Linxia

Chapter 242, Liaoyi

Huai'an.

"Sir, Lord Wei refused to leave as you instructed, and only gave us this letter...On the way back, I heard that...he had hanged himself..."

"Since Duke Wei is unwilling, it is not your fault. You have done a great job on this trip, and the promised land and money will be fully paid out. You can go overseas to hide for a while!"

Since Fang Lin dared to do the thing of supporting Wei Zhongxian, he naturally considered the risks. The two people he arranged were all loyal people who came from "skill training classes", had been trained overseas for many years, and had good family relationships. He also promised them a generous reward. With their abilities, there would be basically no accidents in such a small matter. If they really encountered the worst situation and there was a possibility of being caught, they would commit suicide, and their families would be given generous pensions.

In short, relatively speaking, the risk of exposure is extremely small.

Of course, he also made preparations for the worst. He drew back 500 elite soldiers and ships from Huai'an, and combined with years of operations in the Jianghuai area, he could take his whole family and flee overseas at the slightest sign of trouble. Even if his luck was really bad and the court sent troops to intercept him, he could still break through.

It can be said that with all these arrangements, it is basically foolproof.

"Yes, thank you, sir!" Tian Dou and the other two showed joy on their faces when they heard Fang Lin's words. The reward for this mission was not small, much higher than the pension of the imperial soldiers. For them now, it was a considerable family fortune that could be passed on to their children and grandchildren.

After the two men left, Fang Lin paced for a long time and sighed, "Whether in the previous life or in this life, Wei Zhongxian has controlled the government for many years. His roots are deep and intertwined. If he had not really had no intention of rebelling and had yielded step by step, how could he have been uprooted in just two or three months?"

"It is understandable that Emperor Chongxiang took action against Wei Zhongxian in order to control power after he came to power, but when Wei Zhongxian voluntarily gave in, he was killed without any regard for his feelings... It is really chilling!"

He sighed, poured a glass of wine, and poured it towards the north: "Duke Wei, have a safe journey!"

As for Wei Zhongxian, Fang Lin was very good. Not to mention that he let Dong Zugao go for his sake, just think about the spies of the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang. How could he not know anything about the fact that he had relocated the people overseas over the past few years?
"They didn't intervene, probably because they saw my move as relieving pressure on the states. At the same time, any situation was overseas, so they just turned a blind eye."

"And there is this list of capable military generals!" Fang Lin planned to follow the map and find these people in advance before they were liquidated by the civil service group to see if he could lure them overseas and use them for his own purposes.

"I still say the same thing. If I really get discovered, the worst that can happen is that I can just sail out in advance... However, the court is in turmoil right now, and its organizational capabilities have seriously declined. It's not certain that they will be able to catch me."

"And if my prediction is correct, the court will soon be unable to take care of these things. Now that Wei Zhongxian has fallen, it will be Emperor Chongxiang and the civil service group that will face this mess next."

Ever since Emperor Chongxiang ascended the throne, Wei Zhongxian realized that the other party was unhappy and had restrained himself. He no longer targeted princes, nobles, and powerful families in Jianghuai. In the past two or three months, he paid out of his own pocket to subsidize Liaodong. Otherwise, how could he, the Nine Thousand Year Old, who had been confiscating property for many years and whose perfume and soap businesses were making a fortune, have only a hundred carts of silver, money, and treasures when he left the capital?

"Poor Wei Zhongxian, he was not worthy of the word 'virtuous', but he deserved the word 'loyal', yet he ended up like this."

Fang Lin sighed and looked towards the north: "I guess Emperor Chongxiang, who defeated Wei Zhongxian, seized power and stepped into the limelight, can no longer hold back and is ready to make drastic reforms. And the civil servant group has reappeared on the stage. Now that Wei Zhongxian is no longer suppressing them, they can expose their true nature and dig into Daxia's corners... Now, the imperial court in the capital is probably in chaos!"

……

Capital.

The letter that Wei Zhongxian left for Emperor Chongxiang was ultimately never seen by Emperor Chongxiang - after the subordinate handed it to him, Emperor Chongxiang didn't even look at it, but burned it directly, and beat the eunuch who handed the letter to him with thirty lashes.

Afterwards, another decree was issued to dump Wei Zhongxian's body in the city so that the people could vent their anger.

The civil service and the public had different reactions to this.

Naturally, the civil service group sang praises for Emperor Chongxiang, the emperor who toppled Wei Zhongxian and overturned the huge mountain that was towering over their heads. They called for restoring order, fighting corruption, and being upright and strict. They also widely publicized among the people that Emperor Chongxiang was diligent and frugal.

Among the people of the capital, many cried when they saw Wei Zhongxian's corpse. After all, they knew that Wei Zhongxian had never harmed them during his reign. On the contrary, their living standards had improved greatly. Especially the workers in the soap and perfume factories, they were grateful to Wei Zhongxian.

