Chastity Layman

"Chengqian, do you think what the Supreme Emperor said?"

On the way out of Daming Palace, Li Shimin was thinking about what the Supreme Emperor said just now.

"The teacher once taught me that there are advantages and disadvantages in everything. There can be no perfect thing. There is no gold and no man is perfect, especially the system and policy. We can only formulate more in line with the current situation according to the national conditions, and then keep pace with the times. Continuous improvement. The system of world feudalism established by the sages is far more beneficial than harmful in today's world. The disadvantages mentioned by the Supreme Emperor do exist, but they may not appear until two or three hundred years later, but I think that two or three In a hundred years, the situation has changed, as long as future generations can adjust with the times, then there is no need to worry."

Li Shimin smiled.

"Actually, don't I know that a dynasty can't really last for thousands of years. What I'm looking forward to is that it would be good to have the Zhou Dynasty for 800 years. It would be great if it was like the Han Dynasty for 400 years. What I worry about Those who are like Qin II and Sui II."

Li Shimin read history, studied the dynasties and dynasties, and found that although the dynasties that implemented the enfeoffment system would inevitably suffer from the disaster of feudal towns in the end, they were much longer and stronger than the fully centralized dynasties.

As for the reason, there are many researchers, and Li Shimin also has some experience. He believes that the centralized dynasty was fine at the beginning of the founding of the country. Lack of local control.

Therefore, it is easier to collapse, and the dynasty that practiced the feudal system, in the middle and late stages, can rely on the inertia of local autonomy to help the court continue for a long time.

After all, this is the difference between the big court and the small court.

He even drew a conclusion from the history books that the more centralized a dynasty passed the initial stage of its founding, the less pioneering it was, because it mainly prevented involution.

"I want the Tang Dynasty to surpass the Qin and Han Dynasties." Li Shimin's words were extremely domineering.

"My son understands my father's ambitions, and my son will definitely inherit my father's ideals in the future, expand the territory, and let the Tang Dynasty surpass the Qin and Han Dynasties and become the first empire in China."

Li Shimin was very relieved.

After all, the Taishanghuang's thinking is still somewhat conservative and short-sighted. How can he understand Li Shimin's ideal achievements.

If he is only satisfied with the status quo, then he really doesn't need to implement the system of enfeoffment, just like Yang Jian and Yang Guang's father and son, they promoted the imperial examination, suppressed Guanlong, and suppressed the gentry. Replacing the powerful and strengthening the centralization of power, the imperial court is indeed strong in the short term, and it can also prevent threats to the imperial court.

But once the imperial court does this, it will lose its ambition and just stare at the interior all day long. How can it go further?

Or in other words, if the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was focused on guarding against the noble officials, wouldn't it be necessary for the horse to run and not to eat grass?

The reason why Yang Guang was defeated was because he was harsh and ungrateful, and even the titles were only retained as Dukes and Bosses. High-ranking officials were easily refused to confer positions, and it was easy not to grant them real seals. In doing so, who would work for the court?

Benefit.

Only when the benefits are shared and the world is shared, can it last forever.

Back at Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin saw that there were many memorials piled up on the imperial case.

On the left is the memorial that was played through the Yintai, which passed through the prime ministers of the Zhengshitang. The prime ministers of the Zhengshitang had already pasted yellow tickets on the memorial, and the Hanlin scholars also gave simple instructions to refine key points and give reference suggestions to the emperor.

The memorials on the right were submitted by the Secretary in front of the palace. These were all secret memorials by officials, and they were presented in secret all the way. Without a third hand, even the prime ministers have no right to read them.

Li Shimin picked up a secret memorial, but it was submitted by Zhou Shaofan, the governor of Guangzhou. The secret memorial did not have strict format requirements, and it may not even have important affairs.

At the beginning of Zhou Shaofan's notebook, he wrote about the recent weather conditions in Guangzhou, and then he wrote some pieces such as the situation of Canton Road, the trade of Guangzhou Port, the taxation of the Municipal Shipping Department, and so on.

The last thing he wrote was the situation of Liuqiu he had inquired about. Qin Lang led the navy to use troops against Liuqiu, how many fanshes were broken, how many camphor sulfur, gold and silver buckskins were plundered, and how many people were robbed, etc., wrote It's very detailed.

This is first-hand information, although it may not be completely accurate, but it is inexhaustible, because Zhou Shaofan can report freely without going through the hands of other departments and personnel, without much scruples.

Li Shimin looked through some other secret documents and various news, but there are always some news that can be corroborated by each other. After comprehensively combining the public memorials and reports from various places presented by the Zhengshitang, Li Shimin is very satisfied with the following You have a fairly clear understanding of the situation, and you don't have to worry about being deceived.

"I didn't expect that Qin Lang could really make a fuss. In the past half a year, he has captured more than 100,000 people from Liuqiu."

The emperor muttered to himself, and took out a folder from the bookshelf behind him, which contained some notes of the emperor himself. He opened the report comparing Qin Lang's previous performances.

Forget it, Qin Lang asked to hand over 200,000 guan, more than 5,000 slaves, and a lot of buckskin and camphor.

"It seems that this kid has given me 20% of the income."

The emperor got 20%, the court got 10%, the crown prince got 10%, the three major fleets got 30%, and the remaining 30% seemed to be in the hands of some people like Qin Lang.

However, Li Shimin just smiled, he knew that it was impossible for Qin Lang to swallow the 30% by himself, and many people divided the 30%.

This was expected. What he cared about was whether he took less of his share. Now it seems that Qin Lang is very disciplined.

Even his 20% may have taken a little more.

