Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 269

Soon, Huan Yuan rushed to the county guard's mansion overnight, and Uncle Sun Guan let Huan Yuan into the study. The two discussed in secret for half an hour in the study, and even Uncle Sun Guan's eldest son, Uncle Sun Ping, didn't know about it. The two discussed something, but when they left later, Huan Yuan left with his head held high, as if he had won some prize.

After Huan Yuan left, Uncle Sun Guan revised the two hexagrams overnight, and asked Uncle Sun Ping to send people to Shanyin and Danyang quickly, and submit them to Wu Qi, the governor of Kuaiji County, and Qu Yi, the prefect of Danyang, at the same time, and returned to the mansion. Huanyuan also sent a large number of family servants to Wujun, Kuaiji, and Danyang counties.

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Royal Palace, Xiang Zhuang Study Room.

Although it was already late at night, Xiang Zhuang was still awake, and his father, Fan Zeng, was sleepless at all, because during the day Zi Che Shi had just killed more than fifty people in the western suburbs of Wuzhong, including Zhang Wen who openly resisted the law. It is entirely conceivable that the gentry in Wuzhong City and even the entire Wujun will take action.

At this juncture, neither of them could fall asleep.

All of a sudden, Xiang Zhuang seemed to hear something, and said without turning his head, "Come out!"

As soon as the words fell, a short and thin figure wrapped in a black scarf walked out of the shadow behind Xiang Zhuang like a ghost. Before the bell, a large number of servants and servants left the Huan Mansion on fast horses, and at the same time, two others left the Sheriff's Mansion on fast horses."

"Huan Mansion, County Guard Mansion?" Fan Zeng said, "Is it the two old owls Huan Yuan and Uncle Sun Guan?!"

Xiang Zhuang frowned, and said: "It was expected that Huan Yuan would do something, but Shu Sun Guan would also be involved in this matter, which is a bit unexpected."

"It's okay for Uncle Sun's to get involved." Fan Zeng waved his hand, revealing murderous intent, "It's still the same sentence as a father, reform and reform are the trend of the times and the aspiration of the people. Whoever dares to obstruct is the sworn enemy of our Xiang family. He must die! In Jiangdong, no matter who you are, don’t make enemies with the Xiang family. If it’s a tiger, you lie down for this old man; if it’s a dragon, you also lie down for this old man!”

Xiang Zhuang suddenly got up, walked back and forth for a few steps with his hands behind his back, suddenly raised his head and shouted: "Huyan Zhengde!"

Hu Yanzhengde, the captain of Tianlang who lived in the royal palace, entered the room in response, clasped his fists and said loudly: "What is your order?"

Xiang Zhuang said in a deep voice: "Immediately send someone to invite Ling Yin, General General, Military Advisor Baili and Mr. Bi Shu to the palace!"

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Shanyin County, Governor's Mansion.

After reading the letter sent by Shusun Guan and Huan Yuan, Wu Qi was so angry that his beard and hair were all stretched out, and he roared in the study: "It's unreasonable, it's unreasonable, it's nothing to compare Shiqing's nobles with untouchables. Dare to kill the nobles, Xiang Zhuang's child is so perverted, isn't he afraid of losing people's hearts?"

As for Xiang Zhuang, Wu Qi didn't like it at first, but he decided to welcome Xiang Zhuang. Uncle Sun Guan, Qu Yi and the rest of the dozen or so family ministers all got the benefits of Xiang Zhuang and kept silent. No matter how much he opposed it alone It's just in vain, but it doesn't mean that Wu Qi approves of Xiang Zhuang. In fact, Wu Qi has never had a good impression of Xiang Zhuang.

Now, Xiang Zhuang is determined to implement the new land tax law in Jiangdong, so that Shiqing's nobles and untouchables can receive taxes together, and Wu Qi has no good impression of Xiang Zhuang.

"Wu Gong, keep your voice down, keep your voice down."

Wu Qi roared loudly, under the panic of Chang Shi and Gongcao sitting next to him, he hurriedly reminded Wu Qi to be careful, the two had to panic, and it must be known that although Wu Qi was the sheriff of Kuaiji County and the highest officer of a county, he could This is only historical. In fact, in addition to Wu Qi, the sheriff of Kuaiji County, there is also Ding Gu, the county lieutenant who controls the garrison of a county.

This Ding Gu is a mighty general in the army, he only has King Xiang in his eyes, and never puts the officials in the county in his eyes. Scolding and whipping were common occurrences, and even the county guard Wu Qi was openly reprimanded twice by Ding Gu in the marketplace.

Wu Qi was not angry, and a piece of complaint was brought to Xiang Zhuang, but there was no follow-up at all.

What made Wu Qi angry was that not only did Xiang Zhuang not issue an edict to punish Ding Gu, he didn't even reprimand him, and he didn't send anyone to Shanyin to investigate. Arrogant, if it wasn't for this guy being just a warrior with no knowledge of civil law and political affairs, I'm afraid Wu Qi would have been dismissed long ago.

This kind of situation is also very common in the counties under the rule of Kuaiji County. Even in the more than [-] counties in the five counties of Jiangdong, except for the two county guards Zhou Yin and Gaochu, the other county guards and county magistrates are all under the command of the county lieutenant, The county lieutenant's severe restriction and surveillance, and as time goes by, the contradiction between the two parties is becoming more and more acute.

