A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 969: Where does Wu Huaiyu rank?
After the court meeting, the emperor retained Wu Huaiyu.

As a precedent, the emperor checked the dragon's body. The detoxification medicine was effective and the dragon's body was recovering.

The emperor said excitedly, "When I woke up this morning, I found that I was up again."

"This is a good sign, indicating that His Majesty's dragon body has recovered well, but he still needs to continue to recuperate, and this vitality must continue to be cultivated."

The emperor is not the kind of person who can't hold himself back.

After this experience, the emperor also knew the horror of not giving up. If the trouble really went wrong, it would be an unacceptable blow for him who wanted to be the emperor alongside Emperor Qin and Han Wu. After all, he was only thirty. eight.

"I envy you very much,"

Li Shimin looked at Wu Huaiyu, who was so young and in such strong health. It was only after he got sick that he realized that great achievements and great achievements in the country and the beauty of the country must first have a good body.

Twenty-eight years old,

Looking at Wu Huaiyu in front of him, the emperor couldn't help but think of himself at the age of twenty-eight. That year he had just experienced a desperate counterattack.
Bloodshed at the palace gate, desperate comeback,
He took eight hundred guards and captured the country and the country.

He began to miss the freedom of Lingnan.

"Your Majesty, the heroes of the world are all in the inland states of the Central Plains. Most of them are rich places. One-third of the state's tax is also a lot. The population of a state can range from ten thousand households to tens of thousands. This one-third of the tax, That's thousands or even tens of thousands of households,
In the early years of the Wude Dynasty and Zhenguan, the imperial court granted official titles to meritorious officials. The highest number of households had no more than 1,500 households, while the lowest number had only 300 households. There were only dozens of households, each with meritorious deeds.

······
Leaving the palace,

"Now the kings have a new strategy of enfeoffing, and the feudal enfeoffment of heroes can be stopped."

He was twenty-eight that year,

The power of the emperor is unpredictable, and the so-called emperor's mind trick is to make the ministers unable to guess the emperor's thoughts.

The emperor did not want to ennoble heroes with different surnames as vassals. Even the emperor's appointment a few years ago to confer meritorious officials with different surnames as governors was probably just fishing.

Compared with the 28-year-old Wu Huaiyu, Li Shimin felt that he was still better than himself at the age of 28.

The previous emperor was domineering but also sincere, but now the emperor makes people have to be cautious.

The previously changed title of meritorious official may not last long.

"I believe that the Tang Dynasty should follow this example, and no one can become king unless it is the Li family."

Standing in front of the palace gate, when the cold wind blew, Wu Huaiyu realized that he was sweating blood.

Accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger,
The emperor today is different from the emperor ten years ago.

Today the emperor asked him face to face about the enfeoffment of different surnames. If he agreed, he would be in danger. Although it doesn't mean that the emperor will kill him because of this, he may be put on a blacklist, and then the emperor will take action against him.

Li Shimin kept staring at Wu Huaiyu,

It wasn't that Wu Huaiyu thought there were too many benefits, but he had already seen through that the emperor didn't really want to seal him. Since he knew the emperor's true intention, he might as well take the initiative to hand it over.

Wu Huaiyu thought for a while and said, "Emperor Han Gao said that if you don't have the Liu family, you won't be king, and if you don't have meritorious service, you won't be a prince. If we don't make a promise, the whole world will attack him together."

But Wu Huaiyu is still better than most people,

"I think that if you are not the Li family, you will not be granted the title."

Wu Huaiyu has grown from a young boy to a stable and top-level minister. Sometimes Li Shimin even felt that Wu Huaiyu was a bit unfathomable, which made him a little worried.

Jieli led hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops into Guanzhong and drank the Mawei water.
At that time, he had no excitement at all about winning the country, but only endless worries, internal and external troubles, sleepless nights, and restless food and sleep.

Don't leave me with this world title, the reward is too high. "

But at that time, I was under so much pressure, and even under desperate circumstances, I had to kill my brother and my father to seize the throne. But as soon as he succeeded to the throne,

The book compiled by Wu Huaiyu has not yet been completed. Currently, it has only compiled dozens of volumes: five volumes of Zhou Chronicles, three volumes of Qin Chronicles, and about thirty volumes of Han Chronicles.

Li Shimin has read this book almost every day in the past few years. He has read it over and over again. He has read almost every volume many times. The more he reads, the more he gains.
He did gain a lot of experience and lessons from these histories, and Wu Huaiyu's historical comments benefited him a lot.
It was much more readable, and it also made him more and more unable to see through Wu Huaiyu.

