Emperor Taizong's Growth Plan

Chapter 477
This He Shao is the envoy of Qiangui's procuratorate.At that time, Yunguo was a senior official of the third rank, one of the three divisions, handling judicial prisons, supervising impeachments, and managing post offices.

With such weight, even Xiao Yu, who is the political envoy of Guizhou and Guizhou, is not willing to cause conflicts easily.In the eyes of ordinary people, it is even more like the existence of a lord.

But even such a character, at this moment, can only be knocked down from the clouds without a single word from Xiao Cheng, without making any waves.

Xiao Cheng shook his head, continued to lazily sit back in the jade table, and said casually:
"continue!"

"Yes."

In the wide jade box, apart from Xiao Cheng and Feng Bao who was waiting on the side, there were two young officials.

One person was thin and handsome, with an air of frailty all over his body, but there was always a sharpness in his eyes that didn't match his frail temperament.

The other person has a round face and a fair figure, with a slightly affluent figure.When facing Xiao Cheng, his eyebrows were lowered and his humble attitude was very comforting.

At this time, the two were sitting opposite each other, and a chessboard was placed on the desk in the middle.The two black and white dragons on it are intertwined and fighting fiercely.

The journey was quite boring, so Xiao Cheng called the two of them to play chess with each other, and he himself watched the battle to relieve the boredom.

Hearing Xiao Cheng's words, the two who had been interrupted before continued to play chess.

"Da, da, da" the clear and clear sound of chess pieces falling, constantly resounding in the jade.

But at this time, Xiao Cheng on the side did not pay attention to the chessboard, but stared at the round-faced official with great interest, and then suddenly said:

"I suddenly remembered, this He Shao, it seems that he was together with you at the beginning, and made a post to Wen Tiren's sect!"

Hearing His Majesty suddenly mentioning this, the round-faced official trembled in his hand holding the chess, and quickly leaned over to salute, and said in fear:

"Your Majesty, I know that I am not familiar with this person..."

Xiao Cheng heard the words, but clicked his tongue, pointed to the chessboard where the fight was fierce, lowered his eyes and said:
"Play chess first, the total score will determine the winner!"

Hearing this, the round-faced official's heart trembled, he quickly responded, got up and continued playing chess.

But at this moment, the round-faced official was disturbed by Xiao Cheng's words, sweat was dripping on his forehead, how could he even put his mind on the chessboard!

Soon, the relationship between the two great dragons who were still entangled and fighting fiercely became clearer.

The white piece held by the weak official has already cut off the vitality of the round-faced official's black piece, Dalong, and smashed his chess position to pieces.

Seeing this situation, the round-faced official naturally didn't have the heart to continue entanglement, and quickly surrendered, bowed his head and said:

"Master Chen's chess skills are extraordinary, and He Shen admits defeat!"

[He Shen, a minister in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.Menyin became an official and was selected as a guard in the palace.Because of his shrewdness and ability, he quickly stood out and took power.At first, he was a clean and honest official, but with the growth of power and status, his selfish desires expanded day by day, and he took advantage of his position to form cliques for personal gain, amass money, and attack political opponents.After the death of Emperor Qianlong, he was given to commit suicide in prison. 】

[Official position: Zheng Qipin, walk in the cabinet]

[Strength 70, Literature 69, Wisdom 89, Morality 27, Age 24, Domination 63, Politics 90, Charm 72, Loyalty 99, Ambition 80]

In the past two years, the imperial examination has never stopped, and it has attracted many talents for the Yun Kingdom court.

Among them, He Shen is the only historical official who has been refreshed.

At this time, when he heard that He Shen pitched in, Chen Qingzhi nodded slightly in return, and said politely:

"My lord, let me accept it!"

[Chen Qingzhi, a famous Liang general in the Southern Dynasties, was born in a poor family. He was a entourage of Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan. He often played chess with Emperor Liang all night and was deeply trusted.He treats soldiers well, is quite courageous, and is good at grasping opportunities...]

[Official position: Zheng Qipin, the cabinet walks. 】

[Strength 30, Literature 70, Wisdom 92, Morality 80, Age 22, Domination 89, Politics 75, Charm 80, Loyalty 93, Ambition 37]

Seeing that the winner of the game has been divided, Xiao Cheng sat up straight with great interest, carefully looked at the chessboard in front of him, and then said with a broken smile:

"Twelve and a half eyes lost... Chen Qing's chess skills are extraordinary, but you and Shen's are not too bad. Today's failure is so bad, the mind is obviously not on the chessboard!"

Hearing Xiao Cheng's words, He Shen's heart trembled even more, he quickly bent down to salute, and said anxiously:
"Your Majesty, I beg your Majesty to be clear. I have nothing to do with He Shao... It was just a meeting at the Shangshu Mansion, and there has been no contact since then!"

Seeing his sincere and frightened appearance, Xiao Cheng chuckled again, and said:
"Look how frightened you are, I just mentioned this..."

Today's Heshen has only entered the court for more than a year, and he is only a mere seventh rank.Although it is a cabinet with a bright future, it does not have a lot of power in its hands, and corruption is naturally impossible.

