Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 576: I was fooled by Ouyang Lun again! (Subscribe please!!)

"Father, could it be that Brother-in-law Ouyang had no choice but to agree? After all, Li Shanchang was not just trying to get something for nothing. The Huaixi Party wanted real money, so Brother-in-law Ouyang changed his mind for the sake of funds."

"In addition, we have been asking about the funding for the construction of the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway, and Brother-in-law Ouyang has been so persistent that he has no choice but to agree."

Zhu Biao analyzed.

"A normal person might have the same analysis as you, but this person is Ouyang Lun, so it's definitely not that simple!"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head.

"Then why do you think Brother-in-law Ouyang agreed to let Li Shanchang and the Huaixi Party join the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway project?!"

Zhu Biao asked.

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head again, "I haven't thought it through yet, but there must be other reasons besides the ones you mentioned."

"Ouyang Lun is definitely not someone who will suffer any loss. There may be a bigger trap waiting for Li Shanchang and the Huaixi Party. It all depends on whether Li Shanchang is smart enough."

Zhu Biao thought for a moment and said, "Father, if this is the case, should we remind Li Shanchang?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao in surprise, "Biao'er, haven't you always been close to Ouyang Lun? Why did you want to remind Li Shanchang? Are you going to help Li Shanchang deal with Ouyang Lun?"

"Of course not!" Zhu Biao shook his head and said, "The reason why I think so is mainly because you, Father, told me that I must make good use of every minister. Li Shanchang is a capable minister of the Ming Dynasty besides Brother-in-law Ouyang. If he completely loses to Brother-in-law Ouyang, it will destroy the balance of political power in the court, which will not be good for me to control the court!"

"So I just want to remind Li Shanchang not to lose so miserably!"

"Father, the Emperor asked me to issue an order to let all civil and military officials raise funds. Isn't this just to relieve some of the pressure on Li Shanchang?"

Zhu Biao also knew that although Li Shanchang agreed that all Huaixi Party officials had to pay money according to the fundraising rules, this was a matter of the emperor personally issuing an order and Li Shanchang persuading them privately, which were two completely different levels of difficulty.

The first one is that for Li Shanchang, that meant he was just following orders. He could tell other people in the Huaixi Party that he, Li Shanchang, was also following orders, and everyone just needed to obey orders obediently.

The second option is that Li Shanchang would risk his reputation to persuade everyone one by one, but he would easily be rejected by the officials of the Huaixi Party.

"Biao'er has indeed become much more mature." Hearing Zhu Biao's words, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with satisfaction.

"We called Ouyang Lun here today to test his attitude and confirm the progress of the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway. We also want to discuss with him how to solve the problem of funding for the railway construction!" Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "From the current perspective, our goals have all been achieved."

"What surprised me the most was Ouyang Lun's method of solving the funding problem this time. I originally thought that Ouyang Lun would still use the old methods such as bank loans and selling bonds in the stock market, but I didn't expect it to be so novel this time." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "If I had known that this reform could squeeze out money from the Huaixi Party and other officials, why would I have to create such a shocking case and kill so many people!"

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment, and then seemed to have thought of something, and asked hurriedly: "Father, are you talking about the Hu Weiyong case and the empty seal case?"

"That's right!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded heavily.

"Didn't the Emperor execute Hu Weiyong and his men because they were corrupt, committed crimes and betrayed the country?" Zhu Biao asked.

"Indeed, we killed them for these reasons. However, if it was just this, we could just kill the main culprit. But if we deal with it this way, it will only serve as a warning to all officials and will not benefit the court. However, if we expand the case and confiscate the homes of these officials or even their entire clans, the money seized will be enough to enrich the national treasury!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said slowly: "Biao'er, I know you will definitely think that what I did is too heartless, but if I don't do this, the treasury will be empty and many things will be impossible! And I can't make money out of thin air! I was a little cruel, but I didn't kill indiscriminately. The evidence of the crimes of those who were killed is sufficient, and they deserve to be killed!"

"We can even let some of them go, but if they keep biting us, there won't be many people left in the court!"

"If we have enough money, we would also like to have a reputation as a benevolent ruler."

