Chapter 132 The Prince's Long-term Concerns (2)

Li Chengqian nodded and said nothing more.

Du He looked up and saw that Li Chengqian's brows were furrowed and he looked worried. He thought to himself: What is the prince worried about?

"Your Highness! I see that you look worried. I wonder what you are worried about? Can you tell me about it? I will help you solve your problem." Du He said.

"To be honest, I do have some worries!" Li Chengqian said.

"Now our Tang Dynasty is strong, and we have developed hybrid rice to increase grain production. Your Highness has also implemented new teaching to select talents for the court."

"I believe that once Your Highness ascends the throne in the future, the Tang Dynasty will surely be more prosperous in your hands. In this case, what is there for the Crown Prince to worry about! I really don't understand." Du He said. "

People who don't worry about the future must worry about the present! I am worried that in the future, land will be annexed, corruption will be rampant, and the foundation of our Tang Dynasty will be destroyed." Li Chengqian said.

Don't think it seems to be calm now, but it is not. In this seemingly peaceful world, it is actually full of filth.

Corruption has never stopped, and land annexation is also going on quietly, but these are all carried out in secret, not put on the surface, and done with great fanfare.

"Your Highness! Corruption has existed since ancient times. Now, our Tang Dynasty has strict laws to restrain corruption, which will be able to effectively stop it."

"As for land annexation, it is indeed a headache. As long as there is no incompetent monarch in power, the phenomenon of land annexation can be controlled." Du He said.

Li Chengqian did not agree with what Du He said. Land annexation has little to do with whether the emperor in power is incompetent.

Although Empress Wu Zetian was not a wise ruler, she was not incompetent. During the Wu Zhou period, land annexation was not so intense that a large number of farmers fled.

If you want to stop such a phenomenon, you must have corresponding policies to deal with it, and it would be better to have other benefits to attract landlords so that they will voluntarily give up annexing land.

Therefore, combating corruption and preventing land annexation are long-term plans.

Even if these two phenomena cannot be eliminated, the harm caused by corruption and land annexation must be minimized.

"I know what you are talking about, but corruption is like an ant nest. Sooner or later, it will destroy the Tang Dynasty!"

"The laws of the Tang Dynasty may not be able to suppress the greed in people's hearts. There must be many officials testing the edge of the law."

"This is exactly what I am worried about. Once they find loopholes in the law, they will be corrupt and wanton." Li Chengqian said.

Du He said indifferently: "Your Highness, are you worrying too much? Even if there are some, they are just people who are not presentable."

"It's not a big deal if they do some sneaky things in private! As long as the laws of the Tang Dynasty are there, no one will dare to harm the Tang Dynasty."

Li Chengqian felt that Du He trusted the laws of the Tang Dynasty too much in the matter of corruption. He trusted them to the point of being blind.

He was even blind to the point of being optimistic. He always thought that they would not dare to do it and underestimated the severity of corruption.

Marx once said in his "Capital": "If capital has a profit of 50%, it will take risks."

"If it has a profit of 100%, it will dare to trample on all laws in the world. If it has a profit of 300%, it will dare to commit any crime, even at the risk of being strangled to death."

The same is true for corruption. As long as the bribes they receive reach or even exceed people's bottom line, these corrupt officials will do it without hesitation. The fact that

an official is not corrupt does not mean that he is an honest official. It is very likely that the profit has not reached the level that makes them take risks.

In history, there was a peasant uprising in the Tang Dynasty caused by the corruption of local officials.

Li Chengqian remembered that this seemed to have happened in the fourth year of Yonghui (635 AD).

In Qingxi County, Muzhou, Tang Dynasty, there was a flood that had not happened in a hundred years. Local officials not only did not open the warehouse to provide disaster relief, but also concealed it and continued to collect various taxes, which led to the people's miserable lives, selling their children, being displaced, and starving people on the road.

The people could not bear the greed of officials and the oppression of the powerful, and lived in dire straits, suffering unspeakably!

All of this was seen by a kind-hearted woman named Chen Shuozhen. When she saw the suffering of the villagers, she couldn't help but remember that she had received help from the villagers in the past.

Chen Shuozhen thought about it, and the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt. So regardless of her personal safety, she decided to secretly open the granary of her landlord to rescue the victims.

Chen Shuozhen's opening of the granary to release grain was discovered by the landlord. The angry landlord ordered people to tie up Chen Shuozhen.

He also had people hang him up and beat him in front of everyone, with scales all over his body, and he was dying. The villagers saw it with their own eyes and were anxious in their hearts.

So everyone organized themselves, and under the cover of night, many villagers rushed into the firewood room where Chen Shuozhen was imprisoned and rescued him. In order to escape the search of officers and soldiers, everyone covered Chen Shuozhen and fled to Fuchuan Mountain at the junction of three counties.

After recovering from her injuries, Chen Shuozhen felt that only by overthrowing the Li Tang Dynasty could people like them who lived at the bottom of society have a way out.

So Chen Shuozhen used religion to develop believers and prepare for her future uprising.

After everything was ready, Chen Shuozhen contacted her brother-in-law Zhang Shuyin to organize a peasant uprising at the Six-Jia Forty-Eight Party in Fuchuan Mountain, Qingxi County, Muzhou.

She called herself Emperor Wenjia, and appointed Zhang Shuyin as the Minister of State. She then sent Shuyin to lead the army to attack Tonglu at night, and she led 2,000 troops to conquer Muzhou and Yuqian.

She was resisted by the garrison when she attacked Shezhou, and was unable to conquer Shezhou; a general under her command, Tong Wenbao, led 4,000 troops to attack Wuzhou, but was blocked by the government troops.

After learning that Chen Shuozhen had rebelled, Emperor Gaozong of Tang hurriedly ordered Fang Renyu, the governor of Yangzhou, to attack southward, and Cui Yixuan, the governor of Wuzhou, to lead troops to advance northward.

The rebel army encountered Cui Yixuan's troops in Xiahuaishu and was severely defeated. Thousands of people were killed. Chen Shuozhen had to lead the remnants to retreat to Muzhou, and later tens of thousands of people surrendered to the court one after another.

In November of the fourth year of Yonghui, Fang and Cui's forces joined forces. The rebel army was eventually defeated due to being outnumbered, and Chen Shuozhen and others were captured and killed.

This peasant uprising that lasted for a month was completely ended.

All this was a tragedy caused by corruption and the powerful!

"Okay! Let's not discuss these things for now, you go and take care of the teaching first!" Li Chengqian said.

Li Chengqian didn't want to say anything more about this, as it was not something he could control now.

"I understand! I'll do it now! I'll take my leave!" Du He saluted and left.

Li Chengqian stood up and walked to the door of the hall, looking into the distance, and said in his heart: I, Li Chengqian, swear here that after I ascend the throne, I will never let such a thing happen again.