People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 70 Who is it!

Perhaps it was really like when it rains it pours, the Han Dynasty was in turmoil, with rebellions occurring everywhere. At this critical juncture, even the imperial palace caught fire. Although the fire has been extinguished now, Nangong Yuntai and Lecheng Gate have both been burned down.

The damage is so severe that it certainly needs to be repaired, but I don’t know how much it will cost.

Liu Hong lay on the couch, supporting his head and sighing, worrying about money.

As Liu Hong's most favored eunuch, Zhang Rang was an expert at observing people's words and expressions, especially at figuring out Liu Hong's thoughts. As soon as he saw Liu Hong's gesture, he understood what he meant.

The emperor cannot be a bad guy, so he, the eunuch, has to do it.

"Your Majesty, you have been working hard on state affairs all day long, which has saved the lives of the common people. Now that the palace has caught fire and there is not enough money, the people should also understand your suffering. If they can pay you a portion of the money for repairing the palace, it should be able to help your Majesty in the short term."

Zhang Rang stepped forward, bowed, and put forward his suggestion in a sincere tone, as if he really felt sad for Liu Hong.

Liu Hong slowly opened his eyes, then showed a look of reluctance.

"That being said, the survival of the common people is already difficult. If I impose more taxes, it will make their situation even worse. This is not appropriate, not appropriate."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Rang's eyes suddenly turned red, and then he began to choke up.

When Liu Hong saw this, he was a little surprised and asked the reason.

But Zhang Rang knelt down and burst into tears while speaking.

"I am simply moved by your majesty's compassion for the common people. For the people of the Han Dynasty, it is truly a great blessing to have a holy ruler like you."

There was silence in the hall for a while. Liu Hong's old face turned red, and then he cleared his throat.

"As a ruler, you should be considerate of the common people. You don't need to praise me for this. Just stand up."

After hearing the order, Zhang Rang stuck his butt out and stood up reluctantly.

But even after he stood up, he first wiped his tears for a long time with his long sleeves before continuing the previous topic.

"Your Majesty is so benevolent, how can the people not be grateful? If your worries can be resolved, they will rush to pay for the palace construction. Your Majesty is not willing to let the people suffer, this is your kindness to the people, but isn't this ignoring their wishes?"

Zhang Rang's eyes were slightly red, and his expression was moved and anxious. He really wished he could agree to it on behalf of Liu Hong.

Liu Hong, on the other hand, looked conflicted and tangled. Sometimes he shook his head and said "No", sometimes he sighed helplessly. After struggling with himself for a long time, he finally put on a look of self-blame.

"You are right. Although I cannot bear it, I cannot ignore the people's feelings. Now I can only make them suffer."

At this point, Liu Hong looked at Zhang Rang and said hesitantly, "How much should we set for the palace renovation?"

Zhang Rang quickly said, "How about charging ten coins per mu of land? Your Majesty, what do you think?"

十钱
Liu Hong frowned, obviously not satisfied with the number.

Zhang Rang understood what was going on, but he did not panic. Instead, he took a few steps closer and spoke in a low voice very close to Liu Hong.

“Your Majesty, you are in trouble now, but the common people are willing to pay for the palace construction. Then, are the officials in the court worse than the common people?” Zhang Rang said this with a sinister smile.

Liu Hong's expression changed slightly, as if he understood something. "You mean?" Zhang Rang said, "The common people can squeeze out ten coins even if they have to live a hard life. The officials in the court are all from aristocratic families. It's not too much to ask them to pay hundreds of millions of coins. There are many vacancies in the country now. It's just right to let them pay the money for the palace construction before taking office."

Liu Hong thought about it for a moment, and his eyes lit up. He then nodded to Zhang Rang and said, "That's great. Let's do it!"

Although he and Zhang Rang had just been playing a duet for quite some time, Liu Hong knew that he was still going to be scolded.

At that time, the Yellow Turbans had left the country in ruins and the people were already in urgent need of recuperation. Collecting additional money for palace repairs at this time was enough to crush the people to death. He was well aware of how excessive this behavior was.

But as the Son of Heaven, he doesn't care too much about the feelings of the common people.

For my personal enjoyment, shouldn't you suffer a little more?

Now Zhang Rang proposed another way. Instead of being scolded alone, it would be better to drag the gentry and scholars to be scolded together. He could collect less tax, but the rest would have to be collected by the scholars.

He asked the scholars for a large sum of money for repairing the palace, and after the scholars took office as officials, they would naturally distribute this money to the people.

If the scholars really did as they were told, their reputation would be ruined forever, which would just fit Liu Hong's wish of striking down the scholars among the aristocratic classes.

If you want to take office as an official, you must first get rid of this evil man for me!
Liu Hong also had to sigh that Zhang Rang was smart. This was also the reason why he valued the Ten Attendants. When it came to dealing with the Han gentry, the eunuchs were more capable.

As Zhang Rang's proposal was successful, Liu Hong soon began to implement it, and thus official positions in the Han Dynasty began to be sold at a fixed price.

If a scholar wanted to be appointed as a county magistrate in a local area, he could take up the position by paying a few million coins in a small county, while a large county would require tens of millions of coins. As for a higher-level position as a provincial governor, or one of the three dukes and nine ministers in the central government, the price would even be hundreds of millions of coins.

As soon as the money for building the palace was released, it immediately caused a strong reaction among the scholars.

How could a smart scholar not see the little thoughts behind Liu Hong and Zhang Rang's back?

In fact, everyone knows that although the ban on political parties that had lasted for more than 20 years was lifted with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the struggle between the officials, or the struggle between the imperial power and the gentry, is still continuing. Today's farce over the money for palace repairs is a manifestation of this struggle.

In this new struggle, some people chose to compromise and eventually paid the money for palace construction and took up their official posts. Of course, there were also people who expressed their resistance in a fierce manner, which could even be achieved by committing suicide on the way to take up their posts.

However, no matter how fierce the fighting was in the Han court, it could not affect Xu Chen who was far away in the border of the Han Dynasty.

As a little-known person who was not noticed by the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, Xu Chen had a very stable period of development since he settled in Yuyang.

During this time, Xu Chen was not in a hurry to expand the land and launch external conquests, but instead concentrated on practicing his internal skills in this small county.

It was not until several months had passed and the season had changed from winter to spring that Xu Chen's internal strength had made some progress.

However, the first move of this internal strength was not used against the big man, but against the Yellow Turbans themselves. The finger he pointed at himself began to take effect.

In an ordinary village under Yuyang, in front of all the villagers, a yellow turban was guarded and sat in front of Xu Chen.

I saw that this man had cold sweat on his forehead and his face was as pale as paper. He looked at the small bags next to him filled with food and a few coins and started to complain.

"Who put these things in my bag?"

(End of this chapter)