Soon after Yuan Qianyao returned to the capital, he was transferred to the Huangmen Shilang again and concurrently served as the prime minister (as mentioned above, he replaced Song Jing/Su Ying with Zhang Jiazhen), he remembered the master book he saw in Fuping County, and felt that it was a pity that such a talent was buried in the place, so he promoted him to supervise the imperial history, and the grade was Zhengbapin.

Yu Wenrong's promotion this time is very important in his political career, because it is not only a promotion in grade, but also a post in the central government. Although the grade of supervising the imperial history is not high, it can be written independently, and it is in this position that Yuwenrong started the largest reform movement in the Tang Dynasty.

In February of the ninth year of Kaiyuan (721 AD), the superintendent Yu Shi Wenrong wrote: "The world's household registration has escaped, and there are many people who are clever and fake, please add it!" ”

After the emperor saw the concerto, he didn't quite know who Yu Wenrong was and how he could come up with such a proposal, so he asked the two prime ministers what was going on. Zhang Jiazhen naturally couldn't figure out this matter, but Yuan Qianyao was confident, so he told him about the content of his previous conversation with Yu Wenrong in Fuping County and the process of his later promotion to supervise the imperial history.

In the past few years, Li Longji wanted to take a tougher attitude towards the Turks, Tibet, and other countries, but because of the repeated natural disasters and the lack of national use, he has always forbeared. Now when he heard someone say that it could appease the displaced people and increase the revenue of the national treasury, Li Longji was immediately moved, so he said to Yuan Qianyao, you have found this imperial history in the book, and I want to talk to him in person to understand the situation.

After Yuan Qianyao went down to the court, he found Yu Wenrong and explained to him that the emperor wanted to summon him and asked him to prepare and think about how he should respond. Yuan Qianyao explained some more matters that the face saint should pay attention to, and left.

So how did Zhang say that he came back to become the prime minister again?

It is said to be related to Wang Maozhong, at this time Wang Maozhong is the most favored person around Li Longji, and his power is even a little afraid of Gao Lishi, but Wang Maozhong helped Zhang Shuo say a lot of good things, of course, there are conditions to help speak. It is also said that Zhang Shuo sent a lot of gold, silver and jewelry to bribe Wang Maozhong. Please ask him to say a lot of good words in front of the emperor, so Zhang said that he had the opportunity to return to the pot and become the prime minister.

Why is there money in Zhang? Because at this time, he was not a civilian official, but an ambassador of the military festival of the day, as the saying goes, "poor literature and rich military". Zhang said that he commanded tens of thousands of troops at this time, and he had always been greedy for money, so it was naturally not difficult to get some silver.

There is a story that can illustrate Zhang Shuo's greed for money: it is said that when Yao Chong was dying, he was afraid that Zhang Shuo would take revenge on his son, and hoped that he would have a good reputation after his death. He told his son: "I told Zhang that I have always been at odds, and I am afraid that after I die, he will come to you for revenge." When you arrive, you can set up your treasures and play antiques in front of my spiritual seat. Zhang said that when he came to mourn, if he saw these treasures and still ignored them, it means that he still holds a grudge, so you should hurry back to your hometown and don't stay in the capital! If he plays with each of them and has a sense of affection, you can pass on my will and give him all these antiques. Then ask him to make an inscription, wait for him to write the inscription, and you must immediately carve the monument and present it to the emperor. If, as I expected, there are already words of praise in the inscription, even if he wants to seek revenge in the future, he will take care of his reputation, and it will not be too much. ”

After Yao Chong's death. Zhang said that he really came to condole, and Yao Chong's son put the treasures in a row according to his father's words. Zhang said that he met Zhen To. I can't help but come forward to enjoy it.

At this time, Yao Chong's son Yao Yi stepped forward and said: "My father has a last word, saying that you are a master of contemporary literature, and my father hopes that you will write an epitaph for him. In this way, he was at peace under the nine springs. In order to repay you, I am willing to give you all these treasures. Zhang Shuo thought to himself, I have never been compatible with Yao Chong, but I didn't expect him to admire my literary talent so much, so it's okay. If you don't get along with the dead, not to mention, there are these treasures and antiques to be acquired. So he happily promised, Yao Yi and others thanked him again, and asked him to write quickly, Zhang Shuo went in response, and wrote an inscription praising virtue on the same day.

Zhang said that he handed over the inscription to the Yao family, and the Yao family asked people to engrave the inscription overnight, and at the same time presented the manuscript to the emperor. When Li Longji saw it, he also praised it very much, saying: "It seems like this virtuous appearance, and it is impossible to praise it without this article." ”

Zhang said that he woke up soon after, and wanted to say that he had been demoted from the position of prime minister to the outside for nearly ten years, and it was all Yao Chong's harm, how could he praise him. Hurriedly sent someone to ask for a restored draft, only saying that the article was sloppy and needed to be revised, but the Yao family said that it had been carved into a tablet and submitted to the imperial review. When Zhang heard this, he sighed and said, "Alas! I can't imagine that Yao Chong, who is dead, can still calculate the living Zhang said. ”

Whether this story is true or not is impossible to test, but Zhang's claim for greed for money seems to be true.

