A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 420 Sue you for defamation
Xuanyangfang is on the south side of Yongxingfang, separated by Chongren and Pingkang Erfangs in the middle, and adjacent to Dongshi in the east. It is not as close to Yongxingfang as it is closer to the East Palace of the Imperial City, but it is also a well-known gathering place for high-ranking officials in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The number of princes and high-ranking officials a lot of.

The newly moved Wu Huaiyu feels that this place is not as good as Yongxingfang. First, it is much smaller than Yongxingfang. Second, it is not as quiet as Yongxingfang. It is close to the East Market, which makes it more noisy. In addition, there are many dignitaries in the square. , but the streets and alleys are not as clean and orderly as Yongxingfang.

Just after the new year, it looks more and more messy after the noise.

Wu Huaiyu lived in Yongxingfang for more than a year, and contributed a lot to Yongxingfang. Not only did he often donate money and food to help the orphans, widows and disabled in the workshop, he even donated money to build a social school in the workshop, and repaired many latrines , garbage points, bathrooms, and took the lead in preparing for the construction of the righteous warehouse in Yongxingfang. Yongxingfang even has the first spontaneous fire brigade in Chang'an.

The young and strong in the workshop voluntarily formed, took turns to be on duty, purchased fire-fighting equipment, and even trained regularly.

Driven by the Wu family, the prime ministers of Yongxingfang, Wei Zhengjia, Qin Qiongjia, etc., and Qiu Yingqijia, etc., were very happy to invest money in doing good deeds together, and the people in the workshop became more self-disciplined and their quality was greatly improved. .

But the current Xuanyangfang is still the same.

Early in the morning, there was a lot of rubbish on the streets and alleys, even horse manure left on the streets and no one swept it. It was like a landmine, and you would be caught if you were not careful. Dump the toilet down the side of the road.

Chongrenfang is a well-known school rental area where many scholars gather. However, Xuanyangfang is known as a place where high-ranking officials and nobles gather, but it is so dirty and messy.

Wu Huaiyu couldn't stand it anymore.

Ma Zhou, a brother-in-law of Zhongshushe who went to the court together, said with a smile, "Xuanyangfang is full of princes, nobles and high-ranking officials. Those who are above the third rank have the privilege to open the door on the street, so they usually don't enter the gate or walk through the street, and go in and out directly on the street outside. The place is dirty and messy, so they can't see it."

The homes of noble and high-ranking officials in Xuanyangfang are basically a circle around the square, and inside are the homes of officials of the fourth, fifth and sixth grades such as servants, doctors, and Shaoqing. They are not qualified to open workshops on the street. Relatively small.

Like Wu Huaiyu, who originally occupied a quarter of the square, which is a special case in Chang'an. Even if half of it is used as the Longmen Temple, it still occupies one-eighth. The cross street in the square divides the four corners of the square. Each block of the street is divided into four parts, and Wu Huaiyu still monopolizes the two blocks in the northeast.

"Chang'an is rich in the east and rich in the west. Most of the princes and nobles live in the east city, while the west city houses other courtyards. Among the workshops in the east city, if ranked by the number of princes and nobles in the workshops, Xuanyang, Changxing, and Yongning are the three workshops where the most senior officials above the third rank live. There are at least [-] high-ranking officials in each square, and then Pingkang, Yongxing, Qinren, and Anyi squares."

"In Xuanyangfang, we divide the big and small cross streets into 16 yuan, of which 11 yuan is the home of noble officials, and only five yuan is the head of the common people who live in it."

Xuanyangfang covers an area of ​​100 mu, and the residential area of ​​ordinary people is only more than [-] mu of land, but there are about [-] households of ordinary people. The living area is very crowded, and the average area of ​​each household is only half an mu. Wu Huaiyu's family occupies more than [-] acres. Mu, and this is after half of it has been donated.

The population is so large because it is close to Dongshi, and most of the ordinary people in Xuanyangfang work in Dongshi, either as craftsmen or merchants, or as servants in the yamen.Anyway, there are no peasants living in this workshop, and the peasants all live in Nancheng, or the workshops near the Zhucheng gates of Chang'an.

