Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 429 The handle
Li Ang was in a good mood because Gu Tingye agreed to his plan.

After finishing their shift every day, they would go to Gu Tingye's house to discuss and perfect their plans with him.

In early April, Molan got married, and Li An just went to drink a glass of wedding wine when the Liang family proposed marriage.

A month after Molan's marriage, Minglan and Old Lady Sheng also returned to Bianjing.

Ang Lee went to the Liu family and asked his teacher Liu Xuewen to go to the Sheng family to officially set the date for his and Minglan's wedding.

Although Molan is married, Minglan still has an older sister.

Sheng Changbai and Miss Hai's wedding date is September 12, while Rulan and Wen Yanjing's wedding date is at the end of September.

Li An and Minglan's wedding date will be after Rulan, so they can only choose a date after October.

According to Ang Lee, he wanted to set the wedding date after the New Year. After all, Minglan is still young, so he still wanted to postpone the wedding date.

Secondly, the Queen’s birthday is in October, and Prince Yan will most likely take action at that time.

Even if everything goes well, there will be chaos for a while, which is not a good time to get married.

However, after the two families met and agreed, they asked a Taoist master to calculate an auspicious day, who said that November 8th was the best day in recent years.

So the wedding date was set for the eighth day of November.

Although it was a little different from what Li An had expected, the elders of both families had already set the date, so he had no choice.

After the wedding date was set, Li Nan and Liu were happily busy with Li An's wedding all day long.

Li An went to the Hanlin Academy to work every day as usual. After work, he went to chat with Gu Ting.

Bian Jing fell into a rare period of peace. Prince Yan seemed to have really given up and never went out.

At the end of June, Qi Heng and Princess Jiacheng got married. The wedding was so lively that many people were still talking about it for more than a month.

In early August, Gu Tingye took his wife and left Bian Jing on the pretext of sending Old Master Yu back home.

A few days after Gu Tingye left, something major happened in Jiangnan.

There was a severe drought in several states in the south of the Yangtze River, and the harvest was almost total. The government was unable to provide disaster relief, so one day he instigated the people to kill the county magistrate and loot the county government office.

In a short time, it swept across the two states, and its leader directly ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, establishing the Great Chu.

The hungry refugees responded in order to fill their stomachs. In less than half a month, the rebel army had gathered more than 100,000 strong men.

In addition, there were several people who gathered a large number of refugees, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, and proclaimed themselves kings.

These people, like the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, mobilized the people and became very powerful for a time.

When the news reached Bian Jing, the court was shocked.

The emperor quickly summoned officials to discuss how to put down the rebellion.

Some people said that they were just ordinary civilians and could not withstand a single blow, and that they only needed to mobilize nearby troops to quell the rebellion.

Some people also said that the rebels were so powerful that the imperial guards should be mobilized to suppress them as soon as possible. Otherwise, if others in other places followed suit, the consequences would be disastrous.

As a result, before the court could reach a conclusion, an urgent petition for help from Nanjing was sent to Bianliang over an 800-mile journey.

Several rebel forces have formed an alliance and, together with the common people, have gathered hundreds of thousands of people and are attacking Nanjing. Nanjing is in danger and requests the court to send reinforcements as soon as possible.

You should know that Jinling is one of the largest cities in Jiangnan and the capital of Southern Tang.

Not only is the city tall, but there is also a lot of money and grain in the city.

If the rebels were allowed to occupy the city, it would not only be a heavy blow to the prestige of the imperial court, but the rebels would also obtain money and food and occupy the fortified city, making it even more difficult to eliminate them.

Moreover, Jiangnan was an important tax-collecting area of ​​the Song Dynasty, and two-thirds of the imperial court's annual taxes were collected from Jiangnan.

If the rebels cause destruction in Jiangnan, tax revenues will be greatly reduced in the next few years.

By then, the imperial court will face a financial crisis.

The emperor could no longer sit still, and mobilized 200,000 imperial troops from the western suburbs camp to march south to quell the rebellion.

Ang Lee was also shocked when he heard the news. After thinking about it carefully, it seemed that this was really the case in the original drama.

It was just passed over in passing and he didn't even think about it.

During this period, Li An not only drank tea and read books in the Hanlin Academy, but also learned a lot about the court's systems.

The more I get to know Li An, the more powerless I feel. There are simply too many problems within the Song Dynasty.

Take this rebel uprising for example, this kind of thing has happened many times before.

It’s just that the scale of the previous situation was not as large as it is now, and it was quickly pacified.

Almost every time a natural disaster occurs, even if the affected area is not large, there will be rebellion.

Ultimately, it was the system of the Song Dynasty that had problems.

Li An used to think that the land annexation in the Song Dynasty was the same as in other dynasties. There were no good institutional restrictions, and even if the court tried every possible means, it could only slow down the speed of land annexation.

