A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 280
Outside Lingzhou City, the Yanzhou Army Barracks.

Li Daozong stepped forward to welcome Wu Huaiyu who came back with some embarrassment and some helplessness. The assassin's matter was worse than he expected.

He couldn't find out the result for a long time, and he couldn't give Wu Huaiyu an explanation, let alone the emperor. Although he wanted to press this matter temporarily and report it to the court after finding the result, it was obvious that he couldn't hold this matter.

The emperor's envoy came directly to Lingzhou, and he was about to return to Chang'an with an edict.

The person who came to announce the decree was Zhang Fuguo, the adoptive son of Zhang Anan, the internal servant, who was also an acquaintance with Huaiyu. He went to Jingzhou City a few days ago to proclaim Huaiyu's decree and become the county magistrate, but now he made another trip.

Zhang Fuguo held the imperial decree, but he did not officially announce the decree until he saw Wu Huaiyu.

So Li Daozong, the governor of Lingzhou, and all the officials and generals of the governor's mansion had to go out of the city to receive the order in the barracks of the Yanzhou soldiers.

"Declarate the imperial decree, and the civil and military officers of Lingyan will accept the decree!"

"Under the door: Zhiyue..."

The emperor was very concerned about this assassination case in Lingzhou City, and was even dissatisfied with Lingzhou officials.

Li Daozong, the governor, recalled him to serve as Minister of Honglu Temple, and the former Changshi and Sima were dismissed. Yanzhou was transferred from Xiazhou Dudufu to Lingzhou Dudufu.

Governor Xue Wanche of Wu'an County in Longzhou took over as governor of Lingzhou and governor of Lingzhou, and Wu Huaiyu was governor of Lingzhou governor's office and governor of Yanzhou.

Consort Dou Lu Huairang took over as Sima of Lingzhou Governor's Mansion and Governor of Yuzhou.

The imperial court officially set up Youzhou in the north of Lingyan, taking the meaning of leniency, and it was specially set up to appease the Qianghu, Shanhu, and Turkic people, and also to prepare for the destruction of Liang.

Many officials in Lingzhou were punished this time, demoted, dismissed, demoted, fined, etc. This was also a warning from the emperor to the officials and generals of Beiling Prefecture who secretly occupied land, sold slaves, smuggled, etc.

After Zhang Fuguo announced the decree, he took Huaiyu to another tent and passed on the emperor's secret order alone.

The emperor was very concerned about Wu Huaiyu, but he was also very concerned about the situation in Shuofang. The emperor asked Wu Huaiyu to have a good talk with Li Daozong after taking over as the chief historian, and let him take the lead in returning the occupied land.

"Retire completely?" Wu Huaiyu asked Zhang Fuguo.

"Your Majesty said that it is important to destroy Liang right now, and it is impossible to completely retreat. Let them take the initiative to clear some of them first, and return those who illegally invaded, and then we will talk about the rest slowly."

The so-called illegal occupation definitely means occupying official land as one’s own, or even occupying the owner’s land as wasteland, and even turning the court households into fugitives and their tenants, and the land will be recorded as land. Fleeing and abandoning the wasteland.

There are even many Hu people, both raw and familiar, who were also affected by the war. Some tribes and entire villages were taken into slavery, and the land was naturally occupied by officials.

The situation in Lingzhou is very serious, and it affects all the officials and local powerful people. The court couldn't take care of it before, and turned a blind eye to it, but now the emperor wants to take action.

However, the emperor also knew that this matter was deeply involved, so he first gave the officials a chance to rectify themselves honestly, so that the court would not delve too deeply into it.

As far as the point is concerned, it not only reasserts the authority of the court, but also leaves room for Lingzhou, so as not to stir up troubles, but it can also avoid going on like this and eventually getting out of control.

"Why did the imperial court choose Xue Wanche to be the governor?" Huaiyu made tea for Zhang Fuguo, and at the same time took out a book and handed it to him.

Zhang Fuguo took the book with some doubts, but when the cowhide cover was opened, there were golden pages inside.

Gold pages.

The gold pages are as thin as paper, like a folded book, the folds are connected together, and each page is stamped with the stamp of the gold shop. Chang'an Xishi and Han Silang are very gold, weighing one tael.

