Father Han Gaozu

Chapter 308 Big Heart and Big King

Qi State, Linzi County.

A group of people came here on horseback, and when the soldiers at the city gate saw them, they were already panicking.

The number of these people is not large, only about ten people. They are wearing embroidered clothes, holding scepters and tiger talismans. Bad, looking around, the merchants and pedestrians who came and went all walked around them, and there was a vacuum around them.

They quickly ran towards the city gate, and the soldiers at the city gate were frightened and did not dare to stop them, so they hurriedly let go.

They rushed into the city so easily and flew towards the east of the city. The speed was extremely fast. All the people on the way were avoiding. Several officials who were doing business in the city saw the embroidered clothes flying by them. Trembling, they didn't breathe a sigh of relief until they were far away.

"What are these eagle dogs doing here?"

"I'm here to get people."

"These people are elusive, and they will kill if they make a move."

Several officials chatted in a low voice, "I heard that the county chief of Dongjun was executed by embroidering clothes. He didn't even report to the temple, so he was executed on the spot."

"Today... that ruthless, these eagle dogs take advantage of his power to ignore anyone at all."

"With such a tyranny, the local officials will kill him if he wants to. Sooner or later, he will suffer the consequences."

"Be careful with your words. There are two kinds of embroidered clothes. One is like the one just now, and the other is to hide your identity. Who knows what you say, embroidered clothes will listen to you!"

Hearing this sentence, the little official who was still cursing the Tang King turned pale instantly and looked around in horror.

And after this group of embroidered clothes arrived at a mansion, they jumped off their horses, a few people guarded the door, and the rest rushed into the mansion. This is a more luxurious mansion, and there are several soldiers in it. The crowd, the soldiers immediately drew out their long swords, and the two sides confronted each other.

The leader of the embroidered clothes is a young man with a serious expression.

"I have been ordered by the king, who would dare to stop me?"

The few soldiers hesitated, took a few steps back, and someone walked towards the inner room.

Soon, a tall and burly middle-aged man walked out surrounded by the soldiers. The man looked helplessly at the embroidered clothes in front of him, and said to the soldiers, "Don't be disrespectful to the embroidered clothes!"

The soldiers then put away their swords.

"I see the embroidery envoy, I don't know what orders you have?"

"Feng Xi, the governor of Linzi County. There are people in Linzi who are rioting and openly resisting the officials. Why don't you send troops?"

This embroidered garment is only a hundred stones, but facing the Qianshi standing in front of him, he is not polite at all, and his words are very cold, and his tone is frightening.Feng Xi frowned and said seriously: "There are no chaotic people here, only people who can't stand the harsh government!"

"The temple implements a harsh decree to take the iron mountains and salt seas from the people's homes. Such decrees are harmful to the people. They don't want to hand them over. Do they want me to send someone to kill them? I'm guarding the side of the emperor. The county governor is not a robber who kills and steals goods!"

Feng Xi said solemnly, the county governor, who was conferred the Marquis of Guling, was ranked [-]th among the founding heroes.

Although the ranking is a bit backward, not everyone can bully.

Hearing Feng Xi, the young man shook his head and said seriously: "Since the temple has ordered, we should implement it. What is the order, that is the matter of the temple officials, your duty is to implement."

"What's more. I have never heard of any ordinary people who can have a sea of ​​iron and salt. Is it still ordinary people who can entangle hundreds of officials to drive out the officials?"

"Could it be that you have such a business at home?"

"You son of a bitch, don't spit your blood, do you think I'm afraid of you? You were still breastfeeding when I was fighting with Emperor Gao!"

Feng Xi was furious and cursed.

The young man shook his head again, "Why are you so angry? What if your family has such a business? I also have two iron mines in my family. After I received the imperial edict, I handed it over to the government. If you have one, of course. It can also be handed over to the government.”

Feng Xi only felt that the anger was stuck in his throat, he couldn't spit it out, he couldn't swallow it, and said coldly, "I'm not a thief."

The young man nodded, "Take this person, Xiaoshou."

Two embroidered clothes rushed up, and the soldiers were ready to resist, embroidered clothes scolded: "Do you want to rebel? The clan is also punished!"

The armored soldier didn't dare to move. Two embroidered clothes held Feng Xi down, pressed him to the ground, and raised the axe.

