Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 196 Fang Xuanling: My young master can’t be so imaginative
Oh, I'm so scared... Li Qianyou made a frightened expression at the right time, and said politely and aggrievedly:

"The people have complaints, so Your Highness is lending me your head to appease their anger, and I will do my best.

"But the fiscal deficit is not caused by me alone. I am sorry that I cannot give up the so-called 'stolen money'."

He left the Censorate timidly.

It was as if he was a grain transport officer being used by Cao Cao.

As soon as he stepped out of the yamen, he held his head high and walked back home in high spirits.

"That reckless little bully does have some skills. He managed to track me down so quickly."

Li Qianyou was still a little scared because he was invited to the Censorate for tea just a few days after doing something bad.

He had been investigated for corruption before, but he always finished cleanly and managed things well, so everyone worked together to cover it up.

Therefore, the truth is usually revealed after a long time.

It was the first time in my life that I was given a yellow card warning during a situation like this.

So Li Qianyou was very decisive and immediately used the trump card in his hand - Li Jing, and asked for the king bomb.

Finally, I lifted it high and put it down gently, and passed the test without any danger.

"Your Highness is very sensitive and your nose is very sharp. You will have a hard time in the future."

Li Qianyou tentatively recognized Li Ming's ability, and then a playful smile appeared on his face:

“It’s just that the way he threatens people is really ridiculous.

"I have distributed all the money. Who among the officials above the fifth rank in Beijing has not received a piece of the pie?

"How can he get the money back? How can he make the officials who accepted my bribes turn against me?"

Li Qianyou's philosophy of being an official can be summed up in two words:

Stop while you're ahead, everyone who sees it will get a share.

As long as he engages in corruption, he will "give a share" to all the people in the chain, no matter how high or low the officials are, like flowers scattering from heaven.

Moreover, they are divided according to the order of official ranks. Each position has a corresponding price, and there will never be any confusion of hierarchy.

All in all, at least 70% to 80% of the money he handled was spent by him on building connections and winning relationships.

He felt that he was not corrupt, he was just a wealth carrier.

Relying on such "broad-minded benevolence and equal treatment", and with the help of "my brother, the Duke of Weiguo", Li Qianyou could be said to have opened up the entire bureaucratic system from top to bottom.

Apart from the insignificant bonus of "being a good official", he has really understood what it means to be an official.

Therefore, it is understandable and expected that the new leader would encounter setbacks as soon as he took office.

"The higher the virtue, the higher the evil. After running into a soft wall with me this time, His Highness Li Ming should not trouble me again."

Li Qianyou turned a deaf ear to Li Ming's warning.

He felt that this was just the impotent rage of a child.

It is true that most of the banknotes issued to the residents of Chang'an County were embezzled by Li Qianyou.

But so what?
Li Qianyou used the same old tricks again and stuffed most of this money into the pockets of officials of all ranks in Chang'an through various "legal means".

Everyone has a share, and we are all in the same boat.

How can this be checked?
Should we let the officials in Beijing investigate themselves?

Now it's the entire Chang'an bureaucracy against His Highness Li Ming alone, and the advantage is on my side!

"It would be a good idea to let His Highness experience the officialdom of Chang'an in advance and wear down his arrogance so that he can have fewer problems in the future."

Li Qianyou felt that he had made immeasurable contributions to the entire Chang'an officialdom.

…………

"Brother Ming, how about we just let this go?"

The Secretariat.

The whistleblower Chang Sun Yan couldn't bear it anymore and took the initiative to apply to withdraw the case.

At first, Changsun Yan was very pleased that his grandfather Changsun Wuji cooperated with the work and actively reported the illegal behavior of Chang'an Ling to his political enemy Li Ming.

He thought that the two of them could finally put aside their past grudges and work together to build a new Tang Dynasty.

Only now do I realize that I was wrong, so wrong.

This report by Changsun Wuji was full of evil intentions!

