Ten years later

The previous trial was not over yet, so Li Yuan could only sit in the room alone. While waiting, Li Yuan remembered an incident many years ago.At that time, Lin Ziqing had just entered Cheng Guogong's mansion, and he was thin and frail. He looked much weaker than his peers, and he didn't dare to speak.Li Yuan's only impression of him is that he is smart and beautiful.

People always look better when they smile than when they have a straight face, which is true for ordinary people, not to mention Lin Ziqing who is already beautiful-I say beautiful rather than handsome because Lin Ziqing has not yet grown up at that time, at first glance She looked like a fragile little lady - when he laughed, there were a pair of crooked eyes under the crescent-like willow eyebrows, and two pear dimples on his cheeks, compared to the many beauties Li Yuan had seen in Beijing. Not to mention much, it can be called dazzling.

After Lin Ziqing noticed Li Yuan's gaze on his face, he asked Li Yuan timidly: "The Duke likes to see Ziqing smile?"

Li Yuan was naturally fascinated by the beauty's smile, and Li Yuan was fascinated by it. He didn't have any worries at that time, so he admitted it directly.After getting an affirmative answer, Lin Ziqing smiled brightly: "Then Ziqing will show you more smiles in the future."

Since then, Li Yuan has become interested in teasing Lin Ziqing, making him laugh at him from time to time.Thinking about it now, Li Yuan only felt that he was really a sinner at that time. Wouldn't his behavior become a provocation once the number of times was too high?Things that seemed harmless at that time, one after another, laid the groundwork for today.After all, he was the one who led Lin Ziqing astray.

Not long after, Lin Ziqing returned to the back hall.Before seeing each other, both of them were thinking about each other, but when they saw each other, both of them couldn't help being a little embarrassed. After greeting each other, they were silent for a while.

It was still Li Yuan who wanted to get back together with Lin Ziqing, and began to praise without saying anything: "I just saw it in front of me, Prime Minister Lin is so majestic."

Lin Ziqing replied: "It all depends on His Majesty's instructions."

Li Yuan twitched his lips slightly dissatisfied. He couldn't continue talking with Lin Ziqing who was talking like this, so he could only ask, "Did you bother Mrs. Lin?" Excuse and quickly end an unpleasant meeting.

Unexpectedly, Lin Ziqing said to him, "I'm not busy."

He was really not busy. After the trial was over, he had finished what he should do in Yuzhou.Afterwards, Zhao Nuo was in charge of writing the letter and escorting the prisoners to Beijing, so he didn't need to intervene.

Lin Ziqing hoped to spend more time with Li Yuan, but he didn't even dare to look up at Li Yuan, he was afraid of seeing Li Yuan's disgusted expression.

Lin Ziqing thought he could understand Li Yuan.Not to mention Li Yuan, even if he were himself, he would feel a gnawing pain in his throat when he heard such news. If it wasn't for the sake of his long-term affection, what he would have done would have been more than just pushing away people in the future.

Not to mention that a dignified person like Li Yuan would not like things like breaking his sleeves and dividing his peaches.Even those who have this kind of obsession love those thirteen or fourteen-year-old boys who have not yet grown up. Once these little boys grow up, they will be rejected by others.

It's ridiculous that he dared to tell Li Yuan that he wanted to stay by Li Yuan's side - Li Yuan's status, even a woman with a slightly lower status would look down on him, how could he be allowed to blaspheme?

Even though he has an official position now, Li Yuan can't easily turn against him because of the affairs of the court, but he will never give him any good looks.

Li Yuan raised his eyebrows, he naturally understood the deep meaning behind the word "not busy", and said to Lin Ziqing: "Since Prime Minister Lin is fine, please tell me about this trial, why did he do it so shockingly?" ?”

Lin Ziqing took a small step forward, lowered his head and replied: "Before I came to Yuzhou, I got the holy will. Your Majesty wanted to use this matter to make an example, and deliberately made the minister more troublesome. Your Majesty is afraid that the prince will be disturbed by these mundane things. Don't let the minister tell you."

"Afraid that I'm worried about the dust and you want me to do things for him?" Li Yuan scoffed at this statement, and at the same time, he didn't quite believe Lin Ziqing's first half sentence. If he just wanted to kill chickens and monkeys, how could he use such a big force?Obviously there is a deep meaning, but this one and two are unwilling to say it clearly.

Li Yuan sighed, as if he had discovered the entanglement in Lin Ziqing's heart at this time, he greeted him: "Chengzhi, come closer."

Li Yuan said these words casually, but Lin Ziqing suddenly raised his head. He heard what he said just now, and felt like a small drum was beating in his ears.After that day, Li Yuan only called him "Master Lin" or "Old Lin Ge" no matter in meeting or in correspondence.Now Li Yuan changed the word to match, but in comparison, the two seem to be much closer.

Lin Ziqing took a few more steps forward, seeing that Li Yuan sent all the people serving in the house away, he immediately pleaded guilty and said: "I was lost in my mind that day, and I didn't mean to offend the prince."

Li Yuan had just thrown him some good words, he just wanted to reduce Li Yuan's anger, so that he could not be too far away from Li Yuan.

"No, I..." Li Yuan wanted to explain to Lin Ziqing that he didn't feel offended, but that he was a little flustered and blamed himself for being ill-bred, but he really didn't know how to bring up what happened that night, so he had no choice but to Said, "Chengzhi, just pretend nothing happened."

Lin Ziqing readily agreed, this was already the best result he could think of.

