In the residence arranged by Li Shimin, Empress Xiao and Xiao Yu hugged each other and cried for a long time before they stopped crying. Later, Xiao Yu told Empress Xiao that the content of Li Shimin's speech today told her to live in peace.
It was obvious that this house was newly built. The interior was well-equipped. It was obvious that Li Shiming had not given them a house casually, but had prepared it carefully. Moreover, Li Shiming had found all the family members that they had lost, but they were all women. From this, it could be seen that what Li Shiming said was true. They did not have to live in fear in the future. Although Yang Zhengdao was the only male left in their family.
The next day, Empress Xiao asked to see Li Shimin outside the palace. Empress Xiao presented the Imperial Jade Seal that she had been hiding.
Li Shiming also told her that if she had any difficulties in the future, she could come to him. The Tang Empire had the courage to accommodate their family. As long as they lived well, even if Yang Zhengdao was the only one left, they would be able to spread their branches in the future.
After that, the royal caravan sent over 44,000 horses to Chang 'an, and the equipment of the Left Guards were all complete. Li Shimin sent the Left Guards to Chai Shao, and Chai Shao's army returned to Chang' an to accept the reform and change their equipment.
When spring plowing came in February, the second phase of the Royal Primary School project and the renovation of Yong 'an Lane were completed just before spring plowing. The project would continue after spring plowing was completed. However, most of the land in Chang' an was planted with winter wheat this year. Only the land that had just been opened up and had no winter wheat would be plowed. There was not much.
But the other regions of the Great Tang had already begun spring plowing, and most of the construction had stopped. Only the Turks were still repairing the roads.
Today was the day when the residents of Yong 'an Square moved back. Everyone was shocked when they entered Yong' an Square. It was really beautiful. The entire square was like a garden. It was the spring season, and everything was recovering. Li Shimin himself was built according to the garden, so Yong 'an Square looked especially beautiful at this time.
When these people entered their own homes, their excitement was indescribable. The houses had become two or three stories. This way, while the area remained the same, there were many more rooms. In the future, they would not have to worry about not having a house.
Moreover, all of this had not cost them a single copper coin. It had all been paid for by the Emperor. At this moment, their sense of belonging to the Great Tang and their respect for the Tang Emperor was extremely strong.
The commoners who had come to watch the commotion were even more stunned. What was the market they lived in like? What was this place like? There was no comparison at all. One was in the sky, and the other was on the ground.
They all hoped that His Majesty would repair the market they lived in.
When the people from the Royal Construction Company arrived at Dun Yi Lane, they would find the corresponding families according to the empty rooms in Yong An Lane and ask them if they wanted to exchange their current homes for Yong An Lane.
Was there a need to consider this? Without any hesitation, he quickly moved out and changed the deed.
Then, he asked the people who hadn't finished moving Dun Yi Lane, Datong Lane, and Da An Lane if they wanted to rebuild it.
Was there a need to ask? All of them expressed their agreement to rebuild, so the people from the Royal Construction Company immediately arranged for them to live temporarily. After the spring plowing was over, they began to rebuild the three markets.
Some commoners asked when the other markets would be built.
The people from the Royal Construction Company said that this time, they would be rebuilding along Yong 'an Canal, but the next batch might rebuild four markets. The markets along Yong' an Canal would only build Fuxing Market and Longevity Market. The others would not be built for the time being. They would build two markets elsewhere.
Some commoners asked why the other workshops in Yong 'an Canal were not repaired?
However, the people from the Royal Construction Company replied that there were too many temples in other markets.
In fact, the three markets that were going to be built now originally had two temples. However, Li Shimin had torn down these two temples during the temple assembly some time ago.
The commoners of the other markets along Yong 'an Canal were unhappy. Why do you monks need so many temples? Seven or eight monks would live in one temple. It would not be a problem for such a large temple to house seventy or eighty monks. Therefore, the commoners began to ask the monks if they could go to other temples.
This time, the monks were dumbfounded. Damn it, who did we monks offend? This was simply a disaster.
The monks were now facing a problem. No one would help them plant the land under the temple's name this year. The people who helped them plant the land were the landless. However, Li Shimin gave them the means of production and seeds to open up the land. After the land was cleared, they would be exempted from taxes for three years. Who would help them plant the land?
In this way, these monks would either grow their own land or return it to the country. They could forget about living like they did in the past, eating and drinking without farming. Unless the temple did not have any land under its name, the land would be subject to taxes. If it became barren, they would be punished to death.
Some time ago, when the temples were merged, some temples insisted on not merging with the temples. They were always reluctant to part with the land. Now, even if they planted it themselves, they would not be able to finish it. There were only a few people in the temple, and there was so much land. They would not be able to finish it even if they died of exhaustion.
