Chapter 449 The Beginning of the Family Chaos
"Tan Sanlang, all lands have deeds, you must know that, right? Take your Tan family away immediately, otherwise don't blame me, the He family, for being rude." He Wu had lost his patience.
"We, the Tan family, are here to share His Majesty's worries and help the disaster victims. No one can drive us away. If you want us to leave, we must first get an order from His Royal Highness Prince Xiang."
Tan Sanlang brought up King Xiang to pressure He Wu. Only then did he truly realize the benefit of this trip and was able to hold his head high in front of the He family.
Neither of them gave in to the other, but the Tan family had no intention of stopping the work. King Xiang was naturally happy to have help, so how could he destroy his own Great Wall? Instead, he praised the Tan family in person.
Seeing that he couldn't drive the people away, He Wu asked the people he brought with him to join the team and work, while at the same time he sent a message back to ask the head of the family to make a decision.
The head of the He family now realized that he had lost a step and had been taken advantage of. He thought he could threaten the emperor to make him pay attention to the He family again, but he did not expect to fall into a dilemma.
If they want to make amends now, they have to be nice and friendly to King Xiang and Marquis Wuning who are providing disaster relief, but this will also mean they lose the initiative.
So in the following days, the Tan and He families changed their attitude towards the disaster relief envoys drastically and did their best to please and protect them, almost responding to their every request.
Thanks to Su Qianqian's strategy, the disaster in Hongzhou was quickly alleviated. However, the attitudes of the Tan and He families towards the royal family aroused dissatisfaction among the other three families. The only family that did not express its position was the Queen's mother's family, the Ye family.
The Ye family did not enter officialdom. Their children supported the family through business, and their reputation was supported by scholars who studied and traveled. That was why the daughter of the Ye family ascended to the throne, because outsiders would not interfere in government affairs.
Because of this, the Ye family is the only one among the six families that unconditionally supports the emperor, because the emperor will protect the Ye family for his own use.
The alliance of the six major families began to crack. In order to compete for interests, each family either showed goodwill to the emperor or reached out to other families.
Half a month later, the people severely affected by the disaster along the Hong River were basically resettled. King Xiang sent a good news to Emperor Gan De and received praise from the emperor.
It was at this time that Prime Minister Xue's new land policy was promulgated and implemented, and Qin Hanzhang received a new task. Together with King Xiang, he implemented the new land policy, re-measured all lands and redistributed them according to people, and overturned the policy of tax exemption for the entire family if one person entered the officialdom. In this way, the land and taxes of the aristocratic families would face a reset.
The thing that each family was most worried about happened. At this time, the families that performed outstandingly during the disaster relief period felt that they had a chance to negotiate, and those families that did not take any action could not help but worry.
"This time, the Tan and He families have to set an example, and the other families will have to make the mistake. Once someone takes this step, the rest will be much easier."
Su Qianqian gave Qin Hanzhang some advice.
"Last time, in addition to writing to the Tan family to ask for help, you also sent letters to the other families, right?" Qin Hanzhang asked with a smile. He had indeed smiled a lot more recently.
"Yes, otherwise their news is too slow and we wouldn't know that the alliance is already disintegrating." Su Qianqian said as a matter of course.
"But how can the Tan family and the He family be willing to set an example?" Qin Hanzhang asked again.
"There are only two ways to make people compromise: coercion and inducement. For the He and Tan families, we deliberately let the other family know, and then talk to one of them in a big way, telling them that whoever takes action first will get the benefit. The benefit is that His Majesty will give some franchise rights to this family."
"This is bribery, coercion is... Tan told the family secrets, the six major families jointly murdered the former crown prince, this is a crime of genocide, as long as they are pointed out, they will naturally know how to choose."
Su Qianqian narrowed her eyes slightly like a little fox.
"But we have no empirical evidence. What if..." Qin Hanzhang was not surprised. He had also thought of this step, but how to implement it was still a problem.
"I have the evidence!" Su Qianqian smiled slyly.
[Where do you have it?] 】This time even the system was curious.
[Don’t worry about this. I will definitely take it out when the time comes. I guarantee that they will be obedient... or they will rise up in rebellion! 】Su Qianqian also kept it a secret.
[My lady, this is not fair. Isn’t our relationship one of sharing? I tell you everything I know, but you are hesitant to talk to me. Is this fair? 】The system questioned angrily.
Su Qianqian ignored the system and Qin Hanzhang didn't ask any more questions. Since Su Qianqian said she had evidence, they could give it a try.
Qin Hanzhang and King Xiang agreed to negotiate with the head of the Tan family first. In order to make it easier for Su Qianqian to accompany him, she wore men's clothes, so Xue Zhiqing had to follow suit and wear men's clothes.
They rushed all the way to Yunzhou, where the head of the Tan family and the prefect of Yunzhou personally went outside the city to greet them and invited them directly to the Tan family's old house.
The current head of the Tan family is the eldest brother of the Tan family who was divorced by He Liansheng. He knows that Su Qianqian is a woman disguised as a man and is the wife of Qin Hanzhang, so he is very respectful to Su Qianqian.
As for Xue Zhiqing, she was the daughter of Prime Minister Xue, whom their family hated, so naturally they treated her with contempt.
To Su Qianqian's surprise, Tan was also present, sitting with her mother. She even nodded at Su Qianqian. The helpless anger she had when she was first divorced was no longer on her face. She looked graceful and calm.
As agreed, King Xiang never mentioned the new policy on land and taxes. However, an elder of the Tan family looked at the head of the Tan family and asked the questions they wanted to know.
“I have not made a decision on this matter yet, but because the Tan family was the first family to come to Hongzhou to help me with disaster relief and farmland repair, I came here first.
The emperor father told me that the noble families who implemented the new policy first would be rewarded by granting some franchise rights in the future.
Xiao Wang cannot favor one over the other, but implementing the new policy first will be an excuse to gain benefits in the future, and no one will be able to compete with it by then. ”
Prince Xiang had memorized these words by heart, and he spoke them with great emotion. Although the head of the Tan family would not believe it immediately, he was also weighing the issue. If the promise was true, he could indeed give some compensation.
However, he will still wait and see. The other families have not taken any action. If he is the first to implement the new policy, he will become the public enemy of the aristocratic families. If the benefits are not great, it is better to wait and see what abilities Prince Xiang and Qin Hanzhang have to implement the new policy in Jiangnan.
"Your Highness Prince Xiang has shown such great love for the Tan family. We are extremely grateful. This is the best spring apricot blossom season in Yunzhou. We would like to offer a toast to Your Highness and the Marquis."
The head of the Tan family ignored the matter by toasting. Later, when King Xiang wanted to bring up the topic, the head of the Tan family repeatedly gave perfunctory evasions.
[This old guy is a bit rude. It seems I need to remind him. 】
Su Qianqian said in her heart, and Tan, who was sitting opposite her, couldn't help but look up at her with some confusion in her eyes.
After looking around, Su Qianqian set her sights on Tan Sanlang. Just then, the dancer in the hall finished a song and left. Su Qianqian smiled and said:
"The third son of the Tan family is handsome and intelligent. He reminds me of a story. The prince in the story was handsome but unfortunately died young. Would you like to hear me tell the story of that prince?"
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