Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 80 Li Zhi's Reckoning
Hearing his father's question, Li Yuechen didn't hide anything and told him everything that happened yesterday, including some of his own speculations.
Li Zhi and Wu Zetian just sat nearby and listened quietly. The matter itself was not complicated. Li Yuechen just found out that the gate guards couldn't hold out, so he ran away.
Li Yuechen explained while gesturing with his hands.
Looking at the scabbed scratches on the palm of her hand, Wu Zetian grabbed it and stroked it gently.
His usually serious expression also showed a hint of distress: "Does it still hurt?"
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt." Li Yuechen smiled.
"Since you know they dare not kill you, why do you still run?" Wu Zetian asked.
Li Yuechen grinned: "If I get caught, not only will it be a slap in the face of the royal family, but it might even make Grandpa worry so much that he will get sick. I don't want Grandpa and Mom to worry about me."
Wu Zetian patted her head and said, "Don't worry, I will give you an explanation for this matter!"
Well, it would be best to throw all those masterminds behind the scenes into jail and make them pick up soap!
Of course, you can think about it, but you can’t say that.
Li Yuechen smiled sensibly and said, "Actually, I don't care about these things. Parents don't have to force me. Now that I've grown up, I know that I can't do many things as I please."
Hearing this, the couple looked relieved.
Li Zhi reached out his hand and gently touched her head: "Don't worry, Chen'er, I am doing this not only for my daughter, but also to maintain the reputation of the royal family!"
Wu Zetian also grabbed her hand and gently stroked it twice: "Chen'er, you don't have to worry about this matter, just take a good rest. Are you still feeling uncomfortable?"
"No." Li Yuechen shook his head, then suddenly raised his head and said, "By the way, I hope you two adults will not punish the guards who are responsible for protection. They have tried their best. And the father and son who saved me..."
"Okay, okay!" Li Zhi interrupted her with a smile, "I will take care of this matter. Chen'er should have a good rest in the next two days!"
Li Yuechen nodded: "Okay!"
Her body had not fully recovered yet. After chatting for a while, she felt sleepy again and fell asleep again soon.
Li Zhi covered her with a quilt. Wu Zetian touched her forehead and felt that her temperature was still a little high, but much better than yesterday.
So he changed the towel, dipped it in water again, put it on her forehead, and then the two of them quietly retreated.
…
Arriving in the hall, the couple's originally relieved expressions turned gloomy.
Li Zhi lay in the rocking chair, closed his eyes and said: "It seems that my knife should see blood!"
Wu Zetian asked: "What does your majesty plan to do?"
"Mei Niang, what do you think we should do?" Li Zhi stopped the health ball in his hand and asked back.
No one knew what the two talked about in the inner hall. The next day, Henan Prefecture official Lu Hexiang and his student Henan County Magistrate were exiled.
This result was not surprising to most people. After all, the princess had an accident on their territory, so it was good enough that she didn't die.
However, soon afterwards, Liu Rengui impeached Liu Yue, the Minister of the Dali Temple, for corruption and abuse of power, and asked the emperor to conduct a thorough investigation.
The emperor approved, and Liu Yuena was thrown into the Tianlao, and Zhang Wenguan, the Imperial Court Minister, concurrently served as the new Dali Temple Minister.
At the same time, the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate held a joint trial on him.
On the same day, Dali Temple Minister Zhang Wenguan ordered a large number of shops in the north and south markets of Luoyang to be inspected, and the shop owners were brought back to the Dali Temple for surprise interrogation on charges of selling counterfeit goods.
After receiving such news, many people opened their eyes wide in disbelief.
After all, the Dali Temple should not be in charge of the sale of counterfeit goods, but it was done anyway. No one would believe it if someone said there was no emperor's authorization.
These shopkeepers were taken back to the interrogation room of the Dali Temple and were all detained.
Before they could react to what was happening, they were all taken into the interrogation room.
Looking at the various torture instruments hanging on the wall glowing in the dim light, with even faint traces of dried blood on them, these people immediately began to tremble with fear.
Zhang Wenguan leaned against the wall, lowered his head and picked at his nails, and said loudly: "I don't want to waste time, I just want to ask one question, who is behind you? If you tell me obediently, you can still keep your life. If you waste my time and resist stubbornly... these torture instruments will be used one by one!"
…
No one knows what exactly happened inside the Dali Temple, but it is said that the screams in the interrogation room were continuous during those days.
