Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 235 Mother-and-child Coins

After the farmland-trampling incident in Chang'an City, the Chief Censor was replaced.

Shangguan Yi's first three actions after taking office were to reprimand all the censors, request an imperial decree to dismiss four supervisory censors, and select several low-ranking officials from the Secretariat to expand the staff.

Li Zhi was afraid that officials would be unwilling to take power and dare not do anything, so he waved his hand and agreed to his request.

After Shangguan Yi's reorganization, the imperial censors who had been idle for several years began to get busy again, traveling incognito and inspecting the ten regions.

As long as you start working seriously, you will naturally find problems. Many second-generation officials and nobles who have committed lawless crimes have been impeached and punished.

It is said that Duke Yingguo Li Ji was afraid that his grandson Li Jiye would cause trouble, so he locked him up at home and did not allow him to go out for a month.

As a result, the wealthy young men in Chang'an City had to be more restrained, and the urban atmosphere in Chang'an City also became more refined.

Empress Wu also strengthened her discipline of her nephew Helan Minzhi.

She personally invited several teachers who were famous for their strictness to teach him, and also sent several palace maids to the Wu Mansion to report Helan Minzhi's situation to her at any time.

This surveillance actually revealed a problem.

Helan Minzhi was such an old man, but he still slept in Madam Yang's room, with a small bed in the outer room and more than a dozen maids serving him.

Wu Meiniang immediately issued an order, ordering Helan Minzhi to move to a separate courtyard and only allow four maids to serve him.

That morning, Wu Shun and Wu Ruyi went to the palace to visit Wu Meiniang.

Wu Meiniang thought Wu Shun would cry and make a fuss, and plead for Helan Minzhi, but she smiled and didn't mention her son at all.

Wu Meiniang was actually a little curious about her and asked, "Sister, is Minzhi doing well in the mansion recently?"

Wu Shun ate a tangerine and said with a smile, "Ah, thanks to your order to the family, there are now several teachers to take care of him. He is far away from his mother, so it is difficult to plead for mercy. Finally, we can control that kid."

Wu Meiniang smiled but said nothing.

Wu Shun glanced at her expression and said, "I know. Did you think I would come and plead for him? Humph, I won't plead for him. If he is not punished, something bad will happen sooner or later. To be honest, I have been sleeping much more soundly lately."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Since my sister can see through this, I don't have to worry."

Wu Shun smiled and said, "After this incident, my mother has come to her senses and has stopped pampering him so much lately."

Wu Ruyi sighed, "Whenever Mother has some free time, she's harassed by those monks again."

Wu Meiniang asked curiously, "Are you asking my mother to donate money to build a temple again?"

Wu Ruyi said, "No, this time it's a group of monks from Luoyang who want mother to donate money to build a giant Buddha statue in Longmen Grottoes."

Among Wu's mother and daughter, she was the only one who was not very devoted to Buddhism.

"Did mother agree?"

Wu Ruyi shook her head and said, "This time, the Buddha statue being built is not an ordinary one. It is said to be a giant Buddha over five meters tall. They originally wanted to ask the Saint to order its construction, but the Saint ignored them, so they came to Mother."

The amount of money needed to build such a huge Buddha is incalculable.

Since giving birth to three sons, Wu Meiniang has become more and more fond of Buddhism, thinking that if she practices Buddhism again, she might be able to have another son.

"Sister, when you return, have that group of monks send a leader to come to the palace to see me. I will personally speak to them about the Buddha statue, and I will prevent them from bothering Mother."

Wu Ruyi's face changed and she said, "Sister, you don't want to help them build the Big Buddha, do you?"

Wu Shun interrupted, "It's no big deal to build one. Our Wu Mansion has been able to escape danger many times, thanks to the Buddha's blessing."

Wu Meiniang nodded in agreement.

Wu Ru thought that since both sisters had spoken, it was not easy to say anything else.

After chatting for a while, a palace maid came to report that the prince had arrived.

Every time Wu Ruyi came, Wu Meiniang would ask Li Hong to come over so that he could get to know her sister better.

Li Hong quickly entered the inner hall and saluted his two aunts.

"Hong'er has met the eldest aunt and the third aunt."

The two girls also quickly stood up and returned the greeting.

Wu Shun looked at Li Hong and said with a smile, "The prince is becoming more and more heroic."

Wu Meiniang pulled Li Hong to sit beside her and said with a smile, "Your Majesty is most concerned about Hong'er's health. He must practice archery every day. It's hard not to grow strong."

