Thief Emperor

Chapter 293: The New and the Old in the Court
Pei Huang's words can be said to be a double entendre.

He had two meanings. The first one was literal. If Li Yun disobeyed orders now, he would definitely rebel in the future, so the court had to be prepared for him early.

The second meaning is that if Li Yun disobeyed orders, the imperial court is a little weak now and there is no way to directly hold Li Yun accountable for his crimes. In other words, even if Li Yun disobeyed orders, he would not be a traitor now.

However, once the imperial court has recovered its breath, Li Yun, who disobeyed orders, will definitely be punished and labeled as the traitor Li Yun.

This is the true meaning of what Pei Huang said, even if Li Yun is not a traitor now, he will be a traitor in the future.

Pei Huang's words were powerful and after he finished speaking, he glanced around the entire government hall. At this moment, Master Pei was very proud and felt that all eyes in the government hall were focused on him.

His Majesty the Emperor is recuperating and cannot leave the house. This is the highest power center of the Great Zhou. Being able to direct the country's affairs from here, even Master Pei, who comes from a noble family, cannot help but feel a little proud at this moment.

Prime Minister Min Fang, who had a long beard with three strands of hair, looked at Cui Yuan. Seeing that the latter did not react, Prime Minister Min frowned slightly and bowed to the Crown Prince, saying, "Your Highness, what Master Pei said is what Your Highness meant?"

The prince had been silent until now, but upon hearing this, he could not help but frown, secretly cursing the old man for being ignorant.

As a person in a high position, the most important skill is to learn to hide yourself, then push out one or several spokespersons, and then hide behind the spokespersons to exercise your own power.

The most direct benefit of doing this is that one can enjoy power without having to bear the corresponding responsibilities, or even without having to bear any responsibilities at all.

If there is any credit, it is naturally yours. If something goes wrong, you can put the blame on the people before you.

Another advantage is that by hiding behind the scenes, you can hide your shallowness as well. This way, others won’t know your depth, won’t be able to figure you out, and will be in awe of you.

In fact, these are the methods commonly used by the emperor, and Crown Prince Wu Yuancheng, as an intern emperor during this period, has already learned this routine.

After Pei Huang came back, he immediately became his substitute and the spokesperson he pushed in front of himself.

And Master Pei obviously enjoyed this role, because as long as the prince ascended the throne, he would immediately rise to a high position, or at least would immediately enter the government hall and become the court's reserve prime minister in name only, but actually the hidden prime minister.

Moreover, he may be one of the youngest prime ministers in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

However, this drama that the Crown Prince and Master Pei were obviously very satisfied with was ruthlessly exposed by Prime Minister Min. His Royal Highness's eyelids twitched, and then he glanced at Min Fang and said lightly: "Minister Min, the Council of State is to discuss matters. You can discuss the rules and then report them to me."

"If you ask for my opinion on everything, what am I doing here in the government hall?"

The prince's words made several prime ministers frown secretly.

Because this is clearly the emperor's tone.

Finally, it was Prime Minister Cui Yuan who coughed and said, "Your Highness, this is no small matter. Since Master Pei also said that merits can be used to offset crimes, I still think that we should send someone to Jiangnan to take a look at the situation first."

Cui Yuan paused and continued, "No matter what the situation in Jiangnan is, it is best to stabilize Li Zhao first, and then deal with him when the court is free."

Although Cui Yuan is a smooth person, he has been a prime minister for many years and naturally has the ability to get things done. Most things will not go wrong when he handles them.

It’s just... he won’t have any obvious achievements. This is a typical example of a peaceful prime minister. It’s a pity that he was born in the wrong time, and the world is not peaceful right now.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince simply glanced at Cui Yuan and said nothing more. He simply nodded and said, "Let's do it this way."

For the current imperial court, Wuzhou Governor Li Zhao is not a big problem. According to intelligence, Li Zhao has no more than a few thousand people under his command.

If he had not exceeded his authority to transfer troops to Luzhou and accomplished the great feat of suppressing the rebels, he would not even be qualified to be brought to the Council of State for discussion at his level.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince rubbed his brows and said in a deep voice, "There is one more thing. The King of Chu sent a document saying that he is on his way back. This time he went to Jiangnan and got more than one million strings of cash. He is also on his way back to the capital."

At this point, the prince looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Although the King of Chu has been making some trouble in Jiangnan, it has achieved some results after all. Once the money arrives in the capital, the salaries of the imperial guards will be paid immediately."

