Chapter 253: The King and His Ministers Meet Again, Whipping the World
Chapter 253: The King and His Ministers Meet Again, Whipping the World (Part 1)
After a grand welcoming ceremony, the old emperor showed up and was willing to have fun with the people.
The word "people" is indeed debatable.
After all, the "people" who could come before the old emperor were all carefully selected.
If we don't look beyond the south of the Yangtze River, the Dayu Dynasty was indeed a prosperous era.
In fact, although the old emperor demonstrated his great military achievements, crushed the assassination attempts of various forces across the world, and severely injured two martial saints, many internal conflicts were only temporarily suppressed and not fundamentally resolved.
There have been serious natural disasters every year over the years.
When natural disasters occur, there will be man-made disasters.
In the southern Zhili area, the people lived in a paradise; in some provinces, droughts occurred all year round, and they had to endure exploitation such as land annexation and the Single Whip Law, with disaster victims and starving people everywhere...
They are all citizens of Dayu. The living standards of landlords in some places are even worse than those of the workers in the workshop in Jiangning Prefecture.
If Xu Qing continues to develop Jiangnan's industry and commerce, coupled with the huge profits from maritime trade, this gap will become larger and larger in the future.
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In the palace, the emperor summoned Xu Qing alone.
When meeting the old emperor in his demonic form, Xu Qing could clearly feel that his "demon body" was very uncomfortable and he had an urge to escape.
The dynasty's luck, the emperor's dragon energy, and the old emperor's own practice of a terrifying martial art can indeed pose a threat to Xu Qing's demon body.
However, what is truly terrifying about him at the moment is his demonic consciousness. Even if he loses his demonic body, his consciousness can escape and instantly enter the dream of someone who is "obsessed" with him.
When it comes to the ability to save lives, Xu Qing should be the best in the world today.
Moreover, the old emperor must have gone mad to attack Xu Qing.
Because once the old emperor and Xu Qing break up, the good situation that has been achieved with great difficulty will be doomed to be destroyed.
This is not alarmist.
The power in the old emperor's hands is indeed extremely strong, and can crush any opposition forces within the Dayu Dynasty.
The problem is that it is easier to destroy than to build.
It is easy to make people kneel down, but to make them be honest and obedient and do things seriously is something that even gods cannot do.
Passive work, slacking off, secretly obeying...
After all, humans are not animals.
Even animals may rebel under extreme oppression.
What's more, the old emperor's subordinates are also human beings. If they go too far, they will inevitably become disloyal.
Although the emperor has supreme power, he must use it in moderation and cannot overdraw his credibility at will.
Only when the people of the world recognize him as an emperor can he be called an emperor; otherwise he is a tyrant.
People in the world are afraid of the emperor, but not of a tyrant.
"Xu Qing, you are very good. I like this palace very much."
Xu Qing smiled to himself. These were all hastily made things. From the outside, they did look quite good, but the details inside were so crude that it was appalling.
The old emperor is just trying to make the conversation awkward.
Xu Qing naturally would not spoil the fun, so he laughed along and shouted "Shengming".
The old emperor was quite interested in chatting with Xu Qing about daily life.
Chen Zhong, who was serving nearby, was secretly envious when he heard this.
Brother Xu is really amazing. He has never seen the emperor take the initiative to find topics to chat with others in his life.
After chatting for a long time, the old emperor got to the point.
"Feng gave birth to a son for Prince Yu and made great contributions to the royal family. I have made her Prince Yu's concubine. In addition, isn't Feng's father Feng Qingtian working under you? I plan to appoint him as a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard."
It is natural for relatives by marriage to be granted official titles.
This kind of thousand households has always been a nominal position, but if Jian is in the emperor's favor, it will soon be transformed into real power.
"Your Majesty is wise and wise. I am here to express my gratitude on behalf of Feng Qingtian..."
"The imperial doctors in the palace have examined him and say that he is very healthy and will surely live a long life. I intend to follow the example of Emperor Chengzu and establish a crown prince. You will be his teacher in the future. However, we, the emperor and my subject, only need to be clear about this matter."
Xu Qing knew very well that this was a hint from the old emperor.
He knew clearly that Xu Qing and Prince Yu did not get along, so in order to dispel Xu Qing's worries, he specifically hinted to Xu Qing that the Crown Prince would take the throne in the future, so you don't have to worry about being purged later, just be bold and do a good job!
In fact, Xu Qing understood the old emperor better than anyone else.
It seems that the old emperor values the crown prince more, but in fact, the old emperor feels threatened by Prince Yu's position as the crown prince.
Because of the old emperor's strength this time, the opposition forces in the world were forced to stop for a while, but it also made all parties more dissatisfied with the old emperor.
This force of opposition will eventually converge on Prince Yu.
After all, the crown prince and the emperor are natural opponents, especially as the crown prince gets older and the old emperor becomes increasingly elderly, this contradiction will become irreconcilable.
Even the previous Emperor Taizong would consciously suppress his own crown prince, which shows how difficult it is to resolve the natural contradiction between the emperor and the crown prince.
The old emperor first talked about family matters, then family affairs, and finally mentioned state affairs.
"There are two major things to do next. First, the government and gentry should work together to pay taxes in Jiangnan. I will be in Yingtian Prefecture and watch you do it. Second, the slavery should be abolished."
These two major events were included in the "Five-Year Plan" of Xu Qing's policy agenda for Lord Liang.
