In the first month of the second year, Li Siyuan was ordered to crusade against the Khitan who violated the border, and returned victorious. In February, Li Cunqiao completed the heavenly ceremony in the suburbs, and gave Li Siyuan iron coupons on merit.

Soon Li Siyuan went to pacify the rebel general Yang Li in Luzhou, captured Yang Li back to the capital, was named Tai Lieutenant, and served as the envoy of Bianzhou Jiedu and the head of the soldiers and horses of the Han Dynasty.

Later, Li Siyuan once again sent troops north to defeat the Khitan soldiers, and then transferred to Zhenzhou Jiedu envoy.

Li Siyuan is humble and kind, and never boasts in front of everyone. In peacetime, he led the soldiers to repair weapons and prepare materials, and they were honest and self-disciplined, not greedy and did not contradict others.

Li Keyong once tempted him and asked him to go to the treasury by himself, saying that you had made a lot of meritorious contributions before, but you had not rewarded you again, so now please take whatever you want.

Li Siyuan went very calmly, but he only took a few rolls of silk fabrics and a few thousand dollars and left, and after he went back, he distributed these things to his subordinates.

Once, when he and the generals were in the mountains, the other generals were scrambling to boast about their bravery and good fighting, but Li Siyuan said slowly: "Everyone defeats the enemy with their mouths, but I defeat the enemy with my hands." When the generals heard this, they were ashamed and said no more.

According to legend, Li Siyuan once stayed overnight, and the woman of that family happened to be pregnant, so she did not entertain them hospifully and cooked for them in time.

At this time, the pregnant woman heard the baby in her womb speak: "Everyone (referring to the emperor) has arrived, hurry up and prepare a meal." ”

The pregnant woman was very strange, so she quickly got up and personally brought the meal to Li Siyuan, Li Siyuan asked her the same person, why was there such a big difference in attitude before and after? The pregnant woman told him why.

There is another theory: Li Siyuan asked the pregnant woman why she was rude first and then respectful. The pregnant woman said, "The public is unspeakably noble. ”

When asked the reason, the pregnant woman said what the child in her womb said. Li Siyuan said: "The old woman is lying, she is afraid that I will be angry and bring trouble to her. ”

I'll ask later. Indeed it is. Later, Li Cunmiao was killed, and Li Siyuan won the great treasure and really became the emperor, that is, Tang Mingzong in the history books.

After ascending the throne, Li Siyuan implemented a series of enlightened reforms. First of all, the villain Qing eunuch was killed, which effectively prevented the breeding of corruption. At the beginning, Wen Tao, who stole and dug the tombs of the Tang Dynasty, and Duan Ning, the general of the Later Liang Dynasty, were killed.

Three months after he ascended the throne, he was charged with the crime of "indulging in greed, removing officials and accepting bribes, and cultivating the party to follow personal gains." The prime minister Douluge, who was born in a famous family and had made meritorious persuasions, and Wei Shuo, another prime minister recommended by him, were deposed as "long-term people", and soon Douluge was given to death.

In addition, he ordered Zhuzhen to kill the eunuchs of the prison army assigned to Zhuang Zong when he was assigned, and arrested and executed hundreds of eunuchs who had helped Zhuang Zong to do bad things for Zhuang Zong.

At that time, hundreds of eunuchs fled to the mountains and forests to hide in the chaos of the mutiny, and some even became monks.

This time, the eunuchs were basically slaughtered. For the Lingren, because he misled the country with Li Cunmiao, he was also brutally annihilated.

It is contrary to the extravagant style of Li Cunmiao's reign. Li Siyuan issued an edict prohibiting the purchase of luxury goods such as eagle dogs, jewelry, and treasures, and the harem also laid off a large number of employees, leaving only 100 palace people and 30 eunuchs. A hundred people were left in the workshop, and only fifty people were left in the imperial kitchen.

Others can choose their own destinations, and send the beautiful woman in the palace back to their hometown. Only the old palace people were left to sprinkle water and sweep the floor. The government affairs and the yamen were also streamlined as much as possible, and the various departments were abolished in name only.

He also ordered the armies of all divisions to collect supplies nearby. In order to save transportation costs and reduce national expenses.

Next, he made great efforts to rectify the rule of officials. It is forbidden for officials to solicit favoritism and buy and sell official documents, to limit the amount of officials at all levels to recommend and shield officials, to prohibit officials from arbitrarily extorting from the people, and to impose severe sanctions on violators. The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Finance supported Kong Qian, expropriated and extorted the people, and the people were extremely angry.

When Li Siyuan was in prison, he immediately announced Kong Qian's guilt, sentenced him to death, confiscated all his family property, and immediately abolished the degree branch and abolished all the harsh laws established by Kong Qian.

The edict reads: "The living beings are devastated, the soldiers are hungry and cold, and the world is devastated, and the world is exhausted." But Li Siyuan still wisely forgave his family, and only confiscated the family property and did not kill the nine clans.

