Ming Dynasty: At the beginning of the game, Lao Zhu resigned and retired.

Chapter 712: Master Hu speaks out completely
"Mr. Hu, it has to be you!"

Xie Jin was indeed a carefree person. He was the first to react and gave Master Hu a thumbs up with a wry smile.

However, after making the joke, he looked at Master Hu with a serious face.

"Master Hu, since you've figured it out, I won't hide it from you!"

"This time, we two brothers are really scared!"

"It's not like my family can't survive after this land tax system is implemented."

"But we all feel that your majesty's move may only be the first step!"

"After this, I'm afraid our tax-free benefits will be revoked!"

"Then this will have a huge impact!"

"Mr. Hu, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. I didn't sleep all night when I thought of this possibility. The next day, I went to Xiao Fang to discuss it anxiously."

"And he figured it out, and then we sat there for a whole day and couldn't figure it out."

"Well, we have no choice but to come to you!"

When Xie Jin said this, he spread his hands and let out a long sigh.

"It's not that my family can't survive if we pay taxes, but after doing this, our family's income will drop too much!"

"If there is a natural disaster or man-made disaster, something terrible will happen to our family!"

"But after seeing what happened to Huang Zicheng and the others, we didn't dare to stand up and oppose them directly!"

"Sorry!"

Master Hu looked at the two sad-looking little boys in front of him and chuckled.

"Oh, you guys are really interesting!"

"You talk so conscientiously, but it's a pity that you can't fool me!"

"Do you think that since I own all the land in this huge farm, I don't know how much the land can yield in a year?"

"Besides, whether it's the land tax or the future tax, at best we should cancel the existing benefits."

"What's going on? Could it be that Emperor Zhu wants the gentry to pay more taxes than the farmers?"

"That's impossible!"

"So, I can tell you clearly now."

"What you are worried about will definitely happen, but you don't have to panic too much, just live your life as usual!"

"The only change is that the income from the farmland is not as much as before!"

Mr. Hu's straightforward words silenced the two young men.

Obviously, they didn't expect that Master Hu would reveal everything and lay it out in front of them so openly.

But it’s not that Mr. Hu doesn’t understand, he understands it too well.

This made them both somewhat uncomfortable.

The feeling of having their little thoughts exposed to the sun was somewhat too much for these young people to bear.

If an old thief in the officialdom was here, he would probably just laugh a few times and then walk away.

After all, as long as you are not embarrassed, then it is others who are embarrassed.

Anyone who has been in the officialdom for a long time would care about face.

But young people like Xie Jin and Fang Xiaoru are not good enough.

Master Hu looked at the two boys opposite him who were acting timidly and glared at them unhappily.

"Okay, there's nothing to be embarrassed about if you want to earn more money for your family."

"But if you want to go against the national policy for such a small matter, then I think you two are courting death."

"Since Your Majesty and the Crown Prince have launched such a national policy at this time, they are ready to confront the court officials."

"Don't be stupid and go up there to get killed."

"We have no shortage of knives to chop people!" Master Hu's words completely silenced the two men.

In other words, these words destroyed the last bit of their thoughts.

In fact, how could they not know that His Majesty has a murderous nature?

But as a human being, who doesn’t have a sense of luck?
I always think that others can fool me, so there's nothing wrong with me following their lead.

It would be best if this national policy could be cancelled.

Even if it doesn't work, I can just shout a few times and there shouldn't be any problem.

So, Fang Xiaoru, this argumentative person, got hot-headed and started to speak with a frown in a very dissatisfied tone.

"Master Hu, do you think His Majesty and his men can really withstand the resentment of all the officials?"

"Could it be possible that he could kill all those who opposed him?"

"Don't your Majesty and the Crown Prince care about their reputation?"

When Mr. Hu heard what Fang Xiaoru said, he just sneered.

He drank a cup of tea slowly, then looked at Fang Xiaoru with sidelong eyes and said.

"Xiao Fang, why do you always use your own standards to judge others?"

"First of all, Your Majesty doesn't have to face everyone at all!"

"Because not everyone has hundreds or thousands of acres of land like you two. Many people even come from poor families. They wish you could pay taxes like them and then fall flat on your face!"

"Secondly, His Majesty would not think the same as you do, thinking that killing the opponents would be enough."

"At least in the eyes of your majesty, and even in the eyes of this old man, if there are people who really oppose it, what good will it do if they are killed?"

"Anyway, we have the military power and money in our hands. Why would we worry about those officials rebelling?"

"Don't say anything like there's no one in office."

"Some officials can do the job as long as they can read. At most, they just need a few months of training."

"It may be a little different, after all, I don't have that much experience, but the difference won't be too much."

"After all, just like you two, if you were to become a county magistrate now, how much better would you be than a scholar who knows only a little bit of writing?"

"Perhaps the scholar who has been teaching children in the countryside is more familiar with local affairs than you."

"After all, although he has never been an official, at least you know much more about the affairs of the county government."

"As for the reputation you just mentioned, snort..."

When Mr. Hu said this, he finally couldn't help laughing.

Moreover, that smile was so sarcastic.

He raised his chin towards Xie Jin and the other two and asked a particularly interesting question.

"Tell me, if His Majesty really doesn't care about his reputation, what can you do?"

"Or, to put it the other way around, your Majesty doesn't care about his reputation anymore, he has implemented these national policies, and has killed the court officials who should be killed. His reputation is bad now, so what harm can he do?"

Xie Jin and Fang Xiaoru were speechless for a moment.

There is no solution to this problem.

This thing called reputation is like the moral kidnapping in later generations.

As the saying goes, as long as I have no morals, you can't morally blackmail me.

This is especially true with reputation.

I don't care about this shit, what can you do?
Even if one is a bit ruthless, he might even try to change history books, write biographies, etc., and his reputation might be restored.

Not to mention, this is something that makes people happy.

His reputation in history books isn't necessarily that bad. At most, one could say that he was too murderous.

What about the others? (End of this chapter)