Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 606 A Little Change
Hearing that Cui Youfu had arrived, Xue Bai shook his head and looked at Du Wulang who looked confused.

"I bet he's going to come and tell me not to rush things."

"Ah? How did he know?" Du Wulang said, "It hasn't even started yet."

"A duck knows first when the river water warms in spring." Xue Bai said, "There is nothing new under the sun. It's nothing more than that little calculation. The Cui family is big and powerful, they won't openly disobey me, they just bow their heads and submit, pretending to obey but secretly disobeying. Then take the opportunity to release the news and let that loyal minister put pressure on me."

Having experienced many court meetings, where similar arguments were held every day, Xue Bai knew what Cui Youfu was going to say without having to listen.

Naturally, he was too lazy to summon him. After a little thought, he wrote a note and asked the eunuch to pass it to Yan Zhenqing.

"Cui Youfu has disappeared. Send this to the Secretariat."

"According to the order."

Du Wulang watched Xue Bai handle the matter calmly, avoiding the previous dispute with the court officials, and couldn't help but whispered: "Your Majesty has become more experienced."

"After all, he is a skilled worker."

Outside the Qianyuan Gate, Cui Youfu waited for a long time and became more and more anxious, but he was not summoned by the emperor. Instead, Yan Zhenqing sent someone to call him over.

The Secretariat is not far away and can be reached by passing through Xihua Gate.

After several wars, the imperial court finally began to use the government offices in Luoyang, and they have been slowly being renovated. Outside the Secretariat, craftsmen were painting the palace walls red.

The fresh color is brushed down vertically, covering the old, smoky color, giving a pleasing feeling to the eyes.

When Cui Youfu saw this scene, he inexplicably felt relaxed. He actually stopped and watched for a while, and his original anxiety also eased a little.

When he entered the official residence, Yan Zhenqing was standing in front of a desk, practicing boxing slowly. Upon seeing him coming, he signaled with his eyes for him to wait a moment.

Cui Youfu originally thought it was the Five Animal Exercises, but after watching it he found out it was not, so he couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"It was taught by a saint a while ago. It's called 'Eight-Section Brocade'. It's said to be effective in clearing the Dai and Chong meridians and curing back and neck diseases." Yan Zhenqing stopped and said slowly, "I didn't believe it at first. I thought the saint was only a few years old, how could he know how to keep fit? But after practicing it, I found that it really has miraculous effects."

After that, he laughed at himself and said meaningfully, "Many things are like this. I rely on my age and always say that young people are doing things wrong. In fact, you have to do something before you know it, don't you think?"

The topic then entered the main topic. Cui Youfu pondered and said, "I heard that Du Wulang did something very ridiculous."

"Oh?"

"Du Wulang took a slave from the Cui family in Shou'an, saying that he wanted to take the imperial examination. Most of the slaves in the world don't even have enough food to eat, and less than one in ten thousand can read. This is meaningless and makes this year's provincial examination a laughing stock."

Yan Zhenqing said: "It is precisely because of its absurdity that it can break the 'established impression' of the imperial examination system and help those poor and common people who are disappointed with the court and feel that their talents are not appreciated regain their confidence."

Cui Youfu said: "I am afraid that this will only make people with real talent and learning ashamed to associate with lowly slaves and ashamed to take the imperial examinations."

"This is even better. The court only selects people based on their talents, and the people selected will all be those who care about the poor people."

"Mr. Yan," Cui Youfu said helplessly, "No matter how high-sounding this matter is, to put it bluntly, it's still the personal likes and dislikes of the saint."

"You think so?"

"This is what the saint experienced when he was young." Cui Youfu said, "He hid in slavery to protect himself, and he had a good impression of slaves. He rose to prominence through the imperial examination, so he wanted everyone to be able to take the examination. But we, the rulers, cannot build castles in the air. Slaves have never been literate, and all they want is food and clothing. The court revised the Tang law, and originally slaves could be bought and sold, but now they can only be bought and sold after three years; the original punishment of killing guilty slaves was 100 strokes of the cane, but now it is changed to five years of imprisonment. This is the way to be down-to-earth and make gradual progress."

He knew he had said too much, and said, "Mr. Yan, I am not trying to speak for the Cui family. If I really wanted to protect the Cui family, I wouldn't have to speak so bluntly."