Of course, in the official report, there are completely different figures, but Li Shimin doesn't care about those.

Qin Lang stayed in Liuqiu for more than half a year without moving, and Li Shimin didn't urge him.

Judging from the various reports in the past six months, this Liuqiu Island is really a treasure. Qin Lang has been digging out treasures from there continuously, and he has also earned a lot of money.

The 100,000 population alone is enough to make the emperor tempted.

Although in fact a population of 100,000 is not too much, after all, in the past, there would always be some wars against the barbarians every three years or five years, and there would often be tens of thousands beheaded and tens of thousands captured. But no matter how many dead people there are, it doesn't make sense.

What Li Shimin cares about is the population in his pocket.

After all, when Datang counted household registration, it actually only counted good people with registered households, and any slave tribes in the past were not counted, and barbarians and the like were not counted at all even under the rule of Jiji.

Qin Lang is now constantly begging for captives from the outside world. Basically, the Pingdi Fan has been beaten terribly, but the Gaoshan Fan has not been touched for the time being.

Looking at the current population of 100,000, it is only a small part of Liuqiu Island, and there is still a lot of potential to be tapped in the future.

According to Qin Lang's public report to Chen, if the development of Liuqiu immigration is accelerated, then within ten years, Liuqiu will become a huge granary for the imperial court, and its grain output can reach that of Huainan.

Although Li Shimin suspects that this is an exaggeration, even if there is only one-third of Huainan, it is quite remarkable. The Fujian Road opposite Liuqiu has been closed because of the mountains and little land, so it has not been developed.

If Liuqiu really can produce so much grain, it can completely supply Fujian and provide food for the imperial court to further develop Fujian.

Fujian is mountainous but bordering the sea and has many excellent ports, suitable for shipbuilding and trade, while Liuqiu has many plains and lacks good ports. The two sides face each other across the sea and complement each other.

He picked up several reports from the Dianqian Division.

Looking at the current situation of the various forces on Liuqiu Island, there is no doubt that Qin Lang was the first to go to the island and had the upper hand. Now the Qin family has great advantages in Danshui, Penghu and other places, and they have mastered the island. Several major trades such as camphor incense, deerskin, and sulfur have now begun to enclose land on a large scale, building sugarcane gardens, cotton gardens, and growing rice.

The Qin family undoubtedly wanted to use the fertile fields there to increase sugar production and even develop the emerging cotton industry.

Of course, the Qin family did not completely eat alone, and now many nobles from the court and relatives have begun to flow into Liuqiu, and they are all running around to enclose land.

Not to mention anything else, the 100,000 Island Fans were a feast to be divided, and each family got a big piece of pastry.

There were also Hou Junji who did not deal with Qin Lang like this, did not find a chance to go in, and was turned away, so now he is extremely annoyed.

The emperor remembered the words of the Supreme Emperor again.

He stared at the Liuqiu map on the screen for a long time.

This place is even better than originally imagined. It would be a pity to give up on Wei Guoguo.

After much deliberation, he called Zong Zhengqing to come.

"I want to choose a nephew from the clan to be his heir for King Ai of Chu, which one do you think is suitable?"

Zong Zhengqing originally belonged to the royal family, and the seniority of the clan was high, and he was responsible for managing the royal family. Of course, he knew very well about the royal family, but the Li Tang clan was actually very big.

Counting from Li Hu's generation alone, there are a lot of descendants. After all, Li Hu gave birth to eight sons, and each of the eight sons gave birth to a bunch of sons. This generation has been done for five generations.

The number of staff is over a hundred.

This is not counting Li Hu's cousins ​​and other clans.

Zong Zhengqing was very surprised to find an heir for Li Kuan. The reason was that when Li Kuan was in Wude, he directly adopted Li Zhiyun, the fifth son of the Supreme Emperor, but he died of illness within a few years of adoption. So simply get rid of the country. Later, the emperor felt that his brother Zhiyun was also a brother after all, and he took care of the emperor's face, so he found a clan Li Linggui for his successor Zhiyun.

"Sage, there is a suitable one for the Changfang branch, Li Yuanzhang."

Li Yuanzhang is the great-grandson of Li Yanbo and the grandson of Li Hu.

Li Yanbo belonged to the branch of Li Hu's eldest son, and was the second grandson of Li Zhaozhong, the second son of his eldest son Li Yanbo.

Li Yanbo also died early back then, so it was the turn of the third eldest son, Li Zong, to take over the Dukedom of Tang. Li Zong also died early, and the title passed to his fourth son, Li Yuan.

Li Yuan became the emperor, and the throne passed to his second son, Li Shimin.

In terms of seniority, this Li Yuanzhang is Li Shimin's nephew and grandson, so it is very appropriate for Li Kuan to adopt him.

"Li Yuanzhang? Good name, how old is he, and how is his conduct?"

"Returning to the Holy Lord, Li Yuanzhang is eight years old this year. He is studying in the Hongwen Library. He is very smart and has a gentle personality."

Zong Zhengqing told the emperor that Li Yuanzhang's grandfather, Li Zhaozhong, was the prefect of Nanyang during the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Li Yuanzhang's father served as Secretary Cheng.

"Resigned?"

"Well, Li Yuanzhang is his youngest son."

Although Li Zhaozhong was of the same generation as Li Yuan, but because he belonged to the Changfang, he had already served as the prefect in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The Changfang branch was a generation older than Li Yuan's branch.

"Changed the posthumous designation of King Ai of Chu to King Ai of Yue. He was succeeded by Li Yuanzhang, the patriarchal family. He was named King of Yue. He was brought into the palace by the birth mother Liu Meiren of King Ai of Yue.