To get back to the point, although Wang Maozhong is willing to help Zhang Shuo say good things, the premise is that Zhang Shuo must also have merits, so does Zhang Shuo have it? Some!

(Serial Update)

In the eighth year of Kaiyuan (720 AD), Zhang Shuo served as the ambassador of the Heavenly Soldier Army. The Heavenly Soldiers were stationed in Bingzhou (Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province), and next to the Heavenly Soldiers Army was the Shuofang Army, which was stationed in Lingwu (Lingwu City, Ningxia Autonomous Region). Both armies were stationed in the border area between Hu and Han at that time, and there were many surrendered minority tribes in the territory.

In the autumn of this year, Shuofang Jiedu booby-trapped the Turkic tribes under his jurisdiction because he suspected that they had surrendered, which made the other tribes under Zhang Shuo's jurisdiction nervous. Was this the plan of the Tang Dynasty? Kill the Turks first, then kill us, one by one? As a result, several tribes were in fear.

Zhang said that after understanding the situation, he asked the deputy ambassador to look after the house, and he only led 20 cavalry, and went directly to these tribes. The leaders of these tribes first learned that Zhang said that he was going to lead the army, thinking that he was coming to destroy them, so they were very nervous to prepare a defense plan, and the arrows were wound and the knives were unsheathed! Unexpectedly, Zhang Shuo only brought more than 20 people, which greatly surprised them, so they had to lift their guard first and come forward to greet them.

Zhang said that after shaking hands with the leaders, he explained the position of the imperial court to the leaders, and asked everyone not to be nervous. After Zhang finished speaking, he found that the leaders did not seem to believe it completely, so he said, so let's do it! I'm going to stay with you tonight, and if anyone wants to attack you, you can take me hostage or kill me, okay?" Only then did the chiefs believe.

When the deputy ambassador heard the report from his subordinates, saying that Zhang said that he would stay in a tent in the tribe tonight, he was shocked and hurriedly wrote a letter to Zhang Shuo, telling him not to trust these ethnic minorities. How did Zhang Shuo answer? He said, "My flesh is not a yellow sheep, and I will not be afraid to eat it; Blood is not a wild horse, and it will not be afraid of thorns. The soldier is in danger and fatal, and this is the autumn of my death. "It means that my meat is not yellow mutton, and I am not afraid to eat it; My blood is not wild horse blood either. Don't be afraid of people drinking. Now that the situation is critical, this is the time for me to serve the court. I have made up my mind, and I don't need to persuade again!

Sure enough, these tribal leaders were all moved by Zhang Shuo's courage, and the originally tense atmosphere was relieved. A crisis was spared.

In the ninth year of Kaiyuan (721 AD), Zhang Shuo proved his military ability in another matter.

Kang Beibin, the leader of the Hu people, who had been placed and surrendered in the Hequ region (the front and back sets, the front set was in the Ningxia Autonomous Region, and the back set was in the Baotou area of Hoh, Inner Mongolia), suddenly rebelled and united with the local brave and warlike Dangxiang clan (the predecessor of the later Tangut people). Full flood.

After the imperial court got the news, it quickly mobilized the troops of several nearby military regions to quell the chaos. After receiving the order, Zhang said that after careful analysis, he found that the Dangxiang clan was the most powerful and effective army among them. Capture the thief first capture the king, Zhang said that the commander led more than 10,000 elite cavalry, straight to the position of the Dangxiang tribe, in the surprise, the Dangxiang army was scattered and defeated, had to come forward to express willingness to wear the guilt and make meritorious service. Assist the Tang Army in quelling the rebellion. At this time, the commanders of other military regions thought that these party members took the lead in the rebellion, and now that the situation is not good, they will surrender, they are repeated villains, and they should be killed!

When Zhang heard this, he said angrily: "We are the army of kings, and we are not bandits, how can we kill those who surrender?" "Insist on letting the party members make meritorious contributions. These party members were very moved, so they wholeheartedly assisted the Tang army in attacking other Hu people, and Kang Zhibin was captured alive. The entire rebellion was quickly put down.

Zhang said that he had such a merit, and Wang Maozhong helped him speak good things by the emperor's side, so it was logical to return to Chang'an and serve as the secretary and prime minister of the military department.

