At this time, Li Dai suddenly realized Zhang Jun's trap, and he quickly shouted: "Your Majesty, I still need to explain something, please allow your Majesty!"
Li Longji nodded, "You say it!"
Li Dai explained: "Reporting to Your Majesty, Wei Chen did get the evidence of Yuan Mile and others' rebellion at the end, but that was just evidence, but Wei Chen didn't realize that they were going to rebel until the end.
In fact, Weichen discovered the other party's sinister intentions during the negotiation. Yuan Mile put forward the conditions for the establishment of a peasant autonomous association in Yunyang County and asked the government to withdraw from Yunyang County. Weichen realized that they were going to rebel. On the one hand, Weichen
Pretending to negotiate with them and stabilizing them, on the one hand, he sent leader Peng Haiyan to rush to the capital to report the news.
Your Majesty, Chief Secretary Liu Yan and Chief Catcher Peng Haiyan are relevant witnesses, and they have also been specially approved to attend the court meeting. They are in the back, and Your Majesty can question them."
Li Longji winked at the eunuch next to him, who immediately shouted: "Xuan Liu Yan and Peng Haiyan came to the palace to testify!"
Liu Yan and Peng Haiyan were standing at the end. They heard Li Dai's words clearly. They knelt down and paid homage. Liu Yan said: "Report to Your Majesty, what Li Shaoyin said is correct. Wei Chen was responsible for recording and recorded the negotiation process in detail.
Wei Chen also realized that the other party was going to rebel."
Peng Haiyan also said: "Li Shaoyin ordered the villain to rush back to the capital immediately to report that the other party was planning to rebel. The villain climbed out from the transom behind the warehouse and met General Li at the gate of the manor. I explained the situation to him, and he said that there were only a few hundred people.
There is no need to alert the army to the rebels, he can deal with them by himself."
These words were so domineering that there was an uproar in the main hall. The ministers talked one after another. Lu Xuan, the imperial censor in the palace, shouted loudly: "Please keep silence in the court!"
The hall suddenly became quiet. Li Longji nodded, "I understand. You guys should go aside first. I will need your testimony later. Wei Xiangguo, continue with the second agenda!"
Even though the article about holding the government accountable was passed, Zhang Jun became a little anxious and winked fiercely at Chen Xilie who was standing next to him. Chen Xilie glanced at Yang Guozhong and saw that Yang Guozhong had no expression on his face and said nothing, so Chen Xilie also closed his mouth.
In fact, Zhang Jun attacked Li Dai, and Yang Guozhong did not agree very much, because it would implicate Jingzhao Yin Xian and Zhongtong, and there were also differences within the Yang family. Yang Guozhong simply pretended not to know and asked Zhang Jun and Zheng Ang to bite Li Dai and his son.
.
Wei Jiansu said slowly: "The second topic is about preventing the second Yunyang incident from happening. As a minister, Wei Chen will talk about this matter!"
Li Longji nodded, "Wei Xiangguo, please tell me!"
Wei Jiansu walked to the middle of the hall and said: "Actually, Li Shaoyin has made it very clear just now. Starting from August, pests and diseases have seriously reduced the autumn harvest by 30%, which is unbearable for farmers. Weichen has specially sent people to investigate various parts of Guanzhong these days.
Qizhou is slightly better, with only a 10% reduction in the autumn harvest. However, the counties in Jingzhao Prefecture, as well as Huazhou and Tongzhou, have very serious pests and diseases this year. The most serious one is not Yunyang County, but Fengxian County. The autumn harvest is
A sharp drop of 40%.
There have been signs of farmers gathering in various places to demand rent and tax reductions. Thousands and tens of thousands of people have gathered in more than a dozen counties. Wei Chen is very worried that those desperadoes will take advantage of the opportunity to make moves.
We have suppressed a Yuan Miltreya, and Sun Miltreya, Zhao Miltreya and others will definitely appear, so Weichen takes this opportunity to strongly suggest that your Majesty immediately issue an order to reduce rents and tax exemptions to prevent a rebellion in Guanzhong."
Why are rent cuts and tax cuts being mentioned now? In fact, Wei Jiansu had mentioned it a long time ago, but it was not approved by the Political Affairs Hall, and Yang Guozhong did not agree to tax cuts. Moreover, Yang Guozhong's reasons were very sufficient, and there was no evidence to prove that other places had also seriously reduced production.
