Jingu Garden is the name used by Shi Chong. Naturally, the palace rebuilt on the site in the Sui Dynasty was not called Jingu Garden, but Jicui Palace. Jicui Palace is surrounded by twenty miles, with walls eight feet high, and palaces and pavilions in the middle.

The palaces, pavilions, corridors and rooms are all ready.

Yang Guang did not use pearls, agate, amber, rhinoceros horn, ivory and other valuables to decorate the houses in the garden like Shi Chong did. Instead, he enclosed a large area of ​​beautiful natural landscape into the garden wall, and then followed the terrain.

Dotted with towers and pavilions, pools and blue waves, and the garden's rugged mountains, lush trees, and bamboo pavilions, the whole palace is very elegant and natural.

Inside the main hall.

Yang Tong was discussing matters with Yang Gongren, Fang Xuanling, and Ling Jing. The three of them came from Luoyang in a carriage. They didn't get wet from the rain. They drank a cup of hot tea, and the warm breath suddenly filled their limbs.

"Your Majesty!" Yang Gongren put down the tea cup and said in a deep voice: "Shilang Yin sent back the news that Shi Yu, the magistrate of Baima County, was a petty official and a huge corrupt man. He conspired with Zeng Zhong, the magistrate of Baima County, and stole two hundred grains from Baima County.

It’s around 10,000 stones, the exact number is not known yet…”

"More than two million stones?" Yang Tong couldn't help being surprised, "This is a quarter of the grain reserves in Baima Granary... The key is that no one has discovered so much grain. This is a big problem! I'm afraid if we continue to investigate seriously,

The entire officialdom of Dong County is about to collapse."

"The masterminds are these two people! The county magistrate, county lieutenant, county emperor, and county magistrate are not involved..."

"Oh my god, how did they do it?" Yang Tong admired both of them.

"Tunnel!" Yang Gongren also understood Yang Tong's mood at this time, because he was also so shocked when he saw Yin Hongzhi's emergency report. He smiled bitterly and said: "The geology of Okura is very suitable for digging tunnels. They dug it first."

tunnel, and then moved the grain without anyone noticing. In order to cope with the annual inspection, they separated the middle and upper part of the grain cellar with floors. The bottom was empty, and only one foot of grain was spread on it. Officials from Sinong Temple

It was impossible to open them one by one, so they dealt with it; it was also the carefulness of the Yin Shilang who asked General Xue Wanbei and the others to pull out the grain. Otherwise, the imperial court would not have discovered it until the grain cellar was emptied."

"It's true that the Dao is one foot high and the devil is ten feet high. According to this, other granaries are not safe either." Yang Tong couldn't sit still, feeling that all granaries were unsafe.

"That's right!" Yang Gongren said with a wry smile: "What Shilang Yin means is that before you think of a way, don't make it public, lest some lawless people dig holes and steal food."

"well considered."

Yang Tong felt a headache and asked again: "Has this kind of thing happened before?"

"That's not the case!" Yang Gongren shook his head and said: "In the past, there was an unwritten rule in official warehouses and free warehouses, which tacitly allowed the children of aristocratic families or local officials to resell the grain in the warehouses and earn the price difference, as long as they made up the full amount.

That’s all, and for the imperial court, it also plays the role of replacing old food with new ones, so the imperial court and the Yushitai turn a blind eye."

Yang Tong became angry, "What's the difference? It's nothing more than relying on the power of the family and the position to infringe on the national interests. Now that we have cut off the dirty evil hands, it has turned into direct stealing...

Where did this food go?”

Yang Gongren looked solemn: "According to the warehouse order, all these grains were sold to the Puppet Tang Dynasty, Li Mi, at a high price..."

"Bang!" Yang Tong slammed the table, and suddenly stood up: "You really took the courage of a leopard!"

He took two steps forward and snatched the urgent report from Yang Gongren's hand.

After reading ten lines at a glance, Yang Tong looked gloomy and gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! It turns out these wealthy families are responsible for the trouble."

