Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 131 Chu Shizhao and Huan Sheng, just like Emperor Jing and Chao Cuo
June 7, the 29th year of Yongjin.

Huan Sheng in the mansion got what he wished for and was valued by the court. Not only did he receive the imperial edict personally issued by Emperor Yongjin, but he also had a conversation with Emperor Yongjin in the palace. At this moment, he felt that the ups and downs of the past few years were finally resolved, as if a blessing had come overnight. He finally had the opportunity to stand out.

You must know that since Huan Sheng started his official career, he has been running around in Chang'an all day long on tedious and complicated matters. Although he works diligently, he has little chance of promotion. Since he was promoted to the Minister of War, he feels that his career has ushered in a long-awaited dawn.

Now that he has accepted the appointment from Emperor Yongjin, he is not only an imperial envoy, but also has the temporary military power to govern the southeast area. In addition to suppressing the rebellion, he is also responsible for national policy. If he handles these affairs properly, it will be enough to leave a few words in the history books. This is the opportunity he has always dreamed of, the opportunity to realize his ambitions.

At this moment, the servant outside the door shouted, "Master, His Royal Highness Prince Jin wants to see you."

Huan Sheng restrained his ambition to achieve great things and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Please let him in."

Not long after, Chu Shizhao came in from the corridor. He bowed slightly as a small gesture, and then said, "My father sent you to the southeast as an imperial envoy?"

Huan Sheng looked at the dusty Chu Shizhao and did not hide anything, or rather, there was no need to hide anything, because the Emperor Yongjin's order would soon be announced to all the ministers.

"Your Highness, His Majesty has this intention."

Chu Shizhao pondered for a moment and said, "Besides suppressing the rebellion, there should be something else I told you about, right?"

"That's right." Huansheng replied, "Suppressing the rebellion is a minor matter. Your Majesty wants me to grow mulberry instead of rice to increase the revenue for the national treasury. This is the main thing."

It turned out that rice was replaced by mulberry.

Chu Shizhao was not actually too surprised, because the deficit in the Zhou Dynasty's treasury had reached an incredible level.

When Chu Shizhao inherited the throne through a coup, the Great Zhou Dynasty was not only unable to make ends meet, but was also struggling to survive and had almost no money left.

Not to mention the national treasury, even the treasury of Emperor Yongjin was empty.

The inner court was the emperor's private treasury and personal property. Except for the outrageous old man Jiajing who often used the national treasury as his own private treasury, most emperors kept the national treasury and private treasury separately.

Apart from anything else, the losses caused by the ghost soldiers of the three prefectures who were drawing salaries without working, were enough to cause the national treasury to suffer an inexplicable loss.

At that time, Chu Shizhao was able to raise the money indirectly because of the cause and effect of the coup. Huan Sheng killed Chu Shizhao's three brothers and offended Wang family. Chu Shizhao could not allow Wang family to continue to oppose him, so he decided to go all out and destroyed Wang family's property and three clans.

It can be said that the wealth provided by the Wang family became Chu Shizhao's start-up capital. Then the Lu-Ma Rebellion broke out, and Chu Shizhao continued to reallocate resources through the process of suppressing the rebellion.

These are all abnormal means and are special cases under special circumstances.

Under the current circumstances, there is absolutely no such opportunity. If the court wants to make up for the deficit and get income, it has to find a way to increase revenue.

The Great Zhou Dynasty was not without real talents.

The reputation of the Jingzhao Du family was very high in Chang'an, especially Du Zhiyun, who had excellent personal morals and was one of the few large families that never took sides.

More importantly, Du Zhiyun felt that it was wrong to select and recommend all officials from those who came from prominent families. One should not only pay attention to their character but also observe their talents. If they do not have actual abilities, they should not be entrusted with affairs.

Then, after Du Zhiyun died, Mrs. Du never got up again.

Whether Chu Shixu succeeded to the throne or Chu Shizhao came to power, the Du family was kicked out. The former was because the Du family did not take the initiative to form a group with the big families, and often put forward views that went against the interests of their own group. They behaved too normal, so no one would play with them. Chu Shizhao paid too much attention to talents, and most of the talents of the descendants of the Du family did not meet the standards. They just had higher morals, so it was okay to keep them, but if they were to be reused, they would not be ranked.

There are too many people who are more talented than them. When Chu Shizhao ascends to the throne, drastic changes must be made, which requires even more ability.

What's more, during most of Chu Shizhao's period, the court was full of powerful ministers, and it was really difficult for the descendants of the Du family to squeeze in.

