Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 80: Veteran Rogue

Why is it said that the emperor was forced into this situation by civil officials but the royal power was still relatively stable? In fact, it is because a group of old villains like Lao Guo who were left outside are still alive.

They were all rough people, with a low level of education. How could they be able to invite the mother of a third-rank official to the imperial court? This meant that they were completely planning to stop doing anything. If he kept talking, he would probably be able to get the upper hand.

The insulted Prime Minister Gao frowned and turned green. He bowed and stepped forward to the emperor and said, "My Lord is wise. Governor Guo must have come here to drink. Let him rest first."

"Stop farting at me."

Old Guo shouted and took out the letter he had prepared from his sleeve. He glanced at it and threw it on the ground: "Gao Shilian, you damn thing. Some people say that old people who don't die are thieves. You are an old thief!"

The emperor also felt that this was a bit too much and coughed, "Ming Huai! Do not make noise in the court."

Old Guo turned around and saluted, then continued, "Gao Shilian, do you think I don't know that you were the one who started this? His Majesty is on a southern tour, but why did you bring along civil and military officials and foreign envoys? To put it bluntly, you just want to see His Majesty lose face in front of the officials and envoys. I'm afraid you've never been purged from the emperor's court, right?"

As soon as these words came out, Gao Shilian's buttocks were clenched, and sweat was pouring down his back. He knelt down with a thud, kowtowed to His Majesty, and kept saying that he was wronged: "Your Majesty, it's wronged! This Guo Minghuai is slandering me. I have always been loyal. Your Majesty brought all the ministers and envoys with you on your southern tour just to let people see the splendor of our Great Wei. How could he have such a rebellious heart? Your Majesty, the heavens can bear witness to this, the sun and the moon can bear witness to this! But this Guo Minghuai actually said such treasonous words in the court. Your Majesty... Your Majesty, you have to make the decision for me!"

It's so satisfying! He has been the emperor for more than 20 years, and he has never seen Gao Shilian so servile and submissive with tears and snot. Then he looked at the murderous Lao Guo standing there, which made him sigh that the old brothers are still the best. In this world, the soldiers are the most powerful. These dog scholars have no tricks when they meet the soldiers.

In terms of family status, the Sanjin family is no worse than the Gao family in the south of the Yangtze River. In terms of strength, Lao Guo led troops in Mobei at the age of 19, and 5,000 people killed the Xiongnu king's court, and laid a thirty-year peace and prosperity for the Wei Dynasty. Although he is old now, his ability is still there. Although the war has been unfavorable in recent years, Lao Guo has not been released yet.

The reason why the emperor would rather let the war in the north go unfavorably and lock up Lao Guo in the south of the Yangtze River was, to put it bluntly, to curb this group of civil officials.

Now it seems that Lao Guo is still the same Lao Guo.

"Ming Huai, if you continue to use foul language in the court, don't blame me for being merciless."

Your Majesty made an accusation, but in fact everyone knows in their hearts that this is biased. If you really want to be merciless, you won't say such words. Can't you just beat him to death in court?

Although Lao Guo was a reckless person, he was not stupid. On the contrary, Lao Guo had a very smart mind. He saw that the scoundrel's trick had gained the upper hand, so he immediately changed his tone and said with a flick of his sleeves, "Your Majesty, please proceed with the southern tour as usual. Your Majesty's words are true and your words are true. If you say you will tour the south, then you will tour the south. I came here for two things. One is to let Gao Shilian know how much money his little trick will cost! Let him see what benefits he can get after scraping away all the people's money!"

After he finished speaking, he turned around and walked towards Prime Minister Gao step by step. "The southern tour has 142 carriages and 670 people for a distance of 1,000 miles. The total cost for the entire journey is 53,350 taels. The construction of the temporary palace will cost 1,774,500 taels. The construction of the nine-treasure dragon boat and hundreds of tower ships will cost a total of 3,519,100 taels. The summoning of civilians will delay farming, causing a deficit of about 100,000 taels in the account book. The road construction will cost 55,300 taels, and the bridge construction will cost 13,500 taels."

At this point, Lao Guo had already approached Gao Shilian. Lao Guo was tall and had a background in the battlefield, and he was full of murderous aura. Gao Shilian could not resist and could only retreat again and again. He was actually forced to the door of the hall: "Gao Shilian, your little trick has caused the Great Wei to have no harvest for a year, and the hard work of the nine prefectures, sixty-seven counties, and three hundred and thirty-nine villages in Jiangnan for seven years has gone to waste. You deserve to die!"

Hearing these words, all the officials in the court took a deep breath. Even Gao Shilian's confidants did not dare to stand up and say a good word at this moment, because although the southern tour was proposed by His Majesty, the temporary palace and dragon boat were all built by Gao Shilian who forced His Majesty to do so.

So much money... I was trembling with fear just hearing that. No wonder Guo Minghuai wanted to fuck Gao Shilian's mother right away. Who wouldn't curse if they suddenly had a debt of six or seven million taels?
Of course, the number Xia Lin reported to Lao Guo was doubled, and Lao Guo doubled it when he reported it to his superiors. In fact, the palace was just a brothel, and the cost was only more than 80,000 taels, and they would start to make a profit in the second half of this year. The building ship plus the small cruise ship added up to 1.7 or 8.5 million taels. Lao Guo roughly estimated it in his mind and reported it to them according to the price in the capital. It was about 8 million taels in bits and pieces.

