Prince Cai's Mansion in the capital of the Great China Empire.
King Cai Wu Jie looked at the piles of gold and silver and UOB Royal Bank acceptance bills in the courtyard.
He couldn't believe it and said in shock: "Selling officials is so profitable. In just one month, we made at least 30 million taels of silver coins.
This money is enough for us to arm an army of 20,000 people and buy enough food to feed 300,000 immigrants for three years.
After three years, the immigrants have established themselves and are able to support themselves.
We have 20,000 troops armed with firearms, and we can crush the local indigenous troops wielding spears and swords."
Wu Zhengxi did not expect that his father would actually adopt this suggestion after casually mentioning it after seeing it in a storybook.
"Dad, I feel like people are crazy now. The people who bought official titles in the past were just the well-informed group.
After buying official titles, they publicized that the second wave had arrived in the capital and the third wave was on its way.
I read the newspapers that were banned for a few days, and they were all criticizing you for selling your official position and getting a title.
Should our family be restrained and avoid the limelight?"
King Cai Wu Jie laughed and said nonchalantly: "Our family will leave for Guangzhou in half a month and go south with the navy.
If we don’t continue to stay in the Dahua Empire, why should we care about the comments about us in the Dahua Empire?
Wait until your father and I build a country that belongs to our family and let it be passed down safely.
When that time comes, the voices criticizing us will decrease dramatically.
The essence of this world is to be strong. As long as you are strong, you don't have to be afraid of rumors."
Wu Zhengxi felt relieved when he saw his father's calm and composed look.
King Cai Wu Jie seemed confident, but felt a little uneasy in his heart.
But in order to build the country, he purchased a large amount of goods. The deposit had already been paid, and he had to find a way to raise the remaining payment.
Insufficient funds will affect King Cai's future development.
Which one is light and which one is heavy? King Cai Wu Jie can still tell clearly.
Even if he is the target of thousands of people, he only needs to stay in the Great China Empire for half a month.
Half a month later, he left the Dahua Empire, and no matter how big the turmoil was, it had nothing to do with him.
He was betting that the scandal of selling his official position and conferring a title would not ferment within half a month, causing Emperor Su He to depose him as a king regardless of friendship and loyalty.
No matter how big the accident caused by the turmoil after he left, it has nothing to do with him, King Cai Wu Jie.
…………………………
In the lobby of Degui Building, the top restaurant in Beijing, several big businessmen wearing silk and satin were chatting and laughing.
Yang Tenghu and his brother-in-law Wang Sen, as natives of the capital, held a banquet at Degui Building to welcome Wang Keshan of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce Wang family.
Wang Sen made a gesture of climbing upstairs and said: "Mr. Wang, I have set up a private room on the third floor. If we have anything to say, go up to the private room."
The group of them quickly boarded the private room, and as soon as they sat down on the chairs, the freshly prepared wine and food were placed on the table.
They rejected the restaurant waiters and the servants they brought with them.
Wang Keshan lowered his voice and asked: "I heard in Nanyang that you can buy official positions and titles here in the capital.
We all belong to a branch of the family, and everyone knows how we are treated without even mentioning it.
In the past, merchants from the Dahua Empire could obtain titles by paying taxes.
During the difficult years of the Empire's founding, there were no limits to this method.
The first group of people to rise up, that is, the founders of our business families, have high titles and are qualified to enter the parliament.
As the various systems of the empire matured, the only titles that merchants could obtain by donating money were Lords.
In most senior circles, such as the speaker of a local county assembly, the threshold requirement is a viscount.
It is really difficult for those of us who are not even viscounts to join high-level circles.
I heard that someone directly obtained a count for only five hundred thousand taels of silver coins, so he immediately came to the capital with the silver coins.
Your Yang family is better informed. I want to ask you for advice. Is there still such a way?"
Before Wang Sen could reply, Yang Tenghu burst into laughter.
"Mr. Wang, you don't need to be too nervous. Everyone in the capital knows this kind of thing, and there is no need to keep it secret.
If you are not too careful, ask the old man who sweeps the street on the street, he will know where to go if you want to buy an official."
When Wang Keshan heard Yang Tenghu's words, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Then he let out a long sigh and said: "I thought it would take tens to hundreds of years for the empire to decline after three generations.
I didn’t expect that the empire would be like this in just one generation.
I am in this remote area of Nanyang, and I don’t have a deep impression of it.
You, the Yang family, are in the center of the whirlpool in Jincheng, so you must have been deeply touched."
Yang Tenghu burst into laughter and said haha: "Mr. Wang, you don't think that any prince or one of His Majesty's favorites is selling his official position and title in order to make money.
If you think so, you will be disappointed."
When Wang Keshan heard Yang Tenghu's words, not only was he not discouraged, but he became more energetic.
"Brother Yang, I don't know much about the situation in the capital, and the person who delivered the news is very tight-lipped.