In order to warn others, Li Siyuan also issued an edict prohibiting all corruption. The edict said that some of the hundred officials were cronyistic, interfered in government affairs, colluded to break the law, and disrupted normal order. From now on, it is forbidden to do so, and if there is any more offender who violates the law for personal gain, the officials who were originally recommended will also be demoted or sent to exile.

Some officials privately increased their rents in addition to the regular taxes, and were demoted by Li Siyuan. Bozhou assassin Li Ye was given to commit suicide because of corruption.

When the officials in Bianzhou were investigated and punished for committing corruption, some people pleaded for mercy, including the sons of the old generals, and they were also relatives of Li Siyuan's son-in-law Shi Jingjiao, and Li Siyuan's old general Wang Jianli also interceded for him and reduced the punishment.

In feudal society, especially in the Tang Dynasty, there were some provisions in the law that stipulated the privileges enjoyed by officials and nobles, if they committed a crime, they could first ask the emperor to adjudicate, and if the emperor thought that the punishment could be reduced, he would do it according to his wishes, which is sometimes said "I am the law".

Li Siyuan said to Wang Jianjian: "Wang Fa is selfless, how can he take care of him because he is a relative!" Then he ordered to pull it out and behead it.

The enshrined official Ding Yanhui stole from the warehouse, because he usually befriended the powerful and bribed, so the guard made Zhang Congbin ask Li Siyuan for forgiveness.

Li Siyuan angrily reprimanded: "Eat my generous money, don't know how to do things for the country, but steal my warehousing property, and deserve death for the crime!" Now even if he is the reincarnation of Su Qin, he can't convince me to reduce his sentence, and it's useless for you to say it! Then he ordered to be put to death. For honest officials, it is full of praise.

When Prime Minister Li Yu was sick, Li Siyuan sent his close minister Zhai Guangye to visit and greet him, after Zhai Guangye went, he saw Li Yu's house surrounded by four walls, and the hospital bed was just a broken blanket, Zhai Guangye went back and truthfully reported to Li Siyuan what he saw, Li Siyuan was very moved when he heard it, and gave Li Yu a hundred horses of silk, 100,000 yuan, and thirteen things on the bed.

For the loyal ministers who dared to speak out, Li Siyuan was also very happy to give rewards. Kang Cheng, the young secretary of Dali Temple, wrote to Li Siyuan, proposing five things that the country should not be afraid of. Six kinds of terrible things. Among the things they were afraid of were natural phenomena that they thought were the wrath of the gods in the heavens at the time, such as anomalies in the stars and disasters in the crops. It also includes the slander of the villain.

There are six kinds of terrible things, namely, the hiding of the sages, the relocation of the four people, the favoritism between the upper and lower levels, the disgrace of honesty, the disgrace of the truth, and the outspoken contempt. He suggested that Li Siyuan should "not talk about what is not enough to fear", and take careful measures to avoid the appearance of those who are deeply fearful. After Li Siyuan saw it, he was very happy and issued an edict to reward him.

The new prime minister is in charge of the country's finances, and he is quite able to establish a system and achieve results. With the assistance of Ren Yuan and others, Li Siyuan carried out a series of reforms in response to the maladministration of the Later Tang Dynasty, such as strict legal system. Prohibition of officials and greed for ink,

It is forbidden for the wealthy to cast their names and shadows, to escape rumors, to prohibit usury, to buy and sell human beings, to torture slaves, to abuse parents, to arbitrarily snare, catapult, hunt, and to slaughter cattle.

A year later. The political situation in the country has taken a marked turn for the better, the rule of officials and the social atmosphere have also been reversed, and the people's lives have been initially stabilized. There are thousands of miles from east to west, and the bucket is only ten dollars. ”

Li Siyuan was born in a poor family and was very concerned about the suffering of the people. Pardons for criminals have been ordered on several occasions. The people in the disaster area were exempted from paying taxes, and the officials were earnestly admonished to "not discipline the people." "Do not invite difficult business travel".

In October of the second year of Tiancheng (927), he issued another edict "Zhudao Prefecture Capital." Since the same three years ago, the summer and autumn tax rents have been owed, and the presiding bureau has lost the profits, and the boats along the river are in arrears, and the summer tax is owed in the first year of Tiancheng, and it is specially removed from the release. He also issued an edict abolishing the taxes imposed in some places under false pretenses, such as "saving consumption", which refers to the loss of grain and silver.

Some of the grain could be eaten by rats and birds during storage and drying, and the people's scattered silver would be lost in the process of being remelted into silver ingots.

Therefore, when the tax is levied, the government will increase these losses in advance, but some corrupt officials and corrupt officials take the opportunity to increase the proportion of tax collection and fill their own pockets. Li Siyuan abolished these unreasonable taxes. Other edicts forbade wealthy peasant households from evading forced labor and rent.

