Late Tang Dynasty: I

Even if it is for political needs, the marriage with Bohai State is definitely beneficial.

However, thinking of Zhou Dewei's aesthetics, Li Ye still tried to ask.

"Liu Hanlin, what do you think of Jin Wan?"

"..."

Liu Wei's face changed with fright. Are you kidding me? He can't comment on the women around the emperor. Although Jin Wan is the princess of a subjugated country, she is still a noble person in the harem even if she is granted the title of a talented person.

"His Majesty……"

"Beautiful or not!"

"nice!"

Li Ye nodded and said, "Give me the order to break camp and return to Beijing tomorrow!"

"promise!"

When Li Ye returned to the back house, little Jin Wan was so lovely that His Majesty the Emperor couldn't stop.

"His Majesty!"

The hibiscus tent is warm, and the beauty is in my arms.

"Your Majesty, this is the snow clam that Bohai Kingdom paid tribute to. I have stewed it with honey from Changbai Mountain for a long time. Please try it!"

Wan'er took a scoop with a spoon, and Li Ye took a bite. It was sweet but not greasy, soft and delicious.

"good to eat!"

…………

Dongjiang Prefecture is close to the Bohai Sea. It has many mountains and little land. During the busy farming season, the people farm the land. Most of the time, the people are used to fishing in the sea.

As the saying goes, eating from the sea, these people can barely fill their stomachs with this seafood.

This is what Baishi Village is like. Early this morning, people from the government came.

"The emperor came to our Dongjiang Mansion. We are in a poor and remote village, so we are attracted by seafood. The county government issued an order. Baishi Village must hand over one hundred catties of live abalone, fifty sea fish, and one abalone. For fish weighing more than three kilograms, marine fish should weigh more than three kilograms."

"Master Guan, it's freezing cold. We can try our luck with sea fish, but these abalones are on the bottom of the sea. How can we catch them?"

"How to arrest? Do you want me to teach you how to arrest? How to arrest Xia Tian, ​​how to arrest now!"

"Master Guan..."

"If you can't hand over the abalone, I will arrest your entire village!"

"Punish for treason!"

"Hey!"

After leading these ferocious officials away, Li Zheng sighed and said, "If you don't hand it over, everyone will die. Now we can only fish it out, maybe give the children a way to survive."

"Master, if you go into this water now, you will die!"

Someone said: "When the time comes, you can tie the person up with a rope and go into the water. If you can't stand it anymore, just pull the rope. When the time is up, pull the person out regardless of whether abalone has been harvested or not."

"If you suffer from the cold disease, you may become a cripple!"

"Hey, in this world, when will I be able to live a good life?"

The next day, twenty young men gathered in the village and went out to sea on three broken fishing boats.

"Brother Da Zhuang, I come first!"

"You fuck me first!" Da Zhuang wrapped the rope around his body. "You don't have a wife yet. Wait until you get a wife!"

After saying that, he jumped into the sea with a pop!
After a while.

"Why is there no movement!"

"Pull it up!"

Everyone worked hard together, and soon they saw the strong figure, who was purple with cold. They pulled him to the boat, and everyone hurriedly wrapped him in cotton clothes.

"How about it?"

Da Zhuang was protecting the bag with five abalones in it! "Boss Liu, San'er is not breathing!"

"What? What's wrong, you didn't pull him!"

"No, no, if you pull it up, you will lose your breath!"

"..."

"The water is really cold. I must have cramps and didn't pull the rope!"

"Hey!"

It’s so numb, people die fishing for abalone every year.

"This dog government!"

"you wanna die!"

…………

The taste of abalone is very delicious. Blanch it in boiling water, cut it with a flower knife, simmer it slowly in chicken soup, add some shark fins, add some Northeastern wild ginseng, and simmer it for a day.

It smells fragrant and fragrant, and when you take a sip, the delicious taste hits your forehead.

"good to eat!"

Li Ye was full of praise, "I didn't expect that in the dead of winter, there would be such fresh abalone to eat."

"Your Majesty, this is a tribute from Pei Song, the governor of Dongjiang!"

Li Ye stopped and asked, "I remember that I issued an edict that states and counties no longer need to pay tribute?"

Zhao Xi said with a smile: "Your Majesty treats the people generously, but when Your Majesty comes in person, the governors of each state will always express their feelings. If they pay tribute, they may be innocent. If they don't pay tribute, they are afraid that Your Majesty will think he is being slighted, so that's why!"

Li Ye shook his head and said: "It's the coldest month of winter, where can you get live abalone!"

Li Ye remembered that in his previous life, he had seen a piece of news: During Nixon's visit to China, there was a shortage of abalone at the state banquet. At that time, professional divers were specially arranged to fish in the Bohai Sea. Even with modern equipment, the entire fishing process was extremely dangerous. .

His Majesty the Emperor sighed softly and summoned Liu Wei and the German King Li Yu. He asked Zhao Xi to serve a bowl of abalone and chicken soup to Liu Wei and another bowl to Li Yu.

Seeing them enjoying the meal, Li Ye asked, "How does it taste?"

"Father, it tastes delicious!"

Liu Wei also said: "This world is delicious!"

Li Ye shook his head and said: "This is a tribute from Dongjiang Prefecture. I have issued an edict that the various prefectures do not need to pay tribute!"

Liu Wei frowned slightly, thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty is in Dongjiang Mansion. If he is questioned for this, he may hurt the hearts of these officials!"

Li Ye said: "They just want to get in! When laws and regulations collapse, carnivores will ignore the laws and regulations for their own desires, right?"

Liu Wei said: "The emperor takes the lead and obeys, and all the officials follow suit, and the world will naturally be at peace!"

Li Ye nodded. The Yushan guards sent to investigate in the afternoon came back and reported the situation to Li Ye.

"Sure enough!"

The reason why the emperor abolished the tribute system was that the system was too cruel.

For example, the royal family didn't care about the people or where it came from when it came to the abalone in the bowl. It was often the coldest month of winter and the officials would be driven to catch it.

You must know that at this time, the weather is already very cold. The government is forcing people to go to the sea in the name of corvee. If they are not paid and cannot catch enough abalone, they will continue to drive people into the sea. After many people go to the sea, they will never come back. Couldn't come up.

Often hundreds of people die from abalone alone.

Not to mention, the place where a certain kind of tribute is paid will be fenced off by the government and no one is allowed to approach it. However, as much as the royal family needs, the government often continues to report the quantity and uses corvee indiscriminately.

If the emperor eats a pound of bird's nest, the palace will ask the government for a hundred pounds, the local state capital will ask for a thousand pounds, and the county will ask for ten thousand pounds.

Therefore, the royal tribute consumes the labor of millions of people every year, so it is better to abolish it directly.

"If I want to eat, I can buy it. As long as there is profit, merchants will naturally sell it. The people can't help but pay tribute, plant or pick it. They also have a share of income. Why should I be so quick and suffer all the people in the world!"

Liu Wei was also shocked. A small bowl of abalone was filled with human life. Just now, he thought that His Majesty was unkind, but now...

(End of this chapter)