Chapter 356: Left Picker

Li Heng called Feng Changqing and asked him about the whole story of Du Fu. He did not want to blame anyone, but wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the current personnel issues in the Tang Dynasty.

Du Fu is a microcosm of the Tang Dynasty's employment problems.

In the 24th year of Kaiyuan, the year when Li Heng and Yang Yuhuan left Chang'an for the first time, Du Fu took the Jinshi examination in Luoyang, but failed.

Ten years later, Du Fu began to travel and embarked on a journey to find immortals with Li Bai.

In 747, Li Longji ordered all those who were proficient in one art to come to Chang'an to take the exam. Du Fu took the exam, but in order to dominate the government and suppress the imperial examination, Li Linfu made up a drama of "no talented people left in the wild", and all the scholars who took the exam failed.

From then on, Du Fu's path to the imperial examination was cut off. He embarked on the path of recommendation and settled in Chang'an, leading a life of "knocking on the doors of rich men in the morning and following the dust of fat horses in the evening".

But he still hasn't been appointed.

In desperation, Du Fu began to present his works to Li Longji. Finally, he presented his works at a sacrifice ceremony and was appreciated by Li Longji, who appointed him to the Jixian Academy, waiting for assignment.

However, the chief examiner for the selection was Li Linfu, so Du Fu's wish was dashed.

It was not until Li Linfu stepped down that Du Fu finally got a small official position as Hexi Wei. However, Du Fu was proud and unwilling to accept the position, so he did not take it. The court then appointed him as a military officer of the Youwei Army instead.

Here is a fork in the road.

According to history, after arriving here, An Lushan broke into Chang'an, Li Longji fled to Jiannan, Li Heng fled to Shuofang and succeeded to the throne in Lingwu.

When Du Fu learned that Li Heng had succeeded to the throne, he went north to Lingwu to find Li Heng, but was captured by the rebels on the way and became a prisoner along with Wang Wei.

Later, Du Fu successfully escaped from prison, and because of his talent, he was appointed as the Left Censor by Li Heng.

But the good times did not last long. During a battle in Chang'an to quell the rebellion, Fang Guan was defeated and dismissed. Du Fu was good friends with Fang Guan, so he wrote a letter to Li Heng to persuade him not to dismiss Fang Guan, which resulted in him being ignored by Li Heng.

At this point, Du Fu's political career basically ended.

However, now that Li Heng had defended Chang'an and successfully staged a coup, Du Fu, as a former member of the imperial guards, should have been the one to be excluded.

But because he was good friends with Wang Wei, he escaped the disaster and was able to stay in Chang'an.

It can be said that before Li Heng's coup, Du Fu was in an excluded position, but after Li Heng's success, Du Fu got the "opportunity".

Du Fu's different experiences in history and now reveal many problems in the Tang Dynasty's employment of people.

Li Heng hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't mean to blame you. I have heard of Du Zimei's reputation for a long time, but I only met him today. I feel a little regretful. Go and invite him in."

"Yes." Wang Wei was skeptical and went out.

After a while, Du Fu followed Wang Wei into the room and bowed to Li Heng and Yang Yuhuan in turn.

Li Heng took a look at Du Fu and saw that he was about forty years old, of ordinary appearance, wearing coarse linen clothes, and looked a little poor.

Li Ying asked Wang Wei and Feng Changqing to go and do their work first, and then said to Du Fu, "Zimei, please take a seat."

Du Fu said in fear: "I dare not."

Li Ying said, "Just obey your orders."

"Yes." Du Fu did not dare to disobey, but he also did not dare to sit at the same table with Li Ying. He moved his stool back a few steps and sat opposite Li Ying politely.

Li Ying smiled and said, "I have heard of Zimei's talent. 'If I don't serve as a lieutenant in Hexi, I will be miserable and bow my head', is that what Zimei wrote?"

Du Fu was quite happy when he heard the first half of Li Ying's sentence, but he was shocked when he heard Li Ying talk about his poem.

Because the poem that Li Ying recited was written when he was unwilling to be a small official like the Hexi Wei, and the poem was full of arrogance.

