Chapter 170 Cutting seals and reducing salaries to overcome difficulties
The ninth year of Takede is a year of catastrophe, which is already a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties. During the severe drought in spring and summer, the provinces in Henan had almost no crops, all relying on the food support from the counties and counties along the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. But at this time, after forcing back the Turkic invading army, the weather turned cold, and the Tang court, which had just recruited and mobilized countless government soldiers and civilian husbands, was already empty in the treasury.
Even in Chang'an City, the capital of the emperor, food prices are still rising steadily, showing no sign of falling back.
Although the imperial court has successively issued decrees to exempt the people affected by the disaster from rent and taxes, and continues to find ways to mobilize food for disaster relief, but it is not enough to slow down the situation.
Emperor Li Shimin of the East Palace has been discussing countermeasures with the prime minister and political participants all day long, but it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. Discussions come and go, and in the end it is nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, but in this season, if you want to increase revenue, you will not be able to produce food, so you can only reduce expenditure as much as possible.
The imperial edict ordered all localities to stop the construction of civil and civil engineering, and required all levels of government from the three central provinces to the local prefectures and counties to reduce expenditures.
In the end, an edict was even issued that all the righteous warehouses of the local people in various places will be taken over by the governments at all levels, and they will be coordinated and dispatched to tide over the current difficult situation.
Participating in politics, Wei Zhengjin admonishes, the salary of officials above the fifth rank in the capital is halved, and the monthly salary is stopped.
Immediately afterwards, six prime ministers, six participating in politics, and one in charge of peace, made a joint performance, requesting that all the meritorious officials be exempted from renting and adjusting their households this year, and the emperor approved it.
Ministry of the Ministry of War, Du Ruhui, please open the army warehouse for food relief.
Changsun Wuji took the lead in donating food at home to help relieve the urgent need and relieve the victims.
Empress Changsun requested the release of 3,000 people from Taiji Palace, East Palace, and other palaces and eunuchs, and took the lead in weaving and making clothes in the palace, requesting that the palace expenses be reduced by half.
The government and the opposition are busy for disaster relief.
The imperial court issued the strictest prohibition on alcohol, not only prohibiting private brewing, but also banning official brewing, and even drinking alcohol during the disaster.
Qin Lang and Wei Zheng's joint Guogong Distillery has also ceased production, but Qin Lang's Guogong Dry Food Factory is expanding rapidly. It is blooming everywhere in more than 20 counties in Gyeonggi, and has even expanded to Longyou, Henan and other places.
Guogong Ganliangfang began to purchase various materials. In addition to general rice, wheat and millet, sorghum soybeans, wild vegetables, dried fruits, various fish, shrimp, insects, and animals were also purchased.
Even mussels, snails, crabs and locusts are collected.
This is good news for the victims. Everyone has been dispatched to look for things that can be exchanged for money cloth from the Guogong Ganliangfang.
Ping Zhangshi, General Zuo Wei, and Prince Tai Fu Qin Qiong accepted the decree of exempting rent and tax for one year without worrying about it, and took the initiative to turn over all the grain stored in the mansion and various manors, except for rations, to the state. He also donated a thousand taels of gold and 30,000 bolts of silk.
Qin Lang also wrote to Qin Lang, who was investigating in the Weibei Manor, asking him to help the court tide over difficulties with money and food during this critical period.
Facing the old man's personal persuasion to donate, what can Qin Lang say?
The 1,000 households who have just received the real seal of rent, this year they will not be collected. The Guogong Winery, which was making money, closed down, and the grain that was previously reserved for winemaking was bought by the court at a low price, and now it has to donate money and grain.
But Qin Lang is not stingy, in difficult times, let's tide over difficulties together.
Eating in a big pot, if the pot is smashed, don’t even think about eating it in the future.
He immediately decided to donate 3,000 strings of money and 5,000 bolts of silk to the imperial court. This is almost half of Qin Lang's family property that he managed to save. The rest is the real estate fields and manors, and the newly built Duke Dry food workshop.
