In the first month of the first month, it snowed twice again in Chang'an. While people were shivering from the cold, they still comforted themselves by saying that the auspicious snow heralds a good harvest.
Despite the cold weather, during the Lantern Festival, things are more lively inside and outside the palace than at New Year's Eve.
Especially in the palace, many lanterns were set up. This custom has been around for hundreds of years, mainly due to the gradual rise of Buddhism in the Central Plains.
Buddhists light lanterns to worship Buddha at night, so Buddhist believers put up lanterns to pray to the gods on this night. In addition, the origin of Shangyuan Festival is influenced by Taoism.
It can be seen from this that people in the Central Plains are accustomed to worshiping gods. As long as you have an origin, everyone wants to worship. If the gods are confused, they will become holy.
The queen hosted a banquet in the palace for all the ladies of the country to gather together. According to what was later said, it was a state banquet, and it was a very happy event.
There are twenty-four ladies of the country who are alive and recognized by the new dynasty, and seven of them are bedridden. Queen Xiao naturally refused to come, so only sixteen people attended the banquet, plus the three ladies in the palace,
The imperial concubine Ashina Rongzhen and the queen herself were present, a total of twenty-one persons.
These are the most noble women in the new dynasty. There are fewer of them, and the ladies from the outer dynasties are also older. The youngest is Mrs. Chen from the Jin Dynasty, which shows that the new dynasty has a weak foundation.
I think the situation will be different in two years. According to the scale of this year's reward, there will be more ladies in a few years. It's hard to say about the country ladies, but there will definitely be a large number of county ladies.
Naturally, Li Po didn't join in the fun. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a day for family reunion, he didn't summon his ministers to get together. That was too annoying.
So I could only hide in the Manlu Hall alone to handle official duties, which was quite miserable.
In the second half of the first month, the ministers should also go to work. The main task of the court is no different from last year, which is to prepare for various affairs this year.
The war is not over yet, and there is no movement from Du Fuwei's side. Li Po's plan is that after this year's spring plowing, if there is no reply from the other side, or the reply is more intense, then it will be a foregone conclusion to send troops to attack.
The main force attacking Du Fuwei will be Li Jing and Yu Chigong's troops, who will go down the river and march to the left... Three consecutive years of large-scale troop movements will inevitably cause problems of one kind or another.
For example, soldiers are homesick and war-weary, leading to low morale, chaos in the supply of food and grass, or instability in the rear, etc.
Therefore, both Li Po and the ministers in the court felt that the war should be completely ended this year, but can it really be achieved? Li Po was not sure.
Du Fuwei's navy was not a vegetarian. He inherited a large amount of the essence of the former Sui navy. A naval battle with Du Fuwei would definitely be a disaster. It is said that this man was very prestigious in Jiangzuo. Compared with Xiao Mian, except for having fewer soldiers, he did not
Not bad at all, even better.
Dou Jiande is easier to say. In Xuchang last winter, more than 100,000 Xia troops asked to surrender on the spot. Dou Jiande may not have the ability to mount a more fierce resistance.
But this person is likely to lure the Turks southward, so we have to be on guard.
These are all top priorities, but there is nothing to say. If they don't surrender, they will fight. The stronger will win. If he relaxes at this moment and creates a situation where data is separated, it would be a joke.
The headache that caused him actually happened after the war. The war lasted for too long. Although the achievements of unifying the world were dazzling, how to clean up the mess was the most realistic problem before the victors.
For example, if three families return to Jin, what will be the final outcome? Can Jin be regarded as a unified and stable dynasty? Can the emperors of the Jin Dynasty be regarded as the common rulers of the world?
The situation that Li Po faced after Li Po was indeed somewhat similar to that in the early Jin Dynasty. The world was slightly settled, but it was already in dire straits, the population dropped sharply, and people's livelihood was in decline.
Moreover, people have experienced war for a long time, and it is not easy to settle down. The large separatist forces have been eliminated, and there are still small groups of remnants that are resisting.
Therefore, even if Du Fuwei and Dou Jiande are successfully pacified, the task of the local garrison for a long time to come will be to eliminate banditry and prevent the resurgence of resistance forces in various places.
Especially the ministers and generals of the princes, who have been kings and hegemons for too long, may make a noise if they make a mistake, hoping to see if they can get rich again.
Princes, generals and prime ministers would rather have their own kind.
There are signs of this in both Guanxi and Shu. If you are more lenient, some people will take advantage of the opportunity and want to test whether you are that soft-hearted. If you are more severe, some people will think that you are not worthy of loyalty and want to start a new business.
Would you say it is difficult?
Then there's the Turks in the north. Ashina Peony's visit has caused a lot of trouble for him, but now Quiet seems to have gone too far, and I don't know what he's up to.
This is a behemoth that must be guarded at all times. When the world is unified, how to deal with the Turks is also a big and challenging problem.
One after another, things appear in my mind, like a mess, intertwined and torn apart.
Feeling a little irritated, Li Po stood up in his clothes and wandered around the hall as usual.
The palace people poked their heads to take a look, but then retracted their heads. The deacon and eunuch looked at the order and brought a few more lanterns and hung them on the walls of the palace, making the palace much brighter.
