A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 670 Wu Qingtian

Sanyuan County.

The matter involving Yuan Wai continues to ferment, and the public is agitated. Li Yuanwai has already been criticized by thousands of people.

The Li family in Xiaoli Village is even called the Wolf's Nest.

"My lord, is it time for a trial?"

"Have you collected all the evidence? Is the confession given by the Li family complete?"

"They are all very sufficient, and the evidence is as solid as a mountain."

"Then we will announce that there will be a public trial in Xiaoli Village in three days."

As the current prime minister of the dynasty, Wu Huaiyu was ordered to sit in Sanyuan County as a pilot. Wu Huaiyu now has great power. He has the final say on the affairs of Sanyuan County alone and does not need to report to Yongzhou or even the court. The appointment and dismissal of officials can be inherited. The system of worship and judicial review also has direct power of disposal.

This case involves only a former county captain who became an official, or a county captain who was not a member of the army.

Wait until the day of public trial.

Xiaoli Village is crowded with people.
People like to watch the excitement, especially the Li family, which has always had a bad reputation and has done a lot of evil. Now evil is rewarded. For ordinary people, this is simply the most satisfying thing. It is natural to witness it, especially for many people. People who have been harmed and bullied by the Li family.

Officials from Yongzhou Yamen in Chang'an also came.

In Yongzhou, don't drive Yang Shidao, Zhizhong Li Hongjie and Lu Chengqing, all three officers of Yongzhou are here.

The three law departments of Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Yushitai also sent officials here today.

However, they were not here to take over the case and try it. They were just visiting the case. The emperor also issued a special decree that Wu Huaiyu was still fully responsible for the case in Sanyuan County.

Although it is just a small case involving officials and officials outside the county, it is a case arising from the pilot project of the new tax law, and it has great significance behind it.
That's why the court paid so much attention to it.

This case must be handled with irrefutable evidence, and it will be set as a model in the future.

The three judicial divisions are here to supervise the fairness and legality of the procedure in this case.

Since early in the morning, people have been coming, which is more lively than the Longqiao market. By noon, there are already tens of thousands of people.

Ma Zhou, the assistant minister of Zhongshu, also arrived from Chang'an, and Zhang Anan, the general manager of the palace, accompanied the prince.

The prince came to hear the order.

Except for the young officials, this case shocked the world.

A temporary wooden platform was erected.
When Wu Huaiyu invited the prince, Zhang Ananda read out the emperor's decree, the prince listened to the trial, the three law ministers listened, and the governor of Yongzhou attended...

The crowd of people outside became even more excited.

Fortunately, Wu Huaiyu had already arranged his [-] imperial guards in front of the trial court. Sanyuan County, Yongzhou Yamen, and the prince came. The emperor not only mobilized [-] imperial guards, but also mobilized the Luben Army from the East Palace.

Baiqi originally belonged to the garrison, and the garrison troops on the left and right were named Yulin.
The Luben Army is the military number of the Left and Right Siyu Commandery under the Sixth Commandery of the East Palace.

Yulin on the left and Brigade Ben on the right, each with three hundred soldiers, maintained order.

When Zhao Renben, the green-robed Sanyuan commander, called out the prisoner Li Jing'an, the crowd cheered like thunder. Just as Li Jing'an was revered in the past, he is being trampled on today.

Cheng Qian sat next to Wu Huaiyu, his face flushed with excitement for such a big scene.

"This Li Jing'an seems to be a villain in the countryside, and the people hate him."

"Your Highness, in fact, not long ago, Li Jing'an was a Yuanwai Lang who was respected and even praised by people from all over the country. He was a local sage."

"Why?"

"Because he is a powerful person, with strong influence in the government and the local government. He is deeply rooted and the people cannot afford to offend him. The more evil people are, the less no one dares to offend them, and the more respectful everyone is to them."

Cheng Qian was greatly surprised when he heard this.