"Saburo won't go back to Chang'an?" Ah Huang asked. Right now Chang'an is constantly issuing edicts every day, and even ordinary people can feel that the situation is getting more and more serious.
"Going back to Chang'an may not be able to solve the problem. Now that I have come out, I will investigate and investigate by the way, so I know what I know."
Xiande Hall.
Li Shimin was very satisfied with the attitude of most of his courtiers to help each other in the same boat at this critical moment, but there were also some people who made him unhappy. These people were Li Xiaogong, Li Shentong, Li Youliang and other royal families.
The ministers are actively donating money and food, and actively requesting that the rent of the closed households be exempted this year, but Baiqi reported that Changle King Li Youliang was still busy playing polo with Xiangyi King Li Shenfu and others, and even complained to the court in private There are too few seals given to them.
"I checked the records, only to find that it has only been nine years since my country was established in the Tang Dynasty. In addition to the princes, brothers, etc., the imperial court has also sealed the clan in recent years. My lord, I calculated that now, apart from the lineage of the Supreme Emperor, there are sixty-four people in the imperial family who are crowned kings, and the total number of closed households is 37,500."
The more Li Shimin talked, the more he became dissatisfied. Thirty-seven thousand five hundred households, not to mention that these clans accounted for so many households, they even chose the wealthy households above three Ding as their seals, which led to them directly occupying more than a dozen of the imperial court. How much of the court's tax revenue has been seized by Wan's class Ding?
Especially in this difficult time, it is even more amazing.
He previously conferred meritorious officials, including those from the Wude Dynasty. In total, he only conferred forty-six meritorious officials.
Most of these clans have no credit, but they have more closed households than the hero group.
It doesn't make sense.
And most of these people are not close relatives.
In addition to these clans, Li Shimin's brothers, sons, nephews, sisters, daughters, nieces, etc. are also enshrined as usual, and the number of them is not small.
If you are not in charge of a family, you don’t know how expensive it is. Now facing the empty treasury, Li Shimin realized that this family is really difficult to manage. Before rewarding his children and heroes, Li Shimin was quite generous.
Now people like Li Youliang, who have received so many benefits, are still not satisfied, which makes Li Shimin even more annoyed.
When Wei Zheng heard this, he immediately agreed with both hands, saying that the rents enjoyed by the feudal lords were too high, which actually robbed the imperial court of taxes, leaving the imperial court without finances, and most of the people's fat and anointing ended up in the hands of the nobles, who could not take it. For the people and for the people.
He even brought up the old story again, saying that the emperor granted Princess Changle 3,000 households in violation of the regulations, and then granted 2,000 additional households, which is really a very bad start.
"Since adjustments are required, I would like to start with Princess Changle first!"
When Wei Zheng said this, Li Shimin was very dissatisfied. He wanted to cut the titles of those offshoot clans, but Wei Zheng first came to his eldest daughter.
But the topic of cutting the title has already been mentioned, so you can't say that your daughter can't be cut, just cut the clan.
"Xuancheng, how and how much do you think you want to cut?"
Wei Zheng held up the wat board and said very seriously, "I think that we must first formulate rules and regulations, and then follow the rules, so that there will be no chaos, instead of just thinking about it."
Li Shimin also became angry, "Well, today I will have a good discussion with you about the title system of the Tang Dynasty, and each of you will express your opinion."
Although the Tang Dynasty was founded nine years ago and the emperor changed two times, it was still in the initial stage, and many systems had not yet been finalized, which was rather chaotic. There are many details that remain unclear.
For example, how to confer titles with family surnames, how to confer titles on meritorious officials with different surnames, how to inherit the titles from descendants, what should be the standard for real titles, how to set and collect rents, etc.
There have been systems in previous dynasties. At present, the core of the nobility system of the Tang Dynasty has been stipulated. Compared with the division of titles in the Han and Jin dynasties, the feudal country even possessed various powers such as military affairs, civil affairs, and economy, which is far behind.
is the real name of a false noble, but he can still enjoy a lot of economic power.
