"Release them..."
"Yes, yes, yes, I asked for the captain. They said they'd lock him up for a day or two, and once they couldn't squeeze any more out of him, they'd release him!"
Upon hearing this, Li Jue immediately understood and ordered someone to give Shan Daozhen twenty strings of cash to save the person, but Shan Daozhen refused outright.
"Captain, you overestimate them. There's no need for twenty strings of cash!"
"Give me two strings of cash, and I'll treat them to a drink and I'll get things done!"
"good!"
"The task of saving lives rests on your shoulders!"
Hearing their conversation, Lin Jiu asked anxiously.
"My lord, can a person still set up a stall after being rescued?"
"cannot!"
"All of you, go home and farm!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Jiu immediately objected and knelt down to beg.
"My lord, please think of a way to let us continue to make money by setting up our stall..."
"well!"
Li Jue's central kitchen snack business was never intended to make money; it was simply to provide a livelihood for the poor people of Sanglin Village.
If we can keep them doing this job, that would be ideal.
But now there are people in the court who don't want them to earn this hard-earned money, so he, as a nobleman, can only think of another way.
"Put aside the stalls for now, let's get them out of here first!"
"All right……"
Although Lin Jiu was still disappointed, she didn't want to make things difficult for Lord Jue.
After all, the entire village, young and old, depends on the lord for their survival...
Li Jue stayed in Chang'an for two days until everyone was released, and then he led them back.
However, he didn't have any good ideas on how to settle these people for the time being.
The vendors in Sanglin Village left very quickly, disappearing from Chang'an almost overnight.
Although the streets of Chang'an were now clean, the people of Chang'an were not happy about it.
For the past six months, they've gotten into the habit of going out every day to drink a bowl of soy milk and eat two fried dough sticks. Or they might just call over a vendor pushing a cart and have them cook them a bowl of wontons on the spot.
However, now that they have nothing left, how are they supposed to survive?
The common people couldn't stand it, and the officials in the imperial court couldn't stand it even more.
It's important to understand that not all officials are wealthy; many live off their meager salaries. Now that the cheap and delicious street vendors are gone, what are they supposed to eat and drink during their workday and after get off work?
As a result, the censors and officials of the Censorate began to exert their influence, collectively attacking Cui Renshi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, accusing him of disregarding the lives of the people and being unaware of their suffering.
When Cui Renshi realized he had disturbed the swarm of wasps, he was so frightened that he immediately sought advice from Chu Suiliang.
Chu Suiliang did not expect the censors to react so strongly, and could only warn them not to implicate him or make false accusations against Changsun Wuji.
Only after Cui Renshi repeatedly assured him did Chu Suiliang tell him what to do.
In fact, Chu Suiliang's method was very simple: he pushed all the blame onto His Majesty.
For example, clearing out street vendors was to prevent His Majesty from being ridiculed by foreign vassals during the military review...
As long as he sticks to this point, even if His Majesty the Emperor blames him, Cui Renshi will only have meant well but ended up doing something wrong, his flattery backfiring.
The matter quickly reached Li Shimin's ears. Li Shimin naturally knew the origin of these small vendors in Chang'an and knew that this was a livelihood that his grandson had specially arranged for the people in his fiefdom.
Therefore, upon learning that his Minister of Civil Affairs had ordered the county governments of Chang'an and Wannian to drive these people away, Li Shimin was so angry that he wanted to kill the man.
But when Li Shimin summoned this person and reprimanded him, the person insisted that he was acting in the best interests of His Majesty and the court, and could only be considered to have done something good but ended up doing something bad.
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin could only raise his hand high and then lower it gently, ultimately imposing a three-month salary deduction as punishment.
This move must have hurt Da Sun's feelings, and he probably won't come to Chang'an again.
"Ananda, go to Sanglin Village and see what our eldest grandson is up to."
"Your Majesty, there's no need for such trouble. Our spies at Sanglin Manor will report on the eldest grandson's affairs every day..."
Who is it?
"Princess Jinyang!"
"You mean Sizi?"
"Yes!"
"Where is Sizi's report?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Anan hurriedly ordered someone to bring up Princess Jinyang's letters. When Li Shimin took them, he was astonished to find dozens of them. He realized how many good things he had missed.
"Your Majesty, this is the latest letter from yesterday..."
When Li Shimin opened the letter, the first thing he saw was his daughter complaining that she had written so many letters to him but hadn't received a single reply.
He also said that his nephew was very unhappy recently and kept cursing the emperor of the Tang Dynasty as a tyrant, even worse than Jie and Zhou or Emperor Yang of Sui.
Li Shimin was completely taken aback by these words. His own grandson had called him a tyrant like Jie and Zhou, and even said that he was inferior to Emperor Yang of Sui.
However, when he saw the sentence below, he was completely stunned, and even felt that Da Sun was right to scold him.
My nephew said that peddlers and laborers, and those who drive carts and sell goods, have always been legitimate and humble professions for ordinary people.
Neither the tyrannical rulers Jie and Zhou nor Emperor Yang of Sui prohibited it, but the Tang emperors did, which shows how incompetent the Tang emperors were; the common people couldn't even live a humble life...
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin burst into tears. He felt utterly wronged; he knew nothing about the matter and it was all the fault of his subordinates!
Even if he were wrongfully executed, he would have nowhere to appeal.
After all, he was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and almost all orders issued by Tang officials could be attributed to him!
"Ananda, I'm innocent! Waaah!"
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
"My eldest grandson blames me for banning street vendors, saying that neither the tyrants Jie and Zhou nor Emperor Yang of Sui prohibited people from hawking their wares or selling food from carts, but I've banned it! He says I'm worse than Jie and Zhou, sob sob sob..."
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