Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 235: You and I are close friends, but you are plotting against me behind my back
Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben with deep eyes, as if he wanted to see what Cen Wenben was thinking.

He did not expect Cen Wenben to be so decisive. According to what Cen Wenben said, Chen Bin and Liu Ji were not at fault at all.

Slowly, Li Yuanji withdrew his gaze, his expression extremely calm.

"Reason, give me a reason for punishing you this way."

Does Li Yuanji agree with what Cen Wenben said?

In my heart, I agree that the indulgence of the people must be restrained. Excessive indulgence will only hurt himself in the end.

But even though Liu Ji and Chen Bin are excellent, they must be punished.

Now that Cen Wenben said this, he must know the basis for Cen Wenben's actions and what Cen Wenben is thinking.

Cen Wenben looked at Li Yuanji without any trepidation and remained frank.

"Your Majesty, in addition to the reasons of Chen Bin and Liu Ji, I also found that in Duling, Yangjiang, Gangzhou, and Nanba, Gaozhou, there are two households in Duling, namely Du Ping and Wang Shui, who are former Li Liao people; three households in Yangjiang, namely Chen Jin, Liu Hai, and Zhang Shan, who are former Li Liao people; and three households in Nanba, namely Hu Ding and Zhong Nan, who are former Li Liao people.

These eight people were the first ones who wanted to go out to sea to do business. However, because they were worried that they were outnumbered and thought the county magistrate would not agree, they instigated other people to go out to sea to do business together.

In order to gain the approval of others, he exaggerated the profits of sea business and concealed the risks of sea business, gathered the people and went to the county government.

Since the county government had no authority to handle the matter and reported it to the state, after receiving the reply from Chen Bin and Liu Ji, they began to delay the treatment of the people and made it clear that the most important thing now was development. Although there were policies encouraging going out to sea for business, due to the large number of people, it had to be verified later before reporting.

However, more than two months passed, and seeing that the government still had no positive response, the eight people gathered the people to attack the provincial government, but were later stopped by the elders of the counties and towns.

These eight people instigated their elders to come to Haikang to petition the king, and organized the people to come to Haikang together.

Looking at this incident as a whole, the main culprits must be these eight people. They induced, instigated and encouraged the people, disregarded the local development needs, and only wanted to go out to sea to do business and make money.

Not only do they not know how to be grateful to the King, but they also oppose the King and disregard the main principles set by the King.

Such people must be severely punished to serve as a warning to the world!"

Li Yuanji looked deeply at Cen Wenben. At this moment, Li Yuanji seemed to understand that Cen Wenben was setting a trap for him.

He thought he and Cen Wenben were close friends, but he didn't expect that Cen Wenben was playing tricks on him behind his back, and he was the one being tricked.

At this moment, Li Yuanji finally understood why the civil officials were so cunning. He knew that Cen Benwen had good intentions, but he used this incident to set a trap for him and make him realize his mistake. Although the result was good, Li Yuanji was very unhappy with the process.

His problem is that he pays too much attention to the people and forgets that he is the one in a superior position. There is nothing wrong in being good to the people, but being too good will only result in more demands from those people.

Through this incident, he knew that Cen Wenben must have discovered this problem. Now there are eight people, but what about the future?

If this kind of thing is not stopped, and if this kind of thinking is not stopped, there will be more of it in the future. How will the government control the people then?

What made Li Yuanji unhappy was that Cen Wenben deliberately did not tell the whole story in order to use it to warn him. Li Yuanji had to say that Cen Wenben's effect was very good.

He had already thought it through, and after thinking it through, Cen Wenben said it out loud, which only made him more determined to change.

If Cen Wenben had said it at the beginning, it would definitely not have achieved the current effect, because before he changed, these words would not have such a great impact on him.

After a while, Li Yuanji slowly spoke.

"Jingren, you are very good. How dare you deceive me like this? Do you know your crime?"

Although he has transformed from this incident, what Cen Wenben did was not good for him. He asked Cen Wenben to investigate this matter, but when he wrote to him, he only rejected it halfway. Who can stand this?
Cen Wenben looked at Li Yuanji's solemn expression, and slowly bowed again.

"Your Majesty, I accept the punishment, but I am innocent."

Li Yuanji was stunned for a moment after hearing this. He looked at Cen Wenben again and again, wondering if he had heard it wrong.

