The immortal is beside me

Chapter 36 The Era Called Zhenguan

More than 1,300 years ago, the Tang Dynasty city of Chang'an was one of the largest in the world. The city was divided into 108 districts, with two major markets, the West Market and the East Market.

Among them, the West Market is home to merchants from all over the world, mainly selling various folk items for people's daily use; while the East Market is located close to the palace, mainly serving princes and nobles, with a sign that says "Rare goods from all over the world are collected here", and of course the prices are not so friendly.

A thousand years later, the West Market still stands as a commercial district on one side of the city, but the East Market is left with only a ruin in name only. One can't help but sigh that fortunes change.

At the street corner, Zhou Qing looked at the sign above that read "Beilin Antiques Market" and seemed lost in thought.

There was a time when he often disguised himself as a mortal to stroll around Chang'an City, and as he wandered around, he became familiar with the locations of all the markets.

His memory told him that this was the site of the former East Market, but the palaces and carved railings that housed a collection of rare treasures had long been buried, leaving no trace. University towns, shopping malls, and residential areas had grown up around its graves. The roads that were once reserved for palace servants were now crowded with private cars, and steam was rising from the ovens selling grilled cold noodles and egg cakes on the street.

The only thing that is somewhat similar to the past is the small market in front of us that specializes in antiques.

The market was built in the open air. He walked on the central path, passed by signs that said "Ten times compensation for fake products", walked past bargaining buyers, and wandered aimlessly among the stalls.

Antique markets like this one often have a mix of genuine and fake goods, and newcomers who don't know the ins and outs of the market are bound to make a few mistakes (buy fakes). But this doesn't matter to him, as he can tell the authenticity of the goods at a glance.

Along the way, he saw a Ming Dynasty inkstone, a Song Dynasty three-legged incense burner, and a Tang Dynasty four-eared vase. Compared with the cultural relics in museums, most of the antiques that can be legally sold do not have such high historical value, and are mostly ordinary items used by the people.

When passing by a stall, he paused slightly and his eyes fell on several copper coins wrapped in protective shells.

"Is the boy interested?"

The stall owner noticed his gaze and immediately stood up. He used his fingers to spread out the coins and said, "Kaiyuan Tongbao, minted during the reign of Emperor Li Shimin. The quality has been tested. Come and take a look. It's definitely worth a try!"

Zhou Qing politely declined the other party's enthusiastic sales pitch. Money has no practical value if it can't circulate, and he didn't have the hobby of collecting and exchanging new coins for old ones.

However, the name "Li Shimin" did evoke some thoughts in him.

His first impression of this name came from the end of the Sui Dynasty, when the Immortal Alliance was in constant turmoil and conflict. One day, when he and Ye Qiansheng went to fight against the rebels in the Immortal Alliance, they happened to meet a mortal general who was almost surrounded by the enemy on the road. He rescued him and didn't pay much attention to him.

The next time the Immortal Alliance saw this name was several years later, in a memorial from the mortal realm. It reported that Li Shimin, the second son of Emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty, had launched a mutiny at the Xuanwu Gate in Chang'an, murdered his brother, and proclaimed himself Crown Prince. Two months later, at the age of 29, Li Shimin ascended the throne and changed the reign to Zhenguan.

It was also at that time that he remembered the young general on the slope many years ago, so he took the opportunity to learn about the new Human Emperor's previous deeds. As a result, he was surprised by the brilliant resume he had.

He started an uprising against the Sui Dynasty at the age of eighteen. In just six years, he successively wiped out Liu Wuzhou, Song Jingang and other heroes, completing the feat of unifying the Central Plains. Even when measured on a hundred-year scale, he still stands out.

Several hundred years later, he saw the name of the Human Emperor again in human history books. The prefix of that person's name became Emperor Taizong of Tang, and the era he created was given a name that was unparalleled in ancient and modern times - the Zhenguan Reign.

In later generations, the word "Zhenguan" has become synonymous with wisdom and good governance. Mentioning the Zhenguan Reign immediately brings to mind its domineering power, which swept across the Turkic, Gaochang, and Tuyuhun kingdoms, its clear-headedness, its ability to appoint talented individuals and encourage open communication, and its reputation as the unrivaled power in Asia, which drew adoration from all quarters.

In the history he saw, this was indeed the case. However, many people overlook the fact that the "Zhenguan Reign" was not a plant growing in fertile soil, but a flower blooming on ruins.

