Yang Ji stole the show at Fengming Tower, but he did not stay in the brothel or be the guest of the goddess Yun Xiuxin. Instead, he went home like a good boy. This in itself was an incredible thing that caused a sensation in the capital. What was even more shocking was that the good-hearted King Wei was assassinated near his home on his way home. These incidents were definitely a big deal for the people of the capital.
Now in Daxing City, the most powerful person is Emperor Yang Jian, and the next one is naturally Prince Yang Guang, but what about under Yang Guang?
There are different opinions. Yang Su, the left servant of Shangshu, was the prime minister of the Sui Dynasty. He was also in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of Rites of Shangshu Province, and had a great reputation in the Sui army. Su Wei, the right servant of Shangshu, was the second prime minister of the Sui Dynasty. , managing the Ministry of War, Ministry of Punishment, and Ministry of Industry of Shangshu Province. In the Neishi Province (Zhongshu Province), the Jin Wang Yang Zhao and the Menxia Province Nayan Yangda also had huge power and had huge influence on both the government and the opposition.
Under these five people is Han Wang Yang Liang. He is the general of Zuowei, the governor of Bingzhou, and the general manager of Bingzhou. He governs the territory from Huashan in the west, to the sea in the east, to Yunzhou in the north, and to the fifty-two states of the Yellow River in the south. The emperor Yang Liang was also specially granted the privilege of acting on his own without being bound by legal restrictions when encountering problems.
Under Yang Liang was Yang Ji, the king of Wei who was also the general of the right guard, the governor of Liangzhou, and the general manager of Liangzhou. His territory was the eleven states of Liangzhou, and he was also a local overlord who combined military and political power. In terms of actual power alone, in the Sui Dynasty, apart from the emperor Yang Jian, the prince Yang Guang, and the king of Han Yang Liang, it was his turn to be Yang Ji. Even the newly appointed governor of Yanzhou and the general manager of Yanzhou Yang Lun was far inferior. .
When news spread that Yang Ji, a man with high power and outstanding merits, was assassinated near his home, the entire Daxing city was in an uproar.
But there are also many people who sigh in private. Although Yang Ji was so stubborn in the past that he was nicknamed the Dandy King, no matter how hard he beat him, it was just a fight between children; this kind of thing is very important to Daxing City, where there are countless powerful people. For example, there are countless daily incidents that occur every day. Even if someone is beaten with a bruised face, broken arm, or broken leg, as long as the bottom line of "human life" is not touched, the matter is almost kept private.
Although Yang Ji caused many powerful children to lose their limbs, he was only a half-year-old child after all, and his backstage was strong, tough and unreasonable, so no one ever gave him political embarrassment.
Until Yang Ji and He Ruohuailiang had a fight...
Yang Ji had just returned from Tailing to guard the tomb of Queen Dugu. He Ruohuailiang led a group of rangers to stop the "assassination" of Yang Ji the next day. Then he was shot to the ground by Yang Ji's guards and trampled into eunuchs. If there was any fault, The He Ruo family gave up, and everything was fine; but He Ruobi, who had a tendency to protect shortcomings, not only made a big fuss at Yang Lun's birthday party, shouted that he wanted to kill Yang Ji, but also complained to the emperor.
Yang Ji's "parent" Yang Guang also became popular. He took action against hundreds of extermination cases of the He Ruo family. The court investigated them one by one. The He Ruo family, including the He Ruo family, was dead and demoted. If not, The emperor misses his old love, how can He Ruobi and his son survive to this day? I thought this incident would be over, but I didn't expect that He Ruohuailiang couldn't survive it in the end and died of his injuries. Immediately afterwards, the bodies of dozens of assassins were carried out by Youwuhou from Nanli Nanqu of Pingkangfang and sent to He Ruofu. At the door of the house, Prince Wei's Mansion then sent another big bell, so some smart-minded people realized that the conflict between Yang Ji and He Ruobi had begun again.
When I heard that Yang Ji had been assassinated, the first thing I thought of was that He Ruobi was the one who paid for the murder. Just as everyone was speculating, news came out early the next morning that He Ruobi's family had been arrested.
Ordinary people just treat this matter as a topic of conversation after dinner, but in the circles of the powerful, it seems to have caused a stir.
For them, He Ruobi, who was cut off into a single tree, was deposed from the people and had lost the value of use. Even the Dugu sect where He Ruobi belonged to believed that He Ruobi was a scourge and should not be rescued, like Yu Wenbi of the Dugu sect. , Yu Zhongwen, Li Zhongwen, Qiu He, Zhang Jin, Xue Zhou and others all held the same view and sent letters to Dugu Shun one after another, asking him to wait and see what happened.
However, He Ruobi, who was arrested, confessed, so that was all. The problem was that he not only admitted that he wanted to kill Yang Ji and that he had hidden weapons in order to plot a rebellion, but he also said that Dugu Shun, Dugu Tuo, Yuan Zhou, Yuan Yan, and Dou Yi, Yu Wenbi and others were all his accomplices. As soon as the time was right, the soldiers, servants and servants of each family would use the weapons and equipment in the mansion to start a rebellion. Together they entered the palace, killed Yang Jian and Yang Guang, and then supported Yang Yong. For the emperor.
