I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 179 You do the work, I'll take the blame

"This……"

Upon hearing this, Sang Hongyang looked around. Although there was no one around, he still looked hesitant.

"Please ask Minister Sang Nong to get in the car and talk."

Liu Ju saw his concerns at a glance and nodded.

"Thank you for your trust, Your Highness."

Sang Hongyang thanked them quickly and took the initiative to accept the body search by Guo Zhen and Du Zhou. Then he crouched down and carefully boarded the carriage, sat sideways in front of Liu Ju, and waited until the carriage started moving again before he leaned over and asked,
"Please allow me to ask you a question first. Your Highness wants to reform the salt and iron industry. Where do you plan to start?"

Sang Hongyang had a feeling, but he didn't know if it was an illusion.

He always felt that Liu Ju trusted him more than Kong Jin and Dongguo Xianyang.

When talking about the abacus and the four-pillar list before, Liu Ju only planned to teach him first, and now he allowed him to ride in the same car without any worries, without even a hint of hesitation.

You have to know that he had basically no contact with Liu Juke before.

Today at the morning court, they were arguing with each other in front of all the civil and military officials. Even if Liu Ju was a person who dealt with things based on facts and did not hold a grudge against them, he should not be treated differently.

It was for this reason that Sang Hongyang, after hesitating for a long time, chased out from the Minister of Agriculture.

Firstly, he wanted to have a private talk with Liu Ju and find out about his plan.

Secondly, he also wanted to find out how Liu Ju viewed him and whether he could cooperate with Liu Ju in the reform of the state-run salt and iron industries without reservation.

"Cheng Sang Nong, if you are here to test my opinion, you can get off now."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ju immediately frowned and his voice turned cold.

"If you are here to provide me with useful clues to help me realize the state-run reform of the salt and iron industry, then perhaps we still need to continue our conversation."

As soon as he finished speaking, Guo Zhen, who was driving the carriage in front, let out a sigh.

The carriage that was moving stopped.

Sang Hongyang was stunned for a moment, and his gaze towards Liu Ju changed again.

At this moment he finally realized that his starting point and attitude were wrong from the beginning.

Although he was over forty and Liu Ju was only a young man of sixteen or seventeen, he had no qualifications to test Liu Ju, and Liu Ju would never accept his temptation in the form of a test.

In this respect, Liu Ju and Liu Che are very similar, as if they were carved from the same mold.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. I have no intention of testing your opinion!"

At this moment, looking at Liu Ju's eyebrows, Sang Hongyang suddenly had the illusion of returning to his youth and accompanying Liu Che to study. His heart sank and he quickly bowed and apologized,

"I do hope to provide assistance to Your Highness to the best of my ability to promote the reform of the state-run salt and iron industry. I was rude just now. Please don't misunderstand me."

"So in your opinion, where should we start?"

Liu Ju threw the question back, and the carriage started moving again.

"As Your Highness said at the morning court today, the drawbacks of the government-run salt and iron industry lie in the salt merchants and iron merchants. If we cannot completely change the attitude of the officials in the salt and iron industry, even if we formulate the best policies, they will become tools for officials to pursue personal gain at the grassroots level and will never be completely cured."

Sang Hongyang lowered his eyes and expressed his thoughts, quietly waiting for Liu Ju's reaction.

"Take them all, skin them and stuff them with straw. What do you think?"

Liu Ju looked at Sang Hongyang and grinned.

We would like to thank Zhu Yuanzhang for his friendly sponsorship of this law. Although this is just a legend that has not been verified by historical facts, it is an indisputable fact that Zhu Yuanzhang did implement extremely severe "extralegal laws" to deal with corrupt officials.

"Gu——!"

Sang Hongyang's face froze when he heard this, and he made an uncontrollable sound like a pigeon in his throat. After a long while, he finally calmed down and said hurriedly,
"Your Highness, please think twice. The state-run salt and iron business is now controlled by these people. If we take them down in one fell swoop, the state-run salt and iron business will be paralyzed and the national finances will be severely damaged."

"Besides, this matter requires evidence. If there is not enough evidence, it will be difficult to convince the public. Not only will it fail to solve the problem of state-run salt and iron, but it will also severely damage the national finances and attract criticism for Your Majesty. It will really do more harm than good."

"Besides, even if we kill all these people, we can replace them with another group of people."

"There is no guarantee that the previous drawbacks will not occur again. After all, these things are all man-made, and human greed is always the most difficult thing to control in the world."

"If after arresting and killing people in a big way, it still creates a situation where they compete with the people for profit."

"It will completely confirm the reputation of the salt and iron government-run enterprises competing with the people for profits. Even Your Majesty will be forced to follow the will of the people. The salt and iron government-run enterprises may not be able to continue."

After hearing this, Liu Ju nodded slightly, then shook his head and said:

"Prime Minister Sang Nong, I don't think so. Reform must involve bloodshed. Reform that does not involve bloodshed is better called compromise, which only treats the symptoms but not the root cause."

"And the corresponding reform policies can only be implemented after blood has been shed."

