Speaking of the family, there is a very strange phenomenon in the court now, the officials of the five surnames and seven families usually don't take the initiative to jump out to speak, they just stand silently on the side that is beneficial to them according to the matter, and never come out.

Since Wang Gui was removed from the position of servant, there is no one in the five surnames and seven families who are at the level of the head of the hall in power, and they are willing to accept this status quo.

On the contrary, those with second- and third-rate family backgrounds are now more active in the court, and the key positions of the servants and langs in various ministries are basically controlled by them, and yamen like the Ministry of Agriculture are no exception.

Wei Ting, from Jingzhao Wei, is the highest-ranking official on duty in Beijing of the Ministry of Agriculture, Sun Xiangfu, the secretary, is basically a hands-off shopkeeper who only cares about technology, and Li Gongyan, another major leader of the Ministry of Agriculture, has broken his leg by running all over the country, and he wants to promote the organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture to be rolled out in states and counties across the country, as well as to implement projects related to agriculture in various localities.

This gives many people the illusion that the five surnames and seven families fade out of the court and concentrate on development, and the officials with the background of second- and third-rate families occupy the court.

Of course, if someone comes out to impeach the prince and young master, Sun Zhengming, a high-ranking official of this level, everyone will still feel surprised, but it is more likely to be happy.

Because Sun Xiangfu himself, as well as his related households, are those who have so much credit that the emperor has a headache about how to reward their top noble groups.

And this is because these people occupy the highest position, and the officials at the lower level always want to overthrow them, if they don't leave, most of the officials in the court will not be able to take the position, but no one wants to be the second in the millennium, and keep looking at other people's faces and acting.

Wei Ting, as Sun Xiangfu's spokesperson in Chang'an, naturally knows everything about some information that should be known, but he does not intend to prevent some people from jumping out.

"The minister impeached Sun Zhengming, the governor of Shannan Province, for improper administration, and transferred all the grain from several prefectures and counties in Shannan Province that were seriously affected by the floods, resulting in disasters for the local displaced people, and the state and county governance were corrupted.

Since the establishment of the Ministry of Law, the meaning of these two words in the court is 'accusation'; generally speaking, unless we have conclusive evidence, we cannot casually 'accuse', because without the approval of the Ministry of Justice, the Criminal Department collects evidence and investigates, and accusations made out of nothing, especially the officials, will be punished, and they will be demoted and punished, or directly dismissed.

What Sun Xiangfu did in Shannan Province was well known to Li Shimin after Wu Shitong returned to Chang'an, so when he suddenly heard this impeachment, Li Shimin's brows furrowed, and he thought of what Wei Ting had done to find him before.

The people who watched the impeachment seemed to have been prepared, and Li Shimin, who was also prepared, wanted to see what tricks they played, and said to Cai Ji, who was impeached by the Ministry of Law, "You have overstepped the impeachment, is there any clear proof?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, here are the judges of the local states and counties, as well as the letters of submission entrusted by the old gentry clan, Your Majesty will know at a glance."

Soon, a book of excerpts in Cai Ji's hand was handed over to the inner servant, in fact, this kind of behavior of not passing the Chinese book and directly giving the emperor an excerpt in the main hall of the council is a bit irregular, but the officials of the Ministry of Justice have the privilege of directly reporting to the court class, but when they want to use this privilege, their subordinates will generally say hello to the chief officer of the department.

Seeing Wei Zheng's bewildered look, Li Shimin knew that this Cai Ji should not have greeted him, and now Wei Zheng's main task is to investigate the surrounding ethnic minorities, and the customs and customs of the territory newly included in the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty, and formulate the corresponding laws.

The content listed in the chapter is very detailed, how much grain was transferred by Sun Xiangfu in each state and county, and how much is the value, because of the flood, there is no food relief, how many local people have become homeless, and they have not been able to return to the local area to live and produce after the disaster. As a result, how much land in each state and county is vacant because there is no manpower to cultivate, and how much loss it will cause to the local finance and taxation, etc., is very clear one by one, and it may be a bit exaggerated in some aspects that cannot be specifically calculated, but the problems mentioned are almost real, and there are hundreds of local gentry and clan elders signing to testify.

After Li Shimin read it, he handed over the letter to Fang Xuanling and others for circulation as usual, and after a while, he asked the ministers with a very clear attitude, "What do you think should be done?" ”

When he heard the word 'disposal', Cai Ji's face was happy, he was instructed by the family, so he had the courage to take this letter, because, the clan repeatedly assured him that the things on this letter were true, and after he played it, there would be no problems.

Then, Sun Wuji, the head of the household department, took the lead and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it should be thoroughly investigated. ”

Wei Ting, the right attendant of the Ministry of Agriculture, followed closely and said, "The minister seconded the ······"

"The ministers also seconded the ······"

"Hey, it's a little bit smoother!"

Cai Ji was very surprised to see that the princes of the Manchu Dynasty agreed with his recital, and suddenly felt a little fluttery, and was about to step forward to say a few words! But he saw Li Shimin, who was sitting on the dragon chair, pointing to himself and saying, "The people who are in the place of disaster should be investigated, as if they only care about their own interests, and those who are on the corpse must also be punished. ”

"What's going on?"

