Qing turned around, only to see Yang Guozhong standing behind him with a smile, with a sneer hanging from the corner of his eyes, he was good at wine and greed and liked to accumulate money, but he did the impeachment of officials Yu Shicheng; He was so lazy that he had to 'bow down and review himself' in Taifu Siqing; he ran rampant in Chang'an and Limo, and skillfully seized other people's property, but he became a high-ranking and powerful real job in maintaining law and order in Chang'an.

Yang Guozhong's career is on the rise, but he did not reach the realm of soaring and flourishing that he desired, he learned from the pain, and finally found that it hindered the improvement of his status, and gradually his mentality changed, from looking up to contempt and now he can't wait to get rid of it quickly, 'official and business incident', 'Li Jingyan and pro-incident', are all specially concocted, but unfortunately they have not succeeded.

In terms of position, Li Qing's household department and Yang Guozhong's Taifu Temple have a clear line, the household department is "in charge of financial and administrative affairs, but the outline is not involved in affairs", while the Taifu Temple is the executive organ of specific affairs, "in charge of goods, grain storage and trade, all the contributions of the Quartet, and the rank of hundreds of officials are all attributed to its cashier", which is a bit like the relationship between the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the State Treasury, and the General Administration of Customs in later generations.

But now there are some changes, Li Qing suggested the establishment of an 'official cabinet' to control the Tang Dynasty currency, to divide his Yang Guozhong's Zuozang from the Taifu Temple, as well as the coinage of the Shaofu Supervisor, and finally all of them were directly under the Ministry of Households. In other words, the household department must actually manage the receipts and expenditures and the issuance of the world's currency.

This is where Yang Guozhong pointed out that Li Qing was not kind, he thought that Li Qing was using the restructuring to strengthen his power this time, he looked Li Qing up and down, and a mocking smile appeared on his face, "I have known Brother Li for many years, and I always thought that Brother Li's feet were quite long, and he ran to the Southern Zhao and the Western Regions." And now he suddenly found that Brother Li's hands were longer. ”

Li Qing looked up to the sky and smiled, looked at Yang Guozhong with a sincere smile and said: "The little brother has long hands and feet and is also instructed by the emperor to work hard for the country, which is really not worth mentioning, but it is Brother Yang's quirk of wearing women's clothes, and the younger brother has only heard of it today." Ashamed! Ashamed! ”

As soon as Li Qing said this, several officials next to him couldn't help but laugh, Yang Guozhong's nepotism, everyone in Chang'an knows, Yang Guozhong's face suddenly turned into a pig's liver color, he was about to have a seizure, but Li Qing smiled slightly, waved his hand and said: "It's time to go to court, Brother Yang, please return to his position!" ”

The drums rumbled from the ground, and the officials above the fifth rank were divided into two columns. From the long dragon tail road into the Daming Palace Hanyuan Hall in turn, Hanyuan Hall is magnificent and tall, and the terrain is upright. It is the commanding height of Chang'an City, looking out from the entrance of the main hall. In this solemn atmosphere, the hundred officials who had been laughing gradually straightened their lips and lengthened their faces, their eyes were solemn, and they were silent.

'When! A bell rang on the ground, and the eunuch on duty echoed in a long, high-pitched voice on the main hall for a long time: "His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!" ”

The two lines of honor guards immediately came with soap flags and Huangluo dome umbrellas, followed by dozens of eunuchs, palace ladies and close guards. After a while, I saw Tang Tianli Longji, wearing a crown of cupola and an ochre-yellow silk robe, walking slowly. Sit down on the dragon chair, and the hundreds of officials below bowed down together under the leadership of Tai Li Heng, "Ministers, see His Majesty the Emperor!" ”

"Everyone, please be courteous!"

Li Longji glanced at the hall, his eyes fell on Li Qing behind Zhang Yun, the head of the household, and he smiled slightly: "Today is the great dynasty, there are a lot of things to discuss, in order to save physical strength, anyone who is fifty years old and above from the third grade will be given a seat!" ”

The officialdom of the Tang Dynasty is ranked in seniority, and most of the people who can achieve more than five grades are already forty or fifty years old, so as soon as the order is issued, most of the officials have seats, although Li Qing is less than thirty, but his title of imperial historian has not gone, and the title has also reached the third grade, so he also got a seat.

The officials who were not qualified all consciously stood behind, but there were only a hundred people, and the hall was a little busy for a while, and soon quieted down, Li Longji saw this, so he asked Li Linfu with a smile: "Li Xiangguo, how is the provincial test arrangement?" ”

Li Linfu went out of the class to give a salute, and replied in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the provincial test is scheduled for the tenth day of the first month of April, there are still ten days from now, according to the system by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials will take the examination, this year's main examination is the Ministry of Rites Lang Da Xi Xun, the deputy examination is the Ministry of Officials Examination Department Lang Miao Jinqing, open the Jinshi, Ming Jing two subjects, at present, from all over the city gathered in the capital has no less than 30,000 people, the household department has begun to inspect the day before yesterday, everything is going well, please rest assured! ”

Li Longji nodded, and glanced at the ministers, "Where are Da Xi and Miao Erqing?" ”

"Your Majesty Xuanda Xi Xun and Miao Jinqing are here!"