They chatted for a while and then had dinner together. The Wu sisters said goodbye and left, and Li Hong finally returned to the East Palace.

As soon as he returned to Lizheng Palace, he hurried to finish today's archery evening class. After practicing, he went to do his homework.

As he was concentrating on writing, he suddenly heard someone sobbing softly in front of him.

Li Hong looked up, but saw that several eunuchs around him had their heads bowed, and he couldn't tell who was crying. Li Hong thought he had misheard and continued to do his homework. After a while, he heard very low sobbing again.

He learned his lesson this time and did not look up immediately. Instead, he listened carefully to the direction of the sound. After a while, he finally heard it clearly and looked up in the direction of the sound.

"Chen Shuner, are you crying?" he asked.

The eunuch trembled all over, fell to his knees, and kowtowed, saying, "Your Highness, I deserve to die! I deserve to die!"

Li Hong hurriedly said, "Don't be like this, get up quickly, I don't blame you."

Chen Shun'er was one of the youngest eunuchs in the Eastern Palace, only thirteen years old. He was specially selected by Li Zhi to follow Li Hong.

Chen Shuner stopped after hearing what Li Hong said.

Li Hong said, "Look up."

Chen Shuner slowly raised his head, only to see that his eyes were red and filled with tears.

Li Hong was surprised and asked, "Did someone bully you?"

Chen Shuner lowered his head and said nothing.

Li Hong smiled and said, "Just tell me. If others do something wrong, I will help you make the decision."

Chen Shuner gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, my mother is dead."

Li Hong was surprised and asked, "Did he die of illness?"

Chen Shuner said bitterly, "No, he was forced to death by a group of monks."

Li Hong was surprised and asked, "A monk?"

"Yes, it was the monks. They lent money to my father, and my father couldn't pay it back, so they came to our house every day to make trouble. My mother was forced to do nothing, so she jumped into the river and committed suicide."

Li Hong was stunned and said, "Aren't monks all virtuous people? How could they do such a thing?"

Another older eunuch said, "Your Highness, among the monks there are virtuous monks like Master Xuanzang, but there are also many evil monks who give out mother-and-child coins. They are very despicable."

Li Hongdao: "What is mother-and-child money?"

The older eunuch said, "It means I lend you money. When you pay it back every month, you need to pay more. The longer you borrow, the more you have to pay back. Mother money gives birth to son money, so it is called mother-son money."

Li Hong looked at Chen Shun'er and asked, "Have your family members reported the incident to the authorities?"

Chen Shuner choked up and said, "It's no use suing. They said my mother committed suicide. We borrowed money from them, and it's legal to pay back the debt."

Li Hong was stunned. It seemed that what the government said was correct. So who was right and who was wrong in this matter?

Li Hong was a bit stubborn. He would keep thinking about things he couldn't figure out. He didn't sleep well at night and went to Chongwenguan the next day with dark circles under his eyes.

During the lunch break, Xue Na, Li Chong and others surrounded him and asked him with concern whether he had not slept well.

Li Hong said, "I encountered something yesterday that I couldn't figure out, so I thought about it for a while."

Li Chong said with a smile: "What happened to the Crown Prince? Tell us and we will give you some advice."

Li Hong then told the story of Chen Shuner.

After all, the children were not very experienced, so after listening to it, they all frowned and thought about it.

A child asked what mother-son money was. Li Chong said, "I don't know that. It's just borrowing money to earn interest. Mother money gives birth to son money, and the more it grows, the more it grows."

The group of children talked for a while, but it was just a quarrel among naughty children and did not answer Li Hong's doubts.

Li Hong asked Xue Na, "Ana, why don't you speak?"

Xue Na lowered his head and said, "When I heard you mention monks, I thought of those Western Regions believers."

Li Hong was stunned and asked, "What Western Regions believers?"

Xue Na muttered, "It's Zoroastrianism. I don't know what's wrong with my mother lately. She keeps going to the Zoroastrian temple and donating a lot of money to them."

Li Hong was stunned and said, "My mother is also planning to spend money to help the monks build a large Buddha statue."

The two children looked at each other and sighed.

After school, Li Hong ran quickly towards Ganlu Temple, determined to find his father to help him solve his doubts.

When he arrived at Ganlu Palace, the eunuchs told him that the emperor had gone to Shenlong Palace and was discussing military and national affairs with several veteran generals.

Li Hong didn't dare to disturb his father, so he sat on the couch in Ganlu Palace, quietly waiting for his father to come back.

(End of this chapter)