"Of course, such people can be proud for a while, but they cannot be rampant forever. Under the rule of the Saint of the Tang Dynasty, Sanyuan is still at the feet of the emperor, and the world is bright and clear. How can we condone it?"

Cheng Qian praised, "The teacher is still very good. He discovered this thief who harmed the people and made decisions for the people. Look at the countless people cheering for him today."

"They are all praising the teacher for being great."

"No, they are cheering for the Tang Dynasty, for the wisdom of the Tang Dynasty's saints, and for the justice of the Tang Dynasty's laws."

Li Jing'an was brought to the stage, dressed in prison clothes. Before coming up, he was specially changed into clean prison clothes, let him take a bath, and even gave him food and wine before coming.

Kneeling on the stage, Li Jing'an's face was ashen. When the good wine and meat were served, he knew that he was dead. This was the food and wine for him to go on the road.

Li Jing'an also met some powerful people, and even had some connections with Yu Wenshi and the family members. However, the so-called relationship was just a desire to cling to him in the past. He gave gifts during the New Year and was able to meet the officials of the family, but not even the chief steward. , let alone Yuwen Shiji.

And if this thing happened now, if it was just a case handled by Sanyuan County, maybe he would have fought so hard to get Yu Wenshiji to come out and say hello, but now Wu Huaiyu is handling this case, and the person who came here is evil, and no one can save him. Of him.

When he was in prison, he also thought about how to surrender to Hou Junji. He heard that the prime minister Hou Junji was also favored by the emperor and was not on good terms with Wu Huaiyu.

But although he said nice things to the jailer in prison and promised to give him a large sum of money, they ignored him because the jailer was not from Sanyuan County, but a forbidden army brought by Wu Huaiyu, and there were always Wu Huaiyu's personal entourage was on duty in prison.

Even if there were bold Imperial Guardsmen who wanted to take advantage of this and help him spread the message, they would have no chance.

Before he could think of a solution, he had already been given food and drinks, and then asked him to take a shower and change clothes before going to the trial stand.

Seeing the black heads in all directions, and then looking at the group of golden and purple ministers sitting on the trial platform, there was even a young boy, holding the moon in the stars.

At first he thought it was Li Yuanchang, the Muhan King of Yongzhou.

But when he heard that this was His Highness the Crown Prince, Li Jingan was stunned.

How could he bother His Highness the Crown Prince to come forward to judge him?
How can he be?
The trial begins,
First, Miyuan ordered Zhao Renben to read out a series of crimes found against Li Jing'an. The main crimes were colluding with bandits, kidnapping and extortion, and even murder and annihilation. There were also many loan sharking, gambling and scheming, forcing good people to be lowly, occupying land, and bullying. Men dominate women and other behaviors,

As for leaking household registration and concealing land registration, it is really a trivial matter to mention in passing.

After reading,
Evidence began to be displayed, and witnesses and witnesses began to display, including the confessions of Li Jing'an and others.

So far, in addition to Li Jing'an refusing to admit that he colluded with bandits to kidnap, murder, and rob, Li Jing'an's son, steward, and servants have even confessed.

"Please ask Mr. Wu to pronounce the verdict on this case!"

Some people below shouted angrily, "Kill him!"

"Chop all over the house!"

"Kill this evil thief!"

Wu Huaiyu stood up and waited for everyone to shout for a while before stretching out his hands and pressing down.
The Imperial Guards on all sides of the audience slammed their spears on the ground and shouted,
Powerful! ~~~~~~
Wu! ~~~~~
The people gradually stopped their voices,

After the silence returned, Wu Huaiyu read out the closing statement. This case involved many people. In addition to member Li's family, his brothers, nephews, etc., there were also subordinate officials in the yamen and even several Wannian people. It involves Sanyuan County officials, and also involves many local ruffians and idlers. Most of them are involved in lending, gambling, and debt extortion. They are the thugs and accomplices of the Li family.

There are also some thieves and bandits.

"Li Jing'an, he harmed the countryside and did many evil things..."

