Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 204 The Disease of Suzhou
"Uh..." Zhu Su was a little stunned.

What Wei Guan said just now meant undoubtedly to remind Zhu Su that this person holds a pivotal position in the hearts of Jiangnan scholars.

Now that the center of Beijing is in trouble, Hu Weiyong's case has involved many officials, and there is a faint tendency to radiate to the entire Ming Dynasty official circles and scholarly circles.

There were even rumors that Emperor Zhu's family was born as a commoner and had little education, but he hated scholars very much, so he found many unwarranted crimes and came to find out what happened to those officials.

Enemies from all sides are still staring at each other. This rumor may have been revealed by some reactionary forces.Moreover, Lao Zhu also made famous remarks with Zhu Su and Zhu Biao. Although he was determined to abolish Hu Weiyong and the prime minister system, he still wanted to maintain stability. He did not intend to kill like the four major cases in history.

That being the case, Zhu Su should not be too sharp in his actions this time. At this time, he represents the attitude of the prince and the Zhu family.Since this Gao Qi has great prestige among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, his good words to win one or two can also let the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River who are panicking now know that the royal family is not hostile to the scholars of the literati, but just wrong about the matter.Look at His Highness King Wu, he treated Gao Jidi with great courtesy.

It's just that I didn't expect that this "Gao Shi" would not play his cards according to the routine at all. Zhu Su just said the sentence "I hope I will die of old age, and I don't want to bow before the chariots and horses" for a while. As if hearing some fairy sound, the whole person jumped up from his seat.

He even leaned directly in front of Zhu Su, asking him to recite the whole poem!

"Ji Di, don't be rude!" Although Wei Guan and Luo Guanzhong were also amazed, they were not as pleasantly surprised as Gao Qi was.Wei Guan got up and pulled Gao Qi back, and confessed to Zhu Su: "Your Highness, forgive me, this poetic idiot just got a clever sentence, and I lost my manners for a while..."

"Your Highness, forgive me! Qi is really rude." Gao Qi, who had reacted, also confessed.

"It's just that Your Highness's sentence is really sublime, quite like Mr. Wuliu! Qi Neng asserts that this poem will definitely have a place in China's thousand-year-old poetry circle!"

"Why don't you recite the whole poem at this banquet, so as to teach us to be honored and famous in history?"

Although he pleaded guilty, he still couldn't forget that line of Zhu Su's poem, and he still looked at Zhu Su with burning eyes.

Hearing the words "Famous stay in history", Wei Guan and Luo Guanzhong, who wanted to smooth things over again, unexpectedly looked at Zhu Su by mistake, even Chang Mao who was beside Zhu Su also looked expectant. Looking forward to Zhu Su.

"I'm ashamed...there's really only this broken sentence..." Zhu Su bit the bullet and shied away.Tang Bohu's "Song of Peach Blossom Temple" despises meat eaters, and writes about the spirit of peace and happiness.But Zhu Su himself is now one of the top "meat eaters" standing at the top of the Ming Dynasty. Isn't this poem copied out full of flaws?

"Let's not talk about poetry first, let's talk about the Taihu Lake flood first."

"The purpose of this king's visit is to help the elder brother to relieve the flood. With the important responsibility of the family and the country on his shoulders, it is really difficult to have the kind of elegance to write lyrics and recite poems..."

In order to avoid copying poems, Zhu Su directly moved out of the righteousness of his family and country.As soon as these words came out, even Gao Qi couldn't continue to force Zhu Su to take poems.

It’s just that he was still unwilling, and he didn’t forget to tell Zhu Su, “If you get the complete poem in the future, you must remember a letter from Hongyan so that he can smell this masterpiece of the ages at the first time” and so on.

"It's my incompetence. As the magistrate of Suzhou, I failed to calm the flood, which made His Majesty and His Royal Highness worried." When it came to business, Wei Guan also had a serious face, first he clasped his fist in the direction of Yingtian, and said in shame.

"When I came here, I heard that the floods in Taihu Lake were ups and downs, and I also saw that Suzhou City is still prosperous. But the floods are no longer a serious problem?" Zhu Su asked.