The aristocrats in Xuanyangfang accounted for 25% of the land, and their household registrations only accounted for about [-]% of the whole square. Among them, there were only [-] households of princes and princes above the third rank who accounted for half of the square.

Although Ma Zhou was given purple, he was not among the 25 households, and he was not qualified to open the door on the street, and there were halberds inside the door.

"When you are free, we still need to renovate Xuanyangfang. It will be the same as Yongxingfang. Since there are so many princes and nobles, let's raise some money together, send a few stewards to take care of it, or let Fang Zhengli The elders do it.

Ditches need to be cleared, roads need to be swept, streets and alleys need to be added with public toilets, bathhouses, garbage points, etc.

In fact, although the princes and nobles are not all willing to do good things, they are still willing to spend money as long as it is beneficial. There is no benefit to the money spent.

Huaiyu smiled, "I think it's better for my wife to bring my elder sister to do this matter. Then I will contact the wives of the rich and powerful families in the workshop, have a tea party, or watch a polo game, and talk about it by the way." Now, after raising a sum of money, we can start implementing it, and I will ask Laiji to publicize it in the Beijing newspaper."

Ma Zhou admired, "It's not bad that you still have an idea."

In the Tang Dynasty, four households were neighbors, five neighbors were protection, and a hundred households were a mile.

Every square has a square, and under the square, there are several lizhengs. For example, in Xuanyangfang, there are eight lizhengs, responsible for nearly [-] households in the square.

These people are not officials, they belong to officials, and they choose honored officials below the sixth rank, or mainly the children of high-ranking officials. Generally, low-ranking businessmen are not qualified to be employed, even in Chang'an Xuanyangfang, where high-ranking officials gather, where In fact, it is difficult to be honest, but there is always such a person to coordinate and manage.

The only advantage of being Lizheng is that he can be exempted from other miscellaneous corvee. Of course, if he has the ability, he can still use the power in his hand to get some benefits.

Uncle Erlang chatted all the way to the palace gate.

Huaiyu was welcomed into the waiting room and into the big lounge. Although Ma Zhou was given purple, he was not qualified to be with the prime ministers. A lounge in poor condition.

But compared to those officials who still can only stand outside, they are much better.

He drank a cup of milk tea in the lounge, chatted with the prime ministers and ministers, and entered the palace to attend court.

As soon as the court meeting started today, someone targeted Wu Huaiyu.

The supervisory censor, Chen Shihe, played the Discussion on Distinguished Scholars, and said in the palace that Wu Huaiyu was from a lowly official in the history of arresting money. In less than two years, Jin Zi became rich and held several important positions. He even handed over all the national finances to him. should not.

"Your Majesty, human thinking is limited, and one person cannot always know several positions."

"Prime Ministers Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui must not let their prime ministers do everything. Wu Huaiyu and Ma Zhou are from humble and young backgrounds, let alone be in charge of the country's finances. They are also the chief of Gyeonggi and the deputy chief of Lantai."

"Your Majesty should promote scholars from the gentry, appoint the virtuous, and stay away from villains..."

The emperor directly interrupted Chen Shihe's words.

He stood up directly, looking majesticly at Chen Shihe, "I govern the world as the sovereign, not just because these ministers have a good relationship with me, nor because Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui have been with me for a long time The old ministers of time, I am partial to them, and it is not because Wu Huaiyu, Ma Zhou, etc. flatter A Fuzhen that I trust them,

But because they all have real talents and virtues. "

"What Chen Shihe played is to slander these ministers and deliberately alienate the relationship between our monarchs and ministers. In the past Three Kingdoms, although the Queen of Shu was weak, and Emperor Wenxuan of Qi during the Southern and Northern Dynasties was rebellious, but because the Queen of Shu trusted Zhuge Liang, the Northern Qi Emperor Wenxuan trusted Yang Zunyan without the slightest doubt, which made his country stable.

