Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 338: The Tang Dynasty with All Its Strength

"What a strange thing! What a strange thing!"

As soon as Fang Fu retired from court and returned to Lizheng Hall, Li Chengqian could not help but complain to the Crown Prince.

In the process of working together to fight against the Fourteenth Prince, Crown Prince Li Zhi actively offered suggestions and at the same time was humble and polite. Don't you think this is in line with Zhou Li and perfectly fits the feudal society's imagination of the crown prince and the younger brother?

Li Chengqian even wanted to write a book "Prince's Style" for him himself. He almost forgot that Li Zhi was also a seed player in this chicken-eating competition. He would consult him on any issues he was not sure about.

"The war situation is now at a stalemate. Father and the enemy are fighting hard on the front line in Shanxi. We need a constant supply of manpower and material support from the rear. The daily expenses are as huge as the stars."

Li Chengqian held Li Zhi's hand and chattered:
"On the other hand, in order to support this war, the country has been hollowed out. The treasury is empty, people's livelihood is in decline, and everyone is exhausted and in urgent need of rest and recuperation.

"If we continue to fight like this, the people of the Tang Dynasty will rush to Chang'an before the Ming army even gets in! The country will collapse first!"

Li Chengqian became more and more excited as he spoke, and he squeezed Li Zhi's hand tighter and tighter until it hurt.

But this guy is worthy of being described as a "benevolent and filial" character. He managed to hold back from saying a word, not even a corner of his mouth twisted, and still had a respectful expression as if he was listening attentively.

"But, but those mediocre officials... ahem!"

Li Chengqian talked about the thing that made him most angry. He finally let go of the Crown Prince's hand and started coughing violently.

While coughing, he did not forget to accuse:
"They put all their energy into the imperial affairs! And they also talk about 'the connection between heaven and man'!
"My father is leading the army to fight outside. I have no right to change the queen or not... ahem! What does it have to do with them?
"If the emperor doesn't divorce his wife, will the world be in chaos and the Tang Dynasty will fall? Will everything be better if we change the queen mother?!..."

Before he could finish his complaints, he was interrupted by a violent cough, and even a slight sweet and fishy taste of blood came out of his throat.

I was literally so angry that I vomited blood.

Li Zhi listened quietly throughout the whole process, signaled the eunuch to leave with his eyes, and personally patted his brother on the back to calm him down, while gently comforting him:
"Your Majesty is concerned about the country and the people, and your heart is evident to all.

"It is a blessing for the people that the Tang Dynasty has such a king. Heaven will only bestow grace and bless the coming year with good weather and good harvests. How could it punish us?"

This was very comfortable to hear, and Li Chengqian felt much better.

After all, he was not a staunch materialist like Old Fourteen, and he was somewhat disgusted by such things as the heavens, the earth, ghosts and gods.

"It's just that Your Majesty is so busy that the ministers can't keep up with Your Majesty. They have to use some specious topics to divert your anger and give them a break."

Li Chengqian frowned, hearing the hidden meaning in Li Zhi's words.

"Your Majesty, what you mean is that I have pushed the ministers too hard?"

Li Zhi bowed respectfully:
"Hurry is not enough."

Li Chengqian curled his lips in frustration.

As a new emperor who had just completed his internship period after half a year of training, Li Chengqian also learned some of his ministers' basic tactics in the process of battling wits and courage with them.

For example, when the emperor focuses his attention on something that his ministers do not want him to focus on, the ministers will take the initiative to raise some insignificant topics.

This was done to interfere with the emperor's vision and thus divert his attention.

"No one can answer the difficult questions raised by your majesty, and they are afraid that you will hold them accountable too harshly, so the ministers have no choice but to resort to this last resort to temporarily survive today's court meeting. It's not that they are really idle and don't care about national affairs."

Li Zhi gently smoothed things over for the ministers who had angered the emperor.

After all, the work still has to be done by the civil and military officials. If they are all killed, will the emperor be left alone with a gun to face Li Ming's huge army at the front line?
Let's first maintain unity in the court and overcome the current difficulties. We can talk about settling scores later.

Anyway, if the sinister Li Zhi became emperor, he would do this.

"Oh..." Li Chengqian sighed in distress.

He found it difficult to properly handle the complex game of both cooperation and struggle with his ministers, far inferior to his father and two younger brothers.

"Regardless of what the ministers are thinking, how should we solve the pressing problem at hand?
"Father is constantly asking for people, materials, money, and food on the front line in Shanxi, but the treasury is empty, the people are exhausted, and the rear can no longer sustain such consumption."

There is not even a drop left. How can we fight for three hundred rounds?

"The Tang Dynasty has a vast territory and abundant resources. Has the national strength really been exhausted?" Li Zhi asked in return.

Li Chengqian looked ashamed:
"I'm afraid so. When my father was in power, he also went to war every year, but the people were still able to store a few years' worth of surplus food at home.

“I have only been in power for a few months and have only fought half of the war, but the savings from the Zhenguan period have already been squandered.