At that time, the large eunuchs had a certain amount of land that could be exempted from all taxes and forced labor, so some people entered into false land sales contracts with these eunuchs and wrote the cultivated land in their names in order to evade taxes and forced labor.

This not only reduced the revenue of the state, but also caused the local officials to divide this part of the escaped taxes equally among the common people in order to collect enough taxes.

In order to prevent the local officials from profiting from this, Li Siyuan ordered that the account books be sent directly to the central government, and the central departments collected taxes and forced labor.

If someone conceals the number of acres of land, once it is discovered, the tax on the household will be doubled. In addition, Li Siyuan exempted the original levy of five wen per mu of road and bridge money, and reduced the five wen wine koji money to three wen.

Interest on debts that have a great impact on the lives of the people is also clearly restricted, and if the interest received by the creditor has reached the amount of the principal, it is forbidden to collect any more interest, and only the principal is allowed to be recovered, and if the accumulated amount of interest is twice the amount of the principal, the principal and interest are not allowed to be collected again.

This is indeed a great good thing for the people, freeing some people who are unable to live under the pressure of debt. Compared with the looting of the common people during Li Cunxuan's reign, Li Siyuan's measures are indeed commendable.

One spring, Li Siyuan was in the palace looking at the wilderness after the rain, and the things on the distant hillside that he thought were lambs turned out to be working people.

Li Siyuan sighed in his heart, and the next day he personally rushed there to visit the people. Seeing that there were three fathers and sons ploughing the land together, Li Siyuan immediately ordered someone to give them three ploughing oxen.

Later, Li Siyuan found through investigation that the iron monopoly system implemented by the government had brought many drawbacks to the people, so he issued an edict to abolish it.

According to the edict, the agricultural tools supervised by government departments in various places are of different sizes and shapes, and they are damaged and difficult to use after a short period of use. Recently, although the people have a good harvest, the prices are very cheap, and the people have no money to buy farm tools, so they have broken the law by casting them privately. From now on, agricultural tools and other daily utensils will be allowed to be cast freely, and the people will only need to pay one and a half cents per mu for agricultural tools.

In addition to supplying military supplies and other utensils every year, the iron casting institutions under the local government only produce iron, and sell it to the people at the current price of ten wen per catty, which is wrought iron, and the people can also choose it. Originally, some government operating institutions and officials were all abolished.

In this way, not only to save some costs for the people, but more importantly, the people themselves cast to improve the quality of products, for agricultural production to play a greater role.

Due to the good effect of this measure, it was continued to be implemented in the Later Jin Dynasty and the Later Zhou Dynasty and was not abolished. At the same time, Li Siyuan ordered people to choose good farm tool styles for the people, so that the people could still cast them.

With the sympathy and support from the top, the agriculture of the Later Tang Dynasty developed rapidly, and there was a bumper harvest almost every year, and the people in the Central Plains basically reached a well-off level without the invasion of war.

Feng Dao said to him when he talked about civil affairs: "Zhuang Zong did not know how to sympathize with the people and soldiers in his last years, and was confused by the sound and song and dance, which caused people to complain and cause chaos in the country.

Your Majesty's prestige is now very high, and the world has a bumper harvest, which is also the result of your benevolent government, Your Majesty, may Your Majesty be prepared for danger in times of peace. ”

Li Siyuan agreed very much, and asked Feng Dao what the people were suffering, and Feng Dao read him a poem by Nie Yizhong: "Sell new silk in February, and sell new valleys in May, heal the sores under the eyes, but tear off the flesh of the heart." ”

When Li Siyuan heard this, he was extremely moved, and asked the left and right attendants to record it, and he often took it out and read it, so as to remind himself to always think about the suffering of the people and seek benefits for the people.

When the Gwangshou Hall was first built, the official in charge of the project requested that it be painted with Dan lacquer to make it look more luxurious. Li Siyuan said: "Because this palace has been burned, it has to be repaired, but it only seeks grandeur, not magnificence." ”

In the past, the Dangxiang tribe and other tribes always sent horses of mixed quality to the capital in the name of offering good horses. Later Tang paid them according to the price, but when combined with their accommodation, food and drink, and the rewards they received, each time it cost a huge amount of money, and it was extremely wasteful.

After Li Siyuan learned about the situation, he immediately issued an edict prohibiting them from going back to the capital to sacrifice horses, and only set up horse farms in the border area to trade, which greatly saved expenses.

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As an emperor, Li Siyuan's courage to correct mistakes is also commendable. Once, Hun Gong'er, the envoy of the inspection army, reported to Li Siyuan that there were two people who practiced fighting with bamboo poles, and they seemed to have a rebellious heart. Li Siyuan couldn't help but be furious when he heard this, and immediately ordered Shi Jingjiao to investigate.

Later, An Chongzhi found out the truth of the matter, and it turned out that two children were playing around, but at this time the two children had been executed. (To be continued......)