The civil officials thought, how can this be allowed? If you cry to Wei Zhongxian and this gets to the emperor's ears, how will he view it? If it is recorded in history books, how will future generations view it?
This malicious act of crying out for Wei Zhongxian must be cracked down on! It must be cracked down on!
Some high-ranking officials in the court who were guilty of their crimes had not yet taken action, but Emperor Chongxiang heard about it first and was furious. There were actually people crying for Wei Zhongxian? How could this save his reputation? Furthermore, does this prove that Wei Zhongxian was popular and he killed the wrong person?

This is simply unreasonable!

Emperor Chongxiang issued an order, and the civil service group went with the flow and ordered the government to disperse the people who were crying for Wei Zhongxian. Some who wanted to collect Wei Zhongxian's body were directly arrested and imprisoned.

The matter was not over yet. After a few days, Emperor Chongxiang thought about it and still felt unsatisfied, so he ordered Wei Zhongxian's body to be cut into pieces and his head to be cut off and hung on the city gate.

Such behavior chilled some officials who still had a conscience. They knew in their hearts that Wei Zhongxian had "faults", but he had some merits, right? Moreover, no matter how he treated the civil officials, at least he was loyal to the imperial family of Daxia, otherwise he would not have surrendered his power without resistance... But even so, he was still liquidated, and his life and property could not be saved. Even after he hanged himself, his body was cut into pieces. From this, it can be seen that Emperor Chongxiang was mean and ungrateful. With this example, how dare they speak out and make suggestions in the future without considering personal gains and losses?
……

royal palace.

Emperor Chongxiang was wearing a dark yellow dragon robe, which was obviously an old piece of clothing. He was reviewing memorials in front of a lamp. There was a thick stack of reviewed memorials beside him, and it was obvious that he had been reviewing them for a long time.

The people of the capital said that he was frugal and diligent. This was true. Here are some examples: as an emperor, he only needed one dish and one soup for meals; he would mend his clothes when they were worn out; he would review memorials until late at night every day...

If we only talk about simplicity and diligence, Emperor Chongxiang is one of the best emperors in all dynasties.

"Your Majesty, Lord Zhou requests to see you." Wang Daban reported softly.

"Xuan... No, I will go to meet him myself." Emperor Chongxiang stood up.

Wang Daban looked at Emperor Chongxiang's back, his lips trembled, and he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it.

He originally wanted to say that some civil servants found him and promised him benefits in exchange for turning a blind eye to some things and keeping his mouth shut, but when he thought of Wei Zhongxian's fate and the eunuch who was beaten with thirty boards for handing over Wei Zhongxian's letter, he finally shut up.

"Lord Zhou, please!" Emperor Chongxiang took Lord Zhou's arm, entered together, and gave him a seat. Thanks to the help of the civil service group headed by Lord Zhou, Wei Zhongxian was defeated and his influence in the court was quickly eliminated. Now, the good reputation of the emperor has spread in the capital... All these made him trust Lord Zhou very much.

As for Emperor Chongxiang, if he trusts someone, it is an extreme trust, and whatever the other person does is good.

"Your Majesty, you really embarrassed me." Lord Zhou bowed and sat down, saying, "Your Majesty, although Wei Zhongxian is dead and the Wei Party in the court has been purged, there are still Wei Party forces in the local areas. I am here to ask Your Majesty to go a step further, clarify the world, and give the people of the world a bright and clear world..."

"That makes sense. I'll leave it to Lord Zhou. I'm relieved."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" A gleam of light flashed in Lord Zhou's eyes. Of course, the Wei Party must be attacked locally and in the army, but at the same time, this opportunity can be taken to unite the parties to attack the dissidents and take down the Chu Party, Zhejiang Party, Qi Party... all at once.

"By the way, Your Majesty, this time we confiscated Wei Zhongxian's property and sold it for a total of 3,120,000 taels of silver..."

Three million taels, who are you looking down on?

Even if Wei Zhongxian did not take action against the princes and nobles in the capital and the big families in the Jianghuai area in February and March because Emperor Chongxiang was displeased, and even paid out of his own pocket to subsidize Liaodong, the remaining silver would definitely not be just this number. Not to mention anything else, the silver, money and treasures in the one hundred carts alone were nearly three million taels, not to mention the many other industries.

The reason for this is naturally that the industries of Wei Zhongxian, such as soap and perfume, which were like golden gooses, were sold at low prices by certain people and transferred into their own hands. For example, this Lord Zhou took a large share of it.

"hiss!"

However, Emperor Chongxiang was not very knowledgeable. Hearing this astronomical figure, he took a deep breath and said, "Three million one hundred and twenty thousand taels of silver, every penny of it is the blood and sweat of the people. I really want to skin Wei Zhongxian alive. Hanging himself would be too easy for him."

