Patrolling Outside the City
Chang'an City had a large population, while many commoners farming outside the city struggled to make ends meet; expecting them to provide enough food was undoubtedly wishful thinking.
Many ordinary people come to the city to sell vegetables, or to sell their pigs, cattle, chickens, and dogs to slaughterhouse buyers.
In reality, Chang'an City's grain supply mostly came from Luoyang, a city with well-developed waterways, and many luxury items were difficult for people outside the city to obtain.
But whether Chang'an City or Chang'an City, this is under the emperor's feet.
Although the memorials and official documents reported a peaceful year after year, it was hard to say how much of the information reported down through the layers of bureaucracy was true.
The impeachment of Chancellor Wei Wan was related to this, involving numerous cases of gangs committing crimes Chang'an City that resulted in the wrongful deaths of innocent people, as well as the case of the arbitrary arrest of prisoners who were to be buried alive with Emperor Jing during the mourning period.
The Imperial Censor Zhi Buyi also submitted a report to the court regarding the inadequate supervision.
Shen Peigong played a part in this, while another force came from the Empress Dowager of Anle Palace.
The removal of a prime minister is not something that can be accomplished with just a few memorials, even if the new emperor intends to replace the prime minister and the censor-in-chief.
Only when the evidence is conclusive can certain matters be brought to the forefront.
Otherwise, if anyone could be dismissed at will, few people in the world would dare to become officials.
While wrongful convictions and serious crimes Chang'an City are difficult to investigate, examining the living conditions of ordinary people Chang'an City only requires a short trip outside the city.
In the golden autumn season, when millet was being harvested, the new emperor disguised himself and left the city.
He was dressed plainly, with two ragged palace guards by his side, while Li Guang, who was stationed at the Weiyang Palace, was wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, sitting idly under the eaves of a house a hundred meters away.
"The harvest here is indeed quite good; Shen Peigong's move backfired!"
Li Guang gazed upon the fields.
The millet in the field grew extremely lushly and was used as a standard demonstration field for testing by the new emperor.
The cultivators of the Agricultural Sect came to cultivate fields Chang'an City. These fields naturally yielded high yields, even affecting the farming standards of a large area of farmers in the surrounding area.
This harvest is unprecedented, but this year is truly exceptional.
Shen Peigong's approach to impeachment from this angle was clearly somewhat lacking in finesse.
The more experienced accusation came from the Empress Dowager of Anle Palace. By using Shen Peigong to deal with Wei Wan, Anle Palace also presented a number of wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice to implicate Wei Wan, thus proving the Prime Minister's dereliction of duty.
These cases will be tried by a large number of people; prisoners who should be released will be released, and those who have died will receive compensation.
But ultimately, someone has to take the blame, and someone has to quell public anger.
Li Guang pondered for a while and felt that Wei Wan had to overcome one hurdle after another, and only by passing the Anle Palace hurdle could he be sure that his position as prime minister was secure.
"Shen Peigong is Confucian School scholar with many followers, and his ambition to seize power is quite evident. Why does the Empress Dowager also want to get involved? I remember that Wei Wan and the Empress Dowager seemed to have a good relationship?"
"Speaking of which, all this back-and-forth scheming in the court is truly vexing; even from my detached perspective, I couldn't see it clearly!"
"This is even more complicated than dealing with Zhu Jiuyin!"
Li Guang idly chewed on a straw, feeling that fighting on the frontier was still more comfortable than facing Zhu Jiuyin, which was more troublesome than dealing with the political turmoil in the imperial court.
"That kid looked travel-worn, as if he'd come from a very long journey, but he seemed quite at ease!"
When Li Guang glanced at Zhang Xuezhou and the others, he felt nothing but boredom.
Although it's rare for a minor cultivator like Zhang Xuezhou to like running around, he's of little value to him at the moment, so he doesn't pay much attention to him.
"I wonder when His Majesty will allow me to return to the Northern Border?"
The more he thought about it, the more bored he felt. He just hoped that the new emperor would quickly stabilize the court and then lead everyone in a fierce battle.
"If I can destroy the three Sacred Land and the Xiong State of the Northern Kuru Continent, my sacrifice will be a complete success, and I will be virtually invincible. From then on, I can secure this region!"
When people are extremely bored, they start to ponder their own thoughts, and Li Guang was no exception.
Everyone has their own thoughts and purposes. Li Guang wasn't bored, nor was he a war fanatic, and he had no grudges with powerful demons like Zhu Jiuyin.
But whether getting rid of these guys has any benefits is another matter.
"If our ancestors had put in a little more effort back then, these demons wouldn't have had a chance. And that Emperor Qin Shi Huang, really, couldn't he have just clung to life for a few more years?"
Li Guang shook his head and pursed his lips.
His ancestors were of similar strength to him, but in the Qin Dynasty, they could only be considered fierce generals or tiger generals, with a dozen or so people who could rival them.
But in his generation, he became the sole heir of the current Great Han Dynasty. Even Cheng Bushi only played a cautious defensive role, showing no Cheng Bushi general.
The contrast is so stark that it's no wonder that Northern Kuru Continent is powerful while Southern Jambudvipa Continent is weak.
During the Qin Dynasty, all those so-called venerable rulers, Daoist masters, and sages could only cower in fear or declare that they would stay out of worldly affairs to avoid disaster; there was no such thing as being high above others.
"He left so easily, taking so many people with him, without even considering whether we, his descendants, could withstand it!"
Despite his complaints, Li Guang Li Guang was no match for the task of digging up the Emperor Qin.
He mentally grumbled for a while until he heard a cough, at which point he quickly stood up and hung far behind the new emperor.
Only after the new emperor waved from ahead did Li Guang hurry over.
"If war breaks out in Chang'an City, are the people outside the city capable of serving?" the new emperor asked.
"As long as we have enough to eat, we can use it," Li Guang replied.
"So you've seen them all along the way, are they able to get enough to eat?" the new emperor asked.
"Whether they have enough to eat or not is not something I can tell," Li Guang said helplessly. "I don't even know how much grain they have left!"
"Oh!"
The new emperor sighed softly, clearly extremely dissatisfied with Li Guang's answer.
"If the people Chang'an City are starving, the entire Great Han Dynasty will likely be littered with corpses of the starving," the new emperor warned. "Without enough to eat, there's no way to wage war; otherwise, we'll repeat the fate of the Qin Dynasty, which perished after only two generations!"
"Well... I think they're still getting enough to eat!"
Li Guang pondered for a few seconds, then thought for a moment before replying.
This made the new emperor wave his hand, and without asking Li Guang's opinion again, he headed directly towards Chang'an City.
"The emperor's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. How am I supposed to know how to answer you? You've looked me in the eye, and I've looked you in the eye too. What's the point of asking me? It's all the same question. Who can be sure if someone else has enough to eat? We're not mice in these people's homes. How can we know who has enough food and who doesn't?"
Li Guang muttered to himself for a while.
He looked at the new emperor dozens of meters away, and with a swift movement, he had already passed by like the wind.
"Hey kid, I have a question for you. Do you think the people outside the city are able to get enough to eat?"
Li Guang wanted to ask others about the questions he hadn't answered well.
He was too lazy to ask the officials from the imperial court who hadn't come to watch the event, so he asked someone he knew better.