This time the national policy of replacing rice with mulberry was proposed by Du Zhiyun, but Chu Shizhao had to say that the starting point of replacing rice with mulberry was good, but the implementation process would never be good.

Because this national policy takes it for granted that all implementation processes must be achieved under extremely ideal conditions.

Moreover, only under extremely ideal circumstances can people make money by growing mulberry trees.

At first glance, it seems that the people can make money and the Zhou Dynasty can also make money.

In practice, let alone making money for the people, it can be considered a success if they don't lose their land.

You have to have a selfless middleman to have a chance of successful execution.

But human hearts cannot be guaranteed.

Huan Sheng became the person in charge of changing rice to mulberry. His lack of selfishness did not mean that the local officials under him did not have selfishness, nor did it mean that the gentry who colluded with those local officials did not have selfishness. These people had to be dealt with by Huan Sheng himself, otherwise it would be a waste of time.

"Changing rice crops to mulberry trees is not easy." Chu Shizhao said bluntly: "When you get to the southeast, you just need to focus on suppressing the rebellion."

Huan Sheng hesitated for a moment, "Isn't it a good idea to change rice crops to mulberry crops to benefit the country and the people?"

Chu Shizhao glanced at Huan Sheng and said, "Growing rice fields is guaranteed, but planting mulberry trees is not. If you were an ordinary citizen, would you rather gamble on planting mulberry trees to get more income, or grow rice fields to at least guarantee that you won't starve to death?"

"Besides, growing mulberry trees is not something that can be done overnight. It takes much longer than growing rice fields. Besides, does producing silk have anything to do with the people?"

"Planting mulberry trees only provides the main food source for silkworms. The main production has nothing to do with the people who plant mulberry trees."

“The so-called benefiting the people is just empty talk and is not guaranteed at all.”

Huan Sheng thought for a while and said, "What if the court is willing to ensure that the people will not be harmed in the process of planting mulberry trees? For example, they can exempt taxes for a period of time, or give the people some financial assistance to help them get through the most difficult period of planting mulberry trees."

"You are right. This approach may be acceptable to the people, but what about the officials?" Chu Shizhao looked at Huan Sheng seriously and asked, "Do you think that every official in the Great Zhou Dynasty is honest and selfless?"

"The current Great Zhou Dynasty has no way to guarantee that farmers can plant mulberry trees. At least, it is difficult to guarantee the large amount of capital investment in the early stage. You provided this guarantee on behalf of the court, but in the process of implementation, it was not you, but the local officials."

"The funds to protect the farmers are not provided by you, Huan Sheng, right? We need to get the approval of the government. Once the government agrees, we need local funds." Chu Shizhao added, "How can it be so easy to implement it?"

"Even if this step is passed, if local officials want to reduce costs, why do they have to plant mulberry trees with the people who are struggling to make a living? Can't they cooperate with the landlords and gentry? Not only can they gain political achievements." "By then, the local funds will not have to be spent, and the court's policies can be passed. The people will suffer, and the officials and gentry will earn money."

"Let's put all that aside. Even if the people plant mulberry trees normally, I can tell the officials that the raw silk they collect is not of good quality and ask you to pay more. I can keep some of the silk woven by the workshops. The silk market is inherently unstable, with ups and downs at times."

"Are these officials the ones who buy into this?" Chu Shizhao stared at Huan Sheng and said, "The people are the ones who are really suffering!"

"And if the people's will becomes intense and leads to a new civil uprising, sparking a rebellion, who will be held responsible? Duke Huan, you should think carefully about this."

"Do you still think that replacing rice with mulberry is a good thing?" Chu Shizhao's tone became increasingly heavy.

Huan Sheng's face was filled with confusion. He had considered the overall situation and the entire starting point of changing rice crops to mulberry trees, and had never imagined that there would be so many problems in the process of implementing this policy. However, when Chu Shizhao pointed them all out, cold sweat had already seeped down his back.

If that is really the case, then this trip to the southeast, let alone achieving any merit, it may even be a problem whether one can escape unscathed.

Huan Sheng, who had not yet entered the mature stage, did not have the sophistication and maturity of the later stage of simulation and deduction, but he had a quick mind and immediately realized the seriousness of the problem after being prompted by Chu Shizhao.

"What should I do?" Huan Sheng realized that this was a dead end and immediately thought of escaping.

"Don't worry about anything else, just put down the rebellion first." Chu Shizhao comforted Huan Sheng and said, "First, make contributions to the court. With the contributions, you will have a chance to escape."