"I know." Yan Zhenqing nodded and said, "But the saint wants to take drastic measures."

"What I oppose is strong medicine." Cui Youfu asked, "Why has Mr. Yan been on the side of the saint in many things recently?"

Yan Zhenqing said with emotion: "That must be the reason of a saint. You were the lieutenant of Shou'an County. Let me ask you, what was your greatest achievement during your tenure?"

"If you don't count the fact that I worked with the Saint to handle the Yanshi Canal Transport Case, then it's a tax."

The reason why Cui Youfu said this was because the most important criterion for the court to measure the performance of local officials was taxation, and one of the duties of a county lieutenant was to collect taxes.

"During my tenure, I counted the fields, reclaimed wasteland, and improved the administration of officials, so that the families who had fled returned to their hometowns to farm. The rent and labor service paid on time increased by 30% compared to the previous year..."

"Take a look at this." Yan Zhenqing handed over a pile of thick official documents. "Your achievements are true, but less than a year after you left office, are those fields and households still there?"

Cui Youfu took it and read it carefully, and found that the tax figures he paid during his tenure were quite outstanding, which had never been seen in the previous and next few years. The same was true for the land.

It seemed that his successor as the Shou'an County Magistrate was a mediocre person. In less than a year, he drove away the farmers who had returned to their hometown.

Going down further, the number of registered cultivated land in Shou'an County reached its peak in the seventh year of Kaiyuan, and then it gradually decreased year by year. By the fifth year of Tianbao, it was already less than that during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, while the rent, labor service and taxes paid were still increasing. The growth brought about by his tenure was only a drop in the bucket compared to the Kaiyuan period.

"Your achievements back then were gifts from the rich and powerful. But they couldn't change the fate of the common people. Within two years of your departure, they took everything back, and even more than you gave them."

As Yan Zhenqing spoke, he also thought of the years when he served as the lieutenant of Chang'an County, and slowly said: "Although gradual progress is good, it is also easy to be deceived and to be pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed. The Tang Dynasty has been established for a long time, and land annexation has become more and more serious. Without drastic measures, we cannot show the determination of the court."

Cui Youfu said: "The Tang Dynasty has not yet reached the point where drastic measures are needed."

"What we want is not to maintain stability, but rejuvenation, to govern a more glorious and prosperous era."

Cui Youfu was at a loss for words. Looking at Yan Zhenqing, he felt that Yan Zhenqing was becoming more and more influenced by the emperor and his way of speaking was becoming more and more like him.

And he probably knew their ambitions.

Methods such as amending the Tang law to make it three years before the owner could buy and sell slaves were too slow. They wanted to abolish slavery, so that fugitives would have nowhere to hide and wealthy families would not be able to use it to conceal their land and population. This was only the first step they had to take.

~~
In the autumn of that year, the imperial court added another test for children in order to increase the number of people taking the imperial examination.

It is stipulated that as long as one passes the Tongshi, one is eligible to take the imperial examination, regardless of age. The Tongshi is divided into three rounds, the first of which is the county examination.

The biggest difference compared to the previous selection of local tribute students is that in order to encourage poor children to take the imperial examinations and enter officialdom, the imperial court issued a special decree that those who performed well in the county examinations could enter the county school, have numbered dormitories to live in, and receive food on a monthly basis.

When the new policy was first implemented, many people were waiting and watching. The scholars who originally participated in the imperial examinations were either from the Imperial Academy or from the local government, and they had already qualified for the examinations. Therefore, most of the people who participated in the Tongshi were people with mediocre talents and no expectations for a career in officialdom.

On the day of the exam, Yan Fang was very nervous.

When he arrived at the examination hall in Shou'an County, he heard the discussions around him. Most people were saying that they would be content as long as they could become a student on government stipend in the county school.

"Yuan Zhiyuan."

"Yuan Zhiyuan."

The clerk called out twice before Yan finally responded. He hurried forward and said, "It's me."

"Search me."

"Yes."

He walked into the examination room with his new name and looked back. Du Wulang came in person today, and standing behind Du Wulang were his parents.

In a blink of an eye, it was the day when the county office announced the results.

"Yuan Zhiyuan!"

"I saw it. I saw Yuan Zhiyuan!"

Yuan Zhiyuan raised his head and stared at the list, counting from the end. It took a long time before he saw his name.

