Chapter 64 Abolish the Jiedushi system + Are you digging up my tomb for archaeological research?
One morning in the coldest month of winter, before dawn and before the rooster crowed.
The Dengwen drum in the east of Chang'an City was struck loudly.
Li Shimin, who was still half asleep, was suddenly awakened. In an instant, everyone in Chang'an, from the emperor to the ordinary people, woke up from their sleep.
In recent years, the country has been peaceful and the people rarely have to go hungry. The Dengwen drum has been covered with a thick layer of dust and no one has struck it for a long time.
Many people gathered at the city gate to watch the excitement, while Li Shimin asked court officials and Dali Temple officials to wait in the court.
Logically speaking, the people who beat the drum to file a complaint would be punished with caning in such a case that goes beyond the level of the court.
Officials believe that this will prevent people from making trouble out of nothing.
Only by showing great grievance and perseverance, and being able to withstand the severe punishment after the beating of the drum, can we prevent ordinary people from wanting to file lawsuits at higher levels.
[From ancient times to the present, it has been difficult for citizens to sue officials.]
Even in the Ming Dynasty, there was a commoner named Guo who beat the drum to appeal for justice. Fortunately, the emperor finally helped him to redress his grievances. However, before he could see the emperor, he had to roll on the nail board!
The person might just become useless.
However, Li Shimin said at this time:
"If someone dies after being beaten with a stick, how can we seek justice?
Bring him here first. If his accusation is true, he will be spared the caning; if his accusation is false, he will be punished according to the law.
What was surprising was that the person who bumped into the drum and rang the report was actually a woman named Li Hainiang.
The woman was so thin that she was almost skin and bones, but her eyes were stubborn and bright. After she entered the hall, she burst into tears and sobbed, then prostrated herself on the ground.
Li Hainiang described herself as a native of Youzhou, where her family had relied on hunting for a living since she was a child. She was betrothed to her childhood sweetheart, the elder brother of the Wu family, and they had a wonderful relationship.
When the new emperor ascended the throne and the imperial examination system was reformed, Wu Haoxuan went to Beijing to study, hoping to gain fame.
The two families were also allocated potatoes and sweet potatoes. It is said that the yield per mu is at least 500 kilograms. The family was very happy and thought that good days had finally come.
However, for three consecutive years, their family's taxes increased instead of decreasing, and their life was miserable.
Later, her fiancé Wu Haoxuan passed the imperial examination and returned to the village. He quickly guessed that it was the Jiedushi Li Huaixian who was collecting taxes from the people without the permission of the court.
The new emperor had abolished the Jiedushi's power to levy taxes, but Li Huaixian continued to impose heavy taxes on the local people. So the scholar Wu Haoxuan wrote a petition on behalf of the villagers and intended to take it to the local government.
But this time, when he came back, all he found was a bloody corpse.
Hai Niang and the Wu family cried and shouted, wanting to go to the government office to seek justice, but they were driven out every time they went there.
Even her future mother-in-law and father-in-law were beaten with sticks several times and thrown out by the government on the grounds of provoking trouble.
She refused to accept the decision and filed several complaints with the government. But one day, she happened to see Li Huaixian's adopted son Li Yuan speaking in the government office. The county magistrate, the governor and others were very respectful to him.
Li Huaiyuan took a liking to her and wanted to force her to be his concubine, but she refused and was tied up and taken into the mansion.
Finally, she pretended to agree and took advantage of his relaxed vigilance to escape. After going through many hardships and hiding all the way, she was chased and blocked by the yamen officials. Finally, she arrived in Chang'an and rang the drum to report the incident.
[Oh, it’s too difficult, it’s really too difficult!
I heard that around the capital, there are always local yamen runners and local tyrants waiting in the wings, just in case someone comes to the capital to file a complaint!
[It has been like this since ancient times!]
Perhaps it was better in the early days of each dynasty, when most of the monarchs and ministers had just conquered the world, had experienced hard times, and had ideals. Therefore, they were able to restrain themselves and the second generation of their families.
But by the middle of the dynasty, officials protected each other and the upper and lower levels shielded each other.
