Because Liu Chang knew that the princes of the Tian family spent a lot of money. Every year on New Year's Day, rewards are given to the servants in the mansion. Rewards for the officials around you, big and small, all require a lot of money. If you want to win over officials from the DPRK and China, the amount of money required will be even larger. Those high-ranking officials in the court, aren’t they tigers who want money? And those princes give rewards to those around them at their own expense.
Just like the prince, the prince was required to pay for the house he was given, as well as the maids and women in the house. None of the money needed is spent by the state treasury. In addition, maintaining your own luxurious life also requires a lot of money. Although the annual salary of these princes is higher than that of officials, it is still fixed.
Most princes would have difficulty supporting themselves if they had no other sources of money. The King of Shu and the King of Song that I heard from Uncle Chu today, aren't they trying their best to make money? A Chu family must pay tribute to the King of Shu of more than one million yuan every year. It is conceivable how much money the King of Shu charges every year? As for the whereabouts of the money, Liu Chang could guess it almost without thinking.
How many years has the King of Shu been out of the palace, and he has been able to build so many financial resources. But the prince has only been out of the palace for two years, and it is impossible to build as many financial resources as the king of Shu. With such a large annual expenditure, the source of money must be a problem. What Liu Chang is most worried about right now is that if the prince wants to let go of the Chu family, will he be like the King of Song who wanted to use the Chu family as a channel to make money?
This is the most difficult thing for Liu Chang to accept, who thinks that he is now the prince's minister, and thinks that he is loyal to the prince. He really didn't want his enlightened master, who he wanted to serve his whole life, to be misunderstood by the world, or have any bad opinions. What's more, he didn't want to see the prince end up in the situation he was most worried about. That night, Liu Chang tossed and turned and almost didn't sleep all night.
Also tossing and turning, there was no one to sleep with me tonight. Just in Cai's dormitory, he hugged the woman beside him and meditated quietly. At this time, although she could not sleep with her, she was still naked according to Huang Qiong's habit. Cai, who was held in Huang Qiong's arms, looked at Huang Qiong's frown. He raised his hand and gently stroked his tightly furrowed brow.
Ms. Cai snuggled next to Huang Qiong and said in an extremely gentle tone: "What's the matter? What great difficulty has you encountered that made you frown like this? You have always been a light-hearted person, so it is too rare for you to be in trouble like this. If you can be with me, Let me tell you, just tell me. Although I don’t understand government affairs, I am not a woman who wants to get involved in government affairs. But at least I still have the ability to help you analyze."
Although I was a little hesitant after hearing these gentle words from Cai. Thinking of Cai's pattern and vision, Huang Qiong still expressed the general thoughts in his mind. Of course, he also said what Liu Chang had said to persuade him and the reason for his hesitation. However, Huang Qiong will naturally not tell everyone's name, as well as their true purpose and thoughts.
After Huang Qiong finished speaking, Cai was not in a hurry to answer him. But after pondering for a long time, he said: "In fact, you have nothing to contradict whether you want to keep this person or not. You are the superior. Although you cannot completely follow your own preferences, you still have the right. What's more, if you think this Living is really useful to you, so there is actually no big problem in staying."
"But there's one thing you have to think carefully about. How to use this person to its fullest potential? Are you able to control this person when he is released? Another point, sir, you are the prince of the dynasty. The Crown Prince of the country. You have to pay attention to one thing. The Chu family is a family of merchants. If you keep the Chu family, you want them to continue to be businessmen, like your brothers."
"Then you are putting the cart before the horse, and it will even seriously affect your reputation. In the Qi Dynasty, these businessmen are the richest, but not everyone can get involved. If you are not appointed as the crown prince, you should still be your hero. King, you are most often accused of being greedy for money when you come into contact with them. In fact, among the clans of the Qi Dynasty, which one does not have contact with those businessmen? "
"There are even many people who can be said to be businessmen under the banner of the clan. But they can, but you, as the current prince, cannot. If you support merchants, it will easily arouse the emperor's suspicion. What do businessmen have? Businessmen have money. Money is What, even though those scholar-bureaucrats look down on it and call it a Duwu. But if they were left without money for a day, I'm afraid they would have starved to death."
"As the saying goes, money can make all the difference. Money can buy people's hearts and officials for your own use. Even if you have different political opinions, as long as you have money, you can still make people do what you want. With money, you can even gather troops. With troops, This country can change hands at any time. You are already the prince of the current dynasty, and in the future, all the flowers and flowers in the Qi Dynasty will be yours, so what do you need so much money for?"
"Are you trying to bribe officials for your own use, or are you planning to take over in advance and use the money to gather troops to rebel? Otherwise, what do you want with that kind of money? So, no matter if you let him go, you still want to take him for your own use. , then he must not be allowed to be a businessman. Secondly, businessmen are seeking profit in the eyes of the world, and most of them are cunning, so the world's perception of businessmen is not very good."
