The heavens set sail from the courtyard

Chapter 413 Playing Power
On the second day after Wang returned to Beijing, he got up before dawn, preparing to attend the court meeting.

Today at the court meeting, Wang Gang will pay homage to the prime minister, and the little emperor will even publicly announce Wang Gang's achievements in the battle against the Liao Kingdom, and his title will be promoted to another level.

Wang Gang was originally the Duke of Qing, he was a first-rank Duke, and he could only be promoted to Duke.

On such an important day, Hai Chaoyun got up one step earlier than Wang Gang, and waited for him to wash up.

The two have been husband and wife for twenty years, and their relationship is naturally deep. Hai Chaoyun's only regret is that he only gave birth to a daughter to Wang Gang, and then has nothing else to do.

"Officer, I have chosen two concubines for you, you can take care of things when you come back tonight!" Hai Chaoyun said calmly while arranging Wang Gang's clothes.

Wang Gang was surprised and said: "Why did you give me Zhang Luo's concubine again? Didn't I say that it is enough to marry one person in this life."

Hai Chaoyun sighed and said: "My Hai family's rule is that concubines are only allowed after forty years old. The master has kept his promise, and there is no need to abide by my Hai family's rules in the future."

"We don't have Ziqiao! We don't count as having no descendants." Wang Gang said with a smile.

"Ziqiao is a girl after all, and she will marry sooner or later." Hai Chaoyun said aggrievedly:
"The position of an official is extremely human, and no one will inherit the title in the future. This is my daughter-in-law's fault."

Wang Gang held his wife's hand and whispered softly: "One couple for life, don't you understand my thoughts?"

Hai Chaoyun suddenly burst into tears and said: "The officials love me, pity me, and love me, so they should take concubines and reproduce, otherwise I will be a sinner of the Sheng family."

Wang Gang felt a little helpless, he had been married to Hai Chaoyun for [-] years and had never changed her feudal concept.

"If it's really not possible, discuss it with the second brother and adopt a son over here." Wang Gang said.

Hai Chaoyun shook his head and said: "In the circle of noble ladies in the capital, many people have gossiped about me, thinking that I, Hai Chaoyun, are jealous and prevent you from taking concubines.

The official is really good for me, so he married two concubines, which also made me less gossip. "

Wang Gang frowned, and said displeasedly: "Which woman is talking nonsense!"

Hai Chaoyun said unhappily: "Does the official still want to settle accounts with the woman?"

The husband and wife discussed for a long time, but Hai Chaoyun finally managed to persuade Wang Gang to find him two beautiful concubines, and the marriage will be consummated tonight.

Wang Gang loves Hai Chaoyun, so he can only obey her.

If this matter gets out, it may become the laughing stock of Bianjing City.

It is not a very honorable thing in this era for a wife to marry a concubine to her husband, but the husband is still not happy.

After Wang went to court, Hai Chaoyun brought the concubine back home.

Marrying a concubine is not like marrying a regular wife. There is no need for three letters and six rituals. Even if the matchmaker is married, a concubine cannot enter through the main entrance.

Hai Chaoyun asked someone to furnish the new house, and got some red cloth to celebrate the end of the day.

The two concubines were also carefully selected by her, with clean family background, handsome appearance, and docile temperament. Even if they marry into the family, it will not affect her status as the head of the family.

Naturally, Wang Gang didn't know that his wife had been planning for a long time for him to take a concubine, even if she knew about it, she wouldn't care too much.

He walked all the way to the gate of the palace, and met many ministers who were going to court, no matter whether they knew each other or not, those who were in sedan chairs or cars would stop and say hello whenever they saw Wang Gang.

Wang Gang saw an unexpected person.

"Lord Sima."

Wang Gang unexpectedly saw Sima Guang being carried to the palace dragging his old, weak and disabled body.

"Mr. Sheng pays his respects to the prime minister today, and the old man will definitely come to join in the fun."

Sima Guang looks good today, it seems that he has used the medicine of tiger and wolf to force his spirit.

"Why bother to be tired, my lord?" Wang Gang said puzzled.

"Yesterday, the old man found a few friends and told them about your reform ideas. Even if the old man is gone in the future, they will not be your hindrance."

With Sima Guang's words, Wang Gang knew that the resistance to his own reform was reduced by half.

Wang Gang cupped his fists and bowed deeply to Sima Guang to salute.

"Well, the old man is actually not for you, but for those old friends. They are by no means your opponents. Instead of trying to be a chariot, it is better to leave a useful body and serve the court."

Wang Gang and Sima Guang walked into the palace together, which immediately attracted the attention of many people, especially those reformists who thought that Wang Gang was also Sima Guang's henchman.

As soon as the little emperor arrived, the early court began. First of all, the little emperor gave Wang Gang and Sima Guang a great honor, and gave them seats in the Golden Palace.

Then the eunuch read the imperial decree, and Wang Gang was awarded the title of King of Qing County for his military exploits, and officially became the prime minister and concurrently served as the Privy Council.

