Backward regions need more than just money—they need a massive infusion of new ideas. Years of ingrained thinking have firmly shackled their minds to this land. Tang people cannot survive without their own land—this isn’t Yun Ye deliberately exaggerating; it’s simply the truth. Born here, raised here, died here, never traveling more than two hundred li from home in their entire lives—this is their normal way of life.
Two hundred li is actually too generous an estimate. The old woman had lived her entire life on the plateau and had never eaten fish. Now that she’d moved to the lakeside, she ate fish every day, and it was driving her nearly insane. She couldn’t understand why meat would have so many bones in it. Getting bones stuck in her throat seven or eight times per meal—this was unbearable! She could only eat plain rice with meat broth every day, watching others eat fish while tears streamed down her face.
Expect people like this to purchase houses in the new city? She would raise pigs in the back courtyard and chickens in the front courtyard. If she could tether a water buffalo, her life would be perfect. Bare-bottomed children would run wild through the streets, yellow dogs would breed freely in the main thoroughfares—one strike with a stick and chickens would fly, dogs would leap, chaos everywhere!
Li Chengqian was peppered with Yun Ye’s rapid-fire questions until sweat poured down his forehead. He knew very well what sort of people his subjects were. What Yun Ye described was very likely to become reality. Helplessly, he said: “You can’t make every city as clean as the Academy. You have a cleanliness obsession, Xiao Ke has a cleanliness obsession, but farming life cannot be spotlessly clean.”
“If it were a small city, of course I wouldn’t be so demanding. Bare-bottomed children don’t harm anyone. But the new city has an important purpose—it also has an educational function. A clean, orderly city is somewhere everyone wants to live. Xue Wanche turned over all his private savings to me, hoping I would find a good business opportunity in the new city for his former personal maid and her son. I’ve already calculated the profits. There are countless people like this in Chang’an.”
People from big cities generally have a bit of pride. As long as you properly guide this pride and let it form a prevailing atmosphere, it will quickly change the local customs. See that man with the huge belly? Know how he got sick? His belly is full of worms—no one dares approach him, saying he’s been cursed with poison insects. That’s right, a type of small worm got into his belly, called schistosomes. The reason for his illness isn’t that someone harmed him, but that he himself drank unclean water and stood barefoot in dirty water—that’s how he caught the disease. This illness is very difficult to treat, extremely difficult.
Guan Tinglong is now constantly teaching the local people how to change their lifestyle, but the results aren’t good. Even though these are proven good methods, they just won’t take.
A city’s hard power consists of geographic location, surrounding environment, military defensive capabilities, the height of city walls, population size. But there’s also a type of invisible power that’s very important, which no one in the court currently notices—for example, whether governance is enlightened, the city’s level of prosperity, and the progress of education. These are all part of a city’s strength.
“There’s a saying: ‘Live long amid fish markets and you no longer smell the stench; dwell long in rooms of orchids and you no longer smell their fragrance.’ People who have stayed too long in Chang’an, this room of orchids, who suddenly enter the new city, this fish market—if they don’t immediately flee three thousand li away, you can come question me.”
Li Chengqian’s face instantly darkened. He asked furiously: “They’re all the same common people, struggling to scrape food from the soil. Who has time like you to change clothes twice a day, bathe once, wash their hands eight times before eating, go to the latrine and wish they could chop their hands off when they return? Don’t you dare look down on the Tang people! They’re all good people. You’re the prefect—these should all be your responsibilities. A large group of black-hearted wealthy people have already carved up Chang’an, and now they’re coming to carve up the new city. No! The original residents must enter the city. If they dirty the city, you figure it out. If they get sick, you treat them. If children run around naked, you find them clothes.”
“You’re the prefect of Yuezhou! What are officials for? Not to find places for the wealthy to make money, but to ensure everyone has clothes to wear and food to eat. Put away your scheming. After all that talk, your only purpose is to make money. You haven’t looked at what kind of lives these people are living. Making money has driven you crazy—do you really not care about your conscience anymore?”
This was the first time Li Chengqian had lost his temper at Yun Ye. You could see he was truly angry—his body trembled slightly, as if he was forcefully restraining himself. If the person before him wasn’t Yun Ye, he would probably erupt like a volcano.
Yun Ye clasped his hands toward Li Chengqian in apology, but his mouth still said: “Your concern for the common people shows you’re truly a qualified heir to the empire. But, Chengqian, reality won’t proceed according to your fantasies. From the day capital was born, it has drunk human blood. I warned you all back then, but you were all blinded by the enormous profits before your eyes. None of you cared—you rejoiced and scrambled to accumulate wealth from across the realm. What, now that it’s time to bear the bitter consequences, you’re unwilling?”
“Even if I lower the land prices and housing prices in the city to let the natives move in, those wealthy people from Chang’an will still pay high prices to buy the houses from the native villagers. In the end, the new city will still be inhabited by Chang’an’s wealthy households. After making a windfall, the native residents will still happily go live outside the city, producing grain, vegetables, cloth, pigs and sheep for these wealthy households to enjoy. We’ll lose a lot of money but have no way to change reality. Chengqian, are you sure you want to do this?”
