Chapter 486 A tough battle
Nan Zhijin was cornered by the emperor, like a lone general, surrounded by the enemy alone.
The enemy army refused to launch an attack immediately, but just circled around him, as if they were joking, but also seemed to have ulterior motives.
Nan Zhijin is dozens of years old and an experienced old official, but now he is a little angry and angry. There are no outsiders in the tent, and there is no historian to record his words and deeds. With a desperate attitude, he said: "Please, Your Majesty, first Start yourself."
Han Ruzi thought for a moment and replied, "Then start with me."
Nan Zhijin was stunned for a moment, then sneered, "Your Majesty really understands the meaning of Wei Chen's words?"
"Qiao Wanfu, the secretary of the Shaofu, was selected and appointed by me. He compiled a detailed information. I saw that although the emperor is the emperor of Chu, he also has private property, and it is increasing with each generation, partly for the sake of For sacrifices, every time an emperor's tablet is placed in the Taimiao, a field must be allocated for the supply of daily incense. Some - it should be said that a large part - is the 'private property' added by the emperors of the past dynasties. For example, in the East China Sea, a large area of the sea has been assigned to Shaofu, and a large number of pearls are handed in every year. There are many similar industries. Yunmengze was originally a hunting ground designated by Emperor Lie, and the aborigines were moved out because of this. As a result, the land was desolate, and later emperors did not like to go to the south, and it gradually became a haven for bandits."
Nan Zhijin stared blankly at the emperor, feeling more and more incomprehensible.
Han Ruzi continued: "The Shaofu was originally a very small yamen, with only a dozen or so staff, and all the industries it managed were near the capital. , I probably felt that this was very inconvenient, and the emperor seemed to be supported by the imperial court, so the Shaofu was expanded, the bureau was added, and the allocation was changed to the Shaofu directly in charge of various industries. Since then, the Shaofu has been expanded in all dynasties. It was the largest at the time, with more than 500 officials assigned to various places, and it shrunk slightly in the later years, and there are still more than 300 people left. As for the craftsmen and slaves in charge, there are countless."
Nan Zhijin finally recovered and shook his head slowly, "Your Majesty can't do it."
"Can't do anything?"
"Hand over all the royal family's properties. Your Majesty may not fully understand the importance of these properties to the palace. Without supplies from all over the world, the palace cannot afford to support so many eunuchs and maids. Your Majesty's life..." More, Nan Zhijin changed his words and said: "The lives of the queen mother and the concubines, princes, and princesses will all be affected. If your majesty wants to reward someone at will, it will not be so easy."
Han Ruzi pondered for a moment, "It's really difficult, I originally wanted to take care of the outside first and then take care of the inside, do you think I should take care of the inside first?"
"This is only the first step. Even if Your Majesty gives up many properties, the noble family may not follow suit. His Majesty has to deal with clans, foreign relatives, and then the favorite ministers around him. When His Majesty is successful, His Majesty's followers will also follow. There's not much left."
"You're right." Han Ruzi actually thought about it. It didn't look like he was fighting against Nan Zhijin at all, but it looked like a major discussion.
Nan Zhijin was puzzled and added: "If Your Majesty can't lead by example, you can only rely on torture and strict laws. This goes back to the original question: Your Majesty should rely on the court, not destroy it."
"The powerful and the rich keep their slaves privately and keep their names in order to hide the population and refuse to pay rent and taxes. If I drastically reduce rent, will there be fewer opponents?"
"It will be less, but the treasury of Great Chu is empty. If His Majesty cuts the rent again, I am afraid that the treasury will be unsustainable."
"You can always persevere in the past by saving a province. I don't want results in three or five years. What I plan is a great governance in ten or twenty years."
"This kind of thing is not very familiar to Wei Chen, but Wei Chen only understands one thing. Your Majesty is trying to overthrow the imperial court. repeat.
"Yes, you know more about the rules of the imperial court. My plan is as follows. The property that supplies the Taimiao Temple is reserved, and the rest of the property in the Shaofu, all those who supply rare things, will be abolished, and the people will be freed to open up wasteland. The clan and foreign relatives will be advised. They hand over their hidden possessions and domestic slaves."
"advise?"
"I have my own ideas." Han Ruzi smiled and said, "You can take a guess and you won't be punished."
Nan Zhijin thought for a moment, "Cui Family, Your Majesty has to deal with the Cui Family first, Cui Hong has already sent his family to the Emperor."
Han Ruzi nodded, "Cui Hong will either listen to Zhen's advice or accept severe punishment according to the law. I believe he will choose the former."
The daughter of the Cui family is the queen, who is in love with the emperor, and the son of the Cui family is the emperor's close minister, who is much favored, but the emperor wants to use the Cui family to open the knife to show justice.
"Since Your Majesty has a plan, what are you leaving Wei Chen to do?"
"You used to guess what I thought, and now I need you to guess what the minister thinks, so that I can fight a prepared battle."
"There should be no war between rulers and ministers."
"Then let me make some preparations in advance to 'cooperate' with the minister's thoughts." Han Ruzi didn't care about words.
