Great Wei Dynasty.
The Year of Wuchang.
November 17th.
Autumn has long since begun in the capital of Great Wei.
There are cold winds blowing from time to time, and in another month it will basically be winter.
For the people at the bottom of Wei, they do not want winter to come.
Perhaps it was the cold, or perhaps it was for other reasons.
And at this time, an expedited letter was sent to the six ministers, most of which, nevertheless, were sent inside the imperial palace.
Hoo-hoo-hoo!
Late at night, the wind howled, and outside the palace, smokeless carbon heating had already been set up inside the Hall of the Nurtured Heart.
In fact, this heating was not for the emperor, but for the eunuchs and eunuchs, some of whom did not practise martial arts and could not keep out the cold.
Inside the Hall of the Raising Heart.
The empress quietly looked at the memorial in her hand.
It was an expedited zhengzhi.
It came from the twelve foreign countries.
At the head of them was the Silong clan.
The meaning of the twelve letters was simple.
They wanted to impeach Xu Qingnian, and they had found a good reason for doing so.
Firstly, Xu Qingnian had killed the merchants indiscriminately. Although these merchants were indeed at fault, they could even have their families copied, but Xu Qingnian had directly beheaded them, which they could not bear.
Secondly, for the birthday of the empress, they prepared all kinds of precious gifts, but what they didn’t expect was that Xu Qingnian instructed the Ministry of Rites to return something they didn’t need at all, which made them look bad.
Thirdly, Xu Qingnian has done wrong in the Great Wei Dynasty, disrespecting the saints, beheading the king and defying the saints, and behaving like a beast and a pig, yet he has become the Minister of Household Affairs of the Great Wei.
The request of the Twelve Foreign Kingdoms is simple: remove Xu Qingnian from all his posts in order to calm the hearts of the foreigners.
As for what would happen if he was not removed, it was not written down.
But when it came to this point, it was understood.
Faced with these twelve copies, the empress’s gaze fell on the fire.
Removal of Xu Qingnian?
Is this possible?
The empress rejected this proposal without even thinking about it.
But she was silent now, thinking about other things, about what was behind this.
These foreigners, why didn’t they take offence then, why did they suddenly take offence now, and why did the twelve foreign countries send in their zhengqi at the same time, do you think there could be something fishy here?
And most of all, these foreigners should know who Xu Qingnian is and how high Xu Qingnian’s status is.
Yet they dared to impeach an official of Great Wei, which was not at all a thing that a normal person could do.
As a va*sal state, how dare they impeach an official of Great Wei? This was obviously a problem.
Clearly there was something else behind this, and the empress thought of many possibilities in a flash, but either way, it was not a good thing for Great Wei.
“Declare, the Minister of the Six Ministries, enter the palace immediately.”
But in the end, the Empress put the zhengfu aside and slowly spoke.
At that moment, several figures quickly left and went forward to proclaim the decree.
Meanwhile.
In the middle of the Shouren Academy.
Xu Qingnian had a piece of white paper in front of him.
He was recording some data.
Firstly, it was the Great Wei Wen newspaper, which was now selling 6 million copies a day, and half of Great Wei had already started promoting it, but the cost had been adjusted so that most of them were sold at a loss, except for some wealthy counties and provinces.
The reason for this is influence.
But even so, at this share, the Great Wei Wen Wei can’t sell any more.
There were three reasons for this.
One, the income problem, the people of Kyoto still have some spare money, every few days to buy a newspaper, it is not a big deal, big deal less bowl of wine, but except for places like Kyoto, 90% of the land of Great Wei, still relatively poor and poor, the common people are not unable to buy a newspaper.
The common people could not afford to buy a newspaper, but they could not afford to buy one. 20 yuan was enough for a full meal, not a good meal, but at least a full meal.
Secondly, the literacy rate was quite high in the whole of Wei, around 40%, which was indeed very high compared to the Tusi and Chuyuan dynasties, but very, very low for the promotion of the Great Wei literary newspaper.
Before the shame of Jingcheng, Wei was very rich and the people had money, so naturally their descendants had no problem going to school and becoming literate.
The fact that there was a sage in Wei naturally made the people admire Confucianism, which is why there were 40%, but it was good for the country, but not for Xu Qingnian.
Thirdly, as the literary newspaper became a big hit, large and small literary newspapers also appeared. Nowadays, in the whole of Great Wei, Xu Qingnian’s Great Wei literary newspaper has the highest sales, but there are many places where some literary newspapers have also appeared, imitating the Great Wei literary newspaper, or even copying it directly.
For example, in many places under the jurisdiction of the county kings, they copied the Great Wei Wen Wei directly and then tampered with whoever wrote it to make it theirs, and then added some things they wanted to add.
They didn’t care about the money, and in many places they even paid 5 yuan for a copy of the newspaper, just for the publicity.