However, when he carefully studied the system of the Song Dynasty, he found that the Song Dynasty had not taken any measures to restrict and delay land annexation.

It’s not that there aren’t any regulations at all. One of the regulations is that temples are not allowed to buy or sell farmland.

The reason for this regulation is that temples do not pay taxes.

The imperial court made this regulation to prevent temples from owning large amounts of land and damaging the interests of the court.

However, the imperial court not only did not prevent or restrict mergers among the people, but even encouraged them.

You read that right, the Song Dynasty encouraged landlords to annex land.

After careful investigation, Li An finally understood why the court made such an absurd decision.

The imperial court believed that if land was annexed, it would not become barren.

Common people who do not have land can become tenants of landlords. After all, it is impossible for landlords to farm the land themselves, so they still have to rent the land to the common people.

This does not affect the court's tax collection, and there is another advantage, which is that when a natural disaster occurs, the court can save a lot of money and grain to provide relief to the victims.

This is the same principle as working in later generations. Even if the performance is not good, as long as the factory does not go bankrupt, it must pay the workers the minimum salary.

The relationship between landlords and tenants is the same. Landlords need tenants to farm the land, and in years of disaster, they will naturally give food to the people.

Whether lending to the people or providing relief to the people, it can save the court money and energy.

This method was still very useful in the early Song Dynasty, because the population was small at that time, and there were many ownerless fields that were distributed to the people. The landlords lacked tenants, so they were naturally a little better to those tenants.

Otherwise, the tenants will starve to death and they won’t be able to recruit new people. Who will they rent their land to?

However, as the population grew and more land was annexed, problems became more prominent.

Once a natural disaster occurs, the landlords don’t care about the people at all, and the government will not provide disaster relief in time. Almost every time a natural disaster occurs, there will be a rebellion.

No wonder Wang Anshi encountered so much resistance when he wanted to clear the land in Yuzhou.

This was not just about seizing land from landlords. The land cleared by the court would also be rented to the people.

By then, the number of tenants that the landlords can recruit will decrease, so won't they have to treat the tenants "well" again?

"Ziqian, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

Li An came back to his senses and looked at Sheng Changbai and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's time to go off duty. I called you several times but you didn't respond." Sheng Changbai asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"

Li An looked around and found that most of the others had left. So he simply packed up and walked out with Sheng Changbai.

"Zecheng, I'm worried about Zhong Huai. The situation outside is so chaotic right now, and he has old and young people around him. It will be troublesome if he encounters rebels." Li An sighed.

Old Master Yu is also from Jiangnan, and if something unexpected happens along the way, it will easily affect their plans.

Sheng Changbai was also a little worried. After thinking for a while, he said, "Zhong Huai had just left for two days when the news came. He might have received the news on the way and come back."

"Hopefully."

Li An sighed. If it weren’t for the two people’s plan, it would really be possible.

That might not be the case now, but he had no way of telling Sheng Changbai about all this.

……

When I got home, before I even passed the front yard, my eldest brother and parents came out to greet me with anxious looks on their faces.

"Mom and Dad, what are you doing?" Li An asked puzzledly.

"Aniu!"

Li Nan said anxiously, "I heard that the rebels have broken through Jinling City and are about to attack Yangzhou. I am worried about your grandfather and his men, so I want to go back and take a look."

Li An couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Dad, where did you hear that rumor? Nanjing is an important city in the south of the Yangtze River. The city walls are tall and big. There's no way those rebels can take it down."

"That's what's being spread outside." Li Nan said.

"Dad, don't believe that. The rebels cannot be defeated. The imperial court has already dispatched troops to suppress the rebellion. It won't take long to quell it." Li An comforted.

It must be said that although the Song Dynasty's military was weak in external attacks, it was very good at suppressing rebellions.

There's no way. We have suppressed so many rebellions and have rich experience.

This is just a joke. Those who started the rebellion were just ordinary people. Nothing much can be achieved by them trying to become kings or emperors before anything has happened.

Even though they were caught off guard, captured some states and counties, and obtained weapons, they lacked siege equipment.

"Aniu, are you really okay?" Li Nanliu asked worriedly.

"Mom and Dad, nothing will happen in Yangzhou, so you can rest assured." Li An said.

"Dad and Mom, now that Ah Niu has said this, you should be relieved, right? Besides, even if the rebels really reach Yangzhou, it will be useless for you to go back," said Li Ping.

Li An looked at his elder brother speechlessly. Although there is nothing wrong with what you said, isn't it just adding fuel to the fire?

Li Nan and Liu's expressions relaxed a little after hearing what Li An said, but they became nervous again after hearing what Li Ping said.

