He walked steadily under the verdant of the Chui Gong Palace. The polished road surface clearly reflected Zhao Pu's shadow. His expression was not as sad as Wang Pu's, but slightly serious and somewhat solemn.
His thoughts were flying, and what was still active in his mind was Emperor Liu's stern and tough statement in the Shicai Palace. It's not that he was worried about Emperor Liu's undisguised reprimand. He had been serving as prime minister for a long time. Zhao Pu had some experience of who and what Emperor Liu's reprimand was aimed at, and whether it was serious or not.
What made Zhao Pu think deeply was Emperor Liu's final attitude and tone towards the court's turmoil. Originally, Zhao Pu thought he knew something about Emperor Liu, but after this meeting, Zhao Pu felt that he still didn't know enough about the emperor, and the holy will was unpredictable. Emperor Liu ruled from the top, but his thoughts became increasingly difficult to fathom. Elusive.
As far as this political wave is concerned, so many nobles are involved, and so many ministers are actively or passively involved in it. The shock caused cannot be underestimated. Under Zhao Pu's calm appearance, he is actually very cautious. I dare not take it lightly.
Emperor Liu had been holding back for a long time. Although some edicts were issued, Zhao Pu never realized that his attitude on this matter was so resolute. Considering Emperor Liu's character and methods, this may not be that unexpected, but it deviates from what Zhao Pu expected.
The memorial in Zhao Pu's sleeve is a very important regulation, which aims to restrict the powerful noble class in the DPRK. Specific measures include cutting the salary of the nobles, reducing various tax preferential treatment, and The most important thing is to weaken those privileges that exist in fact even though they are not explicitly stated.
Zhao Pu has been planning this clause for a long time. From a vague concept in the early days of becoming prime minister, to careful discussions after his position was firmly established, and now, a relatively complete set of provisions has been brewed. It can even be said that this has become the most important point in Zhao Pu's governance policy. After years of exploration and testing, Zhao Pu was basically certain that this was one of the purposes of Emperor Liu using him as his prime minister.
This is not an easy task, and it is also an offending thing. However, there are always some offending errands that need to be done in the court. Zhao Pu saw this very clearly. Emperor Liu gave him full respect and power, and gave him a stage where he could display his talents and realize his personal value. He did his best to repay him. This was fair and in line with Zhao Pu's pragmatic way of life. View.
In the past, there has never been a suitable opportunity to take action. Even if he made some moves and only showed some willingness, he was beaten back by Emperor Liu.
Now, it has been suppressed for nearly a year. During this year, although Zhao Pu's main focus was on the restoration of governance and various financial reforms of the country, he has never slackened on the policy preparations for restraints and restrictions.
When the Huazhou case occurred, although Zhao Pu was initially surprised by the boldness of those people, he did not pay too much attention to it. He just treated it as a normal corruption case, but the circumstances were more serious.
However, as the investigation of the case deepened, nobles and officials continued to be involved, and he began to become interested. Until Zhao Kuangmei started the wave of surrenders in the DPRK, nobles from all ethnic groups rushed to expose their shortcomings. The situation gradually expanded and its influence became increasingly far-reaching. From this increasingly restless situation, Zhao Pu finally spied a glimmer of an opportunity. An opportunity to take advantage of the situation and introduce restrictive policies.
Xungui, to the Han court, was a group, a class, with many groups, huge power, and profound influence. Even if there were some loopholes, it was difficult to talk about it.
A rash move may achieve some results and hit some people, but it will hardly damage their roots, and once it offends their interests, it will definitely arouse the hostility and resistance of the entire class.
Therefore, Zhao Pu, who was well aware of the stakes involved, did not act rashly. However, this time, nearly 30% of the nobles have been implicated in Zhang Jin's case. This is to take the initiative to expose the flaws in front of them. How could Zhao Pu not have any ideas and seize this rare opportunity tightly?
Of course, with Zhao Pu's rationality, he would not try to capture all these nobles and abandon them all. That would be unrealistic. Moreover, most of the cases submitted by Xungui and his descendants were selective, and not all of them were as sincere as Zhao Kuangmei. If they were judged according to national law, it would be difficult to rise to the level of confiscating the family and exterminating the family.
