Quick Wear: Random Cheats

Chapter 207 Soul Scattered, Heaven-Mending Stone (18)

After discussing the matter with the retired emperor, Emperor Yonghe quickly began preparations. For example, he instructed Xia Zhong to train some capable and loyal eunuchs in advance, and he also had his secret guards collect information on some Jinshi or Juren who had been waiting for official positions for many years, as well as those minor officials who had been ostracized and suppressed but who genuinely had the idea of ​​serving the country and its people.

Because Emperor Yonghe was well aware that the most difficult part of his new policies was that he needed manpower to help him implement them.

No matter how good a policy is, if no one helps to implement it properly, it's just a piece of paper, a castle in the air, completely useless. If someone deliberately misinterprets its meaning and implements it in a distorted way, it's even worse than having no policy at all; it will only create more trouble and chaos.

It's unrealistic to expect those seasoned officials with status and power to be completely obedient and carry out orders faithfully.

That's basically equivalent to daydreaming.

Compared to having no one available when things come to a head, it's always better to prepare backup personnel in advance. If someone is disobedient or causes trouble, they should be taken down immediately. With a supervisor who is absolutely obedient to them, you can feel more at ease.

As for how to judge loyalty.

Of course, it's thanks to Ding Shui's mind-reading ability.

Meanwhile, the retired emperor was not idle either. He quickly chose an auspicious day to hold a family banquet, and specially kept all his sons behind. He subtly told them about the general situation, and told them to accept their fate and not to think about making trouble or seizing the throne.

Some listened, while others continued to struggle.

However, the retired emperor didn't care anymore, since he had already done everything he could do and say.

If he still insists on courting death, then there's nothing he can do.

It can only be said that everyone has their own destiny, and the path one chooses is one's own.

Anyway, he doesn't lack children and grandchildren.

A few days later, while the retired emperor was still packing his things to move, Jia She officially moved.

Three days after the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven, he formally submitted a memorial, stating that he wanted to relinquish his title. Although Emperor Yonghe was quite busy, the Jia family was no longer a nobody, so he quickly saw Jia She's memorial.

And it was approved directly.

He gave his son the title of a third-rank general.

Why disagree with something that can save on salary expenses?
After completing all the formalities, Jia She decisively took only Madam Xing, Jia Cong, and his own savings, and boarded an official boat heading straight for Jinling. As for the silver in the public treasury, he couldn't very well plunder it all and leave nothing for his eldest son, Jia Lian.

He didn't want any of the ancestral property or public treasury assets.

It was left to Jia Lian, who inherited the title.

Whether he can completely control it depends on whether he and his wife have the ability.

Four days passed after Jia She left.

The retired emperor then decisively moved from the palace to a royal Taoist temple, which meant that he had completely relinquished power to the Yonghe Emperor. With the retired emperor's departure, several obedient princes immediately followed the retired emperor's instructions and submitted memorials accusing the Yonghe Emperor of forcing his father to leave.

Unfilial piety, etc.!

Emperor Yonghe, following their prior agreement, feigned great anger and rebuked them for speaking ill of the emperor and father, then stripped them of their titles and imprisoned them. As for the princes who hadn't participated in submitting their memorials, Emperor Yonghe knew very well that they were the real threat; their silence indicated they harbored other intentions.

However, Emperor Yonghe could not act rashly and attack them without reason, so he could only ignore them for the time being and at most send people to keep a closer eye on them.

But at this point, the preparations were far from complete.

Even though he trusted Ding Shui and thought Ding Shui was quite capable, he ultimately dared not completely trust Ding Shui.

They dared not rely entirely on Ding Shui.

One must be strong to forge iron.

He had to make thorough preparations before he dared to formally implement the reforms.

About six months later, Emperor Yonghe felt that he had finally made sufficient preparations and decisively began the reforms.

Even so, he did not dare to announce all his reform proposals at once. Instead, he took it slowly, first targeting all members of the royal family and nobles, and adding the requirement that they must pass the examination to be granted a title.

And no title will be conferred without merit.

This also applies to members of the royal family and clan.

What does this mean? It means that practices like Jia She's, where he could simply submit a memorial to transfer a lower rank of nobility to his son, are no longer legal. Sons who want to inherit their father's title must now take an exam.

Only those who pass the exam can inherit the property.

If it doesn't pass, it cannot be inherited.

If it doesn't pass, it can never be inherited.

