The rise of the prince

Chapter 578 Unstoppable
Zhang Jian was still explaining to his uncle Zhang the possible harm of the Black Tie Order, explaining everything he expected.

He wanted to persuade his uncle to directly order Xia Zhongshusheng to prohibit this increasingly crazy business.

A small piece of iron, two fingers wide and no more than three inches long, can be sold for thousands of taels, which is too crazy and unbelievable. If he continues to indulge like this, he always feels that something big will happen, but he can't imagine what it will be like. thing.

That's about the same, he looked at his uncle with full expectation. Uncle is Xia Guozhong's servant, as long as he asks, such a thing can be done at will.

Zhang Jian waited quietly, but his uncle didn't say a word for a long time.

"uncle?"

"Have you ever thought about what this sale of the Black Tie Token can bring to our country?" Uncle said.

Before Zhang Jian opened his mouth, his uncle had already started to talk: "There was such a thing before, a beggar picked up a piece of black iron token, and sold it for a few hundred taels, and lived a good life from then on. Relying on this iron card to make a fortune. There are people who open restaurants and make money that they can't make in their entire lives. There are countless such things."

"But uncle, profit always comes from folk silver. If there are too many of them, they will have the same silver. If there are few people, many people will lose money. It's okay if the real glazed wares are bought and sold. They can be worth the price, but a small How can a small piece of iron be worth so much? This."

He continued to speak, but was interrupted by his uncle raising his hand: "Okay! As the Prime Minister of the Xia Kingdom, do I still have no sense of propriety? Buying and selling is what you like and what you want. Only when someone buys, someone sells, and the court is not easy to control."

Before Zhang Jian came, he was prepared in his heart, thought about the disadvantages, and stated it to his uncle, but he never expected that this would be the result in the end!
"Uncle, this matter" He anxiously wanted to say more, but was ruthlessly interrupted.

"Shut up!" Uncle said with a stern face: "This is the end of this matter, and you Zhongshu officials are not allowed to interfere by yourself. Go back and take care of other things. There are so many important things in the country, and you are staring at insignificant things every day. What are you doing, it’s a small loss that makes a big difference!”

He opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but in the end he didn't say anything, so he had no choice but to back down and hurried out angrily.

As soon as he went out, he bumped into his cousin.

"Brother Jian! It's rare to come to the house when you have time, let's sit down for a while before leaving."

Zhang Jian quickly suppressed his expression, tried his best to smile and said, "No cousin, I still have important business to do, so I'll come to visit some other day." Then with sharp eyes, he saw his cousin holding two black iron plates in his hand, and raised his finger to ask, " Cousin is this?"

"Oh, this one, this is the Xuantie Token, I bought it for my father." The cousin shook the two dark iron pieces in his hand: "My father has been staring at this thing every day recently, so to speak, it cost me nearly a thousand taels of silver. , but my father really has foresight, you won’t believe it when you say it, and you’ve only bought it for a few days, and you’ve already earned tens of thousands of taels!
Now this Black Tie Token is worth more than gold. Fortunately, I am smart. Others go to the restaurants in the west of the city to buy and sell, but I do the opposite and search all over the city.

Sure enough, I bought two cheap ones. Some people didn't know the news and didn't know that the price of this thing had already reached a thousand taels in the west of the city.320 taels for one piece, 580 taels for one piece, let me buy them all! "The cousin said proudly, as if he had done some extremely shrewd business, but he only had two pieces of iron in his hand.

Zhang Jian instantly lowered his arms weakly, he understood, he understood everything.
No wonder his uncle had such an attitude, no wonder he didn't allow himself to intervene, it turned out that my uncle, as Xia Guoguo's minister and Zhongshu's servant, was also buying the Xuantie Token.

He bid farewell to his cousin, and hurried to the other side of Xingqing Mansion, there was still hope.

Apart from his own uncle, the emperor's cousin Li Chong is the emperor's cousin with the greatest power in the Xia Kingdom. He is the Privy Envoy of the Xia Kingdom, and he is also the commander of the brave army in the left wing and the commander of the Chaoshun Army in the right wing. If he can be persuaded, he will be able to rectify this matter.

He couldn't say where the Black Tie Order was harmful, but he felt that there was something wrong with it.

Zhang Jian hurriedly rode his horse through the market and headed straight for Prince Li's mansion. Li Chong had his own mansion.

As a result, as soon as he dismounted at the gate of the palace and explained his purpose, the concierge shook his head and told him that the prince had already taken people to buy and sell black iron orders in Western affairs.

Zhang Jian was completely helpless, let out a long sigh, and had no choice but to go home lonely.

Things didn't calm down after returning home, and the black iron order was still soaring in the next few days.

The most expensive one has sold for more than 2000 taels, and some people use their ancestral home as a mortgage to exchange for a piece of black iron token. In the streets and alleys, every household discusses the matter of the black iron token. In Xingqing Mansion, a large number of people crowd to the west of the city every day. , to see the Xuantie order transaction.

Herdsmen don't herd herds, farmers don't go to the fields, traders don't do business, and officials don't patrol the city. They all just want to find a piece of black iron token, and then sell it in a few days to get rich from a fortune.
Under this kind of temptation, Xingqing Mansion will have more than five murders every day, fights, stealing and robbery are even more numerous. It's getting messy.

Zhang Jian was very anxious, but there was nothing he could do.
The situation can only be allowed to develop.
In the blink of an eye, it's late April.
Li Xingzhou had a busy day, came out of the yamen of the Privy Council, and happened to meet Cheng Jin, Meng Zhiye, and a group of people heading straight for the East Palace when passing by the open avenue in front of the Changchun Palace, a total of 30 people.

Now he knew most of these people, and when some people saw him approaching, they quickly lowered their heads and covered their faces with their sleeves indiscriminately, not wanting him to see clearly. Only Meng Zhiye, who took the lead, held his head high and held his chest up without any shyness.

These officials, Li Xingzhou, could guess who they were.

The deeper he got into the vortex of imperial power, the more he was like a fish in water, and he had an insight into the situation, especially when he was in charge of the Privy Council recently, he understood more and more thoroughly.

To put it simply, most of the people who turned to the prince before were officials from the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of War among the six ministries.

The reason is simple. The establishment of the three divisions (Household Division, Yantie Division, and Duzhi Division) and the Privy Council basically made these departments exist in name only.

For example, the Ministry of War was originally responsible for foreign wars, military registration and salary, etc., but after the establishment of the Privy Council, the Ministry of War basically became a decoration department.

With the establishment of the Department of Household Affairs, the Department of Salt and Iron, and the Department of Duzhi, the rest of the departments are more or less in such an embarrassing situation.

To put it bluntly, the Emperor Jingguo's distrust of the Zhongshu and the Forbidden Army caused the emperor to always think about decentralizing power, so he continued to add various institutions to divide the power of the Forbidden Army and the Zhongshu to ensure the strength of the imperial power.

It is indeed beneficial. The military, government, and finance are separated and can balance each other, but it also leads to bloated and redundant institutions and a large number of idle officials.

Seeing that there is no future for these officials, they naturally pinned their hope of turning over to the prince. When the prince ascended the throne, he might have a chance to turn the tables and abolish the third division and the Privy Council. So when the prince was exiled to Jiangzhou, they all panicked and tried their best to ensure that the prince would come .

(End of this chapter)