Liu Yanzong looked at Xu Churen and Tang Ke as if they were idiots, and was just short of cursing them out. "Look at you two, with this level of intelligence, you dare to be prime ministers? You're really a disgrace to the emperor!"

Xu Churen and Tang Ke were practically going crazy. If the emperor hadn't been there, they would have immediately turned against Liu Yanzong, and their size 42 shoes might have hit Liu Yanzong's size 43 face.

Liu Yanzong, however, seemed completely oblivious to their anger, letting out a dismissive snort as if to say, "I despise idiots."

Zhao Huan asked, "What does Minister Liu think?"

"Your Majesty, I dare to speak frankly: if Your Majesty adopts Minister Xu's strategy, the Great Song Dynasty will be in grave danger!"

"Bullshit! You pervert Liu! All you do is talk about life with young girls all day long, what do you know!" Xu Churen jumped up, like a young wife who had just heard that her husband had cheated on her.

Dazai was so fed up with Liu Yanzong's provocations that he almost spat out his saliva.

Liu Yanzong, however, remained calm and composed, not even twitching a hair on his face. In addition, this guy was extremely handsome. Although he was over fifty years old, he was very well-maintained, with fair skin and a refined demeanor. Yet, when he spoke in court, he was sharp and sarcastic.

His sharp tongue is different from He Ye's. He Ye directly criticizes, relentlessly attacking! He Ye is sarcastic, and he looks at you with the kind of eyes that look at a pitiful idiot, enough to make you so angry that you can get up and die again.

Xu Churen completely lost it, no longer caring about his reputation as Grand Chancellor, he just wanted to curse Liu Yanzong to death!

Liu Yanzong said, “It is right to implement the new policies in the southeast immediately, and it is also right to reward and ennoble the officials and powerful families in the south. But what if the southeast implements the policies on the surface, but secretly plays coy with the court and delays the process? This time it is 50,000 shi less, next time it is 100,000 shi less, and the time after that it is 200,000 shi less. Today you, Xu Xiangyue, have a meeting with the merchants in the capital city, and tomorrow you have another meeting. One day, the merchants will also run out of rice. What should we do then?”

Ignoring Xu Churen's apparent discomfort from constipation, Liu Yanzong continued, "You want to use a delaying tactic, but doesn't the other side want the same? Is it the court that needs a delay, or them?"

Liu Yanzong's words made Xu Churen and Tang Ke blush. Xu Churen snorted, "Then, according to Liu Yusi, how should we break the Southern chess game?"

Liu Yanzong said, "That brat Qian Yu openly criticized the new policies at Chunhua Tower. The Qian family has openly defied the court. Why bother with sophistry? Just confiscate their property, execute those who should be beheaded, and exile those who should be exiled! The court is simultaneously mobilizing a large army to garrison the southeast, stabilizing the situation there and alleviating the winter grain supply in Tokyo. At the same time, it is rapidly implementing the new policies in Jiangnan West Road and Jinghu Road. As for Chengdu Prefecture Road, the old policies will still be adopted, with official titles and ranks, tax reductions and exemptions, and an increase in the number of candidates for the imperial examinations next year. Naturally, there is no way for them to rebel. Once Your Majesty has dealt with Jiangnan West Road and Jinghu Road, most of the southern territory will be completely shrouded in the holy light of the new policies. Although the Shu region is easy to defend and difficult to attack, hasn't it been conquered since ancient times?"

Seeing Xu Churen's unconvinced expression, Liu Yanzong continued, "Why deal with Shu last? Shu is a land of plenty, with a strategically important location. The people there generally don't venture out easily; they're all focused on defense. So even if they rebel, they won't send troops to rescue Jinghu Road and Jiangnan West Road. The court should first take control of the southeast, then march west, joining forces with Yue Fei's army in Jiangling Prefecture for a two-pronged attack. The southern gentry will be nothing but dust under the Emperor's army!"

Xu Churen immediately pointed at Liu Yanzong's nose and cursed, "You scoundrel, you're ruining the country! The Qian family is quite popular in the southeast. If we go and take it directly, some people will incite the people, and there will inevitably be a peasant uprising in the southeast. Once there is a peasant uprising, will the court raise the butcher's knife against the people? You, Liu Yanzong, are truly shameless. You are a surrendered official of the Jin Dynasty and do not take the people of our Great Song Dynasty seriously. But the Holy Emperor is benevolent and will never allow such a tragedy to happen!"

It must be said that these scholars are all incredibly eloquent.

You, Liu Yanzong, are good at showing off and spouting nonsense, but I, Xu Churen, didn't study for nothing!

Upon hearing this, Liu Yanzong was immediately terrified and knelt down, saying, "Your Majesty, please make your judgment. I had no such intention."

The current emperor hates officials who harm the people the most. Liu Yanzong, as the censor of the Censorate, knows this very well. Now, Xu Churen is criticizing him in front of the emperor about the people of the Song Dynasty. This naturally hits his sore spot.

The atmosphere inside the hall instantly turned icy cold; no one dared to speak, and even breathing seemed to become lighter.

The emperor smiled and said, "Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhao Huan continued, “You are all my loyal ministers. I know in my heart that the Song Dynasty still needs to rely on you. History will record that you, Liu Yanzong, established an honest officialdom for the Song Dynasty, and that you, Xu Churen, ushered in the first golden age of China. History will also record that you, Tang Ke, were the first person in the Ministry of Commerce of the Song Dynasty, and that you, Shi Ziming, pioneered education in China. And that you, Qin Hui, Li Gang, Zhang Shuye, and Zhong Qing, were the first meritorious officials of the Song Dynasty’s Northern Expedition!”

After hearing the emperor's words, all the officials bowed and said, "Your Majesty is as wise as the sea. We have all received Your Majesty's grace and dare not overstep our bounds."

Despite saying this, the courtiers were quite pleased to hear the emperor's words.

As a subject, who would not want to be a prime minister who assists the monarch in governing the world, just like the Duke of Zhou and Guan Zhong, to help the sage king create a peaceful and prosperous era?

Although the emperor in front of us is a mess in many things, and even has the potential to be a tyrant, he is not incompetent and has ambition.

Even the ministers themselves were unwilling to admit that the emperor's methods of controlling them were absolutely comparable to those of the founding emperor.

Take Liu Yanzong for example, who publicly mocked the Eastern Palace. If it weren't for the emperor's support and tacit approval, he wouldn't have dared to do it even if he had a hundred lives. But the Eastern Palace wasn't easy to bully, and they quickly retaliated, leading to a quarrel between the two sides.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!