A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1319 Undeclared War
I suddenly became conscious during sleep, but my body was unable to move.

It feels like being possessed by a ghost.

When he finally regained control, Wu Huaiyu discovered that it was Emperor Li Chengqian who had one leg pressed on his chest. The unfortunate kid was already 33 years old, but he insisted on sleeping with his teacher whom he reunited with after eight years, just like before.

Just go to sleep, but you are not being obedient. This big thick leg almost crushed him to death.

After moving the dragon leg away, Wu Huaiyu looked as if it was still dark.

He looked at the emperor who was still sleeping soundly. He had talked too late last night, so he was sleeping soundly now. There was a dim light in the bedroom. Wu Huaiyu rested his head on his arms and took a few deep breaths. Cheng Qian was about the same height as the late emperor, but he was much more sturdy and strong.
Thirty-three is the right age.

After last night's conversation, Wu Huaiyu has discovered that Cheng Qian has not changed much and is still the Cheng Qian he is familiar with. This is a good thing.

About half an hour later, the sky was slightly bright.
Cheng Qian woke up.
The morning is the most important part of a day, and the emperor's morning is even busier.
All officials had to get up at four o'clock in the morning to prepare for court and line up at the palace gate in advance. Although the emperor did not have to travel in the dark, he was still busy.

Wash and change clothes,

Have breakfast,
Wu Huaiyu also accompanied him all the time.

The inner and outer clothes for today were prepared for Huaiyu last night, and a special palace maid ironed them for her in the middle of the night.

The brand new purple round-necked silk robe was woven with a double peacock pattern, which made it more noble than the duck holding auspicious grass of the third rank or the goose holding a ribbon of the first rank.

The emperor's breakfast was rich.

The latest imperial manuscripts and newspapers were served with breakfast. Cheng Qian liked to read the newspapers while eating breakfast.
Cheng Qian held up the Beijing Newspaper in his hand and said, "I still remember when my teacher first founded the Beijing Newspaper. So many years have passed in the blink of an eye. At the beginning, it was published once a fortnight, then once every ten days, and then once every five days. It started with hand copying, then woodblock printing, and now movable type printing.

The first issue was circulated with 1,000 copies. Now, do you know how many copies of Beijing News are circulated?"

"I heard that the daily circulation has exceeded 10,000?" Wu Huaiyu took the bowl of millet porridge and ate it slowly. One cannot eat too much for breakfast, otherwise going to the toilet or farting during the morning court will be considered impeachment if it is impolite.

In order to avoid this situation, officials usually just ate a few bites of food in the morning to fill their stomachs. No one wanted to lose their job or be punished because of a fart.

Since the founding of Beijing Newspaper, it can be said that it has driven the development of the newspaper industry. The former Dichao was not completely a newspaper. The publicly distributed newspapers such as Beijing Newspaper were very popular as soon as they were founded and published.

Various current affairs news are timely, accurate and authoritative. In addition, the poems, songs, legends, novels, mountains and rivers, geography, including commodity prices, commercial advertisements, etc., make the newspaper very valuable.

Jingbao has been the leader in the newspaper industry for many years, and of course many new newspapers and periodicals have emerged.
However, only the Beijing newspaper under the name of Donggong has the largest circulation and the widest influence. It is now one of the few daily newspapers. In addition, there is also a biweekly special issue every biweekly.

The daily circulation of 10,000 copies alone is astonishing.

The daily circulation of 10,000 copies refers to the circulation on that day. In fact, it refers specifically to the 22 counties in the capital area. For places other than Yongzhou, the earliest circulation is usually the next day.

Because the Beijing News was popular and had a lot of content, a copy of the newspaper sold for ten cents. It was even cheaper if you subscribed monthly or annually, and the newspapers would be delivered to your door.

Although there are hundreds of thousands of households in Chang'an and millions in the capital,
But ten cents a portion, at today's grain prices, can buy a bushel of rice. Ordinary people cannot afford it, and of course ordinary people are illiterate and cannot buy it.

The sales volume of these twenty-two counties in Yongzhou was ten thousand copies a day, which is amazing.

To put it bluntly, some current affairs news published in Beijing newspapers are even more authoritative than the notices of local governments.

