Chapter 36: Becoming the County Magistrate

Chapter 36: Becoming a County Magistrate

Li Tai had all of them sent to the Court of Judicial Review. After all, they had attempted to assassinate a prince and challenge the order of the imperial court. Even if the crime did not bring punishment upon nine generations of their families, it would certainly implicate three.

Taking advantage of the incident, Li Tai went to seek Li Shimin’s support the following day.

Li Shimin was in his study, where several officials were handling state affairs.

When Li Shimin saw Li Tai arrive, he hurried over and touched him anxiously. “An imperial censor reported this morning that you were attacked. Were you injured?”

“Father, I’m fine!” Li Tai shook his head. “Yesterday, I was out observing the conditions among the people. First, someone rushed over to rob me, and then his accomplices came to rescue him. They claimed to belong to some Heroic Brotherhood, and there were so many of them that they surrounded and attacked us. I had no choice but to shout that an assassination attempt was under way and order my guards to act.

“They have all been sent to the Court of Judicial Review now.”

“So that is what happened.” Li Shimin fell silent. As long as no one had truly attempted to assassinate Li Tai, that was enough.

“Your Majesty,” Du Ruhui stepped forward. “The population of Gaoling is growing rapidly, yet Prince Yue is still young and does not understand the dangers of the outside world. Why not forbid him from entering the county office or academy until he comes of age? That would prevent anything like this from happening again.”

Li Shimin frowned and seriously considered Du Ruhui’s suggestion.

“Father,” Li Tai said decisively, “I am your son. If I encounter a few petty hooligans and become so frightened that I dare not leave the academy, what will the people of the realm think of me? And what will they think of the imperial House of Tang?”

As he spoke, Li Tai glanced at Du Ruhui. They had no grudge between them, so why was Du Ruhui trying to restrict him for no reason?

Li Shimin pondered for a moment, then nodded. “You are right. If the House of Tang becomes so frightened by this that we dare not even leave our gates, we will become the laughingstock of the realm.”

“Still, an attack on a prince in the vicinity of Chang’an is indeed a shocking matter,” said Li Daozong, a member of the imperial clan. “Such a precedent must never be allowed to spread. Since it is an established fact that these men assaulted Qingque, I believe they should be executed according to the law. As they did not truly intend to assassinate him, we might spare their families and execute only the culprits.”

“Absolutely not!” Wei Zheng objected. “As I understand it, Prince Yue was traveling incognito and never revealed his identity. These men were merely common thieves, and after the prince disclosed who he was, they made no further attempt to harm him.

“Therefore, they should be punished severely for theft. Since they acted as a group, they should be tried as an organized gang. Let each of them lose an arm and be imprisoned for several years, as a warning to others.

“Your Majesty is a wise and virtuous ruler, and Prince Yue himself has acknowledged that these men were not assassins. If they are convicted of attempted assassination, the people may well find the judgment unacceptable.”

“Only an arm?” Li Daozong demanded angrily. “What if those who come after them imitate their example? Are the safety of the House of Tang and the imperial clan so unimportant in your eyes?

“Even when the emperor’s own son is involved, you would treat the matter so leniently. What if the victim were another member of the imperial clan? Only their blood and their lives can teach such people reverence and respect!”

Li Shimin’s brows relaxed slightly as he listened to Li Daozong.

To be honest, he too felt that executing the men would be the simplest solution, especially since he had no intention of punishing their families.

Li Tai listened silently from the side. He had clearly explained what had happened, yet the moment the matter reached the court, the punishment had immediately become death.

Even though the ministers appeared to be arguing with Li Daozong, the mildest punishment anyone had proposed was cutting off one of the men’s arms.

The severity of the matter had honestly exceeded Li Tai’s expectations.

“Father, may I say something?” he asked.

“Oh?” Li Shimin looked at him in surprise. “You are the injured party. What do you think?”

“They assaulted me, so how they are punished is only a minor matter. The real question is why they came to rob me in the first place.”

Li Tai spoke earnestly. “Only by solving that problem can we eliminate thieves like them in the future.”

“Then how does Qingque propose to eliminate such thieves?” Li Shimin asked, clearly curious.

“I do not know,” Li Tai replied frankly. “I have never governed anything before. Even if I have ideas, they are nothing more than theories on paper. Therefore, I wish to ask Father to let me oversee the affairs of Gaoling and allow me to test my solutions one by one.”

“Prince Yue wishes to become the magistrate of Gaoling?” Zhang Xuansu stepped forward. “I have never heard of a nine-year-old county magistrate.”

“But I imagine Censor Zhang has heard of a twelve-year-old chancellor.”

