He Chou was different from the literati of this era. His main profession was science and engineering, so he would not say something that Li Po couldn't understand like others from time to time.
Moreover, He Chou is old and has seen too many things. In addition, the elderly always like to get lost in memories, so you can always hear some stories from the past when chatting with He Chou.
For example, now, after He Chou calmed down, he talked to Li Po about the past when he, Liu Long, and Yu Wenkai supervised the construction of Daxing City. The main framework of Daxing City took one year and seven months.
The speed was so fast that even Yu Wenkai himself praised him repeatedly. Hearing this, Li Po laughed secretly. If it is true that He Chou supervised the construction of Luoyang City, then when he supervised the construction of Daxing City, He Chou probably just talked to others.
It's just a start.
But he is so old, so he has to be allowed to brag a little bit.
In one year and seven months, a large city like Chang'an was built. Construction started in the second year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign and was completed in the third year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign. Then Emperor Wen Yang Jian moved into the new city with his civil and military officials and many people.
Such a speed should really be admired. How many labors were used and how many people died during this period. It is conceivable that Li Po finally understood why Yang Guang liked building cities so much. It was inherited.
He Chou had the utmost respect for Yu Wenkai. Even though He Chou was very conceited about his achievements, he still felt that compared to Yu Wenkai, he was really inferior.
It is a pity that such a master craftsman met a foolish king like Yang Guang and died in depression. As a result, He Chou himself almost died in the war.
He Chou gets so angry when he thinks of these things that he has to nag for a while every time.
Li Poshen felt the same way. It was a pity for Yu Wenkai. Such a person might not be born in hundreds of years. He was much rarer than famous generals and ministers.
Talking about it, more than an hour passed before I knew it, the lights were lit in the hall, the wine had been warmed several times, and the tea had been boiled for a long time.
Li Po drank a lot of water, and his stomach started to growl whenever he moved. He had already decided in his heart that he would not come to Lao Hetou's house anymore...
He Chou was very excited about the conversation. He was still talking non-stop. But how many times did the topic change? He was finally pulled back by Mr. He.
He began to talk about some things that happened during Yang Jian's reign. The general idea was that it was natural for Yang Jian to become emperor, and there were not many objections to the choice of the country's title. But Yang Jian still accepted people's opinions? He even asked him what his opinion was.
When we arrived, we decided on the country name.
At that time, He Chou was just a cavalry servant.
Listening to his grumbling, Li Po smiled and said nothing. His posture has already been shown. If you were still the Minister of Sanqi back then, you would definitely not be able to say this at this time. Otherwise, I will definitely make you walk around in pain.
But you are so old? Is it appropriate for us to give you some allowance? As an old man, you don’t need to be too serious.
When He Chou had finished speaking, Li Pocai said: "Emperor Wen's talents and strategies are obvious to all, and we admire him very much... There is something undecided today? Why don't you think about it? What if Emperor Wen is in power? How should we deal with it?"
He Chou is a little tired? After hearing this, he was still energetic. He likes the feeling of being noticed? He is still complaining in his heart. Just ask me. What about Emperor Wen? If he is asked to dream again
How dare you fight Emperor Yao once? Can you bear it then?
"Your Majesty, please speak."
"Li Yuan has only been in charge of Guanxi for six or seven years. Let's not talk about how many official positions he has granted. Let's talk about the titles he has given out. It is estimated that even the officials cannot count them.
Let me tell you this, Li Yuan's own subordinates, as well as his sons' subordinates, as well as those who welcome him back to Kansai to become emperor, have almost all been given titles.
When I led my troops to the south, the surrendered county magistrate on the road dared to ask for a reward from me. Basically, Li Yuan had already knighted him, so I, the King of Han, must not give up..."
Having said this, Li Po took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "Li Yuan and I are enemies, but to be honest, Li Yuan is not bad in my opinion. At least he is much better than Wang Shichong, Li Mi and others, and he is better in politics."
It's quite organized, if you weren't always my enemy, I would have made friends with Tang Gong."
After saying this, he shook his head pretentiously a few times and looked quite emotional. If Li Yuanquan knew this, he would definitely argue with this guy.
"But above this title, Li Yuan's performance is really poor... As you know, there are only a few titles under my rule. As the saying goes, rare things are valuable, and noble titles should be good, otherwise everyone will be the same.
Yes, what else is there to show off? Why is it so expensive?
Every time I think about this, I feel quite annoyed. It is what the false king did. He deliberately refuses to admit it. He is afraid of offending the public. If he admits it, then when I reward the merits, I will also give him a large number of titles. Otherwise, it will be difficult to convince the public. This way
Once this happens, wouldn’t it just add fuel to the fire?
Tell me, what would happen if Emperor Wen and I were to change places?"
