The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 14 Collusion between Government and Businessmen
I was surprised and delighted, and said quickly: "Thank you, thank you."

The runaway went upstairs with Xin Yunjing. On the way, Xin Yunjing conveyed Li Heng's intention to the runaway.

When he came upstairs, the fugitive knelt down when he saw Li Ying and said, "I am Chen Wulang, and I kowtow to thank His Highness the Prince of Shou."

Li Heng did not reply to the escaped household, but said to Du Xiwang, the governor of Longyou: "Mr. Du, this man has been with me all the way. Now he has run out of money. How about inviting him to join us for the feast?"

"Of course. Your Highness is kind-hearted and we should follow his example." Du Xiwang replied with a smile.

Li Ying nodded and said to the escaped household Chen Wulang, "Get up and eat something."

As he said this, he gave Xin Yunjing a look, who understood what he meant and secretly kicked Chen Wulang in the butt.

Chen Wulang reacted immediately and cried, "Your Highness, please help me."

"Ridiculous!" Huangfu Weiming interrupted sharply, standing up and saying, "If you have any grievances, go to the county government office and explain them clearly. The county government will make a decision for you. How dare you disturb His Royal Highness Shou Wang's leisure? Come on, take him away."

After hearing Huangfu Weiming's words, two soldiers came in and were about to arrest Chen Wulang.

"Who dares!" Xin Yunjing shouted, "Prince Shou is here, who dares to act rashly!"

Xin Yunjing shouted at the two soldiers to leave, then turned to Huangfu Weiming and said, "Your Highness Prince Shou has not spoken, but General Huangfu is issuing orders. Where do you think Your Highness stands?"

Huangfu Weiming looked at the imposing Xin Yunjing, then at Li Heng who seemed to be smiling, and bowed and said, "How dare I? Your Highness, please punish me."

Li Heng smiled and said, "I have said before that I came here just for sightseeing, not for official business. This kind of matter should be investigated by the county government. General Huangfu is right. What crime have I committed?"

Huangfu Weiming said: "Thank you, Your Highness..."

"But," Li Heng interrupted Huangfu Weiming, stood up, and the others quickly followed suit.

Li Heng continued, "Father is concerned about the people. If I shirk my responsibilities when I encounter matters concerning the people, Father will surely blame me for not caring about their suffering. We are singing and dancing here, and we don't care about the lives of the people. If people in the world knew about this, they would also scold us for being absurd and lazy. I see that the officials in the government office are all here, so why not listen to what they have to say first? If we can solve the problem on the spot, it will be a good thing. What do you think?"

Li Ying said this, looking at everyone.

Du Xiwang said quickly, "Since Your Highness has spoken, I will follow Your Highness' orders."

"Thank you for your help." Li Heng said politely, and then said to Chen Wulang: "Just say it in front of you gentlemen. If you lie even a little bit, no one can save you."

"Yes." Chen Wulang bowed his head and said, "I am originally from Chenjia Village, Fenglin County. Two years ago, there was a disaster in my home, and the farmland was flooded. There was no harvest, so I borrowed money from Mr. Cui in the county. Last year, there was another disaster, and I couldn't pay back the money I borrowed from Mr. Cui, so Mr. Cui took away my land."

Huangfu Weiming said: "It is only natural to pay back a debt. How can this be unfair?"

"But the normal price of land is 50 dan of grain per mu, but Master Cui bought my land for 10 dan per mu. I have 20 mu of land, and I exchanged it for 200 dan of grain. After deducting food and good seeds, it was not enough to pay back Master Cui's debt. So Master Cui took my sister as a concubine. My father went to take my sister back, but was beaten by Master Cui's followers and died a few days later."

At this point, Chen Wulang started crying.

Yang Yuhuan, who had been living a life of luxury since she was a child, never thought that there was such a miserable person outside Chang'an. She grabbed Li Heng's hand and said, "My dear, you have to help him."

Li Ying said, "I will."

He looked at Lanzhou's Sicang, who was in charge of the taxation and land of a state in the Tang Dynasty.

Si Cang said: "Your Highness, please allow me to report. The land in our dynasty is divided into six grades according to quality, and the prices of each grade of land are different. This farmer said that his land is worth 50 shi per mu, which is probably debatable. Even if it is really worth 50 shi per mu, the price of unaffected land and damaged land is different. His land has been damaged for two consecutive years, so the asking price is low."

The warehouse manager originally wanted to say that it was understandable to ask for a low price, but when he thought about the fact that he only gave ten stones, it was indeed a bit outrageous, not to mention the incident of forcibly abducting a woman, so he didn't say anything else.

Chen Wulang took the opportunity to explain: "My family's land was previously classified as temporary, but after the disaster the year before last, the county classified it as favorable. Logically speaking, disaster-affected land cannot be downgraded immediately. We have to wait two years to see if the land can recover. If it cannot recover, it will be downgraded again."

Si Cang said: "The reason for downgrading is to reduce the taxes paid by the affected areas. It is the court's sympathy for the people."

“But in previous years, the victims of disasters paid less taxes, and the land was not downgraded. After the land was downgraded, the price could not be raised. Moreover, even the profitable land affected by the disaster can only be sold for more than ten stone of grain.” Chen Wulang retorted.

After hearing this, Li Heng understood a little.

When land was damaged by disasters, the government downgraded the land, claiming to be sympathetic to the people, but in reality it forced farmers to sell their land at low prices.

It sounds legal.

The big landlords took advantage of the situation, borrowed money at high interest rates, and took the opportunity to buy land at low prices.

In this way, the collusion between officials and businessmen is perfect.

In fact, the Anshi Rebellion was ostensibly a rebellion by An Lushan, and history has also attributed the cause to the stupidity of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang in his later years and the misdeeds of treacherous ministers such as Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong. Of course, these were some of the reasons.

But in the final analysis, the An Lushan Rebellion was a concentrated outbreak of economic conflicts, ethnic conflicts, political conflicts, local-central conflicts, etc. Even if An Lushan did not cause chaos, someone would still cause chaos a few years later.

Among these, the most acute is the economic contradiction. In feudal society, economic contradictions are mainly reflected in land. The most acute contradiction in land is land annexation.

Li Heng wanted to stay in the local area and rise up with his own strength. It would also be a big deal to curb land annexation.

Now is a good time to start and test the waters.

Li Heng thought for a moment, asked Chen Wulang to stand up, and then said to Du Xiwang, "Mr. Du, what do you think about this matter?"

Du Xiwang smiled and said, "Your Highness, although I have the power to control and supervise all the prefectures and counties in Longyou, I am in charge of military affairs and am not good at these political affairs. It is better to let the governor, the chief secretary, and the military commander to respond."

At this time, the Jiedushi were gradually taking away local administrative power, and Du Xiwang's words were clearly an attempt to shirk responsibility.

However, the system does not clearly state that he is in charge of administration, and he made the excuse reasonable.

This system can be said to be quite deformed.

"That's right." Li Heng nodded, looked at the Lanzhou governor, and asked, "Governor Zhao, what do you think?"

Governor Zhao immediately knelt down and said, "This matter is indeed too unbelievable. Fenglin County is under my jurisdiction. It is my fault that such a thing happened under my jurisdiction. Your Highness, please punish me!"

(End of this chapter)