Chapter 528 Rebellion
The terrifying thing about the imperial tutor is not his ability to strategize and control the overall situation, but his ability to calculate people's hearts and manipulate them with ease.
Based on a person's personality, psychology, behavior style and interpersonal relationships, he can accurately predict that person's weaknesses, decision-making after encountering things and the direction of his fate.
It is also because of this that the Imperial Master can turn everyone into a chess piece on his chessboard, allowing him to manipulate them at will.
Shen Qingtan figured out the key to this and couldn't help but worry about Gu Changsheng's safety: "The Imperial Master is a person who doesn't distinguish between good and evil. In order to achieve his goals, anyone can be sacrificed, even himself."
"Relatives between the two countries are tense right now. If the situation changes, I'm worried that the Imperial Master will not only fail to protect Brother Changsheng, but will even abandon him at the critical moment."
She looked solemn: "Husband, should we send someone to protect Brother Changsheng in secret?"
Zhao Yi comforted her gently, "Cousin is not only your family member, but he was also dragged into this chaotic situation because of us. You must protect him no matter what."
Shen Qingtan believes that he is Gu Changsheng's calamity.
When Gu Changsheng lost her, he could not explain to his relatives, and he felt ashamed to face them. He had no home to return to, and he searched everywhere for her alone, suffering a lot.
The teenage boy was thus burdened with a heavy burden and lived in torment of guilt.
Now, Gu Changsheng finally lived a stable life, taking care of the children, treating the patients, and tending to the herbs every day. However, because of her, he was in danger again.
She gently pushed Zhao Yi away, walked to the desk, and spread out a piece of plain paper.
Seeing this, Zhao Yi came to Shen Qingtan and ground ink for her personally.
Shen Qingtan wrote a letter, and after the ink dried, he put it in an envelope, sealed it, and handed it to Zhao Yi: "Please deliver this letter to the forces my brother left behind in the capital."
After saying this, she took out the token from her sleeve pocket and handed it to Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi understood Shen Qingtan's intention. This was to mobilize all the forces stationed by the Zhenbei Palace in the capital of Northern Qi to protect Gu Changsheng's safety. "Okay, I'll let Jiang Mu do it personally."
He knew how important Gu Changsheng was to Shen Qingtan, and did not dare to be negligent or neglectful in the slightest, so he wrote a letter immediately.
Afterwards, Zhao Yi called in Jiang Mu, who was guarding the door, and handed him the two letters and the token in his hand. "You will set off early tomorrow morning and deliver these two letters to the capital as soon as possible."
Jiang Mu discerned the importance of the matter from Zhao Yi's serious expression: "I will definitely fulfill your mission."
Zhao Yi said, "You have to travel early tomorrow morning. You don't need to stay with me tonight. Go and rest early."
"Yes." Jiang Mu responded and retreated.
Shen Qingtan looked at Zhao Yi and saw that he had arranged everything, and then he breathed a sigh of relief: "It's been a busy day today, and you're tired. Let's go back to the courtyard and rest early."
Zhao Yi nodded slightly and was about to return to the main courtyard with Shen Qingtan when he saw a subordinate rushing over. He took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to him: "Master, there is an urgent letter from 800 miles away."
The expedited delivery of eight hundred miles shows that it is an extremely important matter.
Zhao Yi immediately opened the letter, took out a piece of plain paper, took a quick look at it, and his face turned cold.
Shen Qingtan noticed the change in Zhao Yi's expression and asked quickly, "What's wrong? What happened?"
Zhao Yi handed the letter to Shen Qingtan: "Recruitment has begun in various places."
The conscription was within their expectations, so Zhao Yi wouldn't look so solemn.
Shen Qingtan was puzzled. He took the letter and read a few lines before his face changed. He said in disbelief, "Except for skilled blacksmiths and carpenters, all males in every household over the age of fifteen and under the age of fifty-six will be taken away."
She couldn't help but look at Zhao Yi: "In every dynasty, when conscription was required, families with only one son and elderly parents could apply for reinstatement. This ensured that each family had a son to support the family, take care of the parents, and continue the family line."
"If a family has many sons, one will be conscripted for every three sons, and two for every five sons, so that each family has enough labor to maintain farming and support the family."
"And conscripting a large number of men will lead to a labor shortage. Without able-bodied men to till the land, farmers' fields will become barren and produce no food. This will lead to famine in various places, directly affecting tax revenue and military rations."
"Let's not even mention the people's livelihoods, who are starving everywhere. Just the fact that there are too many soldiers in the barracks and not enough food means the soldiers are starving. Even if they don't die on the battlefield, they will starve to death in the barracks."
Such an extremely foolish act was actually just to quickly strengthen the military strength of Northern Qi.
Even during the chaotic times when farming and warfare were combined, some people would be retained for each family.
What's more, there was no imperial examination at that time, only a system of military merit.
This is the only way to become an official.
He has land and a title.
The people are fighting for their own personal interests.
Zhao Yi felt a headache after hearing this. The Emperor of Northern Qi must have known these principles, yet he still did this. There must be some hidden reason behind this.
He rubbed his brows. "It turns out that the increase in taxes has already made it impossible for the people in various places to survive. They are extremely dissatisfied with the court, but because the court sent a large number of troops to suppress them, they have been able to maintain a superficial calm."
"Now that the conscription order has been issued, civilians in several places have already refused to obey the call and have gathered to fight against the soldiers, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides."
"When local officials saw that the people were risking their lives to resist the government, not only refusing to pay taxes but also refusing to obey conscription, they realized the seriousness of the situation and submitted a memorial to their superiors requesting additional troops to suppress the rebellion."
At this point, he sneered, "How can it be so easy to mobilize more troops? By the time the report is passed up one level after another, and the reinforcements haven't arrived yet, I'm afraid the government office will be overrun by the rebellious people."
What Northern Qi did would lead to its downfall.
Why should the Great Zhou take action?
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The Emperor of Northern Qi, who was far away in the capital, received the memorial overnight and immediately panicked.
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