At this time, Wang Gang's power is really under one person and above tens of thousands of people, and the military and government are grasped with one hand, and the emperor's words are not as useful to him.

Sima Guang died of illness at home shortly after he came to court. Wang Gang also attended the funeral in person, and the little emperor also made him a Duke.

Then Wang Gang took full control of the court and started his own path of political reform.

Wang Gang did not achieve it overnight, and implemented the three major reforms together. He chose to implement the fire consumption first. The reason is simple, and this is the easiest to implement.

The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the lowest fire consumption in all dynasties, because the Song Dynasty practiced high salaries to maintain integrity, and the official salaries were the highest in all dynasties.

Even Wang Gang holds multiple positions, so he gets multiple salaries.

Therefore, officials in the Song Dynasty were not short of money, and naturally the situation of exploiting the common people was the lowest in history.

Although there is resistance to the return of Huo consumption to the public, it is not too great. Wang Gang is even more able to review the abilities of officials and select his own reform talents when implementing the return of Huo consumption to the public.

It is never possible to complete the national reform by one person. Wang Gang needs his own staff and team to implement the second step of dividing the income into the mu.

Because the little emperor was young, he didn't ask about Wang Gang's reform. It wasn't until three years after the implementation of Huoxiaoguigong that a large group of hard-working officials gathered around Wang Gang, and the little emperor was afraid.

Once, the little emperor invited Wang Gang's family into the palace in the name of a family banquet. When he saw his cousin Sheng Ziqiao, he fell in love with him at first sight and immediately asked the queen mother that he wanted to recruit his cousin into the palace as a concubine.

Originally, Sheng Minglan thought that this was a good thing to get married, so she mentioned it to Wang Gang, but Wang Gang strongly opposed it.

In this day and age, when a cousin marries a cousin, it's called getting closer, but Wang Gang thinks it's messy, so of course he will object.

This incident also became the fuse of the discord between the emperor and the prime minister.

Soon the little emperor found a few ministers and wrote a letter proposing to be in charge, hoping to take back the power in Wang Gang's hands.

Wang Gang sensed something was wrong, but in order to carry out the reform smoothly, he could only choose to hold on to the power and rejected the proposal of pro-government.

After the little emperor came down to court, he lost his temper a lot in the harem, even the empress dowager Sheng Minglan was alarmed and ran over to comfort his son.

"Prince, your uncle didn't let you take charge of the government, but it was actually for your own good. He implemented reforms and knew that he would offend too many people, so he wanted to take everything into his own hands. He suffered all the hardships and sins, and left you A world of peace and prosperity."

"I also know what my uncle wants, but I have grown up, so I can't still hide behind my uncle." The little emperor said unwillingly.

"Isn't that good? Uncle has done all the hard work for you, and you can enjoy the rest in the future." Sheng Minglan was puzzled.

The little emperor stopped talking, thinking to himself, what if his uncle doesn't return to power in the future, who can suppress him?
Sheng Minglan saw that the little emperor was still upset, so she said: "Don't make things difficult for your uncle in the future, he has the last emperor's edict in his hand, and he can abolish you at any time."

"Queen, what did you say?!" The little emperor was inexplicably shocked.

Sheng Minglan said: "Before he died, the late emperor told me that he left a will for your uncle. In case you become foolish in the future, you can use the will to abolish and establish another Mingjun."

The little emperor widened his eyes and said, "Queen, why didn't you tell me about such an important matter earlier!"

Sheng Minglan wondered: "Actually, the first emperor didn't let me tell you about this, because he was worried that there would be a gap between you and uncle."

The little emperor's eyes rolled wildly, and his mind was spinning. He didn't understand why the first emperor did this. Isn't this cheating his son!

From then on, the little emperor was really honest and obeyed Wang Gang's words.

Wang Gang also devoted his energy to the reform.

After Huoxiao returned to the public, Wang Gang began to implement the distribution of the land into the mu, but he encountered great resistance.

The land tax was assigned to the big landlords, which really caused a backlash. It was impossible for those gentry who owned large tracts of land in the south of the Yangtze River to spend large sums of money to pay taxes.

The good days have passed for a long time, who wants to live a hard life.

Many landlords in the seven provinces in the south of the Yangtze River united to put pressure on the imperial court, and even many courtiers in the south of the Yangtze River wrote a letter against the sharing of land into their mu.

There are even some radical ministers, butting their heads against Jin Zhu to express their opposition.

The little emperor was a little scared when he saw it, but Wang Gang chose to be tough. Anyone who opposed it was dragged out to beat the board. The landlords in the south of the Yangtze River refused to pay taxes. .

Wang Gang, who holds the military power in his hand, ruled all kinds of dissatisfaction.

In the midst of a rowdy beheading, it was only possible to carry out the implementation of the stalls in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, Wang Gang's reputation gradually deteriorated, and many people slandered him behind his back, saying that he abused power and harmed the country.

(End of this chapter)