Zhu Yuanzhang patted Zhu Biao on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Fortunately, I have killed most of them, and now we have Ouyang Lun. Biao, you don't need to learn my method anymore. You can be a benevolent monarch who makes the people and civil and military officials miss you. Only in this way can the world truly be at peace!"

"Ouyang Lun is a smart man. His method is more treacherous than we thought, and it is much less bloody. Now that the situation in Ming Dynasty has improved a lot, there is no need to kill so many people!"

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Zhu Biao suddenly understood and nodded heavily, "Father, I understand."

"kindness!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Also, remember to have all the descendants of the Zhu family pay us the highest price!"

"Father, although the royal family members are generally wealthy, asking them to pay five thousand taels each is a bit too much!" Zhu Biao frowned.

"A lot?" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head. "I still think it's too little! The Beijing-Ping Railway is built for our family. They won't use it in the future?! We've asked the officials to raise funds, but the royal children are just going to watch? Even if the officials don't dare to say anything, what will they think?"

"We want all the royal children to take the lead and let everyone see the court's determination! Not only them, but also the two of us have to pay. Since you are the head of our family now, you have to pay your share for me and your mother!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said slowly.

"Yes, father!" Zhu Biao nodded with a wry smile. It turned out that as an emperor, he had to participate in fundraising. There were at least tens of thousands of people in and outside the palace. Five thousand per person, that would be several million!

Zhu Biao felt a little distressed, but everything was for the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway, so he had to pay.

"After this calculation, I think Ouyang Lun's offer of only one million taels of silver is a bit too little!" Zhu Yuanzhang also figured it out and muttered.

"Father, I think so too." Zhu Biao nodded. That's right. Ouyang Lun was obviously richer than him, the emperor, but he only offered one million taels.

"Oh no! We've been fooled again." Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily, "We've been fooled by Ouyang Lun again!"

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his thigh fiercely as he spoke.

Zhu Biao also smiled bitterly, "Father, we can't be too harsh on Brother-in-law Ouyang. After all, he was the one who came up with the idea for the Beijing-Pingyuan Railway, recruited all the talent, and even formed the team of the project department. Now he has given out one million taels of silver in one go, which is very generous."

Zhu Biao thought about it carefully and found that it was he who was causing trouble for Ouyang Lun.

After hearing Zhu Biao's words, Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless for a moment.

"Hey - I guess Ouyang Lun had anticipated our conversation at this time. I'm just wondering why Ouyang Lun gave the money so readily this time. It seems that he is solving the problem with the lowest cost. After he did this, we really can't blame him for anything."

Zhu Yuanzhang muttered to himself and warned again: "Biao'er, you should have seen through Ouyang Lun's tricks this time, right? From now on, you must be most wary of Ouyang Lun, otherwise you will be sold out by him and still be counting money for him."

"Yes, father. I will remember this!" Zhu Biao nodded. However, what Zhu Biao was thinking in his heart was that if selling himself could make the Ming Dynasty a better place, then that would be a good choice!
Besides, Ouyang Lun is his brother-in-law. He might sell himself out, but he will never harm him!
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know what Zhu Biao was thinking. If he knew, he would definitely be furious.

After the meeting in the Hall of Supreme Harmony ended, an imperial edict was soon announced to the world. The content of the edict was very simple. It stated that since a large amount of funds were required to build the Beijing-Pingcheng Railway, the pressure on the court alone was too great, so it was decided to raise funds from civil and military officials, royal relatives, and nobles.

The news spread throughout the capital like a hurricane.

Not long after the imperial edict was announced, many people gathered at the Duke of Han's mansion. These people were naturally officials from the Huaixi Party.

At this moment, the hall was already packed with people, but Li Shanchang did not show up, and many people at the scene had already started shouting.

"What does the court mean by this? They need money to build the railway and they're looking to us for funding?"

"Humph, to put it nicely, it's fundraising, to put it bluntly, it's asking us for money!"

"If it's just a few hundred taels, we'll give it, but according to this fundraising plan, it'll take at least half of our net worth!"

"This is too much of a bully from the Emperor. He said he was considering our brotherhood and asked us to pay for it?"

"Alas - but now the imperial decree has been issued. If we don't obey it, I'm afraid none of us will have an easy time!"

"Where is the old prime minister? We have been here for such a long time, and the old prime minister is unwilling to come out to see us?"

