Lu Haowen looked at him deeply and shook his head. "If you say change, who hasn't changed after such a long time? But as for what you and I are talking about, the emperor has not changed, and I have not changed either. It's just that the situation has changed and the position has changed! At that time, the country was in danger, and the emperor wanted to fight to the death. But I experienced the Jingkang incident and was disheartened. Moreover, Li Gang, the prime minister, was entrusted with the care of my descendants in Yangzhou, so of course I would have said those inappropriate words. Now that the country has stabilized the overall situation, the emperor is determined to march north and reorganize the nine provinces, and I have also experienced Bagongshan and Nanyang, and the matter of entrusting the orphan to this door last year. Staying in the court at this age is nothing more than helping the emperor to stabilize his pace... Of course I will blame myself for my dereliction of duty in the past few months! But Prime Minister Zhang, I could entrust you with the Neo-Confucian manuscripts in the past, but I don't know if you can remember the original principles I just said today?"
Zhang Deyuan was speechless and could only nod his head in agreement, saying that he would study the most recent chapters of the original school when he returned.
After Lü Haowen had taught the two powerful ministers a lesson, he turned around and continued to walk away, and everyone hurriedly followed him. When he left Yiyou Gate, the minister did not intend to go to Chongwenyuan, Dutang, or Mige, which were further south, but went directly to Donghua Gate and left the palace alone.
Just like that, let’s not talk about what the ministers were thinking when they returned, let’s just talk about here in the palace. At three o’clock in the night, a candle was lit as usual in Gyeongbokgung Palace, but Emperor Zhao, who was alone in the empty room, did not go to bed early. She just lay on the couch, listening to the chirping of insects outside and waiting for others.
Yang Yizhong returned with great difficulty, knowing that he could not escape this, but he still came to report cautiously.
"What's the matter?" Zhao Jiu blurted out when he saw Yang Yizhong coming in, without waiting for the other party to greet.
"Reporting to the emperor," Yang Yizhong replied earnestly. "If we want to investigate this matter thoroughly, it will take ten days or half a month, and by then the Mid-Autumn Festival will have long passed. And if we want to identify the relatives of the righteous people, we may have to wait until after the postponed talent selection ceremony."
"Since I'm waiting for you here today, I don't want to ask such detailed questions. There must be some rough data, right?" Zhao Jiu, who was wearing a robe, stood with his hands folded under the candlelight. "I just want some rough conditions and rough proportions... These can be easily asked, right?"
"Yes." Yang Yizhong knew it was inevitable, so he stepped forward and reported it. "So that the emperor knows that according to the law, all prostitutes must be registered with the government. From what I have found, there are 578 people registered with the government, most of whom were newly added last year or this year. This is a huge difference compared to the nearly 10,000 people on the list before Jing Kang."
"If the difference is not much, I might as well jump into the well again."
Yang Yizhong pretended not to hear this, and continued to stand in the shadow in front of the couch and introduce: "In fact, as far as I know, in addition to the official list, there are some private prostitutes in the night market and restaurants in the east of the city, and in the Caihe area in the south of the city. The specific ratio is different from the official list. I asked several subordinates to come forward, in the name of investigating Jin spies, and asked 20 to 30 store managers with dark faces. They roughly averaged out and said that in the prosperous areas in the east of the city, it should be less than one to one, that is, each store has at least ten people, and as many as twenty or thirty, depending on the size of the business of the store; in the market in the south of the city, it is difficult to count, but it is generally recognized that there are more... It is about one to two or three compared with the official list."
"Is it to evade taxes? The south of the city is poorer?"
"yes!"
"About two thousand in total?"
"yes……"
"Why do I feel that it's a little too little?" Zhao Jiu was puzzled. "With frequent wars, there are more than a million or tens of millions of people who have left their homes. Tokyo is also the largest city in the world..."
"The emperor." Yang Yizhong looked at him seriously. "I have asked around, and most of them were sold directly to wealthy families. The emperor once ordered a redemption in Henan and Lianghuai areas... However, many were sold south of the Huai River, so this number is really hard to find out. As for the capital, I have heard some other words from some people, saying that the emperor prefers simplicity and hates the past entertainment of the Emperor Taishang Daojun, so the people below dare not easily seek pleasure. When the wealthy families come back, most of them just buy maids from other places to avoid being seen. When they have banquets, they order takeout or invite famous chefs to have banquets in their private homes."
Zhao Jiu came to his senses and asked again, "Among these two thousand people, what percentage were bankrupted by the Jin army?"
“…”
"Why don't you speak?"
"I'm afraid the government won't believe me if I tell you."
“…”
"I first asked 20 or 30 store managers to ask, and the highest ratio was only 41, and the lowest was only 11. On average, it was only 81. Later, I went to Caihe Night Market overnight and asked 20 or 30 hotel managers, and they all said the same thing." Yang Yizhong said seriously. "Your Majesty... Before the third year of Jianyan, local soldiers and bandits were more harmful than the Jin people. After the third year of Jianyan, the Jin people's harm was mostly caused by refugees in Hebei, but the government received and resettled many people at various ferry crossings on the Yellow River. On the contrary, refugees in Jingdong were more scattered, and they could only be regarded as the harm of Liu Yu and Li Cheng."
Zhao Jiu had already believed it in his heart, and even felt that it was as he expected, but he remained silent. After a long while, he spoke, but seemed to have skipped over the matter: "Zhengfu..."
"I am here."
"Do you remember what we said in private on Mount Bagong?"
Yang Yi was panicked and bowed his head in a solemn manner: "I don't know what you meant by that."
"If the Jin people cross the river, please put an end to those words for me... I have even forgotten what I said."
"I have forgotten it too." Yang Yizhong gritted his teeth and spoke carefully. This was not something he should remember. At least he couldn't say the words he still remembered.
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