Seeing that he had finally returned to normal, Li Yuan smiled slightly, and asked Lin Ziqing again: "What does Jiulang want to do?" Of course, he also asked Li Lian this question before he set off, but Li Lian hesitated. Kenming said that he just evaded and said that he just had an idea and it hasn't been settled yet, and he will tell brother when it is confirmed.

Lin Ziqing first bowed to Li Yuan, and then said softly: "Your Majesty wants to change the tax law, from the land that should be accepted to the land that is actually occupied."

"He's really good." Li Yuan let out a sigh of relief, and immediately understood the cause and effect of this business.

At the beginning of the dynasty, most of the rules and regulations followed the old system, and the field of land was still the land equalization method that existed in Xiliang. , His original land was confiscated by the court in order to redistribute it.At the same time, rent, mediocrity, and transfer are all charged per person.

However, after more than [-] years of land equalization, the disadvantages have gradually become apparent.

The honorable family has land grants, although there is a decree that stipulates the maximum number of acres of land that each family can own, but at the end of the previous dynasty, this prohibition was in vain, and the noble family often used hundreds of hectares of good land.

As a result, less and less land is available for distribution.There are so many people that they can't share the land they should have, but the tax is collected according to the number of people, and at the same time, people with the official title of lord can be exempted from taxation, so the burden on the people will naturally increase.

Although in the past few years, there was chaos in the Central Plains, the population was less than that of the previous dynasty, and there were more unowned wastelands.The implementation of the land equalization system is not bad, but if it goes on for a long time, it is inevitable that it will not become like the above again.

However, if the tax law was established at the beginning of the founding of the country, and taxes were levied according to the actual number of land properties, perhaps a hundred years later, the effect would be much better than it is now.

Although the reform of the tax law is beneficial, since ancient times, it has not been easy to destroy the old and establish the new.But these difficulties and obstacles are not Li Yuan's concern.

Li Yuan casually asked Lin Ziqing: "Zhao Nuo also knows about this?"

Lin Ziqing nodded, and said with a slight smile, "Shortly after Zhao Mingfu was promoted to Zhongshu Sheren, under His Majesty's instruction, he began to prepare for this matter."

Li Yuan somewhat understood the reason why Zhao Nuo was reused and sent to Yuzhou at this time.He smiled at Lin Ziqing and said, "I know so clearly, it seems that Jiulang is interested in you." It is true that Lin Ziqing has prestige and reputation in the court but has nothing to do with it, so he is the best candidate to implement the reform.

Lin Ziqing was slightly taken aback, then replied softly: "Your Majesty does have that intention."

In the beginning, after Li Lian put forward the idea of ​​reforming the tax law, he led it.It's just that he asked to resign wholeheartedly at that time, and returned to Lingzhou after only doing a few things.Up to now, Li Lianxu has seen that he is expected to be an official again, and has talked with him in detail several times, at least he has persuaded him to take over the matter again.

Li Yuan seemed to have thought of something again, and asked Lin Ziqing: "Before you came to Beijing, what did the Yiyang order want you for?"

Yiyang Ling's eldest grandson Sheng is Dou's only son, the Marquis of Anping who is about to inherit the title.With his family title, if Cheng Yin became an official, he would never be a county magistrate.But now that other people are also in Yuzhou, and they have had contact with Lin Ziqing before, it can't help but make people suspicious.

"That has nothing to do with the tax law," Lin Ziqing said slowly, "Young master was very angry, and he didn't want to rely on his yin seal to become an official, so he passed the imperial examination, and after being a Jinshi, he immediately asked for release. I haven't been back to Beijing once in the past year. My wife was really worried about him, so she asked me to take a look. Ziqing became familiar with the little lord after going back and forth. I wanted to hand over some evidence to His Majesty through Ziqing. Ziqing later apologized to His Majesty."

After hearing this, Li Yuan felt that the eldest grandson Sheng would do a lot in the future.This thought just passed by in a flash, and he put it behind him, and turned to Lin Ziqing and said, "Since everything in Yuzhou has been settled, I should go back to Beijing. What are your next arrangements?"

Li Yuan originally came to Yuzhou to prevent chaos, and now that there is nothing wrong, he has no reason to stay here anymore.Moreover, Li Lian wrote a letter a few days ago, saying that he was waiting for him to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival together in Beijing.

"I have to go to the rest of the Henan Road again." Lin Ziqing bowed slightly, with a bit of reluctance in his tone, and lowered his eyes and said, "Please prepare for the prince to return to Beijing."

Li Yuan didn't hear the change in his tone, but thought that Lin Ziqing was familiar with all his preferences, and it would save him a lot of trouble to prepare by him, so he agreed: "Alright, then I'll trouble Chengzhi. "

Li Yuan originally thought that Lin Ziqing said preparations, but just watched the attendants do it, but he didn't expect Lin Ziqing to do everything by himself.No matter how much he wanted to save his worries, it was impossible for the prime minister to spend the whole night on these common affairs of his, so he persuaded Lin Ziqing: "Just leave it to others, you don't have to be so dedicated."

"Doing things for the prince, how dare Zi Qing'an not be dedicated?" Lin Ziqing refused to listen to him, and half-jokingly said, "Ziqing is familiar with the prince, and he is used to doing these things before, but it would be troublesome for someone else."

Li Yuan looked at Lin Ziqing and smiled at him, held back what he was going to say, and started packing up with Lin Ziqing.He thought, it's rare for Lin Ziqing to be happy, and it's not a big deal, as long as he does what he wants.