"In some places, after several years of collecting taxes, large amounts of land were left uncultivated and entire villages and towns were left to flee.

"If we continue to make the people suffer and increase their burden, I'm afraid there will be uprisings and the country will be in danger."

Li Chengqian's cooking is only relative, which doesn't mean that he is really a master of neither fish nor fowl and has no sympathy for the people.

It does not mean that he does not know the common sense that "officials force the people to rebel."

Li Zhi blinked:

"Really? I don't think so."

Li Chengqian stood in awe:
"My dear brother, what do you want to do? Make the people suffer more?
"The ground is almost scratched to pieces. If we continue to scratch it, we will have to scalp ourselves."

Do you think you want to throw all your weight into the fight and fight the Ming Dynasty?
I advise him not to think about it.

I'm afraid they will suffer a backlash. Instead of being attacked by the Ming army, they will be pushed to the main base by the mob.

After all, with the example of Emperor Yang of Sui, the "God of Guangshen", later emperors, even if they had no intention of becoming the Confucian ideal of a standard benevolent monarch, still had to consider their own throne and their own lives, and occasionally live in harmony with the people.

What's more, times are different now.

In the past, ordinary people had no choice but to endure being exploited and drained of their marrow. They would just endure it for the time being.

Now there is a Daming next door, standing there like a lighthouse.

The common people look over there, and then look at their own messy homes, but they will vote with their feet (run away) and their hands (rebel)!

"If the people cannot suffer, then we can make others suffer."

Li Zhi lowered his head to hide the corners of his mouth.

"Others? Who else could it be besides the common people...oh."

Li Chengqian was stunned at first, but then he reacted.

"Yes, besides the common people, there is indeed another group of people who can be squeezed out of money."

The fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered is——

"The nobility."

The two brothers spoke in unison and smiled at each other in tacit understanding.

Before, they had imitated a certain Ming emperor who wished to remain anonymous and had taken advantage of the aristocracy.

I can only say, it feels great, it should have been cut a long time ago.

Although there were various problems in the details, from a macro perspective, the country's tax revenue did increase, and every extra penny collected became an arrow shot at Li Ming.

Therefore, the two brothers, who had tasted the sweetness of the food, also developed path dependence.

"But the new policies we implemented previously have already caused a lot of complaints from the local tyrants. If we blackmail them again this time, won't it cause a backlash?"

Li Chengqian calmed down and asked worriedly:

"They are all armed in the local area."

Li Zhi was not worried at all:

"Let them do what they want. If the Tang Dynasty dies, they will have to face Li Ming's iron hoof alone."

"Oh, that's right." Li Chengqian slapped his head.

When faced with two evils, choose the lesser one. Mr. Landlord, you don't want your land to be confiscated by bandits, do you?

With external threats, the resistance to implementing new reform policies internally is greatly reduced.

In a sense, this war was also an action of the Li family's father, sons, brothers and the aristocratic families.

"Some members of the big and powerful families hold important positions in the court and have extensive connections in the palace, such as the Wei family, the Gao family, etc. We cannot act arbitrarily against them, or we may provoke a backlash."

Li Chengqian said again.

It is true that the Tang Dynasty was built on the foundations of past dynasties, unlike the Ming Dynasty which was a completely new dynasty with a mountain of code and could not tamper with the underlying code at will.

The system might crash. "It's not difficult." Li Zhi lowered his voice:

"Who was the first to criticize Your Majesty in the court today?"

"It's Liu Li." Li Chengqian answered with gritted teeth.

Li Zhi nodded slightly, and quickly reviewed it in his mind, and said:
"Minister Liu's family is not very prominent, and there is no need for marriage with other prominent families.

"Why not operate on him?"

Li Chengqian stood in awe.

This younger brother is really sinister.

…………

The next day was a sunny day.

Wei Ting from the Censorate led a team to raid the home of Shangshu Liu Li.

It was because someone reported that Minister Liu was corrupt and accepting bribes, and it had nothing to do with Minister Liu's meddling in the marriage of the retired emperor in Liangyi Hall yesterday.

The emperor has no family affairs, so why would Your Majesty make things difficult for your subjects because of this?

The results of the house search were quite astonishing. Tens of thousands of acres of fertile land were seized, all located in Shangshu Liu's hometown of Jingzhou.

This is also an old tradition of officials in the Tang Dynasty. No matter where they are employed, they must buy land in their hometown when they become rich.

Returning home without clothes in splendor is like walking in the night in splendor.

As for why the search of Liu Li's mansion in the capital also revealed his properties far away in Jingzhou.

Don't ask, the answer is that Your Majesty is very observant.

"Jingzhou is a place with many mountains and rivers, and the people have no place to live, but Minister Liu alone owns 10,000 acres of land. It's shocking, shocking..."

At the grand court meeting, His Majesty Li Chengqian specifically singled out this incident as an example.

Liu Li was so wronged, it was just as unfair as snowing in December.

