Bai Ze is a lucky star

The score line seems simple, but in fact, which prefecture should have a higher score, which prefecture should have a lower score, which prefecture should admit more people to maintain balance rather than destroy balance, and which prefecture is easy to be exploited by the powerful...

All these aspects need to be considered.

The prince got a headache just thinking about it.

This did not quite fit his wish to lie down.

So, the prince wrote a memorial, intending to leave the matter to his father to deal with.

Then, he received the news that his father was critically ill.

The prince: "...Oh."

The Jinyiwei who delivered the letter said anxiously: "Your Highness! His

Majesty told you to go back quickly." Even Xu Yanmiao, who was passing by, did not believe this.

[He used this trick again. This is the third time. I wonder who the old emperor is going to deal with this time. 】

The prince smiled and said, "I know, I will go back later."

He calculated in his mind how many days he could delay to make his father too lazy to wait for him and take the initiative to deal with the score line.

Didn't he know his father well? He probably wanted him to go back to work and add bricks and tiles to his career. Besides, his father was probably fishing again.

Sure enough, after a few days, the prince heard that Prime Minister Dou brought tax collectors, Jinyiwei and local troops to start cleaning up local nobles.

List a time, and those who exceed the time -

those who do not return and hide the population will be killed! Those

who do not return and annex the land will be killed! Those

who commit many evil deeds and do not surrender will be killed!

For a while, blood flowed like a river and wailing was everywhere. One after another, the nine clans were thrown into prison, waiting to be executed in the autumn.

The prince was watching happily, but now he couldn't sit still: "Dad, what's wrong with you!"

Didn't I say before that we shouldn't do such things as haste makes waste!

Many powerful families learned that the prince was in Changzhou, and came to ask the prince to stop the emperor.

The prince vaguely felt that his father's behavior was not right, but it seemed that it was indeed something his father could do. After thinking about it, he decided to follow his intuition: "Okay, I will go and persuade your majesty."

The powerful families did have to do it, but they couldn't be so anxious!

However, the prince's way back to Beijing was blocked. Every time he passed a checkpoint, he would be blocked for several days, but the other party followed the rules, so he couldn't force his way in.

After all, he was just a prince, and he had to act with difficulty when the emperor gave an order.

However, this made the accompanying nobles more certain that the prince was unaware of this matter, and that it was the emperor's own idea - and in order to prevent the prince from coming to persuade him, the emperor actually did everything he could to prevent him from returning to the capital!

As the old emperor started to slaughter people, there was great resistance at the beginning, but later, whenever the people led by Prime Minister Dou went to a place, the local nobles quickly returned the population and land.

Almost every day, the prince received news from various prefectures that the nobles had returned the population and land, with the least returning dozens of households and the most returning hundreds of households. It seems like a small number, but every day, it adds up to a lot. Moreover, it is only the number of one prefecture, and the number of all prefectures added up is a large number.

A month later, when the prince, who had been obstructed in every way, returned to the capital, the hidden population of the local tyrants was almost one-to-one with the population on the surface.

- In other words, the population of each prefecture was "out of thin air" twice as much.

[It's really starving the timid to death, and the brave to death. It's only been more than 30 years since the founding of the country.]

When Xu Yanmiao's sigh rang in the ears of all the officials in the capital, many of them stopped what they were doing. Relying on the experience of being hurt, gossiped, and trapped in a battle royal situation for many years and their strong psychological quality, the officials in the capital barely maintained their expressions.

The restless life is finally back!

The prince swaggered back to the palace and found that his father was indeed sitting there well.

"Dad!" The prince couldn't help but complain: "You scared me to death."

Although he guessed that it was to cause trouble, he still couldn't help but worry - what if he guessed wrong?

The old emperor smiled and said: "Your policy of dividing the examinations in different places and stipulating the number of southerners and northerners admitted is quite good."

The prince blinked and said: "It's very good, but I'm busy with things, so I have to worry about it." The

old emperor smiled and didn't answer: "Do you still remember the story of the prime minister who ruled the world?"

The prince: "There was a prime minister in the Liang Dynasty. When he was young, he was responsible for distributing meat to the villagers. If others distributed meat, the villagers would complain, thinking that others got too much and they got too little. Only that prime minister could always satisfy everyone when distributing meat." The

old emperor nodded: "It's like this when distributing meat in the village, it's like this when I was the prime minister, and it's still like this when I was the emperor. Either make everyone satisfied, or make sure no one can find fault with you. You must remember this principle.

The prince remained calm and said, "Okay, I remember it. I will also tell Yao'er this." The

old emperor smiled and looked at him, and continued, "Of course, I can't do it, but you are more famous than me, and you are more gentle and tactful than me, so you can definitely do it."

The prince was about to say something, but was interrupted by the old emperor, "Don't be humble, just listen to me."