Although the dynasty seemed prosperous and powerful on the surface, in reality rats and termites were constantly eating away at the roots of the tree.
When the roots are eaten away, even the most lush and leafy tree will collapse.
Li Shimin was furious after hearing this:
"Investigate thoroughly for me!
Are all the local governors and county magistrates blind or deaf?
Who is the emperor, Li Huaixian or me?
Firstly, Li Shimin wanted the Dali Temple to solve the issue of Yanzhou officials shielding the accused, and to find out who dared to beat the scholar to death and shield him;
Secondly, Li Shimin wanted to use this incident to discipline the local military governors.
Previously, he abolished the Jiedushi's power to levy taxes and mint coins, and most of the Jiedushi settled down, but there were still some ambitious ones.
For example, Li Huaixian, Li Baochen and Tian Chengsi, the governors of Youzhou in the three towns of Heshuo.
They have their own private soldiers, and the people in Youzhou and Yanbei are fierce and there are many Hu people, and their education is not as good as that in the Central Plains.
Being loyal to the emperor and patriotic is naturally not as good as being a local tyrant.
Li Shimin promised Li Hainiang on the spot that if what she said was true, anyone who dared to take human life or shielded those who were derelict in their duty would be severely punished.
"I have said before that all death sentences must be reviewed by me personally.
However, a year has passed since the scholar was beaten to death on the spot, and I was completely unaware of it, and neither was the Dali Temple!
It seems we must thoroughly investigate all local officials, both high and low, and clean them out, to restore the clean governance of the Tang Dynasty!"
Li Shimin quickly sent Yan Zhenqing as an imperial envoy to Youzhou in person.
At the same time, he also set about completely abolishing the Jiedushi system.
The military service system was "fighting when necessary and farming when not", which was no longer applicable to the vast Tang Dynasty.
At the suggestion of Guo Ziyi, Wen Yuping and others, everyone came up with a new solution:
"The central army was reorganized, the Shen Ce Army was incorporated into the Imperial Guard, and the local militias were mainly used.
The Jiedushi was renamed as a general and was redeployed every three years. He was not allowed to stay in his original place of office for long.
Border areas such as Andong and Anxi Protectorate retained border garrisons because of the need to defend against foreign invaders.
All weapons, food, supplies, and money will be mobilized by the central government."
Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Li Siye, Gao Shi, Pugu Huai'en and others were all military governors in various places, holding military power. They were all Li Shimin's trusted subordinates and immediately received the order to hand over the military power.
These prestigious military governors have already expressed their opinions, and the military governors in most other areas can only follow the imperial edict.
Even if some people had complaints, they had no private soldiers or money, and could no longer fight against the newly powerful Tang court.
Only the three towns of Heshuo had private soldiers, and the three were promised a hereditary inheritance system.
Therefore, this time, the imperial court wanted to completely abolish their power, and the three of them were extremely dissatisfied.
Ever since their right to mint coins and levy taxes was abolished a few years ago, the private soldiers and generals have been dissatisfied because they have not received generous rewards.
Therefore, the three of them have been secretly collecting taxes and exploiting the people in order to support their troops and generals.
Now that the imperial court wanted to completely abolish them, the three of them summoned their generals and advisors in their own territory to discuss what to do.
For their own interests, the generals encouraged the Jiedushi to rebel and proclaim himself emperor and king.
Li Huaixian was a little hesitant at first.
Although he had ambitions, the emperor had fought a war and captured Shi Siming alive. He did not want to repeat the mistakes of An Lushan and Shi Siming.
But because he was indecisive, his guards were dissatisfied.
After conspiring, generals Zhu Xicai, Zhu Tao and others killed Li Huaixian and his adopted son, and established themselves as kings in their own territory.
When the news came out, the world was shocked.
Seeing this, Tian Chengsi, Li Baochen and others also rebelled against the court. The three places in Yanbei supported each other and each raised their own troops.
[What do you mean by echoing each other? They're clearly just three idiots seeking death together!]
[However, this incident actually happened in history.
In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, if a Jiedushi or general was unable to control his guards, he would be killed by his subordinates and a new leader would be appointed.
