Li Chengqian also returned to the palace.
Yesterday, he went outside the city. Because it was getting dark, he stayed at Zhuangzi outside the city. During this time, he really felt what suffering in the world is.
He visited the villages around Chang'an City. It was now a lean period, but many families had no food to survive.
However, under the banner of helping the poor, the nobles and gentry loaned them money and food at high interest rates.
Maybe your life can be saved this way, but half of the harvest in the fields has been lost. If you pay taxes, what will you eat in the second half of the year?
Finally, he finally figured out how the refugees came, and how did the refugees outside the city come?
It is these hateful nobles and local gentry. If the people can't repay the loan, they have to use their land to repay and become refugees, or directly become their tenant farmers. M.biQuge.biZ
Li Chengqian dealt with many such people, but in the end he was defeated.
Those peasants who have no food to eat, if these nobles and gentry do not support them in this way, they will starve to death during the lean period.
And when he took action, many nobles were unhappy. Memorials flew into the palace like snowflakes, all of them impeaching him.
There are thousands of reasons for impeachment, half of which are for deposing him as crown prince.
During this period, Li Chengqian personally went to the fields and experienced the hard work of farmers.
The food grown by such hard-working farmers will be taken away by nobles and gentry who do nothing all day long and only care about enjoying themselves.
He couldn't figure out why his wise and mighty father didn't care about his people. Didn't he say that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it?
Isn't he really afraid that the people will rebel against him if they don't have enough to eat?
But his memorial was in vain, and his father did not respond directly to the doubts in his heart.
Li Chengqian got off the car at the gate of the palace, his face was full of vicissitudes of life, his whole body was darkened, his clothes were full of stains, and his shoes were even stained with mud.
He looked up at the majestic palace. Today he wanted to ask his father face to face, why is it such a remote place under the emperor's feet?
His father once said emphatically: Use copper as a mirror to straighten your clothes, use people as a mirror to correct blindness, and use history as a mirror to know the ups and downs.
Li Chengqian is not talented, but he is also familiar with history.
Honorable nobles are the backbone of the country. They can cultivate elites for the country and provide talents for the court. They are indispensable existences in a country.
But a country is made up of thousands of ordinary people at the bottom. They are the foundation of a country. Whether the country is strong or not depends on the value they create.
The Confucian sage Mencius once said that the people are the most valuable, the country is second, and the king is the least.
He also said: You regard the people as nothing more than grassroots, and the people regard you as an enemy and bandit. You treat me as a soldier of the country, so I will repay you as a soldier of the country...
In the past two days, he finally realized that what Mencius said was the truth.
He personally went to the fields to help the farmers weed. Although he treated the wheat as weeds, he still made the farmers look at him differently, invited him to their homes, and entertained him with the best food.
But even though it was the most delicious thing in the house, there was only a bowl of gnocchi soup that was clearer than water. From the bowl of gnocchi soup, he only found two gnocchi sinking at the bottom of the bowl.
But when he saw that the six members of the farmer's family, who had worked hard all day, didn't have a single gnocchi in their bowls, not even the youngest six-year-old child had one in his bowl.
At that time, his eyes immediately turned red, and tears overflowed unsatisfactorily.
With trembling hands, he put two gnocchi into the child's bowl, turned around and walked out of the farmer's house, crying all the way.
Why?
As citizens of the Tang Dynasty, those nobles could eat meat, drink wine, and look for flowers and flowers, but these people worked hard all year round, but they didn't even have a mouthful of noodle soup?
He took people to the house of a wealthy gentleman in the village. It had a big house, beautiful maids, strong servants, and even the guard dog was fat and strong.
Especially when he saw that there were two naan pancakes and a chicken leg thrown in the wooden basin next to the guard dog. It seemed that the dog did not like to eat it, and it was covered with flies and ants.
Li Chengqian went to this house as a noble man from the city. The wealthy gentry heard that he was a noble man from the city and personally welcomed Li Chengqian in.
The family was having dinner. There was a large family, about a dozen people.
They were dressed in silk, gold and silver, and were even more luxurious than the nobles in the city.
Especially after the meal, the dining table was filled with uneaten chicken, duck, fish, and white rice. The maids poured it directly into a wooden bucket to feed the dogs.
A little fat man was eating under the service of a maid. The fat man was almost ten years old, and he was still being fed by the maid.
The fat around the cheeks blocked the eyes, and all the facial features could not be seen on the face, only the flesh.
"No, no, I won't eat chicken legs!"
The fat man snatched the chicken leg from the maid's hand and threw it out, landing right at Li Chengqian's feet.
Li Chengqian remembered the previous scene at the farmer's house. He quickly picked up the chicken legs, wiped off the dust, frowned and asked, "This is a chicken leg, why don't you eat it?"
The fat man glared at Li Chengqian and said, "I'm fed chicken drumsticks every day. I'm bored to death..."
