My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 249 Li Shimin: The Crown Prince wants to implement "one country, two policies"?
According to normal administrative divisions, Goryeo was to be divided into two major parts: Liaodong Province and Pyongyang Province.

However, in the memorial submitted by Li Chengqian, the entire Goryeo was divided into Liaodong Road.

In this regard, Li Chengqian's ambition has actually been reflected.

This is to take over the entire Goryeo under his own rule.

The reason why Li Shimin agreed was, first of all, because the prince already had actual control over these places.

Li Shimin had never even thought of sweeping away all the Goryeo nobles.

After all, the Li family itself is also a part of the aristocratic family, and in the process of conquering the world, it also united with the aristocratic family.

In the Central Plains, there is no such thing as uniting the common people to wipe out the aristocratic families.

This is the origin of the emperor and the aristocratic families ruling the world together.

But Li Chengqian did just that.

This has something to do with the fact that the Goryeo nobles were originally on the opposite side of the Tang Dynasty, but ordinary people would never want to do this. Shouldn't local governance still rely on the nobles?

Such behavior breaks people's cognition for thousands of years.

Li Shimin was somewhat moved.

He had endured the aristocratic families for a long time. The emperor's power was divided, and the once invincible Li Shimin made many compromises in terms of the power of his ministers.

Seeing the prince act like this, I felt secretly happy.

Especially the actions of the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats, which made Li Shimin want to use the crown prince to completely suppress the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats.

In Li Shimin's conception, the prince and the aristocratic families should be evenly matched, with both sides suffering losses. In the end, he would be the one catching the cicada while the oriole was behind, strengthening the centralization of power, and finally punishing the prince. He would let his eldest son, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, take over.

What a perfect thing.

But the prince's development exceeded his expectations.

Chang'an, the rear hall of Taiji Palace.

The king and his ministers discuss matters.

Fang Xuanling reported on the situation of the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

"The Crown Prince implemented a new policy in Liaodong Road. The county was divided into three parts, and the provincial capital inspection office and the Ministry of Justice were added. The civil, military and legal powers were divided according to the six-department system."

"The three officials do not command each other, and they all obey the orders of the Crown Prince of Shenwu Palace."

"According to the orders of the Crown Prince, the county lieutenants only obey the orders of the Supreme Criminal Department, and the county magistrates only obey the orders of the Dali Temple. This also applies to matters related to the promotion of officials."

"In the county, dozens of new officials were created to take charge of various affairs, splitting up the matters that were originally under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate."

"Due to the establishment of a large number of official positions, the demand for officials has increased. Now that Silla is under the jurisdiction of the crown prince, the number of personnel has doubled. Almost 90% of students who go to Liaodong can enter the official career."

Having said this, Fang Xuanling paused slightly.

The prince's new policy has elevated the matter to the level of political game.

One country, two policies is not a good thing.

The prince's ambition is obvious.

This forced Li Shimin to treat it with caution.

He wanted the crown prince to inherit the throne, but he wanted the succession, not to have the crown prince take it away.

When the prince did this, did he care about his father?

Zhang Sun Wuji wondered, "The Crown Prince has appointed so many officials. Doesn't that mean their annual salaries are going to be a huge sum? How long will this last?"

The salaries of officials are not a small amount. There are more than 7,000 officials in the Tang Dynasty, which is also a considerable burden for the imperial court.

Fang Xuanling glanced at Wei Zheng after hearing this, and then said, "The Crown Prince has reduced the salaries of officials above the sixth rank, especially the land rewards. Almost all of them have been reduced, and all the land has been returned to the Shenwu Palace. He has only increased the rice and money supply."

"For example, the original salary of the county magistrate was almost halved, but the salary of the gatekeeper was included in the public office expenses."

The county magistrate's doorman was similar to the secretary in later generations. Before this, the doorman's salary was paid by the county magistrate himself.

But now, the prince not only included the gatekeeper, but also the cooks in the government office canteen, all of which were incorporated into the government office, and were no longer the sole responsibility of the county magistrate.

It seems that the salary of the county magistrate has been cut, but in fact the county magistrate only needs to take care of himself and his family, and all other expenses are charged to the public office.

Calculated in this way, the salary cannot be said to be low.

In addition, after the power was divided, the actual government affairs to be managed were greatly reduced, and it was not as tiring as before.

Simply put, it was difficult for a county magistrate to live a good life if he was not greedy.

To be an honest official, one must be incorruptible.

Today's county magistrate is not greedy, but can be self-sufficient.

Wei Zheng frowned, then relaxed, and then frowned again.

Chu Suiliang felt a little uneasy, as he always felt that the prince was targeting him.

Li Shimin held the document in his hand and looked at it carefully.

The content of this document is about the prince's reform and addition of officials, including specific rules and regulations on officials' salaries.

It was sent by Li Daozon.

Li Shimin took this very seriously. He was also a monarch with great talent and strategy, and had profound insights into the political system. Otherwise, he would not have made great efforts to streamline the officials of the Tang Dynasty and developed the early Tang Dynasty into the dynasty with the fewest officials in all history.