"Being too close to a merchant's family can easily arouse the dissatisfaction of the world. Because in the eyes of the world, a prince who is too close to a businessman will easily make people feel that you, the crown prince of the country, are too profit-oriented. Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, In the eyes of the world, they have always been scholar-bureaucrats, sharing the world with the emperor. But in the eyes of scholar-bureaucrats, and even in the eyes of the people of the world, agriculture is the foundation of the country, and businessmen are the least trustworthy."
"If you, the prince, give the people of the world a profit-oriented view, you, the crown prince, may not really be able to sit firmly. Master, if nothing else, you copied the Chu family's business and made a big splash. This firecracker His voice can be heard even in the palace. If the Chu family is released unharmed, what will the people in Chang'an City think of you, the crown prince, let alone others?"
"I understand your thoughts, but you have to think more carefully. The Chu family cannot be released, but they must not appear in Chang'an, or even on Shaanxi Road. Otherwise, you can clear out Yan'an Mansion on Shaanxi Road and clean up In the officialdom of Shaanxi Road, the accumulated popularity may be dissipated. I still know something about the Chu family. The Chu family is not as innocent as you say."
"That Uncle Chu looks honest and honest, but he is extremely tactful. That Fifth Master Chu used to rely on their family's upper and lower ties, but he did a lot of evil. Without his repeated connivance and protection, how could he have done it? To such an arrogant level? That Uncle Chu, in Xijing City, can be said to have great hands and eyes. Who of those officials in Xijing City act without looking at the Chu family’s eyes? "
"You must have copied out the evidence for these things. If he had been strict in discipline, how could that Fifth Master Chu be here today? And in the past few years, if that Fifth Master Chu did something, the owner would complain. Wu Men, as the head of the family, how can he really not know anything about it? The Chu family also brought in Jia Da and compensated the suffering owner? How can he be so clean in these matters? "
"You look like you don't have any trouble in your eyes, but in fact, you are strict on the outside and broad on the inside, and you are quite generous on the inside. I originally thought that you were deceived by his superficial appearance. But this Over the past few days, I have gotten to know you a little bit. Although you are quite generous at heart, you have a long-term perspective and you are extremely witty."
"You are definitely not the kind who can be deceived easily. Unlike Liu Chang, I don't believe you will be confused by that Uncle Chu. If you want to keep the Chu family, especially that Uncle Chu must have his own ideas. I The meaning of what I am saying to you today is that if you really want to keep people under the knife, as long as you don't let them return to the business world and don't let them stay on Shaanxi Road, you can still use it boldly."
"You are the current prince, and the future emperor of the Qi Dynasty. You must not act recklessly, and you must pay attention to your reputation. Before employing people, you must first protect yourself. Now there are countless pairs of eyes inside and outside the court, inside and outside the palace. I'm staring at you. You like older women, but there are some shortcomings in some details. That's your personal preference, and outsiders can't say anything about it? "
"But once you get too involved with businessmen, it will have a great impact on you. If there is no official in the world, then he himself is extremely greedy for money, but he still does not want the king of the dynasty to make huge profits. And the subjects of the world do not want themselves to be rich. The monarch is a greedy person. If you get too close to the businessmen, I am afraid some people will spread rumors. Three people become a tiger, and they can guard against the people's mouth more than against the river. "
"Rumors may not really stop with the wise. Those who are trying every possible means to catch you. Even if there is a slight disturbance, the sky will fall. I remember that when you were cleaning up the aftermath in Zhengzhou, you almost failed several times. Unable to suppress public dissatisfaction, he even had no choice but to kill some officials whose crimes were not worthy of death in order to dispel the rumors fabricated by those who were well-intentioned."
"So, don't take your reputation seriously. You are the crown prince of the country, not a prince, let alone an ordinary clan. I met the virtuous mistress in the palace once a few years ago. Good. Jealous, extremely fond of taking power, and can even be said to be arrogant. I am also a mother, and her doting on King Song, as a mother, I can't stand it."
"At that time, she was obsessed with the position of crown prince, and she wholeheartedly supported the King of Song to inherit the throne. Although she was not afraid, her natal family must not be underestimated. Her natal family was among the military officers, although they had no connections. But Among civil servants, their strength cannot be underestimated. Their family has many former officials all over the world, and it is said that half of the civil servants in the Qi Dynasty came from their family."
"And the members of their family, like the concubines, like to seize and exercise power. They have always tried every means to exclude officials who are not from the faction. The reason why my former father-in-law and his family withdrew from the court was because the emperor declined several calls. That's it. Because I couldn't stand the rejection from their family, and I was unwilling to be submissive or turn a blind eye to his family. Therefore, I simply withdrew from the court completely."
"There are not enough people in their family. Although they have always rejected people who are not from this faction, they are not all brainless like Concubine De. If you have any information that falls into their hands, even if they don't take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble, they will I will look for an opportunity to stab you in the dark. You are a person who does big things, so it would be wrong to stumble over such a trivial matter and arouse the Emperor's suspicion."
"I also know that you don't care about those gossips. But often times, occasional gossips don't matter, but when accumulated to a certain extent, they are the most fatal. Just like when you were in Zhengzhou, rumors were everywhere, isn't it the same? Almost caused a civil uprising? In short, it’s better to be more careful in everything.”
