At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 663, Successor

After Zhang Pijiang finished a day of government affairs and returned to his residence, the housekeeper came forward and said happily: "Master, the Duke is back."

Zhang Pijiang immediately rushed to the hall and saw his elder brother Zhang Buyi and his nephews Zhang Dian and Zhang Gao.

"Brother!" Zhang Pijiang said happily.

Zhang Buyi kicked Zhang Gao and said, "Why don't you ask your uncle for mercy? Now only your uncle can save you."

Zhang Gao immediately knelt down and said, "Uncle, I know I was wrong. Please save me."

Zhang Buyi looked at Zhang Gao with a frown. He didn't like his nephew very much. He was too ambitious, unwilling to endure hardships, and unwilling to do things honestly. He always liked to take shortcuts when doing things.

The two generations of emperors of the Han Dynasty both liked the Han officials who did their work in a down-to-earth manner and lived their lives honestly. These honest Han officials were always the ones who were promoted the fastest in the Han officialdom.

He has only two legitimate eldest sons, Zhang Dian and Zhang Gao. It goes without saying that Zhang Dian will inherit the Kingdom of Korea.

Zhang Buyi did not treat Zhang Gao harshly. Instead, he loved him very much. From childhood to adulthood, Zhang Gao was treated the same as his elder brother in all aspects. After Zhang Gao came of age, Zhang Buyi sent his second son to the Han Dynasty and asked Zhang Pijiang to take care of him so that he could have a smooth career in the Han Dynasty.

Zhang Pijiang also used his connections to arrange for his nephew to be a rich official with a salary of 400 dan in Qinghai County. Zhang Pijiang believed that this was the best arrangement for Zhang Gao. After all, if one wanted to make a name for himself in the Han Dynasty, it depended on whether he had experience as an official on the frontier.

Especially since he knew Xu Aimin, before selecting officials, the most important thing to look at is the qualifications of the elderly, the young, the border and the poor areas. If one starts working in the inland of the Han Dynasty, it will be very difficult to get ahead, especially Zhang Gao's identity as the second generation of a prince. If the emperor knew about this and found out that he was an official in a big city like Chang'an, the emperor would definitely think that Zhang Gao was lazy and it would be difficult for him to make progress in the future.

Zhang Pijiang thought he had arranged a good future for his nephew. But Zhang Gao didn't think so. He didn't know that the emperor valued this aspect of qualifications the most. He felt that his second uncle was a high-ranking official in the Han Dynasty, so it would be fine if he didn't arrange a good position for him. He actually arranged him to live in the mountains and wilderness of Qinghai County. He stayed in Qinghai County for 3 months, but he couldn't stand the high altitude, bad climate and desolate environment, so he finally resigned. It was from that time that Zhang Pijiang had a bad impression of his nephew, thinking that he couldn't endure hardships and would not be able to achieve great things.

Zhang Pijiang also knew what his nephew had asked for. After the conversation between the emperor and the hero, the hero broke Yingming's legs when he returned. At the same time, through the relationship with the Duke of Ying, he redeemed all the stocks of his son Yingming's so-called listed company. Although he lost more than 30 million in this regard, at least the matter was resolved at the lowest cost.

However, this action of the hero also let other princes of the Han Dynasty know the cause and effect. Zhang Buyi was worshipping his ancestors in Yingchuan County. After learning about this, he immediately rushed to Chang'an City overnight, because he knew that his second brother had the closest relationship with the emperor. If his son wanted to survive this disaster at the lowest cost, he could only ask his second brother for help.

Zhang Pijiang frowned and asked, "What kind of company did you start?"

Zhang Gao said, "It's just a forest park and a timber processing plant. It's a cash crop park in South Korea. My father gave it to me as a reward. It's full of top-quality sandalwood. If we cut it down, we can easily make tens of millions a year. With the size of this forest, it's not a problem to cut it down for a hundred years. The market value is 300 million. My nephew is at a disadvantage."

He half complained and half complained: "This is a transaction between us, and it does not violate the laws of the Han Dynasty. How can my nephew suddenly be wrong? The court cannot be so unreasonable."

Zhang Buyi was furious and whipped Zhang Gao with a whip, saying, "Thunder and rain are all grace from the emperor. What do you want to say? The emperor says what is right. You, an unfilial son, still want to rebel against the emperor's will!"

But it was obvious that it was difficult for Zhang Gao to be convinced by such words, and Zhang Dian kept grabbing his own Zhang Buyi's hand and said, "Father, you can't hit me anymore. If you hit me again, something bad will happen."

