The room was now empty except for the Emperor and the Marquis. The Emperor immediately asked, "Cousin, tell me, what's a good way to bleed these powerful families dry?"
The Marquis smiled and replied, "I didn't have any clue at first, but I heard something on the way here that gave me a bit of inspiration."
"What is it? Tell me quickly, cousin!" the Emperor pressed, forgetting all about eating his melon.
The Marquis then said, "Has Your Majesty heard that the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion got into a fight over a courtesan at a brothel the other day and beat a wealthy merchant to death?"
The Emperor nodded. "I've heard about it, but the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion has sent out a servant to take the blame."
The Marquis laughed, “Your Majesty, a country has its laws, and a family has its rules. How can we let the Duke’s mansion decide who killed someone? Even if the Duke of Zheng has only one son, he must be sent to the Prefect of the Capital for a thorough investigation.”
"If the Duke of Zhenguo is truly distressed, he may go to the palace to plead with you. You understand the Duke of Zhenguo's love for his son, and the Duke of Zhenguo should naturally understand the difficulties you face as the head of Tianwu, shouldn't he?"
The emperor blinked twice and immediately understood.
This is like catching the only son of the Duke of Zhenguo by the nose and openly robbing the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.
The title of Duke Zhenguo has been passed down for four generations. Although the family is not large, they are still very wealthy thanks to the merits of their ancestors in supporting the new emperor and the accumulated family property.
Let alone tens of thousands of taels of silver, hundreds of thousands of taels would be no problem.
The emperor already agreed wholeheartedly, but as an emperor, he still had to maintain his dignity.
He coughed twice and said, "If a prince breaks the law, he shall be punished the same as a commoner. The only son of the Duke of Zhenguo's family has committed a crime, so he should naturally be punished. But if this happens, will the powerful and wealthy families feel a sense of shared fate and cause unrest in Jiangnan?"
"No," the Marquis shook his head. "The Duke's Mansion has shared the Emperor's burdens, so it is only natural that the Emperor would grant him a pardon. Besides, I heard that the Duke's heir is infatuated with the legitimate daughter of the second branch of the Jiangning Marquis's Mansion. If the Emperor could issue an edict to grant them a marriage, the Duke's Mansion would probably be even more grateful to the Emperor."
The legitimate daughter of the second branch of the Jiangning Marquis's family?
The emperor didn't react at first, but when he finally understood, he was both amused and exasperated.
"So this is where my cousin was waiting for me! The Empress has been so eager to marry her cousin to you, but you've ended up playing matchmaker for her!"
The Marquis raised his hand to pour tea, concealing the coldness in his eyes, and replied, "I have said that as long as the barbarians are not wiped out and half of the country is not recovered, I will never get married. So, it would be a shame to hold a young lady back until she is old and faded. Besides, I have a daughter! Fu Niu is filial. Even if I don't marry and have children, Fu Niu will take care of me in my old age and see me off in my final days."
The Emperor already disliked the Wu family and refused to go against his cousin's wishes, all to please the Empress and the Wu family.
Moreover, the marriage of the Wu family's daughter to the heir of the Duke's mansion will bring a large sum of money to the national treasury, which will also solve the problem of pensions.
Thinking this, he smiled and said, "This is not bad. It solves both the problem of the empty national treasury and the problem of Wu's daughter's desire to get married. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone."
Unfortunately, the Marquis's goal was far more than that. He then asked, "Is His Majesty satisfied now? Is it no longer necessary to raise funds for the river repairs?"
The Emperor was immediately taken aback and asked, "Cousin, you don't mean you're still trying to squeeze money out of the Duke's mansion, do you?"
The Marquis shook his head and laughed, "Of course not, you can't keep cutting meat from the same pig!"
The Emperor listened with a strange expression. His cousin used to be such a serious person, but now he was speaking so... down-to-earth!
Have they been living in Broken Gold Beach for too long?
The Marquis, unaware of what he was thinking, took out a troop roster from his robes and said, "This expedition suffered heavy casualties, and we must replenish our troops."