"Yes, everyone in the world knows about Wei Zhongxian's greed... Your Majesty, please eradicate Wei Zhongxian..."

Zhou Ge Lao flattered Emperor Chongxiang and finally revealed another purpose of this trip: "When Wei Zhongxian controlled the government and had absolute power, he imposed heavy taxes on my Jianghuai area, and the people suffered terribly and lived in misery... I ask Your Majesty to treat the people of Jianghuai equally, cancel these evil policies, restore order, and get back to the original source."

The taxes he referred to were actually industrial and commercial taxes in the Jianghuai region. As for saying that because of this type of tax, "the people are suffering and have difficulty making a living", this is also true. However, who these "people" specifically refer to is very debatable.

When Emperor Chongxiang heard about the policies during Wei Zhongxian's period, he subconsciously felt disgusted. Now, in his mind, Wei Zhongxian was an evil person, and everything he did was wrong, and he needed to be overthrown and defeated.

Then, he listened to the details of the incident, thought about it, and felt that what Zhou Ge Lao said made sense: the nine states of Daxia were all his subjects, and he should treat them equally. How could he favor one over another and treat one place harshly? He couldn't do the perverse things like Wei Zhongxian did.

"Yes, I will grant Lord Zhou's request." Emperor Chongxiang agreed.

"Cough cough!" Upon hearing this, Lord Zhou suddenly started coughing violently.

"Lord Zhou, what's wrong?"

"No, it's okay. I'm happy for the people in the Jianghuai area... Your Majesty is truly a holy emperor!" Lord Zhou said sincerely.

In fact, he had prepared many speeches and even prepared to give a passionate performance, but he did not expect to achieve his goal so easily. To put it more bluntly, he did not expect Emperor Chongxiang to be so easy to fool.

"Lord Zhou, if the heavy taxes in the Jianghuai area are abolished, even with the three million taels of silver confiscated from Wei Zhongxian, I estimate that it will not last long..."

"Your Majesty is far-sighted." Lord Zhou nodded, agreeing with this point of view.

Doesn't he understand the nature of his subordinates? This time, the top brass are well fed, but the subordinates are still hungry. How can they let go of the three million taels of silver? If they play tricks on each other, the money will be consumed quickly and they won't be able to hold out for long.

"I have cut down on palace expenses and practiced strict frugality, but it is just a drop in the bucket. The Great Xia treasury is empty and the income is not enough to cover the expenditure...Does Lord Zhou have any advice for me?" Emperor Chongxiang asked.

"It's nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure..." Zhou Ge Lao didn't want to take the responsibility, so he only talked about the strategy without going into details. However, Emperor Chongxiang refused to let him go, and pressed him hard. In the end, he could only come up with a crazy idea: "Your Majesty, why not collect Liao Xing... The so-called Liao Xing is a tax set up to provide for the war in Liaodong..."

There is nothing that can be done about it. If the industrial and commercial taxes in the Jianghuai area are cancelled, the less money collected here will naturally have to be made up from other places. It is nothing more than raising taxes under various pretexts.

"Liao tribute...Now there are many disasters in various parts of Daxia. If we collect Liao tribute again, will it be..." Emperor Chongxiang hesitated, but he was not a fool after all.

"Your Majesty, our Great Xia has tens of millions of people. If the Liao tribute is shared among each citizen, there is not much..."

"That's the reason. Facing the great enemy in Liaodong, I am tightening my belt. My people should also be patient... that is, they should suffer temporarily. Once the Tartars are defeated, I will cancel this tax..."

All I can say is that Emperor Chongxiang was naive.

Even now, sweet potatoes have been widely promoted in various parts of Daxia, but natural disasters have occurred year after year, and people in many places can barely survive. If taxes are increased... Not to mention, the current government is corrupt, and if the court collects one cent of tax, the officials below dare to exploit five or ten cents. This is forcing the people to death!
At this time, Emperor Chongxiang suddenly had an idea and proposed another one: "Lord Zhou said to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, which reminds me... Last year, my brother was seriously ill, and I was ordered to come to the capital. On the way, I rested at the post station and saw that many of the staff in the post station were corrupt. It would be better to close the post station and save some expenses..."

"Ah?" Lord Zhou did not expect Emperor Chongxiang's thoughts to be so jumpy, and he could hardly keep up with his train of thought.

However, this was the first time that Emperor Chongxiang proposed a policy strategy, and it was difficult to refuse. Besides, he thought about it and felt that it would only be a matter of laying off tens of thousands of people and would not have any major impact, so he agreed.

——If Fang Lin were here and heard about the abolition of the post station, he would probably subconsciously think of a certain Li Chuang Wang in his previous life. Wasn’t he forced to do nothing but…

……

(End of this chapter)