The ministers were interrupted by His Majesty's words and felt that what His Majesty said was reasonable, so they fell silent.
When Huang Hao saw that the audience was quiet, he loudly read out the imperial edict again:
"All the original positions in the DPRK have been awarded.
The following is the position arrangement for the Protectorate within each ethnic group.
There is a Yongchang Protectorate in Yongchang County, with the captain Ma Zhong and the deputy captain Zhao Tong. The chief clerk is represented by the chief and deputy captain.
There is a Yunnan Protectorate Office in Yunnan County, with Captain Zhang Ni and Deputy Captain Guan Yue acting as chief registrars.
There is a Jianning Protectorate in Jianning County, with the captain Guan Tong and the deputy captain Li Qiu acting as chief bookkeepers.
The two counties of Zangqi and Xinggu jointly set up a Duhufu, with the captain Jufu, the deputy captain Zhao Guang, and the chief secretary Laizhong.
The two counties of Yueyong and Zhuti jointly set up a Duhu Mansion, with the captain Wang Ping and the deputy captain Guan Yi, who were in charge of Fa Miao.
The two counties of Hanjia and Wenshan jointly set up a Duhufu, with the captain Zhang Yi, the deputy captain Dong Jue, and the chief administrator Pang Hong.
The two counties of Wudu and Yinping jointly had a Duhu Mansion, with Captain Ma Cheng, Deputy Captain Liu Lin, and Chief Registrar Huang Chong.
The location of each Duhufu is not fixed, and the garrison can be rotated among multiple locations.
The remaining civil and military positions in the Duhufu will be selected by the captain and others after consultation.
Yongchang, Yunnan, and Jianning were placed under the control of the governor.
Zangda and Yueyong were under the control of Yong'an Governor.
Wenshan and Wudu were under the control of the Hanzhong Governor.
The governor of Jiangzhou is in charge of the waterway defense line in central Sichuan and does not participate in the affairs of the governorate. "
This content has long been known to all the officials in the court, and Huang Hao's reading was basically consistent with everyone's thoughts.
Therefore, there was almost no reaction from the audience.
The three imperial edicts have been promulgated. Seeing that no one in the hall asked questions, Huang Hao continued:
"The imperial edict is issued, and all the princes accept it!"
"Your Majesty is wise! I accept the order and thank you!"
After Li Shimin waited for everyone to receive the order, he said loudly:
"Now that there is no objection to the three imperial edicts, you, all princes, especially the officials who are about to return to the local area, should act in accordance with the edicts.
Finally, I wish you all the best in the new year! "
After the princes thanked His Majesty, Huang Hao immediately announced his withdrawal from the court.
The first court meeting of the new year ended perfectly.
On that day, almost all the barbarians, local officials, and captains of the various governorates set out to return to their bases.
The palace, which had been bustling for a long time, also became deserted.
It's night, in the big city of Chengdu, where the Yizhou gentry have a secret meeting.
Du Qiong, Qiao Zhou and others gathered together to discuss the contents of His Majesty's three imperial edicts today and the regular broadcasts.
"Now, we, the Yizhou princes, can only temporarily avoid the spotlight and cease our activities.
However, many of His Majesty's decrees have indeed made us extremely uncomfortable.
I have decided to make appropriate counterattacks based on the content of His Majesty’s decree.
If not, the princes of Yizhou will be divided and disintegrated by Your Majesty sooner or later, and then you will have no choice but to let Your Majesty do whatever you want! "
"Having said that, it's just that our objections raised today cannot be accepted by His Majesty, and for a while we can't find a reason to confront His Majesty..."
“If it doesn’t work in the court, then we can convey our ideas to people in Yizhou from all over the country to participate.
Your Majesty is planning to show off his talents in the barbarian territory, why don't we just make a fuss about this matter? "
Du Qiong sat on the chief seat and listened quietly to the discussion of the gentlemen in the hall. He also began to think deeply along with the gentlemen's words.
After a moment, Du Qiong laughed suddenly, and then said loudly:
"My lords, please listen to what I have to say!"
Everyone in the hall looked at Du Qiong when they saw Du Qiong speaking.
"Bo Yu, if you have any suggestions, please tell me quickly!"
"Well, don't worry, gentlemen, I have thought of a way to deal with it."
Du Qiong picked up the tea cup in front of him, took a sip, and then smacked his lips.
"I thought that when Your Majesty saw that all the princes in Yizhou had ceased their activities, he thought that we were afraid of the imperial court, so we did not dare to go against His Majesty.
The stability of the DPRK has been increasing for a long time, so His Majesty must have relaxed his vigilance towards us, and is now focusing most of his energy on the barbarian affairs.
His Majesty promoted and rewarded his cronies on a large scale, and also wanted to transfer new lands to the names of people who didn't have much fiefdom around him.
These many actions may seem prudent, but in fact there are indeed several flaws. "
As he spoke, Du Qiong smiled mysteriously and continued:
"Since we are not allowed to benefit from the land replacement, we cannot let His Majesty get his wish.
A few barren lands are not a big deal to us.
I have decided that from tomorrow we will all rush to apply to His Majesty for land replacement.
It doesn't matter even if some of the family's fertile land is lost, the purpose is to prevent His Majesty's supporters from easily obtaining land.
Without land, they could not accumulate resources, and the amount of land controlled by the court was limited.
