The prince is more stable

Chapter 47 Political Dividends
The court is full of unpredictable circumstances, and things change with time.

Abandoning the old and restoring the new is the general trend. Fan Chunren and Lu Dafang are self-aware that as leaders of the old party, it is time for them to be eliminated by the times. They have even written their resignation letters, and the only thing left is to go through the process of "three requests and three resignations".

I didn't expect that when I was about to leave Bian Jing, the government would throw a hot potato at me before I left.

Your brother, the Prince of Chu, caused the trouble, but you have to let us two deal with it. You really want to squeeze out every last bit of your usefulness before leaving.

The two husbands felt that they were not prime ministers, but rather a big victim who was like a scapegoat.

But what can be done?

It was indeed the old party officials who were causing trouble outside. As the leaders of the old party, only the two old party prime ministers could shut them up.

Faced with Zhao Xu's request, Fan Chunren and Lu Dafang looked at each other and agreed reluctantly.

Zeng Bu and Zhang Dun on the opposite side stroked their beards and smiled, fully expressing the two prime ministers' noble sentiments and great personalities of worrying about the country and the people and sharing the worries of the emperor.

Zeng Bu and Zhang Dun praised him highly, but they could not conceal the glint of gloating in their eyes.

The four prime ministers present had a total of 3,200 ideas.

Zhao Xu laughed again.

Although the new and old parties have different political views, the court is still harmonious and harmonious. This kind of atmosphere can only be achieved under the rule of a wise monarch.

After finishing their discussion, the four prime ministers tactfully said goodbye.

Zhao Hao and his son were planning to leave, but Zhao Xu stopped them.

The king and his two ministers looked at each other. Zhao Xu was silent for a long time before he casually asked about the snow salt.

When questioning, Zhao Xu's face actually turned red, as if he was ashamed because the emperor mentioned money which was too vulgar.

Zhao Xiaoqian did not understand Zhao Xu's shame.

As an emperor, you also have to eat, drink, defecate and urinate, so why can’t you withdraw money?

Zhao Hao was shocked, and then began to fully utilize his reading comprehension ability.

Could it be that the government thinks that the pace at which we sell snow salt is too slow? Is this a sign to me?
I heard that many parts of the imperial palace are in ruins. The fire during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong burned down most of the palace. Now the palaces are still waiting for money to be rebuilt.

The snow salt business is indeed developing a bit slowly, but there is nothing we can do about it.

Several clansmen of the Zhao royal family formed a joint business, each of them owning a shop and a caravan.

If you want to expand the snow salt business, you must first integrate the shops and sales channels under the names of various shareholders. These business processes have been the same since ancient times.

There are many shops owned by clan members, and it will take a lot of time to integrate them.

On the contrary, the most troublesome thing was the official procedure. Zhao Xu sent an imperial edict to the Salt and Iron Bureau, and the officials quickly handled it. The snow salt trade became legal that afternoon.

However, officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance had some complaints because the government wanted to keep the profits from the snow salt into the imperial treasury instead of the national treasury.

At the age of twenty, and being an emperor, who had picked up this bad habit of hiding his own money?

After Zhao Hao bravely explained the process of selling snow salt, Zhao Xu finally realized that he seemed to be too impatient, so his face turned red and he looked a little embarrassed.

As a wise emperor, he certainly would not let this awkward atmosphere continue, so Zhao Xu immediately changed the subject and pointed the gun at the absent-minded Zhao Xiaoqian.

"You! You are so impulsive and not steady at all. How can I trust you to have important tasks in the future?" Zhao Xu scolded angrily.

Zhao Xiaoqian was stunned. "The topic change... was it so abrupt? Without even a transition?"

This was the third time Zhao Xu and Zhao Xiaoqian met. Today, Zhao Xu was obviously closer to Zhao Xiaoqian. The more impolite his tone was, the more it sounded like an elder brother teaching his younger brother a lesson.

Of course, Zhao Xu's obvious bias in the argument with Liu Zhi just now also proved this point.

This official really didn't betray his friends.

Zhao Hao, who was standing by, was also shocked. His head was buzzing and Zhao Xu's words kept echoing in his ears.

