Late Tang

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In the Penglai Pavilion on Danya Mountain, Li Rui sat on the soft couch behind the French window sill, squinting his eyes slightly facing the rising sun, as if he was wandering in the sky.

In the blink of an eye, six years have passed, and the years have also added several marks on Li Rui's face.There was a time when he was also ambitious and wanted to show off his ambition.He took a fancy to Li Jing, that young man who had no roots but had the same ambitions as himself in his eyes.He had a huge plan, but as the conflict between Li Jing and the Feng family continued to escalate, Li Jing marched into southern Liaoning, and his development rapidly exceeded his expectations.

General Samana!In a blink of an eye, he became the military envoy of Daxie Village, then the envoy of the Zhendong Army, the governor of Dengzhou, and then he climbed to the envoy of the Andong Duhu, and the envoy of the Jiedu Envoy of Zhen[***].

For Li Rui, Li Jing was originally his pawn, but this pawn was out of his control.

By now, the pawn had already crossed the river, and he was going to beat the old man along the way.

Six years is a long time, and six years is a short time.

King of Qin, Daxingtai in the Northeast, Marshal of the Northeast and Hebei Bingma, Marshal of the Kwantung Bingma!

Li Rui six years ago would never have believed that that little Samana general, that young man with ambitious eyes, had become a one-word prince just like himself in the blink of an eye. above him.

An extremely human minister!

He supported Li Jing at critical times, because he regarded Li Jing as his pawn.But now, in fact, he is that chess piece, and he is still a chess piece that has been used by Li Jing only a few times and has no effect.

In the past few years, he has been staying in Dengzhou, and has been holding the post of Dengzhou Biejia with the title of King Zhao.There have been many governors in Dengzhou, but he has never done so.

Staying in Dengzhou for the past few years, he witnessed with his own eyes the earth-shaking changes in Dengzhou under Li Jing's rule.

He saw that since Li Jing took charge of Dengzhou, state and county officials had been reformed, and after the new civil servant examination system, most of the state and county officials selected by the examination system were Qingming.The later examination system for clerks brought about a major change in the subordinate staff system that had not been reformed for many years. Subordinate staff were no longer just recruited privately by state and county officials. They had a formal official status and a formal salary. , and the subordinate staff who are excellent in their work can also be promoted to become miscellaneous, miscellaneous, and even pass the qualifications of going out, and finally enter the qualifications of inside officials.

At the beginning, Li Rui was very surprised by this clerk system. There were tens of millions of people in the Tang Dynasty, and there were only more than [-] officials, but there were more than [-] subordinate officials.There is a clear and turbid boundary between officials and officials, and this boundary is extremely obvious, but now Li Jing has broken this boundary.Although there are examinations for civil servants and clerks, the civil servants only recruit officials for the time being, while the clerks recruit only lower-level servants such as yamen servants.

But Li Jing brought these subordinate officials into the unified official system, and even included the salaries into the government's financial expenditure. What surprised him even more was that Li Jing opened the boundary of the clear and turbid stream. Civil servants, and civil servants have advantages in handling affairs, and eventually they have the opportunity to become out-of-state officials, and out-of-state officials do excellent work, and have the opportunity to be promoted to inside-out officials.

Something that has never happened in thousands of years.

Originally, Li Rui wanted to see Li Jing's jokes. After all, the subordinate class has been called the turbid stream since ancient times, and there is a big reason for that.It can be said that the governance of local officials is a matter that has not been truly resolved for several dynasties.

But the result made him even more shocked. In the past few years, in the states and counties under Li Jing's rule, the officials are mostly clear, and the people live in peace and contentment.

After the implementation of the system of paying grain per mu, farmers' taxes were reduced and mergers slowed down.

After the strong support for industry and commerce, the urban industry and commerce developed, and the culture became more prosperous.

From the fifth year of Qianfu to the sixth year of Qianfu, not only the warehouses of the shogunate were abundant, but also the treasuries of prefectures and counties in various places, as well as righteous warehouses, were also abundant.Under Li Jing's rule, in all states and counties, the grain has been stabilized at five cents per catty for two consecutive years, only twenty cents for a bucket of rice, and six hundred cents for stone rice.In fact, the prices of the most important livelihood items such as salt, oil, and cloth are all stable at a very cheap figure.

At this time, in other parts of Datang, the price of rice was at least five or six hundred yuan per bucket, which was twenty or thirty times the price of rice in Dengzhou.

He is even more shocked by the fact that ordinary farmers pay so little food now.It turns out that a few years ago, an ordinary person's annual two taxes ranged from [-] to [-] yuan, and they also had to pay some local levies.But now, with the addition of the land tax and service money for one mu of land, the common people only pay ten cents per mu, the household fee is abolished, and the additional levy is abolished.The most important thing is that after paying the thousand dollars, there is no need to conscript Yao from now on, and the money paid already includes the money for the service.

