Chinese dining table

Chapter 1241 Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow are Hard to Come By, Be Careful When Cooking
The emperor is a huge treasure that comes with his own resources!

As long as the emperor is in Chang'an, Chang'an is the core of the Tang Dynasty.

As long as Chang'an is the core, countless resources will inevitably be tilted towards Chang'an.

Therefore, from an economic point of view, Yun Chu really wanted to keep the emperor in Chang'an. With him in Chang'an, if he did anything outrageous in Chang'an, the emperor would take the blame. And the emperor who took the blame could resist all the rumors in the world. If not, the emperor could also make all those who had opinions shut up. If that didn't work, the emperor could also make them shut up forever.

Of course, Yun Chu plans to test the emperor's attitude tonight, only if the emperor supports him.

Li Zhi, who had a good sleep, woke up lazily in the evening. He sat in the warm pavilion and stared at the vast stretches of bare farmland outside the Xingqing Palace.

"Are Yunchu and the others growing crops in Xingqing Palace?"

Ruichun said quickly: "We are planting cotton."

"Government-planted?"

"It was planted by the people around here."

"Are you saying that this royal palace is open to the public?"

"In reply to your Majesty, the common people can only enter the front hall. The Nanxun Hall, Datong Hall, Qinzhengwu Building, Hua'e Xianghui Building and Chenxiang Pavilion in the back are not accessible to the common people."

Li Zhi said: "But the most important Xingqing Palace allows common people to enter, and even the greenhouse is abandoned. Does this mean that I am not only close to the people, but also close to the farmers?"

"To answer your Majesty's question, Yun Chu did not dare to force your Majesty to do anything. As far as I know, he just wanted to plant more cotton on these hundred acres."

"Is land in Chang'an so scarce?"

"To answer your Majesty, it's not that land in Chang'an is scarce, but that there are too many people in Chang'an. With more people, more materials are needed. Although Chang'an has the money to purchase some of the materials from outside, Yun Chu has also not let go of any usable land in Chang'an."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "If that's the case, he built Xingqing Palace just for these lands, then the same must be true for Daming Palace."

Ruichun smiled and said, “The Xingqing Palace was built to drive away some people.”

Li Zhi said: "Who is it?"

Ruichun said: "According to Yunchu, they are some people who don't match Changan's temperament."

"Who doesn't match Chang'an's temperament?"

Ruichun whispered, "Those city foxes and community rats who originally lived in Xingqingfang."

Li Zhi wondered, "City Foxes and Society Rats? With Yun Chu's ability, can't he take down these people?"

Ruichun said: "The foxes and rats in every city actually have their own followers, and the roots of these dirty foxes and rats are often those wealthy families who claim to have passed down poetry, literature and etiquette.

They do not stain their own hands with blood, but make profits from the common people through these raised city foxes and rats. Once something happens, they abandon these city foxes and rats to keep their own families safe.

Yun Chu took advantage of the opportunity of large-scale construction in Chang'an to make those city foxes and social rats focus all their attention on the construction site of Xingqing Palace. When these people gathered in Xingqingfang to prepare for negotiations because of uneven distribution of interests, Yun Chu closed the construction site of Xingqing Palace for three months.

Three months later, the construction of Xingqing Palace resumed, and the so-called city foxes and community rats were no longer seen in Chang'an."

"Is there no canonical punishment?"

“No, since then, there has been no trace of this group of people in Chang’an City, and those wealthy families seem to have forgotten that they once had such a group of people under their wing.

And when Yun Chu continued to acquire land in Xingqingfang, he did not encounter any obstacles."

Li Zhi patted the giant bear's head and said, "These things have not been reported."

Ruichun said: "They are just hooligans in the streets. They don't even have household registration. No one cares about their life or death."

After chatting with Ruichun for some gossip, an eunuch came to report that Yun Chu wanted to see him.

Li Zhi was somewhat addicted to listening to stories today, and thought that with Yun Chu's arrival there should be more stories to tell, so he ordered the eunuch to bring Yun Chu in.

"I heard from Ruichun that you took the opportunity of building the Xingqing Palace to clean up the atmosphere in Chang'an, and starved hundreds of people to death on the construction site of the Xingqing Palace?"

Yun Chu looked at the emperor in surprise and asked, "Is this true?"

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Don't admit it?"

Yun Chu spread his hands and said, "How can Your Majesty ask me to admit something that I didn't do?"

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Maybe they didn't die of starvation, but died from fighting?"

Yun Chu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, there is no one wiser than you!"

Li Zhi turned around and said to Ruichun, "Learn from this."

Ruichun said: "I am an honest person."

Every Tang Dynasty official who took office in a local area basically needed to take back power from local powerful families. This resulted in countless killings. Even someone like Lu Xiu, when he was in office in Hebei, killed people in a bloodbath before his power as a county magistrate was fully implemented.

Li Zhi knew this very well and was no longer surprised.

Fortunately, most of the officials sent by the Tang Dynasty were able to regain their own power with the help of their colleagues, which was equivalent to regaining the Tang Dynasty's governance power over the local areas.

Don't doubt it, the way the Tang Dynasty controlled the world was to first control all the big cities, then use the big cities as bases to expand to small cities, and then use the small cities as bases for county towns, and finally control all county towns. At the same time, the power extension of the Tang Dynasty ended here, and it was the local gentry who truly extended the power to specific individuals.

Nowadays, the only county that can truly extend the power of the Tang government to specific individuals is Chang'an.

