Hundreds of officials gathered in the Taiji Palace, and the annual year-end court meeting was held as scheduled.

In previous years, the year-end court meeting was a harmonious scene, and the hundred officials reported the great achievements made in the past year, and Li Shimin lavishly rewarded the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, and the monarchs and ministers were in harmony.

However, the atmosphere of this year's court meeting is strange, even if the report in the mouth of the ministers is the unprecedented political achievements made since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, it still can't hide the strange atmosphere.

"The Tang army went on an expedition, Fu Yun fled in the hope of the wind, so far my Datang border troubles have been eradicated, and all the seas are subject to the .................." Hou Junji, the secretary of the military department, said loudly.

"The soldiers have worked hard!" Li Shimin bowed.

Hou Junji had just retired, and Dai Guan, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, immediately said: "Back to Your Majesty, this year, my Datang tax has climbed to a new high, and the commercial tax has skyrocketed by as much as sixty percent. ”

After Dai Xuan finished speaking, Li Shimin couldn't help but feel happy, the area affected by the flood in Shandong was extremely large, and the losses were heavy, and now that Shandong has resumed production, next year's field will definitely go to a higher level.

As for the sharp increase in commercial taxes, he was surprised, and he couldn't help but glance at Merton in the corner of the general, in which the contribution of Mojia Village can be said to be great.

Immediately afterwards, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Punishment reported one by one, and when the Ministry of Industry finally reported, it suddenly made Morton a little more interested.

Since Duan Lun's voluntary resignation, the position of the Ministry of Industry Shangshu has been undecided, and just recently the Ministry of Industry finally appointed a new Shangshu, this person is not a stranger, but Mo Dun has met several times, and personally painted the portrait of Lingyan Pavilion for Zhang Liang, the Duke of Yun.

It is worth mentioning that Zhang Liangnai was born in Xingyang, and the Zheng family in Xingyang is a villager, which can't help but make Mo Dun pay more attention.

Zhang Liang bowed down and said: "Back to Your Majesty, now that the Yellow River embankment has been repaired and strengthened on the original basis, it will definitely not repeat the incident of the great flood in Shandong." ”

Li Shimin nodded solemnly and said: "The harm of the Yellow River has been a long time, Zhang Aiqing should not be careless, on both sides of the Yellow River, spare more flood discharge areas, in case of accidents, not to take it lightly." ”

"Yes!" Zhang Liang bowed down to receive the order and continued, "In addition, the construction of the brick road has also made gratifying progress, the brick road between Luoyang and Bianzhou (Kaifeng) has been repaired, and the brick road with Xingyang (Zhengzhou) as the midpoint has reached the south bank of the Yellow River and the north bank of the Yangtze River respectively. ”

In this era, the land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang is the center of money and grain of the imperial court, and the Grand Canal came into being, but the money and grain of the land of the two lakes are also the top priority, and most of them went down the Yangtze River in the past, taking the Grand Canal to Chang'an City.

Now the brick road is directly repaired from Xingyang to Hankou, an important town on the north bank of the Yangtze River, the pattern of the world has suddenly changed, it is conceivable that over time, Hankou will definitely become an important town that is not weaker than Yangzhou, not to mention the promotion of the brick road on both sides, Xingyang to Hankou has always been the status of the Central Plains, and it is the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty.

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty could not help but be silent for a while, the construction of the brick road is planned according to Merton's three horizontal and five vertical diagrams, and now it is just a small test of the knife, there are such outstanding results, you can imagine what a prosperous phase once it is all completed, of course, the huge amount of money spent on building the brick road is also distressing.

Li Shimin couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, blaming Merton, a loser, and even the imperial court is now such a loser, but he now understands Merton's behavior very well, compared to the future benefits, the cost of building a brick road is nothing.

Gao Shilian, the secretary of the ministry, is quite impressive, after all, these three horizontal and five vertical drawings are jointly played by him and Mo Jiazi, and his credit must be indispensable.

After the three provinces and six ministries reported, Li Shimin rewarded him for his meritorious deeds, but did not mention the equal division of family property among the sons.

Seeing that the year-end court meeting was about to end, the officials of the Guanlong family couldn't help but be anxious, if they couldn't persuade Li Shimin to take back his fate, I am afraid that no family would be able to live well this year, and the family would have to make a fuss.

At the suggestion of the Guan Long family, Ling Hu Dedi reluctantly came out again and said: "Back to Your Majesty, there are many rumors in the market now, Your Majesty is ready to rebuild the law of Zhenguan, let the sons divide the family property equally, and ask Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly!" ”

Suddenly, the Manchu officials couldn't help but be silent, and the atmosphere condensed again.

Li Shimin frowned, and said innocently: "There is such a thing?" Where did this rumor come from? ”

The Guan Long family was dumbfounded, they didn't expect Li Shimin to be a fool and not answer.

"Back to Your Majesty, from the perspective of Weichen, this rumor must be from the Yingguo Mansion, the new Yingguo Duke Wu Yuanqing just inherited the title, and actually drove the stepmother who did not give birth to a child out of the mansion and occupied the family wealth of the Ying Guogong alone, Your Majesty issued a decree to reprimand, I think there is this rumor." Fang Xuanling cooperated.

"There is such a thing, it is simply unreasonable, Wu Yuanqing is not filial to his stepmother, it is extremely rude! Please also ask Your Majesty to punish severely. Wei Zheng was the most jealous and hateful, and he was furious when he heard this.

