When Li Hao heard this, he felt it made sense.
Especially Zhao Jingyu and Gao Ming had a quarrel. A few days ago, Gao Zhen kicked Zhao Shixuan's leg off again, leaving him unable to get out of bed for at least three months.
Therefore, it was appropriate to send him to be the Marquis of Zhenbei, as there was no need to worry about his collusion with Gao Xian.
"Zhao Jingyu!" Li Zuo shouted immediately.
Zhao Jingyu immediately left work and knelt down, "I'm here!"
"I know that you have managed the southwest border very well, very well. I also heard that you used to like to read The Tao of Lao and Zhuang. Do you still read it now?" Li Hao asked.
"Back to Your Majesty, when Wei Chen was young, His Majesty once warned Wei Chen that although he is a military general, he should not regard himself as a warrior. Wei Chen wrote the words of His Majesty in front of his bed and recited them every day. He did not dare to forget them one day!" Zhao Jingyu was busy! replied.
"Okay! Then I will issue an imperial edict today and make Zhao Jingyu the Marquis of Zhenbei. He will take office in three days!" Seeing his reply, Li Hao nodded with satisfaction and then announced.
"Thank you Lord for your kindness!" Zhao Jingyu was overjoyed and quickly bowed down.
Although he was honored as a general in the capital, he had no military power and was just an idle official. But the Marquis of Zhenbei was on the Mu Shou side, just like the Tu Emperor.
For him who loves power, this is of course great news.
Seeing that Zhao Jingyu was granted the title of Marquis of Zhenbei, Li Chengye's face suddenly darkened.
He originally wanted to expel Xiang Nan from the capital, but he didn't expect that Cheng Yaojin showed up halfway, and it was Zhao Jingyu who took advantage.
If he had known this earlier, when Zhao Jingyu intended to marry his daughter Zhao Sese to him as a concubine, he should have agreed. In this way, it is equivalent to having his own people in the Western Territory.
As the saying goes, it’s hard to buy the medicine of regret if you have money!
…
In the evening, Xiang Nan came to Gao Xiang's Mansion.
"Uncle is so clever!" he said with a smile.
Even he didn't expect that the Minister of Rites, who always had a clean and honest official reputation, would be Gao Ming's ally. It was really beyond his expectation.
It can also be seen from this that the high minister and his party are indeed able to cover the sky with one hand in the court. Even as smart as Emperor Li Zuo, he was sometimes played by applause.
"If my uncle hadn't helped me today, Cheng Yin would have been dead." Xiang Nan bowed again and said, "My uncle's great kindness will never be forgotten by Cheng Yin."
"We are all one family, so there is no need to be so polite." Gao Gao Ming waved his hand and was very satisfied with Xiang Nan's grateful attitude.
"By the way, uncle, you asked me to find out something, and I have some clues." Xiang Nan said again.
"Oh?!" Gao Ming looked at Xiang Nan.
"Uncle, please look at this. This is the newly released private money on the market. This is the copper coin cast by the officials of our imperial court." Xiang Nan then took out two copper coins and said, "Private money is only related to the official coins in terms of material, weight and impression." There are subtle differences in money, which cannot be made by ordinary folk workshops."
Gao Ming took the two copper coins and compared them carefully. Sure enough, he found that although the new copper coins were slightly thinner, made of slightly worse material, and the handwriting was slightly blurry, the workmanship was indeed excellent, and it was not private money that could be made by ordinary workshops.
"Uncle, I ordered people to secretly exchange 5,000 new copper coins in the market. I actually found that the official new coins were only 2,000 coins, while the private money was as much as 3,000 coins. The difference was nearly double." Nan added, "Obviously someone is casting private money in large quantities."
Gao Ming nodded after hearing this.
"Uncle, I took the opportunity of studying to get the badge of Tongxing Liubu. I checked the archives of the Ministry of Household Affairs over the years and found out that our dynasty produced 300,000 jins of copper annually, of which 100,000 jins were used to cast coins and 200,000 jins. Jin is used to cast Buddha statues.
