To avoid tabooing the name of Grand Ancestor Li Hu, even tigers came to be called great beasts.
“Father~” The little princess pointed at the cat crouching on the grass in the distance.
After getting a clear look at the silver shaded cat, Li Shimin could not help laughing as well. “Hahaha!”
“This is my cat!” Xiao Ran declared, then called out, “Keke, come here!”
“Meow~”
The cat meowed, ran toward Xiao Ran, and leaped into his arms.
Cheng Yaojin and Zhang Anan were also shaken with lingering fear. If there had really been a tiger, it would have been dangerous.
With several princesses here, they definitely could not run.
If anyone was going to run, it would have to be the princesses.
“I told you there couldn’t possibly be a great beast here.” After the false alarm, Li Shimin sat down and continued fishing.
“Wow~” The little princess stared fixedly at the cat.
She discovered that this one was pretty too.
“Little Gentleman, I want to touch it~” the little princess said.
“All right!”
“Hehe~ It’s so soft~”
Little Princess Chengyang also reached out and touched it, taking an instant liking to the small animal.
“Now that you mention it, the cats and dogs around worthy nephew are all quite special. I’ve never seen them before!” Cheng Yaojin chuckled.
“They were brought from somewhere else. There aren’t any in the central plains region,” Xiao Ran said truthfully. At least, Great Tang had none at present.
Li Lizhi really liked the Samoyed, but after seeing the cat, she felt this one was even better.
The cat’s aloof temperament suited Li Lizhi’s gentle and refined personality even better.
Xiao Ran brought Li Lizhi a folding stool, and Li Lizhi sat down while holding the cat.
As for the two little princesses, they preferred playing with the lively doggie.
With the two little princesses here, Xiao Ran no longer felt much like fishing.
Xiao Ran noticed the shoes of the two little princesses. They were exquisite and dainty, clearly quite expensive.
The little dresses they wore were not ordinary clothes either. By comparison, Third Lady’s were simply unbearable to look at.
Regardless of the era, the gap between rich and poor was always enormous.
“Why are you still so absent-minded?” Li Shimin noticed.
“I’ve been fishing for a while. I want to take a break.”
Li Shimin picked up his fishing rod and placed it beside him. “Perfect. You take a break while uncle tries your fishing rod.”
Xiao Ran indeed did not want to Fish anymore, so he handed it to Li Shimin.
It no longer had a fishing reel; otherwise, it was more or less the same.
“Worthy nephew, can this one extend and retract freely as well?”
“Yes, they all can.”
Li Shimin nodded. “It truly displays the skill of Tiangong!”
After returning to Chang'an City, Li Shimin had sought out artisans and asked whether they could make this kind of fishing rod—one that could extend and retract freely while also being sturdy enough.
The artisans had said that the two requirements could not be achieved simultaneously.
If it could extend and retract freely, it would be rather crude and not sturdy.
The materials of this era were scarce, making it impossible to produce a fishing rod like this.
Xiao Ran picked up another fishing rod, flicked it out, and handed it to Cheng Yaojin. “Uncle, use this one!”
“Hahaha, thank you, worthy nephew.” Cheng Yaojin hurriedly accepted it.
Li Shimin stared at it for a moment. It was different from the previous one as well, and he realized that Xiao Ran did not have two fishing rods, but three!
Cheng Yaojin also could not bear to part with it.
Li Lizhi also noticed the fishing rods, but she was not interested in fishing and only wanted to quietly hold the cat.
Li Lizhi even felt the urge to take it home.
“Worthy nephew, since you’re nearby, how is the harvest in Kaolao Village?” Li Shimin began making conversation.
“Quite good. It’s a year of abundant harvest!”
“I see the autumn harvest is nearly over as well, and it will soon be time to pay the charity granary tax!”
Upon hearing charity granary, Xiao Ran murmured to himself. He knew it had been established during the zhenguan era of early tang. “Charity granary.”
“What does worthy nephew think of this measure of the imperial court?” Li Shimin was rather pleased with himself and wanted to hear Xiao Ran’s praise.
“The imperial court’s original intention was certainly good, but over time, its nature will inevitably change.”
