When the Emperor arrived at the Yun estate, the sun had only recently risen. The dewdrops on the grass tips had not yet disappeared, but in the thunderous sound of horse hooves, they finally fell and scattered into the earth.
When the Son of Heaven traveled, it shook the earth and mountains. Yun Ye, who was waiting at the roadside to respectfully welcome Li Er’s imperial procession, was astonished and dumbstruck. This was excessive! It was merely coming to his home for a meal of truffles—why did he need to mobilize the grand imperial procession?
The accompanying carriages alone numbered a full eighty-one vehicles. Fortunately, the Great Tang currently had no such thing as war chariots; otherwise, a thousand war chariots would have been enough to fill the Yun family estate. The ceremonial canopy, wash basins, feather dusters, spittoons, stools, folding chairs, incense burners, incense boxes, water bottles, ceremonial blades, and leopard-tail spears were all present without exception. Various large and small umbrellas and canopies of different ranks and regulations, longevity fans, various banners and pennants, various styles of standards, golden staffs, ceremonial cloaks and command flags, battle axes, stars, reclining melons, standing melons, imperial staffs, leading staffs, and red lanterns—not a single one was missing. When five magnificently adorned elephants appeared before his eyes, Yun Ye had the urge to faint.
Old Pei rode on horseback, winking at Yun Ye. Since he had appeared, that meant the entire Xiaoqi Guards had been mobilized—this was truly ten thousand cavalry. The Emperor only deployed such a grand display when performing imperial sacrifices.
According to protocol, those accompanying the Emperor in the carriage should be the Palace Attendant and the Secretary. However, judging from the phoenix banner, Xu Jingzong and the others had definitely been driven to the rear. Why did the fellow driving the Emperor’s carriage look so familiar? With the face mask lowered, it was impossible to see clearly. Only when this fellow lifted his face guard did Yun Ye discover with astonishment that the coachman was actually Liu Hongji. For the old fellow to fawn to such an extent was truly rare.
The Emperor had clearly come to bully people. He invited the couple over for a meal, yet he brought more than ten thousand people. In the blink of an eye, the Xiaoqi Guards had turned the Yun family estate into a military fortress. Old Pei continued ordering soldiers to fortify the outermost defense line—who knew whom he planned to defend against.
The farmers in the estate were terrified. Except for two old men who voluntarily stepped forward, prepared to let the Emperor vent his anger, the rest all wore mournful faces as if their parents had died.
Li Er’s carriage only stopped when it reached the gate of the Yun home. Yun Ye had followed the carriage for a stretch of road and was covered in dust. Before he could wash up, he saw the Emperor and Zhangsun descend from the carriage. Liu Hongji, sitting on the carriage shaft, cracked his whip once, and the carriage pulled by six horses went to the clearing opened up by the Xiaoqi Guards.
Yun Ye had not yet spoken with Li Er when Li Er and his wife were already smiling and exchanging pleasantries with Old Grandmother. Only then did Yun Ye remember that the one hosting the guests was Old Grandmother, not himself.
They had clearly already thoroughly investigated everything about the Yun household, yet they had to pretend as if this were their first visit, with Old Grandmother still having to show them around. Waiting at the main gate to receive Li Er were not only the Yun family members—Li Gang, Du Ruhui, and Fang Xuanling, though all dressed in casual clothes, still very respectfully bowed to the Emperor.
The Emperor sat briefly at the Yun home, then proposed that he and the Empress visit some farmers’ homes. Because the entire estate was filled with people from the Xiaoqi Guards and the Thousand Bull Guards, the Emperor and Empress walked through the estate one after the other, just like an ordinary married couple.
The old farmer had clearly been scared nearly to death by the Emperor, yet he insisted on leaning over the courtyard wall and loudly greeting people. It was only spring, yet he asked people what their views were on the autumn harvest.
“No views—we listen to the officials. Whatever the officials say to do, we’ll do!”
Hearing this response from the old farmer, Yun Ye immediately burst into laughter. The people of the Yun family estate were still clever. This answer was perfect beyond measure. They say that true learning exists in the countryside—truly they do not deceive me.
Li Er wrinkled his nose, seeming somewhat embarrassed. He had only wanted to intimidate with imperial authority. While respecting the wishes of the common people, he also wanted them to know the majesty of the imperial family. This was just a petty competitive thought. He hadn’t expected his show of authority to be somewhat excessive, frightening the farmers into quails, making the entire affair utterly boring.
Turning back to see Yun Ye snickering, he finally found a place to vent his anger. He snorted through his nose and said, “You think that We made too much of a small matter by traveling this way?”
“No, Your Majesty is a sage ruler. That Your Majesty would bring out the grand procession used for imperial sacrifices to the Yun family estate—this humble subject is surprised beyond measure.”
“I’m afraid the surprise exceeds the joy? The classical regulations clearly state that when an emperor travels more than thirty li from the capital, he must announce it to the world, display the ceremonial procession, and show the imperial regalia. What is improper about this?”
Of course there was no problem with this. The road from the Yun family estate to the capital had been straightened through several modifications and now ran almost in a straight line, with a distance of only thirty-five li. If the Emperor insisted on being particular about it, Yun Ye had no recourse whatsoever. Although previously when the Emperor came to the Yun home or went to Yushan he had traveled light with minimal escort, this time he insisted on being grand—he could only let him have his way.
The Emperor was nearly fifty years old, yet his temper had become increasingly volatile. The imperial palace was now filled with a brutal and violent atmosphere. The reason for saying this was that the Emperor had recently been constantly beating people to death with the wooden rod.
Being beaten to death with the rod was also an extremely painful way to die. One only needed to see that most of those who died were eunuchs responsible for procurement to know that the Emperor was imposing a gag order.