Now, the commoners had asked them to merge the temples.
The monks had no other choice, so Chang 'an City carried out another large-scale temple merger.
Li Shiming didn't even need to demolish the temples that were left empty. The commoners did it themselves. They went to the Royal Construction Company to report which temple was demolished today. Now that their market had no temples, they hoped that the next batch would prioritize their market.
The monks were not the only ones facing the problem of land. The well-known families also had to face the same situation. The people who used to depend on the well-known families to help them farm now had their own fields. Fortunately, the well-known families had their own servants. Due to the application of the curved shaft plow, although there were fewer people farming, the area cultivated by each person was much larger. In this way, the well-known families not only had no one to plant all the land, but also a small part of the land. The well-known families had to reluctantly sell this part of the land.
In other words, in the first year of Tang Zhenguan, basically all free people had their own land.
This was a miracle, but Li Shiming was not satisfied. Li Shiming's goal was to abolish slavery. No one in the Great Tang would dare to make him a slave, not even a citizen of the Great Tang. The people of the Great Tang were the noblest people in the world, and no one could turn them into slaves.
The current morning court was becoming more and more of a formality for Li Shiming. The current ministers were all practical people. Those who did not work for a living were cleared out at the end of the year, and the censors were all sent out.
Right now, the morning court session was basically in a state of "if there is something to report, if there is nothing to report, withdraw", but today was different. At this moment, Zheng Yuan, the minister of the Chamberlain of Dependencies, stepped forward and said,"Your Majesty, the Western Turkic Yabgu Khagan has sent over ten thousand taels of gold and five thousand warhorses.”
Last year, Li Shiming had said that he would not marry them. Now, Li Shiming wanted to see what was going on with these ministers, so he said,"Dear ministers, please discuss."
As a result, the ministers were discussing among themselves. Li Shiming was very satisfied. No one was proposing a marriage alliance. Most of them were discussing how to deal with this matter. After all, they were here for peaceful diplomacy, not to declare war.
In fact, in the seventh year of Wude, a minister who had returned from a diplomatic mission to the Western Turks had said that the Western Turks intended to marry the Great Tang. At that time, Li Yuan had also agreed, but because the road was blocked, it had not been carried out.
Now that the Western Turks had sent gold and warhorses for the marriage alliance, they had to give an explanation.
Although there was a lot of discussion below, there was no feasible way. At that time, if someone came to marry and you didn't agree, it would be very embarrassing. In other words, it would damage the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Li Shi Min listened for a long time, but did not hear any feasible suggestions, so he said,"Keming, your military headquarters will give the Western Turks the same amount of equipment as the Right Dawn Guard according to the value of the gold and warhorses they sent.”This guard's equipment had not been replaced with new equipment. It was still old equipment, which meant that it was going to be eliminated. Li Shiming meant to give the old equipment to him. He could not give the new equipment to an outsider.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Du Ruhui hurriedly replied.
"Defang, tell the Western Turkic emissary that the Great Tang does not advocate marriage and only wishes to engage in peaceful diplomacy with the various tribes. The Great Tang will send them weapons of equal value as gold and warhorses, and they will be willing to trade with the Western Turkic Yabgu Khagan. They could use gold, silver, cattle, sheep, and horses to trade for weapons, silk, porcelain, and other goods.”Li Shi Min said to Zheng Yuan.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Zheng Yuan replied with a sigh of relief. It was good that the problem could be resolved. At first, he really couldn't think of a way to reply to the Western Turkic envoy.
The Western Turkic emissary was overjoyed when he heard this. These countries and tribes did not come to the Central Plains for a marriage alliance because they really wanted the princess. They had never seen the princess before, so they didn't know whether she was beautiful or ugly. The main purpose of the marriage alliance was to obtain a large dowry and not suffer a loss. Secondly, it was equivalent to having an ally like the Central Plains dynasty. In the end, it was all for profit.
Meanwhile, the ministers of the Central Plains Dynasty were in a state of narcissism similar to the emperor's new clothes. They were looking at how awesome the culture of the Central Plains was and how people yearned for it. Otherwise, why would so many foreigners come to marry? Anyway, it was not their daughters. This was a typical idiot. Forced behavior. As a ruler, he actually wanted a marriage alliance. The nature behind this behavior was unclear. It could be seen how terrible the Central Plains Dynasty's foreign relations were.
Now that he heard that it was weapons and equipment, it was equipment that could really improve military strength. How could there be anything better and more practical than this? He hurriedly agreed to the Great Tang's proposal and said that he would inform the Khagan of the Yabgu when he returned, urging the two sides to trade.
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