But in fact, the real cost is less than one million taels. It is barely one million including food, clothing, housing and transportation. But the number you report to your superiors can only be higher, not lower, otherwise there is no reason to lose your temper. If you complain about hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, are you being disloyal?
Upon hearing this number, not to mention Gao Shilian's group, even the emperor's heart was pounding, because this was almost the same as the annual tax revenue of the Wei Dynasty. He must not be willful and cause the Jiangnan region to rise up.

"Why not..." His Majesty hesitated for a moment and said, "Why not just forget it. Let's call off this southern tour."

"Your Majesty, you can't do that!" Old Guo turned around and said, "Your Majesty's southern tour is natural and reasonable. I am angry that Gao Shilian didn't know how high the heavens were and how high the earth was, and how expensive firewood and rice were. But your Majesty's southern tour is highly anticipated by the people of Jiangnan. When Jiangnan was hit by a flood, millions of people were living in poverty. Your Majesty took the lead in tightening his belt and even sold off the palace's properties just to provide relief to the victims. The people saw it and remembered it in their hearts. Your Majesty's trip to Jiangnan is what the people want. The people are the most important thing in the world, so your Majesty should not reject the people's good intentions."

After saying this, Lao Guo lifted up the account book on his body and said, "When the merchants and people in Jiangnan heard that Your Majesty was going on a southern tour, they spontaneously volunteered to build a palace and ships for Your Majesty. Your Majesty should be lucky to have such people. However, I have an unreasonable request, and I hope Your Majesty can consider it."

"explain."

"It has been difficult for the people in Jiangnan to exempt them from taxes for three years. Although they miss Your Majesty, they still need food, clothing, shelter and transportation."

After the emperor heard this, he looked at Gao Shilian and said, "My dear Gao, what do you think?"

Gao Shilian was furious, but what could he do? He was desperate. He had been tricked, and his own trick had slapped him hard in the face. He could only grit his teeth and nod, "Your Majesty is wise, and this is the way it should be. I even think that three years is too short, it should be five years."

"Okay, then five years." Gao Shilian's head buzzed, and he looked at the emperor in astonishment. He was shocked and screamed in his heart: "No, brother! Are you sick? You are exempting the rich land of Jiangnan from taxes for five years? What do you think?"

But now that things have come to this, he has no room for change, and can only clasp his fists and step forward: "Your Majesty is wise and should be a heroic leader."

At this point, all the officials in the court came forward to congratulate him: "Your Majesty is wise and will become a great ruler."

The emperor was so happy that his expression became pleasant. He nodded to Lao Guo and said, "Just now you said that the people in Jiangnan spontaneously raised funds. How much money did they raise?"

"Not much, just five million taels."

what?
His Majesty was also confused, thinking: "Brother, this is not the way you fill a hole. How dare you say five million taels?"

The ministers beside him were also waiting to accuse Old Guo of deceiving the emperor. As expected, Gao Shilian would not miss this good opportunity. He stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this must be a false account. No matter how rich the Jiangnan area is, there are only 8 million people, including the elderly, the weak, women and children. Wouldn't each household have to pay five taels of silver?"

"Oh, Gao Xiang. Look at how ignorant you are."

Old Guo sneered, then handed the account to Tian En, the eunuch in charge of ceremonies. Tian En glanced at His Majesty, and the old man nodded: "Read!"

"Xinping Tang Family Business, Tang Wanqiu is raising 2 million taels!"

"Jiujiang Zhang's Company, Zhang Zhongchun raised 800,000 taels!"

"Leping Zhao's Business Company, Zhao Da raised 600,000 taels."

"Tengwang Mansion, Prince Teng Tuoba Mu raised 500,000 taels."

"Qimen Tea Merchants Association, forty-nine tea merchants raised 500,000 taels."

……

After a series of fundraising, the people present were silent. After the accounts were settled, Lao Guo took out another account book: "Your Majesty, this is the supplementary tax of Xinping Township this spring, a total of 500,000 taels. Please take a look."

The emperor took the account book and began to look at it. He was very happy. Such a huge southern tour did not require almost a penny from the national treasury. This not only reduced his psychological pressure, but also forced a rescue for his reputation.

"Okay, okay." The emperor nodded repeatedly: "It seems that the cost of the dragon boat for the palace is indeed terrifying, and these merchants have worked hard. It is reasonable to exempt them from tax for five years."

Gao Shilian's face was as red as liver, and Lao Guo stood there with his head held high, like the winning rooster in a cockfighting competition. The light shining on him was colorful.

At this moment, he really admired Xia Lin, that little bastard. He was really smart. He was vicious and smart. Fortunately, he assigned this guy to his subordinates. If he was assigned to Gao Shilian, he would really be finished.

Are these donations real? Yes, but they are all half too much with a zero. The Tang Family Business, which claimed to have donated 2 million, only promised to donate 100,000.

Promise! That is, the money has not been touched.

And this money was also donated to build a palace and dragon boat for His Majesty, but the palace and dragon boat were already ready! The names above are most likely Xia Daosheng's assets, and these reported figures are to offset the accounts.

Because the things are there, but the accounts are not done yet, these donations are used to offset the tax...

At this moment, Lao Guo realized what the unexpected words "The boat has passed through ten thousand mountains" meant to him before he left. It turned out that all this was within his expectations, and he only needed to follow the instructions in the poem book he had drawn.

Seeing the millions of dollars, Gao Shilian's sleeves, which were supposed to be used to show off the 300,000 taels of tax money extorted from the people, seemed a little too shabby to be displayed on the stage. It was not good to hear and it was not good to see...

(End of this chapter)