"You say you are innocent? Then tell me, I asked you to investigate this matter, why didn't the memorial you handed over include the second half of your investigation?

You deliberately concealed the second half and only revealed it now. You deceived me like this, and you still call yourself innocent?"

Cen Wenben still bowed, folded his hands in front of him, and nodded calmly.

When Li Yuanji saw Cen Wenben's expression, he immediately became furious. He originally wanted to scare Cen Wenben. As long as Cen Wenben admitted his mistake, he would give him an appropriate punishment and it would be over. But this guy was still telling him that he was not wrong?

He, Li Yuanji, is the great king, he is the king of Lingnan, all the prefectures are his fiefdoms, and Cen Wenben is his subject. Now this man can't tell the difference between the big king and the small king?

Thinking of this, Li Yuanji became even more unhappy.

"You'd better give me an explanation as to why you are innocent."

Li Yuanji stared at Cen Wenben with hostility, but Cen Wenben was not nervous at all. He was still the same, without any change.

"Your Majesty, I did this all for your sake. I am your subject, and if you make a mistake, I have the responsibility to correct it for you.

Now that the king’s thoughts are clear, isn’t this the best proof?
Moreover, I did not intentionally conceal anything from the king. The confessions I submitted to the king were only the confessions of Chen Bin, Liu Ji, and the two counties. I did not say that was all.

What's more, the king did not ask, so I am not hiding anything when I tell you now.

So what is wrong with me?"

Looking at Cen Wenben's innocent look, Li Yuanji suddenly became furious. He suddenly realized when did Cen Wenben become so naughty. Cen Wenben was not like this before.

But no matter how angry he was, Li Yuanji knew that Cen Wenben did this for him, but even so, he would feel unhappy if he did not punish this man. Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben, who was wearing his official hat very straight, combed his hair, and dressed neatly in purple robes. When he saw Cen Wenben's feet, his eyes lit up immediately.

"Cen Wenben, you are an important minister of the king, but you come to see the king with a disheveled appearance. Look at your boots, they are so dirty, you deserve to be punished!

You will be fined two months' salary, banned from drinking for a month, and your next vacation will be cancelled."

Cen Benwen felt helpless. He also knew that Li Yuanji was very angry, but he didn't know what to say about this excuse. He could find such a reason. Cen Benwen could only admire him.

Li Yuanji is satisfied now. Although the punishment is not severe, he feels happy. Especially when he can find a random reason to punish others, this is the most satisfying thing.

After he felt more relaxed, Li Yuanji started to talk about business.

“According to what you said, those eight people are indeed extremely daring and must be severely punished. If they are not severely punished, it will not be enough to deter people.

At the same time, Chen Bin and Liu Ji must also be punished. They failed to handle the matter in a timely manner and concealed the matter from their superiors, and they should also be severely punished.

Now tell me, how should we punish those eight people, as well as Chen Bin and Liu Ji?"

Cen Wenben did not hesitate at all and said immediately: "Your Majesty, Du Ping and the other eight people should be punished for opposing Your Majesty. They are ungrateful and disregard the overall situation. They instigated the people to attack the government and incited the people to gather together. They should be executed to deter the world.

As for Chen Bin and Liu Ji, they deceived Da Wang in this incident and failed to report the details of the incident in a timely manner, which resulted in the inability to handle it in the first time, thus expanding the impact of the incident. They also failed to investigate the matter in the first time and failed to understand the whole story.

The two men deceived the king, performed their duties poorly, and lacked ability. They should be removed from their official positions and sentenced to more than three years in prison. During the period of punishment, they should be placed in the construction teams of roads, canals, dams and other projects to reform themselves for local development.

In addition, this matter should be communicated to all prefectures so that every official and every citizen can know about it."

After listening to this, Li Yuanji fell into deep thought and did not speak out immediately. At first glance, there was nothing wrong with what Cen Wenben said, but this kind of treatment was not what Li Yuanji wanted.

After a while, Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben and spoke slowly.

“The biggest crime of Du Ping and the other eight people was instigating the people to attack the government, but it ultimately failed. They also instigated the people to gather in large numbers, but it did not cause any major disaster. As for their ingratitude, it is a personal morality that disregards the overall situation. They are just ordinary people. Can we have such high expectations of them?

