Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"Two million grain and rice, one million cloth? It seems that your imagination is still relatively lacking!" Wang Wenzuo thought to himself, probably if this man saw that after the Tang Dynasty lost taxes on Hebei a few decades later, he would rely on Jiangnan and Huaihe The taxes in Shuzhong can be used to pacify the vassal towns internally and fight the Tibetan Uighurs externally, but at the same time, the two capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang are extravagant and extravagant, and they can only shout about their awesomeness and surrender.

Seeing Wang Wenzuo's silent expression, Liu Peiji thought that he had said something wrong and offended the powerful general in front of him, and he became more and more worried: "Of course, those words just now were just from the lower officials. It’s just my humble opinion. If there are any mistakes, please forgive me, General!”

"Well, this is not a court. We are just chatting and passing the time waiting for Shizhong Pei to come. Is there anything right or wrong?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "But you just said that if the southeastern land can be developed well, it can only be done by Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong. By comparison, if you were appointed as the governor of a large southeastern state, what would you do to open up the fields and make the treasury rich?"

"Is this guy really going to drive me out of Chang'an and go to the south to be the governor of a state?" After hearing Wang Wenzuo's question, Liu Peiji couldn't help but feel a thump in his heart, but now that the matter was at this point, it was definitely impossible to turn back, so he bit He gritted his teeth and said:
"What the general doesn't know is that before he returns to Chang'an next time, he once served as a governor in Huzhou and a governor in Huizhou! In fact, the reason why the south is not as good as Hebei and other places at the moment is actually for one reason: lack of people. There are too few registered permanent residences! Huzhou and Huizhou are better. Like some southern states and counties, one state is as big as two or three counties in Hebei, but the registered permanent residence is less than half. When you leave the prefectures and counties, you can’t see where you look. Wherever you reach, you will find thorny land and vast wilderness. The villages are as few as morning stars, as if the sky was opened in ancient times. Even if there are people, they are like mountains and wild mountains. It is not easy to maintain such a place. How can we talk about opening up fields and rich treasury? "

After listening to Liu Peiji's complaints and analysis, Wang Wenzuo roughly guessed what the other party meant: On the surface, Liu Peiji was answering Wang Wenzuo's questions, but underneath his words, he was begging Wang Wenzuo not to kick him again. Going south to become a governor, obviously his life as a governor in the south during those years really scared him.However, from Liu Peiji's words, he also knew that the South at that time and the South in later generations were completely different things. Even Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Huzhou, which were famous land of plenty in later generations, looked completely different at that time:
At that time, the famous Hangjiahu Plain was still a wetland intertwined with lakes and swamps. There were many mosquitoes, epidemic diseases, and floods were common. The main population centers were in the mountains. The current Hangzhou city is still a mudflat, and it will be the land of Suzhou and Hangzhou in later generations. We have to wait until a large number of water conservancy projects were built over hundreds of years from the middle and late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties.The large-scale construction of water conservancy projects first requires people, but what is lacking in the southern states of the Tang Dynasty is people, especially those on the government roster who can be ordered to work and pay taxes. But the problem is that there are no people in the southern states and counties of the Tang Dynasty.

"Liu Shilang, according to your opinion, the biggest difficulty in the southern states and counties is the lack of people, right?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"That's right!" Liu Peiji nodded: "Of course this is not the only difficulty, but it is the biggest difficulty. There are ways to solve other difficulties, but no one has any solution!"

"Well said!" Wang Wenzuo raised his palms and smiled: "People are the foundation of everything. It's really good for Liu Shilang to have this insight. But I see that there is no shortage of people in Guanzhong, Hebei, Shandong and other prefectures and counties? Not only is there no shortage, it can even be said that there are too many people. Well, in many places, when men grow up, there are not enough acres of land to be granted to them. According to the court law, when a man reaches [-] years old, he should be granted [-] acres of land, [-] acres is a permanent estate, and [-] acres is a share of the land, and the common people Based on this, the rent is paid. But in fact, many places can only grant fifty, sixty, or even twenty or thirty acres of land, and some have no land at all. In this case, why not use these excess Wouldn’t it be inconvenient if more of the population moved to the south?”