The Chang'an magistrate, although he looks like just a county magistrate, is actually a tough nut to crack!
"It is unwise to spend too much time and energy on Li Qianyou, so I was against investigating him at the beginning."

Fang Xuanling stroked his beard and said:

"But once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Master Changsun, now is probably not the time to stop."

Chang Sunyan was somewhat surprised by Fang Xuanling's change of attitude:

"why?"

"Because this is my first time in office, I have never been able to solve a corruption case." Li Ming said unhappily:
"If this case is handled half-heartedly, it will damage my prestige, and the officials below will not obey me and will not follow my command."

There is a political science theory that states that when an emperor governs, he relies on the "spillover" of his imperial authority.

It is just like what the saying goes, "I give you a look and you understand it yourself."

As an emperor, never give a death order lightly.

If his subordinates fail to do it, the emperor's own dignity will be damaged.

Don’t underestimate the word “majesty” because it sounds light and seems to refer to the unequal relationship in feudal society.

But the reason why the emperor was able to command his subordinates and even hold the power of life and death was because of his majesty.

Without the buff of imperial power, the emperor is nothing more than a tyrant.

If it's a good case, your subordinates will pretend to obey you but actually disobey you; if it's too much, your subordinates will directly sideline you.

This is what the Western proverb says: Don't use your real abilities easily, because it will make people see that you really have no abilities.

"So if I were there when you personally led the team to arrest Li Qianyou this morning, I would have stopped you." Fang Xuanling was somewhat helpless:

"But you are acting too early. The yamen has not even started yet, and I, an old minister, have no time to advise you."

Li Ming crossed his arms and smacked his lips.

"At this point, we can only shift more of our energy to this corruption case. We must at least recover most of the stolen money." Fang Xuanling continued to speak to himself:

"Otherwise, Changsun Wuji will definitely report you at the court meeting, and you will never be able to get rid of the label of being incompetent in handling corruption."

This hat is not very comfortable to wear.

From the perspective of offsetting merits and demerits alone, dealing with the huge issue of money shortage is certainly much more important than letting a few corrupt officials go.

But from the perspective of His Majesty's assessment of the successor, this is not the case.

Being able to handle the cash shortage shows that His Highness Li Ming has the ability to get things done.

However, if corruption cannot be dealt with, it will easily make His Majesty think that His Highness Li Ming is incapable of governing his subordinates and lacks authority.

For a top leader, the ability to lead subordinates is obviously much more important than the ability to get things done.

After all, His Royal Highness Li Ming was competing for the throne, and he didn't really want to be a regent minister like "Tongzhongshumenxia Pingzhangshi" or something like that.

If the corruption case cannot be settled, it will be a huge loss for His Highness Li Ming in his bid for the throne...

"Why are you all so sad?"

At this time, Hou Junji came in hurriedly, followed by a servant holding a paper bag full of steamed buns and snacks.

"Governing a country is a physical job. Your Highness, don't look so sad. Come, have one." The old marquis was very generous in treating us today. He sat down on the seat and cursed casually:
"Those vendors really look down on me. They won't accept my paper money, so I can only buy with copper coins.

"Dumbhead! I wonder when they will come around."

Fang Xuanling advised:
"We still have to wait for some time. It's only been a few days since the beginning.

"Once merchants can widely accept paper money as payment, it means that the money shortage has been alleviated."

Li Ming looked at the words "Kuiweiguan" on the paper bag and raised his eyebrows:
"Kuiweiguan is the most upscale dim sum restaurant in East City. Ordinary officials from Beijing have to think twice before entering."

Hou Junji found His Highness Li Ming's surprise very ridiculous:
"Hey, Your Highness, can I be an ordinary official in Beijing?"

Are you kidding? I conquered the Tang Dynasty with others... So what's wrong with eating a few pounds of cheese cakes?
"Paper salary has not yet been paid, and the paper money released by the government is still mainly for relief."

