Chapter 18 The Imperial Court
On Yi Shao's side, his trusted servant was serving him food, speaking cheerfully: "My lord, now that you've even got the power to manage the household, let's see who in this mansion dares to disrespect you."
Yi Shao looked at the suddenly increased number of account books and administrative forms on his desk, rubbed his temples, and felt both amused and helpless.
How could he not understand Ling Wei's meaning?
She was clearly looking for an excuse to dump a bunch of trivial matters on him, so that he would be exhausted during the day and wouldn't have as much energy to bother her at night.
Once he understood this, he was not annoyed at all; on the contrary, he became even more interested.
He instructed, "Starting tomorrow, there will be a lunch break. All daily chores should be taken care of before and after noon."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "The time for the morning council meeting should be moved forward by half an hour."
Who would dare to delay his evening treatment with his wife?
Yes, it's just treatment.
He told himself that, but the corners of his lips curled up higher and higher.
......
Ling Wei had never longed for the end of her vacation so much.
She was practically itching to go to court.
Since Bai Ji's medical advice last time, if she didn't have any important business to attend to, it would be incredibly difficult for her to refuse Yi Shao's nightly efforts.
Qing Shu Bai Ji's eyes, which seemed to say "Your Highness should take care of your health," made it seem as if she had failed everyone's expectations and become the sinner who was hindering her recovery.
The pressure is immense.
Now that she's busy with official duties, she can finally declare with a clear conscience: "I am too busy with court affairs to sleep alone and rest."
Never before have I felt so eager to deal with government affairs, but it's worth mentioning that the martial arts are indeed gradually recovering.
In the early summer of the sixteenth year of Jinghe, the imperial court had been arguing for three days over a case concerning the expansion of the horse pasture.
The Horse Breeding Bureau was located 300 li away from the Western Hills. Although it was not in the heart of the region, it was still an important place for raising horses directly under the imperial court. The newly appointed head was a protégé of the Grand Secretary Cai.
The current Grand Secretary Cai had cultivated his influence in the court for many years, with his protégés and former associates spread throughout key government departments. His power was deeply entrenched and was known as the "Cai Party."
Besides the Cai faction, there were two other factions in the court. One faction consisted mainly of the descendants of the founding nobles, of the Ling bloodline, who were dissatisfied with the Cai faction's continuous encroachment on their generational interests, such as land and mineral resources.
The other faction consisted mostly of upright officials who rose through the civil service examinations. They despised the Cai faction for its greed for power and wealth, and looked down on the stubborn conservatism of the nobility faction. Although they were often right, their foundation was shallow.
When the former Crown Princess Ling Hua was still alive, she was clearly biased towards the Qingliu faction. In addition, she was very popular because of her outstanding abilities and fair dealings. Therefore, although the three factions had their own thoughts, they always maintained a delicate balance.
When Ling Hua suddenly passed away, this balance was completely broken. The noble faction quickly sided with the Third Princess Ling Xuan, while the Cai faction secretly extended an olive branch to the Second Princess Ling Yao. Only the Qingliu faction lost its strongest support and became increasingly weak and powerless in the increasingly fierce court struggle.
This land expansion, ostensibly for horse breeding, secretly involves considerable interests, and is being closely watched by all parties.
The new official submitted a memorial as soon as he took office, saying that there were too many horses and not enough pastures, and requested that the area be expanded. The memorial was well-written, but this expansion was quite ambitious. He wanted to seize nearly a thousand acres of good fields and forests from three neighboring villages, and even take over the irrigation canals.
Before the decree was even issued, someone with ulterior motives leaked the news.
These villages suffered from hail damage during last autumn's harvest, and this spring they encountered drought, so they can't expect to make a profit from the land. They rely entirely on these fertile fields passed down from their ancestors to get through the lean season.
Now that the government is demanding the land, it's tantamount to taking away their livelihood. The villagers are desperate and unwilling to comply.
Once the conflict started, the pastoral officials led a group to forcibly demarcate the boundary and plant stakes. The pushing and shoving escalated into a physical fight with the villagers who were protecting the fields. In the chaos, the minor pastoral official "accidentally" let a herd of horses rush into the wheat field, trampling a large area of seedlings that were about to sprout ears.
This matter could have been suppressed, but it was witnessed by a censor named Fang who was visiting a friend nearby.
Censor Fang, who came from a poor family, was a well-known tough guy in the court. He immediately wrote an impeachment memorial, directly accusing the horse breeding bureau of "abusing its power to bully the people and destroy crops," and requesting severe punishment and the revocation of the order to expand the land.