Feng Xi closed his eyes, did not beg for mercy, but said angrily: "I didn't die and the battlefield, but died at the hands of children!!"

"stop!!!"

There was an angry shout from outside the door, and soon, a large number of soldiers rushed in, surrounded the embroidered clothes inside, a minister with a handsome figure, wearing a long sword, dressed as a Chu person walked in here, looking at it seriously the situation in the house.

The man's eyes finally fell on the young embroidered clothes.

"Who are you?"

"Zhang Shizhi embroidered clothes, and see Ji Xiang."

Ji Bu asked solemnly, "Who gave you the power to actually kill the county governor?"

"Your Majesty's edict, if you don't follow it, not only the county governor, but also the prime minister of the state, can be executed."

Ji Bu ignored this guy, stepped forward, pushed away the two embroidered clothes, and helped Feng Xi up. Feng Xi lowered his head and looked at Ji Bu with some guilt, "Ji Xiang. I."

"No problem, talk about it later."

Ji Bu looked at Zhang Shizhi and said seriously: "I will take care of the affairs of the state of Qi. Because of the resistance of a few salt merchants, I will kill the governor of the county. This will not work. You are acting on the orders of the king, Well, I will write to the king in person. You can go back."

Youxiuyi walked to Zhang Shizhi's side and tugged at his sleeve.

"Jun Zhang. Ji Xiang was once the king's lover. Don't offend."

Zhang Shiyi pulled it away and said loudly, "I came here under the king's order, there is no edict, let alone the king's former benefactor, even if Emperor Gao is here, I will do as well!"

Everyone was shocked, Ji Bu was also a little surprised, and looked at the young man in front of him again.

"If I kill you now, Your Majesty, I won't hold me accountable, do you believe it?"

Ji Bu slowly drew out his long sword.

Zhang Shizhi walked in the direction of Ji Bu slowly, "Ji Xiang wants to kill me for rebellion? If he wants to kill me, why don't he do it?! If you don't dare to kill me, why do you stop me from working?!"

"Today's matter, either kill me or don't stop me!"

"Oh, sure enough, you guys with the surname Zhang are all a group."

Ji Bu cursed in a low voice and put away his long sword.

Zhang Shizhi couldn't hear what he was scolding.

Ji Bu then said to the soldier on the side: "Take people to the iron merchants and salt merchants who resisted. If there is resistance, shoot them!"

The soldiers went out immediately, Ji Bu looked at Zhang Shizhi, "Is it alright?"

Zhang Shizhi nodded, turned around and left.

Feng Xi looked at his back angrily and scolded, "Cool official! Villain! Eagle dog!"

Ji Bu glanced at him and sighed, "I already ordered, why don't you obey?"

Feng Xi said helplessly: "Jixiang, there is something wrong with this decree, I can't bear to be a thief. This is their family business, fortunately, they built it hard, how can a temple rob the people's family business? Temples should benefit the people, Make them richer instead of robbing people of their wealth."

"I know you are a kind person, and the people and officials in the county respect you very much, but you are wrong."

"The temple receives the mountains and seas for compensation. Besides, what kind of morals do these people have in the local area, you yourself know how many people you have dealt with in these days?"

"Even if there are more than a thousand evil people, of course there is also a good person. How can this be the case?"

"I know that I have already been honored in the temple. Now that the salt and iron monopoly is implemented, officials are needed. I am going to give benefits to those big businessmen with good reputations and charge more of their children as salt and iron officials. As compensation, I can actually do it. Understand the king. And you don't have to worry, although the king loves money, he is very gentle to the people, and he is definitely not a tyrant who collects money."

"I think he did this because the price of salt and iron has been rising more and more recently. The people are rich, and they want more. The king performs benevolent government, but it is these people who benefit in the end. Prices. Benefit the people."

Feng Xi didn't speak, the two walked into the inner room, Feng Xi remembered something, and leaned over to bow, "Thank you Ji Gong for saving your life."

"You don't have to. If it wasn't for your usual behavior, I wouldn't come here."

"Gong Ji, do you also think that the king is a little harsh?"

"The suppression of officials is too much. These embroidered clothes travel to and from various places, even the county governor, they don't pay attention. Wherever they pass, the officials tremble and dare not speak."