Li Ming crossed his arms, with a faint smile on his face:
"Jun Ji, you said you wanted to pay with paper money at Kuiwei Guanyin, but they didn't accept it. Where did you get these extra paper money?"

Fang Xuanling's gaze turned towards Hou Junji calmly.

The big corrupt official Hou Junji was quite frank and said bluntly:

"From Li Qianyou."

This answer...is not unexpected.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not taking bribes." Hou Junji defended himself:

"This is the fee Li Qianyou gave me when he asked me to paint a piece of calligraphy. It's not a bribe!"

Yes, yes, this is a fair trade and very reasonable... Li Ming was too lazy to complain.

Fang Xuanling's expression immediately darkened:

"In other words, the money that Li Qianyou embezzled has been used to bribe various officials in Beijing?"

"According to his habits, it is probably so." Hou Junji said sarcastically:

"Perhaps the Fang family also received the paper money he presented as a gift, but Prime Minister Fang was so ignorant that he didn't know about it."

Old Hou is indeed a man of talent but no moral integrity, and his character is not good.

This is also why, despite his dual identities as a member of a noble family and a meritorious official, he still managed to become a lone minister of the emperor until he was discovered by Li Ming.

"This is troublesome. The stolen money is probably not recoverable."

Fang Xuanling had no time to argue with the old marquis and pointed at the table.

Some things are worth less than four ounces if they are not weighed, and they cannot be weighed even a thousand pounds if they are weighed.

If we really follow the flow of this banknote and investigate one by one, the entire officialdom of Chang'an will probably be turned upside down.

But we can't check everything in detail, what if we really find out something?

This is tantamount to declaring war on the entire bureaucratic system in the capital.

But now is the time when we need these officials from Beijing...

"Since we can't recover the stolen money, why don't we ask the Shaofuqing to print more money to make up for the deficit?" Hou Junji slapped his head.

Li Ming stood up, tiptoed, and patted the head of Hou Junji who was sitting:
"This hasn't even officially entered circulation yet, and you're already printing money? Once the paper money drops to a valueless level, who will use this waste paper instead of copper coins?"

Although Hou Junji may not understand the concept of "inflation", he still knows the principle that scarcity makes things valuable, so he no longer gives blind advice.

"What should we do? If we can't catch Li Qianyou, can we also recover the stolen money?"

Chang Sunyan felt very frustrated. If this kind of shit happened in Liaodong, he would have started a plot long ago.

But in Chang'an, he could only sit cross-legged.

Fang Xuanling obviously saw further than him, and his calm expression also showed a little ripple:
“If we don’t recover it, our prestige will be damaged; if we recover it, it will be impossible and we will make too many enemies.

"It's difficult..."

On the one hand, the candidate for crown prince was slapped in the face by a county magistrate; on the other hand, a war broke out with the entire officialdom in the capital.

Dead end!

Huh... Li Ming let out a long breath, swept away his depressed expression, and smiled in a relaxed manner:
“It’s difficult, so don’t do it.

"We can temporarily not arrest the person, but it won't be so easy for Li Qianyou to get the stolen money—"

Fang Xuanling closed his eyes slightly and thought about it for a while.

There is no problem with the general direction of His Highness Li Ming's decision.

It not only maintains prestige, but also saves face for officials in the capital, and saves the most precious administrative resources at present.

Just one small question:

How can we make officials hand over the benefits they have received?
"If it were in Liaodong, a government order would be enough to make officials return the stolen money. Otherwise, the Disciplinary Supervision Committee would invite them to have tea."

Chang Sun Yan now always mentions Liaodong whenever he speaks.

Of course, he could only satisfy his desire to talk.

After leaving Liaodong, the Tang Dynasty had its own national conditions.

Li Ming's smile gradually deepened:

"It's impossible for the officials to return the stolen money, but I can make the banknotes in their hands become waste paper."