Min Fang frowned and asked, "Your Highness, should we first register it in the Ministry of Revenue and then distribute it?"

Now, the world is in chaos. Although the Zhou court still exists, it has actually lost the ability to collect taxes in many places, such as most areas of the Central Plains.

Taxation in the Jiangnan region was also inevitably affected.

In addition, the court was already fighting a war, and expenses in all aspects were even more stretched. This year, the court has been forced to increase taxes several times in order to maintain the government.

After all, there is still a Shuofang Army that needs support from the court.

It is worth mentioning that after the Shuofang Army moved south, it had asked the court for money and food supplies several times, and the court gave them very cleanly and efficiently each time.

There is no other way. At this time, you have to give whatever you want.

If they didn't pay, it would immediately give the Shuofang Army an excuse, and General Wei might immediately use the excuse of cutting off the salary to march into Guanzhong. All these reasons combined made the court's expenses heavier and heavier.

This is one of the common problems in the last years of a dynasty. The worse the situation is, the more money is needed to maintain it. The court has little money, so it can only increase taxes on the people. Once taxes are increased, the situation becomes even worse.

So it soon fell into a vicious cycle.

But in fact, at this time, although the Zhou court was short of money everywhere, the imperial guards did not owe much money in grain and food, only owed two or three months.

As for the imperial guards of the capital, they are all children of Guanzhong, and many of their families have received the country's favor for generations. There is no problem at all if they don't receive their wages for two or three months.

However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince insisted on giving priority to paying the Imperial Guards at this time. His intentions are self-evident.

The expressions of several prime ministers changed slightly and they dared not speak.

Compared to such a trivial matter as the governor of Wuzhou exceeding his authority, the prince's desire to show favor to the imperial guards was obviously a huge matter.

So, in the entire government hall, one could hear a pin drop.

No one knew whether the Emperor had any spies watching in the government hall at this moment, so naturally no one dared to express their opinion at this time.

Pei Huang frowned and said, "There are wars everywhere in the Great Zhou now. Maintaining the combat effectiveness of the imperial army is naturally the most important thing at the moment. My lords, do you still need to hesitate about this matter?"

In the government hall, no one dared to speak.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince quickly glanced at the prime ministers.

These prime ministers were usually very respectful to him, and it was common for them to communicate with each other privately. However, when it came to the most important and critical moment, everyone became cowards!

No one was willing to stand firmly on his side.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stood up, his eyes becoming more determined.

My father's team of prime ministers must be replaced. Even if only one or two are replaced, he, the crown prince who serves as regent, will have to speak a little louder.

"I will go to see the emperor and explain this matter clearly to him."

Having said that, he stood up, turned and left.

Pei Huang followed behind him, glanced at the prime ministers, and followed him.

After the two men left, the prime ministers looked at each other, and no one spoke first. After a long time, Prime Minister Min Fang stood up silently, bowed to Cui Yuan and said, "Prime Minister Cui, I have been feeling dizzy and dizzy recently, and I am running low on energy. I am going to take a leave of absence for a while."

"After a while, I will submit a petition to Your Majesty asking for your remains."

Cui Yuan looked at Min Fang and said with a wry smile: "Brother Min, why are you also..."

Min Fang stroked his big belly with one hand and stroked his beard with the other, saying with a smile: "I am much worse than Brother Daqi, but if I don't resign, I'm afraid I'll end up like Brother Daqi."

The brother Daqi he mentioned is the former prime minister Wang Du, Wang Daqi.

Wang Du offended the emperor and was dismissed from his position as prime minister. His family was also implicated and almost confiscated by the emperor. Although their property was not confiscated, he was completely demoted to a commoner.

Now, the prime minister has left the capital with his family and returned to his hometown to retire.

Min Fang's departure was not due to stubbornness. He just couldn't stand the young man Pei Huang and felt that he had offended the prince. He also knew very well what the prince wanted to do, so he simply moved away and made room for the prince's faction.

Min Fang stood up, bowed to his colleagues in the Council of Government, laughed loudly, turned around and left with his hands behind his back.

Cui Yuan looked at his departing back and couldn't help shaking his head, saying with emotion: "How cool."

At the same time, Cui Xiang was also feeling emotional.

It’s a pity that she was born into the Cui family, with a large family and great wealth. She didn’t know how many people were implicated behind her, so she would never be able to live a life as free and easy as Min Fang.

After sighing, he looked around the government hall and said silently: "Who should be sent to Jiangnan?"

After a moment of silence, someone finally answered.

"Gu Wenchuan."

(End of this chapter)