Chapter 256 Night visit

Time flies, three years have passed in a flash. The Lantern Festival of the eighth year of Tianbao has just ended. It was a cold night. The sky was clear and the dark blue curtain was opened in the sky. Countless stars were attached to the curtain, flashing and blinking. A narrow jade river crossed the sky, and was filled with countless shiny fragments.

"Dad, is that the Galaxy?"

In the yard, Li Tingyue raised her pink face and carefully searched for the legendary Cowherd and Weaver Girl. Although the cold air at night made her hands and feet frozen to the point of purple, she still refused to give up.

"You will see it on the seventh day of the seventh month."

Li Qing walked over with a smile. He was thirty-two years old this year. The years made his face more profound. There were only three short wisps of black beard left on his jaw. His eyes were clear and filled with a smile. He picked up his daughter and carried it on his neck. "The yard is cold, let's go back to the house."

Li Tingyue held his father's head with his little hand, and still looked up at the sky unwillingly, muttering: "On the seventh day of the seventh month, is the Cowherd going to cross the Milky Way by stepping on the magpies? The magpies are so pitiful."

The room was extremely warm. A huge and thick bed of sour jujube wood arhats occupied almost half of the room. Zhao Lian (the full name of Lian'er) was leaning against the cushion and busy sewing small clothes. Although she was only three months pregnant, the experienced midwife had already concluded that her baby was a boy. So Zhao Lian, who was determined to leave the Li family, got busy early.

At her feet, Xiaoyu was lying on the small table to check the accounts carefully. She was the financial director of the Li family. All the money and goods in the house and the store had to be reviewed by her. Next to her was Li Jingyan who was leisurely reading. She was Li Qing's wife, but she did not have an open identity. Her open identity was a nun from Ganye Temple. Perhaps as time passed, she would eventually disappear into people's memories.

"Who do you know what the Weaver Girl looks like?"

As soon as he entered the door, Li Tingyue yelled and the quiet room immediately became lively. "And there is also Cowherd, do you know how heavy he is?"

"Ask your dad this question."

Zhao Liang didn't raise his eyelids, "Your father is the Cowherd, and the Weaver Girl is in Nanzhao!"

Li Tingyue blinked her eyes and suddenly clapped her hands and smiled, "By the way! Isn't Aunt Wan's mother the Queen Mother? She took the chopsticks and whispered, oh! It was a big river that separated Dad and Aunt Wan."

"It's a hairpin, not a chopstick!"

Li Yan put down the book, stood up and hugged Xiao Tingyue off Li Qing's neck, and smiled and said, "Little clever, can you sleep with Sanniang tonight?"

"Sister Jingyan, you are not... tonight..."

Xiaoyu, who was burying her head to settle the accounts, suddenly raised her head and asked Li Jingyan in surprise.

"Who cares about him? His hair has not been washed for three days. It is greasy and it is so uncomfortable."

Li Jingyan gave Li Qing a blank look, leaned into Xiaoyu's ear and laughed in a low voice: "My good thing is coming, and it will be a bargain for you!"

Xiaoyu's face flushed and she pushed Li Jingyan away, "You guy, are getting more and more inappropriate."

"I want to listen to what you are saying," a little head suddenly popped up, and Li Tingyue put his ears on Li Jingyan's mouth. Seeing that Li Jingyan stopped talking, she was so anxious that she shouted: "Sanniang said something good was there just now, I heard it!"

Li Jingyan was embarrassed. She secretly glanced at Li Qing. Seeing that his face was smiling strangely, she couldn't help but hugging Li Tingyue on her lap, "Don't ask, are there men here? Only women can hear some words, come! Sanniang tells you a story."

"This is our women's business, what are you listening to?" Li Tingyue waved to Li Qing as she impatiently looked, and said in her breasts: "Go! Go! Go! Go to your study, don't eavesdrop here."

"Call me to the study? You unscrupulous little guy!"

Li Qing gritted his teeth and grimaced at his daughter. In the end, he couldn't help laughing, laughed loudly, and left with his hands behind his back.

In the eighth year of Tianbao, Li Qing had been serving as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue for some years. According to the normal promotion system of the Tang Dynasty, he would either be promoted or transferred at a moderate time. In recent years, his assessments were all middle and upper-level. In theory, he should be promoted to the Minister of Personnel, or transferred to Shangzhou as the governor. After another round or even shorter, he could be transferred back to the court to be the Minister of the Shang Dynasty. Of course, it is relatively easy to promote officials under the sixth rank, and the more they are, the more difficult it is. Many officials stayed above the sixth rank all their lives, especially those who did not have fame and honor, who could only achieve the sixth rank.

