Chapter 894: Reform, a big loss
Chapter 894: Reform, a big loss
The letter Xiao Tianyao sent to the Emperor was secretly sent to Xiao Tianyao by General Zhu who came to protect Prince Qin that day.
If such a letter fell into the hands of someone with a heart, the Emperor might not be able to clean it up even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
“What’s the matter with this letter?” The moment he saw the letter, the Emperor himself was dumbfounded.
He was an emperor, no matter how stupid he was, he knew that cooperation with other countries must never leave written evidence. It was not that there was no one around him, and it was ten thousand times better to ask someone to send a message than to write a letter.
“This slave doesn’t know, but Xiao Wangye ordered this slave to present it to the Emperor.” The little eunuch said truthfully.
“Did anyone see it?” This letter was simply trying to ruin his reputation for the rest of his life.
“No, His Royal Highness Xiao Wangye ordered that no one else is allowed to look at it.” The little eunuch lowered his eyebrows and looked pleasing to the eye, without a trace of guilt or anxiety, clearly knowing nothing.
If it was in the past, the Emperor would take the other party’s life based on the principle that he would rather kill by mistake than let it go, but now?
In such a huge court, there are fewer and fewer people he can trust, and every person in his palace will be killed.
“Retire.” The Emperor held the letter but thought of another thing.
Before finishing processing the letter, the Emperor issued an order to release the eunuchs and maids in the palace for re-selection.
In this way, it doesn’t matter who those people were, anyway, they were all outside the palace.
As soon as the news came out, the Empress at Luanfeng Hall almost vomited blood. She managed to control the inner court while the Emperor was unconscious. She filled the palace with her people, but the Emperor’s words made her fall short.
That was the reason, she doesn’t want the emperor to wake up!
Imperial Concubine Zhou didn’t look very good when she heard about this. During this period, she didn’t do any little tricks, but compared to the Empress, her losses were almost negligible.
Her honors and favors come from the Emperor, and the Emperor’s goodwill only benefits her and does not harm her.
After solving the problem of employing people in the palace, the Emperor focused on the letter. After reading the letter carefully, the Emperor personally burned the letter, let it turn into ashes, and soaked it in water. Only then did he feel relieved?
That night, the Emperor found the people in the dark and asked them to find out who had the opportunity to touch his private seal before he fell into a coma.
The Emperor’s people went to investigate cruelly, but in the end, only a few court ladies and eunuchs were investigated, and these people disappeared when the Emperor was unconscious.
When the clues are broken, the origin of this letter was also broken. All the clues were in Xiao Tianyao’s hands, but Xiao Tianyao will never tell him.
“It’s not unfair to lose this time.” He lost this round of confrontation, but the Emperor didn’t take it to heart. After all, he was unconscious at that time, even if he lost, it would not be shameful.
The matter of the letter was over, but the suspicion in the Emperor’s heart has not disappeared. Now he doesn’t trust anyone, especially after his people have found out about the various movements of the Empress and Imperial Concubine Zhou, he can’t believe anyone.
It took five days to find out what he needed to know, and when he learned that the Imperial Envoy was on his way, the Emperor was in a good mood, and he took care of himself for another ten days.
This ten-day Emperor didn’t recuperate, but secretly contacted his old department, preparing to seize power in one fell swoop.
Half a month later, the Emperor recovered from a serious illness and went to court for the first time. The person who had secretly contacted the Emperor in the early court wrote three letters in a row, the most important of which was reform.
The Emperor wants to re-reform the official system and the military department. He wants to change the six departments to ten and cancel the cabinet.
As soon as the reform plan came out, the whole court was quiet, and Prime Minister Lin, and the six ministers all looked uneasy. They knew without thinking that the emperor was targeting them.
“Do you have any objections?” The Emperor was at the top, taking a panoramic view of the expressions of all the ministers. Seeing their flustered expressions, he smiled disdainfully.
The Emperor was the Emperor, and no one can challenge his authority.
So what if the Empress was capable? As soon as he opened his golden mouth, the Empress’s arrangement of decades could be easily destroyed.
So what if Prince Xiao was so powerful? With the financial support of the Northern Territory and the support of the Central Empire, he has enough confidence to reform and cut the rights of the six divisions.
The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty remained silent, looking down at the toes of their shoes.
If you don’t express your opinion at this time, you just don’t agree, but the Emperor didn’t take their objections seriously, and directly called Xiao Tianyao’s name: “Tianyao, what do you think?”
“This minister has no objections. The Emperor reformed the six ministries, which greatly reduced their burden. Although the military’s rotation system will affect the cohesion of the soldiers, it will be fine when they get used to it.” Xiao Tianyao said nonchalantly.
Reform?
The Emperor was bored himself for fifteen days, and he came up with such a bad move.
The Emperor thought that the reform would affect his interests.
No, reforms were driven by the power of the noble family, and the noble family will never allow the Emperor to reform and weaken their power.
“Xiao Wangye has no objection, what about Prime Minister You? Do you have objections?” The Emperor asked symbolically. He thought that Prince Xiao would take the lead, and these people would not say a word. Unexpectedly, Prime Minister You said: “Your majesty, the six departments will be changed to ten departments. The number of court officials is not enough, and officials need to be re-selected. I don’t know how you would like to choose these people. In addition, if the number of officials is increased by nearly half, will the treasury have money to pay the corresponding salaries?”
Even though the Eastern County was rich, it was the people who were rich, and the annual tax revenue of the imperial court was barely enough. The number of officials suddenly doubled, where will they get the money?
“Don’t worry about the silver. I have asked the Northern Territory to pay taxes again, and the King of the Northern Territory has agreed.” If there was no preparation in advance, how dare the Emperor talk about reforms indiscriminately?
“That’s great. I don’t know if the Northern Territory is a fixed tax system. Or a tax-sharing system? Did the king of the Northern Territory say how much tax revenue is paid in a year? And who will send someone to collect it?” Prime Minister You was shocked and raised a series of questions.
The Emperor was prepared to respond one by one.
The Northern Territory uses a fixed tax system. The tax they pay can support 40% of the extra officials. There was only one condition for the Northern Territory to pay so much. 10% of these 40% newly added officials should be from the Northern Territory.
There was nothing in this world that people can get for nothing. The Northern Territory offers so many benefits, as long as 10% of the quota belongs to them, who can say who win or lose in this kind of thing in the end?
As everyone knows that these 10% were all supporters of the Northern Territory. Once they turn their face, the Eastern Country’s treasury will have problems.
This matter was of great importance. Although Prime Minister You’s question has been answered, he still didn’t express his consent to the reform. Similarly, the military generals also reject the rotation system that the Emperor said.
Leading soldiers was not child’s play. The money allocated by the court was not enough to raise soldiers. Their soldiers were raised by themselves with a little bit of money. They have already developed feelings.
Also, the most important point was, three years was too short, they will be transferred again before they can even figure out the local situation. In this way, if a war broke out, how will they fight?
Therefore, when the Emperor proposed to reform, except for Prince Xiao who clearly stated that he had no objection, the civil and military ministers all disagreed, and the matter fell into a deadlock… …
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