"The general doesn't know something! In fact, the Tang Dynasty also had this kind of law!" Liu Peiji said with a wry smile: "The Tang Dynasty called places with many people and little land a narrow township, while places with few people and a lot of land were called wide townships. When granting land, So the people in the narrow township were granted the land in the wide township to equalize the number of people. But the narrow township and the wide township are generally adjacent prefectures and counties. There are thousands of miles from Guanzhong, Hebei to Jiangnan. The water, soil and customs are different, and the people may not necessarily be the same. Willing to move; secondly, in the assessment of state and county officials, the most important thing is the household registration number, and which official is willing to move the household registration in his hometown?"

After hearing Liu Peiji's words, Wang Wenzuo couldn't help but nod his head. As Liu Peiji said, under the ancient agricultural economy, farmers were unwilling to leave their hometowns and move far away unless there was no other way. If possible, the government did not want to have a population. Large-scale movements occurred, so various methods were used to fix people on the land.Several large-scale population migrations southward in ancient China were the result of large-scale wars in the north, such as the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, the Yongjia Rebellion, the Anshi Rebellion, the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, etc. The result of each war was large-scale destruction of northern society and productivity. , and at the same time, the northern refugees who went south also brought a large amount of manpower and advanced production technology.Under such circumstances, even Wang Wenzuo himself had no way to force large numbers of people to move south.

"Servant Pei is here!" Murong Miao came in from outside and whispered in his ear.Wang Wenzuo nodded, stood up and walked to the door. He raised his hands to Pei Judao who was coming towards him and said with a smile: "I'm sorry for disturbing you late at night, Mr. Pei!"

"It's okay?" Pei Judao was also a sensible person and said straight to the point: "What happened in the palace?"

"The Queen is dead, and the Emperor was frightened and fainted!" Wang Wenzuo lowered his voice and made an inviting gesture: "Shilang Liu, please bring some tea!"

"Yes!" Liu Peiji knew that Wang Wenzuo had something private to say to Pei Judao. He didn't want to hear it himself, so he hurriedly responded and went out.As soon as the two of them sat down, Pei Judao asked, "Is your Majesty okay?"

"Your Majesty is well!"

Pei Judao let out a long breath and showed a look of relief. It was obvious that he didn't care about the life and death of Li Zhi and his wife. Wang Wenzuo sneered in his heart and pushed a clean teacup in front of Pei Judao: "It's windy outside, so take a sip of hot tea first." Warm yourself up!”

Pei Judao ran all the way over and was already thirsty. He drank the tea in one gulp: "What happened? Why did the Supreme Empress die suddenly? Was it an emergency? Why don't I remember what illness she had? "

"He didn't die of illness, he was killed!" Wang Wenzuo filled Pei Judao's tea cup: "The one who did it was Princess Yiyang. Her motive was to avenge her mother. After the incident was completed, she also committed suicide by taking poison!"

"Princess Yiyang? Revenge for your mother? No wonder!" Pei Judao sighed with a relieved expression.Wang Wenzuo even doubted whether this old man would have said, "Just for this, you called me here in the middle of the night?" Obviously, this old guy has no interest in the shitty things in the Li family's crotch. The only thing he cares about is his emperor. Son-in-law, this was originally a good character of a prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, but it's a pity that his daughter was so incompetent, otherwise Wang Wenzuo really didn't want the emperor to change his position, so it would be better to do it in life than in practice!

"Since this is the case, the late emperor's tomb must be prepared as soon as possible. After dawn, I will find the Minister of Rites and others to discuss it! Yawn!" Pei Judao muttered, probably because he was too tired. He yawned in front of Wang Wenzuo, and he hurriedly smiled bitterly and said: "It makes the general laugh. When people get old, their bodies are no longer useful. Please forgive me for the rudeness!"

"Your Majesty, there is no need to be so polite. I might not be as good as you when I reach your age!" Wang Wenzuo laughed. He believed that Pei Judao was not lying just now. He referred to the still-living Li Zhi as the "first emperor". Such a mistake was not It would happen under normal circumstances.

"By the way, you should have met His Majesty. He should be very sad now, right?" Pei Judao finally grasped the point.

"Mother and son are connected. Your Majesty is a most filial person, so naturally you are extremely sad!" Wang Wenzuo sighed: "After I entered the palace, I drank a few glasses of wine with him, and my Majesty has already fallen asleep!"

"That's good, that's good!" Pei Judao breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately showed a look of envy: "General Wang, at this time, I can let His Majesty sleep for a while, so as not to be overly sad and the only one who gets hurt!" Hahahaha!" After Wang Wenzuo heard what Pei Judao said, he looked at the other party strangely and burst out laughing. Pei Judao was made a little guilty by Wang Wenzuo's sudden laughter and asked: "General, is there anything wrong with what I said? ?”

