In the second year of Kaiyuan, everything seemed to be going well.

Good weather and good harvests.

Last year, the impact of the flood in the south was almost gone. Although there was a flood last year, there was no famine. The court exempted land tax and rescued food in time. Although the people suffered losses, at least they did not have to sell their children or borrow usury.

The land is still own, and the houses have been destroyed a lot. However, the court issued a subsidy for dangerous houses after the disaster based on the disaster situation. It was not much, but the court returned money to the people after the disaster, which was rare. Several other major banks have provided special post-disaster loans to the people, with extremely low interest rates.

Everyone praised the court.

The relief club, with the wife of the Zhang family in Bashang as the chairman, has also raised funds from many sources, issued many disaster relief lottery tickets, held many charity auctions and other activities, and raised a lot of money to specifically seek help from the orphanages affected by the flood, and those children who lost their families during the flood, were also received in orphanages established by the relief club to take care of.

In the palace.

Cheng Qian looked through the reports and everything seemed to be fine.

The stability of the Central Plains is also frequent and good news is spreading to the outside world.

The counterattack against Jie Japanese started this year, and the battles were won continuously, and it is currently invading Jie Japanese for thousands of miles. In Funan, Linyi launched a counterattack against Zhenla, stopping Zhenla from annexing Funan. The better news is that with the efforts of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhenla's internal strife is now divided into two dynasties, namely Shuzhenla in the south and Luzhenla in the north. Lu Zhenla in the north, the new king and ministers had the intention of peace talks with the Tang Dynasty, and wanted to use the power of the Tang Dynasty to destroy Shuzhenla.

This is really good news.

Another good news is that Silla and Baekje also fought first on the Korean battlefield.

In order to compete for land, the two countries that were originally going to fight against the Tang Dynasty have officially begun war. From the initial friction to the fight between the two sides, the war has escalated in full swing.

Baekje has joined forces with Japan, and the two companies have bought Silla and the whole family.

Silla sent an envoy to ask for help from General An Lan, Liu Rengui, the North Sea Fleet stationed in Pyongyang.

South of the desert.

The guards led by Su Dingfang were already fighting with Xue Yantuo.

In court.

Zhang Chao was not in court, and Fang Xuanling was in charge of the cabinet, so everything went very smoothly. There was no party protesting against the differences, and there was no such thing as opposing it in order to oppose it.

The cabinet makes suggestions for handling memorials every day and submits them to the Imperial Study Room, which is basically very fair and appropriate. In most cases, he does not need to give other instructions, and the Hanlin Bachelors can directly approve the award.

Such a huge empire, even without him, will still operate very well.

This discovery made Cheng Qian very confused.

He couldn't find his place at all.

It's the same with him or not.

Chengqian began to get tired of politics.

The cabinet's votes and opinions were very excellent. Even if there were some omissions, the bachelors of the Hanlin Academy would propose excellent alternatives. He stayed in the imperial study room, but in fact he was just listening to Ma Zhou and his friends' reports.

In most cases, Ma Zhou stood at the stairs and reported memorials one by one according to priorities. He would accompany the cabinet votes to propose opinions, and then add one or two of his own opinions.

What he needs to do is often just a word.

Later on, he was already tired.

But even if he reviewed the memorials sent by the cabinet one by one, he would not be faster and more efficient in this model.

He did not have the experience of Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji and other prime ministers, nor did he have the knowledge of Ma Zhou and others from the Hanlin Academy.

He simply got up every morning to go to the imperial study room first to listen to the opinions of the Hanlin scholars on the handling of the memorials the day before. He no longer reviewed and read every memorial, but sat there and listened to Ma Zhou's report.

The cabinet's opinions, the Hanlin Academy's opinions, and then expressed that they were okay or not. Basically, they had no place to find fault. So every morning, Ma Zhou reported on Monday in the imperial study room, and Cheng Qian said from time to time.