In recent years, his new salt administration has been on the right track. Not only salt, but since the previous year, iron has also implemented a monopoly system. The headquarters of the Salt and Iron Supervision Commission was then moved to the prosperous Yangzhou. The tax revenue of the Salt and Iron Supervision gradually became the main source of income for the court.

Among them, only one piece of salt tax brought the court 6 million chunks of fiscal revenue last year, completely reversing the embarrassment of the state's treasury's inability to make ends meet.

However, Li Qing's other reform, namely the establishment of a central bank and the establishment of a government cabinet, has encountered great opposition and resistance from the local government. After three years of piloting, it was not fully launched. Even Li Longji, who originally supported him, gradually became ambiguous because of the abundant treasury.

The changes in personnel are basically not big. Li and Zhang still control the government affairs, but there are subtle changes, mainly because Yang Guozhong and Pei Party formed an alliance. He was once again appointed as Jingzhao Yin, and the former Jingzhao Yin Pei Shiyan was transferred to the Imperial College Supervisor. The power of the Pei Party has increased greatly and has been able to compete with the Prime Minister and the Zhang Qiu Party.

Li Qing quickly walked through the middle gate. He was indeed in trouble. The income and expenditure statements from various places had been sent to the court one after another. The Ministry of Revenue was busy with statistics and review work. Although Li Qing did not have specific operations, he also served as the Minister of Taifu Temple. This was a pragmatic position. A large amount of expense application required him to sign and approve it before it could be executed.

There was a study in front. Li Qing turned around, but saw the gatekeeper almost rolling and crawling, "Master, Zhang Qiu Xiangguo is here, I have something to do to find the master."

Li Qing was slightly stunned. It was already late at night. Zhang Qiu Jianqiong looked for him at this time. What would happen? He immediately thought of the recent abnormal movement in the court. Li Longji publicly stated at the New Year banquet that he had the idea of ​​abdicating to be the Supreme Emperor. Then the market for Prince Li Heng was immediately bullish, and the East Palace, which had already fallen into the door, became lively again.

Many ministers believed that Li Longji was not whining without any reason. In fact, his health was getting worse and worse, and he had less and less time to meet the court officials. There was even news that Li Longji fainted in the imperial study room, so it was reasonable for him to publicly express his intention to abdicate.

But Li Qing didn't think so. On the fifth day of Tianbao, he planned the game of protecting the prince. Although he finally succeeded in playing the tragic card, he knew very well in his heart that the fundamental reason was that Li Longji changed his mind temporarily, and something unexpected must have happened in the middle.

Li Qing couldn't guess what the specific thing was. He asked Gao Lishi several times, but he smiled and refused to answer, but one thing he could be sure of was that the prince's danger had not passed, but was covered up by Li Longji's singing and dancing.

Time did not allow Li Qing to think about it carefully. He hurriedly went out of the mansion and bowed to Zhang Qiu Jianqiong, who was standing with his hands behind his back, and said, "I hope my teacher will forgive me if I am late!"

Li Qing is no longer a young official, but over the years, he has always maintained a low-key and humble attitude towards Zhang Qiu Jianqiong, which made him very satisfied. He has always regarded Li Qing as his right-hand man.

"Haha! I should apologize for disturbing Yangming's rest late at night."

Zhang Qiu Jianqiong patted Li Qing's back intimately, "Let's go! Go to your study, say a few words and I'll leave, and I'm really sleepy."

Li Qing invited him into his study room and instructed the guards to inspect it strictly and not allow anyone to approach the study room. He carefully closed the door. When he turned around, he saw Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's face full of joy. He took out a memorial from his arms and handed it to Li Qing, and said excitedly: "Xianning Governor Zhao Fengzhang impeached Li Linfu to occupy nearly 10,000 acres of land in Xianning, which aroused local civil unrest, and many people have been killed or injured."

"My mentor means......"

Li Qing took the memorial and looked through it. There was no criticism on it. He suddenly realized that Zhao Fengzhang was probably doing it on order. He quickly glanced at Zhang Qiu Jianqiong, and saw that there was a smug look in his eyes, and he couldn't help but shake his head secretly. Zhang Qiu Jianqiong took action at this time, and the time seemed to be inappropriate. Moreover, the land issue was sensitive. Using the land issue as a breakthrough, no one could be immune to it. Thinking of this, Li Qing felt a move in his heart. Could it be that Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's real purpose was to reform the land? It is very likely that solving the land issue has always been Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's political goal.