"If you want to have it all, if you want to count on those vested interests to voluntarily give up their interests, your reform policies will inevitably encounter resistance everywhere, and the resistance will only grow stronger and stronger, almost everywhere, and will never succeed."

Sang Hongyang looked up at Liu Ju, with a hint of awe in his eyes.

He was a little confused. How could this young man of sixteen or seventeen years old have such a domineering character? He even seemed to be more domineering than Liu Che.
After all, Liu Che never showed such determination in this matter.

At the same time, he also heard another key message from Liu Ju's words, and subconsciously asked: "Your Highness, have you already formulated a suitable reform strategy in your mind?"

"It's just a preliminary idea, not perfect or mature enough, and needs to be implemented before we can respond and coordinate."

Liu Ju stared into Sang Hongyang's eyes, as if saying "This person is you."

"I am willing to serve Your Highness!"

Sang Hongyang immediately bowed to express his attitude.

Liu Ju smiled and said:

"You should know that people who reform the law usually have a bad ending. Wu Qi and Shang Yang were both like this. Reforming the law will inevitably affect the interests of others and will definitely make people hate you. Aren't you afraid of death?"

"I am afraid of death, but I am more afraid of being unknown and wasting my life."

Sang Hongyang showed a completely different temperament at this moment. He said seriously,
"If this happens, I can be compared with Wu Qi and Shang Yang. Why should I care about my life?"

"Very good, very energetic."

Liu Ju nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this.
"As long as you maintain this spirit, the abuses of the state-run salt and iron industry will surely be rectified..."

Liu Ju already had his own plan in mind.

The plan can be summed up in one sentence: "You do the work, and I'll take the blame."

He could easily imagine that once the reforms were implemented, the relevant vested interests would definitely not sit idly by.

Since they had previously been able to use Confucian scholars from the Imperial Academy and virtuous writers to oppose the state-run salt and iron industries, they would naturally be able to stir up a bigger public opinion storm when it came to matters of interest and life and death.

At this time, someone is really needed to take the blame and attract hatred.

Sang Hongyang certainly couldn't carry such a big pot.

But Liu Che certainly didn't want to carry it on his back.

Then the most suitable person to take the blame is naturally Liu Ju, who has the "time travel blessing" loophole.

The most important thing is that if these people make too much trouble, it will bring too much pressure to Liu Ju and even affect his position as crown prince.

It will definitely trigger the "time travel blessing" loophole, and then activate the invisible and intangible mysterious power. Under the influence of the mysterious power, things will turn for the better, and while completing the state-run salt and iron reforms, his position as the crown prince will be further consolidated!
Check it out.

What a perfect plan, let us wait and see!
……

At the same time, the Minister of Agriculture.

"Mr. Kong, don't forget our previous bet of one thousand gold."

After seeing Liu Ju off, Dongguo Xianyang and Kong Jin returned to the office. Dongguo Xianyang immediately reminded Kong Jin with a smile on his face.

"I can't do without you!"

Kong Jin glanced at him unhappily, and his expression gradually darkened.
"This is just a small matter. The prince is the top priority right now."

"I did underestimate him before. He is not completely incompetent. I just don't know how he plans to reform the salt and iron state-run enterprises when he keeps talking about reform in the morning court."

Dongguo Xianyang, on the contrary, changed his previous hesitation and grinned:
"Mr. Kong, I don't think I need to worry about this now."

"Although the Crown Prince's performance just now is indeed not incompetent, the things he took out were just an abacus and a four-pillar inventory. These two things are only related to calculation and accounting. Even if they can improve the efficiency of accounting, can they find any problems in the already flawless accounting book?"

"From this, it can be seen that the prince is still too young after all, and has been focusing on the wrong direction from the beginning."

"In that case, why don't we go with the flow?"

"Hasn't Lord Kong decided to push out a few insignificant people to give an explanation to His Majesty and the Crown Prince?"

"Then we can manipulate the account books and let the Crown Prince find problems in those people's account books. This way, not only will he gain merit in front of Your Majesty, but he will also feel very satisfied. Naturally, he will be more attentive to checking the countless account books and will have no time to look elsewhere."

After hearing this, Kong Jin was immediately surprised and looked at Dongguo Xianyang with admiration:

"Brother Dongguo, this is a brilliant plan. I never knew you were so scheming!"

"Mr. Kong, you are too kind. I just had a sudden idea. How dare I show off my skills in front of you, Mr. Kong?"

Dongguo Xianyang smiled modestly and politely.

"Brother Dongguo, you are too modest. Is it just a coincidence that the Dongguo family has built up such a huge family business today?"

"No matter how big it is, how can it be bigger than the Kong family? Salt is just food for the stomach. I can only use it to make ends meet. Iron is a national treasure. Confucius has long been a pillar of the country. How can we compare them?"

"Brother Dongguo, don't say this outside..."

"I know... one thousand gold."

"I will have someone send it to your house later. Are you satisfied?"

"Then I will be disrespectful to refuse."

(End of this chapter)