"His Royal Highness Haojiao learned that this Taihu Lake flood has existed since ancient times. If you only refer to this flood, it is actually not a serious problem." Wei Guan smiled wryly.

"It's just that Suzhou City has three difficulties due to the flood. These three difficulties are the reason why I had no choice but to ask the imperial court to send people to Suzhou."

"Oh?" Zhu Su became a little interested, and couldn't help asking: "Prefect Wei, tell me, what are the three difficulties?"

"The first one is the flood itself." Wei Guan sighed.

"Not only the city of Suzhou, but also the counties under the jurisdiction of the prefecture are suffering from severe flooding."

"It's not just around Taihu Lake, such as Kunshan, Wuxian and other places. I don't know how many farmlands and huts are lost due to floods every year."

"Especially Kunshan County, which is under the administration of our government, suffers from floods every year. As long as there is a flood, almost the entire Kunshan County will be submerged in water. The people in Kunshan County can only scatter and beg for a living."

"Is it so serious at this time..." Zhu Su frowned. He also saw the name "Calling Flower Kunshan" when he read history books in later generations.I remember reading a novel written by a great god. The protagonist Ritian’s father became the county magistrate of Kunshan, and Ritian helped his father build a dam with cement to control the water in Kunshan, which won the support of the whole county.

Brother Ritian has cement, and I also have cement. If he can build a dam, I can also build a dam.This first problem, I think it will not be a big problem.

Zhu Su then asked: "What about the second one?"

"The second one is the hearts of the people." Wei Guan, who wanted to explain the flood in detail, was taken aback for a moment, so he could only follow Zhu Su's words.

"His Royal Highness Haojiao learned that this Suzhou city was the lair of Zhang Shicheng a few years ago."

"Everyone in the world knows about it. But so what?"

"I'm in the world, where is it that I have not recovered from Meng Yuan and those warlords in troubled times in the past few years?" Zhu Su asked curiously.

"His Royal Highness, listen to me in detail, if it is taken from Meng Yuan, it is actually fine." Wei Guan smiled wryly.

"That Zhang Shicheng has no ambitions, and he is not a wise master. But he is very good to the people in Suzhou City."

"In the past, when His Majesty besieged the city, the people devoted their hearts to helping Zhang Shicheng defend the city. When the city was broken, His Majesty was extremely angry, and he ordered to punish the people of Suzhou. As a result, the taxes in Suzhou City are heavier than those in other places in Ming Dynasty. a bit……"

As Wei Guan spoke, he peeked at Zhu Su.

"And other things?"

Did Lao Zhu give such orders to Suzhou?Zhu Su understood Wei Guan's intention after a moment of surprise.The reason why he wanted to call the prince Zhu Biao to come to inspect by taking advantage of the flood incident was that he wanted the prince to blow the wind to Lao Zhu so that he could abolish the "tyranny" of taxation in Suzhou.

This Wei Guan is a rare parent official who thinks about the people.

However, Lao Zhu's decision is beyond Zhu Su's beak.It should be known that Suzhou was a rare and prosperous place in China when Zhang Shicheng was there.

At that time, Lao Zhu still wanted to pacify the world and conquer Mengyuan, and now he also needs to guard against Mengyuan's counterattack. Many places in the riddled country left by Mengyuan need to be repaired by Lao Zhu.Money and food are always the top priority.Imposing additional taxes on Suzhou, a wealthy place, may be a decision made by Lao Zhu out of money and food considerations.

There was nothing wrong with collecting more from the rich and less from the poor.It will be graded for personal income tax collection in later generations!Lao Zhu didn't directly send troops to rob and massacre the city, which is very rare in such troubled times.

It's just that in Zhu Su's opinion, it's better to add the item of "tax increase" to some wealthy households like the personal income tax in later generations.It should be known that although the city of Suzhou is rich, there are also poor people in it.Blindly raising taxes in the whole city of Suzhou does seem a bit too domineering.

(End of this chapter)