The reason why there was such a sudden beating was not actually aimed at him.

But to people like Wen Tiren and Yan Song behind He Shen!

Xiao Cheng paused, glanced at He Shen meaningfully, and continued:
"I also know that if you hang around in the officialdom and have a little bit of power in your hands, you won't be able to clean up. It's not that I force all the court officials to be as clean and honest as Mr. Yu Shihai, the left capital of the dynasty. , but I also hope that there is a limit to what you can do!"

"Eat something, get something, and occasionally do something selfish, it doesn't hurt. But if there is such an anger and grievance, I don't even need to ask, there is a clear flow in the court, and I will come forward to figure it out!"

This He Shao is a high-ranking member of the second rank in the current dynasty, with great power in his hands.In the land of Guizhou and Guizhou, if you can't talk about covering the sky with one hand, no one dares to mess with it.

Now, someone has quietly collected all the evidence of his crimes, and even the account books for accepting bribes have been obtained by others, which is obviously unusual.

If it is said that Chao Zhongqingliu did not come out behind the scenes, Xiao Cheng would not believe it!
Of course, this was also deliberately promoted by Xiao Cheng.

After all, more than half of the three-year period of the golden training card [One Whip Method] has passed, the treasury is getting fuller, and the people are getting richer. At the same time, corruption in the DPRK and China has also begun to become serious.

If you don't start to clean up the corruption in the court, I'm afraid that after the three-year period passes, the negative buff that will follow will be terrible!
At this time, He Shen, who was still in a panic in his heart after hearing so much from His Majesty today, breathed a sigh of relief.

He is good at figuring out what he wants, and he has obviously figured out the deep meaning in Xiao Cheng's words.

This is asking myself to come forward and warn the Wen Tiren party behind him, don't make mistakes!

Thinking of this, Yan Song hurriedly bowed and said loudly:
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your reminder, I will definitely keep it in mind!"

Xiao Cheng heard the words, nodded, waved and said:
"Go!"

He Shen and Chen Qingzhi bowed quickly when they heard the words, and respectfully withdrew from the jade cluster.

Xiao Cheng sat alone in the jade box, silent for a while, but suddenly said coldly:

"Let Wang Xiao come to see me!"

"Yes." Feng Bao replied, and hurriedly arranged for someone to summon Wang Xiao, the governor of the East Factory.

Not long after, Wang Xiao, who was wearing a crimson eunuch robe, hurried over, saluted outside Yu Yu, and said anxiously:
"Slave Wang Xiao, ask Your Majesty Wanan!"

In the middle of the jade, came Xiao Cheng's slightly cold voice:

"Clean up the inside and outside of your Dongchang! You Dongchang didn't even notice that the dignified second-rank officials were involved in the corruption case? Could it be that the eyeliner you planted next to the officials in the court is blind!"

As soon as the words of reprimand came out, cold sweat broke out on Wang Xiao's back.

Wang Xiao had already heard about He Shao, Qian Gui's prosecuting envoy, when he came.

If this person really caused a lot of anger and grievances in Dejiang County before, it is no longer just a matter of official assessment.

Either the Dongchang Fanzi, who was in charge of supervision at the local level, was bought off, or a high-level executive in the Dongchang came forward to conceal the matter.

In short, Dongchang, which is responsible for monitoring domestic affairs and the movements of the civil and military officials of the court, cannot escape responsibility!

Thinking of this, Wang Xiao suddenly hated his incompetence in his heart, and quickly gritted his teeth and said:
"It's the servant's ineffective supervision. Please forgive me! Your Majesty, please give the servant a chance to make up for it. The servant will definitely investigate this matter to the end!"

"Go on, I don't want to see it again!"

"Yes!"

Wang Xiao looked a little embarrassed, but his face was ashen, and he left quickly, obviously determined to clean up the East Factory.

Among the jades, Feng Bao, who was serving by Xiao Cheng's side, showed a dignified expression, and said cautiously:

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for talking too much!"

"Nowadays, there are heavy soldiers on the border of the Xia Kingdom, and the national war is imminent. Cleaning up the corruption issue in the court at this time, I am afraid it will divert the court's energy!"

In today's Yunguo court, the influence of the hundred schools is getting weaker and weaker, gradually being replaced by the imperial party, the Qingliu, the courtiers, and the pure ministers of neutrality.

The imperial party, headed by Cheng Bushi, the governor of the Chinese army, is Xiao Cheng's confidant.

The faction of courtiers was headed by Wen Tiren, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, and Yan Song, Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs.There are many lucky moves, single-minded flattery, and few words of persuasion.

Among the Qingliu, headed by Zuo Du Yu Shi Hai Rui and Dali Temple Minister Di Renjie.He thinks that if the courtiers are obsessed with flattery, it will bring disaster to the country and the family.

Neutral and pure ministers are centered on Zhang Zhao, Minister of Rites, and Zhang Hong, Minister of Officials.Only doing practical work, and staying out of the battle between the DPRK and China.

Among the four factions, they are simply divided by their own means of doing things.Instead of dividing by moral character and governance philosophy.