"I heard that our old prime minister was present at the discussion. Why didn't you just reject such an unreasonable request?!"

Swish--

When the Huaixi Party officials saw that Li Shanchang had not come out yet, they turned their attention to Duke of Liang Lan Yu.

"General, tell me, do we have no choice but to hand over the money?!"

"I went to the Ministry of Revenue to inquire. The Ministry of Revenue registered my assets as 760,000 yuan. How can I have so much money? And they also recorded that there are 256 people in my family, which is a lot. According to their calculation, I have to pay a full 250,000 yuan. Isn't this going to cost me my life?"

"What's that? The Ministry of Household Affairs registered my assets at 1.2 million, with a population of 200 people, 5,000 per person, that's 1 million!! How the hell am I going to survive?"

“Some people even ended up with a negative number after paying!”

"I can't live like this anymore!"

The Huaixi Party members were filled with grief and indignation, and kept talking.

After hearing this, Duke of Liang Lan Yu's face turned extremely ugly. Not only was he angry about the problems of his Huaixi brothers, he was also extremely angry about his own affairs.

Lan Yu has risen rapidly in the Huaixi Party in recent years. Not only has his status been improved, but his wealth has also been increasing. The Ministry of Revenue has given him a family fortune of 2.3 million taels, but Lan Yu's family has more than a thousand people. So he has to pay 5 million.
It turns out that even if he sold all his property it wouldn’t be enough!

This is just a joke!

Lan Yu was so angry that he wanted to kill someone.

But now the imperial edict has come down. If you resist openly, that would be disobeying the imperial order. Disobeying the imperial order is a serious crime. At the very least, you will be demoted to a commoner, and at the worst, your entire family will be confiscated.

But he was extremely unwilling to hand over five million just like that.

So he planned to go to Duke Hanguo first to find out the situation and discuss countermeasures. However, there were too many people who had the same idea as him, and they all blocked the Duke Hanguo's mansion.

Li Shanchang also did not show up, which further intensified the tense atmosphere.

If it were according to Lan Yu's past temper, he would have taken everyone to the palace directly to ask the emperor for an explanation. However, after failing many times in fighting with Ouyang Lun, Lan Yu's personality has become much calmer now.

"Everyone, don't be anxious. Wait for the old prime minister to come out and let's listen to his opinions first!"

Lan Yu said in a deep voice.

After Lan Yu said this, everyone at the scene became much quieter.

After a while.

"Master is here!"

Followed by the servants singing and shouting.

Li Shanchang walked in slowly with a cane.

"Old Prime Minister!"

"Old Prime Minister!"

The Huaixi Party officials who had been shouting just now stood up straight and saluted Li Shanchang.

Lan Yu did not rush to stand up, but waited until Li Shanchang came up to him, then he slowly stood up and bowed to Li Shanchang, "Old Prime Minister, have you heard about the imperial edict?"

"Raising funds is obviously extremely disadvantageous to our Huaixi Party. Why didn't you just refuse it when you were there? Even if you didn't refuse it, you can't agree to it!"

"I don't believe that if you don't agree, the emperor and His Majesty will directly issue an imperial decree!"

"Or have you been coerced or threatened by the Emperor?"

"Old Prime Minister, please tell us quickly!"

Lan Yu was extremely anxious, and the Huaixi Party officials around him were equally anxious.

Li Shanchang did not answer directly, but sat on the first seat with a gloomy expression, as if he was thinking about something important.

Seeing this, Lan Yu hurried to Li Shanchang and spoke again: "The old prime minister, or that fellow Ouyang Lun, was the one who deceived the emperor and His Majesty and spread slanderous words in order to severely suppress our Huaixi Party!"

"If that's the case, you might as well take us into the palace and explain to the Emperor and His Majesty that we must not let Ouyang Lun, the treacherous minister, succeed in his evil schemes!!"

Lan Yu's words directly ignited the anger of the Huaixi Party officials.

"No need to think, it must be that guy Ouyang Lun!"

"Now that Ouyang Lun is in control of the government, he will naturally eliminate his political enemies and wipe out all of our Huaixi disciples!"

"Since Ouyang Lun won't let us have an easy life, we can't let him have an easy life either!!"

(End of this chapter)