“In the urgent report, Cheng Yaojin said there was a grain that could yield fifty shi per mu. At the time, I was furious with rage, thinking this was nonsense. How dare he joke with me in a military report—truly unforgivable.”
“The Empress said it was unlikely to be false, because Niu Jinda had also signed the document, so it couldn’t be fake. My state of mind at that time was extremely complicated. I couldn’t sleep again that night, only hoping that this military report was truly reliable…”
“Later, everyone came to know—we planted chaotically without planning, and the result was that we had so many potatoes we couldn’t finish eating them… I still vividly remember Yun Ye’s exasperated appearance before me. Haha, this was also the first time I was filled with confidence about the coming of a prosperous age.”
When the Emperor spoke to this point, everyone below, whether officials or students, laughed along with the Emperor. Zhangsun Wuji, looking around in all directions, discovered with surprise that no one cared whether the Emperor had killed his own brothers or imprisoned his own father. They were more interested in some little-known history that the empire had experienced, as the Emperor described.
Li’er laughed heartily and pressed down with his hand. The laughter below gradually subsided, and he continued, “Behind my back, Yun Ye mocked me as a country bumpkin—it was just harvesting three or five extra dou of grain, was it worth being so happy I couldn’t sleep? He also said this was only a beginning. With that latter sentence, I forgot about his grave disrespect.”
“How could a young man know my thoughts? In the fourth year of Zhenguan, we marshaled the entire nation’s strength to finally pacify the Eastern Turks. That battle was extraordinarily difficult. The officers and soldiers persisted in the ice and snow lacking clothing and short on food. Finally, they captured Xie Li alive. I’ve almost forgotten the other battle reports, but there was one sentence in the letter that Daoist Sun Simiao sent me that I haven’t forgotten to this day. The letter said that he and Yun Ye, the two of them, used scissors to cut off the frostbitten toes and fingers of the officers and soldiers—filling a full three large baskets!”
“Whenever I think of this, I beat my chest and stamp my feet. These were all my mistakes! If there had been more grain, more furs, the officers and soldiers would never have suffered such hardship. The ‘three or five extra dou harvested’ from Yun Ye’s mouth was critically important to our Great Tang.”
“At the founding of the nation, countless campaigns meant征dust never ceased on Xianyang Bridge, and weeping never ended. It wasn’t that I loved grandiose achievements—absolutely not! I dreamed of peacefully passing several years in tranquility, with light corvée and low taxes, allowing recuperation and recovery. But look—all around the Great Tang were Tuyuhun, Xueyantuo, the Western Turks, the Mohe, and Goguryeo. Every moment they thought about invading the Central Plains. Without driving away these hungry wolves, the prosperity and peace that the Great Tang had established would ultimately be nothing but a city built of sand!”
“Kill them all, kill them all!” A young student stood up, waving his fist and shouting loudly. But no one echoed him. Everyone looked at him with the gaze one would give a fool. Master Yuanzhang of Yushan Academy glared furiously at this hot-blooded fool and shouted, “Kill whom? Where are they?”
Only then did the student come to his senses. With hands clasped in salute, he shamefully tucked his head into his crotch, not daring to raise it.
Li’er took no offense, chuckling and saying, “Of course you can’t find them now. The masters of this land are us. Everyone thinks that I am the master of this country. Little do they know, you too are masters of this land. We were born here and grew up here. Every inch of land was left to us by our ancestors, and even if not, we seized it back with blood and flesh. I do not intend to give this land to anyone. Tell me, do you think this land can be handed over to others?”
Li’er raised his voice and shouted the question. This time not only did the students stand up, but those old generals also stood up, shouting frantically, “We won’t give it! We won’t give it to anyone!” Yuchi Gong pounded his chest until it resounded with thumping sounds.
Zhangsun Wuji watched the frenzied scene. In his wildest dreams, he couldn’t have imagined that a few words from the Emperor could drive these people to madness. If someone dared to give a contrary answer at this moment, these fanatics in the hall would surely tear him to pieces.
Only after everyone had quieted down did Li’er continue, “The realm—I have conquered it for you. Those old generals, old ministers—each has shed the blood they should shed, the sweat they should shed, even the tears they should shed. What remains depends on you. I am already old. Yesterday I tried to mount a horse and found it difficult. I can’t lift the iron spear or wield the horse lance. If you want to expand borders, if you want to extend territory, these have already become your affairs.”
“Through years of research, after summarizing the successes and failures of successive dynasties, the academy has discovered that the root cause of dynastic succession lies in the land. Every dynasty experiences this cycle of founding, prosperity, and finally decline.”
“At the founding of a nation, with everything waiting to be revitalized, every sovereign governs with trepidation, implementing light corvée and low taxes, allowing recuperation and recovery. But in later periods, though sovereigns may become extravagant and licentious, becoming muddle-headed, this is not the most fundamental reason. The most fundamental reason is that the common people lose the land on which they depend for survival. Unable to survive, they can only rebel. If this matter fell on me, I would likewise rebel without negotiation. Since death is inevitable anyway, better to resist before dying.”
