money and food to maintain the court and the army, and relieve the victims. You go Let’s go to Dou’s mansion and visit Prime Minister Dou. Ask him to come forward to contact Dugu and the old Xiangguo to find out how much they can offer and what they want.”

Compared with the old fox Duguzheng, Li Yuan believed in the Dou family more, and chasing profit and making multiple bets is the survival instinct of the family members. Throughout the ages, there is no exception. When Li Tang was not on the verge of extinction, Guan Long under the rule of Tang The powerful will never tear themselves apart from him.

"I obey!" Li Jiancheng knew that it would not take a day or two to plot against the powerful and powerful in Guanlong, and now there are hundreds of thousands of people in urgent need of relief, and now he can only continue to compromise, which will also have the effect of paralyzing the powerful and powerful in Guanlong.

(End of this chapter)