People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1440: Bringing trouble to Jiangdong, Empress Wu’s instructions

"The map of the world." Li Xuan raised his head slightly with excitement, then restrained himself and said seriously and solemnly: "I have served the court for many years, but I discovered that there is a major flaw in the court."

"What's wrong?" Empress Wu looked at Li Xuan, who looked a little suppressed and excited, and knew in her heart that she seemed to be asking about the fun that Li Xuan really cared about.

“Although the Tang Dynasty had a map of the world, the various states, prefectures and counties did not provide detailed and accurate reports on the number of fertile fields in the world, which ones were planted with wheat, which ones were planted with rice, and which ones were planted with mulberry and hemp. As a result, the total annual taxes of the Tang Dynasty were It's all decided by local authorities." Li Xuan raised her head and looked at Empress Wu solemnly.

Empress Wu frowned and asked in confusion: "Isn't this right?"

Just as Li Xuan was about to speak, Empress Wu waved her hand and said: "What you just said is wrong. The imperial court has detailed records of the number of acres of wheat, rice, mulberry and hemp fields in the world. How can there be no explanation? The localities also follow the rules. How come these numbers are reported to taxes?”

"Queen of Heaven." Li Xuan bowed and said seriously: "Queen of Heaven, if you guessed it right, all the figures in the Ministry of Household Affairs were from three or five years ago, and this number is the same as the actual number of acres in the world today. In comparison, there is always a huge gap.”

"Tang Law: Accounts are made every year, and household registration is made every three years. Counties are based on prefectures, and prefectures are based on provinces." Empress Wu looked straight at Li Xuan and said, "This is the imperial system."

"This was the martial law at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Later, Zhenguan Tongdian and even Yonghui Law followed this method."

Li Xuan stared at Empress Wu and said without giving in: "This law was not hindered in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. But now, the population of the Tang Dynasty has increased dramatically, and new areas are opened every year. Household registration is created every three years. There are also countless omissions, which have been accumulated over the years, including an unknown amount of underpayment of taxes.”

"If the world is at peace, I also agree with the wishes of the Queen." Li Xuan seriously handed over his hand, but his expression was already firm as he said: "If Your Majesty and the Queen want to completely stabilize the Western Territory, many things must be prepared. This money and food, Is it still paid by the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

Li Xuan bowed slightly and said: "The Queen of Heaven, I was also fighting for Tibet at that time...but the number of hidden fields of the world's famous families has far exceeded my expectations."

"How to collect this money?" Empress Wu looked up and stared straight at Li Xuan.

"In the past, in the imperial court, the white book and the yellow book were revised every three years. Let me mention it now, it will be revised every two years." Li Xuan looked at Empress Wu, cupped her hands and said: "There is no need to do more, no need to send people to check, just It is necessary to compile the map of the world based on the white book and the yellow book that are revised every two years. In contrast, the wealth of the world is in the hands of the Queen of Heaven. "

"Tianhou, what I just said is not counted as hidden fields. They are just the local officials who have not had time to register them."

Li Xuan smiled softly and said: "Although it has not been registered, the taxes have been collected. Although the taxes have been collected, they have not been registered in the Ministry of Household Affairs."

And when these things fell into Empress Wu's eyes, what would she think? What was Li Xuan's purpose in doing this?
……

Datang had huge omissions in household registration, registration, and land statistics. It's okay now, but taxes and taxes will be paid less and less in the future.

If we really follow this strategy, all the soldiers and officials in the world will collect less money every year.

The mention of Tobe has touched upon her weakness.

"Hidden field, hidden field inventory." Empress Wu stared at Li Xuan and said: "The imperial court is already conducting a hidden field inventory to make up for the gaps."

Empress Wu nodded subconsciously, then looked up at Li Xuan, and said with a half-smile: "This strategy is not bad. I almost forgot that you were the one who proposed the cleaning up of Hidden Fields."

There was a moment of silence in the main hall.

Empress Wu paused for a moment, her expression slightly ugly.

Empress Wu was in charge of the world's money. In recent years, the emperor had spent a lot of money fighting the Tubo and Turkic wars. After two years of peace, the emperor wanted to enshrine Songshan again.

Indeed, it was Li Xuan who proposed cleaning up Hidden Field back then. Now he has added another step to cleaning up Hidden Field.