Ji Bu gently stroked his beard, and after Liu Chang returned from Qi, he began to strengthen his embroidery again.

This strengthening includes two aspects: strengthening in quantity and strengthening in power.

Needless to say in terms of numbers, just in terms of power, they can already decide the life and death of a high-ranking official at the level of the county governor. What a terrible power.

These embroidered clothes do not have a fixed office location. They wear fancy clothes and carry festivals. They are ghosts and ghosts. They travel to and from different places. They are always on their way. The wealthy households who seize other people's farmland cannot escape their punishment. Sometimes, they will appear in the county, from the county governor who does not perform well, to the county magistrate who corrupts the stolen goods and bends the law. In short, their appearance makes the big Han officials They are very disturbed.

The officials of the big Han are used to being idle.

During the reign of Emperor Gao, officials were very relaxed, and they wanted to do whatever they wanted. After Empress Lv abolished Yiyan and convicted them, their lives became more comfortable.

Until Liu Chang came to power, the officials lived a hard life and were afraid all day long, afraid that embroidered clothes would come to them.

During Liu's long period of time, the social atmosphere of the common people was very relaxed. They moved freely and engaged in any industry at will. There was no need to pass information in and out. Taxes were extremely low. It is an unprecedented relaxed atmosphere. The people are almost not restricted by anything. Except what is specified by the law, they can do whatever they want.

But the officials were severely suppressed. Not only the officials, but also the wealthy, big businessmen, etc., no longer had the easy life they used to live.

Feng Xi said with emotion: "The king's government is better than Qin."

"There are provincial governors on the top, embroidered clothes on the bottom, and even officials are not allowed to get close to the princes. Alas."

Ji Bu listened to his words, but asked very calmly: "Feng Gong. Then what do you think, after the king implemented such a policy, how is the big man today?"

Feng Xi was stunned for a moment, then said with a wry smile, "It is indeed a great deal."

The two were chatting when someone broke into the house.

The visitor hurried to meet, "Ji Xiang, I heard that someone under my command has offended you, so I came here to make amends."

The person who came was Liu Zhang.

Ji Bu and Feng Xi also got up and returned the salute.

Feng Xi wanted to complain a few words, but he remembered Ji Bu's question and didn't speak.

"No offense. That embroidered garment is quite extraordinary, and he will do great things in the future."

Ji Bu boasted a few words, and Liu Zhang sat down to talk to them.

"This is where Wang Ling is. Please don't blame me for leaving. This time, I'm also saying goodbye to you."

"Oh? Are you going back to Chang'an?"

"No. I have to go to Liang Country. I have something to do."

Liu Zhang said a few words to them, and was about to get up and leave, when Ji Bu suddenly asked, "That Zhang Jun under your command is a Korean?"

"Ah? No, from Nanyang."

"Oh"

In the Hall of Houde, Chang Liu was also listening to the situation from Chen Ping here.

"Since the new decree was issued, there have been many rebellions in various places, and there are even more merchants in Zhao who killed the magistrate and called themselves the king."

"It's Zhao Guo again, what is Ruyi doing?"

Liu Chang shook his head. The salt and iron monopoly was not very smooth. After the negotiation, the ministers made a lot of adjustments to the original policy, including balancing the price, so as not to cause the salt and iron to be scarce and difficult to buy, and not to cause the shortage of resources. Set up special institutions, set national uniform prices, compensate the original merchants, carry out technical improvements to iron ore and salt mining, and establish large-scale iron ore cities and Salt Lake City.

Liu Chang also made a lot of contributions to this. For example, he came up with several salt-making techniques and several mineral mining techniques.

After seeing these technologies, Zhou Chang asked bitterly: Why didn't you take it out earlier?

Liu Chang just answered helplessly: I have only recently remembered what I learned in this dream.

There is indeed a lot of mystery in Liu Chang's body. After he raised the cauldron, everyone believed it. Therefore, many believers told Liu Chang about the teaching in his dream.

Although great adjustments have been made, the local opposition wave is better than the next wave, and only Tang Guo, so far, has nothing to do.It was probably because the temples in Tang Dynasty had been operating these salt and iron products very early, and the merchants were all working in the Tang state. In the rest of the country, there were rebellions, big and small.

Of course, it's just a rebellion of hundreds, dozens of people.