Within a few days, more than a dozen officials were arrested by the emperor on various charges such as corruption, abuse of power, and bribery. The evidence was conclusive and they were directly sentenced to death!
After a series of actions, nearly a hundred people were implicated because of this incident!
When the emperor chopped down the sword, heads rolled down and blood flowed like a river.
…
Li Yuechen, who had completely recovered at this time, returned to Anfu Hall and sat in Linbo Pavilion, staring at the green seedlings in front of him in a daze.
Even though Li Yuechen felt sorry for the incident after receiving the news, he knew that there must be many innocent people implicated, but he could do nothing about it.
After all, she is a princess of a country and, to some extent, represents the face and dignity of the royal family.
Since they have done such a thing, they must be punished accordingly!
Li Yuechen propped his chin up with both hands and looked at the sky, thinking, I guess this time, the smell of blood in South City will linger for a long time...
The death penalty in Tang Dynasty law was based on different circumstances. The death penalty for civilians and lower-level officials was generally carried out in crowded downtown areas in order to serve as a warning to the world .
Officials of the fifth rank and above were allowed to commit suicide at home, except for serious crimes such as treason.
Those above the seventh rank, members of the royal family, and women, if their crimes were not punishable by beheading, were generally hanged in a secluded place.
This time, most of the criminals will be taken to Nanshi to be beheaded in public.
Among the brothers, except the eldest brother Li Hong, the other three secretly took a carriage to watch the scene.
Since ancient times, most of the people watching executions were children, and the same was true in the Tang Dynasty.
Li Xian also asked Li Yuechen to go see him together, but she refused and said that she was not fully recovered yet and wanted to recuperate for a while.
Li Yuechen didn't know most of the people who were killed, and he had never even heard of their names.
She knew very well that none of these people was the mastermind behind this incident.
This was the warning the emperor gave them. The emperor was telling them: I am not old yet, and my sword is still sharp!
This time it’s because there is no conclusive evidence, otherwise we would never give up!
Xiao He came over gently with a small silver tray: "Your Highness, the Saint has given us some cherries."
"Okay, put it down." Li Yuechen agreed without turning his head and continued to look at the sky.
Those big families felt that what I did harmed their interests, so they did this.
But Li Yuechen will not stop what she wants to do. From a personal perspective, she is a member of the royal family and naturally has to consider issues in the interests of the royal family.
From the perspective of the masses, the existence of such aristocracy is not a good thing for the people.
They control a large amount of land, money and even public opinion, so even if they pretend to obey their orders, it is difficult for the higher-ups to find out.
When people cannot afford to eat, they tend to blame the rulers rather than the nobles.
Although Li Yuechen did not understand history, she was clear about one thing : in the past two thousand years, peasant uprisings would always break out when almost every dynasty was about to end.
Why did the peasants revolt? The most fundamental reason was that they had no food to eat!
Most people in this era were uneducated and terribly simple. As long as they could survive, few people would have the courage to rebel!
This is not just a problem of food production, but also a problem of these nobles.
In fact, it is easy to find the cause by working backwards from the results of the peasant uprising.
Considering the special tax laws of this era, farmers must have land to farm in order to survive.
But if these nobles unscrupulously try to buy up land at low prices, the farmers will have less and less land to cultivate.
However, the court's taxes would not be reduced as a result, so in the end they could not even afford to eat and had no choice but to rebel.
While rebelling, they also cursed the court for its incompetence...
Of course, it is correct to think so, but we cannot put all the blame on the royal family. These nobles also bear a large part of the responsibility.
Thinking of this, Li Yuechen gently stroked her legs with her fingers.
The solution to this problem is simple, which is to control public opinion and ensure that all the policies of the court can be implemented among the people. This will largely prevent these nobles from lip service.
But to control public opinion, we must first improve the literacy rate, otherwise all our words are empty talk.
To improve the literacy rate, the prerequisite is to solve the problem of food production. Only when people are full will they have the energy to do other things!
Thinking of this, Li Yuechen walked out of Linbo Pavilion and squatted down beside his small field.
The green fields before my eyes might become the starting point for me to rewrite the An-Shi Rebellion.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Li Yuechen's face again.
…
The next morning, Li Yuechen set out for Liu Rengui's home as usual to undergo assessment and inspection.
Li Zhi and his wife did not forbid her to leave the palace because of this incident, but they increased the number of gate guards responsible for protection from twenty to sixty!