This situation continued throughout the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which was extremely terrifying.
When the news of the war was reported back to the court, everyone looked at Li Shimin, who was still very calm, and they were all speechless.
Are you three stupid?
Do you really think our Emperor Taizong of Tang is Emperor Xuanzong of Tang?
At this time, there was no free gift from Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, so all the military officials were relieved. As soon as they came up, they all rolled up their sleeves and said, "Your Majesty, kill him!"
Your Majesty, without further ado, send out your troops immediately and kill all these rebels and their generals one by one!
Let the other Jiedushi who are still hesitating see that this is the end of being an enemy of our Majesty Emperor Taizong of Tang!
The court was full of fierce hawks. Li Shimin was helpless and sighed and said:
“It’s not necessary to kill all his subordinates.
Kill the rebels, and if you can capture the rest, try to bring them back to Chang'an first. "We should prioritize appeasement."
[Hahaha, this is the difference between the Song Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty! The Tang Dynasty is full of martial virtues and there are no peacemakers at all!]
[It's so funny, maybe all the peacemakers were beaten to death?
The military generals in the middle and late Tang Dynasty would fight whenever they disagreed with each other, no matter if it was against their subordinates or their superiors, they never hesitated!
Especially after the "Jingyuan Incident", the military generals below were not getting generous salaries, and they immediately became dissatisfied. They killed the people above them and replaced them with others, even doing the same to Emperor Dezong of Tang.
Because he had only simple meals in Chang'an, local soldiers stormed into Chang'an twice, and Emperor Dezong of Tang almost cried in despair!
[There are two extremes. One is too full of martial virtue, and finally it became the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, with corpses everywhere.
A man who was frightened into prioritizing culture over military power, and ultimately ended up being so cowardly that his country was destroyed. Alas.]
In short, the case of Li Hainiang beating the drum to report the incident triggered a complete reform of the Jiedushi system, as well as a chain reaction of subordinates killing Jiedushi and mutiny in the three towns of Heshuo.
The imperial army is already on its way to quell the rebellion.
Yan Zhenqing, who was originally sent out, had to return to Beijing quickly to avoid being killed in the chaos.
After the rebellion in the three towns of Heshuo ended and all the rebels were executed, the case was reopened after the imperial court regained control of the three towns of Heshuo.
All local officials, from the provincial governor to the county magistrate, yamen runners, and clerks, were brought to justice.
The county magistrate was directly executed for shielding and concealing the truth and taking human life lightly, while the rest of the people were dismissed from office for failing to report the crime and neglecting their duties. Many officials were even exiled.
Although Li Shimin did not kill as many people as Zhu Yuanzhang in this case, the chain reaction caused a sensation in the court and the country.
"After this case, everyone, please remember that the peace and tranquility of the people is the foundation of the stability of our Tang Dynasty!"
After this case, all local officials worked diligently. Li Shimin also re-screened and cleaned up the local administrative personnel, striving for clean and honest administration.
Li Hainiang cried and thanked the emperor for his grace, which allowed her to return to her hometown and collect the body of her deceased fiancé.
At the same time, Li Shimin sent Li Guangbi to recruit all the private soldiers of the three local towns into the Yanbei Border Guard. No one dared to collect taxes privately or oppress the people anymore.
From then on, the Jiedushi system of the Tang Dynasty became a thing of the past. No longer did the emperor have to worry about the tigers lurking around his bed.
It took Li Shimin a long time to finally resolve the issue of the military governorship created by his unfilial grandson Li Longji.
Just when Li Shimin had not yet settled accounts with Li Longji, news came from Li Longji that Li Longji was seriously ill and wanted to see the emperor before he died.
Li Shimin snorted and didn't want to go, but in the end everyone persuaded him to go and take a look.
What if he regrets, apologizes and admits his mistake?
When a man is about to die, his words are good. These are his last words. Perhaps he will realize his mistakes.
When one is about to die, power, wealth, and prosperity are all fleeting. People often remember the warmth or regrets of the past.
Li Shimin thought about it and finally went to see Li Longji.