Du Fu said quickly: "I have spoken nonsense after drinking. Your Majesty, please punish me."

"That's fine." Li Ying smiled slightly. "Talented people are all arrogant. As long as you can turn that arrogance into the ability to get things done, that's a good thing." Du Fu saw that Li Ying didn't blame him, so he bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your tolerance."

Li Ying asked, "What do you think of Yang Guozhong and the deposed crown prince's conspiracy to rebel?"

Du Fu was stunned. He never expected Li Ying to ask such a sensitive question.

He thought for a moment and said, "Yang Guozhong is a clique that fights for power and profit, and has framed loyal officials. He has made no contribution to the country. The deposed crown prince talks about benevolence and righteousness, but he harbors evil intentions. The two of them colluded and committed treason, which is unforgivable. Fortunately, Your Majesty quickly suppressed the rebellion, stabilized the situation, saved the people from danger, and saved the Tang Dynasty from collapse."

Li Ying was quite satisfied with Du Fu's answer, and he didn't care whether Du Fu's words were sincere or not. He just wanted Du Fu to argue for him, and that was enough.

Li Heng said, "I'll let you be the Left Picker, are you willing?"

The official position of Zuo Shiyi was of the eighth grade. In terms of rank alone, it was similar to that of Youwei Sao Bingjun before Du Fu.

However, Zuo Shiyi was an official who was responsible for giving advice to the emperor, pointing out faults, checking for deficiencies and filling them, etc. He was a close minister to the emperor, and many civil officials and high-ranking officials climbed up from this position.

Du Fu was overjoyed, and he stood up and bowed, saying, "I thank your Majesty for your kindness."

Li Heng said, "Go to the Ministry of Personnel to get a job."

"Yes." Du Fu accepted the order and went happily.

Yang Yuhuan waited for Du Fu to walk away and whispered, "From what I have seen of Du Zimei's character, I know that I will inevitably contradict you in the future."

Li Heng said: "If you listen to one side, you will believe it; if you listen to both sides, you will understand it. Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong have been in control of the government for more than ten years. They have dealt with the censors in the court and made them useless, so Du Zimei..."

Li Heng stopped talking here because he noticed Yang Yuhuan's expression.

Yang Yuhuan seemed to be provoking him.

Li Ying immediately understood the hidden meaning of Yang Yuhuan's words. Yang Yuhuan was afraid that he would not be able to bear the unpleasant words in the future and would kill Du Fu in anger, so she gave him a shot of prevention in advance.

Li Heng couldn't help but smile and said, "You are so smart. If you become a censor, no emperor will ignore your advice."

Yang Yuhuan said: "I am a woman, how can I understand these things?"

Li Ying suddenly had an idea and said, "Qujiang is the gathering place for scholars taking the imperial examinations. You asked me to accompany you there. Is this also a hint of something?"

Yang Yuhuan quickly shook her head and said, "That's not the case. I just want to go out for fun."

"Okay." Li Heng didn't delve into it.

After resting for a while in the East Market, Li Heng accompanied Yang Yuhuan to Qujiang for a half-day cruise. There was no conversation that day.

……

The next day.

Du Fu submitted a memorial to Li Heng just after he had arranged military affairs and had been in office for only one day.

The content of the memorial was about the salt law system of Liu Yan and Diwu Qi.

Before the An-Shi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty's salt industry management was quite lax. There was no monopoly, and instead officials and civilians produced and sold their own salt.

However, the Anshi Rebellion broke out and the Tang Dynasty needed more money to support the war on the front line. So in order to increase fiscal revenue, Liu Yan and Diwu Qi set their sights on the salt industry.

The reason why it is the salt industry is that in the lives of ancient people, salt was not only used as a seasoning, but was also used for preservation and anti-corrosion.

In ancient times, there were no refrigerators, cold storages, or off-season foods. Preservation and protection basically relied entirely on salt, so the consumption of salt was huge.

Based on this, Liu Yan and Diwu Qi proposed the Salt Monopoly Law shortly after taking office.

(End of this chapter)