Originally, in Li Rui's opinion, although such a tax system reform is good, where will the money and food for the feudal town come from?

But in fact, Li Jing has become richer and richer in the past few years, and the people are also living better, this is simply unbelievable.

Li Jing's wealth surprised Li Rui.

Taking Dengzhou as an example, the current Dengzhou City is ten times its original size, with a population of more than one million.Dengzhou Port is even more prosperous, and the entire city has been expanded several times.Now the official roads in Dengzhou are all flat roads paved with bluestone, and all four-wheeled carriages can pass smoothly.Moreover, in addition to the industrial and commercial construction in Dengzhou, there is still spare energy to develop water conservancy, repair roads, and connect rivers and canals.

There is nothing wrong with saying that Dengzhou Road does not pick up lost items, and there is not even a single beggar in Dengzhou.

The government has set up special institutions to adopt abandoned babies, orphans, and the elderly who have no one to take care of them.

The schools in Dengzhou are densely clustered, and several school districts are even more contiguous.There are more and more children who can read and write, and there are even many specialized girls' schools.There are even technical schools set up by a large number of commercial firms, which train workers while also teaching cultural knowledge, and there are specialized medical schools.

In Dengzhou alone, there are more than [-] kinds of newspapers and magazines.

Under the prosperous economy, you can see foreign merchants from various countries everywhere in Dengzhou, and even a large number of foreign merchants settled in Dengzhou and set up shops here.

Dengzhou Auction House's weekly big auction can be flooded with tens of thousands of people bidding for various precious commodities and new technologies.

The current polo league at the Dengzhou Arena attracts tens of thousands of people to watch each match.

Now the commercial tax in Dengzhou City alone is appalling.The customs tax revenue of Dengzhou Customs last year reached more than 600 million yuan, which was even ten times that of the original Guangzhou Shipping Department.

Due to the war, the current commercial tax in the entire Northeast Province has risen to ten taxes and one. Last year, the total commercial tax in the Northeast Province was as high as more than [-] million.

What's more, a large number of workshops in Dengzhou belong to Li Jing's workshops.Last year, these workshops generated more than [-] million yuan in profits.

And now there are ten official ocean-going fleets, each of which has more than [-] sea-going ships, with at least [-] people traveling at a time, and ten caravans have more than [-] people.And there are dozens of caravans in the country.

These caravans alone brought Li Jing an income of more than 1000 million yuan last year.

In the fifth year of Qianfu, the financial revenue of Li Jing Fanzhen reached more than 1000 million guan, of which more than 3000 million guan were taxed, and the salt, tea, iron, and mining taxes added up to more than [-] million guan, while the tariff reached [-] million guan, and the industrial and commercial tax was even higher. As high as [-] million guan, together, the fiscal revenue is more than [-] million guan.

In addition, a large number of workshops and shops, as well as ocean-going fleets, etc., have earned Li Jing more than [-] million yuan in personal profits.

Although the shogunate immigrated to develop the Northeast, while continuously expanding the army and spending a lot of money, the income of Li Jing's private treasury plus the fiscal revenue of the feudal town amounted to more than [-] million guan.This number is already extremely astonishing.

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the total annual income of Qian Sujuan was more than 400 million.During Tang Dezong's time, the two-tax law was implemented, and the country collected more than 950 million yuan of money and [-] million dendrobium of rice every year for external use; more than [-] million yuan of money and more than [-] million dendrobium of rice were used for the capital.During the reign of Emperor Dezong, the whole country earned more than [-] million guan a year, and more than [-] million shi for rice.

During Tang Dezong's time, the price of rice ranged from one hundred to one thousand. According to the current price of ordinary rice in Dengzhou, these two tens of thousands of shi rice are also worth more than ten million guan.If calculated according to the price of rice in Dezong's time, these two tens of millions of shimi would be worth 6000 to [-] million guan.

As for Li Jing's taxes, they no longer collect in kind, but all in money.However, Li Jing has a huge business and maritime trade tax revenue as the main body. Although it only occupies one-tenth of the world's territory, the tax revenue has reached nearly half of the national tax revenue in the Dezong era after the Anshi Rebellion.

Relying on the huge profits of industry, commerce and sea trade, the shogunate and Li Jing's internal treasury is abundant.

And a large number of people poured into the Northeast, divided the fields and reclaimed land, and supplied a large amount of food to the shogunate.At the same time, more people work in workshops and mines, creating more tax revenue.By this time, Dengzhou was the richest place in the Northeast Province, and the Northeast Province was the richest place in the whole country.The shogunate had a large number of self-cultivating farmers and workers, and also produced a large number of middle-class families.

