Li Dongyang breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he couldn't find out anything, he was afraid that if he found any clues, it would be bad. *.*-< Shuhai Pavilion >-*
In fact, Li Dongyang deeply believes in Liu Jian and is not afraid of Liu Chengfeng investigating. However, this kind of thing will definitely cause trouble and arouse public excitement. He is Liu Jian's close friend, which means he is pushed to the forefront.
Moreover, a group of royal guards were staring at Mr. Liu, which was too disgusting for people to watch. Since Liu Chengfeng said that nothing was found, Li Dongyang hurriedly said: "Since there are no clues, Mr. Liu is also the first assistant bachelor and serves the imperial court." After a lifetime of hard work, Jin Yiwei must be open to the slightest and remove the captain from Liu Mansion. What does the Marquis of Lianzhou think?"
He spoke, but he was not very sure in his heart. In fact, he knew something about Liu Chengfeng's temperament. If Liu Chengfeng made up his mind, even the nine-headed ox could not hold him back, even the emperor. Begging for mercy will probably have no effect.
So at this time, Li Dongyang, a dignified scholar, unconsciously became shorter and looked at Liu Chengfeng motionlessly, waiting for Liu Chengfeng's reply.
Unexpectedly, Liu Chengfeng just smiled slightly and said: "It is true that I haven't found anything famous in the past few days. Since my lord said so, there is no problem. The spies in Grand Scholar Liu's house can be dismissed, but then again , we still have to investigate what should be investigated, but we have to start from other places, how about it?"
Li Dongyang was overjoyed. Originally, he had no hope, but Liu Chengfeng now nodded in agreement and chose other alternative methods, which was a great help to him. As long as the spies did not enter the Liu Mansion, it would have given him great face. .
In fact, since everyone knew about the investigation, Liu Chengfeng already knew that such a secret investigation would not have any effect anymore, so it would be better to simply sell people out. Of course Liu Chengfeng also knew Li Dongyang's difficulties, and he would have to rely on him for many things in the future. From the bottom of his heart, Liu Chengfeng was more biased towards Li Dongyang. There is a fierce fight in the cabinet, so it would be good to reduce the pressure on him.
Li Dongyang's problem was solved, but Liu Chengfeng's troubles were just the beginning. That guy Liu Ji let the news out, which made the secret investigation more difficult. He had to start from other aspects to find out that accomplice as soon as possible, but I don¡¯t have a clue right now, and I¡¯m really a little frustrated.
Seeing that Liu Chengfeng was relieved, Zhu Youtang was obviously very happy and said: "In that case, a big stone is missing from my heart. Is Li Aiqing satisfied?"
Li Dongyang said: "I have no objections." Then he said goodbye: "In that case, I will go to the cabinet now to arrange the matter of the grain tax into the treasury this year. -< Shuhai Pavilion >-(.)"
This time, only Zhu Youtang and Liu Chengfeng were left in the palace. Zhu Youtang smiled bitterly and said: "Do you really have no clue at all about this case? Hey. Because this is causing a lot of trouble, I can't do it this year. If you don't do well, forget it, I won't blame you harshly, I also know that this matter is as difficult as climbing to the sky, and it cannot be done overnight."
Liu Chengfeng knew that Zhu Youtang was worried. Zhu Youtang's temperament was like this. He wanted to solve everything in three attacks. It was precisely because of this temperament. That's why he was so diligent, and never left the memorial of the day to the next day, but now he was really at his wits' end. There were only so many clues left by the monk Dingxian, and searching like this was like looking for a needle in a haystack, plus it involved Many senior officials arrived. It is inevitable to be timid when investigating.
Zhu Youtang sat on the imperial throne, then took a deep breath, and seemed to remember something. He picked up a memorial from the imperial desk, threw it down from the throne, and said: "You can read this memorial."
Liu Chengfeng picked up the memorial and found that the person named in the memorial was actually Wang Ao, the Minister of Rites. Wang Ao was his mentor, and he would visit him during every year and festival. Although this was only in name, he could In the eyes of outsiders, it is a very close relationship.
Wang Ao's calligraphy was excellent, but the contents of the memorial were a bit murderous. Wang Ao's memorial was to oppose the imperial court's mercantilism. Now the imperial court does have signs of mercantileism. In fact, Many people have begun to gradually change their stance after tasting the sweetness, but the conservative ministers are still the majority, and these people may not be all for their own selfish interests, and some are truly concerned about the country and the people, such as Wang Ao's memorial. The book vigorously criticized the possible consequences of mercantile business, which was so reasonable that even Liu Chengfeng couldn't help but be moved by it for a while.
Opposing mercantile business is actually opposing Jubao Tower. In fact, the opposition has never stopped since the establishment of Jubao Tower. However, this memorial is the first time that someone has raised objections at the level of a minister.
¡°Because most of the big shots in the court know that the Treasure Collection Tower is involved in the palace, if they really want to make a big deal out of this matter, there will definitely be no good results. But now Wang Ao finally couldn't hold himself back and started to take action.
The key to the problem is not that someone opposes Jubao Tower. The biggest problem now is that Wang Ao, Liu Chengfeng¡¯s master, opposes him. This makes perfect sense.?It¡¯s different. Liu Chengfeng pursed his lips and closed the memorial.