Brother, I’d like to toast you with this glass of wine. Regarding selling your official position and getting a title, please tell me the reason for this.”
Yang Tenghu drank a glass of wine and told the story of Wu Jie, the king of Cai, who sold his officials and titles on a large scale in order to raise money for the founding of the country.
When Wang Keshan heard this, his disappointed look flashed away.
He bought the title just to get into a higher-level circle.
He had no idea about a remote country like Cai Guo.
Nanyang is the frontier of the Great China Empire. In the hearts of most people in Great China, Nanyang is a bitter and hot place.
He couldn't even imagine what it was like in poor places overseas.
Cai Guo's official position was given to him for free, and he did not care about these minor officials.
Then his eyes lit up and he said: "I want to ask, will the empire recognize Cai Guo's title? Can we just buy the title and not go to Cai Guo?"
Yang Tenghu heard Wang Keshan ask this. He only knew about the rumors about selling his official position and getting a title.
He couldn't answer this question for a while, so he could only look at his brother-in-law Wang Sen.
Wang Sen looked like a smiling Buddha and was kind to everyone. When he heard Wang Keshan's question, he said: "As for Brother Wang's question, there has been a debate between Legalists and Confucians in the newspapers these days. I
I learned some news from it.
Cai Guo is a formal vassal state of the Dahua Empire, and Cai Guo's title is recognized by the Dahua Empire.
It's just that the titles of vassal states are lower than those of the empire, and they don't enjoy the benefits brought by the empire's titles.
But a viscount is a viscount, and there are some entry threshold restrictions, and it doesn't matter whether he is a viscount from the empire or a vassal country.
After the subjects of the Great China Empire join a vassal state, they can still retain the nationality of the Great China Empire.
It is precisely because of this policy that immigration from vassal countries went smoothly.
These immigrants are smart and ready to go overseas and work hard.
Even if they fail in their struggle, these people still have a way out and can still survive when they return to the Dahua Empire.
The problems that Brother Wang is worried about are not problems."
After Wang Keshan heard Wang Sen's words, he was immediately moved and his face was full of smiles.
"Drink, let's keep drinking, everything is in the wine."
Wang Keshan has decided to spend a lot of money to buy the earldom.
In this way, even if the title of the vassal country is inferior to others, due to the rarity of the earl, he cannot be among the upper echelons, and there is no problem at all among the middle echelons.
…………………………
In the Hongwen Teahouse next to the Imperial College, a group of officials who came to the Imperial College to study gathered in this tavern to discuss the hottest topics recently.
Li Fengxiu slammed the table and said angrily: "That piece of shit Wu Jie is really nothing.
Selling officials and getting titles, his Cai Kingdom has not yet been established, and it looks like the scene at the end of the dynasty.
The viscount has one hundred thousand taels of silver coins, and the earl has five hundred thousand taels of silver coins.
As long as you can afford it, a knighthood can be easily obtained.
This makes Han Chuang study hard for more than ten years and herdsmen for twenty or thirty years, what do the governors think about it before they can get a title for their merit?
What do the generals who have been wearing chickens and dancing for more than ten years, who have been wrapped in horse leather for twenty or thirty years, who have been scarred all their lives, and who narrowly escaped death and earned a title, think?
Could it be that their contributions are not as good as a few taels of silver from a businessman?
It’s not just about the title. Wu Jie, this piece of shit, is really nothing. He also sells his official position.
The county magistrate receives 5,000 taels of silver, the prefect receives 30,000 taels of silver, and the governor receives 150,000 taels of silver.
I studied hard in my humble childhood, and I was able to stand out among tens of millions of scholars and get a title on the gold medal list.
In this way, one cannot rise to the top and become a county magistrate in one fell swoop. One still needs to work hard at the grassroots level in order to be promoted step by step based on merit.
Nowadays, those scholars who are not as good as us do not even have the title of scholar, and they only need some bad money to become prefects or even governors."
Everyone followed Li Fengxiu to scold King Cai Wu Jie, and their words were extremely fierce.
They were all selected from the imperial examination based on their ability, and even the worst ones were awarded the title of civil servant.
Now that they heard that they don't need fame, as long as they have money, they can be an official, and they suddenly felt that their faith collapsed.
Zhang Legu took a sip of tea, threw the cup to the ground, and said angrily: "We must not let this situation continue.
This will lead to the collapse of the country and will inevitably be the beginning of the collapse of the empire.
The sale of official positions and conferring titles was a landmark event, which marked the beginning of the end of the dynasty.
You don’t need fame or military success, you just need money to buy everything.
Then there would be no scholars studying poetry and books to learn how to govern the country.
There will be no young people practicing martial arts hard and joining the army to serve the country and kill the enemy.
If only businessmen who are good at profiteering are left in the country, the country will perish.
For the sake of the prosperity of our empire, we must stop this.
Everyone must show their responsibility as a scholar and go to the ancestral temple with me to petition so that His Majesty the Emperor can come forward to stop King Cai Wu Jie from doing anything random."
