Tibet.

Chapter 1298 Bystanders understand
In an elegant room of Wude Restaurant, Li Xian, Pei Zunqing and Dugu Lie sat opposite each other and had a drink.

Li Xian said worriedly, "Wei Jiansu is too accommodating to the regent, even a little shameless. He has no bearing of a prime minister, nor the uprightness that a prime minister should have. I really miss the original Prime Minister Li."

Pei Zunqing did not refute Li Xian this time. Although he also agreed with the abolition of slavery, Wei Jiansu's performance today was indeed disgusting.

He drank the wine in the cup and sighed, "I am not against abolition, but abolition is indeed a long-term thing. It must be implemented slowly, so that people in the world will gradually accept it, and then it will slowly die out. To be honest, although the regent's three-year plan is a little short, at least I can accept it. Wei Xiangguo's one-year plan is too radical and will cause chaos in the world. It's worrying!"

Dugu Lie remained silent. The abolition plan would disrupt the Guanlong nobles' plan to build a country. They were planning to take the domestic slaves away as the first batch of residents, but this would not be implemented until at least five years later. Therefore, whether it was the regent's three-year plan or Wei Jiansu's one-year plan, it would have a huge impact on their overseas country building.

"Minister Dugu, what do you think?" Li Xian asked Dugu Lie again.

Dugu Lie smiled bitterly and said, "The Dugu family has more than 10,000 slaves, and can be said to be the largest slave owner in the world. How do you want me to answer this question?

Of course, if abolition is the general trend, the Dugu family will not go against the general trend, but I still prefer to reform slowly, step by step, without adding new slaves first, and slowly restore the freedom of the old slaves. This is the solution that everyone can accept."

Li Xian nodded and said, "Minister Dugu is right. We should persuade the regent not to take such drastic measures. We must slowly adjust and reform."

Li Xian quickly ordered his servant to get a pen and paper. Pei Zunqing waved his hand and said with a smile, "Don't be impatient, my dear brother. The abolition of slavery will not come to fruition so quickly. We need to continue the discussion and see the attitude of the regent."

Dugu Lie then found his brother Dugu Ming. He admitted that he did not have as deep a understanding of political issues as his brother, and he often asked his brother for advice on major issues.

In the study, Dugu Ming listened quietly to his brother's narration and said with a faint smile: "This Li Xian will be demoted soon."

Dugu Lie frowned, "The Regent King wouldn't be so unwilling to listen to opposing opinions!"

Dugu Ming smiled and said, "Li Xian is not an opposing opinion. He is the representative of the interests of the royal family. He is actually protecting the interests of the royal family. He was firmly opposed to the regent ascending the throne before. He was ranked first on the list of supporters of Hanzhong King Li Yu. Hanzhong King died, but he was not affected at all.

The regent has been lenient enough to him by not pursuing him, and now he wants to oppose abolition again. I believe the regent will not tolerate it any longer. "

Dugu Lie was stunned, and after a while he said, "Li Xian was actually acting out of selfish motives, but his reputation has always been good!"

Dugu Ming shook his head. "I didn't say Li Xian was a traitor. He was a good minister. The conflict between him and the regent was not between good and evil, but a dispute over the bloodline and orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty. Li Xian was a conservative in favor of the succession to the throne of the Tang Dynasty. If the regent was the grandson of the retired emperor, Li Xian would have been loyal and dedicated. But now the regent has seized on the coup by Li Lin and Li Yu to suppress the royal family, deprive them of their Guanzhong manors, and strip them of their titles. Brother, Li Xian must have a deep grudge against the regent. He opposed the abolition of the system because there were too many slaves in the hands of the royal family, and the royal family must have been the first to bear the brunt."

Dugu Lie nodded, "He wants to use me!"

"To be precise, he wanted to promote an alliance between the royal family and the Guanlong nobles by jointly opposing the abolition of slavery, so that they could join forces to deal with the regent."

