Tibet

On December 29th, the day before New Year's Eve, the imperial court was already on vacation. From this year onwards, it would be a holiday until the fourth day of the first lunar month, and the court would officially start on the fifth day of the first lunar month.

Li Ye knew that everyone was suffering from ancestor worship, so he changed the New Year's Day to be held on the fifth day of the first lunar month, canceled the New Year's banquet, and distributed tens of thousands of sheep to officials in the form of welfare.

Most families worship their ancestors at Yin time on New Year's Eve, relying on a good night's sleep to replenish their energy.

But the officials couldn't sleep, waiting for dawn to start the New Year's Day. Therefore, during the New Year's Day, the officials were all listless and yawning all the time.

There will be a New Year's banquet immediately afterwards. Can the officials not get drunk? Downing a few glasses of wine is a huge devastation to your health.

Although this tweak is small, it is significant and breaks many stereotypes that everyone has been overwhelmed with.

Everyone has already had opinions on the New Year's Day, but no one dared to say more.

Li Ye changed it, which aroused rave reviews from the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.

The second detailed modification is the time for going to court. The traditional time for going to court is Mao Shizheng, which is exactly six o'clock, which means that you have to get up at five o'clock, wash up, have breakfast, and then change clothes and go to the court.

This is mainly to rush to the morning meeting, that is, the court meeting. After the court meeting ends at about 8:30, it does not affect the handling of official business in the morning.

But if the shadow does not affect the body, the emperor will not consider it.

What's more important is what the imperial court does when it holds a court meeting. To put it bluntly, it's just eye candy. A certain official goes out to report directly to the emperor. Have you reported it to your superiors? Have you reported to the prime minister?

Going directly to the emperor to report to the emperor, bypassing the superiors and prime ministers, isn't this an eyesore?

If it were really a major national event, it would not be the turn of the petty officials to report to the emperor, but the prime minister should report to the emperor.

The early dynasty was more about mutual attacks between several departments and several power groups. Therefore, the early dynasty has not accomplished much since ancient times, but it has caused a lot of conflicts.

Of course, the emperor liked this and liked the internal fighting among the ministers, so the real purpose of holding the morning court was just a way for the emperor to provoke internal fighting.

Li Ye also made some changes. First of all, instead of going to the morning court every day, the normal time for going to the court was changed to two quarters of the morning hour, which is half past eight.

The nine prime ministers and assistant ministers of the Zhengshi Hall will gather in the Zhengshi Hall every morning to discuss and vote on some major political affairs, and then go back to the court room to start the day's administration.

Of course, Li Ye's court also had morning court, three times a month, starting at around 6:30 and ending at 8:30.

But the early dynasty was not a great dynasty in the sense of a court, but only a Chinese dynasty. Officials of fifth rank and above participated, discussed major decisions, and finally voted.

Such major military affairs as abolition of slavery, tax reform, disaster relief, expeditions to Liaodong, Nanzhao, the Western Regions, etc. were all implemented after discussions and votes between China and North Korea.

This is also the political system designed by Li Ye, a kind of power control over the political hall.

What Li Ye is thinking about is that a hundred years from now, if one of his descendants is weak in the future, he is likely to have a strong and powerful prime minister after he ascends the throne. The powerful prime minister will deceive the superiors and subordinates, and make many major decisions that are detrimental to the country. So who will check and balance him?

Of course, this kind of China-North Korea system will also cause procrastination, but no system can be perfect. The key is to give mid-level and high-level officials a channel to express their power, and use anonymous voting to bring together the will of all mid-level and high-level officials. , forming a powerful voice.

If the decision-making by Baihutang as a major military incident has not been discussed and voted by China and North Korea, the compliance review of Baihutang will not be passed. If the Baihutang's audit seal cannot be affixed, the law will not be formed and cannot be implemented.

Many tragedies in history could have been avoided in the early stage, but due to the inaction or indiscriminate actions of those in power, chaos finally broke out.

In the study, Li Ye was explaining some necessary political concepts to his son Li Tan.

“Governing the people is like governing the river. If a flood comes and there is no way or no time to seal it, and the embankment is about to burst, what should we do?