Li Po slipped around twice and looked around, feeling a bit desolate.
I couldn't help but curse in my heart, damn it, other families are having reunions, and I am the emperor, why am I alone here wandering around in circles?
That's true, mother-in-law, what kind of guests are you inviting to a banquet on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month? You might as well have a couple of drinks with me honestly.
Maybe he was too resentful. Over there, the Queen, who was listening to music and dancing with the ladies, chatting and laughing, felt nauseous and almost vomited out. She couldn't help but cover her mouth quickly, so as not to behave in front of the ladies.
Show your ugliness.
Li Po naturally didn't realize anything, muttering about his mother-in-law's faults, sitting on the couch again, angrily ordering people to bring food and wine, and drank by himself in the Manna Hall.
After drinking a few drinks to calm down my mood, I asked the palace attendants to bring in a low table and put it on with pens, ink, paper and inkstones.
He thought about it for a while and then wrote the word "people's livelihood".
Next is agriculture, there are few people, there is a lot of land, and grain production is insufficient. Below is the small print mark.
Encourage childbirth. Males should be aged up to sixteen, then crossed out and changed to fifteen. They can take wives and take concubines. Those who have three or more children will have their taxes halved.
Improve production efficiency, try to increase the yield per mu, distribute cattle on a large scale, innovate working equipment, build water conservancy, roads, ditches, etc., reward inventions and creations, especially in agriculture, and find high-yielding crops. Although corn is available, it is really difficult.
eat.
To reform the tax law and let the nobles pay taxes, it is best to replace the Ding tax with land tax and let them divide their families. It is not easy to handle, but we must work hard to do it.
Relocate the population, lower the army in Henan to serve the people on the spot, distribute land to meritorious soldiers, release criminals and surrender them as prisoners. We will start with the wealthy families in Henan and encourage the wealthy families in Henan to return to their homeland. With them taking the lead, many people should have some ideas.
Forced relocation is not allowed as it may easily lead to rebellion.
It is also necessary to develop agriculture and business simultaneously. For commerce, the roads are blocked, bandits are unstoppable, businessmen are cunning, easy to hoard, bribe officials, collude with family members, and do evil things.
In small print, the merit examination of local ministers can focus on restoring people's livelihood, suppressing bandits, etc. It can also follow the example of the former Sui Dynasty and strictly prohibit local governments from setting up cards and excessive collection of commercial taxes.
Officials and their relatives are strictly prohibited from profiting from business. Once verified, they will be severely punished and Gao Shen will be killed to set an example.
There must be innovations on coins to facilitate business travel, but we cannot imitate Wang Mang.
Don't take too much care of them. Once everyone starts doing business, who will farm? Keep them in check every once in a while to enrich the national treasury.
As he wrote this, Li Po couldn't help but smile and praised his wisdom.
He didn't think much about business, and the ministers were not interested in it. He couldn't brainstorm ideas, so he had few ideas. Unlike before, people's livelihood was the issue that his ministers were most concerned about, and he had many suggestions. Most of what he wrote down
All come from the mouths of my subordinates.
Then he pondered for a moment and then wrote down the word craftsman.
There are many people, they focus on construction, and there are also many military people. The efficiency is extremely high, and the situation is gratifying.
Small characters, continue to expand the size of their group, minimize the influence of literati on them, and remind He Chou that his writing has been written for too long, and it is time for it to be published.
It can be used as a textbook to enlighten craftsmen.
Reversing the misunderstandings of craftsmen and allowing them to focus on people's livelihood can greatly promote agricultural development.
Continue to improve their social status and reward innovation.
…………………………
He wrote whatever came to mind. The night was getting deeper and the wine had been warmed several times. He was still writing furiously. When he stopped, there was already a thick stack next to him, and the results were quite gratifying.
Li Po put down his pen and stretched his somewhat stiff body. He thought he should let the craftsmen try making a quill first. Writing with a quill was too slow and tiring.
After drinking a few sips of wine and eating some food, he sat down at the table again and read page after page carefully. The context in his mind became clearer and clearer. If there was a historian here, he would know what the emperor was thinking.
Soon I will be able to write an article that will shock the world.
I don’t know how long it took, but I finished reading the last page. Li Po let out a long breath, raised his head and smiled proudly. He picked up the brush and wrote: "Those who do not plan for the future cannot plan for a moment. If they do not plan for the future, they will not plan for a while."
It’s not enough to think about the overall situation.”
Shamelessly, he summarized his thoughts, and it also meant that he had some long-term and practical plans.
"Come here, bring the brazier and burn all these."
The waiting palace attendants immediately appeared. Even if they felt strange, they would not ask why the emperor was like this. The deacons and eunuchs felt that it was a pity that the emperor had written for so long and burned them all. It would be better to reward them as a treasure of ink.
OK?
But he didn't dare to ask. Being able to be on duty at the Manna Hall was a blessing gained from his previous life. Once he lost his head, he would have nothing.
Li Po himself didn't think it was a pity. There were a lot of later vocabulary and grammar in it, which were incompatible with the contemporary world. Once someone saw it, they would feel it was particularly strange, and some strange rumors might spread.
So it's better to burn it down to save trouble.
This chapter has been completed!