"This money has been embezzled." Empress Wu understood immediately, and then she shook her head and said: "This money has been noticed by the court for a long time, but this is the good government of the court, and the world's noble families and officials cannot treat it like this." Too harsh."

Li Xuan raised her head and saw Empress Wu's scrutinizing gaze at a glance.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the purpose of creating household registration every three years was to treat the people leniently. Now that the people's power is unprecedentedly high, the household registration every three years has not kept up with the times.

Now that Li Xuan had pointed out a way for her to make money, Empress Wu was still a little moved.

Although all the money in the world is in the hands of Empress Wu, the more the money is used, the more it cannot be used, and the expenses are getting bigger and bigger.

"There is no doubt that the world's aristocratic families are greedy, but what if the action is too drastic and triggers a backlash?" Empress Wu looked straight at Li Xuan, with a meaning in her eyes.

Li Xuan bowed slightly and said, "Empress, I have always felt that the number of people admitted to the imperial examinations over the years is too small. Now that Tibet and the Turks have been pacified, the Western Regions will also be developed. The officials that are lacking can also be transferred from the court. In addition, there is also the matter of the restoration of Persia."

"You want to send people to create momentum to the west of the Western Turks and threaten the Western Turks?" Empress Wu looked at Li Xuan with some surprise.

This strategy was not new. Datang had helped Persia recover more than once over the years, and this was the purpose.

"The laws in the court might as well be stricter. Select some of those guilty officials and exile them to Persia." Li Xuan said lightly, and some of the people in the palace already felt chills at the back of their heads.

"This must be the official from the family that you just mentioned was greedy for money and taxes." Empress Wu couldn't help but shake her head, picked up the bullets on the desk, and threw them directly to Li Xuan: "Let's take a look, no wonder people hate you so much. It turns out I’ve seen through you a long time ago.”

Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, then raised her hand to take the memorial. When she lowered her head, she saw that the name on the cover had been directly obliterated, but the content was clearly visible.

Impeachment of Prince Peng for eight major crimes?
Abusing the nobles, treating the people harshly, supporting the soldiers to respect themselves, deceiving the prince, creating an unjust case, colluding with the censor, using troops without authorization, and having evil intentions, these are the eight deadly sins.

Li Xuan was a little confused. What was going on? Why would someone impeach him like this?
To be honest, he has committed the four major sins of abusing the nobles, supporting soldiers to respect themselves, colluding with the censor, and having evil intentions.

But he was not guilty of these four major sins: treating the people harshly, deceiving the prince, creating unjust cases, and using troops without permission.

Li Xuan quickly lowered his head to look, and then raised his eyebrows. Almost all the charges contained here were specious inferences.

The only thing that can be confirmed is that he treated the county officials in Fanzhou harshly.

Li Xuan raised her head and looked at the memorial she had just handed over about the corruption of officials in aristocratic families. She bowed solemnly and said: "I acted carelessly, please punish the Queen of Heaven."

Empress Wu waved her hand and said: "I have seen these eight deadly sins, and only one of them, deceiving the prince, is true."

Empress Wu's voice was not serious, but Li Xuan's back was soaked in an instant. At this moment, I finally understood what Empress Wu was thinking. Empress Wu was actually worried about the relationship between Li Xuan and the prince.

But it is impossible to deny that Li Xian, supported by Li Xuan, is the most threatening to Empress Wu.

……

"What the Queen of Heaven said is absolutely true. I would like to resign from all my positions, and the Three Laws Division will decide the punishment." Li Xuan took a step back, then fell to the ground directly, with a sincere voice.

"Ha!" Empress Wu sneered, waved her hands and said, "Forget it, you don't have to make such a gesture.

Letting you serve in the East Palace is the intention of His Majesty and me, and you don't stay in the court for a long time every year, and you teach the prince a virtuous and upright way, which is praised by all the prime ministers, but..."

"I respectfully listen to the instructions from the Queen of Heaven..." Li Xuan's forehead was directly pressed against the floor of Qianyuan Hall, and a cold feeling instantly invaded his mind.

"As the prince's guest, it is your duty to advise the prince and make suggestions, but you must also be cautious and not seduce the prince into evil ways." Empress Wu looked straight at Li Xuanxia, ​​the meaning in her eyes was extremely clear.