He Chou was immediately upset. There was no good solution to this kind of thing. Recognizing the title and official position of the previous dynasty was the first choice to appease people. Unless you didn't want to go through with it, you would carry out a large-scale purge and install cronies.
Such a major blood change will inevitably arouse violent resistance, and there is no need to think about the consequences. Most of them will die together, and no one will have an easy time.
He had no idea when Emperor Wen came. When he took over the throne, he performed the abdication ceremony, which was the mildest form of dynasty change. There was not much bloodshed during the political handover.
In other words, most of the legacy of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was accepted by the former Sui Dynasty, and at the same time it took over the capital to unify the world. Otherwise, if there was an internal strife in Kansai, what would the world be like now?
Mature politicians all know how valuable a smooth handover is, including official titles. You can replace some people and eliminate some people's titles, but you can't carry out large-scale purges, which will cause chaos.
Panic.
This is what Li Po meant when he said he was afraid of offending the public. If you refuse to acknowledge the title that someone has worked so hard to pass on to their descendants, it will definitely arouse deep resentment.
This is very unfavorable for a regime that is in a period of expansion.
Seeing He Chou's frown, Li Po couldn't be happier. Look, I'll find something for you. You still can't solve it. If I don't make trouble for you, I'll let you relax. You're still crying. It's really true.
An old naughty boy.
This is just one of the problems Li Po faces. If he throws out two or three more, He Chou won't have to sleep tonight. This also shows how much pressure Li Po faces.
But there is nothing we can do. The world has been in chaos for so long, and there are naturally a lot of problems. When we enter Jinyang, we have to solve the problem of Bingzhou. When we enter Chang'an, we naturally have to solve the problem of Guanxi. When the world is unified one day, then he
He is the real emperor, and he wants to solve the world's problems.
After wondering for a long time, He Chou finally said with a bitter face: "Such a dilemma needs to be dealt with slowly. Your Majesty, please don't rush."
In fact, this is the advantage of veterans. They are definitely not as radical as young people. They always want to find a safer way. Slowness is a bit slow, but most of the time those in power have to slow down.
It’s best to stay away from people who have one idea every time they hit their foreheads, and another idea every time their eyes light up.
Li Po nodded and smiled, "Don't be embarrassed, I just said casually, rewards are not far away, and large-scale titles are almost inevitable. They can only be awarded in vain, but there is nothing we can do about real salaries.
I can't afford it.
So Su Yuanzai and the others came up with an idea. Only those people who I personally rewarded can receive real titles, and the rest are all empty titles, even Lumi doesn't have to think about them."
Li Po himself laughed when he said this. This must be a helpless move to put the cart before the horse. In fact, Li Yuan has already started to do this, otherwise Li Tang would not be able to survive now.
He Chou also laughed after hearing this, "This is really not a new method. It was also used during Emperor Wen's time. It's just that although there were many titles at that time, they had many origins. It was not as common as it is now. Li Dalang really did a lot of evil."
In fact, they all understand that the proliferation of official titles is not a matter of Li Yuan alone. Xiao Xian, Dou Jiande, and even Li Gui of Xiliang, Liang Shidu and others, who doesn't have a lot of princes under their rule?
So this problem is no longer a problem at this point, because the root cause of the problem cannot be solved, so it can only be delayed. For Li Po, there is no need to consider it for the time being, so what problem does it still have?
He Chou glanced at Li Po a few times, and finally realized that the king was trying to silence him with other things, but he couldn't say anything else, for fear that Li Po would throw something out again. If he continued to scream, he would inevitably
If you give the impression that you only lose your temper but cannot solve the problem at all, you will lose all your dignity.
So He Chou finally stopped being stubborn and reported his own affairs normally. There were many things, but they were trivial. For Li Po, they were not big things, but they were all entrusted to He Chou.
He was just thinking about assigning a few capable assistants to He Chou so as not to tire the old man out. As for what everyone would wear in the court in the future, what etiquette they would observe, what instruments they would use, and what music they would play,
He wasn't very interested in seeing anything like doctors.
He only asked He Chou if the cooks in the palace were also under the control of Taichang Temple?
He Chou definitely told this unlearned guy that Taichang Temple did not care about this. During the reign of Kaihuang, it was a matter for the Ministry of Menxia, but now he also knows that it seems to be under the control of the Shangshi Bureau of the Ministry of the Imperial Palace. In fact, it is also
The jurisdiction of the province was changed from direct jurisdiction to indirect jurisdiction.
In other words, the status of the Shangshi Bureau has declined. It may be that Li Yuan held too many animal feasts and was afraid that someone would poison him, so he asked the palace eunuch to take charge of it and added a procedure.
Li Po just asked casually. After all, he is very particular about food. The cooks in the palace are all women. There is no need to doubt their craftsmanship. They are all selected from thousands of people. That craftsmanship is not famous in Jinyang.