The Prodigal Son of Zhenguan

Li Shimin nodded as he listened.

That's the truth, but I always feel something is wrong with using the Republic as the reign title.

Why is the hat on my head a little chilly today?

And thinking of the origin of the word Republic, I feel that the meaning is not very good.

The emperor is not King Li of Zhou, and I am not Gong Bohe...

Li Fu looked at Li Shimin while talking, and saw him nod slightly, with mixed feelings in his heart. Could it be that the Tang Dynasty will go beyond imperialism and capitalism and move towards a republic starting next year?

The republic of imperialism is still a monarchy, which is a pseudo-republic.

It's just a name.

However, thousands of years later, people will talk about the Tang Dynasty and Li Shimin again.

Since ancient times, our country... as early as hundreds of years ago... has been far ahead!

"Republic..." Li Shimin muttered: "Although the annotation of the Prince of Jingyang is very relevant to the current situation, it still cannot show my determination and intention to govern the world."

"Yes." Fang Xuanling also responded: "This seems to put all the responsibilities on the ministers and the people. Although the concept of the world for the public is good, it weakens the importance of the court."

In fact, Fang Xuanling wanted to say that the importance of the emperor was weakened. Even if it was to govern the world, officials at all levels had responsibilities, but the concept of governing the country focused on the court and the emperor.

The emperor's thoughts and ideas affect the entire court and the whole world.

The reign title is to reflect the emperor's thoughts on governing the country, just as your majesty said, so that the people of the world know his determination to govern the world.

"Wei Zheng, what do you think?" Li Shimin looked at Wei Zheng who was sitting in the corner.

From the beginning of the discussion to now, Wei Zheng has been sitting there without saying a word.

"It's not that I haven't thought about it. After becoming your Majesty's subject, I pacified Hebei and advised the government. I have some thoughts. King Wen's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Confucius wrote the Yi Zhuan, and the Yi Zhuan said that the way of Zhenguan is the way of the world. The word Zhen means the middle and the right, and the word Guan means to show, so Zhenguan is to show the middle and the right.

Confucius also said that politics is the right. What the Master meant was that leading by example is the foundation of politics. Your Majesty, I think that Zhenguan shows the middle and the right, which is the foundation of governing the world."

"So, my suggestion is whether the new year name can be Zhenguan."

Li Fu wrote a long article with great enthusiasm. Although the meaning is similar and it is also glorious and right, it is not as good as Wei Zheng's quoting classics and using Confucius' Yi Zhuan to persuade the emperor.

The saints said so, shouldn't the emperor think about it carefully?

According to the saints, the emperor governs the country, sets an example, and leads the subjects, so that the people can be more convinced.

Confucius is the most holy teacher, and the people trust him.

After hearing Wei Zheng's words, Li Shimin was also moved.

Li Fu sighed slightly in his heart. The move towards a republic would not be advanced to the Tang Dynasty.

However, it was the reign of Emperor Taizong and the Zhenguan Reign.

The wheel of history is not so easy to be crooked.

The Zhenguan Reign was the beginning of the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. On this basis, it is not easy to change the general direction. It will not happen overnight.

"Zhenguan..." Li Shimin stood up: "Okay, I pacified the world with force, I like to use hard bows, so far, there are more than a thousand people who have died from my arrows.

But the craftsman told me that my bow has great power, but the torque is either to the left or to the right. As the saying goes, a small mistake can lead to a thousand miles of error, which is why the material of the bow must be straight.

I have a good control over my bows, so I can hit the target every time.

But the bow maker requires that each bow is the same, so that everyone can use it."

"Whether it is the Prince of Jingyang, Wei Zheng, or the craftsman, they all told me that being upright is important, which is a good thing. So, let's use Zhenguan, what do you think?"

"Yes." Everyone responded.

Determining the reign title is a big deal. Now those who are discussing in the Liangyi Hall are all close to Li Shimin.

This matter will not be brought to the court, otherwise the debate will be endless, and Li Shimin will be upset.

Although he is in power now, and the former subordinates of Tiance Mansion have all entered the court as officials, the high positions are all those old officials of Wude, which was arranged by the emperor in the past.

This is also the condition for his abdication.

But in Li Shimin's view, those old officials should also give up their positions.

The old officials can't keep up with the new policies, but now in the court, the left and right servants are Pei Ji and Feng Deyi, and Li Shimin is not satisfied with these two people.

He thought that after the new year, he would find a reason to let these two people step down from their current positions.

If they could be more respectable, it would be great, at least they would not offend the emperor, but if they did not want to be respectable, the emperor would find a way to make them respectable.

The next day, Li Fu was going back to the manor, and Li Shimin did not forget to say that he would go to the manor to see the workshop processing refined salt, so he told Li Fu that he would take Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji to his manor in Jingyang County in two days.

These days, the workshop that Li Fu asked Ma Shisan to modify has been completed. When he was in Chang'an City, he wrote to him and asked him to buy a batch of rock salt.

After Li Fu returned to the manor, he took a short rest and came to the workshop the next morning. He wanted to see in person how to process refined salt according to his method.

The refined salt eaten in the house was also made very carefully, and one or two jars were made at a time and placed in the kitchen.

But the large-scale processing in the workshop is different from the small-scale processing in the kitchen at home.

There are many more stone mortars in the workshop, and all the collected rock salt is put into the stone mortars and crushed.

This kind of large pieces of salt are all mineral salts, which are the process of dissolution and recrystallization. Therefore, even after forming into blocks, there are still many impurities in them.

The impurities in coarse salt are divided into soluble and insoluble.

First, crush these salt blocks, dissolve them, filter out the insoluble impurities, and then evaporate them.

There are several large pots in the workshop, boiling water, heating can help the salt dissolve quickly, and stirring is constantly during the process.

Then it is filtered.

If there is no suitable filter paper, then make a simple filtering device, fine stone and sand, thatch and charcoal, and put a few layers of coarse cloth at the bottom.

Such a simple filtering device is made.

The filtered brine basically removes insoluble impurities, and the last step is evaporation and crystallization, which is also called boiling salt.

If it is not the so-called poisonous salt mined from the mine, then this step, after boiling and evaporating the salt, carefully grinding it out is the top-grade fine salt.

However, what Li Fu wanted to do was to turn the poisonous salt into edible refined salt.