The old emperor kept on talking, "You are better than me. You are not as arbitrary as me, nor do you care too much about money like me, and you are not as wary of officials as I am."

"If you think the Jinyiwei can be used, use them. If you think they can't be used, get rid of them."

"If you think your brothers are trustworthy, keep them. If you think they are not trustworthy, reduce their power. I believe you will spare their lives."

"The nine clans of those powerful families will be executed in the autumn, and they are specially reserved for you to show your favor."

"Dad!" The prince's face was obviously pale: "Why are you saying this suddenly?"

The old emperor glanced at the prince and said calmly: "You don't think that your father called you back before to scare you, right?"

"Imperial Physician!" The prince stood up suddenly: "Where is the imperial physician! Someone, call the imperial physician!!!"

"Why are you panicking? Man cannot fight against Heaven, nor against fate. I am just old, and when people get old, they will die." The old emperor comforted the prince, "Besides, I have always worried about the old sending off the young. Now I don't have to worry about that anymore, which is a good thing."

The prince's eyes were getting redder and redder.

The old emperor smiled and said, "Before I died, I have cleaned up those old scholars for you. It will take some time for the new scholars to come up. You can rest assured to show your talents. But don't be too tired, you can't bear it. Now that Taisun is still young, you can ask a few ministers to help you more, but don't give them too much power."

"The prime minister must be deposed, but don't be too anxious. Now the power of the prime minister is divided into two. It will be difficult to compete with the emperor in three to five years."

"The score line is a good idea. It will not allow the south to dominate. It's just that I don't have the energy to do this. You have to worry about it."

"Why are you crying? I'm not dead yet! Don't be too sad when I die. Otherwise, Daxia will lose its emperor and crown prince one after another. Your son is only ten years old and can't support the court."

The prince pursed his lips and said, "I know."

"And..."

The old emperor glanced at him, paused, and said, "Forget it."

The old emperor said, "Anyway, I'm still alive. You don't have to look like you're mourning. Just do what you have to do."

After leaving the old emperor, the prince was silent for a moment and turned to Wuying Hall.

The palace maids sweeping the hall and the guards guarding the gate outside the hall were shocked and even horrified as they watched the prince come over and took the initiative to handle official business.

They looked at the sky -

did the sun rise from the west today?

The

old emperor really didn't die that soon.

Killing the powerful families was a pleasure, but it would take a lot of energy to maintain stability afterwards.

The old emperor insisted on completing the task, and made it seem that the people were calm and had no complaints.

——In fact, they were just suppressed by him.

Fortunately, there were potatoes and sweet potatoes as food. Even if the population increased, they could still have a bite to eat and ensure that they would not starve to death before the harvest.

Without potatoes and sweet potatoes, he would not have acted so quickly.

"Xu Yanmiao..."

The old emperor tapped the table lightly.

"It's a lucky star."

After saying that, he found it funny again.

Judging from what he said, how could Bai Ze not be a lucky star?

But a lucky star cannot bless an old man to live a hundred years.

Emperor Tiantong may still die after all.

When Xu Yanmiao learned the news, he was attending Gao He's wedding with Lian Hang.

At the wedding, the groom was all smiles and was being fed cup after cup of wine.

His colleagues were more cunning than the other, and they urged him to drink more fiercely. One said, "You must drink a glass on your wedding day," and another said, "Brother Gao will be able to repair the palace and get promoted in two or three months, so you must drink a glass." Fortunately, Gao He had a good alcohol tolerance, so he didn't get drunk directly.

But Gao He was still happy.

Xu Yanmiao and Lian Hang were also very happy. They looked at each other and pressed the groom on the left and right: "Come on! Brother Jiaqian, have a drink!"

"I wish Brother Jiaqian great wealth, promotion and fortune, and a long and happy marriage with his wife in the future!"

"Okay, okay! Drink! Drink!"

Gao He drank so much that he staggered and climbed onto the table, waving his hands: "I want a promotion!"

Xu Yanmiao shouted: "Promotion!"

Gao He: "I want to get rich!"

Lian Hang threw coins: "Get rich! Get rich!"

Gao He laughed and drunkenly pointed outside the door: "I want to set up a big gate outside, a "yue"!"

- Officials' families usually erect two pillars at the door of their homes. The one on the left is called "valve" and the one on the right is called "yue", which are used to record their own achievements. There is a word specifically to refer to this, which is "the house of valves and readers".

Xu Yanmiao clapped his hands vigorously, and the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

"Xu Lang!!!"

The commander of the Imperial Guard rushed in, grabbed him and ran.

Xu Yanmiao followed him in a daze: "What's wrong? What happened?"

Anyway, the bell would be rung soon, so there was no need to hide this matter.

The commander of the Imperial Guard was breathing heavily and spoke quickly: "The emperor! The emperor is about to collapse! He wants to see you!"

"What?!"