Li Xuan took a deep breath, raised her head, and then kowtowed deeply and said: "I accept the decree. I will definitely advise the prince to be generous, sincere, loyal and filial, to be cautious at all levels, and to be harmonious inside and outside."

"Not bad." Empress Wu nodded with satisfaction. Li Xuan was a smart person, and he still understood the meaning of her words.

And he also made the right choice, at least the most correct one among the choices given by Empress Wu.

……

Empress Wu looked at Li Xuan and asked, "Prince Peng, I have another question for you."

"Please show me the Queen." Li Xuan bowed again.

Empress Wu nodded and said: "In this world, greed for money and greed are not limited to the wealthy families, but also the children of the clan. If the clan commits a crime and it falls into your hands, what should you do?"

"Punish the crime according to the law!" Li Xuan kowtowed deeply without any hesitation.

There is really nothing to hesitate about.

Important ministers and lords in the court all have the "eight discussions" system of discussing merit, discussing relatives, discussing old friends, discussing talents, discussing abilities, discussing nobles, discussing diligence, and discussing guests.

Among these eight types of people, those who are guilty of "exile" or less will be punished by one level of reduction; those who are guilty of serious crimes will be personally sentenced by the emperor.

If the emperor doesn't allow it, he will still be executed. If the emperor agrees, he will be exiled thousands of miles away.

The final right to execute someone was not in Li Xuan's hands, but in the hands of the emperor.

Under such circumstances, it was not surprising that he did not hesitate.

Li Xuan's decision was so quick that Empress Wu noticed something was wrong. After she noticed something was wrong, she immediately thought of the "Eight Discussions" system.

Empress Wu glanced at Li Xuan angrily and returned the favor.

After pondering for a moment, Empress Wu said: "To punish a crime, you must first convict the person. The clan and the aristocratic family all have authority to suppress the subordinates. What should we do if this happens?"

Li Xuan raised his head, looked at Empress Wu and said: "The Queen knows that when Di Huaiying was the Prime Minister of Dali Temple, there were dozens of sentencing cases every day, and a total of 17,000 cases were solved in a year, and no one was dissatisfied. I also studied it. Although the Dharma cannot be practiced, it can still be understood.”

Empress Wu raised her eyebrows, then nodded slowly and said, "Being humble is virtuous, ordering the top and bottom, harming the noble and giving to the poor, harming the rich and giving to the poor, this is indeed the right way."

Li Xuan bowed deeply. This method was not something ordinary people could use.

Di Renjie is one, and the other one is Hai Rui.

Compared with Hai Rui's anger and resentment, Di Renjie has to be much more cautious here.

"Did Prince Peng's Mansion do something similar?" Empress Wu looked straight at Li Xuan and asked, "You said you were responsible for managing the world's taxes, land and grain, but if Prince Peng's Mansion is not upright..."

"Reporting to the Queen of Heaven, this matter was investigated by the imperial censor Li Zhaode last year, together with the chief minister. Fortunately, I have always acted cautiously, so there is no problem at home."

Li Xuan bowed seriously. To be honest, he really didn't like the little money in the fields. If it was to train people, he would hand over the fields in his hands.

"So in your opinion, where do you plan to check the aristocratic family and clan first?" Empress Wu asked seemingly casually.

Li Xuan bowed and said: "Xunzi·Junzi" said that if there is a distinction between closeness and distance, and internal and external distinctions, then the country can be governed, and the government can be conducted. The relatives of the clan, the foundation of the court, the family, the court's tactics, and those who are disobedient will be given a beating. That’s it.”

Empress Wu fell completely silent.

After a long time, Wu Cai waved his hand and said: "Okay, please step back. I will think carefully about what you said today. In addition, go back and take a good look at Princess Fuchang."

"Here!" Li Xuan bowed and then slowly retreated.

……

In the Qianyang Palace, Empress Wu looked to the side: "Prince Peng acts with both civil and military skills. Yuan Qing, if Prince Peng is transferred back to Chang'an in five years, which position is most appropriate?"

"Queen of Heaven, didn't we agree that it would be the Imperial Son's offering wine?"

"But I want him to be the Minister of Sinong Temple, and then transfer some of the powers of the Ministry of Household Affairs to Sinong Temple." Empress Wu narrowed her eyes.

"Queen of Heaven, this has gone beyond Sinong Temple..."

(End of this chapter)