Zhang Fuguo's status in the palace is not considered low, and he is no stranger to this golden page, just flipping through it casually, he already knows that this book is very precious.

One tael of gold pages has ten connected ones, and then this book has twenty gold pages sandwiched together, so this book is worth 20 taels of gold.

Compared with gold collars, gold ingots, etc., this gold page is made into a book page, which is very thin, but it also has a lot of convenience compared to gold collars.

First of all, the ten pages are worth one or two, and one sheet is worth one coin. Sometimes it is easy to divide, and if you tear off one sheet, it is worth one coin, worth about [-] copper coins.The second is that the gold leaves are very thin, so compared with gold ingots, they are less likely to be counterfeited and easier to identify.

Therefore, when you are outside, gold leaf is convenient to use, unless it is a large transaction, gold collars, gold ingots and gold bars are used more.

Wu Huaiyu didn't give Zhang Fuguo BMW and beauties, it was too conspicuous.

He gave a book worth 16 yuan, and he could buy [-] grass horses or [-] servants in Lingzhou.

"Sure enough, there is a golden house in the book." Zhang Fuguo and Wu Huaiyu accepted it with a smile.It's not entirely greedy, the relationship is relatively close, and this gift can also bring the relationship between the two parties closer.

Zhang Fuguo put the golden book in his arms, "It is said that it was hand-picked by the sage, probably because he is better at fighting, and there is no more suitable candidate at the moment. I heard that the sage wanted Duke Qi to come, but Duke Qi He has been recuperating in Bailuyuan."

The emperor recalled Li Daozong back to the court, and both the long-time ministers and Sima dismissed from office, allowing Huaiyu to be the long-time chief, and Doulu Huairang to be the Sima. These three had fought together in Longyou last year, so they were familiar with each other.

But one used to be a confidant of Jiancheng, who was still in Luo Yi's former department, the other was the emperor's son-in-law, Princess Wanchun's son-in-law, plus the young emperor's confidant, Shouyang County Duke, and Lingzhou Governor's Mansion. This troika is quite interesting, and there is probably mutual supervision. meaning.

After all, the three of them also served as the governor of a state, so Wu Huaiyu and Doulu Huairang were not general governors and assistants.

Xue Wanche and Doulu Huairang probably have already received the imperial decree and are on their way to take up their posts. One of them was the governor of Longzhou, and the other was Sima of Qinzhou Governor's Mansion. Both of them were promoted this time.

After drinking a pot of tea in the tent, the two came out to meet Li Daozong and the others.

Li Daozong is quite lost now.

Although he was also recalled to court last year, this time is obviously different. Last year, he was recalled to serve as Minister of the Ministry of Punishments and also the General of the Left Leading Army, but now he is recalled to serve as Minister of Honglu Temple.

Not to mention that Chang Shi and Sima, who had worked with him for five years, were directly dismissed from office this time, and many commanders, generals, lieutenants, and soldiers in Lingzhou were also punished.

But when they faced Wu Huaiyu, they couldn't blame him, after all, he was also the victim of an assassination.

"Congratulations to Wu Shouyang." Li Daozong cupped his hands.

Wu Huaiyu has nothing to sympathize with Li Daozong. He has been in Lingzhou for five years, and he has made great contributions to guarding the border, but the things he did are really not worthy of praise. He is also somewhat responsible for the current chaos in Shuofang. , may be the same, even more than what he did.

Li Daozong handed over the seal of the Lingzhou Governor's Mansion and asked Wu Huaiyu to keep it on his behalf, and hand it over after Xue Wanche came. Chang Shi Sima even stepped forward to hand over the seal in disgrace.

Witnessed by Zhang Fuguo, Huaiyu drank tea and chatted with Li Daozong.

Although it was a small talk, the few things Wu Huaiyu raised made them restless, especially Zhang Fuguo would insert a sentence from time to time, although he didn't say it was the emperor's intention, but no one knew what the two of them meant when they sang together.

In a word, the emperor asked them to clear some fields by themselves, and even asked them to donate a sum of money and food to the Lingzhou Dudufu.

In fact, it is equivalent to the tax payment for their smuggling.

It's just that the attitude is better this time, saying that they clean up by themselves.

