Thief Emperor

Chapter 763: Eliminating Old Malpractices
"Su Zhan, Su Zhan."

Li Yun called out twice, and soon, there was a knock on the door, followed by a hesitant voice: "Auntie...sir, Brother Su took Brother Zhou to familiarize himself with the headquarters, and asked me to wait at the door."

Hearing this voice, Li Yun was startled at first, then he smiled dumbly: "Come in and talk, come in and talk."

The door was pushed open with a "branch" sound, and a young man first looked up at Li Yun, then looked at Du Qian, then bowed his head and clasped his fists, waiting for orders.

Li Yun waved at him and said with a smile, "Come closer and salute Mr. Du."

The young man was naturally Xue Gui. Xue Gui took a deep breath, stepped forward and saluted Du Qian: "Greetings, Mr. Du."

Du Qian waved his hand quickly and asked, "Up?"

Li Yun introduced him with a smile: "Xue Gui, my nephew from my wife's family, was raised in my home when he was young. Brother Shouyi should have seen him."

Du Qian then looked him over and smiled, "No wonder you look familiar. Not bad, not bad. I have seen you several times at your superior's house. Young people grow up so fast. I can't recognize you now."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Brother Shouyi and my eldest brother-in-law Xue Shou should be of similar age. I don't know whether he should call you uncle or uncle."

Xue Gui stood in front of the two men, listening to them chatting and laughing. As it was his first time on duty, he couldn't help but feel nervous.

Fortunately, he grew up in the Li family and was not very afraid of Li Yun. On the contrary, he was quite close to Li Yun. Otherwise, if someone else was here, he would probably be terrified.

Du Qian looked at Xue Gui seriously, thought for a while, took out a thumb-sized seal from his pocket, handed it to Xue Gui, and said with a smile: "This is a "Mingda" seal given to me by a friend last year. I have been carrying it with me. Today I have nothing to give you, so I will give you this little thing as a gift for meeting you."

Xue Gui looked up at Li Yun, and waited until the latter nodded slightly before he took it with both hands and bowed his head to thank him.

After taking the square seal, he took it in his hand and took a look at it. He saw the words "Ming Da" engraved in seal script. The overall shape of the square seal was simple and ancient, and had a certain flavor.

Xue Gui liked him more and more as he looked at him. He bowed to Du Qian and said, "Thank you, uncle."

Du Qian and Li Yun looked at each other, and the latter said with a smile: "You have won a position for your father."

"OK OK."

Li Yun waved at him and said with a smile: "Go, have someone prepare a table of wine and food. I will have dinner with your uncle Du."

Xue Gui nodded quickly and retreated happily.

Du Qian looked at his back and sighed softly, "In another ten years, this group of young people may become the trendsetters."

Li Yun smiled and said, "In another ten years, we won't be old yet, so it won't be their turn yet."

Du Qian smiled and said, "They may not be the ones in charge, but they are most likely to enjoy the benefits."

Hearing this, Li Yun narrowed his eyes and did not respond.

Soon, a table of food and wine was served. Li Yun and Du Qian drank together. After a glass of wine, Li Yun started talking about business: "Brother Shouyi just said that business is booming. I wonder how much you want to pay?"

"I did a rough calculation before coming here."

He looked at Li Yun and said softly, "If these noble families fully support us, the Jiangdong Army, which is now of its current size, won't have to worry about money and food for at least two or three years. If the money and food in the Central Plains are not collected for one or two years, there won't be any big problems."

Hearing this, Li Yun nodded silently, and then reminded: "Brother Shouyi, these families can't just give us Zhou money. At this time, coins are far less useful than imagined."

"Of course, I understand."

Du Qian said slowly: "The most direct support is naturally food, followed by money. Similar to money, there are also cloth, trade routes, etc."

"Sir, some of these noble families have been operating for hundreds of years, and they have stored a lot of food just in case. They also have trade routes that they have explored and found themselves, and they can use these trade routes to purchase and transport food."

"Old Zhou coins are still useful, but gold and silver antiques cannot be used as food or drink, so I put them in the third category and will not be included in the calculation for now."

“Just the first two categories.”

Du Qian said softly, "It won't be a problem to support 150,000 troops for three years."

Li Yun clinked glasses with Du Qian, still a little skeptical: "Can these aristocratic families really get so much food?"

"There is no need to doubt the superior position."

Du Qian poured wine for Li Yun and said calmly, "The power hidden in the dark by those big clans is much stronger than that in the open, and..."

Du Shouyi looked at Li Yun and continued, "From your perspective, countless farmers and common people in the world work hard every year, ploughing in spring and harvesting in autumn. Despite their hard work year after year, more than half of them still cannot get enough food. When a famine occurs, there will be famine disasters, and people will eat their own children."