Xiao Ran said this because he knew that after the mid-Tang period, the Equal-Field System would collapse. Wealthy households would conceal their farmland, while poor farmers would instead bear heavier grain taxes, and the charity granary would gradually become an oppressive policy.
The charity granary was managed by local officials and the government office, but lacked effective supervision, leading to frequent embezzlement and misuse of grain.
During the late tang period, officials often used charity granary grain to cover fiscal deficits or line their own pockets. In years of disaster, there would be no grain left in the granaries to distribute.
Grain storage technology was limited, and long-term reserves easily spoiled or suffered losses. Combined with poor management, the charity granary’s actual disaster-relief effects were greatly reduced.
Later, its nature changed completely. Not only did it fail to help the common people share the risks of years of disaster, but it also became a burden.
Li Shimin furrowed his brows and looked at Xiao Ran. “Does worthy nephew think the charity granary is bad?”
“It’s quite good—at least it is for now. As for the future, I can’t say.”
Li Shimin naturally heard the hidden meaning in Xiao Ran’s words.
Li Shimin, who readily accepted remonstrance, had now become somewhat addicted to hearing advice. He was even more interested in opinions that contradicted him and contained no flattery.
“It seems worthy nephew has noticed the charity granary’s shortcomings. Tell me about them.”
Xiao Ran shook his head. “It would be inappropriate to rashly comment on imperial court policies.”
Li Shimin opened his mouth, then stopped, finding it difficult to speak.
“Hahaha!” Cheng Yaojin, who was beside them, took over. “Worthy nephew, you’re overthinking it. His Majesty is receptive to remonstrance and has the world at heart. As long as you’re not maliciously slandering him, it’s fine. There’s no one else here, so you can speak freely.”
Li Shimin wanted to see what Xiao Ran thought, while Xiao Ran also wanted the others to know that he was not ignorant of everything and did have some knowledge.
Only then did Xiao Ran say, “His Majesty and the imperial court’s original intention of storing grain to prepare for famine is naturally good.”
Li Shimin nodded, signaling for Xiao Ran to continue.
“The key to the charity granary lies first in ‘collecting taxes according to standards.’ If grain is levied according to a fixed amount of land, it may appear fair, but in truth, it is not.”
“Wealthy households can conceal their fields and evade taxes, while poor farmers bear the heavier burden, ultimately resulting in ‘starving corpses covering the wilderness while the granaries overflow.’”
“Grain stored under official control is prone to embezzlement. Without strict laws and supervision, it may become the private purse of officials.”
“If grain distribution during years of disaster must follow bureaucratic procedures, it will inevitably lead to ‘the official document failing to arrive before the common people have already perished.’”
Li Shimin was greatly impressed. Xiao Ran was not speaking without basis.
Xiao Ran pointed toward the distant hillside, where Third Lady was gathering millet ears in the fields. “Uncle, that young lady is from Kaolao Village. Every day, she rises very early and carries a kaolao basket to gather millet ears. If the charity granary takes the millet from her mouth, its original good intention will become a blade.”
“She isn’t lazy. On the contrary, she’s very hardworking. Yet she doesn’t even have shoes and spends all day barefoot in the fields.”
Li Shimin fell into thought. In truth, this matter was also extremely difficult.
If people were allowed to contribute grain voluntarily, hardly anyone would be willing to do so, since most people could not even eat their fill.
It was not a question of human nature, but a very realistic and cruel problem.
Compulsory collection would drive struggling households into desperate circumstances.
“Worthy nephew is absolutely right. There are indeed many other problems.” Li Shimin had also begun to view Xiao Ran in a new light.
If an official had said these things, Li Shimin would have found it perfectly normal. Officials ought to see such problems.
But Xiao Ran was not an official, yet he could still understand all this. That was quite rare.
Xiao Ran glanced at the time, rose, and walked over to the two little princesses. “Young Ladies!”
“Hehe~ Little Gentleman~”
The two little princesses really did look alike. Both were adorable.
Xiao Ran brought bread for the three princesses.
“It’s so soft~ This is yummy too~” The little princess gave it a squeeze.
Li Lizhi took a small bite. She really wanted to ask why all of Xiao Ran’s food was so special, with every item being something Great Tang did not have.
Even inside the imperial palace, they could not make anything like it.