If this punishment is to be directly beheaded, it may not be able to convince the people and may even cause them to have other thoughts. This punishment needs to be changed.

The charges remained unchanged, but the final punishment was changed to remove Du Ping and his eight relatives, as well as their immediate family members, from household registration, cancelling all benefits, reclaiming all their land, and collecting taxes in accordance with taxes outside the fiefdom.

Within this king's fiefdom, all his consumption and living will be treated like foreigners. His household registration card will be destroyed, and previous taxes will not be taken into account, but this year's taxes will be collected.

As for Chen Bin and Liu Ji, they were dismissed from their official positions, served one year in prison, and then were sent to Xizhou.

The two have been able to complete the targets year after year, which shows that they still have some abilities, but they have been confused by their future. I will hand them over to Wei Yunqi, who will conduct the assessment. If the two have reformed, Wei Yunqi can directly activate them, archive their information, and back them up to you.

Don’t make the subsequent arrangements public, and don’t tell anyone else about them. Just take care of it yourself.

All the punishments this time will be made public, which means, as you said, every level of official and every citizen will be aware of it.

Finally, the news of the living conditions of the eight people and their families who were expelled from the household registration spread out and became a topic of after-dinner conversation, spreading to all directions.

Don’t let anyone take them out of Lingnan, have someone keep an eye on them, and don’t let them find out.”

Li Yuanji's face was gloomy. He beheaded them directly. It was too easy for those people. They had caused such a big trouble for him this time, how could they get away with it so easily?

As for the cancellation of household registration, it seems that he is showing mercy, but in fact, it is not the case. People can live so well in his fiefdom because as long as they are registered as his subjects, they will be treated equally, which is completely different from outsiders.

Nowadays, there are quite a few people who want to apply to become his registered permanent residents. At the beginning, there were some stubborn people who were unwilling to become citizens. He said at that time that he was the one who begged these people to become citizens because he wanted to develop.

However, once a country develops, the population demand will no longer be as unlimited as it was in the past, and the benefits of household registration will be fully reflected. At that time, it will not be so easy or simple to obtain naturalization again.

Now, through this punishment, he wanted to let everyone in the fiefdom see his magnanimity. If such a thing happened to any other person in a higher position, these eight people would definitely die or be beheaded, but he did not do so.

At the same time, he also wanted to let people all over the world see what life is like without a household registration, and how important the household registration in their hands is. He wanted everyone in his entire fiefdom to know how rare it is to be able to join the household registration, and who gave them the life they are living now.

Cen Wenben was also thinking about the punishment plan proposed by Li Yuanji. As for the punishment of Chen Bin and Liu Ji, what Li Yuanji said, Cen Wenben had already thought of it a long time ago. However, he could not propose this punishment, otherwise Li Yuanji might not agree.

As for the punishment of Du Ping and other eight people, Cen Wenben himself had never thought that it could be done in this way. After thinking about the mystery behind it, Cen Wenben couldn't help but admire it.

It not only reflects Li Yuanji's magnanimity and benevolence towards the people, but also intimidates officials at all levels and all the people within the fiefdom, thus achieving multiple goals at one stroke.

As for what to do if Du Ping and others do something illegal, neither Li Yuanji nor Cen Wenben have ever considered it. If those people really want to do those things, then they will deal with it impartially, arrest those who should be arrested and kill those who should be killed.

As for whether Du Ping and his companions and their families can continue to survive, we can only say that it is their own fault.

According to this treatment, Li Yuanji and Cen Wenben dare not say anything about others, but at least Du Ping and the other eight are completely disgraced. Even the people in their families probably want to drink their blood. After all, these people have dragged down the entire family.

Cen Wenben smiled immediately and said, "Your Majesty, you are a man of great talent. I admire you very much. I will do as you say."

Li Yuanji did not take Cen Wenben's flattery to heart or feel proud at all, because the matter was not over yet.

Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben with great solemnity.

“Although this matter has been resolved, we must also be warned by what happened this time, that is, the law must be improved. If the law is not improved, what will happen if it happens again in the future?

After you go down to the place, you must sort out this matter immediately. You must have records of instigating and deceiving the people, gathering a crowd without any notification, and what kind of punishment will be imposed based on the scale of the gathering.

As for the tax policy, think about it after you go there and see if there is any room for improvement. The people are living too well, so you can increase taxes appropriately."

(End of this chapter)