The emperor waved his hand,

"What do you think, I would like to entrust the heroes to the border areas and make them princes?" Li Shimin asked.

"Previously, although the title of "Shishi" for meritorious officials was changed to "Shifeng for Biejia", it is still inappropriate. Those who have made great achievements can be granted titles, money and silk, or even be granted food and towns, but they cannot be granted land.

Ten years have passed,

"There is no need to say any more about this matter,"

After Wu Huaiyu left,
Li Shimin was sipping tea alone, then picked up the Zizhi Tongjian and looked through it,

But today, he suddenly heard that the emperor's words were a test.

"Li Tai enfeoffed Liuqiu Island, where should the other kings enfeoff?" the emperor asked.

Wu Huaiyu really wanted to enfeoff heroes, even if it was to enfeoff remote areas, but as long as he could establish vassal states, Wu Huaiyu felt that it was very worthwhile, and even thought that in the long run, it would be very beneficial to the Xia clan.

Able to lead troops and fight in battles, he defeated Liangshidu, defeated DTZ, conquered Beishan Xi, and destroyed Lingnan barbarians.

It was unfathomable to him that Wu Huaiyu could actually compile such a book and issue those historical theories. Wu Huaiyu was not just a compiler and writer of history. He had made great contributions to many things he had done in the past ten years. Everything is real.

In this life, the feudal king does not visit the people, command the army, or engage in political affairs. He only enjoys one-third of the state's taxes and does not need to be cancelled. "

At night, I even dreamed of Liu Wuzhou, Li Jiancheng, and Li Yuanji coming to claim their lives.
Fortunately, he survived in the end, met at Weiqiao, made an alliance with White Horse, and retreated from Jieli. Then he defeated the rebellion of Luo Yi, Li Xiaochang and other kings.
At that time, Wu Huaiyu was only eighteen years old. He followed his Liuqi Alliance, and secretly met with him to make a sudden profit. He defeated Luo Yi for himself, defeated Liang Shidu, and beheaded Wang Junkuo...

"We are relatives in the clan, and meritorious ministers have merit. The meritorious officials of the clan are granted the title of celestial being, and they are also rewarded for their kindness. Previously, all the ministers were unwilling to accept the title of governor, so I had to change it to the title of farewell.

"People with different surnames can get nobility due to their merits, but they are not allowed to split the soil and create separate titles. Those with high merit can only receive worldly titles."

Such an emperor made Wu Huaiyu strange and uneasy.

He is also a great talent in finance and taxation. The two-tax system is a good strategy for governing the country that is far more suitable for unifying the Tang Dynasty than the tax system. It is also the basis for the rapid development of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty.

Wu Huaiyu managed the country's finances very well, and he also managed his own industries prosperously, including sugar, tea, medicine, wine, salt, cotton cloth, papermaking, printing, and even shipbuilding and trade.
The emperor also had an in-depth understanding of the Wu family's industry through various channels. The scale of its overt and covert industry was very impressive. Not to mention that the wealth could rival the country.

But according to a popular saying in the market, if you use Wu family's silk to tie the trees in Zhongnan Mountain, and tie one piece of silk to each tree, all the trees in Zhongnan Mountain will be tied with silk, and the Wu family's silk has not been tied yet.

How many trees are there on Zhongnan Mountain?

There is no clear count,
Although this legend is a bit exaggerated, the Wu family did have money.

In the past few years, Li Shimin carefully investigated the Wu family's financial resources and where the money went, and found that the Wu family's money was endless.
But spending money is also great,

He continued to invest in opening workshops and businesses, opening mines in various places, and cultivating fields to reclaim wasteland.
There are also several large expenditures, that is, a large amount of money is invested every year to build orphanages and orphanages in various places to adopt many abandoned babies and orphans. They also buy land to build Lazeyuan Cemetery to bury the bones of those who have no owners and those who are poor and have no land to bury them. By,
Qi Hui Rensheng Pharmacy spends a lot of money every year to provide free clinics and sell medicines at low prices to the poor.

In addition, the social studies established by the Wu family in various places also subsidized civilian students in large quantities, and the technical schools they opened also invested a large amount of money in subsidies every year.

The Wu family even spends a large sum of money every year to donate money to build bridges and pave roads in various places and treat orphans, widows and disabled people.

······
Li Shimin was surprised, even a little shocked. I am surprised that Wu Huaiyu is willing to spend so much money for good deeds every year, but also vaguely worried. Wu Huaiyu has never been corrupt, and he does not need to be corrupt. He has plenty of money.