In fact, the Beijing Newspaper is now known as the Second Censorate, and its reporters are called Untitled Censors. The reason why the Beijing Newspaper is so popular is that the prince has always supported it. The Beijing Newspaper dares to speak out, often exposing corruption and other issues, and speaking out for unjust, false and wrong cases.
Wu Huaiyu also read the Beijing newspaper in Luzon.

However, due to the long distance, the Beijing newspaper he saw was usually published ten days or half a month later, but even so, he still never missed an issue.

The Beijing News was founded by Wu Huaiyu.

Later it was handed over to Lai Ji and others. Now Lai Ji is the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and the Director of the Hongwen Academy, and Lai Heng is also the Chief Clerk of the Yizhou Grand Military Governor's Office.

"Who is in charge of the Beijing News now?"

"It was originally Li Yifu's chief editor, but now I have let Ma Zai take charge."

Ma Zai, the new emperor's brother-in-law, the eldest son of Ma Zhou and his first wife, and also Huaiyu's student, was newly promoted to the position of Prince Groom of the Eastern Palace, in charge of the Sijing Bureau, and concurrently a scholar of the Chongxian Hall and editor-in-chief of the Jingbao.

Li Yifu, another student of Wu Huaiyu, who had been in charge of the Beijing News, has now made great progress in his career. He has been promoted to the position of Huangmen Shilang, a scholar of the Hongwenguan, and is also studying national history.

He was just one step away from becoming a third-rank official, but the emperor had already granted him a purple robe and a goldfish bag.

Cheng Qian said as he read the newspaper.
But as he looked at her, his expression turned grim.

"Teacher, look at this."

The emperor handed the Beijing News to Wu Huaiyu.
Huaiyu put down the millet porridge with some confusion, took the newspaper and quickly read it, and soon knew why the emperor suddenly looked unhappy.

The Beijing News has a section dedicated to supervision, which is to expose the truth and expose the evil, criticize current ills, resolve doubts in a timely manner, and promote improvement.

This section used to receive strong support from Li Shimin, which is why it has been able to exist and thrive.

I don’t know how many officials have been brought down because of this section.

This time,
Revealed one thing.

The prime minister of the time, Chu Suiliang, the Shizhong and Duke of Henan, actually used his power to force a minor translator in the Menxia Province to sell land to him at a low price.

The translator was only a high-level translator, while Chu Suiliang was the head of the Ministry of Personnel. Although the clerk's ancestors had once been wealthy, by the time of Chu Suiliang, their family had fallen into poverty. They had a house in Chang'an and land in the capital,

Chu Suiliang wanted to buy his land and even bargained for the price.

It is actually a forced sale.

On the other hand, the imperial court had repeatedly prohibited the annexation of land by nobles, relatives, and powerful landlords in the Central Plains, especially in the rural areas, and had issued a limited land order. Chu Suiliang bought the land of his subordinates, which was not only because he used his power to force people to buy the land at a low price, but also because he openly violated the imperial court's ban.

Chu Suiliang's land purchase transaction had been completed privately, and the petty official did not dare to refuse to sell it.

But this matter has now been exposed.

And it was directly reported by the Beijing News.

Chu Suiliang was too late to cover up the incident.

The emperor read the Beijing newspaper every day, which reported everything to his ears, so nothing could be concealed.

The emperor had long been dissatisfied with Chu Suiliang, especially since the emperor believed that it was Chu Suiliang who falsely accused and killed Liu Li. He had just said yesterday that he would kick Chu Suiliang out of the central government, but today the Beijing newspaper revealed such a big thing again.

"This Chu Suiliang, taking advantage of the late emperor's love of calligraphy, used his pen to win the late emperor's favor, framed loyal officials, and formed a clique to attack dissidents."

Wu Huaiyu heard some special confidence from Cheng Qian's words. The emperor not only disliked Chu Suiliang, but even thought he was forming a clique.

Who are Chu Suiliang’s cronies?

In fact, it is obvious that Changsun Wuji, Han Yuan, and Yu Zhining are all members of the Guanlong Group led by Changsun Wuji.

In addition, Gao Jifu, Cui Dunli, Cui Renshi, Yuwen Jie and others are also considered to be people in this circle.