At the beginning of the Zhenguan era, both the immortal and mortal realms had just emerged from the shadow of years of war. The wounds left by the conflicts at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the civil strife of the Wude period had not yet healed. Externally, the Turks and the Western Regions were still eyeing them covetously. Internally, the weather was unfavorable. Spiritual veins were disrupted in various places, and this was accompanied by years of natural disasters, severe droughts and frosts, which brought untold suffering to the people. (Note 1)

The Immortal Alliance dispatched monks everywhere to reconcile the spiritual veins in various places. At the same time, the Tang Dynasty court issued many decrees to grant amnesty to the whole country, reduce taxes, and personally visited the people's livelihood several times in disguise. The immortals and mortals worked together to fight against natural disasters.

And he did some small things in it.

In the second year of the Zhenguan reign (628 AD), Liangzhou, two hundred miles outside Chang'an, two figures walked side by side on a dirt path beside a field. Their footsteps were light and airy, skimming across the road like dragonflies skimming the water.

The farmer carrying a hoe passed by them, but he ignored the strange images, as if he could not see their existence at all.

"The soil in the fields is extremely dry, and the crops are withering. The report we received earlier was correct; the interior of the country has indeed suffered a devastating disaster."

Ye Qiansheng reached the rice paddies, squatted down, and ran her hand over the withered, yellow leaves of the rice. Beside her, Zhou Wuqing also slowed his pace, his eyes sweeping across the fields before him, filled with signs of a devastating disaster.

Earlier, the Immortal Alliance received news that the Turkic barbarian god in the north seemed to be making unusual movements. The two of them were originally going to the border to provide support, but when they passed through the border, they happened to see such a disaster scene.

There was a commotion, and the two men looked up, looking across the field, and saw a group of people in official uniforms slowly approaching from a few dozen steps away, guarding his figure in the yellow robe in the center like stars surrounding the moon.

The man looked to be in his thirties, dressed in a dragon robe and a winged cap. He had the demeanor of a dragon and phoenix, the appearance of a celestial being. With the appearance of that figure, everyone hurriedly put down their work, their gazes fixed on one point.

The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin.

The people around him all bowed their heads, respectfully welcoming the emperor's arrival, but he waved them off. He stepped forward, approaching a farmer holding a child by the roadside. He looked down and saw a straw stuck on the child's head, swaying slightly in the wind.

This is putting a bid to sell the head. Putting straw on the body means that the child is for sale.

"Why did you sell your son?" Li Shimin asked the farmer in a gentle voice.

The farmer was probably seeing the emperor for the first time, and he stood there with his legs trembling, mumbling for a long time, unable to speak. Li Shimin did not ask any more questions, but turned his head quietly and looked at the county magistrate standing aside.

The county magistrate, already sweating profusely, saw the emperor's gaze and hurriedly bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, in recent months, drought and locust plagues have plagued the interior of the country. We have opened our granaries to provide relief, but the sheer number of victims has overwhelmed our capacity. This is due to my incompetence, and I truly deserve death."

Li Shimin listened to him without getting angry. He just raised his eyes again and swept his gaze over the fields that looked a little white due to the drought, over the bare soil, and over the half-rotten rice stalks scattered in the fields. The rice leaves were full of marks from locust bites.

In years of great disasters, the lives of the poor are worthless, just like these half-dried straws.

Li Shimin reached out and gently pulled the straw off the child's head, then turned to the farmer with the child again.

“How many people here sell their children?”

"Your Majesty," the farmer trembled, "I don't know the exact details, but there are probably more than a dozen households like this in my village."

Li Shimin nodded slightly, turned around and walked back to the people behind him. The gentle voice just now disappeared, replaced by the majesty of the emperor.

"Upon returning to the capital, he immediately drafted an imperial edict, inspected the capital's granaries, and dispatched grain to various areas within the Great Wall for disaster relief as needed. In addition."

"Investigate where the people here are selling their children. When you return, use the gold and silk from the imperial palace to redeem them all and return them to their parents."

The sound came from afar and reached Zhou Wuqing's ears at the edge of the field, causing his expression to change slightly. He looked at the scene thoughtfully.

Note 1. "Zhenguan Jiyao: On the Political System, Part Two": "From the beginning of Emperor Taizong's reign, frost and drought brought disasters, causing rice prices to soar. The Turks invaded, and the prefectures and counties were in turmoil. At that time, from the capital to Hedong, Henan, and Longyou, the famine was particularly severe. One piece of silk could only be bought for one dou of rice."

(End of this chapter)