He counted again from the front to the back and found that he was the thirteenth, which made him even more excited.

"I won? I won!" Yuan Zhiyuan turned around quickly, pulled his grandfather over, pointed at the list and kept muttering, "Grandpa, did you see it? I won."

"Grandpa can't read."

Old Yuan tried hard to squeeze into the crowd and scanned the list, but he felt that the names on it were so densely packed like flies that he could not recognize them at all.

He followed the direction of his son's finger and searched for the character "Yuan". When his neck became sore, he finally shouted, "Okay, okay, Grandpa saw it!"

The actions of the father and son caused dissatisfaction among the candidates around them.

"You've been standing here for too long. Let others see it, too."

"You can't read, but you still come to see the list. You stink of sweat..."

Old Yuan smiled foolishly, not daring to offend these scholars, and retreated in anger. But he was reluctant to leave his son's hard-earned glory, so he looked back at the list every three steps, fearing that if he accidentally moved his eyes, he would never find the word "Yuan" again.

"Ouch, you old man, you stepped on me!"

"I confess my guilt."

Old Yuan kept thinking that there was smoke coming out of his ancestors' graves and he had to go back and offer sacrifices to them.

Not far from them, Cui Dong and Cui family's teacher Zhao Hua were also looking at the list.

"It really was successful," Cui Dong said, "Yes, with Du Wulang's relationship, how could it not be successful?"

Zhao Hua said: "Even without Du Wulang's connections, he can still win."

"Sir, you mean that Yan Fang has surpassed many scholars in the county by virtue of his real talent and knowledge."

"The Cui family has a rich collection of books, and Yan Fang has read many of the classics that are not available elsewhere." Zhao Hua said, "In the past, Cui Jing's poems and essays were all written by him. It's not surprising that he made the list, but his ranking is too low."

Cui Dong said: "It is the teacher's teaching that is good."

Zhao Hua sighed, "I'm afraid we'll be in big trouble next."

Cui Dong was deeply moved and couldn't help sighing.

He knew that Yan Fang's current identity was Du Wulang's slave. If Du Wulang's slave passed the county examination, it would inevitably arouse dissatisfaction and doubts from many people.

Those self-important children of noble families would inevitably cause trouble when they thought about having to take the imperial examinations with such people in the future; those old scholars who prided themselves on being upright would be certain that there was fraud in this matter and would definitely cause trouble as well.

This inevitably involves how Yan Fang studied. Then, Zhao Hua, the teacher who surrendered to the rebels, will be implicated, and the Cui family will have to take sides. Cui Dong originally wanted to be an idle cloud and wild crane, but this time, he had to be involved in the official career economy, and it was someone else's official career economy.

He turned around, looked at the name on the list, and muttered, "Yuan Zhiyuan?"

The originally forgotten memories suddenly reappeared, and he vaguely remembered what Haruhi said in his arms.

"Remember this, my original maiden name is... Yuan Zhiyuan."

~~
"Lang Jun."

As soon as Yuan Zhiyuan saw Du Wulang, he bowed down to express his gratitude, and Du Wulang quickly helped him up.

"Let me tell you, you are not yet a student of the county school, because you were born a slave, so many people will suspect that you cheated. You will have a harder time than all the students on the same list, and you will have to prove yourself again and again. So, if you don't have real talent or are afraid, I will admit defeat now and let others accuse me of manipulating the imperial examination..."

"I'm not afraid!"

Of course Du Wulang was trying to provoke him, and Yuan Zhiyuan immediately expressed his opinion before he finished listening.

"Since you trust me, I will never embarrass you! I am more hardworking than any other member of the Cui family. True gold is not afraid of fire."

"That's good." Du Wulang said, "Just study and take exams, and don't worry about other gossips. When you have proven your true talent and knowledge to the world, then you will truly become Yuan Zhiyuan."

If all he wanted was to restore Yuan Zhiyuan's status as his beloved husband, it would be a very simple matter for Du Wulang, but obviously, he had to do much more than that.

He deliberately let Yuan Zhiyuan take the exam as a slave, which made him a bait, just waiting for the fish to take the bait.

As expected, on the day the results were announced, Yuan Zhiyuan's success caused dissatisfaction among many scholars, who complained that the county examination was unfair.

Although anyone with an eye could see that it was not necessary to do so just for a place in the county school. Moreover, there were many injustices in previous years, but not many people made trouble.