Today, it is also because of ministers like Fang Xuanling Du Ruhui and Wu Huaiyu Ma Zhou that I can govern the country. "

The emperor's words became more and more serious.

In the end, he issued an edict directly.

"Remove Chen Shihe from his nationality and exile him to Jiaozhi."

Ma Zhou came forward to remonstrate, and felt that although Chen Shihe's words were biased, they were also acting out of public interest, and the crime did not end there.

"Although I have always asked the officials to be outspoken and dare to speak out, I did not allow them to slander the ministers at will. If Chen Shihe has ulterior motives and should be executed for the crime of leaving the emperor and the ministers, I have already forgiven them."

Du Ruhui and Fang Xuanling also came out to persuade him to give him a lighter punishment.

Wu Huaiyu was very dissatisfied with the sudden appearance of the supervisory censor Chen Shihe. The censors of the Yushitai also had their own positions. There were ten supervisors, who were divided into hundreds of officials. The grade is only below the eighth grade.

This guy didn't know where he came from, but he dared to impeach the prime minister openly, and even impeached Wu Huaiyu, the official censor of Shangguan Zhishu.

This guy is simply grandstanding.

Of course, Wu Huaiyu has experienced a lot of storms now, and feels that there are no waves without wind, and this guy is more likely to be ordered by someone to take the lead or to test.

The emperor's disposition was actually quite decisive. Letting a censor use such a reason to attack, if the emperor was not decisive, more people would jump up and bite.

Wu Huaiyu didn't want to plead with this guy, but seeing that the other three had pleaded, he had no choice but to come out and pretend to beg.

All four people involved came out, and the other ministers naturally came up to persuade them.

Wei Zheng and Wang Yu all thought that Chen Shihe was originally the censor. He wrote letters to persuade him when he felt that it was unreasonable.

After a bit of arguing, Li Shimin relegated Chen Shihe to be the lieutenant of Rinan County, Aizhou, under the Governor's Mansion of Jiaozhou.

Chen Shihe was directly expelled from the hall.

Li Shimin was still very dissatisfied, and said to the courtiers in public, "I open up the way of speaking and encourage all officials to speak up. The purpose is to understand the gains and losses of political affairs and prevent people from being wronged. What does it have to do with the stability and harmony of the country when exposing other people's privacy and talking about the shortcomings of hundreds of officials, and it is very trivial?

I often read history books and see many emperors because some people attacked the privacy of their courtiers, which caused the king to suspect his courtiers.Once the king is suspicious, the emperor no longer trusts his courtiers, and the courtiers can't express their feelings, and the courtiers can't do it if they want to be loyal.

From now on, if someone writes a letter to attack other people's private and small evils, he will be convicted of slander. "

Li Shimin's words are quite surprising, but they do have a clear purpose.

The emperor employs people in an eclectic manner, mainly for the purpose of governing the country and government, but some people want to hold sect prejudices, and even have the momentum to engage in party struggles, that is absolutely not allowed.

If those people are allowed to expose and attack privacy and attack opponents with different political views, then wouldn't the court be a mess in the future?
Today there is Chen Shihe, and tomorrow there will be Zhang Shihe and Zhao Shihe. A red line must be drawn.

"Song Guogong, Yi Guogong, as the chief officials of Lantai, you have to rectify Lantai."

The emperor also issued an edict to Gao Jifu, a member of Zhongshushe, to move to the Yushitai to serve as the censor, and to match the two censors to assist Xiao Yu in presiding over the censor.

Chen Shihe came up today to talk about Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui first, but everyone can also feel that this guy's real goal is Wu Huaiyu. The so-called minister has limited thinking and cannot hold multiple positions. Talk to young people.

It's a pity that the emperor exiled him to Lingnan instead, and Wu Huaiyu's status did not waver at all.

He suspected that Wei Ting had something to do with it, and there might even be Wang Gui's shadow behind him. After all, these two people are also half relatives of the Wu family, but now they don't know how to offend them. These guys always want to mess with him.

This is by no means persecution paranoia, but a keen political intuition.

He felt the need to start counterattacking, and the best defense was an offense.

(End of this chapter)