After that, one can choose to leave the title vacant, meaning the title will remain vacant for the time being, and if a grandson or great-grandson passes the test in the future, then the title can be inherited.

You can also choose to force inheritance.

However, the forced inheritance resulted in an exceptionally absurd demotion in rank.

He could be demoted directly from Duke to First-Rank General.

Jia She was an exception. If nothing had happened to his family, he should have inherited a marquisate from his father, which is why he was called Marquis En. But something did happen to his family.
The crown prince rebelled, and their family was part of the crown prince's faction.

If it weren't for his father's meritorious service in saving the emperor...

I guess his family, like his wife's, was raided and exiled. It would be good enough if he could become a first-class general.

But this would only happen if a serious mistake was made.

From then on, this applied to anyone who failed the peerage exam.

Secondly, the rule of not being granted a title without merit had a significant impact on the imperial family. In the past, the inheritance of titles within the imperial family was much more lenient than that of noble families. As long as the emperor's sons didn't commit any major offenses, they could generally be granted the title of prince upon reaching adulthood. Some even received the title of prince before adulthood due to their favored mothers. The inheritance of titles by the sons of princes was slightly stricter, but as long as the prince didn't offend the emperor and didn't have many sons—only one or two—inheriting the title of prince of the second rank or duke of the third rank was still not a problem.

But it didn't work as soon as the new policy was issued.

Apart from the Crown Prince, who remains unchanged, other princes must have made merits to receive a title. If they have no merits throughout their lives, they can only hold the title of prince for the rest of their lives.

There were no actual titles of nobility.

At most, they'll give us a little more money each year.

If even the princes are like this, then the other princes are even more so. Only the heir apparent, the one chosen as the successor, can inherit the title through examination.

The rest did not receive titles unless they performed meritorious service.

The situation where the eldest son of a prince is a county prince, and the other sons and sons born out of wedlock are dukes, will no longer exist.

Of course, the merits they gained in obtaining their titles were far less than those of ordinary people and ordinary civil and military officials. After all, even if an ordinary official destroyed a country, it would be difficult to be granted the title of king by someone of a different surname. It's not reasonable to require every prince to destroy a country in order to be granted the title of prince.

That's not about restricting the prince or anything like that.

They simply didn't want to bestow the title of Prince. When this policy was first promulgated, there were naturally many opponents, such as the heirs waiting to inherit the title, as well as the princes and their mothers.

But there are more people who don't oppose it, or even more who support it.

The civil service was absolutely supportive, since they basically didn't have any titles; at most, they could receive a posthumous honor, and they couldn't leave it to their sons to inherit.

They had long disliked those people.

They've become nobles living off the fruits of their ancestors' labor.

After all, even if these civil officials reached the rank of first or second grade, they couldn't pass their positions on to their children or grandchildren; the children and grandchildren still had to take exams. If their abilities were passable, the officials might be able to help, but if they were too incompetent, the officials couldn't help even if they wanted to.

Why should the nobles, no matter how worthless, be allowed to do this?

They could also inherit a title.

Everyone has to take exams and experience the hardship of exams.

Secondly, those noble sons who are capable but not the eldest son of the principal wife, or sons of concubines, are also quite willing to support him, because they know very well that their fathers would not leave the title vacant or lower it by several levels for the current heir to inherit.

In that case, they would inevitably change their minds and give the title to their sons who could pass the exam.

Wouldn't that give them hope?
Those whose status was unrelated to the nobility were naturally indifferent to the changes. Therefore, in summary, those who supported the new policy far outnumbered those who opposed it. Consequently, the nobility reform passed very smoothly, and those who opposed it were too few in number to cause any real impact.

With such a good start, Emperor Yonghe quickly carried out some reforms one after another. At the same time, he also took the opportunity to handle two major cases, which not only eliminated some old and stubborn forces and successfully placed his own people into the core of the court, but also reaped a lot of gold and silver.

It greatly enriches the national treasury and accumulates resources.

Three more years passed before Emperor Yonghe finally had enough confidence to formally announce a nationwide land survey, the merging of poll tax into land tax, and the requirement for all officials and gentry to pay taxes.

For a time, the entire court was filled with voices of opposition.

One person mentions ancestral rules, while another criticizes oppressive policies.

Emperor Yonghe, however, paid no heed and immediately ordered its implementation, while also issuing a series of measures in court. He appointed those who were waiting for their official appointments but had not yet been appointed as officials to serve as temporary surveyors, sending them to measure land throughout the country. At the same time, he dispatched a group of eunuchs and a group of soldiers to assist them, protecting them while also supervising them.