Of course, there were many scholars who knew about this and criticised it, as it was a shameless way of copying.
But in some places, the clan king is the emperor of the land, no matter how these students insult them, they still do what they want to do, and even put down a fierce message, whether it is plagiarism or not, let Xu Qingnian personally go over and talk to them.
Xu Qingnian didn’t care about this situation at all, and he even hoped that the va*sal kings would copy his own Great Wei literary newspaper.
It’s the same as helping yourself to cultivate customers in advance, so why should Xu Qingnian stop it?
The goal was not silver, but the influence of the newspaper and its propaganda ability.
The first thing you need to do is to let the students of the Shouren Academy take over, without even changing the manuscript, and just use it directly.
What’s not to like about this?
As for some readers fighting for themselves, Xu Qingnian also did not chill their hearts, regularly giving away the Great Wei literary newspaper to let them propagate or see the truth, anyway, do not mess up first.
The above three issues.
The first and second are the problems that Xu Qingnian needs to solve.
How to get more people to buy the newspaper.
Raising affordability is the key point, but even if the affordability is raised, it won’t actually mean a significant increase in sales, after all, there is real money and some people just don’t like reading newspapers.
Wouldn’t it be better for people to buy wine and drink it?
Is it bad to buy a chicken to take home and eat?
The hooker, oh, sorry, can’t afford 20 wen hooker.
“In another two months, the effect of the waterwheel will appear.”
“The initial effect, not too good, but not too bad either.”
“Almost until the middle of next year, the economy of the Great Wei, almost start to pick up as well, so before then, it is important to think of countermeasures.”
“The literacy piece will have to be looked at slowly.”
After thinking about it, Xu Qingnian could only plan like this.
First, he set a small goal, to increase the sales of the Great Wei Newspaper to 10 million, and after this small goal was accomplished, he could put it aside for a while.
Once the direction of the Great Wei newspaper was set, the next step was the waterwheel project.
The next step was the waterwheel project.
The waterwheel project has been in operation since a few months ago, and according to the documents sent by the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Works, there are currently 110,000 waterwheels in Wei.
There are currently 110,000 waterwheels in Wei, 80,000 of which are in the main areas of Wei, which are, to put it bluntly, the areas that the court can control.
The remaining 30,000 were scattered in more remote areas and difficult to reach, and according to the secret investigations of the eunuchs of the Secretary of Justice, most of the waterwheels were relatively deserted.
Especially in the many va*sal counties.
At the beginning, they were very good, but because several major parts were not installed, these waterwheels encountered problems and had to be repaired, so many feudal kings were too lazy to deal with them and left them to grow dust.
The court had allocated so much money for such a piece of crap, which was a waste.
The empress threw it away after taking a look at it and it did not attract any controversy at all.
Of course, these feudal lords also asked people to investigate secretly, but the results of the investigation were more or less inaccurate, plus these feudal lords did not care to deal with this matter.
And there was no fuss.
“Before the end of the year, the quantity must be increased to 150,000 water carts.”
“Next year, we want Great Wei to fully cover water carts, aiming for half a million, and reaching a million water carts in three years will basically be no problem.”
Xu Qingnian made another plan.
The water tankers currently had 110,000 racks, which was not nearly enough, 150,000 racks by the end of the year.
Next year there would be half a million, and by the end of the year after that it would have to break a million.
Now Xu Qingnian has already ordered some of the merchants of the Great Wei Chamber of Commerce to plant the corresponding materials, it is impossible to put eggs in a basket, whoever plants them makes money anyway.
So for the next two years there is no need to worry about a shortage of materials at all, the fear is that Wei will not have enough silver.
The third matter is the state treasury.
The treasury has now spent 300,000,000 taels of silver, and all six ministries have taken the money to go, plus the increase in the amount of water wagons, and the gift of hoes from all over the country, and seeds, including the cost of buying cattle, labour, etc.
The biggest expense is to buy cattle, but where there is a waterwheel land, each township ten cattle, this is the official cattle, the use is to help the people to plough the fields for free, otherwise, just rely on manpower to plough the fields certainly can not ah.
The government’s oxen are used to help the people plough their fields for free.
There are only 800,000,000 taels of silver left in the national treasury.
It may seem like a lot, but in reality it is not much, and Xu Qingnian still has a lot of plans that he has yet to implement.
It was useless just to let the people cultivate the fields, many gra*sroots subsidies had to be given, just like this official ploughing cattle, how many and how many ah, one cow is almost 30 taels.
One township would need ten head, three hundred taels a township, how many townships are there in the whole of Great Wei?
And ten cows in one township is not enough at all, it can only be said that it can solve the immediate problem, if you really want to solve it completely, at least a hundred cows in one township.
And this is just to buy cattle.