Da Xixun and Miao Jinqing flashed out from the ranks of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials at the same time, approached the jade steps, and saluted Li Longji: "The ministers see Your Majesty!" ”

"The two Aiqing, every year I will say, the imperial examination is the most important channel for me to take scholars in the Tang Dynasty, and we should put justice and fairness first, no matter whether they are poor or humble, only meritocracy, can you remember?"

Da Xixun and Miao Jinqing bowed deeply, and said in unison: "The ministers obey the order!" ”

Li Longji saw the two retreat, pondered for a while, and said slowly: "Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the salt government has been slack, the tax has been lost, and in the third year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, I have rectified the salt tax, but because the measures are not in place, the effect is very small, and now since the implementation of the monopoly system, the salt tax has reached one million guan in only two months, and it has become a foregone conclusion to break through three million guan at the end of the year, so I discussed with the Xiangguo, and decided to set up a salt and iron superintendent, each province has its own salt and iron division, specializing in the monopoly of salt administration. Do you have any objections? ”

Li Longji's voice was very small, almost only the nearest Tai Li Heng could hear it, Li Heng had lived in the palace since he recovered from his injuries, he had nothing to do, and no one dared to visit him, and there was no public information about him for nearly two months, and the whole person seemed to have evaporated from the world.

But there is no information about him, it does not mean that he does not know everything that happened, on the contrary, he knows everything about the place where the dynasty happened, the Zhang Qiu Party replaced the Tai Party as the second largest faction in the Dynasty, the Boling Cui clan fell to Li Linfu through marriage, and the Ministry of Officials became the sphere of influence of the Zhang Qiu Party due to the defection of Yang Shenjin, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, and Yang Guozhong was re-elected as Jing Zhaoyin and Taifu Siqing, and gradually began to break away from Li Linfu to become his own party.

Li Heng watched all this coldly, but he was more concerned about Li Qing, from his description, he had already guessed that his escape this time was because of Li Qing's behind-the-scenes operation, but he never dreamed that even his arrow was given by Li Qing.

At this time, the eunuch on duty had finished his restatement of Li Longji's will, and ordered Li Lin to be the first salt and iron supervisor to solicit the opinions of the ministers.

"Do you have an opinion?" Li Longji smiled at Li Heng.

Li Hengluo bowed slightly and said, "The son agrees with his father's decision!" ”

"What about Aiqing? Do you have any comments? Li Longji raised his voice

There is no need for eunuchs to paraphrase.

There was silence in the hall, no one spoke out against it, the emperor had already made it very clear that this matter had been discussed with Xiangguo, and it was already a final conclusion, the case, exempted Li Chengshi Yangzhou assassination, and was promoted by Li Linfu's son-in-law Zhang Boji, which means that Xiangguo Party and Zhang Qiu Party have reached a behind-the-scenes deal, so, who will be boring to themselves?

"There is no opinion, the matter of the salt and iron supervisor will be decided, and Li Lin will be appointed as the salt and iron supervisor!"

"Your Majesty has a decree to make Li Lin the Salt and Iron Supervisor!"

Li Lin walked quickly to the jade steps, knelt down on his knees and said, "Minister Li Lin thanks Lord Longen!" ”

Subsequently, Li Longji approved some personnel appointments and dismissals of the ministry, and gradually the atmosphere in the hall began to become tense.

The next thing to do was to discuss the formation of an 'official cabinet', which involved the interests of too many people, some in favor and even more against, and many people quietly took out the recital, which they wrote overnight last night.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think everyone has already read the content of the court meeting distributed by the palace supervisor first, and should have pre-examined the draft regulations of the 'official cabinet', the significance of the establishment of the official cabinet I don't need to say much, here I need to give you Aiqing a word first, this matter is very important, I have no conclusion, I only hope that the public Aiqing Chang predicted, pointed out its pros and cons, the pros outweigh the disadvantages, this draft can be implemented, if the disadvantages outweigh the pros, then cancel this plan."

"Your Majesty, the minister has some doubts and wants to ask Li Shilang!" The first shot was Zhang Yi of Yushi. He was born with short limbs, his head is already half bald, Zhang Yi is also Li Longji's favored minister, all the officials he impeached will be dismissed, known as the first knife in Yushitai, he was originally a member of the Tai Party, after the East Palace case, he was not optimistic about Li Heng. Instead, he took refuge in the eternal king.