It's just that there is no rigorous system standard yet.
For example, some princesses seal 300 households, some 600 households, and some 5,000 households. The emperor does whatever he wants.
The situation of the clan is similar. Many newborns are crowned kings. Their father is the king of the county, and their sons are also the king of the county. For example, Li Shentong is the king of the county, and his younger brother is the king of the county. Li Shentong's ten sons are also the king of the county. , A bunch of sons of the talisman are also county kings.
"Wei Zheng, you come first."
Wei Zheng kept in mind the fact that Princess Changle was too high, and he clung to it.
"Your Majesty, I believe that if the emperor's aunt is named the eldest princess, the emperor's sister is named the eldest princess, and the emperor's daughter is named the princess, they are all regarded as the first grade; the crown prince's daughter is named the princess, and the princess is regarded as the first grade; .
Elder princess, princess, princess, county lord, etc., there is a difference between the food town and the real seal. For example, the emperor's daughter is a princess, and the food town is 3,000 households, and the real seal is 300 households. The emperor's aunt conferred the title of Dachang Princess, and his sister Jiachang Princess. There were 5,000 households in Shiyi, and 600 households were sealed. And the prince's children are named princesses, and a thousand households in the food town are sealed, and a hundred households are actually sealed. The prince's daughter was granted the title of county head, with 500 households in Shiyi, and 50 households were sealed. "
"Princess Bing, princess, and county lord, the title is given to the false seal, and the real seal is given to the real household after marriage. The seal is removed after death, and the real seal is taken back."
"Elder princess, eldest princess, princess, princess, and county owner, each household is limited to three Dings, and the rent is half of the food, and the official is not allowed."
Wei Zheng gave Li Shimin all the titles and titles of these royal gold branches and jade leaves for Li Shimin, which reduced a lot of benefits compared to before, such as one-tenth of Shiyi only Shiyi. In addition, the princesses were originally granted all the rent and transfer income, but now only half of the rent transfer income is given, and the transfer of the servants is changed to all return to the court.
Not to mention, the eldest princess and the eldest princess have a maximum of 600, the princess has a maximum of 300, the princess has only 100, and the county lord has only 50 real seals, with three Ding as the upper limit, and Princess Changle can only keep three at most. 100 households are really sealed, half of the rent and transfer income of up to 900 households.
The knife cuts a bit hard.
Li Shimin's face twitched, very dissatisfied.
"A meritorious official can be hereditary to his children, but can't the princess's food seal be passed on to his descendants?"
Wei Zheng shook his head.
"After all, princesses marry into foreign names, and their descendants also have foreign names."
This reason made Li Shimin unable to refute.
"Half food, is it too little?"
Originally closing the account, it would be a big cut, and half of the food?
"Your Majesty, I think that eating half a meal is already a reward to the princesses. As for Yong, it was originally a substitute for folding silk, and this cannot be given to the princesses."
After a lot of fighting, Li Shimin found that on this issue, the other prime ministers who participated in politics seemed unwilling to fight with him.
"Okay, then according to this new system, the chief princesses, princesses, princesses, and county heads will be reduced and sealed off."
Wei Zheng immediately hit the snake and put it on the stick, "Your Majesty, please issue an edict immediately to reduce the real seals of Princess Changle's 4,700 households. In addition, Princess Changle has not yet married, so she has to make false seals. In fact, the seals of 300 households will also be withdrawn. given after marriage."
"Does it have to be like this?" Li Shimin stared at Wei Zheng.
But Wei Zheng was not afraid of the emperor's stare at all, "Since His Majesty is going to do it, then do it well, don't be a mess."
Li Shimin looked at Changsun Wuji, hoping that he could support the firepower, "Auxiliary machine."
"Your Majesty, I think Eunuch Wei is right."
Seeing that Changsun Wuji refused to answer the call to help, Li Shimin couldn't help it either, so he finally gritted his teeth and nodded, "Okay, I will answer you."
(end of this chapter)