Li Xi felt reasonable when he heard it.
Especially Zhao Jingyu had a rift with Gao Ming. A few days ago, Gao Zhen kicked and broke Zhao Shixuan's leg, making him unable to get out of bed for at least three months.
Therefore, it is appropriate to send him to be the Marquis of Zhenbei, so there is no need to worry about him colluding with Gao Xian.
"Zhao Jingyu!" Li Xi shouted immediately.
Zhao Jingyu immediately got out of class and knelt down, "The minister is here!"
"I know that you have managed the southwestern frontier very well. It is very good. I also heard that you used to like to read the Tao of Lao Zhuang. Do you still read it now?" Li Wei asked.
"Back to the Holy One, when I was young, the Holy One once warned me that even though I was a military commander, I should not consider myself a warrior. I wrote the words of the Holy One in front of my bed and recited them every day. I dare not forget them one day!" Zhao Jingyu hurriedly said. replied.
"Okay! Then issue a clear edict today, and make Zhao Jingyu the Marquis of Zhenbei, and he will take up the post in three days!" Seeing his reply, Li Yu nodded in satisfaction, and then announced.
"Thank you, Lord Long En!" Zhao Jingyu was overjoyed immediately, and hurriedly bowed down.
Although he was an expensive general in the capital, he had no military power in his hands. He was just an idle official. But Zhenbei Hou is on the side of Mushou, just like the emperor of Tu.
For him who is passionate about power, it is of course great news.
Seeing that Zhao Jingyu was named the Marquis of Zhenbei, Li Chengye's expression darkened.
He originally wanted to drive Xiang Nan out of the capital, but he didn't expect Cheng Yaojin to be killed halfway, and it was Zhao Jingyu who took advantage of it.
If you knew this earlier, when Zhao Jingyu intended to marry his daughter Zhao Sese as his side concubine, he should have agreed. In this way, it is equivalent to having his own people in the western region.
As the saying goes, it is hard to buy regret medicine with money!
…
In the evening, Xiang Nan came to Gao Xiangfu.
"Uncle is a good planner!" He said with a smile.
Even he didn't expect that the Minister of Rites, who has always been a clean and clean official, would be Gao Ming's accomplice. It was really beyond his expectation.
It can also be seen from this that Gao Xiang's party is above the court, and it really has the potential to cover the sky with one hand. Even the clever emperor Li Xi is sometimes played with in the applause.
"If it wasn't for uncle's help today, Cheng Yin would have died." Xiang Nan bowed again, "Uncle's great kindness, Cheng Yin will never forget it."
"We're all a family, so there's no need to be so polite." Gao Ming waved his hands, and was very satisfied with Xiang Nan's attitude of gratitude.
"By the way, Uncle, you let me investigate the matter, and I have some clues." Xiang Nan said again.
"Oh?!" Gao Ming looked at Xiang Nan.
"Look, Uncle, this is private money that has just flowed out of the market. This is a copper coin minted by officials in our rich dynasty." Xiang Nan immediately took out two copper coins and said, "Private money is only as good as official coins in terms of material, weight, and impression. There are subtle differences in money, which cannot be produced by ordinary folk workshops."
Gao Ming took the two copper coins, compared them carefully, and found that although the new copper coins were a little thinner, the material was slightly worse, and the handwriting was slightly blurred, the workmanship was indeed excellent, and it was not private money that could be made by ordinary workshops.
"Uncle, I ordered someone to secretly exchange 5,000 new copper coins in the market, and unexpectedly found that the official minted new coins are only 2,000 coins, while the private coins are as many as 3,000 coins, which is nearly double the difference." Nan said again, "Obviously someone minted private money in large quantities."
"Uncle, I took the opportunity of repairing the book to get the badge of Tongxing Liubu. I checked the archives of the household department over the years, and I know that our rich dynasty produces 300,000 catties of copper a year, of which 100,000 catties are used to make money, and 200,000 catties are used to make money. Jin is used to cast Buddha statues.