After the matter was finished, he left. Ma Zhou, according to the emperor's final opinion, held a red pen to criticize the red. Then, the Hanlin scholars began to discuss and study the new batch of memorials presented by the cabinet.

Chengqian's time has changed a lot more.

Without having to stare at the memorial all day long, my eyes were much more relaxed.

For these extra time, he can ride a horse and practice swordsmanship, play polo, and accompany the concubines in the palace.

These days, he has another place to go.

Eight hundred palace guards have been selected.

All of them are the children of noble families who he believes are more loyal and reliable, such as the Changsun family, the Yuwen family, the Gao family, the Xiao family, the Chen family, the Yang family and other families.

He didn't choose any of the children of the important officials who were very close to Zhang Chao, such as Fang Xuanling's family, Wei Zheng's family, Ma Zhou's family, Qin Qiong's family, Cheng Yaojin's family, etc. In fact, no one of these families signed up.

All of them were young nobles aged 18 to 21, tall and strong, with outstanding riding and shooting skills. These guards gained the same trust as the original Three Guards and Five Mansions.

Chengqian even asked them to shoot archery and horses in the palace, compete and wrestle in the martial arts field.

This led to some censors and ministers' letters to advise.

But Chengqian was kept by the emperor and did not issue it. The cabinet and the Hanlin Academy were surprisingly silent, as if they had agreed to the emperor's recent inappropriate behavior.

Maybe they felt guilty, Cheng Qian thought so.

Cheng Qian was just a twenty-year-old emperor. He felt depressed and had a bad job, so he put a lot of energy into these 800 guards.

He paid money from his inner treasury and customized the best equipment for his eight hundred guards. He each had a set of knight's plate armor, a sword made of fine steel, an excellent horse lance, a riding bow, etc.

He even often ate and lived with the guards and trained together.

Sweat on the training ground, and sometimes you don’t care about the injury you get when you practice.

The important officials saw this and some expressed concern.

"Ma Xiang, Your Majesty ignores the government every day, rides horses, shoots archery, and competes in martial arts and balls all day long, which is worrying?" Chu Suiliang told Ma Zhou.

As the emperor's father-in-law and the president of Hanlin, Ma Zhou can see the emperor several times a day. Would he not know the emperor's recent changes?

But he didn't think this was a bad thing.

I feel like I hold it in my heart, but it will be easy to get into trouble after holding it in for a long time.

These eight hundred guards are regarded as a toy for the emperor, and the training ground in the palace is regarded as a place to vent, so that he can vent.

As for whether this would be dangerous, Ma Zhou felt that it would not be possible.

"It's just eight hundred guards, what can I worry about? The 80,000 guards are in the hands of the court. Do we have to worry about the emperor holding eight hundred guards? If the emperor holds eight hundred guards and can make him feel more at ease, then we should be happy."

Some time ago, the relationship between the ministers and the emperor was very tense. Especially when the feudal law was released, their relationship with the emperor was even extremely stiff.

The emperor did not interfere in the government affairs randomly, but just tormented himself every day and trained his eight hundred guards. This is a good thing.

Without the intervention of the emperor, the court is now in an excellent state of balance.

The cabinet ticket is planned and the Hanlin Academy has approved the prize.

The Privy Council and the Ministry of War, the Third Ya and the Five Military Prefectures control military troops.

Under the leadership of the cabinet, the temple supervisors of the imperial court, as well as the local Daozhou and counties, were quite smooth.

The Censorate, Dali Temple and the Parliament also play a good role as judicial and supervisory institutions.

Everyone has their own duties and the government orders are smooth, which is simply the ideal state.

Ma Zhou even thought in his heart that Chengqian had always been like this and did not have to interfere in the operation of the court anymore. On major matters, the emperor came forward to coordinate with the cabinet, Hanlin Academy, Censorate, Parliament and other ministries.

"I think Your Majesty is not the kind of person who easily compromises."

"The court officials all follow the rules and regulations of the Tang Dynasty and perform their duties. Your Majesty has no reason to be dissatisfied with this." Ma Zhou said.