Fang Xuanling, Hou Junji and Chang Sun Yan, the three people in the room had a layer of confusion on their faces and looked at each other briefly.

Lao Fang had an awkward but polite smile on his face:

“This is a good idea, but how do we do it?”

Coins are not as obedient as people.

Making banknotes automatically invalid is much more difficult than finding out every official in the capital who has accepted bribes.

The latter is just a story about officialdom, while the former can be classified as fantasy.

"Could it be that... a curse was added when the banknotes were printed?"

Hou Junji was shocked and inexplicably felt as if lice were crawling all over his body.

People in the Tang Dynasty were still very superstitious. They believed that anyone who pretended to be Li Ming's porridge would have his intestines rotten, and that Li Ming saved Li Shimin because his filial piety moved God.

In ancient times, money was considered to be a spiritual thing. For example, if five-zhu coins were put together to form a sword, it could also serve as a ward off evil spirits.

So it is not impossible to put a curse on coins.

"Neither, it's just a little trick."

Li Ming took out a banknote from his pocket and pointed to the lower right corner:
"I had anticipated that there would be all kinds of unexpected events when the banknotes were issued, so I was prepared from the beginning."

The three of them looked in the direction Li Ming pointed.

There was a line of small numbers printed there.

This is a micro-carving for anti-counterfeiting made by the masters of the Mint. It is so small that it can be almost ignored.

Fang Xuanling's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he was obviously very surprised:
"Could it be that……"

"That's what I'm saying." Li Ming nodded affirmatively:

“Every banknote has a unique number.

"Chang'an County was the first county to issue paper money, and the corresponding number range is from zero one to one million."

Fang Xuanling suddenly realized something and moved his lips:

"We can recover the stolen money by simply invalidating all the banknotes within this numerical range.

"After all, it's just paper, not precious metal. Without the imperial 'credit', it's worthless..."

Paper money is really interesting!

Taking advantage of its "worthless" nature, the government can issue and recall it freely!

In the past, once metal currencies made mainly of copper, iron, gold and silver were minted and issued, the imperial court would lose control of the money.

Just like the current cash shortage.

As soon as the people saw the copper price rising, they hoarded all the copper coins for profit. The profit-making behavior of individuals caused the group to lose profits, and thus created the so-called "economic crisis" that has caused all industries to be depressed!
As long as there is the tool of "paper money" that the court can exercise discretion and control.

It will be much more convenient to control and regulate again!

If there is not enough money, paper is much cheaper than copper and iron, so just print it!

If too much money is put into circulation, just take it back and destroy it!
You can even use the unique characteristics of each coin to more easily solve robbery and theft cases!

What kind of imagination... no, only a genius can come up with the idea of ​​"using paper instead of money"!
From the perspective of a ruler, after fully realizing the convenience of paper money, Fang Xuanling could not help but admire the young master's genius idea.

Chang Sunyan was used to Li Ming's wild imagination. As the chief secretary, he naturally supplemented Li Ming's plan:

"After abolishing this batch of problematic coins in Chang'an County, new money must be issued immediately so that ordinary people can exchange money for food as soon as possible. We cannot let them starve."

Fang Xuanling and Hou Junji nodded appreciatively.

Li Ming leaned forward:

"Chang'an County cannot be trusted. Chang Sunyan, you will organize the people from the Ministry of Civil Affairs to distribute this batch of newly issued banknotes door to door."

This job is a piece of cake for veteran police captain Sun Yan.

"I will not disgrace my life!"

…………

They did what they said and the notice of abolishing paper currency was published in the Chang'an Express and the imperial edict, which was considered as the notification.

It did not cause any impact on the lives of ordinary people.

Because as Chang Sunyan said, the civilians who really needed rice to be cooked had already exchanged their banknotes for rice.

The cancellation of the currency this time has no effect on them at all.

As for some families who still had some banknotes in their hands, these were originally distributed to them for free by the court, and on the day of abolition, they were reissued with enough banknotes to last for the next ten days, so nothing was said.