From Li Shimin's perspective, it was about streamlining the number of officials and handling everything in a simple manner, which would reduce the burden on the court while also making all government responsibilities simple and clear.

No matter what goes wrong, you can easily find the person responsible.

But the prince now does the opposite. He adds a large number of official positions and divides power. This is completely different from Li Shimin's approach.

If we have different ideals, we cannot work together.

Li Shimin's brows furrowed subconsciously.

Fang Xuanling continued, "Nowadays, students all over the country are attracted by the news. They can easily enter the official career without passing the imperial examination. This has attracted a large number of scholars to Liaodong to seek official positions, resulting in the uneven distribution of officials in Liaodong. However, the prince has turned a blind eye to this."

"Especially the children of the noble families, who flock there in droves. If this continues for a long time, I'm afraid trouble will easily arise."

Fang Xuanling originally didn't want to talk about this matter, but now he has to talk about it.

Because it has involved the foundations of the five surnames and seven families.

Because of his wife's pillow talk and his own involvement with the aristocratic family, Fang Xuanling had no choice but to bring up the matter.

The Five Surnames and Seven Families are seven huge aristocratic families, which include not only direct descendants but also more collateral branches and illegitimate children.

In the past, it was very difficult for a person from a side branch of the family to become an official. First of all, he had to be outstanding in academics, have a good reputation, and then be recommended by the clan.

Because Li Shimin suppressed the seven prominent families, there were fewer opportunities to become an official.

The seven great families had no other choice but to first accept the legitimate descendants and then the side branches and illegitimate children.

This was normal before, but now it’s because of the prince.

Some people who saw no opportunity and were not very knowledgeable, went to Liaodong to recommend themselves for official positions regardless of the dispute between the Crown Prince and the King of Wei. They thought the Crown Prince would reject them, but the Crown Prince didn't care at all. As long as they had knowledge and basic achievements, they would be directly appointed no matter where they came from.

After this news spread back to the Central Plains, many descendants of side branches saw a way out and no longer cared about their master's family, and they all ran to Liaodong.

It is true that the foundation of an aristocratic family lies in the direct line, but the side branches and illegitimate children are also the key to the prosperity of this big tree.

If all the branches and leaves withered and ran away, would this big tree still be worth looking at?

The Five Surnames and Seven Families originally thought that the Crown Prince would do what happened in Goryeo and put all the noble families on trial, regardless of size.

No one expected that this move of cutting off the source of the problem would directly make the Five Surnames and Seven Families feel the crisis.

For family traditions, the issue of the hierarchy between legitimate and illegitimate children is a crucial one.

If the legitimate descendants cannot suppress the illegitimate descendants, and instead the illegitimate descendants are superior to the legitimate descendants, then how can we distinguish between the legitimate and illegitimate descendants? Wouldn't the family be in chaos?

If the illegitimate children are too powerful, they might have to separate and establish their own family, and then create a family tree.

One or two people, that's called family honor.

If the current situation continues, with no distinction between the primary and the secondary, how can the family unite and pass on its legacy?

This is not only true for the Five Surnames and Seven Families, but also for other prominent families.

As the saying goes, the rich family remains in their hometown, while the poor family moves around.

Now that everyone is running away, how can the family prosper?

So the big families became anxious.

The Five Surnames and Seven Clans were too ignorant to care about the affairs of the King of Wei and could only use their connections in various aspects to push the court to impose restrictions on the prince.

In fact, there are not many people who understand this matter.

For example, in the imperial examinations of the Tang Dynasty, there were more than a thousand students taking the Jinshi examinations every year, and the admission rate was only one or two percent. This shows that Li Shimin attached great importance to the training and selection of talents.

But when it comes to the prince, any student who is qualified to take the Jinshi exam can be directly appointed as an official in Liaodong.

One move means 10,000 to 20,000 people, which is equivalent to covering the number of students who will take part in the imperial examinations in the next ten years of the Tang Dynasty.

From the perspective of students, if you take the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty, one out of a hundred people will be selected, and after ten years of hard study, there is a high probability that you will not become an official in the end.

But if you go to the prince, you can directly skip the imperial examination and enter the officialdom.

Even a fool should know how to choose.

Even for students with academic ambitions, the Crown Prince's side is in a state of disrepair, with vacancies for officials at all levels, and senior officials can rise to power based on their own abilities.

As long as you have the ability, winning three levels in a row is easy.

This is different from the Tang Dynasty. There are too many nobles and aristocrats in the Tang Dynasty. Even if you do a good job, the people above you are all occupied, so if you want to get promoted, you have to wait for others to step down.

Not everyone is eyeing the position of prime minister. Even the top scorer in the imperial examination still needs to accumulate experience.

Sun Fujia, the first number one scholar in the imperial examination of the Tang Dynasty, has only now reached the position of Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, a third-rank official, and is still a long way from becoming the prime minister.

