Chapter 1745 I am a sharp knife
He said, "Your Majesty is important because you can endure what ordinary people cannot."
A flicker of nostalgia crossed the emperor's face as he said, "The last emperor of the previous dynasty was no less talented than others, but he was too rebellious and unrestrained. He believed that the world was in his hands and he could do whatever he wanted."
"He has no patience with the people, doing whatever he wants. Therefore, he doesn't care about the people of the world, nor does he regard the people as human beings. He also has no patience with the aristocratic families, and only blindly demands..."
"But Father, we haven't wronged the noble families this time," the prince couldn't help but interrupt his father, "They are the ones plotting against us."
The emperor raised his eyelids to look at him and said, "For some people, we have been unfair to them by reducing the number of ninth-rank officials and increasing the number of candidates through the imperial examination system in recent years."
The emperor was silent for a moment. Thinking that since they were the only two people in the study anyway, he simply said, "From the perspective of our Li family, this is our Li family's world. But in the eyes of those aristocratic families, this world is ruled by them and us together."
He curled his lips and said, "Earlier, I wanted to revise the 'Clan Records' and re-rank the noble families. As a result, the Cui family was able to avoid court for three years. How many of the clan heads are serving in the court? And who among the sons of the families serving in the court dares to disobey the clan head's orders?"
"Among this entire court of civil and military officials, how many are from my Li clan, and how many from other aristocratic families?" The emperor replied, "The emperor owns the nine provinces, but the nine provinces need people to govern them. Village heads, county magistrates, provincial governors, military governors... The emperor can't handle all worldly affairs in one person, so the empire is governed jointly by the emperor and his civil and military officials."
He said meaningfully, "When more than half of the civil and military officials in the court come from aristocratic families, then the world will be ruled by the aristocratic families and the emperor together."
The prince opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"So whether it's the aristocratic families re-determining their rank, or the imperial examination taking up the ninth-rank official quota, they see it as my Li family doing them a disservice." The emperor asked the silent prince, "Do you want to go to war with them? Do you want to antagonize the aristocratic families of the world like the last emperor of the previous dynasty did, and fight for decades more?"
The prince's face turned pale. "Will they rise up in arms?"
The emperor said slowly, "You are going to exterminate all three of their clans. With the sword and the sword on their backs, they will naturally fight to the death to survive."
The prince thought about it, his chest rising and falling sharply. He still couldn't hold back his anger and said angrily, "Are we just going to let this matter go?"
"Of course not," the emperor's expression turned cold. He pointed at the list on the table and said, "Don't even think about the three Yi clans. You won't be able to find them among the direct descendants, but killing a chicken to scare the monkeys is still possible."
The emperor said, "I ask you to be patient, but I don't ask you to be a coward. Sometimes you need to turn a blind eye. The closed eye pretends not to see something, while the open eye needs to see the way forward clearly."
"Don't mention the three tribes of barbarians all the time. This will only make people think that you are violent and unjust, which is a big taboo for a king." When he was most angry with Wei Zhi, he only said that he would kill him, but he never said that he would kill his family as well.
The prince seemed to be lost in thought. After a while, he came to his senses and asked, "What should we do with these people? Should we kill them all to serve as a warning to others?"
The emperor glared at him and said, "Besides beating and killing, can't you think of something else?"
The Crown Prince suddenly remembered after being glared at, "How about finding an excuse to have Lord Yin and Tang He capture all the people and make them our own?"
The emperor said, "The people behind this are not fools. Let Yin Li and Tang He make a choice. Kill some and keep those who are willing to serve. This will serve as a warning to others and also keep some of the spies we know about."
The prince complained, "There are too many spies in the palace. Can't we find a way to find them all? I think it would be best to find one and kill the one behind it, so that we can make an example of him."
The emperor shook his head, glanced at the crown prince, and said, "Let's not talk about anything else, just talk about your uncle and your wife's family. Don't they have spies in the palace? They can always find out something about what's going on in the palace. If we really want to punish them, do we have to ask them too?"
When the prince heard this, he immediately stopped talking.
The emperor said, "They may not be like the people behind Xu Yu who trained people from childhood and sent them to the palace, but they must have befriended the eunuchs and maids in the palace, bribed them, and obtained information from them. Such things are definitely what they have done a lot."
"When I first ascended the throne, your mother found an excuse to release a group of people. First, she felt pity for the palace maids. Second, there were indeed many spies in the palace at that time. Not only were there people left over from the previous dynasty, but also the former crown prince, the former third prince, and members of various aristocratic families..." The emperor paused here and sighed, "It was precisely because a large number of palace maids and eunuchs were released from the palace at that time that some people began to recruit some orphans and train them and send them into the palace."
When the emperor said this, he felt a little sad. Most of the people on the list were not very old, and they should have been recruited into the palace in those years.
Regardless of whether they are outside the palace or inside the palace, these people are all his people.
They should be like Xu Yu, whose fate was no longer in their own hands from the moment they were taken in.
Thinking of this, the emperor looked up at the prince and said earnestly, "Dalang, don't underestimate anyone in this world. Look at Xu Yu, she's just a slave. Perhaps in the eyes of you and the people behind her, she's not even a human being."
"But it was she," the emperor said, pointing to the list on the table, "who dealt them a severe blow, a blow that could destroy their years of business."
The emperor hadn't felt this way for a long time. He only felt this way when he was young and on the battlefield.
Because no one knew whose knife, whose arrow, or a stray arrow from somewhere could take his life, so at that time he never dared to underestimate anyone.
But after being in power for so many years, the emperor had long forgotten that feeling.
The prince lowered his eyes and thought, if Zhou Man had not been sensitive and noticed something was wrong early on and was on guard, if she had really used that set of poison needles, something would have happened to the Crown Princess and the child. Not only would Zhou Man's head be lost, but he would probably also be greatly shocked. You know, he was in urgent need of a child now.
Once something happens to his child, not only the third brother, but also his other brothers will probably have ideas.
The prince opened his mouth when he thought of this, hesitated for a moment, and finally did not say anything.
The emperor looked at him and felt a little satisfied. This child finally learned that there are some things that should not be said.
So he waved his hand and said, "Alright, don't worry about this matter. The Imperial Medical Bureau is about to open, and the Imperial College also has new students from the vassal states who are about to enroll. You can worry about it more. Leave this matter to Yin Li."
When Yin Li arrived, the emperor spoke out what the crown prince had not yet said, "Investigate the fifth prince's mother's family."
I originally wanted to update two chapters at once, but the second chapter is still a few hundred words short. I was too sleepy from hiking today, so I wrote a little slowly. So the next chapter will be posted in half an hour.
(End of this chapter)
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