Li Shimin stared at Lin Xuan and said, "What if I must let you investigate?"
Lin Xuan looked at Li Shimin calmly and said, "It's hard to obey your orders!"
"boom!"
Li Shimin stood up, glaring at Lin Xuan angrily, and shouted: "Lin Xuan, you are so presumptuous! Do you still see me as the emperor in your eyes?"
Lin Xuan didn't speak, as if he didn't feel Li Shimin's anger.
Li Shimin became even more angry when he saw Lin Xuan like this. He grabbed the memorial he was sitting on and threw it at Lin Xuan, shouting: "Get out of here, get out of here!"
With Lin Xuan's reaction, he could naturally avoid it, but he didn't.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that what Li Shimin took was a memorial. It would be strange for him not to hide if it was a paperweight and inkstone or something.
"My lord, please retire!" Lin Xuan bowed and retreated.
"Huh~"
After Lin Xuan left, Li Shimin took a few deep breaths, calmed down, and shouted: "Here comes someone!"
Li Mu heard the sound and walked in, bowed and said: "Your Majesty."
"Go and call Fang Xuanling." Li Shimin said.
"Yes." Li Mu responded and retreated.
Fang Xuanling was the right servant of Shangshu, and he had to work in the palace every day to assist Li Shimin in handling government affairs. He was not far away, so he arrived not long after.
"My lord, see your majesty!"
Li Shimin had calmed down by now. Hearing this, he waved his hand and said, "Sit down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
After Fang Xuanling sat down, she waited for Li Shimin to speak.
"I want to check the accounts of the seven departments, what do you think?" Li Shimin said.
Fang Xuanling was startled and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, we can't investigate."
"Why?" Li Shimin asked.
He could still understand Lin Xuan's refusal, after all, it was an offending job.
But Fang Xuanling didn't agree either, so he had to be cautious.
"Your Majesty, the accounts of the Seven Ministries involve all the officials in the world. I don't know how many people will be killed in this investigation. It will definitely cause chaos." Fang Xuanling said.
"I don't intend to pursue the case, I just want to see how many people treat me as a fool," Li Shimin said.
Fang Xuanling asked: "Your Majesty, if someone embezzles a huge amount, can your Majesty guarantee that he will not be held accountable?"
Li Shimin was silent, he couldn't guarantee this.
For a long time, Li Shimin looked at Fang Xuanling and said, "If we don't investigate, will they continue to be corrupt like this?"
"Your Majesty, there must be corruption, and this kind of thing cannot be eradicated. The Seven Ministries collect and spend so much money every year, and pass through the hands of so many officials. If we investigate, we will definitely find problems. But what happens after we find out? Those big problems
Should the officials kill him or not? Killing him will definitely make other people panic, and if someone is taking advantage of him, it will cause chaos. If he doesn't kill him, His Majesty will not be happy," Fang Xuanling said.
This is related to the fact that after Zhu Di invaded Nanjing during the Battle of Jingnan, many secret letters written by ministers to Zhu Yunwen were found.
However, Zhu Yunwen didn't even look at it, and everyone was burned.
In fact, without even reading it, he knew that those letters were all about scolding him and expressing his loyalty to Zhu Yunwen.
He definitely felt unhappy after watching it. In order to calm the situation as soon as possible and those people couldn't be killed, he simply stopped watching.
Fang Xuanling was also interested in Li Shimin. If too many people were involved in the investigation, he would definitely not be able to kill him, but it would be uncomfortable not to kill Li Shimin. In this case, it would be better not to know.
Seeing that Li Shimin was silent, Fang Xuanling continued: "In addition, most of the current officials are from aristocratic families. Maybe many officials have resigned and left before the investigation started. By then, all places will be paralyzed."
Li Shimin was silent. What Fang Xuanling said was what he was most worried about, which was why he asked Lin Xuan to investigate secretly.
"I'm considering this matter. You can go down first," Li Shimin said.
Although Li Shimin often thinks one thing after another, one good thing about him is that he can listen to what others say.
If Lin Xuan objected alone, he might still persist, but Fang Xuanling also objected, which made him hesitate.
…
"Dad, this is a letter from Chang'an." Cui Yi said.
Cui Lingdao took the letter, read it, handed it to Cui Yi, frowned and started thinking.
"Dad, this is obviously the imperial court collecting grain." Cui Yi said immediately after reading it.
"Then what do you think we should do now?" Cui Lingdao asked.
Without thinking, Cui Yi said: "Since the imperial court wants food, we naturally have to stop it."
"Stop? Then what to stop? The past two years have been good, and our family is not the only one who has food in hand. When those businessmen see the benefits, they will definitely buy the food to the court." Cui Lingdao said.
Since ancient times, the Han people have had a deep attachment to the land.
When those businessmen have money, they will also buy a lot of land.
Although the grains in the hands of those merchants were not as good as those of their aristocratic families, there were so many merchants in the world that the imperial court could still buy a large amount of grains.
"You can contact other aristocratic families to put pressure together. In this way, the court will not be able to buy any food at all." Cui Yi said.
Cui Lingdao reprimanded: "How many times have I told you that when encountering a problem, you need to consider all aspects carefully before making a decision. Why should we prevent the imperial court from purchasing grain?"
Cui Yi looked at his father blankly. Didn't their family always find ways to cause trouble for the court? Why was he scolded?
"If you are asked to use your brain when something happens, why do you think the imperial court is collecting grain at this time?" Cui Lingdao asked, somewhat hating the iron.
"What are you collecting grain for?"
Cui Yi was stunned for a moment, thought for a moment, and said with some uncertainty: "It should be for fighting, right?"
"The weather has been good in the past two years, and the court does not need disaster relief. The purpose of collecting food at this time must be for war. War not only consumes the strength of the court, but also allows the generals we recruited to take the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. Why should we stop it?" Cui Lingdao asked.
"What do you mean, dad, to sell grain to the court?" Cui Yi asked.
Cui Lingdao nodded and said: "Selling grain to the court is beneficial to us and we can make a fortune, so why not sell it?"
"Dad, how much should I sell to the court?" Cui Yi asked.
"How much grain does the family have now?" Cui Lingdao asked.
"There are still 70,000 to 80,000 stones left," Cui Yi said.
Cui Lingdao frowned slightly and said, "Why are there so few?"
He is the head of the Cui family, so he naturally knows how much food the Cui family can have every year.
Aristocratic families will always store food, which is why when the world is in chaos, many people will choose to rob aristocratic families.
Because the aristocratic family not only has money, but also food.
Normally, last year's grain reserves will be sold this year, but it can't be just this amount.
"The grain given to the tenants this year was mixed with some old grain, so there is only so much left," Cui Yi said.
"Idiot, who told you to do this?" Cui Lingdao said angrily: "If you do this, the reputation of our Cui family will be ruined."
The aristocratic family monopolized the ladder of advancement, and when disaster occurred, they would annex large amounts of land.
They exploit the people, but they have a good reputation among the people.
As we all know, the Yellow Turban Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty destroyed many aristocratic families.
I think it's because the people are fighting back against the oppression of the aristocratic families.
In fact, that's not the case at all. The Yellow Turbans initially attacked the government and never offended the aristocratic families.
Later, due to lack of food, they started to attack the aristocratic family.
In fact, the family's reputation among the people is very good.
Although the tenants who helped the family farm the land also had to pay 40% of the rent, this was considered normal by the common people because they all paid so much after all.
In addition, during times of famine, aristocratic families would donate porridge. Many people thanked them.