My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

"Does Marquis Dingkang not want to pass on his title to his descendants?" Li Longji was a little surprised. It was the first time he saw a noble who did not want to leave his title to his descendants.

"I dare to ask Your Majesty, where did my title come from?" Chang An did not give a direct answer, but asked a question in return.

"You have dealt with the corruption in money and prevented smallpox, which is a great contribution for future generations. It is natural that I confer you the title of Marquis Dingkang." Li Longji still answered, and then made his move on a vacant position in Chang'an.

"Then how were my descendants granted titles?" Chang An asked again.

"Inherit your title."

Chang An smiled, dropped the sword next to Li Longji, and said, "I have earned my title by my merits, and this is a reward for my merits. But my descendants can inherit my title just because they are my descendants. Is this fair to me? Is this fair to the poor people in the world?"

Li Longji did not speak, but fell into deep thought, and then quietly placed a piece on the chessboard. After the king and his ministers had gone back and forth for a few moves, Li Longji continued to speak:

"But only those who have made great contributions can be granted the title of nobility. Can't this benefit future generations?"

"What does the merit of the predecessors have to do with the later generations?" Chang An said, "The efforts of the predecessors are for the later generations to live without working so hard, not for the later generations to stop working hard."

"If we are left to do everything, what will the future generations do? As the ancients said, 'Born in hardship, die in comfort.' If we leave the future generations to live in comfort, that would be dangerous."

It makes so much sense!

Li Longji was shocked. He thought that those who planted trees would enjoy the shade, but this was not a permanent solution.

"Furthermore, Your Majesty, have you ever thought about what the consequences would be if you continue to support those nobles?"

Chang An spoke again: "If they are meritorious nobles, it is not a big deal to support them. They are naturally rewarded for their benefits to the country. But if they do nothing, then why should Your Majesty support them?"

"In this way, it will cost money, why bother?"

Li Longji gave birth to a son at this time, and asked again: "But some nobles, even kings of different surnames, have made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty. If their titles are stripped, it will be difficult to deal with them in the future."

"And Marquis Dingkang, don't forget that there will be a new ruler after me. If I simply strip him of his title, what will happen to the new ruler?"

Chang An said, "That is a place to test the new monarch. After all, whether it is your majesty or the future majesty, he is still your majesty, the monarch of a country. Whether to reduce the title, keep the title, or pass on the title, isn't it all decided by your majesty?"

"If it is used to win people's hearts and consolidate the noble titles, it is not a bad method. For useless nobles, the title can be stripped away. If the nobles are also useful talents, then it is okay to keep them."

"These are what the new monarch needs to consider. If the new monarch cannot even think these things through, then the Tang Dynasty will be in real danger."

After that, Chang An made his move. Then Li Longji began to ponder. He heard that Chang An's words were all very good suggestions, and they were not impossible to implement.

He seemed to have made up his mind, and he placed the chess piece directly on the chessboard, then asked: "But the noble system can be said to be the foundation of the country. If we make such a big fuss to reduce the title, there will inevitably be complaints."

"Then we will start implementing it from the new generation of nobles. All the previous nobles will be left alone for now, and all the new nobles like me and my wife who appear in the future will be subject to this rule." Chang An followed suit.

"As for the old nobles, if their descendants are useless, we can find a better reason and issue an imperial decree to deprive them of their titles. In this way, how can it be considered a major war?"

"Those who want to gain status will naturally be willing to work for the Tang Dynasty; if they want to gain status and keep it, they must work even harder for the Tang Dynasty. If someone wants to disrupt the government, they will be punished according to Tang law."

Li Longji didn't know why, but he suddenly felt relieved and made his move. The decree was a good one, and the plan was a good one, and he even thought of a way out. He really wanted to make such a perfect decree that seemed to be beneficial to the Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, the person who proposed the decree, whether it was the change of the imperial examination or the adjustment of the title, was not only not the one who benefited, but also the one who suffered. Li Longji was puzzled and asked:

"Marquis Dingkang, you should know that both the reform of the imperial examination system and the reform of the title are disadvantageous to you. But even so, why do you still do this? Why do you still propose such a decree?"

"Doing these can make the Tang Dynasty better, more prosperous and more peaceful. If the Tang Dynasty is more prosperous and more peaceful, my wife can live a more stable life. Everything I do, whether directly or indirectly, is for my wife, nothing more." Chang An said.

Li Longji had no other ideas and placed his chess piece...

After a few rounds, Chang An breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Your Majesty is still better. I lost again."