Zhang Pijiang also hugged Zhang Buyi and said, "Brother, the child is immature. Beating him is useless."

Zhang Buyi then stopped, and then Zhang Pijiang said: "According to what you said, this forest farm is worth 3 billion, why don't you develop it yourself?"

Zhang Pijiang would not be deceived by Zhang Gao. Although sandalwood was relatively precious in the Han Dynasty, it could be chopped and used as firewood in the Nanzhong region. South Korea was located in the Nanzhong region and had a very large area, occupying most of the Siam region in later generations. However, there were only 150 million Korean citizens, which was a sparsely populated area in that era. Even after decades of development, the wealthy areas of South Korea were only along the coast. The so-called forest farm of Zhang Gao was probably in the hinterland of Nanzhong, where transportation was inconvenient and development was difficult.

As expected, Zhang Gao said awkwardly: "It's not that the road is blocked, but my nephew went public to raise funds to build a railway connecting Xinzheng Port."

Zhang Pijiang continued to ask: "Your forest farm has been listed for more than half a year. How many miles of railway have you built?"

Zhang Gao was speechless when he looked at his uncle. He had originally planned to build a railway, but when he saw that Zhou Jianyi didn't even have a rubber plantation, he dared to raise 300 million yuan. If he really wanted to build a railway, he would have little money left in his hands, so he followed Zhou Jianyi's example and said he was raising funds to build a railway, but he didn't build even a meter of railway. He got the money, so he could just go bankrupt and set up a company to continue to raise money through listing.

Zhang Pijiang shook his head when he saw Zhang Gao's expression and said, "You cherish your life when doing great things, and forget your principles when you see small profits. If you really built the railway, your complaint would make sense, but you took the money and didn't do the work, but you accused the court of being unreasonable."

"The court is talking about friendship with you now, and you can still stay in Chang'an City. But if they really start talking about reason and laws, I'm afraid you will be exiled to Yanzhou to mine."

Zhang Gao was terrified. He couldn't even stay in Qinghai County, let alone go to Yanzhou Continent which was tens of thousands of miles away. It was said that there were a lot of snakes, insects, poisonous ants and various epidemics there. If you were bitten, you would surely die.

Zhang Pijiang said: "The emperor hasn't made this public yet, so there is room for recovery. Brother, learn from the Duke of England and redeem the stocks you sold and directly delist. This is the cheapest way."

Zhang Buyi frowned when he heard this. If they really followed this method, the Korean Palace would lose more than 2 million yuan. Although Zhang Buyi was rich, the Korean Palace was also large and powerful. If they lost million yuan, many Korean projects would have to stop.

But if he really ignored the matter, his son would probably end up being exiled to Yanzhou as a miner at best, but he couldn't really ignore it.

Thinking that this rebellious son had caused the Duke of Han to lose 200 million yuan, he was furious and continued to beat him with the whip, saying, "What good can you do as a prodigal son?"

In the following period, the princes of the Han Dynasty learned about this matter, and whipping their sons became a common sight in Chang'an City. At the same time, the stock exchange of Jiang State began to see listed companies of the Han Dynasty repurchasing their stocks and then delisting. This made the Han people, who did not know why, make a small profit.

At the same time, they also lamented: "How could such a good listed company be delisted after only one year?"

There were even many people who wanted to buy stocks again, but at this time the guys at the money houses did not dare to act recklessly.

With heroes and Zhang Pijiang as examples, the princes of the Han Dynasty also knew that if they wanted to solve this matter at the lowest cost, they could only spend money to avoid disaster. However, not all princes were as wealthy as the Duke of Ying, nor did they love their sons as much as Zhang Buzhi, who was willing to spend tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid disaster.

There were still a large number of princes who told the Imperial Censor who came to investigate that they knew nothing about the matter and were willing to accept the punishment from the court, even if it meant exile to Yanzhou.

The Imperial Censor Zheng Qi did not stand by them. They directly began to investigate those so-called listed companies that did not want to delist. However, none of them could withstand the investigation. They had no intention of taking the right path at the beginning. Later, Zhou Jianyi taught them step by step how to make money out of nothing. They directly turned the financial scam into a real fraud.

Before the meeting of princes began, the prison in the Grand Censor's Mansion was filled with the second and third generations of princes.

October 51, 10st year of the Han calendar, Chang'an City, Imperial Palace.