Originally, it was Lord Liang who was responsible for carrying it out with the support of Xu Qing.
Lao Liang played this trick brilliantly, taking advantage of Xu Qing's "death" to escape.
When Huo Jing became the Prime Minister, he thought he could turn the tide, like Sima Guang of the previous dynasty had done, to stop the reform and restore the ancestral system.
As a result, the power displayed by the old emperor in the battle of Taihe Mountain directly shattered Huo Jing's fantasy. The current situation is that you can't just sit and leave as the Prime Minister if you want.
The old emperor made it clear in private that if Huo Jing dared to retire, the knife of reform would be placed directly at Huo Jing's hometown.
Even if the old emperor can't kill all the gentry in the world, he is more than enough to kill your entire family.
Huo Jing naturally followed on this southern tour.
He has no other choice now. After all, the five-year plan has been approved by the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department, and there is no legal problem with it.
Under the strong pressure from the old emperor, Huo Jing, the Prime Minister, had no room to resist.
The emperor wanted to use Huo Jing, the leader of the conservative faction, as a seal and mascot. The people who would actually carry out the reform for him were Xu Qing and Zhang Tai'a, who was in mourning.
To be honest, there's a twisted pleasure in letting conservative leaders bring about reforms.
In fact, the requirement that officials and gentry serve as officials and pay taxes together was not to make them actually serve as officials and pay taxes, but to abolish their privileges in legal terms. In this way, they would lose the legal right to obtain personal dependence on the landless people.
As for the abolition of slavery, it was also because the conflict between masters and slaves in the Jiangnan area became increasingly acute.
Even if the old emperor had not abolished it, slave rebellions in Jiangnan would have occurred frequently.
Therefore, these masters often raise Taoist priests and build martial arts schools. In fact, it is not entirely for rebellion, but to strengthen their own military power and suppress possible slave rebellions.
With the development of industry and commerce in the south of the Yangtze River, coupled with the huge profits brought by maritime trade, these domestic slaves could actually be absorbed.
Because of overseas development, population is very necessary.
The abolition of slavery was also to compete with the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River for population.
Officials and gentry all served and paid taxes together, which was tantamount to a test of the obedience of the population.
If there are any opponents, just kill them directly, and the rest will naturally behave themselves.
This task was extremely difficult to accomplish. Only with the old emperor's great victory and Xu Qing's support could he complete the beginning of this task.
Of course, taking the first step is often the most difficult.
As long as this step is taken, there is still great hope of success.
As time goes by, the gentry who have transformed into business owners will also realize that the existence of slavery will have a serious impact on their workshops and businesses.
After all, the only thing that never changes in the world is that people are fickle.
Especially the wealthy and powerful, their positions were not firm. They would go wherever the wind blew.
Xu Qing read history in his previous life. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the rebel army had attacked northern Zhili. The civil officials and nobles in the capital were unwilling to donate money to help Chongzhen. Even Chongzhen's father-in-law refused to take money. Later, when the rebel army entered the city, everyone became very obedient.
Because the nobles and civil servants in the capital knew very well that the emperor was no longer in good health and that paying the money would be in vain, not to mention that the emperor's sword was already sharp!
People are realistic.
The secret meeting between the emperor and his ministers directly determined the subsequent situation in Jiangnan.
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"Mr. Huo, you have to make the decision for us."
When the two decrees were announced, they immediately aroused fierce opposition from the gentry and nobles in the south of the Yangtze River.
They did not dare to go directly to the emperor and Xu Qing, so they could only place their hopes on Huo Jing, who had just taken the position of Prime Minister.
Huo Jing is now extremely upset.
If he had known that the position of the Prime Minister was a volcano, he would never have accepted it.
Now he doesn't even hate Xu Qing and the old emperor. What he hates most is Wang Gong. If Wang Gong was a little more capable, he would be promoted to the position of Prime Minister. In this way, Huo Jing would be relieved.
Moreover, since Wang Gong becomes the Prime Minister, he certainly cannot continue to be the Minister of Personnel. In this way, Huo Jing can take over as the Minister of Personnel. What a tempting position this is.
Not much worse than the Prime Minister!
Now everything is ruined.
The old emperor almost made it clear that if Huo Jing dared to leave, there would be no need for the Huo family to exist.
Huo Jing is now determined to go ahead.
He is now schizophrenic.
In the past, they criticized the reform so harshly, but now they have to cheer for the reform.
You still have to be an official!
Huo Jing has been studying the policies for reform these days.
As for people, their heads are determined by their butts.
The more he studied the reform, the more he felt it was the best policy ever seen.
These wealthy and powerful people only care about their own selfish interests and are completely unable to see the overall situation of the world.
As the prime minister, Huo Jing can see the overall situation of the world.
Of course, as the Prime Minister, she must be able to hide the truth from both sides like a daughter-in-law.
He had to appease the nobles and said, "If everyone pays a little money, the matter of serving as a clerk and paying taxes will be over. There is no need to panic."
The nobles and dignitaries were wondering, is this a matter of serving as a servant and paying taxes?
This is about everyone’s privileges being eroded!
Seeing that the crowd was still in a state of turmoil, Huo Jing sighed, "Your Majesty and Xu Gongming have joined forces to whip the world. There is nothing we can do. You might as well endure the humiliation for a while and wait for Prince Yu to uphold justice in the future and restore order to the world."
He decided not to be a human being anymore and just shifted the blame to someone else!
(End of this chapter)