Unless it is deliberately expanded and targeted and implicated. However, this was not Zhao Pu's original intention, and it was beyond the scope of his ability. It required strong support from the imperial power. Whether Emperor Liu would do this can be seen from Emperor Liu's attitude in the Chui Gong Hall just now. The emperor emphasized it in particular. , the first priority is national law.
Zhao Kuangyi was able to make a clear judgment on the behavior of noble bureaucrats following the trend, but how could Zhao Pu not see it. Therefore, in Zhao Pu's eyes, there was an opportunity for a transaction, a transaction between the court or the imperial power and the nobles.
What the honorable nobles seek is that the law does not blame everyone, let things go bygones, and refresh the past. Then the court can use this to issue a restrictive policy, and both parties can reach a consensus on this matter to resolve this turmoil, restore the dignity of the court, and the upper-level politics of the Han Dynasty. It can also open a new chapter.
What Zhao Pu wanted from the beginning to the end was just a fulcrum, a fulcrum to leverage the noble class. This incident gave him an extremely powerful fulcrum.
Taking this political trend as a guide, we can deal with a group of people, appease a group of people, and achieve restrictions on the entire noble class. This can control the impact to the minimum range and reduce future troubles.
Although there is an element of compromise in it, for the court, it is the safest choice. In fact, although Zhao Pu clearly rejected the proposal to submit a joint memorial with Wang Pu, from his own heart, he agreed with Wang Pu's concerns and suggestions.
However, the way is different and the position of the butt is different, so he cannot hold the same opinion. In the final analysis, Zhao Pu was still a scholar-bureaucrat born and raised in this era. Even though he had outstanding insight and ability, he was still a bureaucrat, and as the prime minister, being conservative was his instinct.
For Zhao Pu, maintaining the stability of the court was beneficial and harmless. It's just that there is an emperor above him as prime minister, and the most important thing to him is the emperor's attitude.
Especially for a powerful founding monarch like Emperor Liu, if he cannot be consistent and follow his footsteps, then he will not last long as prime minister. Zhao Pu has a very thorough understanding of this aspect.
Judging from Zhao Pu's thoughts on this turmoil, based on his observation and thinking about Emperor Liu's administration for more than 20 years, Emperor Liu would never have thought of these, and it is entirely possible for Emperor Liu to accept the suggestions.
However, after this encounter, Zhao Pu suddenly felt that he was wrong, even a little outrageous. Emperor Liu's attitude was so clear that all personnel involved would be punished without any room for compromise. Therefore, his remonstrance and advice, which had an obvious compromising character and ugly political transaction nature, seemed a bit out of place when he submitted it. It's wrong, or it's not in line with the holy will.
As he walked, Zhao Pu thought about what went wrong. He didn't relax his frown until he stopped in front of the political hall.
Immediately afterwards, he showed a bitterness similar to that of Wang Pu. Previously, in his thinking, he only saw the benefits of compromise and the difficulty of implementing the policy, and he always looked at the matter from his own perspective.
However, what would Emperor Liu think? Zhao Pu often speculated on the holy will, but when thinking about issues from Emperor Liu's perspective, Zhao Pu rarely did this. There was always a kind of awe in his heart, and he was afraid of getting lost in it.
Emperor Liu did have many moments of compromise in the past, but that was the past after all, and now, times are different, and so is Emperor Liu.
How difficult it is for such a determined and iron-hearted entrepreneur to compromise. What’s more, even in the past, compromises were done on a case-by-case basis.
Like this time, those short-sighted and shallow nobles follow the trend and even stir up public opinion and create a general trend. To put it bluntly, they are forcing the palace, forcing Emperor Liu to make concessions, and forcing Emperor Liu to forgive.
If we compromise on these matters, if we compromise this time, what about next time? Is it giving the nobles an illusion, a way to protect their own class interests, and a way to fight against Emperor Liu? As long as they unite, they will be invincible. Their power is extremely powerful, and Emperor Liu will always compromise!
What's more, everyone who knows Emperor Liu's suspicion and suspicion understands. After thinking about this, Zhao Pu's face not only showed no trace of relief, but also became more dignified. He looked up at the sky, and from the pure white sky rendered by the winter sun and winter snow, he seemed to see a layer of blood brewing.
This time, if there weren't so many people pretending to be clever and getting involved, how many people could be involved with just one Zhang Jin? How much impact can it really have?
However, there are not so many ifs. Zhao Pu can imagine that many people will die this time!
