Chastity Layman

  Chapter 1226 Hidden knife in a smile

  Luoyang Palace Banzhong, Zhongshu introspection.

  As soon as Zhongshuling Xu Jingzong returned to the province, he immediately had Zhongshu Sheren Laiji and Li Yifu summoned.

  Li Yifu politely let Lai Ji go ahead, and he was two steps behind, politely calling Lai Ji the old man. Although they were both Scholars of Zhongshu, Lai Ji was also a minister of the Ministry of Officials and a Bachelor of Chongxianguan, while Li Yifu was a newcomer to Zhongshu Province as a Scholar and a direct bachelor of Chongxianguan. Among the six members of Zhongshushe who drafted the foreign system in the province, although Laiji was not the oldest, he was in charge of chores in the province. Therefore, he was also called Ge Lao, just like Zhongshuling and Shizhong, which was extraordinary. .

  Outside Xu Jingzong’s residence, there were early hall officials who greeted them with smiles and opened the door for them to sign up.

"sit."

  Xu Jingzong stood up to greet each other, and asked them to sit down.

   Li Yifu scrambled to make tea, and when it was ready, he respectfully handed Xu Jingzong a cup first, and then Lai Ji, and finally Xu Jingzong asked him to sit down, and he sat down with half of his buttocks next to each other.

   "I don't know why Xiang Xu asked us to come?"

Zhongshu Province, like Menxia Province, also has an introspection in the palace. This is because Zhongshu and Menxia Province are special and belong to the decision-making and review organs of the imperial court. Introspection, the main officials usually work in introspection, which is convenient for the emperor to call.

  In addition, in the imperial city outside the palace, there are still other provinces.

  The Political Affairs Hall was first established in Menxia Province, which was convenient for the prime ministers to make decisions and deliberate. Later, Qin Lang advocated moving to Zhongshu Province, so Menxia Province ranked after Zhongshu Province.

Although the actual functions of the three provinces are not as good as before, the system of three provinces and six ministries initiated by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty has actually changed a long time ago. Now it should actually be the general decision-making of the Zhengshitang. The status of Shangshu Province has plummeted, and it has been reduced to a purely administrative organization.

In the past, the three high-ranking officials were the prime ministers. Later, the ministers, servants and other deputy officials of the three provinces could also serve as prime ministers. Later, as long as the emperor was willing, he could join the three ranks of the Zhongshu family, Tongping chapter affairs, participate in political affairs, and participate in the government affairs. , Participate in confidentiality and other names to pay homage to the prime minister.

  So various official positions, such as Dali Temple Minister, Minister of Officials, Minister of Punishment, Minister of Military Affairs, and even Sanqi Changshi, do not affect the worship of ministers whether they are in the three provinces or not.

   Therefore, the central system of the three provinces and six cores has long since changed.

  The emperor's power has long surpassed that of the past, and the Zhengshitang is completely above the three provinces. However, the expansion of the prime minister's team has also brought about a weakening of the prime minister's power.

  Zhongshuling is called the head of the Zhengshitang. In fact, since the emperor set up the Zhengshi pen and made the prime minister's rotating political pen, Zhongshuling actually has no name as the prime minister.

  The three provinces have actually become two provinces. Zhongshu and Menxia often say that there is a tendency to merge, and even the Shangshu Province also has a tendency to merge.

  Although the three provinces exist, they are no longer the highest authority of the imperial court.

"We were discussing matters in the palace just now. The crown prince mentioned Wei Gong's foreign fief, Luzon Mansion. How much do you know about Wei Gong's Luzon Governor's Mansion territory?" .

  Laiji is Qin Lang's sworn brother, and his current status is due to the full support of Qin Qiong and Qin Lang's father and son. He is also very clear that he is the recognized representative of Qin Lang in the court.

  Xu Jingzong was of course brought up by Qin Lang, as well as Li Yifu beside him.

  He pondered for a moment.

   "I don't know what aspect Xu Xianggong wants to ask?"

Xu Jingzong didn't hide anything from Laiji and Li Yifu. He always treated them as his confidantes. Laiji was young and capable. Appreciated by the emperor and the crown prince, he is now the head of the six ministers of the Zhongshu Province, the elder of the cabinet who judges the affairs of the province, and also serves as the minister of the Ministry of Officials and the Grand Bachelor of Chongxianguan.

   You must know that Yu Zhining, the prince's right concubine, is the new Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and he directly pays homage to the prime minister.

  So Laiji is actually only one step away from the prime minister.

  He repeated what the prince had said.

   Lai Ji thought for a long time, "Does His Royal Highness have any objections to the system of enfeoffment? Or do you have any opinions on Duke Wei?"

  Xu Jingzong shook his head, "The crown prince will not have any objections to Wei Gong, Qin Liangdi is the most favored in the East Palace now."

   "Li Sheren?"

Xu Jingzong looked at Li Yifu, who had been silent all this time. This person first worked in the Songzhou Qinqiong shogunate, and was later recommended to Beijing by Qin Lang. He was recommended by Qin Lang to Ma Zhou and Xu Jingzong, and asked them to help recommend him. From the eighth-rank supervisory censor to Prince Sheren, all the way to the current Zhongshu Sheren, this person is young, but very scheming and resourceful. He has already done a few things for Xu Jingzong very well before.

  Many people in Beijing even gave Li Yifu the nickname Renmao, saying that this person is as silent as a cat, and it is ridiculous that he hides a knife and is very insidious.

  Of course, most of those who commented on Li Yifu were officials who had been impeached by Li Yifu, or those who were jealous of his rapid rise.