Li Tai bowed to Li Shimin. “I wish to compare myself with Gan Luo. I wonder whether Father would grant Qingque this opportunity. I intend to prove that even Gan Luo was not so remarkable after all.”

Li Shimin smiled faintly. “It is not impossible.”

“Your Majesty, the office of county magistrate governs the welfare of an entire region. How can such a matter be treated as a game?” Zhang Xuansu objected again.

“Qingque, you heard him,” Li Shimin said. “Today I am reestablishing Gaoling County, and you shall be its first magistrate.

“County magistrates are generally transferred after three years, so I will give you three years. By then, you will be twelve.

“If Gaoling does not receive the highest possible evaluation, you may never again compare yourself to Gan Luo. Do you accept these terms?”

The people around them frowned when they heard this. Zhang Xuansu was about to step forward once more, but Fang Xuanling held him back.

They could all see that Li Shimin intended to rein in Li Tai.

The office of county magistrate was neither especially grand nor insignificant. Gaoling, in particular, lay near Chang’an and was a sixth-rank official post, making it a much more lucrative position than most county magistracies.

Yet precisely because it was so close to Chang’an, it would be extremely difficult for an official there to perform well enough to receive the highest evaluation.

The assessment would take into account land reclamation, changes in population, agricultural harvests, tax collection, and countless other matters. With Chang’an nearby, the county would naturally be compared with the best-governed counties in the entire realm.

It was not difficult to muddle through with an average result, but producing an outstanding one would be a different matter.

Everyone present was shrewd enough to understand what was happening. Li Shimin probably felt that Li Tai was becoming too troublesome, so he had given him the office of magistrate to put him under pressure.

The position would have been unsuitable for most people. But the system governing imperial princes in the Tang dynasty had not yet been fully established, and it was common for a prince to be appointed nominal governor of an entire prefecture immediately after birth.

Now Li Tai would merely be required to truly serve as a county magistrate. Whether he was genuinely a capable administrator or had merely benefited from the fortunate circumstances surrounding the locust plague would become clear after three years.

“Thank you, Father!” Li Tai said, unable to conceal his gratitude.

Then he paused and asked, “Father, what if my methods conflict with the laws of the Tang?”

“Of course you may not violate the law,” Li Shimin replied. “I have merely appointed you magistrate of a county, and already you are thinking of changing the legal code?”

“Qingque would never dare,” Li Tai said. “Although I did shout that an assassination was taking place amid the confusion, these men clearly did not truly come to assassinate me. If they were executed, I would feel somewhat uneasy.

“But they cannot simply be let off lightly either. I intend to have them perform labor for Gaoling County, from repairing bridges and roads to reclaiming land. There will surely be work they can do.

“Let them redeem themselves through service. In the end, they committed theft and nothing more.”

“Prince Yue possesses such compassion because Your Majesty has taught him well,” Fang Xuanling said, seizing the opportunity to ease the tension. “This minister congratulates Your Majesty.”

At least the matter concerning Li Tai had been brought to a peaceful conclusion.

When Li Shimin dismissed him, the issue was finally settled. Li Tai had successfully obtained the position of magistrate of Gaoling County.

This came as a considerable surprise to him. Everything had proceeded far too smoothly—so smoothly that it was almost beyond belief.

After Li Tai left, the officials in the study continued handling their affairs. Once most of the work had been completed, they departed one after another.

Zhang Xuansu caught up with Fang Xuanling.

“Duke Fang, why did you stop me from speaking today?” he asked. “Although Prince Yue offered an ingenious strategy during the locust plague and personally drove the Fire Seed Project forward, the work of a county magistrate concerns concrete matters of governance. How can a nine-year-old child possibly manage them?

“This is treating the lives of an entire county’s people as a joke!”

“Brother Xuansu, do not worry,” Fang Xuanling said. “After the Supreme Emperor abolished Gaoling County, its population fell to fewer than three hundred households.

“But beginning last year, Prince Yue dealt with the locusts, gathered displaced people, established an academy, and had his maid establish a major trading house. That is how Gaoling grew into the county it is today, with twelve hundred households.

“Although he did not possess the title of magistrate, he was already performing the duties of one. His Majesty had long wished to see what the prince was capable of.

“Now that Prince Yue has requested this himself, His Majesty merely seized the opportunity and allowed him to take charge of Gaoling. Why did you have to object and spoil it?

“So you may rest assured and let Prince Yue serve as magistrate. He believes he won this position for himself, but in truth, it is a set of shackles His Majesty has placed upon him.”

“And what if Prince Yue breaks free of them?” Zhang Xuansu asked, his expression solemn.