And this year, it is Li Feng, the son of King Zhong, who is in charge of casting Buddha statues for the Wanfo Temple! "Xiang Nan said again, "So I suspect that he is likely to steal from himself and embezzle the copper used to cast Buddha to make copper coins privately. "
Gao Ming glanced at Xiang Nan and nodded, "The fifth prince is really smart."
"Thanks to the second cousin's reminder, otherwise I would not have noticed this matter." Xiang Nan said modestly, "Uncle, as long as we find evidence that Li Feng misappropriated the copper used for casting Buddhas and made copper coins privately, we will definitely be able to do so." Crucify him."
Gao Ming nodded.
Misappropriating the copper used to cast Buddha is already a crime of deceiving the emperor. Making copper coins privately is even more heinous, and it will be sentenced to Ling Chi and beheaded in half.
"However, if we want to find the evidence of Li Feng, we must send someone to keep an eye on him day and night, but this is beyond what I can do." Xiang Nan said again, "Uncle, I still need your help."
Li Chengyin was a child before, and never thought about fighting for the reserve, so he had no influence of his own. Although Xiang Nan has Chai Mu to assist him, he also has Qianlong Envoy who can call him.
But Xiang Nan didn't want to expose them, after all, this was his trump card. Not many people know they exist, so they should be used wisely.
Anyway, overthrowing the prince and bringing down the loyal king is also in Gao Ming's interests. Xiang Nan gave him the clues, not afraid that he would not use them. At that time, he can just sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, watching Zhong Wang and Gao Xiang fight together.
"Yes." Gao Ming nodded.
…
In the next two days, Xiang Nan continued to accompany Qu Xiaofeng to study in the Hongwen Library.
In name, he was editing books, but in fact, he was consulting the files of the six departments of Gong, Hu, Li, Bing, Li, and Xing to lay the foundation for his future enthronement.
In his opinion, although the rich dynasty today can be called a prosperous age, the world is peaceful, the people live in peace, the warehouses are full, and the treasury is abundant, but behind the glamor there are many problems.
The primary problem is the monopoly of powerful elites. They not only monopolize official positions and power, but also wantonly annex land and enslave the population.
For example, in the land of Hedong, nearly 30% of Chengdu was annexed by powerful clans; Hexi Jiedu envoy Cui Cheng had thousands of hectares of land; A few years later, there were eighty-eight farms with connected fields and tens of thousands of children and servants...
Behind these big landlords are thousands of peasants who lost their land, had to sell themselves into slavery, or even became displaced.
Secondly, the tax system is extremely unfair.
The powerful, high-ranking officials, and scholars hardly pay taxes, so all taxes are placed on merchants, farmers, and small handicraftsmen, making the burden on the people extremely heavy.
Now the world is peaceful, there are no famines or wars, and the people can barely support it. Once there is a famine, a disaster of war, and the treasury is empty, if the time comes to squeeze the people, it is likely to provoke a civil uprising.
The last is the military service system.
Although the Feng Dynasty implemented the Fubing system, it emphasized that "you should serve the people in peacetime and serve as soldiers in wartime; soldiers don't know generals, and generals don't know soldiers." Once you become a government soldier, you can get 400 acres of permanent land, so everyone Be brave and strive to be a soldier in the government. Therefore, the soldiers of the rich dynasty had high morale and fought bravely.
However, with the intensification of land annexation, many Yongye fields of the soldiers were annexed and occupied, which hit the morale of the soldiers.
In addition, the Toy Dynasty also allowed the existence of private troops. King Zhong had the Tongchang Army, Zhao Jingyu had the Shuoyang Army, Gao Xian had the Anhu Army, and even Chai Mu's Qianlong Envoy was transformed from his private army.
These private armies are of course a threat to the rule of the country. In peacetime, with the strength of the country's military, they can still be suppressed.
Once the world is in chaos, these private armed forces will rise up in minutes.