Zhu Youtang looked at Liu Chengfeng's expression and said, "What do Liu Aiqing think?"
Liu Chengfeng said: "There is some truth in what Wang Shilang said in his memorial. It's just"
"Just what?" Zhu Youtang has also been in a dilemma recently. In fact, he knows in his heart that Wang Ao is indeed justified. If this continues, it is very likely to cause a crisis. All dynasties have emphasized agriculture and suppressed business. This is not because all rulers They all have hatred towards merchants. After all, they still mean food.
China is no different from other places. In other countries, there are very few unified dynasties. Countries are divided and attack each other. This is no different from the Warring States Period. Frequent wars, coupled with backward medical skills, have caused the death of many people in many places. The average age is only thirty years old, which means that in most places people die before they reach thirty. After giving birth to three sons, one of them may not survive. Even if he survives, most of them will be in the war. Death, therefore, during the same period, the population of each country did not increase much.
But it is completely different in China. Once the situation of great unification appears, the entire dynasty will prosper rapidly. Fertile land, a relatively complete medical system and good hygiene habits will cause the population to begin to multiply on a large scale, and the population will The scale is absolutely unprecedented.
In this prosperous environment, the endless growth of the population has also brought about a huge problem, which is a huge dependence on food and land. If the past dynasties encouraged business, the consequences would indeed be extremely serious. This is also a treasure trove. The biggest flaw in the building.
Liu Chengfeng took a deep breath. Of course he knew that Zhu Youtang cared more about the country and the country than a treasure gathering tower. If the stability of the world was hampered by a treasure gathering tower, Zhu Youtang's temperament would definitely Choose the strong man to cut off his wrist.
A large population is not only an advantage, but also a huge burden. Zhu Youtang's mind is obviously shaken now. He may not be willing to cancel the Jubao Tower. But if he let it go, he was afraid of causing a food shortage. If Liu Chengfeng didn't give him some confidence at this time, he was afraid that the Treasure Building would be in danger.
Liu Chengfeng smiled bitterly in his heart. In fact, he had thought of this possibility when the Treasure Building was first established. Playing with mercantilism in this ancient dynasty was a bit like playing with fire, but he also knew that there were some things he had to do. , any national policy will have countless difficulties and obstacles. If he gives up like this, it will not only damage his fundamental interests, but also give up the last hope of this dynasty.
Liu Chengfeng said seriously: "Although what Wang Shilang said makes sense, Wei Chen thinks that the key point in this memorial is completely wrong. The food shortage in the Ming Dynasty was not a matter of quantity, but the amount of land." Regarding the question, Wei Chen boldly spoke out, as there is a saying in the community, I am afraid that the emperor will not be happy after hearing it."
Zhu Youtang said attentively: "It's whatever you say."
Liu Chengfeng said: "The bones of Zhumen are frozen to death on the road where wine and meat are stinky. This sentence was heard by Wei Chen when he was in Lianzhou."
In fact, this folk song really appeared in the late Ming Dynasty. It talked about the land annexation. The barns in the homes of the big landowners and dignitaries were piled up like mountains, but outside their splendid mansions, they were in rags and had no land. For the refugees who have lost their livelihood through farming, the conflict at this time is naturally not as sharp as it was in the late Ming Dynasty, but Liu Chengfeng was extremely bold when he said such a sentence.
You must know that the Zhu family mentioned by Liu Chengfeng not only alludes to the vassal kings in various places, but also includes the squire class. The squire class, even worse, is the big landowners. Behind these big landowners is the entire civil service system. It can be said that all officials in the court are members of the landlords. It is for this reason that although Wang Ao talked about the food problem, he avoided the problem of uneven fields. In fact, the world is not short of food. Even when grain production was severely reduced, as long as the grain of the entire Ming Dynasty was distributed reasonably, it would not reach the point of catastrophe. The real reason was land annexation, which was the uncontrolled annexation of land by feudal kings and big landowners.
Zhu Youtang's expression suddenly changed. Although it was a ballad, he also knew what Liu Chengfeng was going to say.
Liu Chengfeng glanced at Zhu Youtang, and then said calmly: "Your Majesty, everyone in the world says that farmers don't go to farming, but engage in industry and commerce. This is putting the cart before the horse. But Wei Chen thinks that Jubao Tower can alleviate the current situation. Regarding the issue of food, would your Majesty be willing to listen to me?"
Zhu Youtang¡¯s face looked very ugly. Is this guy Liu Chengfeng trying to stir up Wang Mang¡¯s new policy? This guy is missing a piece of his brain, so he might actually be able to say it out loud. From Zhu Youtang's point of view, it is absolutely impossible for him to imitate Wang Mang. The reason is very simple. The foundation of the Ming Dynasty is the country gentry. If a new land policy is implemented, then the officials and landlords in the world will first oppose him as the emperor. Yes, Zhu Youtang is familiar with classics and history, so of course he knows?The original intention of Wang Mang's new policy was good, but he also knew that the biggest reason for Wang Mang's failure was this new policy. To destroy the interests of his own ruling base would naturally arouse the opposition of all the powerful people and officials in the world. The final result , that is, the country is overturned and the country changes hands.