"Wuyang, the wealthy families are so intertwined that they are not easy to kill!"
Chen Ji stood up and said: "Don't look at them forming factions with each other now. Today you impeach me and I will impeach you tomorrow. But when you really want to deal with them, the wealthy families will definitely join together to fight against the imperial court. Otherwise, the whole
Da Kang may be wiped out as a result!
The best way to deal with the wealthy families is to divide them into several factions to check and balance each other. This is what the emperors have done all along..."
"Father, today's Dakang is no longer the same as before! What was suitable for the former emperor may not be suitable for today!"
Ninth Princess said: "Today's well-off people's livelihood is in decline, the national treasury is empty, and the people's land has been occupied by wealthy families, and their lives are miserable..."
"Wuyang, how can Dakang be as miserable as you say?"
Chen Ji interrupted Ninth Princess somewhat unhappily.
"How can it be so bad?"
The Ninth Princess laughed in anger, but her face was full of sadness and there were tears in her eyes.
"Why are you laughing?" Chen Ji asked displeasedly.
"Nothing, I just remembered a story my husband once told me."
"what story?"
"The gentleman said that in another world, there is a king who stays in the palace all year round. In order to please the king, all the civil and military officials flatter him every day and whitewash the peace. The king also thinks that the country is peaceful and the people are safe, and his people are living the same life as him.
A good day for singing and dancing.
One year, there was a very serious drought in this country. The people had no food to satisfy their hunger, so they could only dig grass roots and chew bark to survive. A newly appointed admonisher couldn't stand it anymore, so he told the emperor the truth. My father knew
How did the king respond?"
"How did you answer?" Chen Ji asked subconsciously.
"After listening to the admonisher's story, the 'kind' king asked very puzzledly, 'Why don't the people eat minced meat when they don't have chestnuts to satisfy their hunger?'"
The Ninth Princess replied with a sad smile.
"Bold, are you mocking me for being stupid?"
Chen Ji stood up and pointed at the Ninth Princess, his fingers shaking with anger!
Since the people have no food to satisfy their hunger, why don't they eat meat porridge?
Isn't this a mockery of him as the emperor? What is it?
"Father, how long has it been since you left the capital? How long has it been since you visited the private sector?"
The Ninth Princess also took the risk and asked, patting the table: "Do you know how the people are living now?"
Chen Ji opened his mouth, but no words came out.
It is true that he has not been out of the capital for several years. Even if he does go out occasionally, it is because of sacrifices or other activities. The Ministry of Rites has already arranged it, and he can hardly see the people.
"My daughter was like her father before, thinking that no matter what happened to the people, they would not be able to survive. But after going to Sichuan and Sichuan twice last year, my daughter knew that she was wrong, how wrong it was!"
The Ninth Princess said with tears: "On my way to Sichuan and Sichuan, my daughter saw many people who starved to death on the roadside. There were old people, children, men and women. They didn't have iron tools to dig holes and bury people."
, they didn’t even have the strength to carry them far away, so they could only take off their clothes, find something to cover them with, and throw them to the roadside to be eaten by wild beasts!
Father, do you know what it means to exchange children for food? It means that the people are too hungry and will starve to death if they don’t eat. They cannot bear to eat their own children, so they can only exchange their children with others..."
"Wuyang, stop talking!"
Concubine Qing really couldn't listen any more.
"Mother and concubine also feel miserable, right? But my daughter has seen too many such tragedies!"
The Ninth Princess wiped her tears and continued: "If you don't talk about it far away, let's talk about the cold disaster in Sichuan and Sichuan last year. If the husband hadn't spent all his wealth and used work for relief, my father, mother and concubine, you know that Sichuan and Shu would have starved to death.
How many people are there?
Doesn’t my daughter know the consequences of killing Fatty Xu and the others? Why do we still need to kill them? It’s impossible not to kill them! If we don’t kill them, the people will not be angry enough, and the people will rebel!
Father, find some time to go and have a look among the people! Dakang is on the verge of death. If we don’t change, Dakang will really die!
Father, what will your appearance be like when you meet the previous emperors a hundred years from now? What kind of reputation will you leave in the history books? Have you ever thought about this?"
Among all the civil and military officials, who dares to say in front of the emperor that Dakang is about to perish?
The Ninth Princess was really disappointed with Chen Ji, so she said these words very harshly.
Chen Ji had never heard such words before. He was scolded by the Ninth Princess and was dumbfounded. He sat back on the stool and his face turned livid.
It was the first time since Chen Ji became emperor that someone pointed his nose at him and scolded him. Although he was very angry, he could not find anything to refute the Ninth Princess.
Because what Princess Ninth said is reasonable and well-founded.
Apart from anything else, if it hadn't been for the timely rescue of Ninth Princess and Jin Feng last night, he would have died.
With the prince's virtue, if he succeeds to the throne, Dakang will not be far from destruction.
And according to the records in history books, he must be a foolish king.
After a while, Chen Ji was like a defeated rooster, lowering his head and sighing: "Wuyang, how do you want to change?"
"I was chatting with my husband once, and he said that the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in Dakang are worse than those of tigers. My daughter thinks that what he said is right. There are indeed many people in Dakang who would rather hide in the mountains in order to avoid taxes and risk being eaten by tigers.
Therefore, we must first cancel all exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes such as levies, training rates, and poll taxes, implement light corvee and low taxes, and give the people enough time to recuperate!"
The Ninth Princess said: "Especially the poll tax, it must be abolished, otherwise the people will not dare to have children, and the population of Dakang will never increase!"
When Jin Feng heard this, he couldn't help but nodded secretly.
This is also what he wants to complain about the most.
On the one hand, Dakang encouraged and even forced people to have children and wanted to restore the population as soon as possible, and on the other hand, it imposed a heavy poll tax. Isn't this contradictory?
The so-called suppression pay refers to the government's pay for suppressing bandits.
Every time the bandits are suppressed, the people must collect money to give to the government soldiers to pay for the expenses of the bandit suppression and to provide compensation for the government soldiers who were injured in the process of suppressing bandits.
But among Dakang’s soldiers, who are the real ones capable of suppressing bandits?
After each collection of taxes, the county lieutenant led the soldiers out of the city for a tour, just to show off to the people.
As time went by, county lieutenants from various places got together with the bandits, and the more bandits were suppressed, the more the number of bandits increased.
Censorship of wages has also become the best way for officials at the county level to make money.
As for training pay, it is the food and salary paid by the common people to the Ministry of War for training troops.
Suppression of wages, training of wages and summer taxes and autumn grain are the three biggest mountains that weigh on the people.
Next came the bandits' annual grain and other exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes privately enacted by local governments.
"Don't I know that light corvee and low taxes are good for the people? But without enough money, how can the government suppress bandits? Where do the soldiers who guard the border come from?"
Chen Ji said helplessly.
"That's my second point!"
The Ninth Princess replied: "Soldiers are the first in Anbang, but the morale of our Dakang army has been ruined by the dandies. So much money is taken from the treasury every year, but how many troops are capable of fighting? All the bandits in Dakang.
The more we suppress them, the more we suppress them! So everything from the Ministry of War to the county governments must be rectified!"