Li Chengqian stumbled, leaning against a tree and gasping for a long time before saying: “If the court made a mistake, then let the court bear the consequences. Just do it—distribute the land and houses to them at discounted prices. As for how they buy and sell, that’s their business. This money should have been theirs anyway. I’m taking charge of this matter. If things go badly, I’ll bear the responsibility.”
“Ye Zi, you’re a kind person. I know you’re angry at those people who once put you in danger with land prices. Ye Zi, don’t hate them. The common people are ignorant, which is why they need us to guide them. Their mistakes are actually caused by us—don’t push our responsibility onto them.”
“Ye Zi, don’t hate them. They’re too weak, haven’t experienced much of the world. Last time your retaliation almost caused Yuezhou’s people irreparable harm, yet pitifully they still don’t know it was you driving it—they’re all grateful to you. Having the ability to overturn situations with a wave of your hand in the court is a skill, but please don’t use this on them. Country people’s understanding can’t withstand your manipulations.”
After speaking, he shook off the attendants who tried to support him and walked swiftly alone along the small lake, tearing open his collar. His pale chest rose and fell against the wind. The Eastern Palace guards attending him all had reddened eyes, glaring viciously at Yun Ye who was chewing beans with an indifferent expression.
Yun Ye didn’t leave. He just stood by the lake watching Li Chengqian walk along the shore, watching him greet laborers with a forced smile, watching him help a peasant woman lift a bamboo basket onto her shoulder, watching him rub a bare-bottomed child’s head while overcome with grief and indignation.
Qu Yuan’s grief made him question Heaven; Zu Ti’s grief led to his rising at cockcrow to practice swordplay; Ran Min’s grief produced the “Massacre Order Against the Barbarians”; now Li Chengqian’s grief could only bring heartache.
After Li Chengqian had walked a full circuit of the small lake, releasing a circuit’s worth of grief and indignation, and returned, Yun Ye pulled a memorial from his chest and said: “Sign it. I’ve already signed. This time we’ll lose two hundred ninety thousand silver coins. The people of Yuezhou will make a fortune, but you and I are too unfortunate. At most I’ll be criticized by others. Too much criticism isn’t good for you, so we need to find a way to fill this hole. Doing good deeds brings bad luck—I knew it all along. This is precisely why I’ve always wanted to be a corrupt official.”
Li Chengqian opened the memorial doubtfully, only to see written clearly at the top “Memorial on Allowing Refugees to Enter the City.” He quickly opened it to read, and his eyes immediately moistened. The memorial read: “Your subject Yun Ye respectfully presents: As the new city is currently under construction, your subject from a thousand li away remonstrates to Your Majesty. Having heard that Chang’an’s wealthy covet and gather in the new city, this subject considers it inappropriate…”
“Entrusting the new city to wealthy households may bring profits in gold and silk, but loses the hearts of the realm. Though the natives are ignorant masses, they too are Your Majesty’s subjects. Today we deceive Yueyang, tomorrow we can deceive Jiangnan, the day after we can deceive the entire realm. Never has it been heard that any realm endured long through deception…”
“Since ancient times, people have encountered many disasters, and so sages appeared. They taught them to depend on each other, to reproduce and survive together, became their kings, led them to drive away poisonous insects, giant snakes, strange birds, and fierce beasts so they could settle in the Central Plains. When cold, they taught them to make clothes; when hungry, they taught them to plant crops. Living in trees made falling easy, sleeping in the wild made illness easy, so they taught them to build houses. They taught them crafts so their utensils would be sufficient, taught them commerce so their goods could circulate, taught them to seek medical treatment so they wouldn’t die young…”
Li Chengqian had only read a portion when he stuffed the memorial into his chest and ran to chase after Yun Ye, who had already walked far away.
“The sage’s duty is the government’s duty now. Educating the myriad people is inherently proper. The Tang’s territory is vast—not everywhere can be as prosperous as Chang’an. Once the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer, I fear the Tang realm will face the worry of collapse. Therefore, this humble subject boldly memorializes requesting the court allocate at least half the new city’s land to the natives, with the other half sold. This way, it will calm the people’s resentment…”
Fang Xuanling’s voice rang out in Wanmin Palace. Yun Ye’s memorial was made public, and the entire Wanmin Palace fell silent. Li Er’s face bore a smile, as if the losses weren’t his. This smile already indicated he was extremely satisfied with the memorial’s content.
Since Yun Ye had begun truly handling affairs, naturally his enthusiasm couldn’t be dampened. His first memorial with substance and responsibility naturally needed to be widely promoted. Regarding this change in Yun Ye, Li Er felt gratified from his heart. Although this memorial asked him not to excessively exploit the people and would reduce the court’s income, he still clearly expressed an attitude of full support. At this moment, no one would come out to cause trouble, right?