"Entrusted with an important task"?
What a huge amount of information! Did the government really dare to break the ancestral rules and grant powerful positions to clan members?
The political dividends of being the first to propose the abolishment and restoration are incredibly huge, it’s such a profit!

Zhao Hao looked at Zhao Xu with surprise and disbelief, but Zhao Xu looked at Zhao Xiaoqian with a smile.

Zhao Xiaoqian: “…………”

The atmosphere of the chat was so weird because the three of them didn't chat at all and relied entirely on eye contact.

With a sigh, Zhao Xiaoqian broke the silence in the hall.

"Everyone, don't be like this. We are all family. If you have something to say, just say it directly. There is no need to use inner thoughts. They are quite hard to guess." Zhao Xiaoqian sighed helplessly.

Zhao Hao and Zhao Xu both laughed, and the silence was broken, but the topic of "entrusted with an important task" was not continued.

It was obvious that Zhao Xu was also undecided.

It takes courage to break the ancestral rules.

The topic changed, Zhao Xu and Zhao Hao talked about the past, the atmosphere became harmonious again, and there was laughter in the hall.

Zhao Xiaoqian was alone in a daze, staring blankly at the beams of the palace roof.

From killing horses and smashing carriages until now, I have been busy beating people and arguing with them. Now I am a little hungry.

Wait patiently for a while. If Zhao Xu has no intention of inviting guests to dinner, then urge your father to say goodbye and go home.

To Zhao Xiaoqian's disappointment, Zhao Xu actually did not invite them to dinner.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Hao tactfully stood up and said goodbye. After the father and son bowed, they left the Funing Palace.

Zhao Xu, with rare courtesy, escorted the two out of the palace gate and watched them walk away with a smile.

Then his face suddenly became gloomy. After standing still for a long time, Zhao Xu suddenly said to the air lightly: "Summon the Imperial City Bureau to see Wei Jie on official business."

There was no reaction around, but a moment later, a man in green official uniform appeared from the east corner of Funing Hall, stood in front of Zhao Xu and saluted silently.

…………

The incident of Zhao Xiaoqian killing horses, smashing carriages and beating people not only alarmed the emperor and his ministers, but also the entire city of Bianliang.

This incident happened at the intersection of Yu Street, in full view of everyone, so it was impossible to hide it.

It is actually not uncommon for a playboy to kill horses, smash carriages and beat people. Which playboy in Bianliang has not done such a thing?
But what is strange is that this dandy prince actually beat the former prime minister, which is very stubborn.

Originally, Zhao Xiaoqian had grudges against most of the playboys in Bian Jing, after all, he had extorted their money. However, when this incident became known, the playboys all began to respect Zhao Xiaoqian and at the same time had a clearer understanding of this prince of Chu.

It turns out that the prince was not morally corrupt when he extorted money. He even dared to beat the former prime minister. Does this have anything to do with morality?
This is clearly lawless!
For a lawless prince with a strong clan background, having his money robbed by such a fierce and powerful villain, it seems... not too shameful.

Thinking of this, the playboys whose money had been robbed calmed down instantly, and their hatred towards Zhao Xiaoqian also dissipated a lot.

Thinking more deeply, he and the former prime minister were both victims, harmed by the same murderer. In other words, he and the former prime minister were victims at the same level.

Hey, why do I suddenly feel a slight sense of honor and pride?

It turns out that all it takes to leap from a playboy to a prime minister is a murderer's big pocket...

While the whole city was whispering and talking about it with relish, less than two hours later, another explosive news came out from the palace.

The incident was reported to the emperor, and the plaintiff and defendant were brought to the palace to be tried in person by the current emperor.

In the end, the victim, Liu Zhi, was dismissed from office and ordered to retire. He was given the honorary title of Grand Tutor to maintain the dignity of the former prime minister.

The murderer, Zhao Xiaoqian, received no punishment at all and happily left the palace with his father arm in arm.

The entire city of Bianjing was in an uproar.

Although it was March, for some reason, the people in the city felt that a heavy snowfall would be appropriate to the occasion.

(End of this chapter)