At this time, Li Longji, who was in his seventies, had experienced a coup and was beaten many times by his grandfather Taizu. He had become extremely thin and his hair and beard were almost gone.
At this moment, he stretched out his skinny hand, tightly grasped Li Shimin's sleeve, stared at him and asked:
"I don't believe it. Tell me, tell me whether you are Sanlang, or, or him!"
Unexpectedly, Li Longji was obsessed with this matter before his death. Li Shimin looked at him coldly and said:
"Will you believe me if I tell you?
What I said has always been true, but unfortunately you never believed it. It's simply because you only believe what is beneficial to you."
When An Lushan rebelled, Li Longji never believed what his ministers said and thought that these ministers were framing An Lushan. This shows his character.
"But there is one thing you have to believe, and that is the final conclusion.
Even if future generations evaluate you hundreds of years later, they will all regard you as a foolish ruler and a king who brought about the downfall of his country.
No matter how much you try to enshrine the Buddha on Mount Tai, you will never become a wise ruler. You will only become a laughing stock."
When Li Longji heard this, he gasped and made a loud noise.
He stared at the man in front of him, whose indifference was almost cruel and whose demeanor was completely different from that of his third grandson before. Finally, his hand loosened and he died.
I wonder if Li Longji believed it in the end or not? Did he regret it until his death?
Who knows?
Perhaps he actually knew that Li Shimin was real a long time ago, but he had been deceiving himself.
Or perhaps he was regretting it in his heart, but he had been deceiving himself, thinking that as the emperor, whatever he did was right.
[Anyway, Old Deng is finally dead. He was allowed to live for so long. Will Er Feng give him a lavish burial?]
Li Shimin frowned.
It is very unpleasant to think that such an unfilial descendant has to be respectfully sent to the mausoleum according to the standards of the retired emperor.
But there was nothing he could do. The person was dead, and at most the funeral could be a little more frugal, but there was no way he wouldn't be buried.
Moreover, according to the current mausoleum system of the Tang Dynasty emperor after his death, he must be placed properly in the imperial mausoleum built by Li Longji for himself during his lifetime.
[Bah, why?! Are there any tomb raiders out there? Let's go!]
[Er Feng, you won't stop us, right?]
"Don't touch my Zhaoling Mausoleum!"
The ancients always regarded the dead as the most important. Once a person is dead, the matter is over, and it is always bad to steal the treasures of the dead.
Apparently, the system didn't allow this illegal theft of property. After all the modern people tried, they were ejected and had no choice but to give up.
However, Li Shimin soon discovered that there was something wrong with Li Longji's coffin.
Because someone told him that this coffin was much lighter than before, but he didn't dare to open it to take a look.
"What did you do again?
Could it be that Li Longji's body was stolen by you?"
[Hehehe, Master Erfeng, guess what’s in the coffin now?
It’s a bull’s head! 】
"Ah, isn't this a bad idea? After all, people are dead."
[This isn't the ox head we chose, it's the one from Shangguan Wan'er's tomb!]
Speaking of this, Li Shimin was a little confused.
After asking around, he found out that Shangguan Wan'er, a female official during the reign of Wu Zetian, was properly buried after her death.
However, because she and Princess Taiping were political enemies of Li Longji, after Li Longji came to power, he dug Shangguan Wan'er's body out of the tomb and threw it away, and instead put a bull's head in it.
[Isn't this retribution deserved? Well done!]
Even though the person is dead, you are still so petty as to dig up the body. You deserve it!
[This kind of trivial matter may not be recorded in history. Li Longji thought that we would not know about it because he did it secretly?
Bah, after we dug up Shangguan Wan'er's tomb, archaeologists discovered that it had not been robbed, but there was only a bull's head in the coffin, no body!
It's still hard to guess what Li Longji did. We modern archaeologists are not stupid!
"What? What on earth do you modern archaeologists do?!"
Li Shimin always thought that modern archaeology was just like some great scholars and doctors, using stone tablets and other records to study history.
But looking at it this way, this archaeological research...seems very unusual.
"Wait, you won't attack my Zhaoling Mausoleum, right?"
These descendants are crazy, but they shouldn't go so far as to exterminate all of his Li family members, right?
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