Meeting the emperor's gaze, Xi Zhicai felt a chill run down his spine.

"Your Majesty, I believe the Li family can be exonerated, but only after they have rendered meritorious service!"

What are Zhicai's thoughts?

Liu Hong smiled slightly, his eyes fixed on Xi Zhicai.

"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' Now that our Great Han is internally stable, we will inevitably wage war against the north in the future, which requires us to have a thorough understanding of them..."

At this point, Xi Zhicai suddenly fell silent and cast a questioning look at Liu Hong.

Liu Hong nodded: "Go on!"

Xi Zhicai breathed a sigh of relief: "If we want to understand them, in addition to sending people to investigate, we also need to know what they have and what they need. And to know these things, we always need some clandestine connections!"

“That makes sense, but this matter should be handled by Wenhe and Zhongde. Why should Zhicai get involved?”

Liu Hong stared intently at Xi Zhicai, as if trying to see right through him.

With the military expansion and reorganization in full swing, the Military and Political Affairs Department will wield considerable power in the future. If it were to be involved in intelligence matters, that would be a bad thing.

Xi Zhicai, however, said solemnly, "Your Majesty, the Investigation Bureau has developed far too rapidly in the past two years; it shouldn't be involved in too many things..."

Others may not know about this rebellion, but Xi Zhicai knows it very well. Although the emperor was behind it, the Investigation Bureau was undoubtedly the most important link.

An organization capable of fabricating such a massive case could be disastrous if it were to spiral out of control in the future.

Liu Hong had already taken precautions, and when Xi Zhicai brought it up today, he couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"In that case, Zhicai, you can tell Xinyue about this plan. I will grant her family the right to atone for their crimes through meritorious service, and I will send someone to assist them!"

Xi Zhicai relaxed and respectfully replied, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Liu Hong then asked, "By the way, how is the Military and Political Affairs Department doing lately?"

"Your Majesty, the military training of the border troops has begun to show results, and most of them have understood and accepted the concepts of responsibility and protection!"

Liu Hong said in a deep voice: "Now that all the battalions are expanding, the education of those new recruits is also particularly important. The Military and Political Affairs Department also needs to expand its manpower as soon as possible and arrange them into the army as soon as possible after it is formed!"

Xi Zhicai nodded: "Your Majesty, I am making preparations!"

"That's good!"

Afterwards, the emperor and his minister chatted for a while before Xi Zhicai took his leave.

In mid-April, Cao Song, Zheng Xuan, Zhang Bozu, and others also finished dealing with the affairs of the three prefectures and returned to Luoyang to report their respective gains to Liu Hong and the officials.

Inside the Chongzheng Hall, Cao Song, his face flushed, took out a report and read it aloud:

"By order of Your Majesty, I am responsible for investigating the land, property, and hidden persons of scholars and powerful families in the three prefectures of Ji, Yan, and Qing."

After our diligent and meticulous investigation, we have identified a total of 115 scholar families and 192 powerful families, for a total of 307 families.

The total value of his shops, family property, grain, and various items, along with those seized by the various armies, was nearly 370 billion. After deducting the rewards, pensions, and expenses of the various armies, a total of 330 billion remained, which has been deposited into the national treasury.

He owned approximately 60 million mu of fertile land, which had been converted into government land.

The group concealed approximately 2.4 million people, with over 5.3 million tenants and over 700,000 slaves and servants under its name.

The people they had hidden, along with the tenant farmers, have been handed over to the local government for re-registration. The slaves and servants have been relocated to Guanzhong and other places to be responsible for reclaiming farmland and constructing water conservancy projects, etc.

As Cao Song reported the figures one by one, the entire Chongzheng Hall fell silent.

Those scholars and powerful figures had been entrenched in various places for hundreds of years, and their wealth was considerable. Although the officials were mentally prepared, they still could not hide their shock when they suddenly heard such a huge figure.

Although Liu Hong appeared calm on the imperial throne, his heart was in turmoil.

More than 300 billion, that's more than the Han Dynasty's revenue over the past twenty years.

The three prefectures only have 70 million mu of fertile land, yet those people occupy nearly 90% of it, and control nearly 60% of the population.

The extent of its harm is simply outrageous.

Fortunately, all of these things have now been nationalized, and with the replenishment of money and fertile land, the Han Dynasty has finally become extremely wealthy.

Suppressing his excitement, Liu Hong, his face flushed, glanced at the officials and then said loudly:

"In this suppression of the rebellion, in addition to the bloody battles fought by the soldiers at the front, it was also thanks to the efforts of you gentlemen in maintaining stability that you have made great contributions."

I have decided to take twenty percent of the confiscated wealth as rewards, distributing it among the ministers, officials of various prefectures and counties, and military generals according to their respective ranks. What do you all think?

"Your Majesty is wise!!"

Upon hearing that the emperor had actually given out more than 60 billion coins as a reward, the officials were overjoyed.

Although there were as many as 50,000 registered officials in the Han Dynasty at this time, after the more than 60 billion were divided up, each person would still receive at least a million, not to mention them.

For a moment, the officials in Chongzheng Hall also began to happily calculate the various kinds of money they could get, and many of them couldn't help but laugh out loud.

After his initial excitement subsided, Liu Hong turned to Zheng Xuan and asked, "How is the situation with the books seized this time?"

Zheng Xuan, beaming, stepped forward and reported: "Your Majesty, after my work and the work of five thousand students of the Imperial Academy, we have collected a total of more than 27,600 books of various kinds. In addition to various classics, histories, philosophical works and collections, there are also manuals and annotations by famous scholars of all dynasties, various rare books, as well as books on geography, mathematics, military strategy, engineering, medicine, water conservancy and other subjects. We are currently classifying and processing them!"

Upon hearing that Zheng Xuan and his team had actually discovered so many books, the officials were all greatly shocked.

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