Xu Aimin looked at the list brought by the Imperial Censor Zheng Qi. There were 56 second-generation princes who were arrested. Many of them were familiar to him. The first one was Zhou Jianyi from the Marquis of Jiang Mansion. The Marquis of Jiang Mansion was not short of money, and it spent 4 million yuan to delist, but he was the leader. Even if it was delisted, he was still arrested. The contemporary Marquis of Jiang, Zhou Sheng, wrote that whether it was exile or sentenced to hanging, the Marquis of Jiang Mansion would be grateful to the court. The relationship between the Marquis of Jiang Mansion and other princes of the Han Dynasty was relatively poor. In order to become the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, Zhou Bo made many reforms in the positions of Sanchuan County Governor and Tax Supervisor. He chopped at the nobles and powerful people of the Han Dynasty. After becoming the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, he strongly suppressed the local county governors and reformed the official camp system. It can be said that Zhou Bo has been very tough for years in power and offended many powerful people and nobles of the Han Dynasty.

It was only after Zhou Bo's death that Zhou Sheng, through years of maneuvering, improved the relationship with the princes and nobles of the Han Dynasty. However, this time, because of Zhou Jianyi, dozens of princes' children were implicated. These people did not dare to hate the court and pointed the finger at the Mansion of Marquis Jiang. That was why even if Zhou Sheng paid the money, he did not dare to exempt Zhou Jianyi from punishment.

Xu Aimin said angrily: "The court has already given them wealth and honor. They are superior to 99% of the people in the Han Dynasty since they were born. But even so, they are still not satisfied. They are so greedy for money that they even take evil paths for it. These princes' children are really unworthy of their status."

Then he looked at Zheng Qi and asked, "What punishment did the Imperial Censorate give them?"

Zheng Qi said: "Confiscate all the family property and repay the people, and exile the whole family to Xinjinshan City."

Xu Aimin looked at the people on the list and said, "Just follow the advice of the Imperial Censorate."

After understanding the emperor's intention, Zheng Qi bowed and said, "I will take my leave."

After Zheng Qi left, Guan He hurried in with red eyes and handed over a memorial, saying: "Your Majesty, urgent news from Hanzhong, the governor Xiahou Zao was sacrificed."

Xu Aimin opened the memorial and read its contents, saying with deep sorrow, "I have lost an arm."

The above said that Xiahou Zao, the prefect of Hanzhong County, used explosives to dig a tunnel, which caused a landslide. Hundreds of craftsmen, led by Xiahou Zao, died on the construction site in Hanzhong.

Guan He immediately knelt down and said, "I would like to be the governor of Hanzhong County and continue to open up the track from Guanzhong to Shu County for the court."

The Guan family and the Xiahou family are old friends. When Guan Ying was the prefect of Shu County, the Han Dynasty began to build wooden tracks on a large scale. Within a few years, a track network was formed in Guanzhong, and it began to produce huge economic benefits. At that time, Guan Ying believed that only by connecting the Bashu area and the Guanzhong area with tracks could the Han Dynasty consolidate its foundation and prosper forever. Then Guan Ying began to build tracks from Shuzhong to Guanzhong.

Later, when Xiahou Ying was the prefect of Shu County, he took over this project and worked on it for ten years. However, there were too many mountains in Bashu, making it extremely difficult to build plank roads, let alone tracks. In many places, they could only cut through the mountains and build bridges. Fortunately, the Han Dynasty had invented black gunpowder and began to use it to mine. Xiahou Ying thought of using gunpowder to blast mountains and dig tunnels.

However, Xiahou Ying had been the prefect of Shu County for ten years, but there was still no track connecting Guanzhong to Shuzhong. Later, Xiahou Ying's eldest son, Xiahou Zao, inherited his father's business and continued to build the track as the chief historian of the Track Department. This construction lasted for sixteen years. Xiahou Zao also served as the prefect of Shu County and Hanzhong County respectively. The Shuzhong track first connected Hanzhong, and then extended from Hanzhong to Guanzhong little by little. Seeing that the track from Hanzhong to Chang'an was about to be completed, Xiahou Zao, the great contributor, passed away at this time. Guan He felt sorry for his friend who died before accomplishing his career. At the same time, he also wanted to help his friend complete his unfinished career.

Xu Aimin said sadly: "You will go to comfort the craftsmen who died first, and then take over as the governor of Hanzhong. This track is the result of decades of hard work by both your families. You must complete it."

Guan He said: "I obey your orders!"

After Guan He left, Xu Aimin thought of the deceased Xiahou Zao, and then thought of the second-generation princes who were trying to steal the Han Dynasty's talents, and said, "What Datong needs is comrades like Xiahou Zao who devote themselves wholeheartedly, not those dandy boys."