It is said that Wu Huaiyu enjoys good food, good beauty, and never tires of exquisite food.

However, the Wu family's nurseries, orphanages, and technical schools all over the world adopt how many children they have every year, and the Wu family's workshops, businesses, and mines all over the world accept how many children they have.

The emperor even knew that the Wu family already had some strongholds overseas in the Tang Dynasty, such as Liuqiu, Lusong, Zhuya, and Annan.

Wu Huaiyu has great achievements, Wu Huaiyu is loyal, Wu Huaiyu is neither greedy nor possessive, Wu Huaiyu knows how to advance and retreat in a measured way, but the more this happens, the more uneasy the emperor becomes.

If it were a greedy old nobleman like his eldest son, Shunde, Liu Hongji, and Tang Jian, Li Shimin would not be afraid.

Even if there are distinguished relatives like Changsun Wuji, Hou Junji and Chai Shao, Li Shimin is not worried.

But Wu Huaiyu feels more and more out of control now.

But Wu Huaiyu did things according to rules, and it was not easy for the emperor to interfere. The Wu family's industry was well managed and he could make money by being good at financial management. Could the imperial court rob him?

The imperial court did indeed snatch it away. For example, the imperial court had directly requested a large share of the Wu family's sugar every year. Once it was obtained and resold, it was easy to make a large sum of money.

It was still raw and cooked medicinal materials of the Wu family. The imperial court also bought a lot of them every year and made money by flipping them. There is also the cotton planting and cotton textile industry that the Wu family has taken the lead in recent years. The imperial court also saw the opportunity and directly stepped in, transferring brand-new cotton textile technology from the Wu family.
Up to now, the industries where the Wu family makes money actually have the shadow of the imperial court behind them. Some of them are government-run and royal ones, all of which are used to make quick money.

The Wu family is very cooperative and never refuses. Moreover, the Wu family's properties all pay taxes truthfully, without delaying, arrears or hiding.

In addition to paying taxes according to law, the Wu family even had to pay tribute to the palace every year.

For example, tea leaves from the Wu family and famous teas from all over the country are sent to the imperial palace as tribute, as are other wines, cotton cloth, paper, etc., and even books printed by the Wu family are paid tribute to the royal family every year.

Even if the Wu family buys land, it will always be on the border of Kuanxiang. It is a border land that is in great need of development. The land is vast and sparsely populated. The Wu family takes the lead in development. This is what the court wants. Unlike other noble families who only focus on To annex Chang'an, Luoyang and other inner-city places,

The Wu family also runs banks, treasury banks, and engages in mortgage, loan and other businesses, but I have never seen them engage in loan sharking, unlike most nobles and powerful people who look ugly.

Wu Huaiyu is greedy for money and lustful, but he relies on his true ability.

But Wu Huaiyu like this made the emperor uneasy. This uneasiness was because he could not control it.

Especially this time after the emperor almost died after taking the red pill elixir from Monk Tianzhu, Li Shimin had to start thinking about some things that he had never thought about before.

If he really dies, or becomes prosperous in ten years, or even lives for another twenty years, Wu Huaiyu will only be forty-eight in twenty years.

With Wu Huaiyu's current strong appearance, this disciple of the land god Xiaoyaozi, Wu Huaiyu, who is now respectfully known as Qingyangzi Zhenren among the people, will not live to the age of his master Xiaoyaozi's 104 years old, even if he lives to eighty Four is no problem, either.
Twenty years later, Cheng Qian thirty-seven, Wu Huaiyu forty-eight,

With Wu Huaiyu’s ability, qualifications and achievements,
Who can suppress Wu Huaiyu?
Changsun Wuji, Li Ji, Li Daozong, or Hou Junji?

They may still be alive at that time, but they are all old. These people are ten or twenty years older than Wu Huaiyu. Who can suppress Wu Huaiyu?
As for Cheng Qian?

Maybe I can be a steadfast king,
Thinking of this, Li Shimin couldn't help but feel upset.

He even thought of Huo Guang and Yang Jian.
Zizhi Tongjian couldn't stand it anymore.

Li Shimin picked up another manuscript.

However, it was Gao Shilian, the Prime Minister's Minister of Civil Service, who took the lead and revised the clan chronicles together with Wei Ting, Cen Wenwen, Linghu Defen and others.

This clan chronicle has been compiled for five years.

The emperor's request was to publish the correct surname.

The reason was that Wei Zheng, Fangxuanling, Cheng Yaojin, Zhang Liang and other prime ministers all wanted to marry into seven families with five surnames, and even paid high amounts of money to accompany them.
This made Li Shimin very dissatisfied at the time.