On the other hand, the crown prince was said to be at the ninth rank last year, but has been promoted to the seventh rank this year.

It has been less than a year, just a few months, and he has been promoted three ranks.

You said the power has become smaller.

But for students, if they don't enter the official career and are not even an official, what does the size of the power matter? As long as they can be an official, have power and realize their ambitions, that's enough.

Even the students who have the talent to win the imperial examination are now a little restless.

You have to know that in the Tang Dynasty, passing the imperial examination did not mean you could become a high-ranking official.

Generally speaking, they would only be granted official positions above the ninth rank.

Sun Fujia was so famous, but at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty when there was a shortage of official positions, he was only a Langzhong of the Ministry of Justice from the fifth rank.

The number of people who passed the imperial examination became smaller and smaller.

In comparison, I naturally prefer to go to the prince.

Now is the chance. If you miss it, it may not be so easy to get an official position in the future when there is no vacancy in the prince's office.

This is the wind direction, where even pigs can fly.

Therefore, not to mention the illegitimate children from the side branches, even the direct descendants are tempted.

But if all the young men in the family went to the prince's side, how could the Five Surnames and Seven Families ever compete with the prince?

Of course, the direct descendants didn’t really want to go, and they were also conflicted about it.

Because they had not received any preferential treatment in the past, they were standing on the same starting line as those from side branches and illegitimate children.

So it's a bit embarrassing.

This matter continued to develop and finally reached the imperial court.

"What do you think?"

Li Shimin was also a little confused and unsure.

He was happy to see the Five Surnames and Seven Families suffer defeat, but he did not want the Crown Prince's side to become too powerful.

If the current situation continues to develop, the prince will use official positions to lure students from all over the world. If this continues for a long time, within a few years, the prince's students will be more than those in the Tang Dynasty.

All the scholars in the world have fled to Liaodong. How can the Tang Dynasty develop?

Let alone other things, this year's Tang Dynasty imperial examination alone is a problem.

Will there be too few students taking part in the imperial examinations?

I thought there were thousands of people taking part in the scientific examination, but this year there is a possibility that even a hundred students may not be able to be gathered.

Previously, in order to support the prince's education in Liaodong, the six schools and two academies of the highest institution of learning in the Tang Dynasty were established.

Guozi Academy, Imperial University, Four-door Academy, Law School, Calligraphy School, and Mathematics School.

There were also Hongwenguan and Chongwenguan, and a large number of students were sent there.

Especially Chongwenguan, this institution of learning affiliated to the Eastern Palace system, has now become an empty shell.

Facing His Majesty's question, several ministers looked at each other, and finally Chu Suiliang bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, this matter must not be left unchecked. Liaodong is now being treated like this by the Crown Prince. It seems to be lively, but in fact there are endless hidden dangers. A large number of students have not been strictly screened by the imperial examinations, and have poured into Liaodong to serve as officials based on their passion. If this continues, the officialdom will be in chaos."

After a slight pause, Chu Suiliang continued with a serious expression: "The imperial examination system of our Tang Dynasty is strict and rigorous, with multiple levels of selection, so that people with both moral integrity and talent can serve as officials in the court and support the country. Now that the prince has opened the door to convenience, those with mediocre qualifications and only seeking official positions have mixed in. How can government affairs be handled effectively? I am afraid that many perfunctory and corrupt practices will arise, which will undermine the foundation of our Tang Dynasty."

Li Shimin nodded slightly, motioning him to continue. Chu Suiliang cleared his throat and continued, "Moreover, the reason why the Five Surnames and Seven Families have been able to last for hundreds of years and their power is so intertwined is because they strictly control the entry of their children into officialdom. Now the prince's move has caused his side branches and illegitimate children to deviate from the family tradition, and the order of seniority and inferiority has been disrupted, which is likely to cause the rift within the family to deepen. When that happens, the entire family system will be in turmoil, and the court will also be difficult to stabilize."

Upon hearing this, Changsun Wuji interrupted and said, "It's just that the Crown Prince is now in the ascendant, and those students who went to Liaodong have also tasted the sweetness. If we rashly stop them, I'm afraid it will arouse dissatisfaction."

Chu Suiliang snorted coldly, "Changsun Situ, this matter concerns the fate of the Tang Dynasty for a hundred years. How can we shrink back because of fear of temporary dissatisfaction? We should quickly issue an imperial edict to reprimand the prince for this inappropriate behavior and order him to make corrections immediately, recall those officials who were not formally selected, and reorganize the Liaodong officialdom. We should also strictly order all aristocratic families to control their children and not to go to Liaodong to seek employment at will. Those who violate the order will be severely punished."

After a slight hesitation, Wei Zheng still stood on the side of the prince: "This move is probably inappropriate. The prince's new policy in Liaodong is intended to educate the local people and improve governance. If the officials are forcibly recalled, firstly, it will lose the trust of the students, and secondly, the government affairs in Liaodong, which have just started, will be paralyzed, which is not conducive to the stability of the border."

(End of this chapter)