Such a governance system has major loopholes. Because of these loopholes, once local farmers start to rebel, the rebellion can spread like wildfire in a very short period of time.

Back then, Chen Shuozhen, a country girl swindler who claimed to be the incarnation of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady and called herself the Red Sky Holy Mother, and who mastered the imperial art of the Liujia area - the Qimen Dunjia - rebelled in this way. She killed and wounded many government troops along the way, and several cities were breached by the enemy. Fortunately, the local officials of the Tang Dynasty were still effective at that time, and they captured the "Emperor Wenjia" who had already proclaimed himself emperor alive.

Strictly speaking, Chen Shuozhen should be the first female emperor in Chinese history who had territory and political power.

In that battle, more than 30,000 people under Emperor Wenjia were killed... As for the officers and soldiers, nearly 40,000 were also killed, so the war-torn areas had to recuperate for more than ten years before they slowly recovered.

Therefore, the Tang Dynasty's political model was destined to be a hotbed for peasant uprisings.

Li Ji also saw the loopholes that Yun Chu could see clearly. If the emperor had not had a conversation with Li Ji on the Yellow River suspension bridge built by Yun Chu that was worthy of being recorded in history books.

The Tang Dynasty is probably busy suppressing the rebellion now.

After all, the rebellion instigated by Li Ji would take at least ten or eight years to quell.

Li Zhi waved his hand, seemingly unwilling to discuss this issue with Yun Chu, and asked with a smile: "How much did you sell my banquet for?"

Yun Chu said: "Sixty-eight thousand acres of land, and another fifty thousand acres are being planned."

Li Zhi sighed and said, "It's too cheap."

Yun Chu nodded and said, "There is nothing we can do. The people below have done their best. It seems that they are only willing to spend this much on Your Majesty."

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "Don't try to sow discord. There are quite a few retainers of the Li family among those people. However, with your talent, you should have a backup plan, right?"

Yun Chu chuckled and moved closer to Li Zhi and said, "Some families are dissatisfied with their current status."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "You have a way to make them even more dissatisfied, right?"

Yun Chu grinned and said, "Of course, but it's better if the favor comes from above. My little bit of face is worthless."

"How do you want me to be in your place?"

Yun Chu said: "Your Majesty's Feibai calligraphy is even better than the master. Those people treasure your Majesty's calligraphy as if it were a world-class treasure."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Since you treasure it like a world-class treasure, I cannot give you too much writing at one time, otherwise your strategy of killing three warriors with two peaches will not work."

Talking to Li Zhi or planning something can really make Yun Chu feel that they are in perfect harmony with each other. This is a real thing.

The two of them were having a very pleasant conversation, which made Ruichun, who was standing by, sweat profusely.

I thought that Yun Chu's sale of the position at His Majesty's banquet would make the Emperor unhappy, but unexpectedly, His Majesty himself seemed to be more excited about this matter than Yun Chu, the beneficiary.

After agreeing on the banquet time with the emperor, Yun Chu said goodbye and left. Ruichun saw him out.

When there was no one around, Ruichun asked, "How is it?"

Yun Chu sighed and said, "Your Majesty is old and no longer has the ambitions he once had."

Ruichun said: "Before you came, I had already brought up the topic of local governance."

Yun Chu spread his hands and said, "Your Majesty, you only said a few words. It seems that this problem will eventually fall on Prince Hong."

Ruichun smiled generously and said to Yunchu: "Then let His Majesty continue to be happy like this. He has done enough for the Tang Dynasty."

Yun Chu smiled and said, "Okay, let's just go on happily."

When Yun Chu returned home, it was already the second watch.

The whole family was awake, waiting for the head of the family to come back.

Li Si's eyes were as red as two rotten peaches from crying. As soon as Yun Chuyi came back, she said anxiously: "Aye, my father won't let me serve in Xingqing Palace."

Yun Chu looked at Li Si and said, "With you like this, I don't want you to serve me."

Li Si immediately burst into tears.

Yu Xiurong said: "Why are you teasing her for no reason? This child is already feeling miserable."

Yun Chu ignored his wife's complaints and said to Yun Jin, "You go to Xingqing Palace early tomorrow morning to continue to serve as His Majesty's secretary."

Yun Jin nodded and said, "It seems that another secretary has died."

Yun Chu sighed and said, "There is no other way. The Empress keeps sending secretaries to the Emperor, and the Emperor keeps dealing with them. If you go, His Majesty will kill fewer people, and Chang'an City will have fewer innocent souls."

Yun Luan curled her lips after hearing what her father said, "You're willing to sacrifice your life just to be an official."

Yun Chu said: "Don't say that about them. At least they are ambitious."

Yun Luan said, "Father, it's not that I don't have ambition, it's that I really don't want to be in the Imperial Hospital anymore. The old immortal is best at gynecology and pediatrics, and my son doesn't want to be a gynecologist in the future."

Yun Chu looked at Yun Luan and asked, "Where are the utensils?"

Yun Luan said, "I have invented a clamp that can help women to pull babies out during childbirth... Now I have to follow the midwife to deliver babies all day long. If the baby can't be pulled out, I will use the clamp to help..."

Yu Xiurong blushed and patted Yunluan on the head and said, "Why do you say anything?"

Yun Luan said aggrievedly: "I am a doctor now. Even the old immortal said that the big clamps I made can benefit the people. How come it becomes a dirty talk that cannot be mentioned in your place?"

(End of this chapter)