The imperial court immediately became lively.
On the first day, Censor Fang presented the facts and reasoned with clear evidence. Officials from Cai's faction stood up one after another, saying, "The Horse Pasture is related to important military matters. Expanding the grassland is for the sake of national defense. The people should be understanding." As for the trampled seedlings, they downplayed it and said that the horses were startled and accidentally stepped on them.
The next day, the argument escalated even further. The upright officials rebuked them for destroying farmland and harming farmers, showing no regard for the people, and deeming them unfit to be officials. They even went so far as to escalate the matter to the point of damaging His Majesty's virtuous reputation.
Tsai's faction retorted, accusing the Qingliu faction of only caring about empty fame and ignoring the important national and military plans, even though there was clearly compensation.
A clean-cut official spoke in a low voice: “Compensation? I have checked the files. Such compensation is converted into cash at the minimum standard, or some old grain is distributed, or remote wasteland is designated.”
It sounds like the fields and grain are still there, but the stale rice is inedible, the barren land yields meager harvests, and the people's food supply for this year is gone. What kind of compensation is this? And then there are the various schemes and tactics employed by local powerful families later on…”
She didn't even go into what was even more hurtful: if local powerful families took advantage of the people's misfortune and then used a few coins to "buy" the last bit of fertile land they had left when the people were completely starving... it would be forcing the people to become tenant farmers.
Someone from Cai's faction stepped in to smooth things over, saying eloquently, "Lord Xie is overthinking it. The compensation will certainly be fair. If any villains cause trouble, they will be punished according to the law. The people may face difficulties for the time being as they give up land for the country, but only when the country is strong can they truly live in peace, right? We should take a long-term view."
This long-term perspective earned nods of approval from some neutral officials.
Most of the nobles' relatives kept their eyes down, occasionally exchanging knowing glances with the Third Princess Ling Xuan, appearing to be watching from the sidelines.
This matter does not directly harm their interests, and they are happy to see the Tsai faction and the Qingliu faction compete.
On the third day, the atmosphere in the imperial court changed completely.
The Cai faction was clearly well-prepared. The Right Vice Minister of Works, a confidant of the Grand Secretary Cai, stepped forward, no longer getting bogged down in trivial details, and directly unleashed their trump card:
“Your Majesty,” she said, her voice cutting through all the noise, “this land, after all, belongs to the royal family. The pastures of the horse ranch are used to raise the court’s warhorses and protect the nation’s borders. Now that there are too many horses and not enough pasture, what’s wrong with the royal family making some room within their own estate?”
She looked around at everyone and said, "The fact that the people around here can farm there is a great favor from the Emperor, who has allowed them to temporarily cultivate the land and pay taxes."
Now that the country is in need, how can the imperial court reclaiming a small portion of its own land be considered competing with the people for profit? A few damaged rows of crops should be compensated for; why make such a fuss, as if the court owes them something!
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Ling Wei's eyebrows twitched slightly. These words were sharp; they directly portrayed the forced conscription as a royal family affair. Cai's faction had found a truly cunning angle.
Censor Fang was so angry that his face turned pale: "Your Excellency is mistaken. The land cultivated by the people is covered by land deeds issued by the government. They pay taxes every year. How can it be considered temporary cultivation?"
If everything were calculated this way, wouldn't all the land in the land be arbitrarily seized under the pretext of the imperial family's needs? Where would the law be? How would the people survive?
"Laws and regulations?" The Vice Minister of Works sneered, then suddenly raised his voice, "Very well, since Censor Fang insists on talking about laws and regulations, then I shall dare to ask—"
She turned around, her sharp gaze piercing directly at Imperial Censor Fang:
"Do you dare to say clearly in front of His Majesty: Is the land of Xishan not royal land? Should the grain grown on that land be supplied to the royal family?"
The hall was deathly silent.
That's a really harsh statement, forcing people to choose between "loyalty to the people" and "loyalty to the royal family."
If we insist that the land belongs to the common people, it would be seen as disrespecting imperial authority; if we acknowledge that the land belongs to the royal family, then all previous accusations of competing with the people for profit would be untenable: what is wrong with the royal family disposing of their own property?
Censor Fang's lips trembled, choked by this incisive question. She was loyal to His Majesty and knew that the people were the foundation of the state, but in the face of the trap of antagonism between the monarch and the people set up by the other party, this reasoning seemed pale and powerless.
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