Li Daozong took the lead in expressing his position and must obey the order.

After the meeting, Li Daozong proposed to have a private chat with Wu Huaiyu.

"I'm really sorry for this incident, brother. I haven't caught the assassins yet, but I can be sure that these assassins were sent by Liang Shidu and Yu Sheshe together,"

Wu Huaiyu just laughed at these words.

Li Daozong was also very helpless when he saw this, but this time they worked hard, but they just couldn't catch those people.

"I reckon that group of assassins has already sneaked out of the city along the underground ditch to escape,"

"If you run away, run away. It won't be long before we defeat Liang Shidu's old suppressor. Then where can they escape?" Huaiyu laughed.

Li Daozong admitted this time, and his attitude towards the court is also very good.

The emperor asked him to clear the land, and even donate some money and food to the Lingzhou Yamen. He was not ambiguous, and directly expressed to Wu Huaiyu that he was willing to hand over the [-] hectares of land he controlled to the Dudu Mansion.

At the same time, he is willing to donate a large amount of food and money to the Yamen.

This is a bit like surviving with a broken arm. The one hundred hectares of land is only part of the land he occupies. Although the land is not all in his name, it is actually his own.

Now he is willing to hand over a hundred hectares of land, but in reality he only spit out one-third of it at most.

But Li Daozong is a very good man, he also took out [-] hectares of land, ten hectares for Huaiyu, ten hectares for Xue Wanche, and ten hectares for Doulu Huairang.

Of course it's not a gift, that's a bribe.

The [-] hectares of land were not under Li Daozong's name either. He would arrange for the nominal landlords of the land to sell the land to Huaiyu and the others, not even directly to their names, but to their people.

Hand over to White Gloves.

Even saying it's a sale is actually a matter of making a false contract, which is actually a gift.

One hundred hectares will be returned to the Dudu Mansion, and [-] hectares will be given to the new top three chiefs of the Dudu Mansion. Li Daozong can still keep [-]%.

Other Lingfu officials such as Chang Shi Sima will probably return [-] to [-]% of the land according to this ratio. Of course, the land that is almost lost may be returned, or even pastures, and all that is left are good land and fertile land.

But anyway, to spit out [-]% is the great kindness released by Li Daozong and the others.

No matter how much, it would make them difficult.

As for donating money and food, they also have a number, which is about [-]% of the previous income.

Li Daozong and the others are willing to spit out [-]% of the land occupation and [-]% of the smuggling profits, but they want Wu Huaiyu's guarantee that this matter will stop here and there will be no further calculations.

"There are several copper seas in the backyard of the Governor's Mansion. I usually store some water to prevent a fire. They are very heavy. I have to go back to Beijing. I can't take these things with me, so I gave them to Shouyang Gong."

Generally, a large water tank will be placed in the courtyard of the landlord’s house, but some powerful family members will directly use a copper tank, which is called Tonghai, also known as Menhai.

Generally, Tonghai is only a few hundred catties.

Copper was money in the Tang Dynasty, and using copper sea to store water in the yard was also a symbol of wealth.

Wu Huaiyu didn't think much about it at first, he just treated it as a copper vat of 600 jin, and a hundred copper coins weighed more than 1000 jin, and two hundred guan coins weighed more than [-] jin.

Li Daozong said casually that these copper seas are unusual, each can hold six thousand catties of water.

Huaiyu felt unusual when he heard it, "A copper sea can store six thousand catties of water, so how big is this copper sea?"

"It is more than four feet high and more than five feet in diameter."

"How much?"

"One eight thousand catties."

"Made of pure copper?" Huaiyu was surprised. One thousand copper coins weigh six catties and four taels, which is a hundred taels, and 280 guan only weighs eight thousand catties.

If it is pure copper, then a catty of copper is actually worth more than a catty of money. After all, copper coins are mixed with lead and tin.

There are eight gates in the backyard of Li Daozong's governor's mansion.

"Not pure copper."

Huaiyu thought it was okay to hear that it wasn't pure copper, but Li Daozong answered, the outside was gilded with gold,

Each cylinder is only gilded on the outside with a hundred taels of gold, and the inside is cast in pure copper.

(End of this chapter)