And the person responsible for casting the Buddha statue for Wanfo Temple this year is none other than Prince Chung, Prince Li Min! "Xiang Nan added, "So I suspect that he may have stolen it and misappropriated the copper used to cast the Buddha to make copper coins privately. "
Gao Ming glanced at Xiang Nan and nodded, "The fifth prince is indeed smart."
"Thanks to the reminder from my second cousin, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed this matter." Xiang Nan said modestly, "Uncle, as long as we find evidence that Li Min misappropriated the copper used to cast Buddhas and secretly made copper coins, we will be able to Crucify him.”
Gao Ming nodded.
Misappropriating the copper used to cast the Buddha is already a crime of deceiving the emperor. Making copper coins privately is even more heinous, and one will be sentenced to death or beheaded in half.
"But if we want to find evidence of Li Min, we have to send people to keep an eye on him day and night, but that's not what I can do." Xiang Nan added, "Uncle, I need more help from you."
Li Chengyin was a child before and had never thought about competing for the throne, so he had no power of his own. Although Xiang Nan has Chai Mu to assist him, he also has Qianlong Envoy to call upon.
But Xiang Nan didn't want to expose them, after all, this was his trump card. Not many people know they exist, so they should be used wisely.
Anyway, it is in Gao Ming's interest to overthrow the prince and bring down the loyal king. Xiang Nan gave him the clues and was not afraid that he would not use them. At that time, he can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, watching the loyal king and the high minister fight together.
"Yeah." Gao Ming nodded.
…
For the next two days, Xiang Nan continued to accompany Qu Xiaofeng in revising books at Hongwen Hall.
In name, he was revising books, but in fact, he was consulting the files of the six departments of work, household, official, military, ritual, and punishment to lay the foundation for his future ascension to the throne.
In his opinion, although today's Toyo Dynasty can be called a prosperous time, with peace, people living in peace, warehouses abundant, and treasury abundant, in fact, behind the glory, there are many ills.
The primary problem is the monopoly of clans. They not only monopolized official positions and power, but also annexed land and enslaved the population.
For example, in the land east of Hedong, nearly three-thirds of Chengdu was annexed by clans; in Hexi Jiedushi Cui Cheng owned thousands of hectares of land; in the Ming Dynasty, his private land even amounted to more than a hundred miles; in Jiannan Jiedushi Yan Li was not a local person, but he was a businessman A few years later, he actually owned eighty-eight farms, with fields connected by streets and over ten thousand servants...
Behind these big landowners are thousands of peasants who lost their land, had to sell themselves into slavery, and were even displaced.
Secondly, the tax system is extremely unfair.
Nobles, high-ranking officials, and scholars hardly paid taxes, so all taxes fell on merchants, farmers, and small craftsmen, making the people's burden extremely heavy.
Now the world is peaceful, there are no famines or wars, and the people can barely support themselves. Once there is a famine or war, and the national treasury is empty, and the people are squeezed at that time, it is likely to trigger a civil uprising.
Finally, there is the military service system.
Although the Toyo Dynasty implemented the government army system, it emphasized "Being the people in peacetime, and serving as soldiers in war; the soldiers don't know the generals, and the generals don't know the soldiers." Once you become a government soldier, you can get 400 acres of permanent land, so everyone Be brave and strive to be a soldier of the government. Therefore, the soldiers of the Toyo Dynasty had high morale and fought bravely.
However, with the intensification of land annexation, many Yongye fields belonging to the Fu soldiers were annexed and occupied, which dampened the morale of the Fu soldiers.
In addition, Toyoto also allowed the existence of private armies. For example, King Zhong had the Tongchang Army, Zhao Jingyu had the Shuoyang Army, Gao Xian had the Anhu Army, and even Chai Mu's Qianlong Envoy were transformed from his private army.
These private armies are of course also a threat to the rule of the country. In peacetime, the country's military power can still suppress them.
Once the world is in chaos, these private armed forces will rise up in minutes.