"But I have done the math."

Du Qian said silently: "When there was no turmoil in the country, there were about 50 million registered citizens. It was not a big problem to feed these 50 million people with the land of the country."

“Why are there still people who don’t have enough to eat?”

Du Qian raised his head and took a sip of wine, his voice a little hoarse: "Because someone took a large part of it."

"Correct."

Du Qian poured wine for Li Yun, his voice calm, but with a hint of excitement. "How much grain could the old Zhou emperor consume in a day?"

"The old Zhou Dynasty had already been unable to make ends meet in recent years. So who took most of this money?"

Du Qian whispered, "It is these aristocratic families and local gentry and landlords."

"They are very rich."

Li Yun raised his glass and clinked it with Du Qian's. Then he looked at Du Qian and suddenly smiled: "Brother Shouyi, I think this situation will change in the future."

"Of course it needs to change."

Du Qian clinked glasses with Li Yun and said slowly: "In fact, every time a dynasty changes, this situation will change, or it will be slightly alleviated, but it will take a long time..."

He did not continue speaking, but Li Yun also understood the meaning of his words. Li smiled very casually: "I can't control what will happen in the future, and neither can you, Brother Shouyi. But as long as you and I are alive, this situation must be changed."

"Brother Shouyi is from an aristocratic family, are you willing to help me?"

"The Jingzhao Du family has been reduced to ashes."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun with a calm expression: "I have been helping him get to the top since I was promoted to the position of Juntian in Yuezhou."

"it is good."

Li Yun stretched out a hand, placed it in front of Du Qian, and said with a smile: "Let's high-five and swear to work together..."

"Get rid of old abuses and never go against them!"

Du Qian and Li Yun high-fived each other in a calm voice.

"Get rid of old abuses and never go against them!"

…………

Guanzhong, the capital.

In the Chongde Hall, General Wei Quanzhong sat high on the imperial throne, with a group of "civil and military officials" standing on both sides, kneeling and bowing to him once again.

Cui Shao stood in the front row, bowed his head and saluted, saying: "Your Majesty has made great contributions to the world and benefited all people. It is only right that you follow the will of heaven and inherit the sacred artifact of the country!"

"Please take your seat, my king!"

All the civil and military officials knelt on the ground and shouted in unison: "Please take the throne, our king!"

General Wei was sitting on the imperial throne, and seemed to be enjoying this moment. He squinted his eyes comfortably and did not speak for a long time.

It was not until Cui Shao led the civil and military officials to persuade him to ascend the throne once again that General Wei came to his senses. He glanced at everyone and said calmly, "Since ancient times, the legal system has mostly been inherited from the previous dynasty. I am a minister of the Great Zhou. Now that the emperor of the Great Zhou is still in power, how can I do such a treasonous thing?"

"Don't say anything more, everyone."

General Wei pretended to be angry and said, "If anyone says such treasonous words again, I will immediately throw him into prison and punish him for treason!"

After saying this, he stood up from the throne, put his hands behind his back, and left, returning to the back hall.

Cui Shao looked back at the "civil and military officials", narrowed his eyes, and without saying much, just said "disperse", and then left.

At this time, Wei Yao, the major general of the Shuofang Army, had already returned to the capital. He was in the back hall of the Chongde Hall, looking at his father and gnashing his teeth, "Dad, this is the second time you've urged me to ascend the throne this month, right?"

"What's the point of this kind of thing?"

Wei Quanzhong looked at his son with a bad look on his face, and said in a muffled voice: "If you hadn't lost Luoyang, would your father have to entertain himself here? At this time, our new Wei Dynasty can already establish a capital and establish a country!"

Hearing this, Wei Yao blushed, lowered his head and stopped talking.

He did bear some responsibility for the loss of Luoyang.

After a moment of silence, Wei Yao sighed and said, "Dad, the Jiangdong Army is growing stronger day by day. We can't just stay in the capital and do nothing..."

"Who said that being a father is nothing?"

General Wei leaned on the couch and said calmly, "I have already sent out all the envoys that should be sent to various places, even to the Khitans."

General Wei stood up, looked into the distance, and said slowly: "Now, we have occupied Guanzhong and connected to Shuofang, and we are also growing stronger day by day."

He looked at Wei Yao and groaned, "If you keep saying these discouraging words all day long, go back to Shuofang."

Wei Yao looked up at his father, was silent for a while, then shook his head helplessly, and could only bow his head deeply and clasp his fists.

"My son...understood."

(End of this chapter)