The Tang Dynasty: Wu Zetian made me her imperial tutor

Shangyang Palace, Xianju Hall.

With the increasing number of prison-related crimes recently, Wu Zetian moved here again to stay informed about the progress.

The most important matters at present have been arranged, and all that is needed is to instruct the ministers to carry them out.

The Li family members of the imperial clan cannot escape this fate.

The Prince of Shu and the Prince of Nan'an from Emperor Gaozu's lineage, the Prince of Dongping from Emperor Taizong's lineage, the Prince of Ze and the Prince of Xu, sons of Emperor Gaozong, plus the eldest son of the rebellious son Li Xian...

Eliminate anyone who is threatening, disobedient, or has defied you!

The cruel officials conducted a thorough investigation, and it was estimated that by June or July, most of the implicated individuals would have been implicated.

Auspicious omens from all over the country were presented in abundance. Although they lacked creativity, they were plentiful and plentiful, so they were passable.

Master Xue is very capable; he has prepared his commentary on the Great Cloud Sutra and is just waiting to lead the presentation of it.

Hmm... Chu Yu deserves the most credit for this, but he shouldn't be rewarded for it, lest he be called a sycophant.

He's being kept for big things; he needs a reputation.

"Your Majesty, someone has submitted a petition to the copper box, accusing the Prefect of Shuzhou and the Prince of Xu of plotting a rebellion, and listing their accomplices."

Zhou Xing knelt on the steps and, after reporting on the previous case, led the wrongful conviction to Prince Xu.

Prince Xu's name was Li Sujie. He was the fourth son of Emperor Gaozong, and his mother was Consort Xiao, a former enemy of Empress Wu Zetian.

Wu Zetian replied calmly, "Send men to bring him back to the capital. All his sons, relatives, and officials should be escorted to the prison for rigorous interrogation. No one should be missed!"

Consort Xiao, I have already done more than enough to ensure that your son has survived until now.

"Yes." Zhou Xing accepted the order but did not leave.

Wu Zetian asked, "Is there anything else?"

Zhou Xing hesitated for a moment before answering:

"Recently, some family members of officials involved in cases have attempted to seek powerful backers and ask high-ranking officials in the court for help in order to escape punishment."

"When ministers went to court, their families would stop their horses and carriages, claiming that they had a grievance and asking them to plead with the Empress Dowager."

"Is that so?" Wu Zetian became wary. "Who did they ask for help from?"

She had been reclining on the phoenix couch, resting with her eyes closed, but now she opened them wide, emitting a sharp light.

"There's the Inner Historian, the Right Chancellor, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, the Prefect of Luozhou, and..." Zhou Xing listed several people, then suddenly stopped.

Wu Zetian, hearing that he was still not finished, immediately urged, "Speak! Who else is there!"

Zhou Xing then replied, "Lu Jun, Left Advisor."

"Lu Chuyu?" Wu Zetian was taken aback. "The others are fine, but what use is he, a mere eighth-rank official?"

Among Zhou Xinglie's associates, Xing Wenwei was the Inner Historian, Cen Changqian was the Right Chancellor, and Li Zhaode was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. All of them held high positions and wielded great power, so it is not difficult to understand why he sought their help.

The Prefect of Luozhou was Di Renjie, who had solved cases with ease at the Ministry of Justice and was known as a detective among the people. It was not uncommon for people to stop him.

Lu Jun?

Why would the families of those officials need to find a low-ranking official like him?

Wu Zetian noticed something was amiss, her brows furrowed slightly, and her expression became serious.

Zhou Xing bowed his head and answered:

"I also do not know the reason..."

"Perhaps it's because Lu Shiyi has become very famous recently. Within two months, he first became the top scholar in the imperial examination, then was promoted to a higher rank, and then rose two more ranks. His popularity is known throughout the court and the public."

"Moreover, he was known as the Tea Sage among the people, and co-authored the 'Classic of Tea' with the Empress Dowager. The common people all knew that he was favored by the Empress Dowager."

"Perhaps that's why they believed Lu Shiyi could have a say in front of the Empress Dowager..."

Wu Zetian raised her eyes and quietly looked out of the palace.

After a moment, he suddenly asked, "What was Lu Chuyu's reaction? What were the others' reactions?"

Zhou Xing replied, "Lu Shiyi ignored him and walked away. The others who overheard a few words also avoided him."

Wu Zetian nodded: "I understand. There's no need to mention this matter again. You may leave."

After Zhou Xing stepped down, Qiu Shenji, Suo Yuanli, Hou Sizhi, and Lai Junchen successively reported.

Each of them had achieved their own results and made good progress. Wu Zetian was very satisfied and praised each of them.

But regarding government affairs...

These days, in order to make it easier for the prime minister to report on matters and hold audiences, he has also moved to the Political Affairs Court outside Xingyao Gate. Memorials are first screened by Luantai and then continuously sent to Xianju Hall.

Wu Zetian was too busy to read through each document individually, so she asked Wan'er to extract the main points and read them to her.

"Focus on recruiting soldiers in Anxi, conscripting exiles, and searching for runaway households; put everything else aside for now..."