Wei Jiansu also knew that if he proposed a plan again in the Political Affairs Hall, it would most likely not be passed, so he used the Great Court Meeting to make decisions and directly bypassed the Political Affairs Hall.
This is also a characteristic of the Great Court Meeting. Once there is no strong opposition from the ministers and the emperor makes a decision at the Great Court Meeting, there is no need to vote through the Political Hall, which is also a recognition of the monarch's power.
Li Longji nodded and asked Prince Li Hengdao: "What do you think, Prince?"
Li Heng bowed and said: "Reporting to the emperor, I believe that the country is the most important thing and agree with Wei Xiangguo's suggestion. However, the court can reduce the tax burden, but the rent is related to private property. I am willing to set an example. All the estates in my name are
All rent is free this year.”
Li Heng made this move very cleverly. He took action against himself. He first took advantage of morality and forced his father to follow. Once his father followed, it would be logical for him to reduce rents and tax exemptions.
Li Long basically wanted to ask Yang Guozhong again and let Yang Guozhong make a formal decision as the right prime minister, but he was worried that Yang Guozhong would oppose Wei Jiansu and say that the finances were insufficient, which was a bit untenable morally.
Li Longji nodded and said: "Your Majesty said it very well. As the saying goes, the people are more important than the emperor, and the country is more important. Naturally, I will not let the majority of Guanzhong subjects live in poverty. I agree to reduce taxes, at least by 50%. In addition,
I declare that the entire Imperial Villa will be rent-free this year."
All the ministers bowed and praised, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Li Longji smiled and nodded, "Everyone is a little sleepy, let's speed up and move on to the third agenda!"
Wei Jiansu said loudly: "The third item on the agenda is the case of Yunhui General Li Ye impeaching Yunhui General Li Ye for the indiscriminate killing of innocent people at Wanma Manor in Yunyang County. Please make statements from both sides!"
Of course, this is not the first time that an impeachment case has been discussed at a court meeting, but usually it is Yushitai officials or other admonishing officials who directly propose impeachment at the court meeting. It is more of a surprise tactic, but after impeachment, they can get it again
This is the first time for discussion in the court meeting.
Generally speaking, when the impeachment document is submitted to the imperial court, it will either be directly approved by the emperor and the impeachment will be successful, but more often than not, the emperor will approve a joint trial of the three departments or three departments, or it will be rejected directly, and it is never said that it will be received by the court.
discussed above.
Many ministers smelled something different, and the emperor had an ambiguous attitude towards this impeachment case.
Zheng Ang also felt that the emperor's attitude was unclear, but he had no choice. He only carried out the impeachment at the instruction of Yang Guozhong. Without Yang Guozhong's consent, he did not dare to revoke the impeachment, especially now that the impeachment process had reached the court meeting. If the impeachment failed, the government would
It seriously affected his career.
Zheng Ang came out of the queue, bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, I have investigated and found out that the five hundred guards of the Maitreya Sect are not Yuan Maitreya's followers, but he hired them temporarily at a high price. They are just ruffians from this county. Take some."
They were just living for money, and they deserved death, but they were brutally massacred and killed innocent people indiscriminately. This is really not what a Tang general should do."
Zheng Ang was not stupid at all. He knew that the generals of the Tang Dynasty killed many people. Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty killed countless people. None of the founding generals had their hands stained with blood.
Therefore, Zheng Ang attributed Li Ye's killing behavior to the words "killing innocents indiscriminately".
Li Ye sneered and said: "Abusi's men are not ruffians, but honest and kind-hearted herdsmen. What crime deserves death, and they are not massacred by the Tang army. How do you explain it?"
Zheng Ang glared at Li Ye and said, "That's different? You are a herdsman in normal times, but you are an enemy on the battlefield. You have nothing to do with the herdsmen."
Li Ye smiled and said: "What's the difference? Do you think that hundreds of people holding spears, bows and crossbows are eyeing the court officials, they are on an autumn outing?"
The hall burst into laughter, and Li Longji also burst into laughter. This boy is really good at talking!
Zheng Ang's face turned red and he said: "The warehouse is not a battlefield. They didn't kill anyone, they were just maintaining order. Before the court convicted them, they were just a religious group. Because they faced hundreds of thousands of believers, they recruited
It's normal to have more samurai. There are hundreds of thousands of believers gathered in Wanma Manor, and five hundred samurai maintain order. Isn't it normal? You want to massacre them indiscriminately. Isn't this indiscriminate killing of innocent people? What is it?
"
This chapter has been completed!