novelaction Chapter 126 Undercurrents in the Court
Chapter 126 Undercurrents in the Court
This year was destined to be a turbulent one for Wei Rong's family.
For more than half a month, officials came to his house to discuss matters.
The Imperial Palace's Secret Cavalry reported these matters truthfully to Zhao Hengzhen.
"Ah, have they finally lost their patience?"
When Zhao Hengzhen heard the report, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. The ministers in the court had private dealings with each other, but they were only dealing with the right prime minister and his own son-in-law.
"Otomo, what do you think I should do about this?"
The white-faced man following the emperor was called Wu Wei. He had been his companion since childhood, and Zhao Hengzhen had long regarded him as one of his own.
"Your Majesty, I cannot speak too much."
Wu Wei's feminine voice rang in Zhao Hengzhen's ears, making the emperor displeased.
"When have you ever stopped talking? I asked you to talk, and you still did it."
Zhao Hengzhen threw out a few words, feeling that the people around him were a little incomprehensible. Could it be that he was getting old and these people were going to leave him?
Wu Wei was shocked when the emperor said this, and thought to himself, don’t you have any idea about the things you have done?
"Your Majesty, your recent actions have caused some people to be wary. It's inevitable that some people will take action. You must make plans early."
Wu Wei's statement of such disrespectful words to the emperor was a privilege granted to him by the emperor. Zhao Hengzhen did not want the people around him to be unkind.
"Plan, what plan? Could it be..."
"Your Majesty, please ask the Right Prime Minister to come and discuss..."
"Right Prime Minister?" Zhao Hengzhen had this idea at first, but in this way, all his little thoughts were exposed. In fact, the prince was just a puppet of his. He could pull it when he had nothing to do and move people's hearts.
"Then summon Right Prime Minister Fan Wenyuan."
Some things cannot be borne by one person alone, and it may not be a bad thing to have more people share the burden.
There is no private affairs in the palace.
Wei Rong soon learned that Zhao Heng had announced his meeting with the Right Prime Minister.
"What does the emperor mean by this? Is he going to deal with our Wei family?"
Wei Rong still has some power in the court. The Lu family and the Cui family are his supporters, and he also has many connections with the Wang family and the Li family.
"Looks like impeachment will begin tomorrow. If that doesn't work, we'll resort to military remonstration!"
When Wei Rong said this, he was actually unsure.
He can only control half of the imperial guards guarding the imperial city, and this half may not be absolutely loyal.
The governor of Wucheng, the military commander outside the city, also only has 10% of the power. Military remonstration is just talk. Rebellion is not that easy.
But Zhao Wei happened to know what he was thinking. Zhao Wei felt that if he didn't take action at this time, he would most likely become a lamb to be slaughtered.
"Uncle, I think a military remonstration is not impossible. We need to make a comprehensive plan."
Wei Rong knew Zhao Wei's little thoughts. He recruited the Cao Gang in the first place just to gather his own private soldiers. He actually had more than a thousand dead soldiers at his disposal, hidden in this capital area.
"Second Prince, please don't lose your temper. Have you truly figured out what the Emperor is planning this time? Don't act like your mother when things get tough."
It's almost like saying that he is a woman with long hair and short knowledge.
"We can't be so passive!"
"Passive! When have you ever seen us passive? If you act so hastily and reveal your weakness, that would be passive!"
After hearing what his uncle said, Zhao Wei calmed down a lot and asked:
"So what are our plans for the next step?"
"To be honest, I suspect Your Majesty is using the Crown Prince's case to stir up some trouble. It depends on who makes the move. I guess your father is out of money and wants to rob someone's house."
"This old man has no moral bottom line. He's just messing with us out of idleness!"
"Don't be rude. I'm just afraid that His Majesty is trying to take advantage of our Wei family this time. It looks like we're going to bleed..."
Looking at the falling snow outside the window, Wei Rong felt miserable.
After Fan Wenyuan entered the palace, he chatted with the emperor for a while. There was nothing interesting in the conversation, he just talked about some trivial matters.
"This time, son-in-law did a good job. You raised a good son."
"Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. I heard that this was the princess's idea, and my son is simply assisting the emperor."
The road construction was actually just an excuse. Making money was the real thing, and it also solved some of the problems of privately raising government soldiers when there was no fighting.
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, local gentry usually paid money to the government to serve as government soldiers, which was used to cover their food, clothing, weapons and armor expenses.
In the later period, these soldiers had to bring their own food for training. This was also the reason why the soldiers of the last dynasty had no food and wages, and the army was in disarray.
Fighting a war when you have no food and no money is something only a fool would do that would cost you your life but is thankless.
After the road construction led by Fan Xitong, a large number of maintenance workers and road security teams were needed, and the expenses of these people had to be supported by tolls.
In ancient times, bandits were rampant, and having such safe guards to escort you was much better than being at the mercy of bandits.
There is a post station every forty miles. There are basically guards here who are ready to provide assistance at any time. In addition, Fan Xitong also recruited many refugees to join the guard team.
Their parents and children could also protect themselves by reclaiming wasteland near the post station.
The chain economic belt, the Belt and Road Initiative, allows people along the way to quickly accept new things. Agricultural products can also be traded near the post stations. There is no need to go to distant towns to trade. Agricultural product posts can act as a broker for the transactions.
This will generate income for the post station.
The villagers can harvest fodder when they are free, and the commuter buses can also bring some daily necessities to the villagers.
Mutual benefit can revitalize a road.
The emperor saw not only the financial benefits, but more importantly the convenience of the roads. Once a war broke out, he would be able to quickly gather troops to fight back.
But things did not go as planned. The ministers in the court did not see these things and only saw the increase in the power of the right prime minister.
Just when the emperor was thinking of dismantling the power of the right prime minister, he remembered to re-examine the prince's case.
It was this matter that had been hidden for two years that almost caused a palace coup.
"Your Majesty, I impeach the son-in-law Fan Xitong for acting like a merchant and competing with the people for profit..."
The Zhou Dynasty abolished the Censorate because they did not like these guys who spoke the truth but did not do their job. Therefore, the power to supervise officials and report on matters was delegated to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Rites.
It is rumored that the person who reported the matter today was the Minister of Rites Lu Yipeng.
The reason why Lu Yipeng was so active in submitting the memorial was closely related to the road construction. He wanted to avenge the road he had traveled.
"Oh, Mr. Lu, please tell me what happened?
Zhao Hengzhen was neither anxious nor annoyed, but listened patiently.
"Fan Xitong has wasted the people's money and resources by building an expressway on the existing official road. This is completely unnecessary and has also led to widespread forced labor. Your Majesty, you must know that forced labor harms the people and is a near-fatal crime..."
"Bullshit! You saw my son recruiting laborers and you're almost dead?"
"Your Majesty, I have a witness. The son of a farmer in Zhang County, Handan, died from corvee labor, and his family has no way to sue the authorities."
When the ministers in the court heard this, they all whispered to each other, wondering how could the prince consort do such a thing?
Zhao Hengzhen was obviously unaware of this incident and asked in a deep voice, "Lord Lu, you need evidence to speak. Who is in office in Zhang County, Handan?"
After these words were spoken, it seemed that the matter would not be let go until the truth was revealed.
Only then did Fan Wenyuan remember that something like this really happened in Zhang County, Handan...