PFC Chapter 75 Ordinary people don't care about these things
Chapter 75 Ordinary people don't care about these things
Wang Zhi met his gaze, the wistful smile on his face deepening, but his eyes remained clear.
"Master Li," he said slowly, his tone carrying an almost unassuming wisdom, "that's what people say when they're sitting under their own eaves in peaceful times."
Unless a knife is at your throat, reason always holds water. But if you're truly forced into that situation, one in a million could still stand tall and uphold the principles of "human relations."
He paused, his tone becoming even calmer, "It's always easy to be critical when you're not in that position or experiencing it firsthand. But the people have a different perspective."
"As for us commoners," he reached out and took the empty cup in front of Li Shimin, picked up the still-warm fairness cup, and slowly poured water into it.
The steam rose again. "To be honest, I don't really care who sits on the throne or how that chair came to be. What I care about is what I do after I sit in that chair."
"In these nine years, the border has been stable, the grain bins at home have been filled again when they are empty, and we no longer have to strain our ears to hear the sound of horses' hooves when we sleep at night."
In the fourth year of the Zhenguan era, on the day the Turkic Khan was captured and brought to Chang'an, even the oldest father-in-law in our village burned paper money and kowtowed towards the Wei River, tears streaming down his face… You should know that his son died that year.”
Wang Zhihuan's voice was soft, yet like a gentle hammer, striking people's hearts repeatedly. "The people have a scale in their hearts. On one side is the bloody past; on the other is the real peace and prosperity. Now, the latter has sank. That's enough."
He gently pushed the full teacup back.
"Therefore, wise rulers throughout history," he concluded, speaking casually as if chatting about everyday matters, "are not necessarily infallible sages."
Instead, it is those who, after that unavoidable choice, spend the next few decades shouldering the weight of the nation and the trust of the people that choice brought, and who have never relinquished it.
To be worthy of those who remain behind, and even more so of all living beings. That is enough. As for minor grievances, let posterity judge.
As the words fell, their lingering resonance drifted into the sparse shadows of jujube leaves and the gentle breeze of early summer.
Empress Zhangsun let out a soft sigh, that invisible breath that had been hanging in her chest.
She picked up the tea, which had long since cooled, and slowly drank it all. The faint aloofness between her brows and eyes melted away.
Chang Le lowered her head and silently wiped the tea stains off her skirt with a silk handkerchief, her fingertips no longer trembling.
Li Zhi loosened his grip on the stiff grass stem and began to scratch Xiao Hei's earlobe again, his gaze involuntarily drifting back to the boy in plain clothes.
Sizi looked at this and then at that, and felt that the unsettling feeling between the adults had dissipated. So she happily lowered her head again to weave her crooked grass ring.
Li Shimin looked at the newly refilled teacup before him, and in the amber-colored tea, his own blurry face was reflected.
He stared at it for a long time before finally picking up his teacup and taking a sip.
The tea had cooled completely, and it tasted bitter at first. The bitterness lingered on the tip of the tongue for a long time before slowly dissipating, leaving a very faint aftertaste of sweetness.
He lowered his eyes, his gaze fixed on the back of his hand.
There is an old scar there, left from when I was twenty years old, when I was fighting Wang Shichong, and a stray arrow grazed me.
That night at Xuanwu Gate, the moonlight was terrifyingly bright, illuminating the entire city of Chang'an as if it were covered with a layer of frost.
As the severed head rolled off the building, he clearly heard his heart skip a beat—not out of fear, but because he knew that from that moment on, something would forever be on his shoulders.
Over the years, no one, whether in court or in the lower ranks, has dared to mention those four words in front of him.
The court officials didn't mention it because they dared not; the old brothers who had shed blood together didn't mention it because it was a shared wound; the children didn't mention it because they were sensible.
Today, the young man brought it up. It wasn't a hesitant, timid rebuttal, nor a righteous, stern accusation, much less a conciliatory attempt to excuse himself.
He simply went through an old, unresolved matter from the perspective of an ordinary person, recounting it from beginning to end.
He looked up and saw Wang Zhihuan carefully cleaning the tea leaves in the plain porcelain teapot with bamboo tongs, his movements meticulous, the misty steam blurring his lowered eyebrows and eyes.
This kid probably doesn't know that what he just said, more than all the eulogies and praises from the court officials over the past nine years combined, eased the tension in his heart a little more.
"Let's not dwell on His Majesty's past," Li Shimin said, placing his teacup back on the stone table. His voice returned to its previous amiable tone. "Young Master Wang, since you say His Majesty's achievements are commendable, are there any flaws in the many new policies he has implemented?"
He asked casually, but Empress Zhangsun noticed that his fingers, which were resting on his knees, tapped almost imperceptibly twice. As his wife who knew him best, Empress Zhangsun knew that this was a small gesture her husband would make when he encountered something truly important in court.
Wang Zhijiang put the teapot back on the tea tray and pondered for a moment.
"Master Li, since you want to hear it, I'll be frank. Take it with a grain of salt, just as casual conversation."
He dipped his fingertip in the remaining tea and drew a horizontal line on the stone table. "I believe that the current emperor's promotion of the equal land distribution system and the two-system of government and soldiers is the foundation of national stability and is indeed a great benevolent policy."
However, these two systems share a common weakness—both rely on the imperial court having land and household registration.
Let's consider this: if there isn't enough land, or if the household registration system is chaotic, the foundation will easily be shaken.
"Oh, Mr. Wang, what do you mean by that?" Li Shimin picked up his teacup but didn't drink it.
"Master Li, look. At the beginning of the Zhenguan era, the number of households in the country was less than three million, but today it has exceeded three and a half million, and it is still increasing."
The population is increasing day by day, but the amount of land will not increase by an inch. In another ten or twenty years, the permanent land in Guanzhong will certainly not be enough to distribute.
If there isn't enough land to distribute, the soldiers will struggle to support themselves. Unable to support themselves, they will inevitably have to find other ways to make a living.
At that point, the imperial court would only have two options: either increase taxes to support the army, or sit idly by and watch the border defenses gradually weaken—increasing taxes would breed public resentment, while not increasing them would lead to border troubles.
He used his fingertip to draw a diagonal line across the watermark. The tea seeped onto the stone surface, resembling a shallow crack.
Li Shimin looked down at the water stain. The Ministry of Revenue had been calculating and allocating land year after year, and the permanent land in Guanzhong was gradually reaching its limit. The memorials from the border troops requesting grain and pay were increasing day by day. How could he not know these things?
But this young man clearly connected the many scattered problems with a single line—increased population, scarce land, and exhausted soldiers, each link in turn.
"In your opinion, is there a solution to this problem?"
"It's not that it can't be solved, it's that it can't be solved immediately."
Wang Zhi poured all the remaining liquid from the fairness cup into his own cup, saying, "Equal distribution of land and the military system are the foundation, and the foundation cannot be easily shaken."
However, since this system is based on land, it is necessary to find another way to stabilize the foundation, such as equal land distribution, while encouraging industry and commerce and trade, so that the government's tax revenue does not rely solely on land rent.
The imperial court has ample funds to support its army, repair canals, and provide disaster relief, without having to take all of it from farmers.
When the burden on the people's shoulders is lightened, the military system can gradually be reformed, preventing it from collapsing suddenly due to insufficient land.