Several of them were those who were responsible for protecting him. As for those who were killed last time, Li Zhi also rewarded their families with some money to ensure their lives.
Li Yuechen was not actually worried about anything, as the last attack was already the limit.
In addition, Li Zhi killed so many people at once this time, probably no one would dare to attack him again.
When the carriage reached Jiashanfang, Li Yuechen asked the driver to enter the square and come to the door of a tall two-story building in the corner.
He saw a group of men in black holding swords surrounding a carriage and stopping at his door. A wealthy middle-aged man quickly ran out from the door.
"I don't know who you are. Maybe I found the wrong person..."
The wealthy middle-aged man walked out of the front door, explaining while wondering if he had offended anyone.
When he saw the little girl in red jumping out of the carriage, he was slightly stunned: "You are..."
"How dare you!" Fu Lai said in a low voice, "You are meeting Her Royal Highness the Princess, and you still don't show respect?"
Upon hearing the eunuch's slightly shrill voice, the other party was visibly stunned, and then quickly bowed and saluted: "I am Zhang Yufang, a humble servant, and I am honored to meet Her Royal Highness the Princess! I am blind, and I beg Your Highness to forgive me!"
Hearing his name, Li Yuechen smiled gently.
Names in this era are actually gender-neutral, and it is normal for a man to have a delicate name.
But in Li Yuechen's opinion, it was still a bit funny for a greasy middle-aged man to have such a name.
But she didn't say much, she just raised her hand and said, "No need to be polite! Do you still remember me?"
Zhang Yufang then stood up and replied respectfully: "Your Highness, I remember it!"
"Is that woman your wife?" Li Yuechen asked.
"She's not a wife, but a concubine." Zhang Yufang replied.
Li Yuechen nodded: "Can you call him over to meet me?"
"No problem, Your Highness, please come in and wait for a while, okay..."
"No need, I'll wait here." Li Yuechen waved his hand.
"Yes! I will go and call him right away."
Having said that, Zhang Yufang hurried back, and soon called the woman who had met Li Yuechen that day.
Obviously, she already knew her identity, so she came to Li Yuechen and saluted respectfully: "I, Liu, greet Her Royal Highness the Princess!"
Zhang Yufang also hurriedly explained: "Your Highness, I am not at home today, so I cannot come to pay my respects..."
Li Yuechen waved his hand nonchalantly: "No problem, I came here today just to thank you for your help, and by the way..."
Having said that, Li Yuechen raised her hand and took off the hairpin on her head.
The shiny black hair instantly fell down and turned into a high ponytail tied with a red rope.
"I took your hairpin that day, and I said I would compensate you later." Li Yuechen handed the hairpin over, "Take it."
The two were stunned. This hairpin was made of pure gold and had a lot of patterns. It was obviously made by a skilled craftsman. If it were sold to ordinary people, it would be a priceless treasure!
"No," Zhang Yufang replied, "It is our blessing to be able to help His Highness, how dare we talk about compensation?"
"Okay, I asked you to take it, so take it."
Seeing that she used a respectful title, Zhang Yufang no longer refused and patted her concubine on the shoulder.
Liu stretched out her hands and took it respectfully. They both said in unison, "Thank you, Your Highness, for the reward!"
Liu was surprised when she got the hairpin. She estimated that the hairpin weighed nearly half a tael.
"Okay, that's all we're here for today, let's go."
As he spoke, Li Yuechen got on the carriage, and Fulai followed behind.
Zhang Yufang and the other person quickly saluted: "Farewell, Your Highness!"
After returning to the carriage, Li Yuechen thought that now that the concubine had his hairpin, she should at least receive some preferential treatment at home.
In fact, in this era, it was impossible for a concubine to threaten the status of a wife. This was different between the common people and the royal family.
The emperor's concubine is still a concubine after all, and it is possible that she may become the queen one day.
In the folks, concubines were not treated as human beings at all. Even when friends came to their house, the concubines might be asked to sleep with them. Their status was no different from that of slaves.
Even if the master truly loves her, the law absolutely does not allow him to hold a wedding with a concubine. She will never be able to obtain a formal status and will not be protected by the law.
Li Yuechen actually doesn't care about men raising pet girls or women raising pet boys or other similar behaviors, because it is a personal hobby.
But if possible, she still wants to talk to the emperor in the future and ask him to amend the law. She doesn't expect everyone to be equal in this era, but at least humans and animals should be treated differently!
