It is impossible to be the King of Chu, and it is impossible to be a prince like this in this life——
In the end, Li Mu chose to accept the second imperial edict, the one that made his son a prince. Eunuch Gao left the imperial edict and had people carry in a large pile of gifts given to the 'King of Chu' by Li Shimin, including a full set of
Crown robes, ritual utensils, etc., looking at the level of detail in the preparations, it is definitely not a joke, but a serious matter.
The representative of Mr. Gao knew it well and told Li Mu before leaving that there were still some procedures needed at Zongzheng Temple, but there would be a dedicated person to contact him and everything would be done step by step.
After sending Eunuch Gao away in a daze, Li Mu glanced at the 'King of Chu' who peed his pants again, shook his head, and went to discuss it with Mrs. Lu.
When the matter was discussed, Mrs. Lu didn't express anything, as if nothing was unexpected, and said: "Since he has this intention, he might as well accept it, King Chu - it's okay."
Li Mu was a little confused and asked: "What do you mean it's okay? Is there any difference between kings?"
"Of course there is a difference." Mrs. Lu was born in a famous family and was very familiar with the era of etiquette: "During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the monarch was called the emperor, and there were no royal titles in the twenty-rank nobility system. The Han Dynasty restored the feudal system
, there are no royal titles, but princes and kings. There is still a big difference between princes, kings and royal titles. At the same time, there are twenty other titles to distinguish them from the Qin Dynasty. The Wei and Jin Dynasties began to set royal titles, which were subdivided into princes and princes.
The princes and queens are divided into two levels: the higher ones, which are generally granted to princes of the clan and use a single character as the name of the kingdom, such as King of Qin, King of Jin, etc., and the lower ones, such as the current Hejian County.
Wang Li Xiaogong is the second class."
"I won't talk about the two-character Wangjue, let's just talk about the word Wangjue. The name generally comes from the name of the country in the Spring and Autumn Period. The strong is respected. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the four countries "Qin, Jin, Qi, and Chu" were the strongest.
The titles of Sheng and Wangjue are also distinguished by this, followed by Lu, Zhao, Wei, Liang, Yan, Dai, Chen, Han, Song, Wu, Yue, etc. Li Shimin granted us the title of King of Chu as a sign of recognition.
"
After listening to Mrs. Lu's explanation, Li Mu suddenly realized that there was such a difference between what kind of king he was granted.
After taking a seat, Li Shimin was once the king of Qin, which means that his status was ranked first among the princes at that time. But now the infant Li Zhi was named the king of Jin, second only to the king of Qin. In the future, he should be the emperor.
Let’s look at Li Tai and Li You again. Li Tai was originally the king of Yue, but was later renamed the king of Wei. Wei was stronger than Yue, which means he was promoted. Li You was originally the king of Yan, but was later transferred to a vassal. Li Shimin must have wanted to make up for it.
As a result, he made an exception and gave it to the King of Qi, and he was actually higher than Li Tai in the ranking.
Nowadays, conferring oneself, or one's own son, the King of Chu, can be regarded as the highest treatment. The King of Qin is himself, so he cannot be conferred any more, and the King of Jin is ranked second, which is very meaningful and difficult to use. The King of Qi has just been deposed, and he has the highest rank.
It is the King of Chu.
My son is the King of Chu, so who am I?
Li Mu frowned and thought for a moment, then almost laughed out loud: "The father of King Chu, I turned out to be King Chu!"
…
Although he didn't agree with it in his heart, after receiving the imperial edict, Li Mu had no choice but to mount his horse and go to the palace to thank his son for his kindness.
The festive atmosphere in the palace seemed a bit bleak compared to the outside world. Although it was a little more festive, it was still solemn and solemn. Li Shimin was sitting alone in the Tai Chi Palace. He had not changed out of the clothes he wore when offering sacrifices to the Taiji Temple, but was just stunned.
Sitting blankly, looking at the palace pillars in trance.
Eunuch Gao also put on a new set of clothes and stood behind Li Shimin with his hands tied, as if he were a clay sculpture, and there was no sound of breathing.
Li Mu came in and said loudly: "I, the Marquis of Luoyang, Li Mu, have come to plead guilty. I would also like to express my gratitude to Your Majesty for your son's kindness."
Li Shimin came back to his senses, glanced at Li Mu, and said with a smile: "Since you are here to apologize, you must act like you are apologizing. Look at you, you don't have the attitude of apologizing. You didn't write a congratulation. Okay, come here and follow me.
Let me chat."
Li Mu secretly cursed in his heart: "You are the one who talks about the east, and you are the one who talks about the west. You can tell me all the good and the bad. You are doing this during the Chinese New Year, are you still alive?" He walked to Li Shimin's side.