But in the past, the injustice was that the rich and powerful got the benefits, and the poor people had to swallow their anger when they were wronged. This time it was different. This time it was a lowly slave who took the place of the rich and powerful, and turned against the Tiangang. If it was not stopped in time, what would happen in the future?

The Cui family actually wanted to keep things quiet, but someone was fanning the flames behind the scenes, and the matter still got out of hand.

So, the county office first stepped in to investigate the cheating case in the county examination, but found nothing. As a result, the matter was brought to the Luoyang Prefecture.

The incident reached Luoyang Prefecture, and soon everyone knew that the slave girl was bought by Du Wulang from the Cui family.

In the past, Du Wulang was known as one of the “Five Sons of the Spring Examination” who stood up for justice in the imperial examination. However, this time, everyone criticized him as the mastermind behind the manipulation of the imperial examination.

Luoyang Prefecture had no choice but to conduct a re-examination and test Yuan Zhiyuan again.

But at this point, no matter what the result of the re-examination is, the situation can no longer be calmed down. On the contrary, every time it is investigated, the argument that there is a conspiracy behind it will become more rampant.

Some even said that the current emperor, in order to save Du Wulang's face, secretly issued an edict asking the Luoyang Prefecture to acknowledge that the slave was indeed talented.

Some people even said that this was the emperor manipulating things from behind in order to slap the faces of the aristocratic families.

Amidst all this turmoil, few people mentioned this child examination. Among those who passed the exam in counties across the country, there were a large number of children from poor and common families.

Compared with the "no talented people left in the wild" in the sixth year of Tianbao, this entry-level test for the imperial examination seemed to be deliberately searching for talented people left in the wild, but people's attention was attracted by the most ridiculous thing.

Finally, the matter came to the attention of the emperor.

During the court meeting, Xue Bai seemed to be hearing about this for the first time and said, "Is there such a thing? Go and call Du Zhuo here, and I will ask him personally."

All the officials knew it very well, but they could only play along.

When Du Wulang arrived, Xue Bai immediately frowned and scolded him, "I heard that you manipulated the Shou'an County's child examination for a slave. Is that true?!"

"Your Majesty, I would never dare to do that." Du Wulang then told the story of how he met Yuan Zhiyuan at Cui's house, and added: "I only helped him because I valued his talent. As for manipulating the county exam, why would I take such a big risk for a slave I just met?"

After hearing this, an imperial censor could not help but step out and say, "Your Majesty, I heard that Du Zhuo doted on that servant, so he did this."

"Are you slandering me?" Du Wulang asked, turning around.

Then, he immediately realized that he had been rude, turned around and answered honestly: "Your Majesty, he has slandered my reputation. Let's not talk about this matter first. If I want to promote Yuan Zhiyuan, there are many ways to arrange a future for him. Why should I let him take the imperial examination? Of course, he should take the examination because he is talented, so why should I manipulate the county examination?"

At this point, Chief Censor Cui Youfu had no choice but to step forward.

He first reprimanded the censor who had spoken rudely just now, and then he had to submit a petition to apologize, and then he elaborated on his views.

Cui Youfu is the person who knows the whole story best and is also very familiar with the Cui family.

"According to what I have heard, Yuan Zhiyuan is from the Shou'an Cui family, so it is not surprising that he passed the county exam. He must have studied under Zhao Hua, who was a Jinshi in the 23rd year of Kaiyuan..."

With these words, the tone of the matter has been set in the court.

Yuan Zhiyuan definitely did not commit any fraud, but Du Wulang was also blamed for it, and all the officials inexplicably stood on the position of being in the wrong against the emperor.

As expected, the emperor on the imperial couch snorted in displeasure and said, "A trivial matter based on hearsay has caused such a stir."

"The minister is guilty."

Many officials from the Ministry of Rites, Luoyang Prefecture and other places had no choice but to plead guilty.

And a group of officials have realized that something is wrong.

These people were all born into noble families, and most of them entered the government through family connections. They felt it was a humiliation to have to search their bodies during the imperial examination, and they simply could not tolerate the idea of ​​more lowly people entering the government and sitting on the same side of the court with them.