"If there is a problem with the rice-to-mulberry conversion, and you are willing to cut off one of your arms, the government will at most say that you are not doing your job well and that there is a problem with suppressing the rebellion, then it will be difficult to deal with."

"The good thing about this is that you have two things to do in the southeast. If you do one of them well, you will have room to maneuver."

Huan Sheng looked at Chu Shizhao hesitantly and said, "Is there no way to replace rice with mulberry?"

"Yes." Chu Shizhao said bluntly, "If the court sends ten more officials like you, they can ensure that every process goes smoothly, calm the people's emotions, protect their lives, and ensure that if the mulberry planting fails, the people will not be displaced. In addition, they must control the local grain prices so that the land will not be lost to the gentry. Then the rice-to-mulberry conversion can be successful."

Huan Sheng smiled bitterly and said, "If we can do all these things, it will be easy to implement other policies, not just rice cultivation."

Chu Shizhao held Huan Sheng's hand and said, "Look at the bright side. If we send someone else, it will be difficult to convert rice to mulberry, and even to suppress the rebellion. You sitting in the southeast will also give me confidence in the court."

"Now I am alone in the court, and it is difficult for me to protect myself." Chu Shizhao said in a pessimistic tone, "I am afraid that my life and property will depend on Duke Huan."

The Wang family is deeply rooted in Jingzhao. If you want to touch them, you have to move many big families. Strictly speaking, the only famous family in Jingzhao that Chu Shizhao can really win over is the Du family. Most of the others are "foreign aid", such as the Huan family, who are top thugs.

Moreover, Chu Shizhao never regarded Huan Jie as his main helper, but instead regarded Huan Sheng as an important member of the team.

This is nothing more than the fact that in the simulation, Huan Sheng's loyalty to Chu Shizhao can be seen.

To Chu Shizhao, Huan Sheng was like Chao Cuo to Emperor Jing of Han.

And Huan Sheng is also very similar to Chao Cuo.

He was a man who dared to do things and did big things, but he had a similar problem to Chao Cuo, which was that he acted too boldly.

For the sake of the overall situation and to obtain a legitimate reason to suppress the Rebellion of the Seven States, Emperor Jing of Han had to execute Chao Cuo by beheading him.

Although Chao Cuo's ideas were good and what he did was right and necessary, the wrong situation and bad changes made him a political victim.

Huan Sheng embodies the characteristics of a political victim.

I don’t know if it’s because of bad luck or he often makes wrong choices, but he always does some unusual and incomprehensible things.

When Huan Sheng heard Chu Shizhao's words, his heart was filled with emotion. Chu Shizhao's words undoubtedly put him in a very important position.

Everyone has their own preferences. Huan Sheng enjoys the feeling of being needed, and it is difficult for him to mention this emotion to others.

On cue, Chu Shizhao always made Huansheng feel his worth.

"I will do my utmost for Your Highness." Huan Sheng was about to salute, but Chu Shizhao immediately raised his hand and led him up.

Just then, Huan Yi, who had finished dressing up early, walked out from the side room.

In preparation for their first meeting, Huan Yi carefully thought of many designs, thinking about how she and Chu Shizhao could have an unexpected encounter, and even considered many makeup looks.

Especially when Huan Yi realized that there might be many "ministers" or "concubines" around her, all of whom had the [Emperor Growth Plan] and could deduce and observe every lord with the potential to become a monarch, that urgent sense of crisis continued to emerge in her heart.

Huan Yi never expected that the first meeting was not because of other things, but because Chu Shizhao wanted to save Huan Sheng's career and came to point out the pros and cons of changing rice to mulberry.

Huan Yi then felt that she cared too much about dressing up, which made her look vulgar and her purpose was too clear. It would be better for her to dress the same way as she did at home.

But when Huan Yi's eyes fixed on Chu Shizhao, she found it difficult to look away.

It's a feeling that's hard to describe.

Chu Shizhao was not surprised to meet his wife in Huan Mansion. As long as he came into contact with Huan Sheng, he would definitely meet Huan Yi. However, Chu Shizhao had never seen such eyes before.

It would not be necessarily true to say that her eyes were seductive, after all, Huan Yi's features were indeed charming, but the emotion contained in that gaze was enough to make Chu Shizhao sense the deep love for her, the kind of love that could be seen in her eyes.

The next second, Huan Yi immediately pulled on the corner of Huan Sheng's clothes.

This action was to signal his wooden-headed elder brother to introduce her to him quickly.

Now Huan Yi can't wait to get in touch with Chu Shizhao, and she has even begun looking forward to the day when she becomes Chu Shizhao's queen.

(End of this chapter)