The ones who were really shocked were naturally the officials in the capital who were fooled by Li Qianyou again.

Because Li Qianyou was so generous, everyone benefited equally.

This resulted in the number of people he tricked this time being more than 100 million.

Liangyi Hall, the customary small court meeting.

As usual, Li Qianyou stood in the last row, listening to the BGM of the officials arguing, and he was in a trance.

The officials in the court only need to govern the country, but he, as the prefect of Chang'an, has a lot to consider.

When he heard that the daughter-in-law of Huangmen Shilang Liu Li was pregnant, he had to think of a way to provide convenience for her.

He could not only please the Imperial Secretary in a calm, reasonable and legal way, but also make the other party accept his favor.

Well, the Liu Mansion is right next to the East Market, and the blacksmith shop there is very noisy. What if it disturbs the woman in labor?
Move away, move away, all to the corner of the market.

As for whether it is inconvenient for businesses and the people, why should we care?
Minister Liu's daughter-in-law is about to give birth!
"The Yellow Gate Minister is easy to deal with. His current boss, the Minister Li Ming, is the one I should please the most."

Li Qianyou brought his thoughts back to this main contradiction.

Although he communicated directly with His Majesty through his cousin Li Jing, asking His Majesty to take direct action to protect him from this disaster.

But there is no doubt that His Highness Li Ming must have been humiliated by him and was resentful.

This is bad.

Although Li Ming might not be able to touch him, creating conflicts between them would not be in line with Li Qianyou's official principle of "being kind to others".

Need to mend the relationship.

"What does His Highness Li Ming like?"

Catering to someone’s preferences is the basis of “gift giving”.

"I still remember that last year, His Highness made a fortune by reselling cloth...

"Oh, money is the most attractive thing to one's heart, and he is no exception."

Li Qianyou felt that he had discovered the highlight.

It’s good to be greedy for money. Leaders who are greedy for money are the easiest to deal with.

As long as we can resolve the discord with His Highness Li Ming, we can all make money in harmony and turn hostility into friendship.

He can continue to hold the position of Chang'an Ling.

Even more, if His Highness goes one step further...

He might be able to go further...

Just as Li Qianyou was happily calculating on the abacus.

The court meeting also entered the pleasant impeachment phase.

Liu Li, the Imperial Court Minister, who he took for granted to improve relations with, left his seat, came before His Majesty, and was the first to make a statement:
"I report that Li Qianyou, the governor of Chang'an, is not doing his job well, which has led to repeated issuance of paper money, which has caused dissatisfaction among the people and a boiling public resentment."

Huh?
Li Qianyou, who was just a decoration in the small court meeting, was surprised when he suddenly heard his own name.

And he was listed as an impeachment target!

And the person who impeached him was the Huangmen Minister whom he was trying to please!
what happened?
This time, Li Ming completely bypassed the Chang'an County Government when issuing new banknotes.

As a "particular person", Li Qianyou was too busy building good relationships with the bureaucrats to take the time to read vulgar books like "Chang'an Express".

Therefore, he was still unaware of the abolition of the old banknotes.

"I second the proposal."

Soon, several more officials jumped out to impeach Li Qianyou.

Among them were quite a few heavyweight officials, all of whom were filled with deep hatred and vengeance, as if they had an irreconcilable feud with Li Qianyou.

Soon, this wave of impeachment swept across the entire Liangyi Palace.

Except for Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji, who were as steady as a rock, almost all the officials in Beijing joined in and took part in this oral gymnastics.

With the emergence of a money shortage and the temporary suppression of party political struggles, it is rare to see such a strong sense of tension.

Li Qianyou was stunned by everyone's criticism. He sat blankly in the seat at the end of the table, not knowing how to defend himself.

The voice of a child seemed to ring in my ears:
You messed with the wrong person.

(End of this chapter)