A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 666 Rewards based on merit
Dusk.

In the stone pavilion in the courtyard of the Xiande Hall of the East Palace,
The six people who plotted the Xuanwu Plan together in Taiyuan that day have now reunited.

Li Shimin smiled at the six men and said, "Today may seem uneventful, but it was actually quite thrilling. We were so busy that we didn't even have time to eat."
These are a few dishes personally cooked by the Princess; let's all have a simple meal together.

This was specially prepared by the princess for Li Shimin, but it was shared with everyone. Li Yi looked at the dishes and thought they looked quite delicious.
It looks and smells delicious, so the taste must be just as good.

There was a dish of scallion and vinegar chicken, a dish of small crispy fried chicken and deer, a dish of stir-fried shredded mutton with lamb skin flower strips, and a dish of soup balls shaped like embroidered balls made with minced meat and eggs.

There is also a yellow rice dish called "Royal Yellow Queen Mother Rice," as well as vinegared celery and stir-fried spinach.

Princess Consort Zhangsun's cooking skills are indeed quite good.

Wei Zheng loved to eat pickled celery, and his throat would throb whenever he saw a plate of pickled celery on the stone table.

"Hurry up."

Li Shimin picked up his chopsticks, and everyone else followed suit.

Li Yi had a very satisfying lunch, enjoying the mutton soup and cold locust leaf soup. However, being young, he was already hungry again as it was dinnertime.

He really liked that scallion and vinegar chicken.

After the chicken is steamed, it is seasoned with scallions and vinegar, making it very tender and flavorful, similar to poached chicken. The meat is white, the skin is yellow and oily, and with one bite, you can taste the original freshness of the chicken. Dipping it in scallions and vinegar is a perfect complement.

This dish may seem simple, but it actually requires skill. You need to select fresh ingredients and handle them carefully. First, you need to simmer the chicken over low heat until it's just cooked through, and then take it out and rinse it in ice water. This will make the chicken skin firm and the texture smooth.

Of course, the final chopping also requires considerable knife skills.

Wei Zheng kept picking at the pickled celery, clearly enamored with the dish.

This dish doesn't actually use vinegar; it's made by pickling and fermenting celery, resulting in a sour taste similar to vinegar. Seasoned with five flavors, it's a perfect accompaniment to wine or rice, truly a delicacy.

The taste was somewhat similar to the sourness of fermented vegetable juice.

"Why does Xuancheng only eat this pickled celery? Doesn't he like the chicken, venison, mutton, and meatballs? Or is Xuancheng a vegetarian?" Li Shimin asked curiously.

Wei Zheng swallowed the pickled celery in his mouth and replied, "I do not only eat vegetarian food, but I do love pickled celery. When I was poor, I often pickled celery to accompany my wine and meals. It has become a habit over the years, and I can't live without it."

Wei Zheng was born late in life. Although the Wei family of Julu was a prominent family in Hebei, his father's official career was unsuccessful, and he was demoted to a county magistrate at an advanced age.

When Wei Zheng was young, his parents had already passed away. He went through a period of hardship and eventually became a Taoist priest.

For Wei Zheng, pickled celery held a special significance, much like Lao Gan Ma chili sauce or Fuling pickled mustard tuber were for some people during their school days.

Li Yi picked up a few bites of vinegar and found the taste quite unique. At first, it tasted too sour, but after a few more bites, he found it quite good.

However, he still prefers scallion and vinegar chicken.
Chicken breast and venison stir-fried together in small crispy pork is also delicious, especially when coated in flour, deep-fried, and then stir-fried.

The large meatballs are similar to lion's head meatballs, tender and juicy.

He still likes to eat meat; he's young, a carnivore.

Li Shimin has a good appetite today.
Perhaps they were truly hungry, for they ate four of the large meatballs. Fortunately, the dishes sent by Princess Changsun were quite plentiful, and Li Yi guessed that they had probably prepared them in advance.

"Wuji, you will begin your work at the Ministry of Personnel tomorrow."

Li Shimin rubbed his bloated belly and said to his brother-in-law.

"However, we cannot appoint you as Minister of Personnel for the time being."

Li Shimin declined the crown prince's offer three times today, making a very good show of it.

But it was just a performance of feigned refusal.

This does not prevent him from starting to build his own Eastern Palace official team, including the Eastern Palace's one prefecture, two workshops, three temples, and various supervisory offices, as well as the Eastern Palace's six commands and four prefectures.

The organizational structure is very complete.

It turns out that Li Jiancheng's former officials and associates in the Eastern Palace are definitely no longer suitable for use.

Li Yi was the Grand Chamberlain, and Yuwen Shiji was the Junior Grand Chamberlain.