Li Longji could see that this was a complete let-down, but he just put it off until later, so that he could win the game in the end. Never mind, that's all, he said, "It's almost noon, Marquis Dingkang, do you want to stay for lunch?"

Chang An wanted to stand up and reply, but he was afraid that the emperor in front of him would be angry, so he resisted the urge to stand up and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace, but my wife is still waiting for me at home. If I am not at home, she will not be able to eat."

Li Longji looked at Chang An, smiled, and said, "In that case, I won't keep you here. I'll let Eunuch Cheng take you back home later."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After saying this, Li Longji waved his hand and allowed him to leave.

Seeing Chang An leaving with Eunuch Cheng, Li Longji suddenly burst into laughter, then stood up and walked out of the hall.

......

When he got home, it was almost noon, and Gu Li was naturally not waiting at the door. Eunuch Cheng asked in confusion, "Why is the county lady not here today?"

"Oh, today I am not going to the Imperial College but to see the Emperor. My return time is not fixed. My wife naturally doesn't have to wait for me." Chang An explained.

Eunuch Cheng nodded, and when Chang An was about to step in, he was suddenly stopped by the doorman. Chang An was a little surprised, looking at the doorman in disbelief, and then heard him say:

"My Lord, please wait here for a moment. Madam said that when you return, I will inform her to pick you up."

Chang An immediately found it a little funny, and then turned around to look at Eunuch Cheng, who also said, "As expected, Madam really cares about Marquis Dingkang. She came to pick you up no matter what."

There was no choice, Chang An could only wait at the door for a while. After a while, he saw Gu Li jogging towards him, and then she threw herself into his arms.

"Chang Lang!"

"Mother Gu, I'm back."

"Chang Lang, welcome home!"

Chang An touched her head at this time, and then reminded her: "Eunuch Cheng is still here, be careful."

Gu Li then looked behind Chang An and found that Eunuch Cheng was standing below, holding his sleeves in front of his eyes. After hearing no movement, he put down his sleeves, and the two of them separated. He then politely greeted;

"Meet the Lady of the County."

"Meet Eunuch Cheng."

"His Majesty has ordered us to send Marquis Dingkang back. We have finished our work and will not disturb Marquis Dingkang and the Lady of the County." Eunuch Cheng said, "We still have to go back and report to His Majesty."

"Okay, Master Cheng, take care."

After watching Eunuch Cheng leave, Gu Li took Chang An in, and then she asked, "What does His Majesty want to see Chang Lang for today?"

"Someone wanted to impeach me at first, saying that the articles I wrote to His Majesty were treasonous." Chang An said, "So His Majesty asked me to verify it at the beginning. Of course, in the end, not only was I not wrong, I bit back at them."

Chang An simply told Gu Li about the incident, and returned to the room. Finally, Chang An said, "Your Majesty was not angry at first, but after I bit back, Your Majesty became furious."

When Gu Li heard that someone had impeached Chang An, her hands clenched nervously. But when she heard that Chang An was not only fine, but also turned his anger back to those people, she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Those people are really bad!" Gu Li said angrily, "It's obviously such a good article, but they say it's treason. I think those people are treason! If I meet them, I will treat them like I treated that Prime Minister Zhang!"

Looking at Gu Li's adorable appearance, Chang An pounced on her face and rubbed it, then gave her a big kiss.

"Hey, that's not right!" Gu Li suddenly said, "Although Chang Lang was impeached, he should have returned soon. Why did he return so late?"

"Because His Majesty wanted to take me to talk about the imperial examination and title reform, and I also played a few games of chess with His Majesty." Chang An said.

Gu Li nodded, and then asked: "Your Majesty, are you going to adopt Chang Lang's method in the end?"

Gu Li didn't intend to ask about the content of the conversation, so he asked directly about the final result. And Chang An nodded and said, "It seems that His Majesty intends to adopt it."

"But once the decree is implemented, our family may suffer."

Gu Li frowned slightly and asked, "Why would I suffer a loss?"

"because......"

Chang An repeated to Gu Li what he had said to Li Longji, and after listening, Gu Li's expression did not change much.

"That is to say, our little darling will not be able to become the next marquis or lady."

"If you can't, then you can't. Giving this title to Xiaoguai may not be a good thing." Gu Li said disapprovingly, "Xiaoguai can't inherit the title, so he (she) can do what he (she) likes."

"This title isn't that great anyway."

Chang An looked at Gu Li with some amusement and asked, "Why do you say that?"

"In fact, I didn't like this title very much from the beginning. After all, a normal Lang is a Chang Lang. It's good to be a Chang Lang. It doesn't matter whether you want this title or not."