There is still a shortage of money in Great Wei, just not as much as before.
“After the grain production is raised, the Great Wei money bank, it must be asked for.”
Xu Qingnian murmured in his heart that the solution to this third matter, the Great Wei Money Bank, was the very beginning of the An Guo policy.
The above three things are matters of state.
Xu Qingnian wrote them down on a blank piece of paper, determined the plan, and then went about implementing it step by step.
Knowing and acting in unison, there is also this truth in it.
Now that you know what the problem is, you have to solve it, even if it is difficult to do, you have to do it, rather than sitting around and wasting time.
The country’s problems are solved.
The rest is a personal matter.
The demon seed inside his body has been stirring lately and is almost ready to be unsealed.
Since two months ago, when Chao Ge gathered the saint’s shadow and brought about the resonance of the Palace of Literature, the demon seed in his body had been suppressed.
Until recently, the demonic seeds had been stirring.
But Xu Qingnian planned to invoke the demon seed at the end of the month, and suppress it with the might of a great Confucian.
As for the martial dao, the Sixth Grade Realm Breaking Pill, Xu Qingnian planned that he still had to talk to the Dan God Ancient Scripture, after all, the demand was too precious.
It was not possible to get it.
For the Immortal Dao, Xu Qingnian was still at the stage of enlightenment, and Lu Ziying had gone somewhere, disappearing for close to two months before and after anyway.
However, during these two months, Xu Qingnian had not been idle, cultivating the Immortal Dao when she had nothing to do.
Now that nine spirit veins had coalesced in her body, the rest could no longer be coalesced.
The ninth grade of the Immortal Dao was Pulse Condensation.
The eighth grade is spirit building.
Xu Qingnian had deliberately consulted some information, and after the spirit veins had coalesced, he would have to build a Yuan, which was equivalent to a Dantian.
Let’s wait until the end of the month.
These were the two personal matters.
There was only one thing left to do.
Shouren Academy.
Since the execution of Yan Lei Confucian Heart, the number of people who came to worship at the Shouren Academy has increased, and if you count, there are close to three thousand students.
But they are all external students, and Xu Qingnian prefers not to have too many, not just anyone.
If you don’t understand it, there is no point in forcing yourself to learn it.
The number of students who can be enrolled in the cla*sroom and truly counted under his own tutelage is about twenty, and these people all follow Xu Qingnian around, and every once in a while, Xu Qingnian will explain to them the way of Heart Studies.
The rest of the students were arranged by Xu Qingnian to go to various literary and newspaper halls, so that they could bring their talents into play.
It was also a test of heart and character.
There is still an urgent shortage of people, after all, if the Great Wei Wen Wei newspaper wants to grow rapidly, it must have more people to do its work.
But when all is said and done, the root cause of the inability to break through the numerical ceiling is the Great Wei Wen Gong.
After all, who in the world doesn’t want to go to the Great Wei Wen Palace?
Don’t look at Song Ming and the others when they left, they were so spontaneous and took a group of readers with them to the Shouren Academy, but in reality?
After a few days, those who should have stayed in the Great Wei Palace of Literature remained there as usual.
Even after Song Ming and the others left, the Great Wei Palace of Literature recruited another group of readers, instantly replenishing the blood and not worrying about the phenomenon of no one at all.
It is true that what Yan Lei did was scolded by many readers, but in the end it was Yan Lei’s fault alone.
No matter what the truth is, the Great Wei Palace of Literature gave an answer that satisfied the world’s readers and put Yan Lei’s heart to death.
So if you want to talk about this matter, it is not possible.
This is the benefit of prestige, no matter what mistake you have made, as long as it can be justified on the surface.
People won’t say anything.
But if you don’t have prestige and substance.
Just like Xu Qingnian, if Xu Qingnian did one thing wrong, I’m just afraid that the Great Wei Palace of Literature would never let go of him.
It was for this reason that Xu Qingnian would definitely bite off a piece of the other party’s flesh as soon as he caught the chance, even with the blood and flesh in one bite.
But for two months in a row.
Whether it was the Great Wei Palace or the Prince of Huaining.
Xu Qingnian found that no one was actually looking for her anymore?
Yes.
For two months in a row, no matter if it was the Waterwheel Project or the Great Wei Literary Gazette, or his own wide acceptance of apprentices, he was actually not hindered at all.
Great Wei Kyoto, or even the Great Wei Dynasty, had a peaceful two months, very peaceful.
This was a bit odd.
Xu Qingnian did not believe that Pengru and Prince Huaining had come to their senses and were unwilling to target themselves.
But in two months’ time, there had been no right or wrong at all, so how could this not surprise Xu Qingnian?
The fact that he didn’t take the initiative made Xu Qingnian a little uncomfortable.
But at that moment.
Yang Hu’s voice sounded outside.