Families above the middle class have surplus food, and every household has livestock.

Especially after seizing the Northeast, the shogunate owned a large amount of land, which could be distributed to the people, so that the escaped households and hidden households could share the land and become taxpayers, which also eased the problem of land annexation.At the same time as the large number of self-cultivating farmers, the great development of industry and commerce has enabled the shogunate to earn a lot of money through industry, commerce and trade, and then use this money to stabilize the prices of people's livelihood products such as grain, oil, cloth, and salt under the rule, and to support the shogunate. Immigration and infrastructure construction feed back agriculture and reduce the burden on ordinary people.

Li Rui already understood a little bit, Li Jing completely jumped out of the old nest and found a new way.

However, the extreme prosperity of industry and commerce also made Li Rui keenly aware that there were still hidden dangers here.

However, it is not clear what kind of hidden danger there will be, but it is obvious that this hidden danger may not be seen to erupt in his lifetime.

Now, what he can see is that 500 million people in [-] prefectures and [-] counties are praising 'Master Li', and Li Jing's reputation is unmatched in the entire East.After the requisition and miscellaneous labor were cancelled, and the land was regained, the people were all grateful to Jiede.No one will attribute these credits to Li Tang Tiantian, not to the Emperor of Tang, they will only thank Li Jing.

Although the merchants are now paying ten taxes and one tax, under Li Jing's rule, the tax they pay is nothing compared to the money they earn.What's more, under Li Jing's rule, in addition to the rich harvest of money, the status and treatment that Li Jing gave businessmen were impossible to obtain in other places in Datang.Here, businessmen make money and pay taxes, and they can even become noble knights if they pay more.Able to stand side by side with officials and scribes grandly.

The generals and soldiers under Li Jing's command also enjoy high salaries and rewards, and enjoy a very high social status on the one hand. These troops are no longer lowly occupations, but have become the most honorable occupations.On the one hand, Li Jing gave them generous treatment and on the other hand gave them a very high social status. Just imagine, who can make these soldiers change their allegiance?I believe that as long as Li Jing does not change the treatment and status of these soldiers, these soldiers will continue to support Li Jing unswervingly.

Li Rui supported Li Jing at the beginning, but he made Cao Cao, Sima Zhao, and Liu Yu!

He supported Li Jing at the beginning because he wanted Li Jing to help him achieve his great cause, but now, instead, he supported a destroyer of the Tang Dynasty.

The fact is really so ironic, Li Jing has now proved to him that his original vision was indeed correct, and he has selected an excellent talent.But Li Jing also proved to him today that his vision is so bad that he didn't realize that Li Jing would have today.

Li Rui has been staying in Dengzhou for the past few years, and he has seen Li Jing more and more clearly.This is a man of great ambition, and from the beginning he has worked hard for what he is today.Li Jing never thought of being loyal to Li Tang. It seemed that from the very beginning, he was preparing to overthrow Li Tang.

Step by step to today, Li Jing already has this ability.

He has great prestige and has the hearts of the people.

At the same time, Li Jing also has the strongest soldiers and horses in the world!

Compared with what Li Jing did in the East, what Chang'an's court did was so bad.

If the army, common people, merchants, and even the aristocratic clans of the world are allowed to make a choice, let them either be loyal to Li Jing or Li Tang.Then Li Rui believes that there will be almost no suspense.

From the very beginning, everything Li Jing did was to break with Li Tang.

Li Jing has not rebelled so far. In Li Rui's view, this is by no means that Li Jing is loyal to Li Tang, but that Li Jing is very slippery.He sees farther than others. Although he has this strength, he is not in a hurry to take that step.It's just boiling the frog in warm water, and slowly heating it up. When the water really boils, it's too late for the frog to jump out.

In fact, there are still many gentry and powerful people in the world who are still loyal to Li Tang, or in other words, there are still a large number of people who are still unwilling to make a choice between Li Jing and Li Tang.

As long as Li Jing is still a minister of the Tang Dynasty, even if Li Jing's actions are known to everyone, as long as there is still a glimmer of hope, there will still be many heroes who will still be fettered by this.

And once Li Jing took that step, it would be tantamount to forcing a lot of people to make choices, and many of them might become his enemies.

Just like himself, in fact, until now, there is still a glimmer of hope in his heart.I hope that although Li Jing acts domineeringly, he will not take that step in the end.He expected that maybe Li Jing would be a power minister, but not a usurper.Because of this hope in his heart, he has stayed in Dengzhou for the past few years, watching the situation.Even behind his back, he secretly supported Li Jing.