"Yes, yes, it's so right!" Wang Wenzuo finally stopped laughing. He looked at Pei Judao from top to bottom, and finally said: "Shizhong Pei, to be honest, I didn't get along with you very happily at the beginning. It's just for the sake of the emperor and the court that I will give in to you on many things. But as we spend more and more time together, my opinion of you gradually changes for the better. Do you know why? "

Pei Judao was confused when he heard this. He shook his head: "I don't know!"

"Compared to some people, you have to be reasonable and it's much easier to deal with!"

"Compared to some people, are you more reasonable?" Pei Judao was confused by Wang Wenzuo's words. He wanted to ask, but he felt it was inappropriate, but Wang Wenzuo just laughed without explaining the truth. He gradually felt that He was also a little annoyed: "The general is talking like this, is he trying to tease me!"

"No, no!" Wang Wenzuo waved his hand: "That's not the case. What I just said was definitely from the bottom of my heart. You will understand what I mean in a few days!"

Pei Judao glanced at Wang Wenzuo and felt that he didn't seem to be teasing him, so he snorted: "Well, then you called me here tonight just for this matter?"

"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "If this matter spreads out, it will really harm the dignity of the Tian family, so I plan to keep it secret and say that the Supreme Empress died of a sudden serious illness. Her Royal Highness the Princess is not that To draw attention to herself, we can postpone her death for a while and try not to let outsiders discover the connection between the two. What do you think?"

"Yes!" Pei Judao thought for a moment and nodded: "The general has considered it very carefully, let's do it like this!"

Wang Wenzuo and Pei Judao unified their thoughts, immediately called Liu Peiji from outside, and began to prepare to issue an edict. They rushed to finish all kinds of trivial matters before dawn, and then they went to the side courtyard to take a nap. Just now After sleeping for more than an hour, Wang Wenzuo was woken up by Sancho.

"what's up?"

"The Emperor has an edict to announce your entry into the palace!"

Wang Wenzuo let out a long breath, climbed up with difficulty, scrubbed a few times, and went to Tai Chi Palace.When he saw Li Hong, he was startled. His eyes were red, his face was pale, and he looked quite ugly. Didn't he get some sleep after he left last night?

"What's wrong? Sanlang?" Li Hong picked up the cup, took a sip of water, and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Your Majesty's face looks very bad!" Wang Wenzuo decided to tell the truth: "Did you not sleep after I left last night?"

"No!" Li Hong shook his head: "I was lying on the bed but couldn't fall asleep, so I called the palace maid outside and asked her to serve her for a while. Until dawn, I couldn't sleep anymore. I thought of something and asked Sanlang You have come to the palace!"

"Your Majesty!" Wang Wenzuo looked at Li Hong and smiled bitterly: "This matter of men and women is not something that an outsider should talk about. But everything in this world should be controlled, even drinking water, drinking too much It won’t be good if you eat it. You still have to take care of your health!”

When Li Hong heard what Wang Wenzuo said, he looked embarrassed: "I know it, and I will pay attention to it in the future. I summoned you to the palace to let you think about your abolition!"

"Deposed Queen? So soon?" Wang Wenzuo was surprised: "There's no need to be in such a hurry, right?"

"No, after you left last night, I thought carefully about it. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that the queen's face was disgusting and she was really not suitable to preside over the palace. I no longer want to see her face again!" Li Hong waved his hand to stop her. Wang Wenzuo tried to dissuade him: "You said last night that if you want to depose the queen, you should first figure out who the successor will be! I plan to make Yang Sijian's niece my queen!"

"Yang Sijian's niece?" When Wang Wenzuo heard this sentence coming from Li Hong's mouth, Wang Wenzuo was not surprised at all: "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter who you want to make your queen, but I suggest that it is best not to make Yang Sijian's niece right away. For the sake of the queen, after all, the Supreme Empress has just passed away. If you change the empress, you will set a bad example for the world. It is better to welcome Yang Sijian's niece into the palace before the news of the Supreme Queen's death comes out. She will be given the title of a concubine, and then she will wait until the mother’s death is over, and then it will not be too late to change the title!”

"Well, Sanlang, you've thought it through!" Li Hong nodded with satisfaction: "Then I'll leave this matter to you!"