Now, more than half of the twelve prime ministers in the central government are from the Guanlong Group of Zhangsun Guojiu.

Zhang Xingcheng and Xu Jingzong were Wu Huaiyu's men.
Li Ji was relatively neutral.

Wu Huaiyu quickly scanned the relevant reports in the newspaper. The Beijing News was known as the second Censorate and was famous for its boldness, but it would never make groundless accusations or distort the facts and was relatively objective and fair.

This matter dared to be reported in the newspaper, and it directly pointed out the prime minister of the time, so the facts are definitely clear and the evidence is clear.

"Your Majesty, I think this matter should be handed over to the Dali Temple to investigate, find out the truth, and then deal with it according to the law."

Cheng Qian originally wanted to take this opportunity to kick Chu Suiliang out of the center, but after listening to Wu Huaiyu's words, he thought about it and nodded, "Yes,"

Because of this incident, Cheng Qian was in no mood and the two of them hurriedly finished their breakfast.

In the morning,
The news in the Beijing newspaper that Chu Suiliang forced his subordinates to buy their land had spread.

The emperor doesn't need to speak.
An official from the Censorate questioned Chu Suiliang about the matter on the spot.

Chu Suiliang had to come out and respond, his face looking grim, but he insisted that he bought the land according to the official valuation, and did not use his power as a superior to force his subordinates to sell the land at a low price.

He countered that the Beijing newspaper failed to distinguish facts and slandered ministers, and demanded accountability.

The emperor sat on the imperial couch with an expressionless face.

The uncle of the emperor, Zhangsun Wuji, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think that the Jingbao is just a newspaper under the Donggong Sijing Bureau. What right do they have to attack the prime minister? Do they really think they are the censors? Without a thorough investigation by the officials, they dare to spread nonsense in the newspaper and spread it to the world?"

"I request a thorough investigation of the Beijing newspaper..."

The emperor looked at his uncle who was a bit aggressive, and felt a little unhappy in his heart, but he still smiled slightly, "Don't worry, uncle, let the Dali Temple investigate this matter. If Prime Minister Chu is innocent, I will definitely give Prime Minister Chu an explanation, and I will also deal with the Beijing newspaper."

The emperor's words stunned both Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang.

This doesn't sound right.

What does it mean that if he is innocent, then he must be investigated?
The emperor doesn't give any face to the elders, let alone his uncle?
Chu Suiliang opened his mouth to speak, but Xu Jingzong interrupted him.

"Prime Minister Chu, His Majesty has already dealt with it. What is there for Prime Minister Chu to argue about? A person of integrity is not afraid of his own shadow. It is for Prime Minister Chu's own good to investigate. If we don't investigate thoroughly, it will also damage Prime Minister Chu's reputation.

Unless Prime Minister Chu doesn’t dare to let us investigate.”

Chu Suiliang's eyes turned red and he glared at Xu Jingzong angrily.

In terms of current official rank, both of them are prime ministers and county dukes, but in terms of seniority, Xu Jingzong is far superior to Chu Suiliang.

At that time, Xu Jingzong and Chu Suiliang's father Chu Liang were both among the 18 scholars in the Qin Palace. Chu Suiliang was only a calligrapher serving beside Li Shimin, and later helped manage the Hongwenguan.

"Retreat!"

The emperor did not intend to waste any more time in the morning court. As soon as he heard the order to adjourn the court, he stood up and left.

Chu Suiliang was left staring at Xu Jingzong with red eyes.
But Xu Jingzong just laughed and turned away.

Wu Huaiyu slowly stood up, and Zhangsun Wuji twisted his fat body to come over, "Erlang, you don't care about the Xu family."

Wu Huaiyu said to the emperor's uncle, "Prime Minister Chu can earn tens of thousands of yuan for writing an epitaph for someone, and he is not short of money. If he wants to buy land, it is more cost-effective to buy land in the border areas. If he really wants to buy land in the capital, he can just follow the market or pay a little more. It will be a win-win situation for both of us. Why bother to force the purchase at a lower price? It is really unnecessary."

If Prime Minister Chu is really short of that money, you can just lend him some.

Hey, you are picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons. "

Changsun Wuji was stunned on the spot, having not expected Wu Huaiyu to have this attitude.

(End of this chapter)