"The sentence is to be executed immediately!"

As the main person in the case, Li Jingan was seventy years old, but he was still sentenced to death.

Immediately report to the emperor and ask the saint to respond!

Three repetitions of executions for condemned prisoners was a rule set by Li Shimin himself to prevent the wrong execution. Therefore, even if he was sentenced to death, he would still have to go through three repetitions. The emperor had to appeal three times, and only three executions were executed. That means this The prisoner's crime was truly unforgivable and there was no room for execution, so he ordered his execution.

Wu Huaiyu could be killed directly after receiving a special order today, because the case did not follow the normal procedures, but he still requested the order three times.
Let the bullets fly for a while and don't rush to kill.

The longer the knife is held at the neck, the more intimidating it will be.

Several of Li Jing'an's brothers and nephews were executed for helping the emperor to commit cruelty.

The rest of the Li family, men, women, old and young, were exiled to Lingnan, and all their slaves, livestock, fields, houses, shops, money, silk, food and other property were confiscated.

The remaining officials, scoundrels, thieves, etc. involved in the case were either killed or exiled according to the seriousness of their crimes. They were all punished severely and never leniently.

As soon as the verdict was announced, Li Jingan fainted and died on the stage. The others knelt down and cried for mercy, but what was the use at this time.

The people below cheered loudly.

Someone called Wu Huaiyu Qingtian.

People like this kind of drama. Young officials make decisions for the people, severely punish corrupt officials, attack evil gentry and tyrants, uphold justice and return justice to the people.

For the people at the bottom who are suffering a lot, believing in the light of justice may be a rare motivation to support their progress in the gloomy life.

If you don’t believe in this light, you can only place your hope in the gods and Buddhas in temples.

Or, it can only be as numb as a walking zombie.

Taking advantage of this opportunity,
Wu Huaiyu also reiterated several points. Anyone who deceives one to five acres of farmland and omits the official registration will be punished with forty floggings. Every five acres will be punished with an additional penalty of one degree. The crime will be suspended for three years. The amount of grain per mu must be approximately equal to the number of years, and a fine will be imposed.

If one moves the soil of one's own fields to different sections in the records, and then uses the high ground to cultivate the lower fields, thereby reducing the amount of grain, or deceitfully sending the grain to the name of an exempted household in order to exempt oneself from taxes, the same crime will be committed. The maximum sentence is three years, and the land will be confiscated, taxes will be levied, and fines will be imposed.

"The chief knew but did not take action, and he is guilty of the same crime as the criminal."

·······
A number of regulations on land registration were announced one after another regarding overoccupation of land, concealment of land, falsification of land, etc., encroachment on public land, allocation of land by trade, failure to report land reclamation, etc.

This year in Sanyuan County, people are required to first report their landownership, and then the government organizes verification, and then publishes it to accept supervision and reports from the villagers. Finally, a fish scale farm register is created to confirm the rights of the people, and issue new land deeds and household stickers.

From now on, land deeds with newly confirmed rights will be the main ones. If there is no official land deed with official registration and filing, then all the land will be without officials, and the private deeds of the people must be replaced by red deeds.

"People are encouraged to reclaim wasteland, and advance taxation is prohibited. For newly reclaimed wasteland, no tax will be levied for five years. In the second five years, only half of the tax will be levied."

This option is still very attractive, but in the Guanzhong Plain area, there is actually no wasteland to cultivate. If you want to cultivate wasteland, you have to go to mountainous areas or border areas.

Wu Huaiyu reiterated one point at the end, that is, one should not occupy more than one hundred acres of land. For this amount of land, an ordinary good citizen could occupy up to one hundred acres of land. Without official title or title, one with money could not own more than one hundred acres of land.For an ordinary good family, if there are three to five children, the maximum amount of land they can occupy is three to five hundred acres, including the land allocated by the court.

