The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 675 Today I Know How Valuable the Emperor Is

The first year of Ganlu.

The Great Wei officially issued an order to reward land.

Detailed limits were set on the amount of arable land and tenants owned by officials in various places.

As soon as the decree was issued, it caused an uproar in Luoyang.

For a time, the whole of Luoyang was in turmoil, and the officials suddenly gathered more frequently.

There were many whispers from all over the place expressing dissatisfaction with the new decree.

But strangely, within a few days after the award, no one came to the emperor to express their dissatisfaction.

Not to mention going before the emperor, there was not even a single minister who had publicly criticized the decree.

Large clans all need leaders.

So among the ministers of the Wei Dynasty today, who can take the lead and lead the other ministers to rebel against the emperor?
Wang Chang?

Hu Zun? ?
Guanqiu Jian???
Nowadays, all the powerful people in the temple are His Majesty's confidants, and they are people who don't care much about their clans.

In Cao Mao's eyes, these people were devoted to the country, but in the eyes of those big families, they were probably just pretending to be noble, only caring about themselves and ignoring the overall situation. They were selfish villains.

These people fully agreed with the land reward order.

The income of the government has been decreasing year by year, while the officials' farmland and property have been increasing day by day. Who can bear this?

These officials who did not pay taxes took all the farmland of their own clans under their own names, annexing more and more land. The local areas had bumper harvests year after year, but it had nothing to do with the temple!

What a shame.

In other words, Cao Mao was a kind person. If similar things happened in the Western Han Dynasty, just look at how those emperors killed them!
I will not stop until their heads block the Yellow River.

They might have been eliminated before they could reach the current scale.

Although no one dared to explicitly oppose it, and no one took the lead, there was an indescribable heavy mood in the entire temple.

According to the new law, their excess arable land needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Rather than handing it over to the government, they would certainly prefer to distribute it among their relatives.

But once the land is distributed, it will no longer be in their name, and their relatives will have to pay taxes.

There is no difference between them and those lowly people.

Cao Mao waited in the Taiji Hall for several days, but no minister came to see him.

This surprised Cao Mao very much, and he quickly called Zhang Hua and Wei Guan to his presence.

"The new policies have already been issued, why haven't the ministers come to express their gratitude yet?"

Zhang Hua and Wei Guan exchanged a glance, and Zhang Hua smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I think they were so immersed in the joy of receiving the reward that they forgot to come and thank you."

"Tomorrow, hold a court meeting!"

The two of them hurriedly bowed and said yes.

Cao Mao then said, "Also, send someone to ask the general to come and pay his respects to me. Let him come in the carriage I have given him!"

They both said yes again.

Hu Zun did not keep Cao Mao waiting for long. In less than half an hour, Hu Zun appeared in front of the emperor in a hurry.

Hu Zun's life nowadays is truly incomparable to anyone else.

There is nothing else to do on weekdays. I do what I like every day. I go out hunting from time to time. When I get tired of hunting, I go back to drink. After drinking, I go to play Cuju with others.

Wherever he goes, he is called the great general.

This was very useful to Hu Zun.

Today, Hu Zun suddenly learned that the emperor had summoned him, so he immediately stopped his entertainment activities and rushed over.

"General!!"

Cao Mao shouted loudly.

Hu Zun likes to hear this.

It can be seen that Hu Zun indeed came at the fastest speed, and he was still reeking of alcohol, but Cao Mao had no intention of blaming him at all. He ordered the rest of the people to leave and asked Zhang Hua to guard the door and not allow anyone else to approach.

When they were the only two left, Hu Zun realized something. He frowned and said, "Your Majesty, is someone planning a rebellion?"

Although the general was doing his own thing and not paying attention to government affairs, it did not mean that he was unaware of the land reward order.

After all, he himself was one of those who were "rewarded with land".

When the emperor called him over in a hurry, the first thing Hu Zun thought of was that someone was rebelling because he was dissatisfied with the land reward order.

Cao Mao shook his head and said, "General, no thief would dare to go so far as to rebel."

"This time, in order to reward the officials of the world, I specifically allowed them to own a large amount of farmland. But so far, the officials have been very indifferent and don't seem to agree. General, what do you think is the reason?"

Hu Zun was furious. He cursed, "Your Majesty, these traitors just don't dare to oppose openly, but they are unwilling in their hearts!"

"I'll go find these people right away."

Seeing Hu Zun standing up, Cao Mao hurriedly stopped him.

"General, there is a court meeting tomorrow. I would like you to come forward."

Hu Zun smiled and patted his chest, "This is a small matter, Your Majesty, don't worry, just leave it to me!"

After the two men reached an agreement, General Hu left the Taiji Hall.