This kind of situation is actually reasonable. The reason why Xiang Zhuang let Shiqing and the gentry serve as the governors, magistrates and subordinate officials of each county was all out of political compromise and to stabilize the situation as soon as possible. , the strategy adopted as a last resort, so the army was sent to serve as the county lieutenant and county lieutenant to check and balance the influence of Shiqing and the gentry.

Now, with the stability of the surrounding situation of Chu State and the stability of Xiang Zhuang's position, both parties who compromised at that time could no longer tolerate this situation. Xiang Zhuang wanted to control the counties more effectively, while Shiqing, The gentry also tried their best to get rid of the shackles of county lieutenants and county lieutenants in order to seek greater benefits.

Therefore, sooner or later, this abnormal pattern of political compromise will be resolved. Even if there is no reform, the conflict between Xiang Zhuang, Shiqing, and the gentry will break out sooner or later, and now it is only ahead of schedule.

"What are you panicking about?" Wu Qi snorted and said angrily, "What's there to be afraid of?"

Chang Shi and meritorious officials were all silent, Wu Qi was not afraid of Ding Gu, but they were, he was a murderer without blinking an eye.

"You don't have to be afraid." Wu Qi said coldly, "The old man just wants to see, does he, Ding Gu, really dare to kill people?"

Chang Shi and Gongcao looked at each other with wry smiles, got up at the same time and bowed to Wu Qi: "Mr. Wu, I will take my leave for my humble post. I have to get up early to deal with official duties tomorrow."

"Handling business?" Wu Qi said coldly, "But it's unnecessary."

"Ah? This..." Chang Shi and Gong Cao looked at each other, not knowing what Wu Qi meant.

Wu Qi sneered, and said again: "Now that the wings of Xiang Zhuang's son are hardened, we Shiqing and the gentry are of no use, so they want to kick us away, but the old man wants to see, if we are missing Shiqing , The support of the gentry, how to govern Jiangdong, how to maintain such a huge country with only those big soldiers under his command? Hmph!"

Chang Shi and Gong Cao were stunned when they heard the words, and said, "What does Mr. Wu mean to say, quit?"

"Yes, quit!" Wu Qi sneered, "From tomorrow onwards, the old man will be sick, and all the affairs in Kuaiji County will be handled by that man Ding Gu. The old man will take a look, that man Ding Gu Maybe you can manage such a huge county!" After saying this, Wu Qi continued, "As for the two of you, whether you get sick or not is up to you."

Chang Shi and Gongcao looked at each other again, and said repeatedly: "Health, this disease must be born!"

Changshi and Gongcao are all smart people, and they have already seen it. Now Shiqing and the gentry are competing with the royal power. The only difference is that the gentry rushes to the front, but Shiqing hides behind the scenes. However, the interests of both sides They are unanimous, and they all want to force the royal power to make concessions and grant greater governance power to the local county guards.

It is a dangerous move to fight against the royal power. In any case, Xiang Zhuang firmly controls the military power.

However, Shiqing and the gentry are not helpless. It is true that Xiang Zhuang holds military power, but his army can only help him fight, but cannot help him govern the region. If Xiang Zhuang offends Shiqing and the gentry severely Now, if Shiqing and the gentry come to complain collectively, Chu State is afraid that there will be nationwide political chaos, and Xiang Zhuang will have to go around.

Xiang Zhuang is the king of Chu, with a hard knife in his hand, it is really easy to kill a few heads.

But Shiqing and the gentry also held soft knives in their hands. When used well, the soft knives can sometimes kill people. If Xiang Zhuang doesn't want Chu's political situation to be chaotic, if he doesn't want the country to perish, he has to compromise, he has to give in, and this Once, it is no longer a compromise like last time, this time, King Chu must give in completely!
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Three days later, Chu Palace.

"Ha, are you sick?!" Xiang Zhuang threw an official letter on the case to the ground, and said angrily, "Wujun, Danyang, and Kuaiji counties govern more than forty counties, three county guards, and 46 county magistrates. There are more than 300 subordinate officials, all of them fell ill overnight? Hahaha, this disease is really neat enough."

To be honest, Xiang Zhuang is also a little terrified now.

One guy is sick with three county guards, 46 county magistrates, and more than 300 subordinate officials. It is probably okay to be a subordinate official in a local area, but it is difficult to be in charge of one party all at once, and it is even more impossible to be qualified as the governor of a county.

What's more, among these scholars, there are also Shiqing and the children of the gentry, and it is unknown how many people will eventually listen to the call.

Xiang Zhuang thought that he had already highly valued the influence of Shiqing and the gentry, but when things came out, the influence of Shiqing and the gentry was far greater than he expected. Xiang Zhuang originally thought that Jiangdong ruled the next five There are more than 46 counties in the county. It is amazing that dozens of people in seven or eight counties are making trouble. I never imagined that there are more than 300 officials in [-] counties making trouble!
"Uncle Sun Guan is an old owl." Fan Zeng said calmly, "He is quite influential in Jiangdong."

"Your Majesty, the most urgent thing is to quickly think of a countermeasure." Xiang He said worriedly, "Most of the officials in the 46 counties of the three counties are sick, so that the political affairs are neglected and the people are in panic. This situation must not be left alone, otherwise, Money, food and taxes cannot be collected, and laws and regulations cannot be enforced, which may lead to political chaos.”

(End of this chapter)