The correct approach is to release the flood. Find a place that is not very important, remove the levee, and let the flood flow out. This way, an important area with dense population and rich land can be preserved. If we can change the course of the Yellow River this year, if we can do it earlier, By releasing floods in Dizhou, the wealthy Bozhou and Beizhou can be saved. The lesson is profound! "

Li Ye sighed and said: "I agree. If a place is hit by a disaster and it is difficult for the court to provide relief, what should we do? Then we need to find a rich place to relieve the victims so that the victims can have food to eat. This can avoid The victims broke out in an uprising in despair. You understand why it is said that disaster relief is very important. The court must be quick and timely. This is not only a matter of keeping the victims alive, but more importantly, it is to prevent the victims from serious political unrest and being criticized by some. Used by people with ulterior motives.”

Li Tan nodded, "I understand my father's teachings."

Li Ye smiled again and said: "Last time you asked my father why he wanted to conquer the surrounding small countries, was it your husband who asked you to ask?"

"No, our school is discussing this issue. No one can understand it. Many classmates say that Datang is showing off its power."

Li Ye pondered for a moment and smiled: "Chang'an people have a bad habit when they are sick. After taking medicine, they like to pour the medicine residue on the road and let passers-by step on it. Their purpose is to let passers-by take away the disease, and their own illness will be cured. Of course , this is impossible to achieve.

My father also made a metaphor, as if he transferred the disease of the Tang Dynasty to the surrounding small countries, his own body would be healthy.

First of all, our Tang Dynasty’s conquests were not to show off our power, but the Tang Dynasty’s finances had collapsed in the late period of the An-Shi Rebellion. The people had been exploited and could no longer bear the taxes. What should we do? At that time, my father used the method of exchanging land for finances to give the court a little blood transfusion, but it was far from enough. Even if the savings of the entire Helong Jiedufu were taken out, it could not fill the bottomless hole in the court’s finances.

What should we do? The only way is to launch wars abroad and plunder the wealth of other small countries to fill the finances. This is how we use war to pass on the pain to the princes and nobles of the surrounding small countries. Why does the court not oppose foreign conquests? Everyone has a tacit understanding.

Now that the court’s finances have a strong foundation, we can implement a very low tax rate on the Tang Dynasty, exempt most of the taxes, allow the people to recuperate, breed population, and the Tang Dynasty can quickly recover. "

Speaking of this, Li Ye sighed and said: "Father also knows that it is not righteous to do so, but the world is originally a jungle world. If you want to survive, you must eat weaker beasts. If you only talk about righteousness, you can't bear to eat this one and kill that one. When the stronger beast comes, you will be powerless to resist. The weak beasts before will definitely follow the big beast to eat you. Although they also know that they will be eaten by the big beast in the end, they don't care about the future and just want to have a full meal in front of them. "

"Father's teachings, I remember them in my heart!"

"And abolishing slavery, why is father determined to abolish slavery? Father will tell you two numbers and you will know. Five years ago, the court counted the population and found that there were only 38 million people in the world, and in the first year of Tianbao, the population was 48 million, a full reduction of 10 million.

But three months ago, the court conducted another population census and the world's population actually became 43 million, an increase of 5 million people. What do you think is the reason?"

"Abolish slavery! "Li Tan blurted out.

Li Ye nodded, "Since the abolition order was issued two years ago, a large number of hidden slaves have been liberated. If it continues to be strictly enforced, by the end of next year, the population will basically be restored to 48 million. There is a natural increase in the population, but more are hidden slaves. "

Li Tan sighed: "In this way, how many slaves were hidden in the Tang Dynasty before!"

Li Ye nodded, "That's the problem. The problem of slavery in the Tang Dynasty is too serious. The rich and powerful, the officials and nobles, the local government, the temples and Taoist temples are all holding slaves. How many people's interests are involved in this, now is the best opportunity. If the father does not do it and does not solve it, you and your descendants will not be able to solve it.

"Son, I understand!"

Li Ye patted his son's shoulder, "You are growing up now. Go to the Political Affairs Hall every day in the future and listen to the ministers' discussions in the Political Affairs Hall. You will learn more."

"Son obeys the order!"