The power of the gentry, especially the old Shandong gentry, was very detrimental to the royal family. Li Shimin could not tolerate them overriding the imperial power.

Therefore, the Xiu clan annals were created.

But after five years of revision and revision, the clan chronicle was not completed, and Li Shimin was very dissatisfied with several drafts.

The ministers in the imperial court who are responsible for compiling clan annals still want to praise the Shandong gentry and respect the five surnames as the heads of the clan.
"Call Gao Shilian."

Gao Shilian, the minister of official affairs and involved in political affairs, the queen's uncle, came immediately with the order.

Li Shimin pointed to the clan chronicle he sent,
"The Shandong gentry have been declining for generations, and they have no honors. They rely on marriage to get wealth. I don't understand what is important in the world?" The emperor directly expressed his dissatisfaction.

Gao Shilian explained in a low voice, "The revision of the clan annals mainly uses the county surname as the family rank, which is in accordance with the tradition since the Wei and Jin Dynasties."

There are four major gentry clans: Shandong gentry, Jiangzuo gentry, Guanzhong gentry, and Daibei gentry. Shandong gentry is still deeply rooted and has high popularity.

"There is no need to talk about the past several lives, just take the rank of today's officials and nobles as the ranking." Li Shimin had to make his words as clear as possible. If he followed the same old practice, what was the emperor's intention?

Is it possible that the emperor also wants to flatter those old nobles and promote them?
"The royal family is the first, followed by relatives!"

Gao Shilian was a little surprised. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system has been implemented. Genealogy is the basis for selecting officials. The division of family ranks is based on the performance of officials in the past dynasties. Those listed as nobles are all from the highest ranking families.

But now the emperor has given instructions to break this tradition, not to mention the past official status, and only look at the rank of officials in the Tang Dynasty, not the previous ones.

Shangguan replaced the surname Shang.

The officials of the Tang Dynasty replaced the previous county surnames.

This is to establish a new gentry system, with the royal family as the top priority and the new dynasty nobles as the leaders.

The emperor tapped his fingers on the table,
"How do you think the warrior Yu should rank?" the emperor asked.

Gao Shilian thought for a while and said, "Although the warrior Xun is a member of the Yuan Dynasty in Taiyuan, he comes from a poor family and once worked as a timber merchant. According to past traditions, he is not qualified to be among the high-ranking sects of the clan."

"However, the warrior Yu, who was an official in this dynasty and became the prime minister, was given a title as a gift to Sikong. Based on his seniority, he should be included in the clan annals and can be ranked third."

Gao Shilian's original draft of the clan chronicle had 198 surnames in nineteen counties, but now the emperor is very dissatisfied. If they were based on officials instead of surnames, then the number that could be included in the clan chronicle would be greatly increased.

"What rank does Wu Huaiyu rank in?" the emperor asked again.

"According to His Majesty's request, Wu Huaiyu is Dai Sikong, Crown Prince Tutor, and Kaifu Yitong. He is also a meritorious official of Shi Feng and Shi Feng. He is also a Yuan Cong of Zhenguan. He is the first surname, ranking only after the royal family and descendants. "

The warriors Xun and Wu Huaiyu also had the same surname of Wu, and they were not even related to each other in the fifth service. However, even according to the Wei and Jin genealogy, each family within the same surname had its own rank.

The clan annals required by the emperor are Dingjiu.

"The royal family is the first, followed by the relatives, the three princes, the third division of the prince, the third division of Kaifu Yitong, the minister Pushe are the third grade, the second grade of civil and military officials and the third grade of Zhizhengshi are the fourth grade, each is classified according to their grade. The ninth grade, the descendants of Kun disciples, the rest of the family will not be included."

Li Shimin knocked on the table, "Changsun Wuji is ranked second, and Wu Huaiyu is ranked third. Wu Huaiyu is the third generation of Sikong, the prince and tutor of the third division of the prince, and the third division of Kaifu Yitong, so he is the third. Waiting for the first time,
As for the warrior Xun, he was a posthumous gift from Sikong. He had served as prime minister during his lifetime, so he was ranked fourth. "

Originally, the emperor planned that the concubines of the royal family, the three male descendants, and other first-class surnames should be ranked first, but in the end he ordered Wu Huaiyu to be ranked third, and the warrior Xun family to be ranked fourth.

As for Wu Huaiyi, he is Wu Huaiyu's brother, so according to this standard, he is in the same family as Wu Huaiyu, and he is also the third-level leader in the clan annals.

(End of this chapter)