Dugu Lie suddenly came to his senses, and he realized that he was almost used by someone. After a moment of silence, Dugu Lie sighed again, "The abolition of slavery is too urgent, which will seriously affect the overseas nation-building plan of the Guanlong nobles."

"Brother, abolition is only a superficial phenomenon. Hidden underneath is the game between the new and old noble forces, as well as the game between the various families. Everyone is choosing sides. If you can't see through this, you'll choose the wrong side. Not to mention that the founding of a country overseas will be in vain, I'm afraid even the Guanlong nobles will be uprooted."

Dugu Lie was shocked, "Tell me in detail!"

"Brother, you must first understand why Li Dai resigned from the position of prime minister and recommended Wei Jiansu to take over. The problem is that the regent was too tolerant and gave too much power to the court. Li Dai was worried that the regent would not be able to take the last step. Wei Jiansu's promotion was to help the regent ascend the throne. Wei Jiansu was Li Linfu's ally back then, so Li Dai trusted him.

Once you understand this, you will be able to understand the abolition of slavery. Those civil servants and generals who followed the regent to conquer the world, such as Li Mi, Liu Yan, Duan Xueshi, Lei Wanchun, Nan Jiyun and others, will also want to ascend the throne and gain benefits once the regent ascends the throne.

So many old nobles have Guanzhong manors, don’t they want them? So before they get on the car, the regent drives everyone off the car first. These new nobles will only gloat over the misfortune and applaud, but will not object.

Once the new nobles got on board and owned manors in Guanzhong, their mentality changed. How could they take the Guanzhong land back in the future?
So the Regent decided to take back the land in Guanzhong. Wei Jiansu worked so hard that he figured out all the manors in Guanzhong in just a few days. He was determined to take back the manors as soon as possible even if it meant offending people. In just one month, all the land in Guanzhong was taken back by the court and would never be rewarded to ministers again. This was because Wei Jiansu understood the Regent's real intention to quickly take back the land, so he cooperated with him fully.

The same is true for abolition. Once the new nobles have a large number of slaves, do you think it can be abolished? So we must first abolish slavery before the new nobles have a large number of slaves. If you delay for five or ten years, the old nobles will still enjoy it slowly, while the new nobles will watch helplessly and not get it. Something big will definitely happen, big brother!"

Dugu Lie suddenly realized, "That's why Wei Jiansu proposed abolishing slavery within a year!"

"That's right. Wei Jiansu is a man who has seen through the regent's intentions. That's why he fully cooperated with him, opposed the three-year abolition of slavery, and proposed a one-year plan. Only by making the old nobles suffer heavy losses can the dissatisfaction of the new nobles who did not get slaves be appeased.

I believe that Li Mi, Liu Yan, and Duan Xiushi will all support Wei Jiansu. This is what it means to stand in a team. At this critical moment, Big Brother cannot see through it and follows Li Xian. This means he is standing in the wrong team. "

Dugu Lie sighed, "We are still planning to take the slaves overseas in five years. Once slavery is abolished, they will all be free. I am afraid they will not want to go, and the loss to us will be too great."

Dugu Ming shook his head. "Brother, the first step to abolish slavery will be launched early next year. No more slaves will be allowed to be added, and all underage children will be deprived of their slave status. Unless you take them away now, once the abolition of slavery is implemented, all slaves will understand that they will soon be free. No slaves will follow you next year, not to mention five years later."

At this point, Dugu Ming said earnestly, "So I advise you, big brother, to seize this opportunity while the abolition of slavery is still top secret and liberate all the slaves now. Only then will they be grateful to the Dugu family. Then, use the land to win their hearts. Five years later, they will be willing to follow the Dugu family to go overseas."

Dugu Lie nodded slowly, "Luckily I came to find you, otherwise I would still be a mess!"

Dugu Ming smiled faintly and said, "Brother, you might as well pay attention to Pei Zunqing. This man is an old fox. If I am not mistaken, he will take over as the right prime minister next year."

(End of this chapter)