"Lord Wei's words are wrong, Wu Yuanqing is the eldest son of the Wu family, and he should inherit the title and family wealth, besides, Wu Yuanqing has not purchased a dowry for the second and youngest daughters of the unmarried Wu family, which is enough for the Yang family to live, this matter is witnessed by the ink sacrifice wine, I believe the ink sacrifice wine knows better than anyone else?" Although Ling Hu Dedi despised the martial arts brothers, he had to defend him now.

When Morton heard this, he naturally knew that he couldn't hide, so he had to say: "Back to Your Majesty, that day, Wei Chen saw that the second daughter of the Wu family was arguing with reason, and angrily reprimanded the two brothers for being justified, and suddenly had a heart of love for talents, and accepted him as an apprentice, and the Wu brothers saw this, so they took out the property left by Ying Guogong for the Yang family mother and daughter. ”

Li Shimin cooperated: "In this way, if you don't accept apprentices, I'm afraid Wu Yuanqing won't take out the property that the Yang family deserves?" ”

"I don't know about this Weichen, but the martial brothers didn't take out the money at the beginning!" Merton's positive color channel.

Suddenly there was an uproar and whispered one after another, one can imagine how miserable the life of the Yang mother and daughter would be if they were kicked out of the house without property.

"The matter of family property is both a family affair and a state affair, if every family is broken up because of family property, brothers are on the wall, etiquette collapses, and the family governs the country and the world, if even the family is not harmonious, how can the country be governed." Li Shimin has something to say.

However, the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty were silent, no one answered, and they all protested with silence.

"Your Majesty is very true! Many cases in the Criminal Department are brothers against each other, and they are all caused by the unfair distribution of family property, which is really a tragedy in the world! Li Daozong, the secretary of the Criminal Department, said that he was a royal family, so he naturally wanted to stand on Li Shimin's side at this moment.

"I don't know how you all arrange your descendants." Li Shimin couldn't help but be curious, now that many ministers are mostly in their old age, it is not rude for Li Shimin to ask like this.

Fang Xuanling took the lead and said: "The old man does not ask for his children to be rich and noble, he only wants a safe life, as for the family property, the old man is ready to buy a copy of it by himself, impartially, if there is still surplus, the old man is ready to donate it after a hundred years, and helping some suffering people is also regarded as accumulating good deeds." ”

"Fang Aiqing is really fair!" Li Shimin praised from the bottom of his heart.

"Children and grandchildren are only blessed with children and grandchildren! After a hundred years, the old man can't manage so much. Fang Xuanling said happily.

Many family officials suddenly scolded in their hearts, his four sons are all sons-in-law, and they are naturally happy to share them equally, but their wives and concubines are in a group, if they are really divided equally, I am afraid that the concubines and wives will immediately make trouble, if they do not agree to divide equally, I am afraid that a large number of concubines and concubines will cry and cry in front of them all day long, and they will also not be able to live in peace.

"Back to Your Majesty, the primogeniture inheritance system is a tradition that has been in China for thousands of years, and the implementation of successive dynasties has made the society stable and fraternal harmony, if it is changed rashly, I am afraid it will cause social turmoil!" Linghu De urged urging.

Fang Xuanling retorted: "It is indeed conducive to stability, but brotherly harmony is probably just delusional, the sister-in-law inherits most of the property, and the concubine can only have a full stomach, how can there be no complaints in his heart!" ”

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty couldn't help but be embarrassed for a while, almost all of the ministers present were the beneficiaries of the primogeniture inheritance system, they directly enjoyed the dividends of the concubine, where did they think of the feelings of the concubine, and today they were directly exposed to the mask of hypocrisy.

"In this way, it is indeed quite unfair!" Wei Zheng nodded with a sigh.

The ministers couldn't help but be angry for a while, and as a father, they didn't want their concubines to live a rich life, and it was only a few families who were bent on revitalizing the family.

"Then dare to ask Your Majesty, in addition to family property, there are some indivisible things, such as titles, mansions, and inheritance, I don't know how to distribute them." Linghu Dedi is the right color.

After Linghu Dedi asked, the audience was silent, the property can be divided, if Xiang Tui En Ling is the same, the title will also be divided, I am afraid that it will not be a few generations, and the Tang Dynasty will no longer have honors, which is what the family is afraid of.

"The equal division of the family property among the sons is for fairness, but the title and clan are inseparable, so it is naturally inherited by the eldest son." Li Shimin said without hesitation.

The purpose of his second push is to divide the family, losing the huge financial support, the family with uneven hearts has no threat to the imperial court at all, once the title is moved, then all the interests of the nobles are moved, and the consequences even Li Shimin has to think twice, and an empty title is just a false name, and the real power in the Tang Dynasty is still an official position.

Merton sighed when he heard this, he naturally knew that this was the most appropriate outcome.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Ling Hu De bowed and said, if he can keep the title, he can be regarded as having an explanation for the Guan Long family.

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty received orders one after another, after all, the fertilizer water did not flow into the fields of outsiders, and they were all distributed to their sons, and they had the right to inherit the title for the eldest son, which was a great advantage in itself.

In this seemingly happy situation, everyone knows that after a few generations, the huge family will gradually split into a series of small and medium-sized families, and there will be no more momentum of today's five surnames and seven hopes.

As the hundred officials bowed their heads one after another, the second push was officially established.

At the end of the eighth year of Zhenguan, the great pilgrimage will end.