Li Fengxiu and Zhang Legu looked at each other and smiled. They were both human beings and wanted to take this opportunity to establish their own personalities.
They all know that in the officialdom of the Great China Empire, there has always been a lack of clear people who can ask for orders for the people.
As long as their establishment is successful, they will surely rise to the top and become cabinet ministers who control the country.
The training officials of the Imperial College listened to the encouragement of Li Fengxiu and Zhang Legu.
They believe that the petition is to safeguard their interests.
After several days of communication, some scholars in the capital who were extremely resentful of selling their official positions and conferring titles were gathered together.
In the name of worshiping their ancestors, they came to the main gate of the Ancestral Temple of the Dahua Empire.
They collectively blocked the door and petitioned, asking Emperor Su He to govern Cai, King Wu Jie and sell his official position to win titles.
…………………………
Emperor Su He rarely left the palace, but the situation outside the palace could not be hidden from him.
The turmoil caused by Wu Jie's selling of his official position became more and more intense.
Emperor Su He could not intervene in this matter.
Wu Jie is no longer his minister, but has become a lord.
He did not affect the fundamental interests of the Great China Empire. He just introduced some weird policies to govern the country.
Emperor Su He didn't want to take care of it at all, and he didn't have the energy to take care of all the vassal states.
Emperor Su He didn't care whether the vassal states could survive overseas. He only cared about whether the Han people could take root overseas.
The kings granted by Emperor Su He were really messing around in the vassal country, which caused people's hearts to be divided and he was overthrown by his subordinates.
Even Emperor Su He would not send troops to avenge them.
He has created so many vassal states, which is just to raise voodoo.
As long as a regional power can be developed and the Han people have a solid foothold overseas, all investments will reap huge returns.
Emperor Su He did not expect that the students studying in the Imperial Academy and the scholars waiting for the examination would be so impulsive.
What he hates the most in his life is scholars forcing him to marry with righteousness.
Emperor Su He, as the emperor of the Great China Empire, could not bear the imperial power being so challenged.
He immediately ordered the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment to come forward.
The Ministry of Rites expelled these scholars from their academic reputations and put them in jail for a few days to reflect on the crime of gathering a crowd to cause trouble.
"The empire has several normal appeal channels. There is also a Huabiao mailbox outside the Meridian Gate, and written letters can be sent directly to the emperor.
If there are still people who do what Qingliu did in the previous dynasty, don’t blame me for being cruel.”
After Emperor Su He finished speaking, he took the letter on the imperial table.
He has read the official memorials. Except for a small number of censors, most officials have remained silent about the actions of King Cai Wu Jie.
The people among the people are extremely angry. The well-educated people use the past to ridicule the present and talk about the harm to the empire by selling officials and titles.
People who were not well-educated cursed loudly, thinking that Wu Jie, the king of Cai, had brought the source of cholera.
Emperor Su He saw clearly that King Cai Wu Jie's actions had offended all the middle and high-level officials in the Great China Empire.
Even among his former subordinates, many were dissatisfied with his actions.
To sell one's official position and get a title is to harm those who have become the upper echelons of the Great China Empire because of their imperial examinations and military achievements.
They are all vested interests, and for their own benefit, they must also oppose selling out their official positions.
King Cai Wu Jie officially told him that he was about to leave the Dahua Empire and would probably never come back for the rest of his life, which is why he became so unscrupulous.
Emperor Su He continued to maintain a wait-and-see attitude towards the turmoil caused by selling his official position.
He also allowed various private schools of thought to discuss this matter.
The more we debate the ideas, the clearer they become. After a large-scale discussion involving the participation of all the people, the Great China Empire can have a clear understanding of the matter of selling officials and conferring titles.
Emperor Su He just sent his confidant eunuch Zhou Fangzhi to King Cai's palace to ask King Cai whether Wu Jie was ready and when he would set off.
In Prince Cai's palace, Wu Zhengxi saw that the scandal of selling officials and conferring titles was so big. He was always nervous because he was afraid that he would not be able to handle this matter because of his father's identity.
Dad went overseas to build a country, and he has a high chance of becoming the next king.
He didn't want to lose the hope of becoming king because of this incident.
When Wu Zhengxi saw a large number of scholars petitioning for selling their official positions and getting titles, he immediately felt that something was wrong.
The development of the matter surprised him. These petitioners were dealt with.
Wu Zhengxi immediately realized the status of his father in the heart of Emperor Su He.
But he saw his father, who should have been so impressive, approaching the room with a bitter look on his face.
"What we have done has aroused His Majesty's dissatisfaction.
This is enough, we packed up our things and headed south to build our country overseas in advance."
Prince Cai's Mansion immediately became busy, and Prince Cai Wu Jie took all his money and confidants south to Guangzhou Mansion.
He also notified his confidants who were organizing immigration and recruiting officials everywhere to immediately end their work and go south. (End of Chapter)