If local officials try to stop it, they will be arrested on the spot.

A surveyor temporarily took over to continue the surveying.

After the survey is completed, taxes will be levied on the land. If someone claims the land and has a land deed, then the person who claims it will pay the tax. If no one claims the land, it will be designated as ownerless land, taken into the national treasury, and leased to landless people for cultivation.

In addition, Emperor Yonghe also gave each of the key figures dispatched this time a five-colored jade tablet.

It was made from Ding Shui.

It could not only communicate directly with Emperor Yonghe, but also protect their lives. Most importantly, through certain sacrificial ceremonies, it could communicate with the Ding River to help pray for rain, prevent floods, or predict natural disasters.

In short, it's like giving each of them a cheat code.

To ensure the smooth implementation of the new policy.

What happened next was exactly as Ding Shui and Emperor Yonghe had predicted: numerous difficulties. From the imperial court to the local level, there were voices of opposition almost everywhere. Countless people disobeyed imperial orders, deliberately delayed the process, and many even ambushed and killed surveying officials along the way.

Emperor Yonghe was truly helpless in this regard.

The only option was to unleash a massacre, leaving countless heads rolling in.

This allowed some regional policies to be implemented.

Then, rebellions broke out in many places, and the borders became unstable, with reports of foreign tribes stirring up trouble.

But what those people didn't know was that last year Ding Shui successfully transformed into a true humanitarian artifact, and by remaking the national official seals, he built a nationwide humanitarian network that could basically monitor officials across the country.

Their every move, all their plans.

They were completely unable to escape Ding Shui's control.

Upon receiving reports of unrest from various regions, Emperor Yonghe had an all-night conversation with Ding Shui that very night, primarily asking Ding Shui about the true situation across the country.

"The overall situation remains relatively stable."

Nearly half of the unrest in various places was fabricated by local officials. Most of the remaining half was due to collusion between local gentry and local officials, or the use of their underhanded tactics. In a small number of areas, the people rebelled because officials forced them to do so. They deliberately misinterpreted policies, claiming that land surveying was forcibly requisitioning land, which triggered the unrest.

Furthermore, their deliberate indulgence led to the chaos.

However, in general, the unrest in various places is now mostly small-scale and regional, with no trend of unification.

The situation overseas is somewhat more complicated.

At this point, Ding Shui specially drew a map in Emperor Yonghe's mind and then began to explain based on the map: "In the south, there are many maritime merchant families who are secretly contacting the Qianxiang Kingdom, hoping to cooperate with the two sides to completely abolish the tributary system and monopolize maritime trade."

"To the north, there are many aristocratic families, and even civil and military officials, who have secretly reached cooperation agreements with the barbarian Quanrong, instructing them to kowtow to the border. As for whether they can actually invade, they are prepared to see what His Majesty does and what his attitude is."

If His Majesty compromises, they may give up.

They also paid off the barbarian Quanrong with a sum of money.

If Your Majesty insists, they will let the barbarian Quanrong into the pass and let them plunder. Some even mentioned that if Your Majesty remains unrepentant and insists on opposing them to the end, they will try to persuade the garrison commander of one of the cities, or replace the garrison commander with their own people, and directly let the Quanrong barbarians into the pass to besiege the capital and capture Your Majesty.

That would not only ruin His Majesty's reputation.

"We could find one that's more obedient."

"However, some people believe that doing so is too risky. After all, those barbarian tribes may not be completely obedient, and if they really run rampant, they may also suffer great losses."

Therefore, they would prefer to assassinate His Majesty.

It caused His Majesty's sudden death.

Preparations have already begun. A considerable amount of poison and assassins are being sent into the palace. According to their plan, they will proceed in three steps. First, they will assess whether His Majesty intends to compromise due to the instability on the borders and the internal turmoil.

Then came His Majesty's sudden death.

If both of the first two plans fail.

This would allow the barbarian Quanrong to enter the pass, letting the water flow all the way to the capital. Then, they could have someone open the city gates, let them in, and capture His Majesty.

Or perhaps just kill His Majesty…

Ding Shui didn't embellish anything; what she was saying was exactly what she had gathered through surveillance footage.

When Emperor Yonghe touched their core.

What does it matter if someone murders their king or betrays their country?