Changsun Wuji and Du Ruhui were both Left Vice Ministers, while Gao Shilian and Fang Xuanling were Right Vice Ministers.

The Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Left and Right Spring Palaces were equivalent to the Ministry of Personnel and the Secretariat and Chancellery of the imperial court.

The duties of the Left Spring Palace were set up with reference to those of the Secretariat.

By appointing Changsun Wuji as the Left Vice Minister, he was essentially securing a position as prime minister for him. Once Li Shimin ascended the throne, Changsun Wuji would naturally become prime minister.

However, the prime minister cannot be replaced immediately, and even the ministers of the six ministries cannot be moved for the time being. Yet, the central power must be firmly held in the hands of our own people.

then,

Li Shimin appointed Changsun Wuji as the Left Vice-Chancellor of the Crown Prince, and then sent him to work in the Ministry of Personnel of the Ministry of Personnel. Although he did not hold an official position in the Ministry of Personnel, he was specially appointed by the Crown Prince to be stationed there, which was acceptable for the time being.

"Kemin, go to the Ministry of War!"

Li Shimin turned to Du Ruhui and said.

"promise!"

Fang Xuanling was assigned to the Secretariat, while Gao Shilian and Wei Zheng were assigned to the Ministry of Personnel.

Li Yi naturally remained in charge of the Secretariat and temporarily presided over the meetings of the Council of State Affairs.

As for the military generals, Yuchi Gong was in charge of the Taiji Palace, Qin Qiong was in charge of the Imperial City, and Cheng Yaojin was in charge of the defense of the Eastern Palace.

Hou Junji was promoted to General of the Left Guard and Deputy Commander of the Crown Prince's Left Guard, and together with Xu Luoren, Qiu Xinggong and others, he was responsible for guarding and accompanying Li Shimin.

Changsun Shunde and Liu Hongji were not only key figures in Li Yuan's strategy, but they also made great contributions in this campaign. Along with An Xinggui and Fan Shixing, the four of them were responsible for the various gates of the outer city of Chang'an.

"The Grand Chancellor of Shaanxi East Circuit will not be removed for the time being. Qu Tutong will be appointed as the Left Vice Minister of the Grand Chancellor of Shaanxi East Circuit, stationed in Luoyang." "King Wei of Wei, Daoxuan, will return to Youzhou and continue to serve as the Grand Governor of Youzhou. Liu Zheng will return to the capital and be appointed as the Minister of the Imperial Household."

"Duke of Tan, Luo Shixin, was appointed Governor of Liangzhou, while Yuwen Shiji returned to the capital and was appointed Vice Minister of the Chancellery and concurrently Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince."

From inside to outside.

Today, Chang'an has been completely captured.

The emperor, the crown prince, the Prince of Qi, the central government's three provinces and six ministries, and several prime ministers all proceeded smoothly.

But outside of Chang'an
There are still unknowns.

We must prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation to rebel.

Wei Zheng smacked his lips. "Your Highness, I have a suggestion."

"What suggestions does Xuan Cheng have?"

"Your Highness has already requested His Majesty to grant a general amnesty and not pursue anyone other than Jiancheng and Yuanji, but I believe that is not enough."

Previously, due to the Yang Wengan incident, Wang Gui, Tang Lin, Li Anyan, Xue Wanche, Feng Li from the Eastern Palace, and Xie Shufang from the Qi Prince's residence were all exiled.

These people were initially loyal to the people they served; they could be considered loyal ministers and righteous men. Now that the matter is settled, Your Highness should petition the Emperor to grant them all a pardon, recall them to Chang'an, and reinstate them to their official positions.

"And officials of the Eastern Palace and relatives of the Crown Prince, such as Li Gang and Pei Shiju, former Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, Zheng Shanguo, Left Vice Minister, and Zheng Yuanzhu, Minister of Ceremonies, can also be given important positions."

In this way, the world praised His Highness for his benevolence.
Those officials and nobles who had previously been close to the Crown Prince and the King of Qi were no longer nervous or uneasy.

Everyone can put aside the past and serve His Highness with peace of mind.

Changsun Wuji was immediately displeased. It would be an act of leniency not to take this opportunity to purge and eliminate the Crown Prince's and Prince Qi's trusted followers.

Why are we still giving them important positions?

What about all that fighting to the death?
Changsun Wuji's thoughts were still focused on the struggles he had been involved in. He clearly distinguished the various factions, including the Prince of Qin, the Eastern Palace, the Prince of Qi's residence, and even His Majesty.

Li Shimin looked at Li Yi.
"Wu Yi, what do you think?"