During this period. Although the prime minister had a three-headed carriage, it was generally peaceful. On the one hand, as mentioned earlier, Yuan Qianyao's personality is relatively gentle and modest; On the other hand, Zhang said that he had just come back, and he was mainly responsible for national defense (military department), and in the tenth year of Kaiyuan (722 AD), he also served as the envoy of the Shuofang military festival, and everyone had their own affairs. Less prone to conflict.

After explaining the government, let's go back and look at the progress of the Kuhu matter:

After Yu Wenrong was appointed as the envoy, he began to demand that all states and counties in the world start to check the household registration, and put up announcements to let the fleeing people turn themselves in to the states and counties where they live. After the order was delivered, the prefectures and counties of the world mobilized one after another like an exploding pot.

Due to the lack of an effective first-level government in the organization of the Tang Dynasty (there had been ten envoys in the past, but they had been removed by this time, and there were no permanent organs and personnel to handle the affairs of the envoys), the central government had to deal directly with the 360 prefectures, so the efficiency was very slow, and it took a year before the initial results were achieved.

Originally, Yu Wenrong's estimate was that close to Liangdu and the prefectures and counties with high population density, or places with poor natural conditions such as Longxi and northern Shaanxi, there should be a slight decline in hukou; In the southeast area, where the land is vast and sparsely populated, and there is more wasteland, there should be a significant increase in the number of hukou, especially in Jiangnan Province (now southern Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Fujian/Jiangxi), which has a vast area, with a total of 56 prefectures, and the number of hukou should increase significantly. Unexpectedly, the number after the return was: the number of states and counties that should be reduced has not decreased, and the states and counties that should be increased are almost unchanged, which is beyond Yu Wenrong's expectations, and it also makes him very troubled.

(Serial Update)

In order to allow local prefectures and counties to have the willingness to report their household registration, the emperor decreed that the prefectures and counties could report the reduced household registration due to death/exile, etc., and not punish the state and county officials for the reduction of the household registration; In addition, in order to effectively resettle the exiled population, the imperial court ordered to start inspecting the land of the world, and Yuwenrong was used as the "envoy of the field (land)" to inspect the land of the world.

Kutian's actions dealt a greater blow to Haoqiang and local officials, and all kinds of resistance was not small. But this time, the imperial court seemed to be iron-hearted, and asked all states and counties to implement it, and the judges of each province also took the state and county officials to the fields directly to measure.

At this time, the land that does not comply with the regulations in the world can probably be divided into the following categories according to the decree of the imperial court:

First, private occupation of land in excess of the prescribed amount is called "foreign land". Among them, the land that was originally registered with the owner, but was occupied by other landowners for various reasons, is called "hidden field"; If the land was originally ownerless, such as newly cultivated wasteland, or if it was not registered in the first place, it is called "surplus land", and what to do with these fields after they have been examined will be discussed later.

Second, the land originally issued to officials to compensate for the lack of salaries of officials is called "vocational land". In this review, the vocational land was officially recovered, and as compensation, two buckets were given to Li Erdou per mu of land every year, and a total of 100,000 hectares of vocational land were recovered in the country (one hectare is equal to 100 mu).

Third: inspect the world's temples and Taoist temples beyond the prescribed fields. This time, the strength in this area is very great, almost all the temples have been reviewed, you can refer to the Shaolin Temple tablet written at that time: "The Japanese Ming Edict, the world temple view of the grange, a qiē bracket responsibility", and Shaolin Temple because of the long history, the imperial court will be Tang Taizong gave the twenty hectares of land back with the "special return to the temple, do not let the official collection", it can be seen that this review is very strict, but also very effective implementation. (Shaolin Temple has been famous since now because there are thirteen monks who helped Li Shimin fight the world)

Fourth: Inspect the five households of Shi Tian. This part of the field is in Longyou, which belongs to the government land, but it is issued to five households for cultivation by the long history, and there is no need to pay taxes, but it is required to perform military service, which belongs to the system of integrating soldiers and farmers.

Fifth: Mountains, rivers, and rivers, that is, mountains, forests, rivers and lakes, are nationalized, and the people are not allowed to occupy them.

From the 10th year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty to the 12th year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the "inspection of the world's land" has achieved quite good results, and it is estimated that the total amount of land covered is estimated to reach as much as 800,000 hectares (80 million mu).

And in the process, I also grabbed the pigtails of many officials. For example, Lu Congyuan, who served as the left-behind guard of the Eastern Capital and the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, was originally a candidate for the emperor to consider being promoted to prime minister, but because Yu Wenrong found out that his family occupied more than 100 hectares of land, he was kicked out of the list of candidates. It can be seen that this time, Yu Wenrong not only helped the official obtain a lot of new land, but also in the private aspect, Yu Wenrong also mastered the land information of officials of all sizes, which made him have an extremely important bargaining chip in the future political struggle.

Kutian made good progress, but in terms of Kutan, until the end of the eleventh year of Kaiyuan, the effect was still not good.

Why? (To be continued.) )