"Why does your Majesty do this? Even if it succeeds, the pen of later generations will be in the hands of the ministers, and His Majesty will inevitably leave behind... infamy."
"It must be like this. Since I am the emperor, I cannot let Da Chu decline or even perish in my hands. I would rather be a sinner in the history books than a weak country."
Nan Zhijin let out a long sigh. The emperor hoped to convey his firm will to the minister through him. First of all, he had to believe that the emperor really had the determination to sink the boat.
Now he is beginning to believe.
"Your Majesty will not completely overthrow the imperial court?"
"As long as there is cooperation, the prime minister is still Zhuo Ruhe, the Minister of War is still Jiang Juying, and the Cui family is still the Cui family."
Nan Zhijin sighed again, "Your Majesty allows Weichen to think about it for a day."
"it is good."
Nan Zhijin retreated to the door, and Han Ruzi added: "Don't think about 'kill your body and become a benevolent'. Once you die, the only reliable connection between me and the imperial court will be cut off, and I can only suspect each other, so I have to strike first."
Nan Zhijin bowed deeply, said nothing, and exited the tent.
Han Ruzi let out a long sigh and felt extremely tired. He had to mobilize all his energy to deal with Nan Zhijin. He fought a tough battle that consumed more energy than the whole day.
In fact, Han Ruzi hadn't thought so much and so far. Some plans were made by him "following the trend", but his ultimate goal was not "following the trend", but "going against the trend".
"The world is in the hands of one person." Han Ruzi muttered to himself, there is no one around, he can stop talking about the great Chu Jiangshan, people-oriented and so on, this is his world, his weapon, from Yang Feng There, he learned that this sharp weapon contains extremely powerful power, and only those who can use it and know how to use it can exert it.
Han Ruzi grasped this unparalleled weapon, but found that it was rusted and had to be re-polished.
"The whole world is in my hands." Han Ruzi felt indescribably lonely and proud.
It was late at night, and Han Ruzi loudly called Zhang Youcai in, ready to rest in the study tent.
Zhang Youcai quickly spread the quilt, "Your Majesty will not see you anymore, huh?"
Han Ruzi had already changed his clothes and said with a smile, "Let me guess—Cui Teng is outside?"
Zhang Youcai opened his eyes wide, "Fortunately, I never made a bet with Your Majesty... er, win or lose."
Han Ruzi was very tired and really didn't want to see anyone again, but after thinking about it for a while, he still said, "Let him come in."
Seeing that Cui Teng didn't need to pay too much attention to appearance, Han Ruzi sat on the bed with his legs covered with the quilt, planning to go to sleep later.
Cui Teng walked in and said with a smile, "Your Majesty is going to sleep now."
Han Ruzi nodded.
Zhang Youcai did not leave, and whispered: "You should make it clear to Your Majesty, and don't let His Majesty misunderstand."
Cui Teng scratched his head, "It's just a little game, really, Your Majesty, we both have strict mouths, and we have never leaked a word to outsiders."
"Of course, I believe in the two of you." Han Ruzi knew very well in his heart that the so-called outsiders did not include Cui Hong, and Mrs. Cui had a way to make his son know everything and say everything.
Cui Teng was relieved and said to Zhang Youcai, "You almost scared me to death, I thought I was going to be implicated by the Yan family."
"As soon as you said it, I remembered that you have a good relationship with Master Yan Peng, right?" Han Ruzi said.
Cui Teng said with a bitter face, "I shouldn't talk too much. It's alright, I played it together. At that time, I thought this kid was not bad. I didn't expect their father and son to be different. They not only kept domestic slaves privately, but also planned to frame Huang Pugong. ."
The Censor's Office only investigated the case of the Yan family turning soldiers into slaves, and said nothing about the fall of Huang Pugong, but there were many rumors in private.
"How many slaves did your Cui family keep privately?"
"not even one!"
"As long as you hand it over within three months, I won't ask you to blame. If you hide it from me, you will betray my trust in you."
"I'm... I really don't know." Cui Teng was about to cry, and he really regretted coming to see the emperor, "My father and several uncles are in charge of everything at home, and I don't want to ask me at all. , To say that there is no Cui family, it is indeed unlikely, but to say how many, I have to write to ask to find out."
"Then you can write to ask, tell your father, don't guess, don't be nervous, I won't specifically target the Cui family, I need your Cui family's support right now."
"Of course, the Cui family doesn't support His Majesty, who else is there?" Cui Teng breathed a sigh of relief.
"Will your family understand my painstaking efforts?"
"Understood, very understandable. These privately owned slaves don't have to pay rent or be in the army. It's because of this that Da Chu's treasury is empty." Cui Teng replied immediately, this is what everyone is talking about every day these days. , he also learned a few words.
Han Ruzi smiled, "By the way, tell Taifu in your letter, and I will send someone to explain it to him personally."
"Don't be so troublesome."
"Taifu is my father-in-law and deserves preferential treatment."
Cui Teng grinned, "Has Your Majesty decided who to send?"
Han Ruzi thought for a while, "Yushi Nanzhijin."
"Understood." Cui Teng replied happily, completely ignorant of Nan Zhijin's importance and sensitivity.