Li Yi had no real grudges against Wang Gui, Xue Wanche, or others, but he didn't have a good relationship with the Zheng family of Xingyang. However, he still took Zheng Shanguo's daughter as a concubine.

Zheng Rou Niang also gave birth to Li Yi's fifth son.

"Three days from now, Your Highness will become the Crown Prince of our Great Tang Dynasty, acting as regent on behalf of the Emperor," Li Yi reminded him.

Li Shimin seemed to be deep in thought.

Du Ruhui nodded, "Wu Yi is right. In the past, there was a division between 'us' and 'them,' and between the Prince of Qin's residence and the Eastern Palace, but things are different now."
From now on, Your Highness will be the Crown Prince, so there shouldn't be such a clear distinction anymore.

There is no distinction between us; we are all officials of the Great Tang Dynasty, and all subjects of His Highness.

Li Shimin nodded.
We can no longer view things from the perspective of the King of Qin.

He was about to become the Crown Prince, the Regent, and soon even the Emperor of Tang. He had to look at all of this from a higher perspective.

He cannot rely solely on the people of the Qin Prince's Mansion to rule the Tang Dynasty.

He saw that Changsun Wuji was very unconvinced.
He understood that he still needed to appease the former officials of the Prince of Qin's residence, as they were his core group.

"Today's success is inseparable from your contributions, and I will never forget them."

Li Shimin announced on the spot
Li Yi was awarded twelve thousand bolts of silk for his outstanding contribution to the Yuanmou campaign.

Yuchi Gong and Hou Junji were rewarded with 10,000 bolts of silk each for their great service in supporting the emperor.

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Gao Shilian, Wei Zheng, and Changsun Wuji, who also contributed to the plot, were each awarded 8,000 bolts of silk.

Among the nine generals who accompanied the King of Qin into the palace, seven generals—Zheng Rentai, Zhang Gongjin, Liu Shili, Gongsun Wuda, Du Junchuo, Dugu Yanyun, and Li Mengchang—along with Chang He, the general guarding Xuanwu Gate, Jing Junhong, the general of the Left Garrison Camp, and Zhang Liang, who secretly worked for the King, were each awarded 5,000 bolts of silk for their meritorious service in protecting the King.

The six generals, Changsun Shunde, Liu Hongji, Qututong, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, and Luo Shixin, were each given three thousand bolts of silk.

This reward is very generous.
There were a total of 24 meritorious officials in five categories, with Li Yi receiving the highest rank of 12,000 bolts of silk, not even counting Li Yuanji's gold, silver and other valuables.

Below that are four levels: 10,000 horsepower, 8,000 horsepower, 5,000 horsepower, and 3,000 horsepower.

Li Yi was the mastermind behind the establishment and held a top-tier position.

The second-tier Yuchi Gong and Hou Junji were clearly rewarded because one captured Crown Prince Jiancheng and the other held Emperor Li Yuan hostage. They did a great job in the dirty work and did it well, so of course they deserved to be rewarded.

"Summon back Wang Gui and the others who were previously exiled."
Wang Gui was appointed as the chief clerk of the Crown Prince's Chamberlain, and Tang Lin appointed him as the assistant magistrate of Wannian County.

Xue Wanche, Xie Shufang, Feng Li, and Li Anyan were all granted the rank of Langjiang (a military officer).

Li Shimin thought for a moment, "Wei Ting has been in exile for several years now. Let's recall him this time and let him serve as a county magistrate in the capital region."

"What does Wu Yi think?"

Wei Ting was also a member of Jiancheng. He had a grudge against Li Yi. Li Yi used the opportunity of suppressing the bandits of Sizhuyuan Mountain to set a trap for Wei Ting, and in the end, he was exiled to Xizhou.

When Li Shimin mentioned recalling Wei Ting, it was not to annoy Li Yi, but to win over the Wei clan of Jingzhao, since the Wei clan of Jingzhao was the head of the six clans of Guanzhong.

Emperor Taizong of Tang (Li Shimin) had two cousins ​​from the Wei family in his harem. Although they were both young widows, the Wei family wielded considerable influence in Guanzhong and the imperial court.

At present, Li Shimin needs to win over the Wei clan of Jingzhao.

"I have no objection. I believe that Wei Ting has reformed himself after several years in Xizhou. He will be grateful for Your Highness's recall and will serve you with utmost loyalty," Li Yi replied.

He was someone Wei Ting couldn't beat before, and now that Wei Ting is back, what can he do? He's even less likely to beat him.

If Wei Ting doesn't see the consequences after returning, and Li Yi takes action again, it won't be as simple as just being exiled to Xizhou for a few years.

(End of this chapter)