Cai Ji was still in a state of confusion, when he saw a guard standing in the hall walking towards him, didn't he say that he wanted to investigate thoroughly? Why, in turn, you want to arrest me, the one who is a good player?

"Your Majesty, the minister is just speaking out, and pleading to His Majesty on behalf of the local officials and clans, what is the crime? Why did you remove your ministers from their official positions without cause and go to jail? Surrender. ”

"Not convinced?"

"Then I will let you take it, Eldest Sun Shangshu, Wei Shilang, how to convince him depends on yours."

Li Shimin said, the eldest grandson Wuji and Wei Ting glanced at each other, which means that you will say it first, or I will say it first, in the end, due to the difference in official rank, Wei Ting asked the eldest grandson Wuji to speak first.

I saw him look at Cai Jidao, who had been stripped of his crown robe by the guards, and pressed Cai Jidao, who was kneeling on the ground, "Cai Langzhong, right!" I have a question in the household department, the Cai, Huang, Deng, Ying, Fu and other states along the Yangtze River that you mentioned in the recital are all Zhongzhou with fertile land, more than one million acres of fields, and a population of more than 100,000. ”

"Uh, this ······"

"The old man is above this court, waiting for you to make it up, see what reason you can make up." Seeing Cai Can's eyes rolling wildly on the ground, the eldest grandson Wuji glanced at him with disdain.

This is really not easy to compile, there are many people, there is a lot of land, and the land is fertile, after the gradual implementation of the new tax system in Datang, your finance and taxation in a Zhongzhou will not be comparable to Xiazhou, which is a bit too much to say, after all, in all aspects, the scale of Zhongzhou and Xiazhou has a gap of one or two times, or even more.

Seeing Cai Ji, who was silent, Li Shimin was extremely angry, so he gave Wei Ting another look.

Wei Ting, who received Li Shimin's eye instructions, also walked in front of Cai Ji and said, "You can't make it up!" Then let me give you an example, take Caizhou as an example!

After the autumn harvest last year, the Si Nong Guan, who was in charge of Changping, forcibly collected the grain in the hands of the people at the price of 50 wen and 1 stone of rice and 40 wen and 1 stone of millet under his rule, and the price in the account books of Changping was actually 160 wen per stone of rice and 140 wen of grain, which was several percent higher than the market price of Chang'an.

With this alone, the Si Nong Guan, who often closes positions in Caizhou, can take more than 200,000 yuan of money from Caizhou's finance and taxes for nothing.

How much is the total amount of finance and taxation in a central state?

It's only two or three hundred thousand.

This transaction alone can use up seven or eight percent of the year's fiscal and tax revenues, plus others, it is strange that there can be a surplus.

Who approves such a large amount of transactions? How did so much money flow out of the treasurer's side? Needless to say, you should know that. The princes of the court, and His Majesty, are not fools.

If you are just corrupt, that's it, the court has been fighting on all sides before, and it needs internal stability, so it can leave you out for the time being.

But after you embezzle, you also have to exploit and squeeze the people, Caizhou's often closed grain, in the annual flood, will be all taken away by Cai's people in the name of loans, according to the regulations of the imperial court, often closed grain, in the event of a disaster, when the people are in urgent need, is interest-free loans.

You have lent out all the grain interest-free, so that the people who really need it have no food to borrow, so they can only buy it from you at a high price, or ask you for a loan at a high price, forcing them to have no way to live.

You say, will those people, if there is a way out, stay in the local area and continue to be exploited by you? ”

Wei Ting told the powerful operation methods of these places in the court, and immediately made some people's faces cloudy, and Cai Ji, who was kneeling on the ground, also listened to it like ashes, since this pustule was broken in the court, then the emperor categorically has no reason to continue to let it go.

Sure enough, after Wei Ting finished speaking, Li Shimin spoke and said, "I, in fact, I don't object to the subjects and people of the world trying to find ways to obtain more benefits, because I want to see everyone have enough food and clothing and live a better life.

However, a gentleman loves money and needs to take it in a proper way, like Sun Qing, Feng Qing, Changsun Qing, etc., who can promote some projects, and at the same time seek benefits for themselves, for the country, for the people, and also for the benefits, I will even give some support in policy.

However, I will never allow people like you to seek profits, unscrupulous means, and harm the people, because you are digging the foundation of the Tang Dynasty.

I know that above this court, there are still many families behind the officials, who are using similar means to harm the local people, such as what Changsun Qing and Wei Qing said, I don't see the clues, but because of the previous external instability, I chose not to deal with it for the time being.

However, if it has been decided today, it is no longer the surrounding barbarians who can shake my country, but these moths in the country, I hope that you will use this matter as a boundary and correct your mistakes in time, it is not too late.

There are many ways to seek benefits, harm the people, must not do, from now on, dare to hinder the development and stability of the Tang Dynasty, I will not be spared, I hope you will be cautious. ”