Chapter 37 The Reward of Absurd Subjugation

Although Tang Xizong was young when he became emperor, he had the demeanor of "giving little money to justice, and being willing to do good deeds".Maybe it's because he lived in the palace since he was a child, and his "vision" is relatively high, so he doesn't take all those gold and silver treasures seriously.And he is still a child, as long as he is having fun, he can't think of any use for those things.Once he became the emperor, the people who served around him won his favor and rewarded him with anything in the treasury.He has no concept of the value of those things, and he feels that the treasury is full of pits and valleys, and there are always too many to use up.The court musicians, acrobats, and actors around made the little emperor happy, and they were rewarded with more than ten thousand taels of gold and silver every time.It's just that although the emperor is generous, the treasury is not a cornucopia after all. Under his bold behavior, it will soon bottom out.So, the little emperor asked "Father" Tian Lingzi for help, asking him to find a way to get money for himself.

Since Tian Lingzi relied on the little emperor to gain power, he wanted to satisfy him, so he put pressure on Yang Yan, the judge in charge of finance.But at that time, the situation of the country was already very bad. The so-called "nine failures of the state": "Aggregate troops all the year round, and the first failure. .Buddhist temples are widely built, five are broken. Bribery is done by the public, six is ​​broken. Chief officials are cruel, seven is broken. Taxes and labor are not equal, eight is broken. There are many eaters and few taxpayers, and nine is broken.” At that time Years of severe drought and locust plagues have left the land of Kanto starved and devastated, and the people have risen up one after another. The country is on the verge of half-collapse.Under such circumstances, the country's financial situation is particularly severe, and Yang Yan is in charge of the finances, so he has to do everything possible to raise money and food.But in the face of difficulties, they can only move here and there to make up for the sores.In order to raise military expenses, he borrowed money and food from the rich in the name of the government, and when the borrowing was insufficient, he sold the middle-ranking officials shortly.Now that the emperor reached out to him for money again, he was even more helpless, so he submitted his resignation three times in a row, begging to return home.However, at that time, none of the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty could compare with Yang Yan in terms of financial management, so no matter how much he asked, the emperor refused to agree.

There was no hope for Yang Yan, so Tian Lingzi gave the emperor another idea.He asked the emperor to issue an edict, ordering to register the goods of the merchants in the two cities of the capital and confiscate them all to enrich the palace treasury.The two cities are the two major trading areas in the capital. There are 220 lines of goods and wealth in the market, and there are mansions on all sides, where all kinds of treasures are gathered.There are many Chinese merchants in the East Market, and most of the West Market is the residence of merchants from Central Asia, Persia and Dashi.For the sake of his extravagant desires, the emperor did not consider any international consequences. Whether it was a Chinese or a foreign businessman, the imperial edict was immediately executed.During the execution, eunuchs were watching the scene. Some people felt dissatisfied and wanted to file a complaint, so they were sent to Jingzhao Mansion to be beaten to death with sticks.It turned out to be a blatant robbery.Later, in order to suppress the Huangchao Uprising, wealthy households and Hu merchants who settled in Chang'an were also included in the search, but the emperor may also feel that the last time's approach was too unreasonable, so he ordered to "borrow" half of their property from them.If the emperor wants to borrow money, who dares not to give it, in fact, he has borrowed money but has not paid it back.At this time, Gao Pian, the general in charge of suppressing the uprising, sent back a memorial from the front line, saying that the flock of thieves all over the world was caused by hunger and cold, and only rich households and Hu merchants did not rebel.It is to remind the emperor: Could it be that if you really want to be a "lonely man", even these people want to force them back?The emperor restrained himself a little.

Although the emperor behaved mischievously, he liked to listen to good words.In the second year of Qianfu (875), a large-scale locust plague occurred in the Central Plains. The locusts that covered the sky and the sun flew to Hanzhong, and there was no sun or grass in the places they passed.But even in this situation, there are still people who flatter him.Jing Zhaoyin Yang Zhizhi reported to Tang Xizong: "The locusts flew to the area near the capital, and they refused to eat the crops. They all committed suicide by holding thorns." Congratulations.The congratulatory speech is now unknown, but it is nothing more than the wise and martial arts of the sage, and even the locusts were photographed by Tianwei, and they killed themselves to serve the country.The little emperor couldn't tell the truth from the false in the deep palace, so he really thought that he was very wise, and felt that this was a great auspiciousness, so he immediately led all the civil and military officials to burn incense to celebrate.The emperor was so absurd that the ministers dared not tell him the truth.So the court was so drunk and dreamed to death, which eventually led to Huang Chao's uprising.

It turned out that this was also related to Xi Zong's method of collecting money.Due to the repeated plagues of locusts, it is impossible to search for more oil and water from the land tax.The emperor began to think of selling salt, wine, and tea monopoly.These folk daily supplies have always been controlled by the state, and private sales are not allowed.Since the imperial court has a monopoly, you can sell as much as you really want.However, these things are inseparable from the daily use of the common people, so when the politics is clear, the imperial court controls the prices, and the common people cannot be pushed too hard.Now that Emperor Xizong was in urgent need of money, he set the official prices of these things high so that he could make a fortune from them.

Here the emperor tried to make money.The common people there will be unlucky.Although the emperor sold things at a frighteningly expensive price, even if he could not drink tea or alcohol, he could not live without salt.So there are policies on the top and countermeasures on the bottom, and they start selling private salt.However, where the power of the imperial court lies, it is natural to brutally attack, so those salt smugglers had to be armed in order to do business, and over time, they formed an armed force.Official salt is so expensive, and private salt has been hit again. Ordinary people can't afford salt, so they have to eat lightly.But people cannot live without salt, and the endurance of the common people is limited.Coupled with the corruption of the government and heavy taxes, officials forced the people to rebel, which became the meaning of the question.The leader of the rebel army is the military leader who grew up in the salt smuggling team.

In the first year of Qianfu (874), Wang Xianzhi, a native of Puzhou, was known as the "average general" and gathered people to fight against the Tang Dynasty.At the same time, the wronged person Huang Chao also raised troops to respond.After the uprising broke out, the prefectures and counties lied to their superiors, and the court did not know the truth.In order to protect themselves, the Jiedu envoys around the country sat on the sidelines, and the rebel army developed rapidly.After Wang Xianzhi died, Huang Chao became the leader of the rebel army after his death. He saw that there were many military towns in the north in the Tang Dynasty, and the scope of activities was greatly restricted. , Started a flexible transition with the goal of cultivating strength.The insurgents fought all the way to Guangzhou. Huang Chao also sent a signal to the Tang Dynasty for peace, hoping to maintain the status quo and live in peace with each other.But the emperor suddenly became stingy, thinking that Guangzhou is a place where business travelers from all over the world gather, and there are a lot of treasures, how can they be given up to the "thieves" in vain.He refused to agree to Huang Chao's conditions.So in September of the sixth year of Qianfu (880), Huang Chao led the rebel army to go north again, targeting Chang'an.