   From the perspective of the emperor, Li Yifu is a talented, honest and straightforward official from a poor family like Ma Zhou. From the perspective of the prince, Li Yifu is also a young, promising and daring general.

"Your official thinks that everyone in the world knows that the Duke of Wei and the Crown Prince are both teachers and friends. Since Zhenguan, Duke Wei has always supported His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and even at several critical times, he has tried his best to turn the tide and help the building to collapse. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is naturally clear in his heart. What's more, the Duke of Wei still favors the Prince's half-sister, Princess Taiping, and the Crown Prince accepts the Duke of Wei's half-sister as Liangdi, and also accepts a younger sister as Liangyuan."

  Li Yifu's words made the relationship between the prince and Qin Lang very clear. Judging from the past situation of the two, it is impossible to have any serious conflict of interests.

   After all, Qin Lang has always been the most steadfast princeling and leader. Without Qin Lang, maybe the crown prince would have been abolished long ago.

  But now the crown prince suddenly mentions Luzon, which is somewhat of a sense of accountability.

Li Yifu then analyzed that the crown prince should only be doing business. After all, the foreign seal of the Luzon Dudu Mansion was appointed by the saint, and the restrictions on the settlement of immigrants from the foreign seal were also set by the emperor. For the immigrants who settled down, Qin Lang paid the money on his behalf.

   Luzon has been delaying this matter, and it is normal for the prince to ask this question, after all, the prince is now in charge of the country.

   "In your opinion, how should this matter be resolved?" Xu Jingzong asked.

  Although Xu Jingzong is now Zhongshuling, he is very clear that his strength in the court is still relatively weak. If he wants to be attached to his uncle, grandson Wuji, he must have the support of Qin Lang to secure the position of Zhongshuling.

"Xu Xiang, I feel that although there is a sage's decree, many immigrants from Luzon immigrated to Luzon before the decree was issued. There are hundreds of strong men, and half of the men among women. According to this Counting, for one immigrant household, Luzon has to pay two to three hundred yuan to the court. And Luzon now has a population of about 300,000, even if only 20,000 to 30,000 immigrants settled down, it would be at least six to seven hundred Wanguan a lot of money!"

  Xu Jingzong smiled, "It is said that Wei Gong is as rich as an enemy country, but Luzon is rich in gold and silver. I heard that one day can produce thousands of taels of gold. Six or seven million guan is not difficult for Wei Gong?"

"Six to seven million may not be much, but the problem is that Luzon will definitely need more immigrants in the future. If this matter is established, it will be difficult for Luzon to immigrate again in the future. A household of two to three hundred yuan is only paid. With the money from the imperial court, they have to pay these people home and travel expenses, and when they get there, they have to distribute the land and grant land, and 10,000 households will cost millions of yuan, which will definitely not be enough for a long time."

   According to Li Yifu's analysis, Qin Lang definitely couldn't accept the emperor's big mouth.

   Those who have already immigrated, Qin Lang is definitely not willing to pay such a one-time payment of millions of dollars, and the future immigration policy definitely hopes to be adjusted.

  That's why Qin Lang donated 100,000 guan coins to the emperor immediately after he got the decree from the outside world. Then his nephew was granted the title of King Lu, and Qin Lang specially donated 100,000 Guan to launder the three money.

   Qin Lang never gave the immigration money.

  There was an emperor's decree before, but now the prince is asking.

   This matter must not continue to be so confused, there must be an explanation, as the crown prince said in the hall, we can't let Wei Gong, an honored minister of the country, be impeached by the judiciary for such a trivial matter.

Generally speaking, in order to ensure the source of taxes and levies, the dynasty restricted the free movement of the population through the household registration system. In particular, households in the prefectures within the two capitals and prefectures with military prefectures were not allowed to move at will. Conditional relocation is only possible under certain circumstances.

For example, those who moved from Yongzhou with less land to Kuan Township, Guanzhong and Longyou immigrated to Henan and Luoyang, all in order to alleviate the situation of less land and more people and insufficient land. Since Zhenguan, the population of Guanzhong, Henan, Hebei, Hedong and Huainan In densely populated areas, continuous immigration to the four sides is also the same policy.

However, after the implementation of the two new tax laws, the imperial court actually placed much less personal restraint on the people, because the taxation objects were changed to land and industrial and commercial taxes, and the tax was paid to the mu, and the money was converted into the mu, and so on. The imperial court relaxed some controls on immigration.

  Even in the border areas, the imperial court continued to implement the method of recruiting customers and floaters, recruiting immigrants to guard the border for reclamation, coupled with the mandatory exile of the frontier state and the policy of relegation to the border.

  Qin Lang also used this method of recruiting immigrants to develop the fief Wu'an Prefecture before, and this method was also implemented in Luzon.

   But the problem now is that the imperial court designated Luzon as an external fiefdom, similar to the Zhenbei Metropolitan Government just established by the imperial court, or such prefectures as the Western Region Yaochi Metropolitan Mansion and Tocharo Metropolitan Governor Mansion.

Although there are some differences between the foreign lands and the pure Jiyi prefectures, for example, the Jimi prefectures are not registered in the household registration territory and do not levy taxes, but the foreign lands are the same as the internal ones. But the tax amount is different.

  From this point of view, it is no problem that the imperial court’s customary system does not allow people to move to foreign lands, but now that Lu Shi is a foreign fief, it is also the land of the Tang Dynasty who is taxed and naturalized.

  (end of this chapter)