Yin Hongzhi's urgent report stated in detail that Shi Yu was the person who infiltrated the officialdom of the Zheng family in Xingyang. This time, it was the Zheng family who contacted him. Shi Yu and Zeng Zhong stole the grain, and then the Zheng family merchants stole the grain from the Yellow River.

The waters were sold to the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty, which was in short supply of food, and the profit was several times the normal price of food.

Yang Tong was even more shocked and angry that as he expected, the famous Gao Diguo had already turned light into darkness and sneaked into the officialdom of the Sui Dynasty.

in his impression.

After the short period of Wu Zetian's suppression of the aristocratic family, the power of the aristocratic family soon returned. Their direct line and offshoots still filled the government and the public in light and dark ways. In addition, they also used disciples and marriages to support officials and strengthen their own camp.

.This is something that can't be helped. First of all, they have the most abundant educational resources, and there are many talented people in their family. Secondly, the gentry headed by the Five Surnames and Seven Sects have strong connections and the climate is slightly better. With the help of these connections,

Naturally, they grew up vigorously, and then fed back their own clan to further strengthen their camp; thirdly, during the Wu Zetian era, the court was caught in the struggle between Wu and Li, Wu and Wu, and Li and Li. Everyone who had ambitions for the throne,

They all compromised with the aristocratic families and hoped to use their power to rise to the top. In this way, more children of the aristocratic families would be reused. No matter who became the emperor in the end, the ones who benefited in the end were the aristocratic families who put the eggs in separate baskets.

.

For example, the Cui family in the Five Surnames and Seven Sects has produced more than twenty prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty, including within more than two hundred years. In other words, the Cui family has a prime minister every ten years.

If he does not do it thoroughly, then he is very likely to be the same as Wu Zetian in history. The so-called no need for aristocratic families will only last for his generation at most. As long as he steps down or dies, the next generation of those aristocratic families who have formed a network in secret will

Will make a comeback.

It's just that these people are like Shi Yu, lurking in the dark and acting as rats. How can he clean up?

If it is not purged, the three dynasties will be weak, the four dynasties will be in dispute, the five dynasties will survive, and the mountains and rivers of the six dynasties will be shattered... Will the historical cycle of alien invasion be repeated again?

"Your Majesty!" Fang Xuanling was so smart that he instantly guessed Yang Tong's worries. He pondered for a moment and said, "Wei Chen believes that certain rules can be found for some things."

"you say."

"Here!" Fang Xuanling said: "Before the founding of the Sui Dynasty, the north and the south were divided for hundreds of years. During this period of endless wars, in order to consolidate their rule, the small courts on one side not only went to war everywhere, but also discredited the hostile forces.

, which further expanded the hatred and estrangement between each other. By the time Emperor Gao Zuwen founded the country, this hatred and estrangement were the internal worries of our Sui Dynasty, and the foreign aggression was from Liao River in the east, Caspian Sea in the west, Beihai in the north, and Gui in the south.

At that time, the situation of the Sui Dynasty was extremely severe, and they needed to rely on military force. The Guanlong nobles who had the foundation of the Sui Dynasty had to compromise step by step, in order to belittle the Shandong nobles who had been loyal to the Qi Dynasty and those who had been loyal to the Chen Dynasty.

The methods of the southern nobles to satisfy the interests of the Guanlong nobles have achieved fruitful results. However, when the Turks were divided and weak, all officers, big and small, were disciples of the Guanlong nobles. Take Yuwenshu for example, he has

There are three thousand fake sons, most of whom are serving in the army. This rising star of the Guanlong nobles has not yet been like this. The deep-rooted Guanlong nobles such as Dugu, Yuan, Li, Zhao, Dou, etc. can be imagined to have penetrated and influenced the army.

, if these people had joined forces, the situation in the Sui Dynasty at that time would have been worrying. When Emperor Wu Yuji ascended the throne, the Guanlong family, which was so powerful and in control, had become the most terrifying beast, so Emperor Wu did the opposite and relied on the Shandong gentry and the southern gentry.