Generally speaking, commoners were curious about the mysterious imperial palace and always wanted to inquire about the lives of the imperial family. Thus these procurement eunuchs became the only source of information. Since the Emperor was doing this, it indicated he wanted to maintain a sense of mystery.
Yun Ye led the imperial couple to see the cow that had nearly miscarried, and they also sampled the dried fruits from Old Cao’s household. As for the butcher’s pork, it had already been purchased by the Yun household, so the Emperor did not go to see their pork.
In a short time, they had toured the entire Yun family estate. Some old farmers also dared to speak boldly with the Emperor. As for Zhangsun, she had long been surrounded by a group of old and young women and had gone who knows where. Compared to the majestic His Imperial Majesty, the amiable and approachable Her Imperial Majesty the Empress was always the most popular person at the Yun family estate.
“It seems the Empress is more popular with the common people than We are!” Li Er turned back and didn’t see the Empress, so he joked with the villagers.
“Men still need some authority, otherwise they can’t maintain the household. This old man’s several sons all fear this old man, yet they’re close with their mother. It’s actually all the same principle.”
Li Er nodded with a smile, very satisfied with this statement.
Once the floodgates of conversation opened, the farmers saw that the Emperor was easy to talk to, and they gradually began speaking to the Emperor one after another. Such face-giving moments were not common.
“Does this mean the court’s corvée labor system is not reasonably established?”
“Your Majesty, it’s not that it’s unreasonable. The nation also needs to build roads and construct cities. These tasks always require people to do them. Although our Marquis and the others have captured quite a few foreigners, how can the task of building cities be entrusted to them? Our nation’s city walls still need to be built by our own people. The officials explained this principle, and this old man feels that some people can go, while some people are not suitable to go.”
“Those who farm the land given by the court must pay taxes and perform corvée labor. The problem is that when people from our Yun family estate go to perform corvée labor, it’s a losing proposition.”
“A losing proposition? How so!” Li Er was nearly choked by these words. There was such a thing as losing money on corvée labor?
The old man smiled foolishly and said, “Yes, losing money. Look here, if this old man used the time for corvée labor to go to the city to sell dried fruits, he could earn five silver coins in a month. But, this old man could take one silver coin and hire a strong laborer. If this strong laborer went to perform corvée labor in this old man’s place, not only would he do more work than this old man, it would also be better quality. This way, this old man could still net four silver coins. This would be good for both the officials and this old man. Your Majesty, could this old man hire a strong laborer to go for next year’s corvée labor?”
Li Er’s eyeballs nearly popped out. He had no way to answer this question. Old Cao’s words seemed fine at first glance—it truly was a good thing that benefited both sides. But when the state initially established the corvée labor system, it had never anticipated such a problem. If this issue were fully explored, it would require a complete overhaul of the court’s taxation system. How could this be accomplished overnight?
“Your Majesty, this old man’s son is a militia soldier. He’s also followed the Marquis onto the battlefield several times and earned some military merit. Now that he stays home, he’s become a lazy good-for-nothing. He doesn’t do any work and relies on his military merit, planning to lie around eating, single-mindedly waiting for Your Majesty to summon him to the battlefield again. This old man asked our Marquis, and the court’s policy these past few years has been recuperation—no more taking up arms. Tell me, how can things continue this way? Technically he’s a militia soldier—the military within agriculture. When the court isn’t fighting wars, they should be farmers, right? But he doesn’t want to farm; he only wants to be a soldier. Could you recruit him back into the military?”
Li Er’s mouth gaped open. This was yet another question related to the state’s military service system, also not something that could be explained clearly in one or two sentences. What he considered a perfectly handled result became completely distorted when implemented below. Using his own ideas to substitute for the ideas of everyone in the world was truly too biased.
Different rice feeds a hundred different people. Everyone’s thoughts are different. He had originally thought that common people could only raise questions about cows, dried fruits, and pork. Now he realized it wasn’t like that at all. All the policies he established would ultimately fall upon their heads. They were the final interpreters of these policies.
“Water can carry a boat but also overturn it, and the nature of water is most changeable. Steering a boat also requires adapting to actual changes—sometimes borrowing force, sometimes following momentum, sometimes rowing against the current. Those unfamiliar with the nature of water will inevitably capsize!”
After returning to the Yun home, Li Er sat with his ministers in the great hall of the Yun residence and explained to them what he had witnessed at the Yun family estate. The questions from two old men had left him, the supreme ruler of all under heaven, speechless. There were still so many more common people under heaven—who knew how many accumulated problems there were? How many undercurrents lurked beneath the seemingly calm surface?
After listening, Li Gang chuckled and said, “Your Majesty need not belittle yourself. The Zhenguan reign to this day has been a golden age rarely seen throughout history. We now have no external threats and no internal worries. This is Your Majesty’s achievement. Your Majesty lives in the hearts of the common people and can naturally establish yourself as a sage ruler of a generation. What you’re encountering now is the so-called impossibility of pleasing everyone.”
“When a policy is issued and implemented, it needs to take care of the interests of the majority of people, not a small portion. Your Majesty has been misled by the superficial appearance of the Yun family estate.”
“That Old Cao himself said he could earn five silver coins in a month. Would Your Majesty then believe that all people selling dried fruits in the world could earn five silver coins a month? He can afford to hire a strong laborer—could others also afford to hire one? Corvée labor is a way for a commoner to offer loyalty to the state. It’s not a matter of one silver coin. This old subject believes that corvée labor can only be expanded, not reduced. As for that lazy militia soldier, he’s merely an isolated case with no operational applicability.”
“Your Majesty has surely read the story of ‘Two Children Debating the Sun’?”