In addition, He Ruobi also revealed that Bujia Khan went south, officials of the Ministry of War withheld military information, and Changsun Sheng was attacked. They were all the work of Dugu Shun. He even revealed that Bujia Khan summoned soldiers from all ethnic groups to serve as a "living sacrifice" for himself. The slogan "Yang Ji" was told by Dugu Shun to Bujia Khan. Their purpose in doing this was to hope that Yang Ji would die and the Sui Dynasty would be defeated miserably. As long as the Turkic Khanate survived and threatened the Sui border areas at all times, Yang Jian, who had a powerful enemy, would not dare to attack the army to avoid the outbreak of civil strife in the Sui Dynasty.
Based on this confession, the imperial court immediately arrested all those involved in the case, which was equivalent to catching all the leaders of the three major factions of Guanlong nobles.
In less than a morning, He Ruobi's confession replaced Yang Ji's assassination and became the big news that shocked the government and the public. However, what is strange is that Yang Jian did not seal the city or put a strict guard on it, but only strengthened the defense of the palace. Apart from arresting the people mentioned in the confession, there was not even an exemption from the search.
Everything in Daxing City's Second City and 108th Street is as usual, and the city gates and city gates are not closed but open as usual.
However, it is this abnormal normality that makes everyone in the Guanlong nobles feel insecure, like ants on a hot pot, all of them are restless.
In the afternoon, Zhang Jin, the general of the Right Imperial Guard, finally couldn't restrain his anxiety and went to visit Zhao Guogong Li Zhongwen. As soon as his carriage stopped at the door, Li Zhongwen personally invited him into the study to discuss matters.
"Brother Li, the situation is very bad." Zhang Jin waited for the tea maid to close the door and leave, then said worriedly: "I learned a little about the situation through some connections. He Ruobi not only admitted that he had planned to assassinate King Wei, but also revealed many things out."
Li Zhongwen cursed bitterly: "This willful idiot, bastard, and weakling, he himself is about to die and yet he has implicated so many people. He really deserves death."
Zhang Jin sighed and smiled bitterly: "Yu Wenshu found more than three thousand sets of weapons and equipment in He Ruobi's house, as well as military crossbows, bed crossbows, repeating crossbows and other forbidden items. There is no way he can escape the crime of killing everyone. It's gone. He should have paid off his crime with merit, redeemed one or two descendants, and ensured that the incense of the He Ruo family would continue."
"Even the emperor dared to believe it, so I called him a stupid idiot." Li Zhongwen gritted his teeth and lost his temper, then asked: "Is there anything that can be remedied here?"
Zhang Jin shook his head and said with a wry smile: "The soldiers who were ordered to arrest people took the lead in occupying the treasuries of Dugu Mansion, Yuan Mansion, Dou Mansion, Yuwen Mansion and other clans; and each of the big families has many weapons and equipment. This is almost open to the public. Everyone usually doesn't take it as a secret, but now that it's been found out, the problem is huge. Fortunately, I'm not on He Ruobi's confession list, otherwise I wouldn't be able to escape this disaster."
"The most terrifying thing now is that the saint is standing still. If this situation continues to develop, we will not be able to escape." Li Zhongwen frowned and said: "Brother Xian, what do you think we should do now? We can't sit idly by and wait for death, right?"
"What Brother Li said is absolutely true!" Zhang Jin nodded and said slowly: "He Ruobi can't be saved, even if such a traitor can be saved. Now it depends on whether the saint can care about the queen's affection. , spare the Dugu brothers. I think the saint doesn’t want to make things big, otherwise he would have ordered the city to be closed down and arrested everyone, but if he did that, it would not end well.”
Li Zhongwen asked in a deep voice: "Why do you see it?"
Zhang Jin replied: "He Ruobi's confession has affected so many aristocratic families that even a saint would not dare to apply them all. If they are all severely punished for treason, then the day when the whole army will be in chaos and the world will be in chaos is not far away; so we recognize it." Wrong, the purpose of saving people can be achieved by making corresponding concessions."
"Concession?" Li Zhongwen's eyes suddenly opened wide, and he stood blankly for a while and said, "After Brother Xian said this, I understand. As Brother Xian said, if we make concessions, we may be able to save everyone's lives. !”
"What concession is Brother Li referring to?" Zhang Jin was also excited and asked excitedly: "As long as we understand what the saint wants, we can target it."
Li Zhongwen sighed: "What else could it be? It's nothing more than a major overhaul of the free warehouse!"
As a subject of the Sui Dynasty, as long as you are a commoner with official status, you can get a fixed amount of land from the land equalization policy. There are two types of land given to the people by the court. One is Yongye land that can be passed down to descendants. Twenty acres; a type of farmland reclaimed by the court after a person's death, commonly known as exposed land. The exposed land is 80 acres for middle-aged and young men, and 40 acres for women (note: for men and women under three years old, yellow and ten acres are The following are small, those below seventeen are middle, those above eighteen are small, and those sixty are old.)