Li An comforted them for a while before calming them down.

……

Just as Li An had expected, the rebellion was quickly quelled.

Two hundred thousand imperial troops marched south, and a month later there was news of victory. The Duke of Yingguo won the first battle and defeated hundreds of thousands of rebels outside the city of Jinling. The Emperor of Great Chu died in the chaos.

However, there are many that have slipped through the net and are now being cleared out and order is being restored.

The emperor was overjoyed when he heard the news and praised the Duke of Yingguo as the pillar of the country. He rewarded him with several imperial estates and ordered people to spread the good news throughout the country.

It has to be said that this good news came at a very timely moment, because in a few days Sheng Changbai will be getting married.

If the good news came a few days later, it would not be easy to hold the wedding in a grand manner.

Now that the good news has come, the Sheng family no longer has any worries.

The day of Sheng Changbai's wedding was extremely lively. Even the prominent families in Bianjing sent someone to deliver a gift, even if they did not come.

Naturally, the Sheng family did not have this face, they were all doing it for the sake of the Hai family.

The Hai family has five Hanlin scholars, and their students and former officials are spread all over the world. Now Hai Wenren is the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, and everyone is willing to give him face.

Fortunately, the Sheng family was well prepared, and many families sent gifts and did not stay for the wedding banquet, otherwise there would have been no room.

When Madam Wang learned that the prominent people in Bian Jing had sent gifts even though they were not coming, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling the whole time.

She was dissatisfied with her daughter-in-law before, but now she is very satisfied.

Li An hadn't seen Minglan for a long time, and wanted to take this opportunity to see if he could find a chance to meet and talk to Minglan.

However, except for the backyard, the rest of the Sheng family was full of people, and there was no chance to find any.

It made him very depressed.

Although according to the time calculation, the two of them will get married in two months, he still has no idea what the situation will be like by then.

In the original drama, after Zhao Zongquan suppressed the rebellion, the emperor did not die, but lived for a while.

He didn't know exactly how long he lived. Their wedding date might fall during the national mourning period, so they might not be able to get married on time.

……

When almost all eyes in Bianjing City were attracted by the Hai family's daughter's wedding, Rong Xian disguised himself and entered the Prince of Yan's Mansion through the side door.

Zhao Xian personally led him to Prince Yan's study.

"Father, Marquis Rong has arrived." Zhao Xian bowed.

The Rong family was not a noble family, but after Concubine Rong became favored, the emperor conferred a title on Rong Xian.

This kind of title is just an honorary title, it cannot be inherited, and it doesn't even come with a fief.

"Greetings, His Royal Highness Prince Yan." Rong Xian saluted.

"You are too polite, Lord Rong. Please take a seat."

Prince Yan invited Rong Xian to sit down and said in a deep voice: "I don't know why Marquis Rong insisted on seeing me at such a sensitive time? I have agreed to all the conditions proposed by the Rong family."

"Your Highness, this is a heinous crime punishable by the execution of nine generations of your clan. If I don't meet with Your Highness, my Rong family will not be at ease." Rong Xian said.

"Don't worry, I will never go back on my promise to the Rong family." Prince Yan said.

"That's good, Your Highness. Now all the officers under my command have been won over by me, and I happen to be on duty in the palace on the Queen's birthday. I will surely succeed, and then I should address Your Highness as the official. But it's not that I don't trust Your Highness. It's just that my Rong family is risking the execution of all nine generations of our family to help the prince. What if the prince doesn't recognize me after the success?" Rong Xian said with a smile.

"Are you trying to threaten me?" Prince Yan said with a gloomy face.

"Your Highness has misunderstood. Our Rong family is very satisfied with the conditions you have given us. We don't want more, we just want a guarantee." Rong Xian said.

"What kind of guarantee do you want?" asked King Yan.

"Please ask Prince Yan to write down the promises in person. If Your Highness does not acknowledge them after the matter is accomplished, I will have proof." Rong Xian said with a smile.

Prince Yan looked at Rong Xian deeply and said, "Okay! Xian'er, prepare the pen and ink."

"Yes!"

There were already pens, ink, paper and inkstone in the study. Upon hearing this, Zhao Xian ground the ink himself and brought it over.

Prince Yan picked up a pen and wrote down all the conditions he promised to the Rong family. After the ink dried, he handed it to Rong Xian and said, "See if this is feasible."

Rong Xian took it and read it carefully, then said with a smile, "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Rong Xian discussed the details with Prince Yan, and then Zhao Xian personally escorted him out through the back door.

Zhao Xian sent Rong Xian away and returned to the study, saying, "Father, what exactly does the Rong family want to do?"

"The Rong family is afraid that I will become a nobody, so they want to keep something to hold over me." Prince Yan sneered.

(End of this chapter)