Cao Mao liked General Hu's intelligence very much. Who said that this general was a reckless warrior?
The Wei Dynasty had not held a court meeting for a long time, mainly because many government affairs were discussed and completed directly in the Secretariat. The three dukes and nine ministers were increasingly marginalized, so there was no need to summon them specifically to discuss government affairs.

The ministers could probably guess the reason for the sudden court meeting. Was he testing everyone's opinion on the land reward order?
At the court meeting the next day, all the ministers arrived early and no one dared to delay.

The general was the first to arrive here. He sat in the carriage, and one minister after another came to pay him a visit.

Hu Zun led the ministers into the palace and arrived at the Taiji Hall.

When Cao Mao came out, they were already seated in their respective seats in an orderly manner.

The court meeting officially began.

At the beginning, several ministers talked about the achievements and praised the results of the court.

After several ministers took the lead, Cao Mao suddenly spoke up: "Not long ago, I issued an order to reward land."

The ministers were stunned.

Sure enough, it was because of this incident.

Cao Mao said with a smile: "Everyone can speak freely about this matter. I will definitely not blame you!"

"If anyone feels something is wrong, please speak up. Only by accepting advice can we govern the world well. This is the principle that the princes once taught me."

Cao Mao looked at his ministers with anticipation.

The expressions of all the officials in the court were extremely complicated.

Don't bully people like this!!

You didn't want to talk about this issue in the first place, but now you want to gather us together to discuss it?
What does your majesty mean by this?
Does he still want us to go and thank him?
At this moment, Hu Zun spoke.

"Everyone, this is a court meeting, and it's meant to discuss important matters. You can speak freely."

After hearing what the two said, the ministers dared not speak anymore.

The emperor's smiling expression looked very much like a fisherman sitting by the river.

As for Hu Zun, he looked like a hound squatting beside him.

The court fell into a strange silence.

Wang Chang and others took the initiative to break the silence. They stood up and thanked the emperor for his kindness and the amount of arable land he had granted them.

When Cao Mao saw that they were the ones who stood up, he was obviously disappointed.

"Is there really no loyal ministers left in the government? Anyone who thinks this decree is inappropriate can raise it. Why is there silence?"

At this moment, someone suddenly stood up.

The moment he stood up, the officials around him were stunned.

Whose general is this!? !
Everyone looked closely and found that it was Deng Dun, the Minister of War.

Chen Qian's face suddenly became extremely ugly, and his teeth chattered together.

He looked at Cao Mao and said loudly: "Your Majesty! I don't think this is appropriate!"

Cao Mao looked at him in surprise.

Are you really mentioning that?!
Deng Dun looked at the ministers around him and said loudly, "This decree is quite inappropriate. Your Majesty, you may not know that according to the current quota, it is difficult to support a family. If the officials in the court start to starve, how can they govern the country well? How can they assist the Holy King?!"

His voice was sonorous and powerful, and he looked at the ministers around him, trying to gain their approval.

But all the ministers lowered their heads at this moment, and no one paid any attention to him.

Just as Deng Dun was about to give the rest of his reasons, Hu Zun suddenly sneered.

"A thousand acres of farmland can't support yourself?"

"It's obvious how extravagant you are on a daily basis. You refuse to comply. Is it because your family's farmland exceeds the quota? Where did you get all that farmland?! Was it given to you by someone? Or did you steal it?!"

Hu Zun walked towards Deng Dun, his tone becoming increasingly fierce.

Seeing the general approaching step by step, Deng Dun was a little afraid. He quickly said: "I am not like that. Just now..."

Before he could finish, Hu Zun grabbed his arm, pulled him in front of him, and stared into his eyes.

"I see you're clearly dissatisfied with His Majesty! You despise His Majesty's reward! You're planning a rebellion!!!"

"what?!"

"Spare my life!!"

"General, spare my life!!"

"Capture this traitor! Where is the Minister of Justice?"

Wei Shu had known for a long time that a big job was about to happen and was already prepared. As soon as Hu Zun opened his mouth, he stood up and responded.

"Take this traitor away for interrogation to see if he has any accomplices!"

Deng Dun was terrified. He quickly looked in the direction of Chen Qian, "Minister! Help! Minister! Please speak for me!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Qian, who had almost bitten his teeth to pieces, felt a black screen before his eyes. He stood up in a panic and almost fell to the ground.

"Your Majesty!! I failed to discipline my subjects properly!! Such a traitor has appeared under my command! Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Cao Mao had been sitting in the upper seat, watching the performance of these ministers.

In front of the emperor with real power, all the clans and families are meaningless.

After completing the unification and becoming the true ruler of the world, he took control of the fate of these so-called aristocratic families.

Thank you, generals.

Today I know how precious the emperor is!!!
ps: I'm already working hard to update and make up for the lost chapters, so it shouldn't be too much to ask for a monthly ticket, right?

(End of this chapter)