Li Longji looked at Zhang Yi, and was also slightly worried about Li Qing, this Zhang Yi is the best at grasping the loopholes of the problem, and he can gather the key points in a few words, but Li Longji also wants to know what Zhang Yi has discovered, so he smiled slightly: "Zhang Cheng can ask it!" ”

Zhang Yi also came prepared today. He slowly walked to the ranks of the household department, first saluted to Shangshu Zhang Yun, and then directly bowed to Li Qinggong and said: "I only have one place that I don't know, in the general outline of the draft, Li Shilang said that the new official cabinet is mainly in charge of the world's currency, but there is a clause in it that says that the people of each county can pay the rent to the cabinet shop, which is regarded as having paid the tax, but the tax paid by my Tang Ding household is not copper money, but grain cloth and silk, is this inconsistent with the general outline?" And the official cabinet has to be repaired all the way to the counties. And where does the money come from? Here are these two questions, please Li Shilang answered. ”

Li Qing stepped out of the ranks. returned a salute to him and gave Li Longji another salute. Only then did he turn around and say: "The official cabinet is only in charge of currency storage, and does not care about grain and silk, and the reason why the official cabinet is allowed to collect rent on behalf of the government is to consider that the household registration books are formulated by the locality, and then they collect taxes by themselves, so there will be the possibility of cheating, and the official cabinet is the third eye, which can play a role in supervising the locality." The taxes it collects will be released into the official treasury nearby, and. If the conditions are ripe, it is also possible to consider converting the rent in kind into a numismatic tax. ”

Without waiting for Li Qing to finish speaking, his old rival, Li Daofu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, said: "Li Shilang has also been the head of the small county, haven't you considered it, this time the local financial rights will be deprived, if there is any emergency, such as broken bridges and broken roads, the local government will have no property to use, so they have to apply to the imperial court. ”

Li Qing glanced at him, and said unhurriedly: "Li Shangshu thought about it too simply, the rents collected in various places should have been returned to the imperial court, and then allocated by the imperial court to the local government, but now, many prefectures and counties have crowded out and embezzled the imperial court taxes, which seems to be logical, what I have done is just to re-straighten out the old system, what is so surprising about this, is it possible that when Li Shangshu was an official in the local government, the taxes were never handed over to the imperial court?" ”

Li Daofu's face flushed, and he couldn't say a word in his muttering, so he quietly retreated.

"Does Yang Jingzhao also have something to ask?" Li Qing saw that Yang Guozhong was eager to try, so he sneered and said it for him first.

"Not bad! I have something to say. At a glance, he bowed his hand to Li Longji and said: "The minister has always thought that the outline of the household system does not take up detailed affairs, and now Li Shilang wants to take away the Zuozang of Taifu Temple and the money maker of Shaofu Temple, but he also wants to assign this so-called official cabinet to the direct jurisdiction of the household department, which makes people have to suspect that Li Shilang has selfish intentions!" ”

The corners of Li Qing's mouth twitched slightly, and he shook his head, for Yang Guozhong's personal attack, he didn't even have the strength to refute, this kind of words, Yang Guozhong said too much, and in the end it was just a humiliation for himself.

Sure enough, Li Longji's face sank, but he ignored him, which made Yang Guozhong feel like he was punched in the air, and he was suddenly frightened, not knowing where he had said the wrong thing.

However, Yang Guozhong's speech aroused everyone's enthusiasm, and officials immediately expressed their opinions, all of them believed that this law was too harsh and would seriously affect local governance.

"Your Majesty, the establishment of official cabinets in the counties of Datang will increase the cost of manpower."

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"Your Majesty, you need to solve the problem of Cao Yun first!"

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Everyone gossip gave Li Longji a headache, he glanced at Li Linfu, and saw that he stroked his beard lightly and smiled without saying a word, so he asked, "Li Xiangguo, what do you think?" ”

Li Linfu already had a case, but I saw him slowly walking to the bottom of the jade steps, and said unhurriedly: "The old minister thinks that the idea of setting up an official cabinet is very good, but the details are a little inappropriate, such as the problem of luck, the problem of absorbing people's spare money, if these problems are not solved well, there will be troubles in the future." ”

"What about Xiangguo's opinion?"

Li Linfu smiled slightly, and couldn't help but stroke his long beard, "Me!" There are three supplementary opinions, one is to build imperial warehouses in local places, such as Yangzhou, Chengdu, Xiangzhou and other places, except for money, the rest of the materials can be stored nearby, and there is no need to enter Beijing; The second is what Lord Yang said, and the minister also thinks that the establishment of the official workshop should not be directly under the household department, but this is also easy to do, and it can be set up as a temple alone; Third, this matter involves the relationship between the local government and the imperial court, and the impact is significant, so it should not be decided hastily. ”

"Not bad! Not bad! ”

Li Longji praised repeatedly, "It's still Xiangguo's idea is safe, and it is deeply in line with my intentions!" ”

He looked at Li Qing and asked with a smile, "Li Shilang, what do you think?" ”

Li Qing nodded, "The minister especially agrees with the third article of Xiangguodi. ”

"Then it's settled!" It belongs to the household department, which can be put into trial operation in Shaanzhou, Mianzhou and Suzhou for one to two years, and if feasible, it will be promoted to the world! ”