What they were protesting from the very beginning was not that Du Wulang manipulated the imperial examination, but that slaves of low status should not have participated in the imperial examination. However, things happened too quickly. As soon as the results of the county examination were announced, the incident was brought to the imperial court, and they had no time to react at all.

How could they have the time to keep an eye on the results of the child examinations in so many counties?

At this point it seemed that the emperor was deliberately guiding public opinion towards attacking Du Wulang.

"I and other officials believe that the uproar in Shou'an County's examination was not caused by Du Zhuo, but by the lowly class..."

"Enough!" Xue Bailong was furious and said, "Pass the decree down. All slaves who can pass the county examination will be upgraded to good people, and the court will compensate their masters at the market price."

"Your Majesty, Tang law strictly prohibits the capture of innocent people as slaves. If a slave is a relative of a criminal or a captive of an enemy country, it is reasonable for him to sell himself to redeem his sins. How can he be expelled from the family just because he passed the county examination?"

"Because they read the books of sages, they should know how to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty, unlike some people who lie with their eyes open. If there really were no one who 'plundered the good people', where did all the disappeared household registrations go?!"

Following these words, many officials in the hall who were about to speak opened their mouths and quickly closed them again.

They felt that the emperor came prepared. If they continued to argue, the topic would be led to the matter of escaped households, which was something that should not be brought up in the court.

There is no point in arguing with the emperor. If you anger him, he will issue another decree to abolish slavery or require wealthy families to pay a population tax on their slaves, and then things will be troublesome.

For a moment, everyone was silent.

Xue Bai didn't wait for the opportunity to cause trouble, so he waved his hand and said, "I'm tired."

~~
Shouan County Office.

Zong Han looked at the document in front of him, frowned slightly, and then quickly unfolded it.

"Since Yuan Zhiyuan has become a student of the county school and the imperial court has a new policy, the county office will compensate his master, that is, you, Wulang, at the market price."

"No, no." Du Wulang waved his hand and said, "I don't need any compensation."

"It has to be filled." Zong Han said, "Otherwise, no master will be willing to let slaves take the county exam in the future, and there will be no talents who can read the books of sages. This is the court's sympathy for the people, Wu Lang has to accept it."

He said this sincerely, but Du Wulang heard a hint of sarcasm in his words.

Zong Han took out an abacus and made some calculations. He said, "Yuan Zhiyuan's family of three should provide Wulang with 63 dan of grain according to the market price. Is that okay? As for the travel expenses, Wulang has to pay for them himself."

"Okay, any amount is fine."

"Then I will now prepare the documents to make them free from slavery and return them to the proper places. From now on, they will be registered as households in Shou'an County again."

"Thank you, Zongzhubu."

"No, no, it is my honor to work for Wulang."

The two of them handled the matter amicably, and Du Wulang took the Yuan family of three away.

Zong Han watched them leave with more than 60 stone of grain on their shoulders, his brows slightly furrowed, and he fell into deep thought.

"Master, it's too much to allocate so much grain all at once," said a petty official. "If the county has to redeem the family of a person who is a slave, the burden on the county will be too great."

"Fool, how many slaves can pass the exam?"

Zong Han scolded the clerk and said to himself, "There won't be one in a year. It's just like 'buying a horse bone with a thousand gold coins'. It's not even worth a thousand gold coins."

He knew that this was a very small probability event, so the opposition in the court was not very strong.

The problem still lies with Du Wulang. With Du Wulang watching, if Yuan Zhiyuan's family returns to their hometown and settles down, should the one hundred acres of land be divided?
The fields have been divided, and now spring is coming. Should I apply for a spring seedling loan?

It would be fine if Du Wulang only targeted Yuan Zhiyuan's family, but the emperor went to the Eastern Capital, and Shou'an County became the place where the emperor lived. Now the wind of reform is getting stronger and stronger, and it will first blow here.

"Master, the county magistrate wants you to come over."

"For what?"

Then a clerk came to Zong Han's ear and whispered, "Someone in the county wants to borrow all the seedlings for next year's spring seedling loan. The county magistrate cannot afford to offend him, so he wants to ask about your relationship with Du Wulang..."

~~
"Okay, you are all good citizens from now on."

Over there, Du Wulang patted the sacks filled with grain and said to Old Yuan, "Just let Zhiyuan study in the county school and prepare for the next exam. With these grains this winter, when the land is divided, you can farm it yourself next year..."

(End of this chapter)