He asked again without saying a word: "The emperor proposed abdication more than ten days ago. What do you think of the mentor?"

Zhang Qiujianqiong smiled slightly and sat down first. He picked up the jade paperweight on Li Qing's table and played with it carefully for a long time before sighing: "This is the paperweight given to you by the emperor! I saw it when I was summoned by the emperor more than ten years ago. The emperor gave it to you. What a favor, but you put it on the table at will, underestimating the emperor's intentions."

He raised his eyes and shot Li Qing directly, saying without any concealment: "Yes, Zhao Fengzhang did it on my order. Of course, I know that the emperor's abdication was just a temptation, and it was not really intended to abdicate. It is precisely because of this that I want to take advantage of the opportunity when the emperor wanted to do things to defeat Li Linfu."

"Does the teacher think what the emperor wants to do is targeting Li Linfu?"

Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's eyes gradually narrowed, and a sneer appeared on his fat cheeks, "The emperor has started to make arrangements since Tianbao's fifth year of supporting Pei Dang, and gradually weakened Li Linfu. Then Yang Guozhong retreated first and advanced, Pei Kuan served as the Minister of Personnel, and joined forces with the two to form an alliance. Isn't this trying to let Pei Dang replace the Prime Minister? The emperor has been enduring for three years, and suddenly spoke this year, and the prince is indifferent and is completely flawless, so he nominally refers to the position of Grand Duke. In fact, what he wants to do is Li Linfu."

Li Qing smiled faintly and said, "So his mentor wants to sacrifice Zhao Fengzhang. Will you remove the ladder he has come down when Li Linfu is arrogant enough?"

A hint of surprise flashed in Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's eyes, and she sighed with a sigh: "I didn't expect that after all these years, you have seen the problem more thoroughly, and you can actually see the back of me. It's not simple! Then you might as well guess what my other purpose is?"

Li Qing did not answer. He stood up and walked to the window, gently pushed open the window, and a cold wind blew in his face. The wind was still filled with Li Tingyue's cheerful and carefree laughter. He knew in his heart that Zhang Qiu Jianqiong was referring to land reform, but he also had plans this year. He wanted to take advantage of the ample treasury to gradually change the way the farmers in the Tang Dynasty paid from physical goods to currency. This would be an epoch-making event for the development of the Tang Dynasty's commodity economy, but at this critical moment, Zhang Qiu Jianqiong suddenly wanted to attack the land.

Seeing that he was silent, Zhang Qiu Jianqiong slowly walked to him and sighed: "I am almost sixty years old. When Li Linfu fell, I should be promoted to the Grand Tutor's position at home. But I have been the Left Prime Minister for these years, but I have failed in one thing. I am really unwilling to accept it!"

He turned his head and stared at Li Qing with a bright look, and said in an extremely firm tone: "Yangming, the national treasury has saved nearly 8 million chunks of money, but the silk grain is thin. This is because the land loss situation of farmers has reached its limit. If we do not take action to stop the wind of land annexation and the wind of slavery, we may be in danger of the foundation of our Tang Dynasty!"

"What will the mentor do?"

Seeing that he did not object, Zhang Qiu Jianqiong couldn't help but feel excited and said, "If Li Linfu was overthrown by the land affairs, then I can take this east wind to do a few more major cases, shocking all officials, and then re-investigate the land, and use the method of clearance or redemption to restore the farmers' possession of the land to the level of the 21st year of Kaiyuan. Of course, things are not that simple. I must first get the support of the emperor."

Li Qing shook his head in his heart. How could he use a hundred years of disadvantages to treat them? This involves the vital interests of many people, especially Li Longji is addicted to singing and dancing every day, and the spirit of reform has long been lost. Although he will use this matter to defeat Li Linfu, it is difficult for him to really attack the land. The best time to solve this matter is to ascend the new emperor, but.

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Li Qing glanced at Zhang Qiu Jianqiong's silver hair and unrestrained determination in his eyes. He understood his urgency to do something big. He sighed and said tactfully: "Mr., this matter is too risky. Why not let me come forward. The mentor will command you later."

Zhang Qiujian thrust his waist and a bold spirit ignited in his chest. He patted Li Qing on the shoulder and said with relief: "I appreciate your kindness, but it is because of the great risk that I decided to take action myself. If I fail, I will go home to retire. You will continue to do it for me. In life, if I can't do something big, how can I keep my eyes open in the nine fountains!"
Chapter completed!