Then he ran to Li Chengqian's side, grabbed the chicken leg, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it hard.
"You... deserve to die!" Li Chengqian's face immediately darkened.
"You damn cripple, how dare you scold me? Do you know who my father is?"
Li Chengqian hated people calling him lame, but this damn fat man even added "death" before lame!
Snapped!
Yan Shiba slapped the fat man in the face and scolded: "How dare you be so rude to the prince if you are looking for death? Do you want to destroy the nine tribes?"
The child was stunned and started to cry loudly.
The owner of this house was going to kill the cripple in front of him, and he kindly welcomed the guests into his house, but you beat my child?
Then, Yan Shiba showed the token of the East Palace, and the whole family was scared to death.
When Li Chengqian saw that Yan Shiba had dealt with this fat, blind man, he didn't argue with the family.
He just turned around and said calmly: "Food should not be wasted. Farmers have worked hard and spent a whole year to grow it. This chicken leg also consumed a lot of food and grew for more than a year. That’s why we have these chicken legs.”
"The Central Government stipulates that those who waste food will be severely punished!"
He left this family and went to the next village. The situation in each village was basically the same.
With what he saw and learned, he insisted on asking his father for an explanation today.
Tai Chi Hall.
"Father, my son is back."
Li Shimin was correcting the memorial, and his face turned blue with anger. Damn it, are these people crazy?
Some time ago, they were all criticizing the King of Shu. The King of Shu left and went to Longxi, and now he is criticizing the prince again.
Some people actually roared that in the name of experiencing the suffering of the people, the prince went around disturbing the people and allowed his subordinates to beat others, even ten-year-old children.
They privately confiscated the nobles' properties, secretly ordered people to open warehouses to store grain, and even privately appointed and dismissed local officials without going through the government orders of the DPRK.
His superiors do not have the virtues of kings, and their subordinates do not understand the difficulties of local administration. Such a prince will inherit the great power and win the support of all the people in the future.
Li Shimin threw down the memorial in his hand and said coldly: "You don't have to say anything, and there's no need to rush to teach me a lesson. Just read these memorials criticizing you first!"
Li Chengqian glanced at the memorials scattered on the floor, bowed and said: "Father, these are what I expected. You don't need to read the contents. I also know what they are?"
"Isn't it because my son has harmed their interests? Do they want to depose me as the crown prince?"
Li Shimin's eyes lit up. Why did the prince seem to be a different person today?
It seems that this private trip has greatly touched him and made him better.
Li Shimin wanted the prince to calm down and said, "Don't worry about this. Go and see your mother first. You have a new sister."
Li Chengqian was stunned at first. His mother gave birth to a younger sister?
He actually forgot about this matter, but compared with national events, adding a new sister was not worthy of his happiness.
"Father, since my mother and sister are well, it won't be too late for my son to visit us tomorrow. However, my father's people have no food to eat and are about to starve to death. This matter is extremely serious."
Li Shimin sighed. The prince has made some progress, but his vision is too narrow and he has not made much progress. You are the prince and will inherit the throne in the future. You are not a saint!
Li Shimin stood up, walked towards the prince with his hands behind his back, and said very seriously: "I already know what you have done recently. The fact that you can see these shortcomings shows that you have made progress. The education I have given you over the years has not improved. In vain.”
"But you are the prince. You should not just look at the bad side. You should also look at the good side, weigh the pros and cons, and then make a decision. You must not make a decision just because your brain is hot and you pat your butt."
"Now only some people don't have enough to eat, but if your decision is counterproductive, then most people, or even the whole world, won't have enough to eat..."
“Management is a very wise art. As the Tao Te Ching says, running a big country is like cooking small dishes.”
"When cooking a small fish, you can't stir it at any time, otherwise it will rot. You just need to get the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar just right."
"To govern a country, since the policy has been formulated, even as a king, you must exercise power within this policy. You cannot interfere too much and arbitrarily, especially without weighing the pros and cons..."
"The king must do something and not do something, but the prerequisite is that the society must function well, and if the society wants to function well and normally, it must rely on the local nobles and gentry, who are also the constituents of society. a part of."
"Do you think I haven't seen the harm caused by local tyrants? I have seen it since I was very young, but it is not easy to change the rules that have been established for thousands of years?"
"So, I have been accumulating strength, doing something and not doing something. When I am not doing anything, I am as quiet as a virgin. When I am doing something, I must move like a rabbit and I must succeed with one blow."
"There was a saying in the Han Dynasty: Anyone who offends a strong Han will be punished no matter how far away he is."
"But when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said this, the Han Dynasty had been doing nothing for many years, recuperating and recuperating. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had accumulated enough power, he dared to say this, and then defeated the Xiongnu in the north with one blow. , became a strong man!"
"But Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also wiped out the savings of several generations and sowed the seeds of destruction for the entire empire. I don't want this to happen to me, let alone you."
Biquge