I think that when Emperor Wu of Wei was the first hero, he still had to be a mouse, and he regarded himself as a Hanchen throughout his life, and never became emperor.What's more, in today's world, although the Tang dynasty has declined and people's minds have changed, the hearts of the Tang Dynasty in the past 300 years have not all been lost.

It's just that on the other hand, the royal family is too disappointing.

Li Rui believed in his heart that if the Tang family could work hard, maybe Li Jing would be a capable minister in order to govern the world, not a destroyer in troubled times.In the final analysis, it is still the royal family that does not live up to expectations. If there are more emperors like Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Xuanzong, how could Li Tang become what he is today?

Li Jing has a rebellious temperament, now it seems that it is not simply rebellious, but rebellious.

If the situation continues to develop like this, even if Li Jing is willing to be a minister of the Great Tang Zhongxing, these civil and military men under Li Jing's command will want to be the heroes of the founding of the country and have to support the meritorious service of the dragon.

Just thinking about it, I still feel a little unwilling.

Throughout his life, Cao Cao has been coercing the emperor to make the princes.If I take the initiative, will I have the opportunity to replace Chang'an, the little emperor who gave Luoyang to the grass thief and is now preparing to send Chang'an?Even if you can only be Li Jing's puppet emperor, if you work harder, maybe you can let Li Jing be Guo Ziyi instead of Sima Zhao?

After much deliberation, he couldn't think of any other way to make Datang continue.

"Father." Li Huier, the owner of Xihe County, came, "Why did the father call his daughter here?"

Li Rui turned his head to look at his daughter, who has already reached the age of marriage, but she has not yet married.On the surface, he was busy with the workshop all day long, but in fact he didn't know the details.Although the matter between the daughter and Li Jing seems to be secret, it is estimated that not many people in Dengzhou City don't know about it.He had always turned a blind eye to this matter before, pretending that he didn't know, but in fact, he knew it clearly.

Today Li Hui'er is wearing a pale white palace dress, but the elegance is a bit more dusty.The wide skirt meanders behind, elegant and luxurious.Black jade-like green silk is simply tied up in a flying fairy bun, and a few plump and round pearls are randomly dotted in the hair, making the dark cloud-like hair more soft, shiny and moist.The beautiful eyes overflowed with brilliance, and there was a light smile between the red lips.

My daughter has grown up, and she has become more and more beautiful in the past few years. She has lost a little girlish youth and has a little more maturity and temperament.

"Hui'er, do you feel wronged by following Ji Yu like this?"

Li Huier was stunned for a moment, she didn't expect her father to say these words.She also knew that her father knew about the matter with Li Jing, but the father and daughter had never talked about this matter, so they didn't know how to answer it for a while.

Li Rui said indifferently: "The emperor granted Ji Yu the title of King Qin, and recorded his family under Taizong's name. You know what this means, right?"

Li Huier nodded. In this way, Li Jing became a descendant of Taizong Li Shimin's lineage and became the royal family.Originally, such an approach was not uncommon. For example, Shatuo Li Guochang was given the surname Li at the beginning, and it was recorded under the name of Emperor Gaozu's son, King Zheng. It is said that Li Guochang and Li Keyong are also royal families now.

Some of the surnames bestowed by the imperial court are simply given to the country, while others will be included in the Li family's royal family and become a royal family, which can be regarded as a means of winning people's hearts.

Originally, this was fine, but Li Jing and Li Huier originally had the same surname.Although it is said that the same surname does not marry, it actually means that the same family does not marry. If Li Jing and Li Huier get married, it is not impossible.Especially if Li Hui'er is willing to become Li Jing's side concubine, that's fine.

But now that Li Jing has become a member of Li Tang's royal family, then she and Li Huier, the princess, really have no chance to be husband and wife again.

"It's also very good, I don't ask for that title." Li Huier said with a smile, but there was a hint of loneliness in her voice.

Li Rui picked up the tea and took a sip, then said in a low voice: "Although you and Li Jing can no longer be famous, but, silly daughter, you can also have a child with Li Jing, which is more or less a compensation."

"Father?" Li Huier was a little startled.

Li Rui smiled lightly and said: "Father is also for your own good, you should think about it for yourself. If you have a child, it doesn't matter if you don't have a name. Besides, your father and I have no heirs. If you have a child, In the future, I will need someone to inherit your family business and mine."

Li Hui'er was a little stunned, her thoughts were confused for a while, her mind was full of Li Jing, and the matter of having a baby.All along, although she said that it doesn't matter if she doesn't have a name, it is impossible to say that she has no grievances in her heart.Now, her father's words caused a flash of lightning to flash through her mind.It is probably impossible to marry Li Jing in this life, but if you have a child with Li Jing, it is really not impossible. (To be continued.)