, without being polite, said directly: "Your Majesty seems to be in a bad mood, but is there something wrong?"
Li Shimin sighed, clicked on a memorial on the case, and said, "Come and take a look."
Li Mu nodded, opened the memorial and took a look. His spine immediately went cold. He only felt the cold wind whistling on the back of his neck. He glanced at Li Shimin secretly. Li Shimin's expression was as usual, but behind this indifference, Li Mu was confused for a moment.
“I have heard that those who seek the growth of trees must strengthen their roots; those who seek the farthest reaches of water must dredge up their springs; those who long for the safety of their country must accumulate their virtues and virtues. . . . A ruler should be as important as his divine weapon and as large as his territory.
Don't think about living in peace and be prepared for danger, abstain from extravagance and be frugal, just cut down the roots in order to seek luxuriant trees, block the source and make the flow flow long."
"Every hundred yuan is destined by the sky and the scenery. Those who start well will be rich, and those who can control the end will overshadow the few. How can it be easy to get, but difficult to keep?... The resentment is not big, but the only thing to be feared is to carry the boat back to the boat. It is appropriate to go deeper.
Be careful. Your Majesty now favors treacherous and sycophants, blocks your hearing and hearing, and favors nepotism. The whole court is filled with a smoky atmosphere, which is unprecedented in the world..."
This is an impeachment memorial. The person being impeached is no one else. The first person to be impeached is Li Shimin. First, he talks to him about the truth, and then changes the subject and points out Li Shimin’s shortcomings. The second person to be impeached is Li Mu.
It was said that Li Mu was a dandy, arrogant, guilty, and his identity was unknown. He urgently needed an explanation. He asked the emperor to issue an edict to correct his sins, and to immediately pursue Li Mu's crimes to set the record straight. Otherwise... the impeacher added a threat at the end.
:Has Your Majesty heard about Sui Yang’s disaster?
The meaning of this sentence is, has your Majesty ever heard the allusions to Emperor Sui Yang? If you don’t listen to my advice, your Majesty will not be far away from the fate of Emperor Sui Yang.
Li Mu took a deep breath and read the signature of the memorial, which read: Supervisory Censor Zhao Cheng.
"Zhao Cheng?" A trace of doubt flashed in Li Mu's eyes. He had never heard of this man. Where did he come from? He had an impression of those famous censors. Besides, he had the ability to be a censor.
He shouldn't be a fool. Is it possible that he is tired of doing this kind of "congratulations" during the Chinese New Year?
Li Mu frowned, still unable to figure it out. Is this person coming for himself or for Li Shimin? What is his motive? He thought about it, read the memorial again, and saw that there was a big one in the memorial.
The question. This question is, if you want to deal with yourself, why do you want to drag Li Shimin down with you? It should be noted that impeachment, especially impeaching yourself, is not easy, and the success rate is very low, but you have to
If the emperor is impeached at the same time, the hope of success is basically zero, because the emperor cannot deny himself, let alone issue a criminal edict just because of the little censor's words.
The reason is very simple. What was Li Shimin's first reaction when he saw such a memorial? Of course he was furious. From the emperor's standpoint, the emperor would naturally think that what I do has my own deep meaning.
Are you here to point fingers? Who do you think you are? I didn’t listen to you and became Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. It’s really unreasonable.
The important thing is that Li Shimin and Li Mu were tied together during the impeachment, which made Li Shimin feel that the censor regarded him as the same person as Li Mu. Li Mu secretly thought that Li Shimin would not want to be seen as such.
A person who is out of tune. Moreover, he was re-employed by Li Shimin, and he has indeed made achievements. As an emperor, if someone decides to impeach him in this way, not only will he not feel bad about him, but he will have an instinct to protect his calf.
It's normal.
Li Mu put down the memorial and finally understood the reason why Li Shimin showed him this thing. He wanted to tell himself that there was a force in the DPRK that was gradually growing, otherwise he would not be so provocative. It was not convenient for Li Shimin to do anything, but he wanted to
Go investigate on your own and suppress this force.
This is the meaning of the emperor's way of balance.
Li Shimin looked at Li Mu and said, "What do you think?"
Li Mu put down the memorial and said: "Nonsense, nonsense! If Your Majesty is Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, then who is he? As for me, hum, I am loyal to Your Majesty, this person must be envious, jealous and hateful, Your Majesty just don't pay attention to him."
Li Shimin suppressed his laughter and nodded: "That's all, I don't care about him. He's just a clown. I don't care what he does." His face darkened again, and there was a haze between his brows. He picked up another memorial and said,
He handed it to Li Mu and said, "Look at this memorial again."