Although he could not afford to buy such a large piece of land based on his salary, he must have received money that was not allowed by law.

But just because the law does not allow it doesn’t mean that the actual “rules” do not allow it!
As the chief prime minister, Lao Liu took less bribes than his subordinates. He is truly a model of integrity!

Why did Your Majesty not commend him but instead raid his house and punish him?
Liu Li was very dissatisfied and looked around the court with confidence, trying to find allies.

But all the allies who had stood together with him at the last small court meeting now avoided his gaze.

Now everyone knows that Your Majesty is catching examples.

It is better not to get into trouble and sacrifice a victim to appease His Majesty.

Anyway, Lao Liu came from a poor family and had no connection with the big families, so no one was too lazy to protect him.

"Minister Liu, do you have anything else to say?" Li Chengqian was full of dignity and energy. He even stopped coughing and was obviously in a good mood.

Liu Li realized that he was alone, so he sat limply on his seat and kowtowed reluctantly:

"I...have failed the Emperor's grace and will leave it to Your Majesty to deal with."

He didn't seem very convinced when he heard it.

The sky cleared up after our house was ransacked. Is this some kind of divine connection... Li Chengqian tried his best to resist the urge to mock and pretended to be magnanimous.

"I will not punish you severely because of your hard work and great contributions.

"The position will remain unchanged, but the rank will be reduced by half a grade, the land acquired through corruption will be confiscated, and the salary will be fined for three years."

Only fines were imposed, no one was arrested. As a case that was specifically brought to the grand court for public trial, it can be said that it was raised high and then put down lightly.

This was too light, and the old foxes present felt something unusual.

Originally they were waiting for Liu Li to fall so that they could fill the vacancy.

Unexpectedly, His Majesty did not come for the person, but for the money!

What does this mean? Does it mean that the higher-ups have come up with some new idea to mess with them?
Everyone's eyes involuntarily passed over the emperor on the dragon couch and fell on the crown prince who was sitting quietly on the side.

Liu Li didn't know what to say, so he could only kneel down and thank him:

"Thank you, Lord..."

"Well, knowing your mistakes can greatly improve things."

Li Chengqian showed the most brilliant smile since he ascended the throne, turned to the ministers under his seat with a smile, and pretended to be distressed:

“The treasury has been empty recently, and the war with the Ming Empire is almost unsustainable.

"My dear ministers, what can we do?"

Well, it’s all for money...everyone understands.

Seeing everyone's alert and painful expressions, Li Chengqian changed the subject:
"If we lose this battle, Li Ming will take over the entire Tang Dynasty, redistribute the land according to his own wishes, and eliminate all the wealthy families.

"My dear ministers, you don't want this to happen, do you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the wind direction in the Tai Chi Hall began to change.

Yes.

They will bleed a little and give up some profits now. As long as the Tang Dynasty and this system are still there, they will be able to earn it back sooner or later.

But if Li Ming gets his way, it would be like the backflow of seawater, turning the land into saline-alkali land, and their family would never be able to gain any benefit from the land again!

It has to be admitted that the literati in the early Tang Dynasty were more visionary than the insects at the end of a certain dynasty whose name I wish to remain anonymous.

The group of upright civil servants at the end of the Ming Dynasty were still clinging to their money until they were on the verge of death. In the end, they were taught a lesson by their old friend from Northeast China.

But during the reign of Emperor Yongqing of the Tang Dynasty, the nobles were still willing to donate generously and help the country in times of crisis.

Some donated money and land, while others reduced their own salaries.

They actively responded to the call of His Majesty the Emperor and did their best to save themselves.

The Tang Dynasty is far from rotten.

…………

Shanxi front, Bingzhou.

The main force of the Tang army gathered here. There was a huge flow of vehicles, livestock, and personnel every day, making this mountain valley more lively than the capital.

The army is like a gluttonous beast. Its daily consumption is astronomical. Without these countless umbilical cords to transport nutrients, it will starve to death soon.

After retaking Jinyang City, the morale of the Tang Army was high and they were ready to take advantage of the situation to march north, retake the entire area west of Taihang Mountain, and wipe out the rebels.

Then, they were hit on the head by Li Jing, and their forward momentum was interrupted. The two sides started a tug-of-war on the Bingzhou front, and the stalemate lasted for a long time.

Fortunately, although the expected strategic goal was not achieved, the morale of the soldiers was still maintained well.

In addition to General Tian Ce's good military management, another important reason is that the logistical supplies are very sufficient.

"Oh? Dalang and Jiulang came up with this clever idea to raise military funds? Let the noble families take the initiative to pay?"

In Jinyang Prefecture, which served as his base camp, Li Shimin read the news from the rear with great excitement.

Insufficient military funds is what I hate; the arrogance of the aristocracy is also what I hate.

Unexpectedly, the emperor and the crown prince could offset the two evils and use the money of the gentry to supplement military expenses.

Those two have also grown a lot.

"But this momentum doesn't look good..."

As he read on, Li Shimin's face became solemn.

(End of this chapter)