Carry out rent transfer from the people based on land grant records. Regardless of whether you are rich or poor, you must pay a fixed amount of rent.
Rent means land rent, and you have to pay two millimeters per year; Yong means working for the court, and you have to do twenty days of hard labor every year. If the person who serves as a laborer cannot spare time, you can use money, food and property to cover the period of service, or you can pay. To produce grain, ask the able-bodied neighbors on the left and right to do it for you; the tune is a household tune, usually a piece of silk or an end of cloth, plus three taels of cotton or three pounds of flax. The specific harvest depends on what the local area produces.
The "renting regulations" are based on "people". Regardless of the amount of land or property, the same amount of silk and millet must be paid according to the number of people. Among them, the method of paying goods in lieu of servitude is used under the simultaneous implementation of the land equalization system. While the people have land for farming, they are guaranteed sufficient farming time, and their farming time will not be delayed due to long-term military service, which promotes the development of agriculture.
In this way, a tax system was formed in which "if you have land, you will have rent, if you have a home, you will have a tune, and if you have a body, there will be mediocrity". Under this system, the Sui Dynasty "would not be able to protect the family business for a long time; use it to achieve business." , then if you don’t review it, only a few can understand it; if you use it as a principle, the law will not be troublesome but can be taught and practiced; if you use it as a gift, the lower level will not be trapped but the upper level will be able to use it fully.”
"Renting Yongtiao" was fixed, and then there was Yicang Liang, a public welfare granary set up by the imperial court in the local area to prepare for famine years. After the autumn harvest every year, each family could produce less than one stone of millet and wheat. Later, it also set a method for accumulation. , divide the families in the country into nine classes, and in years of famine or lean times, they will open warehouses to provide relief, ensuring that the poor people in each place receive appropriate relief, and that all people will not starve to death in years of disaster.
Originally, the imperial court encouraged the people to store their own grain. How and when to distribute it was decided by the local people. All the imperial court had to do was to supervise. As long as the respected village elders went to the county to report the matter, the county magistrate would go to the scene to supervise the distribution of the entire grain. The process, after all, is something that is beneficial to the people, and the village elders are dealing with relatives and friends, and they are relatively fair when dealing with it. This is originally a good deed that benefits the country and the people and is deeply popular.
But over time, many officials saw that there was money to be made in the free warehouses, and indeed some village elders used them for their own use, so the free warehouses became state and county management. As a result, more and bigger problems arose.
Yang Jian planned to set up the Changping Office under the Sinong Temple to take charge of the free warehouses all over the world, and take back the management, distribution and supervision rights of the free warehouses from the local officials. Although some people opposed this decision, the free warehouses were in the hands of local officials, and the problem became more serious. The hundreds of times increase shows that the management of free warehouses by local officials is not as good as the management of the warehouses by the people themselves. Besides, the big family doesn't rely on the little money from the charity warehouse to make ends meet, so everyone passed this decree.
However, Yang Jian also found that the division of the nine classes of households was very unreasonable. Many lower-class households with poor land were designated as an upper-class by local officials, while upper-class households were classified as a lower-class through connections. Even many officials were Wait, this is extremely unreasonable. He decided to abandon the previous method of collecting grain by households and instead collect grain from the fields. The upper-class fields collected nine dou and the lower-class fields collected one dou. However, as a result, less grain was put into the warehouse. The purpose of grain relief was not achieved, so Yang Jian had a sudden idea and stipulated that every hundred acres of land should be harvested, and both public and private fields had to be handed over. In other words, families with more and better fields would have to pay more free grain.
Who has the most fields and the best fields?
Naturally, they belong to princes, ministers, and aristocratic families. Among the aristocratic families in the world, the Guanlong nobles are the most important. Their farms are spread all over the world. How could they agree to Yang Jian's Yicang restructuring?
In fact, this amount of food is just a drop in the bucket for the Guanlong nobles who have huge family properties, but they are not willing to pay for such a mere drop in the bucket.
Of course, it's not that they are reluctant to part with this little food, but that they are worried that after this start, their land rent will be levied in the next step. Judging from Yang Jian and Yang Guang's gangster-like behavior, it is very likely that their father and son will If you do this, it will be fatal if you really collect the rent of private land. Therefore, he was pressed by Yang Jian step by step, so he had a stalemate with Yang Jian and Yang Guang who supported this policy in terms of free warehouse grain.
"If it's just a free warehouse, there's no harm in making concessions." Zhang Jin also understood and said thoughtfully: "But I'm afraid this is not enough!"
"Try it first!" Li Zhongwen sighed: "If you don't try it, how do you know it's not enough? How do you know what the saint needs?"
"That's fine! But we have to find a more suitable person to talk to."
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(Note: In September of the third year of Renshou's reign in the Sui Dynasty, the official Changping was appointed to take charge of Yicang.)
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