Those who hold honors, titles, casual officials, and official officials will have corresponding increases in land quota according to their levels. The higher the grade, the higher the official title, and the higher the land quota they will naturally have.

This rule has always existed, but it is generally restricted to small people. It is the same as ordinary people who are not qualified to take concubines. People who are rich are not qualified to take concubines, unless the wife cannot give birth, or the couple is very old and still has no children. Only when a man is over forty and still has no children can he be allowed to have a concubine.

If you select a soldier who has won honors in battle, or a scholar who serves as an official, you will be eligible to have concubines. The higher your rank, the more concubines you can take.

As a second-grade high-ranking official and aristocrat, Wu Huaiyu could have as many as eight wives, and there were almost no restrictions on concubines.In addition to one wife and ten concubines, the prince is allowed to have a child who is higher than his concubine and lower than his concubine.

The Tang Dynasty was an era of status. Status was important everywhere, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, marrying wives, and concubines.

For example, good people and bad people should not marry, and common people cannot take concubines.

Another example is that for ordinary people, one person is limited to owning a hundred acres of land, which is illegal.

Li Jing'an, a small and powerful landowner, has fallen. Generations of this family, like wolves, have worked hard to accumulate thousands of acres of land. Now all of it has been confiscated.
Wu Huaiyu also took the initiative to return some or all of the things that were taken from the hands of the villagers, which made those people burst into tears and express their gratitude.

Many subordinate officials in the Sanyuan County government were implicated in this case. Several assistant historians, scribes, and district chiefs were regarded as typical examples and were punished with dismissal, even exile, imprisonment, and fines of copper. Some The land was also confiscated.

All the people in the village cheered happily.

But the subordinate officials and powerful local people at the meeting were all trembling. Although this time only Li Jing'an's family was hit, only a small number of officials who had deep interests with him were implicated.
But no one is the same.

Even if the benefits from the Li family are confiscated, benefits from other families are also confiscated.
Which of those powerful families doesn't hide their property?In other words, who has never done such immoral things as lending money and charging high interest rates, or even taking advantage of famines and other disasters to buy other people's fields at low prices?

The difference is just more or less.

What happened to Li Jing'an this time really made many people almost wet their pants.

Li Changgui, an old meritorious officer, also came to the hearing early today. This old and cunning guy had retreated early and wanted to wait for the situation to change, but unexpectedly he saw this result.

Li Jing'an, the old hero used to visit him every year, and he even called Li Jing'an his brother.

Who could have imagined that Li Jing'an would end up in such a miserable state.

It's too cruel.

Li Changgui, who has lived in the county government for 50 years and is the ancestor of the county government, has been shaking his hands.

This young Mr. Wu is really ruthless. When Wu Huaiyu came to Sanyuan County Yamen to catch Qian Lingshi on his errand, he didn't take this young man seriously and even thought he was a bit rude.

But who would have thought that he would be so cruel and ruthless.

They don't bother you about missing people and under-reporting the household registration, and they don't bother you about how many acres of land are hidden.

Fortunately, when he saw Wu Huaiyu's bad intentions, he hurriedly avoided the attack. Unexpectedly, he retreated in order to advance, which actually allowed him to escape the disaster.

Once Li Jingan fell, all the powerful landowners in the county trembled in fear, and they all had to rush to report their household registration and land ownership, and correct their mistakes again.

He can even calculate that those wealthy and powerful households will definitely, like him before, immediately and voluntarily hand over this year's rent transfers and free grain grains according to the real number of acres of land.

You may also need to donate a certain amount of money and food to county governments, schools, charity warehouses, etc.

　In the past two years, my health has been getting worse and worse, and writing has always been uncomfortable. I often stay up late. I just saw the obituary published by Qidian. The great historical author failed to defeat the disease in July and passed away unfortunately. I am really sad. He's in his 30s, and he's still a graduate student in history. He's so jealous of his talents, but it's a pity.

　　I also hope that book friends can take better care of their bodies. The body is the capital of revolution.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)