After the key points of the Hexi and Longxi regions were agreed upon, these matters have been assigned to people by the prime minister, but progress has been slow so far.

Despite numerous recruitment drives in recent years, few civilians are willing to join the army; only a little over a thousand have been recruited so far, far from sufficient.

Therefore, it is even more important and imperative to send exiles to the army and search for escaped households.

But these two things are even worse...

There isn't even anyone who's genuinely willing to do it!

The former is because Lingnan is far away, and now that it is summer, the sweltering heat combined with the miasma makes it undesirable for anyone to go.

The latter was a job that was sure to offend people, because many runaways were taken in by powerful families, and searching for runaways meant offending those families.

A few days ago, Wu Zetian issued an order asking her ministers to recommend themselves or capable officials to carry out the task, but there has been little response.

Wan'er spent a long time selecting from the memorials, finally choosing three. The first one was about recruiting soldiers:

"Xia Guansi Langzhong Yao Yuanchong suggested that since the military campaign in Anxi is urgent, it is advisable to first recruit troops from Guanzhong and Henan Prefecture to enter Shazhou, and put them under the command of General Wang Xiaojie, and intensify their training."

"At the same time, recruitment of soldiers, conscription of exiles, and searches of runaway households also need to be carried out, and there is still room for maneuver."

"After the four towns are recovered, the Tibetans and Turks will launch a counterattack. It will take at least until next spring when the grass grows tall, which is another six months."

"By then, newly recruited soldiers had arrived and could replace the local troops. The defenses of the Hexi Corridor and Longxi region were also secure, so there was no need to worry."

Wu Zetian finally smiled: "Yao Yuanzhi is indeed capable; let's go with his plan!"

Wan'er read the second letter again:

"Fu Yuanshu, Minister of the Ministry of Works, suggested that the search of escaped households should be carried out first in Jiangnan, and the search of the two capitals and Hebei should not be carried out for the time being."

"Because there are many wide villages in Jiangnan, land can be directly allocated after the population is expanded, while in the two capitals and Hebei, land cannot be allocated."

"An excuse!" Wu Zetian said angrily.

"Everyone knows that the two capitals have the most fleeing households, followed by Hebei and Henan, yet they deliberately avoid the most serious ones!"

"There are 'wide villages' in Jiangnan, but how many households can they detect there? And how effective are they?"

"Clearly, they dare not offend the powerful clans, fearing that someone in court will sabotage them, and that people will speak ill of them behind their backs!"

"Yet they are unwilling to share my burdens!"

The problem of absconding households has existed since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

In the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era, Emperor Taizong issued an order to "collect all those who are wandering around without a registered identity and require them to rejoin the government by the end of next year."

At that time, most of the people who fled were due to the wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty. It was easy to deal with them; all that was needed was to count the population, send them back to their hometowns, and provide them with land for resettlement.

Since the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the issue has become more complex.

Population growth and insufficient land allocation led some people to flee their hometowns and seek a living in other places.

Extensive military campaigns and repeated defeats led to widespread fear among the people of being forcibly conscripted into the army, prompting many to flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere.

Furthermore, the land grabbing by princes, nobles, and local powerful families has led to an increasing number of people losing their farmland.

These three types of problems all exist in the two important capital cities of Yongzhou and Luozhou, so the situation is the worst.

Five years later, Li Qiao, then serving as a Fengge Sheren, submitted a memorial stating: "Today, many people in the world are scattered, some disobeying military posts, others chasing grain for various reasons, trying to avoid the yearly taxes and corvée labor..." He openly raised the issue of runaway households.

Eight years later, Chen Zi'ang submitted a memorial, stating that due to the greed and tyranny of officials in Shu, more than 30,000 households had fled!

During the reign of Emperor Zhongzong, the situation became even more serious. Wei Sili submitted a memorial stating that "more than half of the population in the country has fled."

In the fifth year of the Kaiyuan era, Sun Pingzi submitted a memorial stating, "Half of the households in the two capital regions have fled..."

As the ruler of the world, Wu Zetian naturally heard about it and wanted to turn the tide.

But when it comes to powerful clans, it's really difficult. The primary problem is that no one is willing to take the order and carry it out.

Especially in the two capitals...

This place was the stronghold of the Guanzhong aristocracy. They relied on their deep roots and didn't even give the emperor face. Emperor Gaozong and she were repeatedly restrained and had no choice but to move to the capital.

They had long wanted to punish them, but no one dared to provoke them for fear of being besieged by nobles and aristocratic families.

If the two capitals cannot search for escaped households, other places will take notice and simply go through the motions, making it impossible to truly implement the policy.

Upon hearing Fu Yuanshu's memorial, Wu Zetian was furious, but there was nothing she could do but suppress her anger.

He snorted: "Keep reading!"

Wan'er's hands trembled slightly, not from being frightened by the Empress Dowager's tone, but from the coldness of the memorial, as if it were written on ice:

"The Imperial Censor Fu Youyi proposed that Lu Jun, the Left Remonstrance Official, be appointed as the Supervising Censor, and that exiles from Lingnan be selected to serve in the army..."