Thinking of this, Xu Aimin said, "Bring over the list of outstanding representatives from the scholar-farmer, merchant and industrialist classes!"

Shangshu Li Qiang immediately handed a list to Xu Aimin.

Xu Aimin opened the list and said, "Zhu Tie, Qi Hao, Zhong Fan, Gongsun Hong, Zhao Yu~~~~."

It contains a list of outstanding craftsmen, a list of outstanding farmers, and a list of outstanding grassroots Han officials. Xu Aimin sighed: "These talents are the comrades needed by my Han Dynasty to build a harmonious governance. In the past, the court rewarded them for doing too little. Now that we have discovered our comrades, we should let them shoulder heavier responsibilities."

Xu Aimin continued, "After their vacation, these outstanding representatives from the scholar-farmer, merchant-industrial class will be arranged to attend the Government Affairs Academy. The court wants to train them in their ability to handle government affairs."

Li Qiang hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, most of these people are skilled craftsmen. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to let them become Han officials?"

Xu Aimin said firmly: "If we don't let these people serve the Great Harmony, can the court still count on the second generation of princes and nobles? This list is a screening mechanism. If they can't work for the people at the grassroots level, how can I trust them? And now that the court has selected comrades, it is natural to entrust them with important tasks."

At this time, Li Qiang pointed at a person on the list and said, "Your Majesty, this person may be a little out of place."

"Zhao Yu? Does this person have any special talents or background?" Xu Aimin asked.

Li Qiang said: "This man is the eldest grandson of the First Emperor and the eldest son of Fusu."

Xu Aimin said with a smile, "It has been fifty years since the founding of the Han Dynasty. When the Qin Dynasty fell, there were no survivors. Now that the Han Dynasty is at its peak, are we still worried that the Qin Dynasty will return?"

Li Qiang's reminder actually aroused Xu Aimin's interest in Zhao Yu. He said, "Find out Zhao Yu's information."

"promise!"

Not long after, Li Qiang found Zhao Yu's file and handed it to the emperor.

Xu Aimin flipped it open and read: "Zhao Yu became a Han official 20 years after the Han Dynasty, and he is still an official in Chen County!"

However, he soon remembered that during the 20 years of the Han Dynasty, the Legalists, who had been silent for a long time, under the leadership of Li Si, helped Prime Minister Zhou Bo to pilot the Official-run Reform in Chen County. The Official-run Reform completely changed the economic structure of the Han Dynasty and also helped the Han Dynasty suppress the economic crisis.

It was from that time that the Han Dynasty began to pay attention to Legalism again, and Legalism also got rid of the burden of the destruction of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty and once again became a prominent school of thought in the Han Dynasty. A large number of Legalist disciples began to enter the officialdom of the Han Dynasty, and it was at that time that Zhao Yu became a grassroots legal official in Chen County.

Soon Xu Aimin discovered that although Zhao Yu had a rich experience as a Han official in the past 2000 years, having served in Chen County, Jiujiang County, Hengshan County, Changsha County, Wuling County, and Lingling County, all of which were the most difficult places, he had a rich resume. According to the Han Dynasty's promotion system, people like him should have become a high-ranking official with a salary of 400 stones. But even now, Zhao Yu is still a legal official with a salary of stones.

Thanks to the perfect archive system of the Han Dynasty, Xu Aimin could clearly know what Zhao Yu had done in the past thirty years. He had been wandering in the villages in the south of the Han Dynasty regardless of the cold or heat, popularizing the law to the villagers for the Han Dynasty court, hearing cases, and resolving conflicts between the villages in the Han Dynasty. Zhao Yu had to hear hundreds of cases every year. Over the past thirty years, he had heard more than 100,000 cases. He could be said to be the most reliable brick in the foundation of the Han Dynasty.

Xu Aimin was somewhat dissatisfied and said, "How is the Prime Minister's Office evaluating people? Zhao Yu is so diligent. Even if he has made great achievements, considering his hard work, he should not still be a 400-shi Han official."

Li Qiang said carefully: "Zhao Yu is of a special status after all, and the Prime Minister's Office dare not act rashly."

Xu Aimin said, "Don't think about it. The Han Dynasty has been established for 50 years, which is two generations. I believe that there are only Han citizens on the land of the Han Dynasty now, and no remnants of the Former Qin Dynasty. The previous policies that suppressed the nobles and powerful people of the Former Qin Dynasty should also end."

(End of this chapter)