For example, the acting king of Zhao State, he brought a dozen or so disciples to rebel.

Liu Chang was very contemptuous. He shook his head and looked at Chen Ping disdainfully, "Is there really a fool in this world who is going to rebel with a dozen people?"

"Probably. Yes."

"Hahaha, how can there be such a stupid person, that rebel, he was arrested by the county magistrate just after he rebelled, hahaha, a county magistrate stopped his rebellion! What kind of person can be revolted by the county Wei to pacify? It's a shame!"

Obviously, Liu Chang did not see in his dream that a certain King Li, who did not want to disclose his name, was also drunk, and he took a dozen people to rebel and was pacified by the county magistrate.

"Your Majesty, Zhou Chang and other ministers made a presentation, saying whether this matter should be delayed for a while. Don't provoke too many rebellions."

"Heh, what are you dragging?"

Liu Chang said displeasedly: "These guys control the price of salt and iron. There were disasters in several counties in Nanjun, and it was these people who drove up the price of salt. They dared to rebel? They angered the widow, and the widow set a criminal law to let them step on it. Walking on burning copper pillars."

Chen Ping glanced at Liu Chang, "Your Majesty, is he going to restart the torture?"

"Uh, what's wrong?"

"Your Majesty has always been determined to be a king like Jie Zhou, there is nothing wrong with it, but now the treasury is empty, and I am afraid of wasting copper."

"Hahaha~~~"

It was the first time that Chang Liu heard that Chen Ping was actually joking. In Chang Liu's eyes, Chen Ping had always been a very cold and serious image. He didn't expect that he would actually make fun of him. Chang Liu wanted to hug Chen subconsciously. Ping, Chen Ping immediately avoided, Liu Chang said with a smile: "The widow is getting closer and closer to Father Zhong, I'm afraid that he will be inseparable from Father Zhong in the future, and he will have to take Father Zhong with him wherever he goes."

"Your Majesty, how do you reply to the ensemble of ministers?"

"Let them worry less and go ahead."

Chen Ping nodded and left.

Not long after Chen Ping left, Liu Ying came to the door.

"Eldest brother!"

"What do you want?"

Liu Ying frowned, grabbed Liu Chang's hand, and asked, "It's fine if you loot in the palace on weekdays, why would you loot the people?"

Liu Chang's face was full of helplessness. Every time he wanted to do something, the second brother jumped out first. The second brother's ears were too soft, and listening to the wind was like rain. He reluctantly let Liu Ying sit down, "Who told you, Said that the widow robbed the people?"

"Zhao Guangyan of this man!"

"Zhao Guang? Zhao Yao's son?"

Liu Chang suddenly understood that this fellow was obviously broken, but this also reminded him of Zhao Yao who was in Tingwei's prison.

"Second brother, you don't care about these things, take them from the people, use them for the people, I'm selling it, and it's not to build the emperor's mausoleum and build a palace for yourself, you can rest assured and give birth to my son in the palace. Don't worry about other things."

Liu Ying let out a long sigh, "Eldest brother, no matter what kind of ambition you want to achieve, you must never sacrifice the people for murdering the people. The King of Qin at the time was also ambitious, and he never did it for himself, but the people of the world have been destroyed. Only with Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, you have to keep this in mind."

"Don't worry, brother, I am familiar with history books, learn to be rich in five cars, and give Sima Xi a lot of advice on weekdays. These things are understood by everyone!"

Liu Ying glanced at him again, "Still be cautious."

After sending this unreliable second brother away, Liu Chang felt that it was time to deal with Zhao Yao.

He recognized Zhao Yao's ability and understood his smoothness, but he was either as flexible as Uncle Suntong or as straight as Zhou Chang's mausoleum. A person who is very straight but has a very flexible body. For this person, Liu Chang really dislikes him.

However, Liu Chang is not a person who cares about everything, and he will pay for his teeth. He is generous and punting in his stomach.

Still have to talk to Zhao Yao face to face.

ps: I will write one less chapter today. Without this chapter, you will not have any fun reading it. I just happened to go and treat my hands again, and think about the next plot. If you don’t agree, you can leave a message in the chapter to object. I am a person who is always reassuring, and will definitely listen to your suggestions, hahaha.

(End of this chapter)