For example, in the party of courtiers, Wen Tiren, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, was famous for his incorruptibility. He spent only his salary on daily food and clothing, and his simplicity was directly on par with Hai Rui.

As for the Qingliu Party, just recorded in the Dongchang archives, there are no less than a dozen people with high morals who have been corrupted.

Even Fu Anbo and Zhendong General Yang Dayan, Xiao Cheng's confidant in the imperial party, once greedily gave away the spoils.

In such a situation, if it is not handled properly, it will immediately evolve into a party struggle between the court and China, and the impeachment will continue, consuming the power of the country for nothing, just like the Xia Kingdom back then.

Hearing Feng Bao's words, Xiao Cheng nodded slightly, but said in a deep voice:
"It's okay, I have a few."

This time, it is only about corruption in the DPRK.

With Xiao Cheng under pressure, relying on his supreme prestige, he still won't develop into a party struggle!
"Besides, Hailing County and the four counties of Qidi in the southeast of Xia Kingdom have just lost control. We have to wait for Xia Kingdom to send troops from the front line to counter the rebellion. Taking advantage of this time, I want to take advantage of the corruption in the court. The wind of corruption will stop for a moment!" Xiao Cheng said in a deep voice.

Following the battle, Xiao Cheng will at least capture Jinling and occupy all of the land in the south of the Yangtze River!
When this war starts, we don’t know when it will end. Naturally, we must suppress the corruption in the court before the war begins, so as not to bring too serious negative effects after the three-year period of [One Whip] expires. Effect.

Seeing that His Majesty is confident, Feng Bao, who was a little worried, immediately felt relieved and stopped talking about it.
-
Xia Guo, the imperial palace of Jinling City, is in the palace.

In today's Jinshen Palace, Xia Guo's important officials gathered here, and the atmosphere became extremely solemn again, making everyone seem to be out of breath.

Mei Chong sighed softly, bowed slightly, and said:

"Your Majesty, why did three of Qi's four counties fall to the enemy in just a short period of time? Didn't the previous frontline battle reports show that the general situation of Zhang Thief is gone?"

At this time, Yu Zhaoling didn't know that it was too many times, but he was used to it, and his face was not particularly ugly at this time, but he just kept silent and said nothing.

The old general Dong Wei gritted his teeth and said with hatred:
"Because the army of the Yanjiao camp had many conflicts with the soldiers from the various counties that were transferred away, the county soldiers and generals were resentful and uttered resentful words. Who would have thought that such words would be heard. The county soldiers and generals were afraid of saying this In the ears of the Yanjiao battalion leader and Wuxiang Marquis, he was told that he would be punished by the military law. In his heart, he was terrified and elected Taishan County Lieutenant Chen Youliang as the leader, burned the food and weapons, and sent the rebels to attack the Yanjiao camp."

"The turmoil in the army was taken advantage of by Zhang Thief, who went out of the city to rob the camp, and chased and killed the routs all the way. In the end, the [-] soldiers in the Yanjiao camp were almost wiped out, and the [-] county soldiers were scattered."

"Salt merchants in Qidi were dissatisfied with the new salt tax order of the imperial court. They took the opportunity to create chaos and opened the city to welcome the bandits and rebels. Within half a month, Taishan, Jiaodong, and Donghai counties among the four counties of Qidi fell directly."

"Now Thief Zhang, together with the rebel Chen Youliang's troops, have led troops into Langya County one after another, intending to carve up the county..."

Hearing this, the aged Mei Chong couldn't help but staggered, almost fainted.

It was he who implemented the new decree on the salt tax between the DPRK and China.

This was originally a good policy to increase tax revenue for the court. In the past two years, it has indeed gathered nearly 2000 million taels of silver for the Xia court.

But it was also because of this policy that at this time, the salt merchants in Qidi colluded with the rebels and lost the four counties!
How does this veteran accept it in his heart?
Yu Zhaoling, who was originally sullen, noticed Mei Chong's expression and was startled. He hurriedly asked the eunuch beside him to help him, and comforted him:
"Sikong, don't want to do this! In the end, it was because of the stability of the court that I never copied all the salt merchants in one fell swoop, which led to today's incident, and it really has nothing to do with Sikong!"

Mei Chong gritted his teeth, pushed away the eunuch who came to help him in a hurry, and said anxiously:
"The four counties of Qidi are the main source of salt tax. They are very important to the court today, and there must be no loss! Please, Your Majesty, immediately send troops from the front line to counter the rebellion!"

When Yu Zhaoling heard the words, he immediately said:

"Don't worry, Sikong, the order to deploy troops has been issued long ago."

At this time, Feng Chu said in a deep voice:

"Your Majesty! The rebel Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, the leader of the rebels, are now fighting for Langya County. This may be an opportunity that can be used. Please also, Your Majesty, immediately issue an order to recruit Zhang Shicheng, send gold and silver rewards, so that the two can guard against each other and draw for the court. Fight for time!"

Hearing this, Yu Zhaoling said without hesitation:

"This plan is feasible, do it immediately!"

"According to the order."

(End of this chapter)