The power of the emperor disintegrated and weakened the Guanlong nobles. However, the Shandong gentry and the southern gentry were seriously weakened in the unification war. Emperor Wen was no match for the Guanlong nobles at all, and he did not dare to become enemies with them. Therefore, the three slowly

They slowly came together and worked together to target the royal family and the confidants promoted by Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu was weak in power, so he vigorously promoted the Han clan. Unfortunately, the power that had been taken by others could not be taken back. The imperial examination system was not a panacea, and the aristocratic family members

The reason why they have been prosperous for a long time is because they control the cultural inheritance. In order to fight against these famous families and high rankings, Emperor Wu did promote a group of common people from poor families through the imperial examination, but this power was too weak to shake the established system or even pass the examination.

Poor scholars, either for fame, wealth, power, or ambition, have joined various factions. Each and every family member used to be a member of the officialdom. At first, they disdained and were unwilling to take the imperial examination. When they realized that they could not change their ways, they competed with the poor people.

At that time, how many people from poor families could pass them?"

"Once they take part in the scientific examination, with their profound family tradition and cultural inheritance, they have already gained an advantage. They can beat the poor people without even cheating. Look at the candidates who passed the examination during Emperor Wu's period, more than 90% of them were children of famous families. The reason is

it's here."

"Furthermore, officials from poor families were indeed hostile to wealthy families at first, but Qiu Fu was just envious because he also wanted to be rich, so when he became one of the rich, he was quickly naturalized, and he was very different from those who were originally hostile to him.

The aristocratic families become allies. As long as the aristocratic families lower their attitude a little bit, these officials with poor backgrounds will compete for their son-in-laws to make friends with them, in order to improve their own origins, and eventually be assimilated into the aristocratic families.

'Foreign relatives'. Only this turbulent war gave the Holy Sage hope to completely destroy the aristocratic families, completely cleanse out the old forces in the officialdom, and then pull Hanshi to the center of power, so that everyone can work together at the same time.

Compete from a starting point.”

Hearing this, Yang Tong asked: "But, what does this have to do with the family members who have become mice?"

Fang Xuanling said: "After the aristocratic families were suppressed by our Sui Dynasty, they have adapted to the new way of survival after many years of adaptation and preparation. Participating in the imperial examination incognito is one aspect, and absorbing talents from poor people for their own use is another aspect.

"

"I understand what you said..." Yang Tong smiled bitterly and said: "However, they themselves are prosperous and have secretly attracted many talents. This is more than just Shi Yu? If the Zheng family in Xingyang does not have a strong network of contacts,

How could so much food be stolen without anyone noticing?"

Fang Xuanling smiled and said: "This is the target we are going to investigate. Fortunately, the Yin Shilang did not alert the snake, allowing us to turn from darkness to darkness and regain a certain advantage. Judging from the intelligence obtained by the Yin Shilang, Shi Yu

It's just a small fish they caught by casting a wide net, but now we can make this small fish grow into a big fish."

Yang Tong understood and said: "You mean to develop Shi Yu into a spy?"

"That's right!" Fang Xuanling's eyes shone brightly and he said with a smile: "Servant Yin also said that Shi Yu's political performance was good and he had a good reputation in the local area. If we take the opportunity of fighting the flood to promote him and pay more attention to him,

If he is hired, then he will become the leader of the Zheng family. In order to protect this big fish that has finally grown up and promote more small fish, the Zheng family will not only give him more important information, but also send the stolen fish to him.

The food we travel will be replenished one by one from the tunnel. When we arrive, we only need to stare at the entrance of the tunnel to know which merchants and caravans belong to the Zheng family. Further tracking will lead to more, and we can even

All the secrets are dug out."

Yang Tong has already understood Fang Xuanling's hidden intention. The family members are a whole to the outside world, and they are also intrigues to each other internally.
Chapter completed!