"Tianwu belongs to the common people, but even more so to the powerful families and all the officials. It makes no sense that the common people are sent to kill barbarians, while the powerful and wealthy families stand behind and watch the show."
"Therefore, I propose that this time the soldiers be selected from the young men of each family, with each family having to send two sons, and each son must be the eldest son. In this way, each family will have something to care about, and they will be more dedicated to recovering the lost territories and have a better understanding of the hardships of the war."
The emperor's teacup tilted, and he almost spilled the tea.
this……
Yesterday in the imperial court, civil and military officials and powerful families remained neutral on the issue of pensions.
Even the emperor himself felt chilled and furious at the sight, let alone his cousin, who must have been enraged.
But he didn't expect that his cousin would actually want to roast all the officials and nobles of Tianwu.
Cut off the fuel supply at the root!
Strike the snake at its vital point!
This is to grab all the powerful and wealthy families by the neck and tie them all to the war chariot of the northern expedition!
They may not care about the lives of ordinary soldiers, but they cannot disregard the life and death of their own bloodline!
"This...this might incur public wrath. Is my cousin truly destined to be a lone minister from now on?" the Emperor objected. "Cousin, you mustn't do this! Let's think of another way!"
The Marquis smiled nonchalantly, “Your Majesty, rest assured, it’s not necessary for those sons of noble families to enlist. If they can learn from the Duke of Zhenguo and understand Your Majesty’s worries about the empty treasury, then sending just one to enlist is fine.”
"As for their anger, let them be angry! When I swore to reclaim our land and exterminate the barbarians, I had already disregarded everything else. Whether court officials or powerful figures hate me or respect me, it makes no difference. As long as the Emperor trusts me, I have nothing to fear!"
“Cousin, I don’t trust anyone, but I will trust you…” The Emperor’s heart was burning with emotion, and he had so much to say, but it all stuck in his throat.
As an emperor, one cannot have human warmth.
Even his wife and children might one day harm him for the sake of the chair he sits on.
But he was so lucky to have such a cousin who grew up with him and depended on each other for survival.
When he was weak and unable to fight against everyone, his cousin brought his secret guards, who constantly walked on the edge of life and death, to gather intelligence for him and handle things that couldn't be brought to light.
Now that he has taken power and has the resources to rival certain individuals, his cousin has begun leading troops to reclaim the half of the country that had fallen to the enemy.
Now, he is even solving the problem of the empty national treasury, single-handedly standing against all the powerful and influential families!
Seeing that the Emperor's eyes were red, the Marquis sighed and chuckled softly, "Why are you still like you were when you were a child? I don't have any pine nut candies to coax you anymore."
The emperor smiled, but there was a hint of nostalgia in his smile.
When he was young, his mother died early. At that time, the favored concubine and the empress both had sons, so the late emperor naturally couldn't care less about him, the poor little boy, and wished that the palace maids and eunuchs could bully him at will.
At that time, my cousin's parents and relatives all died of the plague, leaving only my cousin alive.
He knelt on the path his father always took and begged his father for permission to send his cousin into the palace to be his study companion.
My cousin could leave the palace once every two weeks, and I would secretly bring him pine nut candy.
When he was bullied and powerless to fight back, feeling both angry and heartbroken, his cousin would secretly take him to a corner to talk.
He eats candy, and his cousin practices martial arts.
Even after all this time, it all seems so vivid in my mind...
In recent years, he has taken control of the government, and some people have started to take sides and work for him.
He no longer only had his cousin by his side; in fact, he only saw his cousin once every few months.
Occasionally, he would wonder if his cousin also harbored ulterior motives, if he, like those court officials, had something to ask of him, or was hiding something from him...
But at that moment, he was suddenly filled with extreme shame!
My cousin is still the same cousin, but he has become a "qualified" emperor!
The Emperor took a deep breath and said, “Cousin, you don’t need to do this. I am the Emperor of Tianwu, and it is my duty to do this! Just as you said, Tianwu belongs to me, to the people, and to the officials and powerful families. There is no reason for them to stand by and watch!”
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