“How easy do you think it is to receive the highest evaluation?” Fang Xuanling waved a hand dismissively. “If he succeeds, would that not prove that Prince Yue truly possesses the talent of Gan Luo?”

Since ancient times, governing the realm had never depended on wild ideas alone. It required constant trial and error, along with the steady accumulation of experience.

That experience was political, practical, and moral. Fang Xuanling simply did not believe that Li Tai could obtain the highest evaluation within three years. And even if he somehow did, it would be all the better—he could enter the official system directly.

Zhang Xuansu saw how confident Fang Xuanling was and could only choose to trust his judgment.

The first thing Li Tai did after leaving the study was to visit Empress Changsun.

Whether or not news of the attempted assassination had reached her ears, allowing her to see him with her own eyes was the best reassurance he could offer.

Fortunately, the farce had evidently not reached Empress Changsun. Li Tai breathed a sigh of relief. After chatting with her for a while, he left and returned home.

Before going back, however, he stopped by the Court of Judicial Review to give instructions concerning the men he had escorted there. They were to be sent back to Gaoling.

The youngest of them, because of his age, was sentenced to only five years of penal labor. All the others received ten-year sentences.

Li Tai did not even ask their names. In his opinion, allowing them to keep their lives and return in one piece was already generous enough.

Still, their appearance demonstrated that Gaoling’s rapid development had indeed created many gray areas.

Li Tai said to White Crane, “Prepare a gift. I am going to present it to Prince Rencheng shortly.

“Although Prince Rencheng’s opinion was not what I originally intended, I owe today’s defense to him.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” White Crane nodded. Matters of this kind were her specialty.

When Li Daozong soon returned to his residence, Li Tai brought the gift to his estate. After announcing himself, he was ushered inside.

Upon seeing Li Daozong, he lifted the gift with both hands.

“Uncle, thank you for speaking up for me today. This is only a small token of my gratitude.”

“Prince Yue, sit down first. I cannot accept this gift,” Li Daozong said. “I merely spoke the truth before His Majesty. Do not listen to idle gossip. If I accepted your gift, you would only put me in danger.”

“But Uncle, there is something I hope you can help me with. If I do not give you this gift, I will feel uneasy,” Li Tai replied with an awkward smile.

“Tell me what it is first.” Li Daozong frowned.

“It is like this. Although today’s incident was not truly an assassination attempt, you understand that Gaoling is currently filled with all sorts of people. I would like to borrow some men from you to serve either as my personal guards or as constables for Gaoling.”

“You want to mobilize troops privately?” Li Daozong asked incredulously.

For an instant, he thought Li Tai had gone mad. How could the boy come to him with such a request? Was he trying to get him killed?

“No, no!” Li Tai hurriedly shook his head. “How could I dare do such a thing?

“I came to ask whether you have any veterans who were wounded and can no longer serve in battle. I will take anyone under forty. I want to organize them into a constabulary.

“I do not even know a single person capable of leading troops. Since I happened to run into you today, I thought I would come and try my luck.”

“So that is what you meant.” Li Daozong nodded. “I understand. However, gathering those wounded veterans will take time. If you are not in a hurry, I will certainly find two hundred capable men for you within half a month.”

“Thank you, Uncle. There are only two bolts of brocade inside. I did not dare prepare a more extravagant gift. Why not accept it?

“When I return, I will report everything to Father. I absolutely will not allow this matter to cause you trouble.”

Li Tai spoke with sincere respect.

“Very well. But let this be the last time. Do not bring such vulgar gifts in the future,” Li Daozong said with a nod. “Stay and have dinner with me.”

“I had better not. The curfew will begin soon, and I cannot very well violate the laws of the court,” Li Tai said quickly.

“Very well, then I will not keep you,” Li Daozong replied.

Li Tai left Prince Rencheng’s residence and returned to his own estate.

After dinner, the first thing he did, naturally, was write in his diary. What could be more important than speaking from the heart to Li Shimin?

He wrote that he had successfully obtained the position of magistrate of Gaoling County, and that he must work hard so as not to betray Father’s trust.

He wrote that Father had approved his proposal of using labor as punishment, and that Father was truly benevolent and wise.

He wrote that he had gone to Li Daozong to request wounded and retired soldiers to serve as constables, so that such incidents would not happen again.

At this point, Li Tai paused. Then, beside the words “wounded soldiers,” he added one final sentence:

They fought for the Tang until their bodies were damaged. Let them now use those damaged bodies to investigate crimes and serve as constables, earning further merit for our Great Tang.

Let us call them the Unworthy Men.

End of Chapter