"But Your Majesty is the Emperor."

"Now Your Majesty is also the emperor. He will report to the court for the major affairs of the world and the cabinet will take charge of the general. But the cabinet will first make a disposal opinion and then submit it to the imperial front. Whether the cabinet will be adopted in the end will be decided by Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty is very satisfied with the level and efficiency of handling the Cabinet's affairs."

The emperor's power was still there and it had not changed. The cabinet and the Hanlin Academy were both the emperor's assistants, assisting him in handling court affairs.

"I'm talking about other aspects, such as the division of feudal states, and the vassal states. Your Majesty seems to have never understood this and can't make a turn."

Ma Zhou smiled and said, "Give Your Majesty more time, and he will gradually understand. No matter what, under the current feudal system, the vassal states are still the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the court can still enjoy part of the taxes of the vassal states. Now that the court is fighting abroad, the vassal states will also be summoned to send troops."

"Compared with the past, whether it was the conquered Turks, Khitans, Xi people, or Tuyuhun, they were subordinates, they surrendered, they accepted the titles and official positions of the court, and the court also set up a governor's office in their territory and was in charge of Mizhou. But in fact, the foreigners still managed themselves in those places. The court could not interfere, and they could not even receive taxes, and could only receive some tribute every year. Now, it is much better than in the past."

In the past, the imperial court tried its best to defeat the Turks, and even moved them south and placed them in a rich place like Daibei and Hetao.

Now, in the north, the princes were granted the title of Yinshan and Yanshan, not only Hetao, but also the north, and became the territory directly under the imperial court. Even the large area south of Yinshan was directly under the imperial court.

The Great Wall is still there, but the boundaries of the Tang Dynasty have already crossed the Great Wall far away.

The princes are the new Great Wall of the Tang Dynasty.

"Everyone with knowledge can think so. Compared to the past, the vassal of princes did bring many benefits to the Tang Dynasty. But the emperor didn't think so. He gave Hetao and the North to the Turks and Longnan in Qinghai to the Tuyuhun people. The emperor didn't think anything was wrong. Now he gave the vassal of the princes, and the emperor felt that he had cut off his flesh." Chu Suiliang said helplessly.

Li Shimin and Li Chengqian and his son both have the same virtue.

In this regard, he is even worse than Li Yuan. Li Yuan is generous in his ban and knows how to unite and win over him.

But Li Shimin and his son like to eat alone.

"But now some Confucian scholars have expressed dissent, saying that the method of ceasing the feudal state may become the Warring States Period in a hundred years."

"Warring States Period?" Ma Zhou shook his head, "Did these people go to the dog's belly? The Warring States Period was so easy to do so? The Tang Dynasty had such a large territory and a direct territory so large that every year the princes had to pay taxes to the court, and the strength of the court crushed all the princes."

"Besides, among the vassal states, except for the special Zhang family in Bashang, among the thousands of princes, only those princes have larger territory. However, it is not so easy to develop the fiefs of the princes. Not all princes have treasures like Liuqiu, and not all princes have financial resources like Zhang family to support them."

"A hundred years later, as long as the court itself is not in chaos, the stronger the court will be, and the greater the gap between it and the princes. Besides, Wen Yuan said earlier that if there are really one or two ambitious people, will the court have other loyal princes?"

He smiled.

"To say something a bit ruthless, if one day the court is injustice and the Central Plains is in dire straits, it would be a good thing for the princes to clear the emperor. Even if there are powerful princes, they will really replace them on that day, which may not be a bad thing?"

Chu Suiliang also nodded.

The cycle of governance and chaos is always like this every two or three hundred years. If the Tang Dynasty did the same one day, then everyone would rather replace the Han princes than the surrounding foreign races.

Compared with the rise and fall of the Han family, the invasion of foreign races was tragic. The Five Barbarians invaded China, and only three million Han people were killed in the north.
Chapter completed!