Li Mu wonders what happened to Li Shimin today? No matter how important something is, do you have to be in such a hurry? You don't have to go to the New Year to squat here and read the memorial. Is it still finished? Although he was reluctant, he still picked up the memorial. This one
The memorial is not about impeachment, but about commercial tax. It says that because of commercial tax, small businessmen cannot make ends meet, the common people are in dire straits, Yi Zi cannibalize each other, etc.——
In the end, this memorial also gives the answer to the problem. It is very simple. To cancel the commercial tax is to restore everything to the original state.
"Your Majesty, I don't know what to say about this." Li Mu threw down the memorial and said, "But this is how I see it. If the country is compared to a person, agriculture is the foundation. Without agriculture, this person will starve to death.
So it’s okay. But taxes are like clothes. If you don’t have them, you won’t die. You can just run around naked, as long as you’re not afraid of jokes, it’ll be fine.”
Li Mu is not in a hurry because he is sure that Li Shimin will not give up commercial tax. Because the money is really considerable. In the past, commercial tax was not paid attention to because collecting commercial tax was troublesome and difficult to supervise. But now, at least Changan Luoyang
In this area, due to the control of traffic, commercial taxes are actually very easy to collect, and it is not at all what the memorial said about the people's lack of livelihood. This is a good harvest year, and these words are completely nonsense.
Li Mu raised his eyes and looked at Li Shimin, wanting to hear what Li Shimin had to say.
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said, "You don't have to look at me to tell me your opinion."
Li Mu thought for a while and said: "It's very simple. It involves the interests of the people behind them. They have taken advantage for so many years. It has become a habit and a natural thing to harm the public and enrich private interests. We cannot let their bad habits be tolerated. We will no longer be able to spit out the past."
That's all. From now on, the taxes that should be paid to the country cannot be less than a penny."
Li Shimin said: "My attitude is the same as yours. But this matter involves more than one or two people, so I'm afraid that the tail will be too big to lose."
Li Mu smiled: "As long as your Majesty is determined, what's the big deal? Is it possible that the king's ministers in the world dare to rebel? Your Majesty, please believe me, these people are more afraid of death than you think.
Therefore, Your Majesty, what I suggest is that the Ministry of Revenue specially allocate personnel to monitor the account books of the big merchants in Chang'an and Luoyang to see if there are any tax evaders. Even if it is not possible to check them, they should be dealt with first! They dare to write such a thing
The memorial is shameless, and there is no need for Your Majesty to coddle them."
Li Shimin thought for a while, sighed and said: "Then check, I want to see if they are afraid of death or not, but it is not easy to check. In order to avoid tax inspection, they must have been prepared.
It’s not difficult to make false accounts, so I have an idea.”
Li Mu feels guilty and has an idea? Hey, what are you doing looking at me like this? Do you want to leave the matter to me again? This is not good. It is thankless and beyond the scope of the plan. I have other things.
I have to do it!
Li Mu raised his eyes and looked at Li Shimin, wanting to hear what Li Shimin had to say.
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said, "You don't have to look at me to tell me your opinion."
Li Mu thought for a while and said: "It's very simple. It involves the interests of the people behind them. They have taken advantage for so many years. It has become a habit and a natural thing to harm the public and enrich private interests. We cannot let their bad habits be tolerated. We will no longer be able to spit out the past."
That's all. From now on, the taxes that should be paid to the country cannot be less than a penny."
Li Shimin said: "My attitude is the same as what you think. But this matter involves more than one or two people, so I'm afraid the tail will be too big to lose."
Li Mu smiled: "As long as your Majesty is determined, what's the big deal? Is it possible that the king's ministers in the world dare to rebel? Your Majesty, please believe me, these people are more afraid of death than you think.
Therefore, Your Majesty, what I suggest is that the Ministry of Revenue specially allocate personnel to monitor the account books of the big merchants in Chang'an and Luoyang to see if there are any tax evaders. Even if it is not possible to check them, they should be dealt with first! They dare to write such a thing
The memorial is shameless, and there is no need for Your Majesty to coddle them."
Li Shimin thought for a while, sighed and said: "Then check, I want to see if they are afraid of death or not, but it is not easy to check. In order to avoid tax inspection, they must have been prepared.
It’s not difficult to make false accounts, so I have an idea.”
Li Mu feels guilty and has an idea? Hey, what are you doing looking at me like this? Do you want to leave the matter to me again? This is not good. It is thankless and beyond the scope of the plan. I have other things.
I have to do it!
Li Mu raised his eyes. Li Mu felt guilty and had an idea? Hey, why are you looking at me like this? Could it be that you want to hand over the matter again?