“Speaking of this, we can’t help but ask: the land doesn’t run away, so where did it go? Well asked! Where did the land go? Here I will explain it to you. This dynasty implements the equal-field system. Every person must have sufficient land to ensure that men have fields to till and women have looms to weave. But from two million nine hundred thousand households in the second year of Zhenguan, the Great Tang has now grown to six million four hundred fifty thousand households. The population has suddenly more than doubled. The land in Guanzhong was divided up completely long ago. If the court hadn’t timely developed the Two Lakes region and developed Lingnan, the surplus people would have had no way to be settled. Therefore, for the court’s long-term peace and stability, we must continuously develop new lands to ensure that the ever-increasing population can obtain sufficient fields to survive.”
Speaking to this point, Li’er looked up and laughed triumphantly, “I have already prepared land sufficient for the common people to cultivate for a hundred years. As for future land, your descendants will naturally demand it from you. On this point, I have not the slightest worry.”
“Now, our Great Tang’s ironclad army awes the present age, like a deer-cutting knife. Wherever we want, our deer-cutting knife will strike there. Whether on land or sea, I take and seize at will! Remember this: under heaven, there is no land that is not the king’s!”
After Li’er finished these words, everyone below immediately clasped their hands in acknowledgment! This was guiding language. Li’er had infused his ambitions through his words into all the court officials and students present.
“The world’s attack on Tang has become a laughingstock, has become an excuse for our Great Tang to take and demand at will. Looking across the entire world, how lonely I am! Even though I’m old and weakening, looking around in all directions, I cannot find a single opponent. Sometimes when I’m confined in Wanmin Palace, I often wonder whether those opponents who have already died can be resurrected. I don’t want them to find peace. I truly hope they can stand up once more and do battle with me.”
“Sometimes when I wake from midnight dreams, I think of Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, recall the Battle of Luoyang, recall the great battle at Hulao Pass, and even think of Xue Ju’s invincibility. Life is truly as lonely as snow. Watching my hair gradually turn gray, I wish I could hang a long rope in the blue sky to tie this westward-flying white sun.”
“A beauty’s twilight years, a general’s white head—these have always been two of life’s great regrets. There’s no such thing as immortality, though I very much wish it truly existed.”
“Young men, I am old. This world will be yours. I’ll give you one piece of advice: whether you become officials in the future, or merchants, or even teachers—seize the time! Seize the time to establish merit and achievements! Time waits for no one. Don’t put brief pleasures in first place—that is foolish. When you’re establishing merit and achievements, you’ll be grateful for your present labors.”
“No joy compares to the joy that success brings…”
When Li’er spoke to an emotional point, his eyes became moist. The ministers and students below also shed tears. The Emperor was telling everyone about his life’s achievements. This included not only his successes but also his failures, and he hadn’t even made any embellishments about his most private matter of usurping the throne.
Yun Ye leaned his body against the pillar, gently knocking his head against it. Li Tai, Li Chengqian, and Zhangsun had long been streaming with tears. Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui trembled their white beards, immersed in past glories, unable to extricate themselves. Yuchi Gong’s dark face was covered with tear tracks. The Emperor had publicly taken all the blame upon himself before everyone—he wished he could repay this friendship with his life.
At this moment, Li’er was incomparably powerful and incomparably confident. Throughout history, he was the first sovereign to present himself so nakedly before others. This kind of display wasn’t history’s judgment of him, but rather his walking openly and uprightly under the sun to accept the inspection of all people. This required what tremendous spirit and courage!
When speaking of Guo Xiaoke, the Emperor would feel sorrowful, and the audience below would empathize. When speaking of Yun Ye’s bitter battle against the Turk and Tubo coalition forces, everyone would become impassioned along with the Emperor’s voice. At this time, between heaven and earth there remained only one voice, one thought—that was Li’er’s voice, Li’er’s thought. All of this came from the Emperor of the Great Tang Empire.
Heaven knows how long the Emperor lectured. In any case, by the time Yun Ye later brought Li’er a chair, Li’er had already drunk dry three pots of tea. His personal aura had already formed. The people on and off the stage would not feel fatigued.
Not until Zhangsun Wuji collapsed from mental and physical exhaustion did Li’er stop his narration and send people to take Zhangsun Wuji to Sun Simiao’s cave dwelling.
This lecture was actually disorganized, and could even be said to be an idle chat. But this was a truly meaningful idle chat between the Emperor and his ministers and common people. After lifting the veil of the imperial palace, it returned to the world an Emperor with blood and flesh.
And the Emperor also drew infinite strength from them. This also officially marked the birth of a new social stratum—the true scholar-gentry class. The meaning of this class was broad. They were no longer simply scholars—they also included merchants and brilliant craftsmen. This had already caught all the elites of the Great Tang’s various strata in one net.