It is absolutely impossible for His Majesty to divide the land controlled by the imperial court out of thin air and reward them.
As a result, His Majesty's supporters will not be able to get land for a long time, and they will inevitably have resentment in their hearts.
At that time, if we try to induce them with benefits, we may be able to make some people who are not determined to switch sides.
This is the first countermeasure I think of. "
When everyone heard this, they all hesitated.
Du Qiong saw that no one was willing to respond to him first, and knew that everyone was reluctant to give up their own interests.
So Du Qiong pretended to be generous and said:
"Since this plan was proposed by me, I should set an example for everyone.
Tomorrow I will first go to His Majesty to apply for land exchange. If you can trust me and are willing to think about the future of our Yizhou princes, then please go with me. "
Everyone couldn't help but be moved when they saw Du Qiong's attitude.
Although His Majesty's Northern Expedition may not be possible, what if Your Majesty really looks for an opportunity to occupy the lands of Wei and Wu?
Wouldn't I be able to give priority to changing the land then?
To take a step back, even if the Northern Expedition fails, we will not be able to occupy the land.
But it's okay for everyone to give up small interests in exchange for His Majesty's confidants to abandon him.
Moreover, Du Qiong, the leader of the Yizhou princes, has already set an example in front of everyone.
After careful consideration, everyone in the hall expressed their opinions to Du Qiong one after another and agreed to exchange the land.
When Du Qiong saw this, he couldn't help but be happy. Doing this was not considered as going against His Majesty. After all, all the princes responded positively to His Majesty and acted according to his orders.
"Very good! This matter is settled.
When we successfully exchange the land, we can enter the barbarian territory openly and develop our newly acquired land.
At this point, we can do the second thing.
Since His Majesty wants to vigorously develop the barbarian territory, many political orders have repeatedly made the barbarians dissatisfied.
Then after we enter the territory of the barbarians, we can openly or covertly provoke conflicts between the barbarians and the imperial court.
At that time, there will definitely be barbarians who still hold hatred in their hearts and then rebel against the imperial court.
We just sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and tigers, and see how your majesty deals with the unyielding barbarians. "
"Bo Yu's seconds counter is not only wonderful, it's also a chain plan!
In this way, two of His Majesty's three imperial edicts will be directly abolished. When the time comes, the captains of the Protectorate in the third imperial edict will probably not be able to bear it any better! "
After repeated discussions, everyone, except Du Qiong, used the method of drawing lots to determine the person who would go to His Majesty to exchange the land.
After everything was discussed and the others were sent away, Du Qiong left behind several core figures such as Qiao Zhou, He Zong, Li Fu, and Li Dan.
"There is one more thing that I cannot talk about in front of everyone.
Now we, the Yizhou nobles, still have a difficult matter to deal with. "
When He Zong heard this, his heart trembled, and he guessed that Du Qiong wanted to deal with Chang Bo's matter.
"Could what Boyu said be an assassination incident at the New Year's Eve banquet?"
The other people who had not noticed the assassination were shocked when they heard this!
"What? Assassination at the New Year's Eve banquet? We were all at the banquet that day, how come we don't have any impression of this matter?"
"Yes, Yanying, please don't joke. The matter last time has not been resolved yet. It shouldn't happen again, right?"
Du Qiong stretched out his hand to interrupt the conversation between several people, his face darkened.
"This is not something to laugh about. The crime of regicide is a heinous crime, no less serious than rebellion.
Regarding the assassination at the New Year's Eve banquet, all I know now is that Chang Bo did it to take revenge on Yanying. "
"Revenge me? Isn't it to assassinate His Majesty?"
He Zong was simply shocked when he heard this.
When His Majesty pressed himself, he did not clearly tell himself that Chang Bo's assassination target was himself.
While hesitating, Du Qiong said:
"Yanying, you don't know about this? When Chang Bo committed the assassination, his target was not exposed?"
He Zong was interrupted by Du Qiong and subconsciously looked at Du Qiong.
I saw that Du Qiong seemed to be very concerned about whether he knew the target of regular broadcasts.
I also remembered that when His Majesty questioned me, it seemed that he already knew the two assassinations very well.
Could it be that His Majesty thought that Du Qiong would definitely talk about this matter in the future, and deliberately kept himself from knowing who Chang Bo's assassination target was, lest he behave unnaturally and arouse Du Qiong's suspicion?
"Yanying? Why the sudden hesitation?"
He Zong was interrupted by Du Qiong, and he hurriedly replied casually:
"I am afraid that Your Majesty has already found out the truth, so I hesitate..."
"Based on Yanying's judgment, to what extent has His Majesty investigated this matter?"
When He Zong saw Du Qiong repeatedly asking him how much he knew, he couldn't help but become wary.
Could it be that Du Qiong knew that I was secretly seeking refuge with His Majesty? Or did Du Qiong guess that he ordered the assassin to assassinate His Majesty?
"This... I'm just guessing, Boyu doesn't need to take it too seriously.
I think that Your Majesty has not received any useful information from Chang Bo for the time being.
Otherwise, His Majesty's temperament will definitely confront us in the court. "
When Du Qiong heard this, the eagerness on his face softened slightly, and then he tentatively said:
"Yanying thinks, if we want to push this matter forward, what should we do?"
"This...if Boyu has some concerns, please make it clear!"