“Your Excellency, my subordinate was on night patrol just now and found the figure of the Lord Prime Minister, who seemed to be coming to look for you, but suddenly left again.”
Yang Hu spoke outside, informing Xu Qingnian of this matter.
“Lord Chen?”
Scanning the sky, it was already the ugly hour, not yet the dawn, what was Lord Chen looking for him for?
“Yes, my subordinate was right, it was Lord Chen.”
Yang Hu replied.
This answer made Xu Qingnian a little curious.
At this hour, what was Lord Chen doing looking for him?
And he had come outside the academy, but he had actually turned around and left?
Something was strange.
Xu Qingnian was slightly curious.
“Your Excellency, do you need your subordinates to go check?”
Yang Hu inquired.
“No, go and continue your night patrol.”
Xu Qingnian shook his head and replied from within the room.
Lord Chen naturally had his own reasons for leaving halfway through the night, so there was no need to ask too much.
“Yes.”
Yang Hu didn’t say much and continued to start his night patrol.
While in the room, Xu Qingnian became more and more curious.
Two quarters of an hour later.
In the Great Wei Palace.
The six Shang Shu followed the eunuchs towards the palace.
At this moment, the autumn breeze blew the official robes of the six Shang Shu to a rustle.
Chen Zhengru was at the head, his head slightly bowed as he walked towards the Hall of the Nurtured Heart, his beard blown askew, while his gaze, however, was full of worry.
He had just received some secret reports that something bad had happened on the northern frontier, and it was suspected that the barbarians wanted to start another conquest, although this was somewhat nonsensical, but such information, whether true or not, needed to be taken seriously.
For no one would dare to bet on it.
If the shame of Jingcheng were to happen again, there would be no more national prestige for Great Wei.
After receiving the secret report, Chen Zhengru intended to go and talk to Xu Qingnian.
But the empress suddenly summoned him to the palace, which is why he left halfway and rushed to the palace.
The autumn breeze was strong, the sky was dark, and the fallen leaves rose and slapped against his body, making it inexplicably chilly and dreary.
But half a quarter of an hour later, the six Chen Zhengru finally saw the Hall of the Nurtured Heart.
At that moment, the six ministers walked into the Hall of the Nurtured Heart.
The fire was so bright that it warmed up the hall, and when Chen Zhengru and the others entered, they could not help but exhale.
“I, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Chen Zhengru, see Your Majesty.”
“Minister, Minister of Household, Gu Yan, see Your Majesty.”
Looking at the empress in the Hall of the Nurturing Heart, the six ministers all bowed.
“Please excuse yourself.”
On the dragon chair, the empress opened her mouth and told the six to excuse themselves.
She then opened the door somewhat and said.
“Half an hour ago, I received twelve letters from the foreigners.
The empress spoke out, and at once several eunuchs handed the folds to Chen Zhengru and the others one by one.
At that moment, several people opened the folders, and with just a glance, their brows were furrowed, and they soon exchanged the folders with each other.
In less than half a quarter of an hour, all twelve copies were read by six people.
“D*mn!”
“This bunch of foreigners, they really deserve to die.”
The first person to speak out was Zhou Yan, the Minister of War, who was already furious when he finished reading the first folding.
When all of the fetches were read, he could not help but speak up directly.
“Minister Zhou, don’t be like that in front of His Majesty.”
Chen Zhengru reminded the other party to calm down, after all, the empress was still here.
“No harm.”
However the Empress did not blame Zhou Yan and spoke indifferently.
“Please forgive me, Your Majesty, I was mainly infuriated by this bunch of foreigners and used inappropriate words.”
Zhou Yan bowed towards the Empress, and immediately afterwards, he could not help but continue to speak.
“The Silong clan is really arrogant and arrogant, a mere va*sal state is asking for the dismissal of my officials in Great Wei, what kind of nerve does he have? How dare he interfere in the internal affairs of my Great Wei?”
“Your Majesty, as soon as you give the order, I, will immediately start making arrangements to send a hundred thousand troops from the northwest to sweep away the Si Long clan, so that he will know why Great Wei is above the upper kingdom.”
Zhou Yan clenched his fist and said so.
As the Minister of War, he was himself the master of military attacks, and the reason why the Great Wei Dynasty was called above the upper kingdoms was because of the killing and attacking, and the monarchs of these va*sal states were the ones who nodded and bowed in front of the Great Ancestor back then.
Wanting to integrate into Great Wei, they were rejected by the Great Ancestor and accepted as va*sal states, an existence used to detour and buffer the war.
Otherwise, such foreigners would have been killed off long ago, so what was the point of keeping them?
But now that Great Wei is in decline, these va*sal states are interfering in the internal affairs of Great Wei?
Let’s not talk about other things, but a mere va*sal state interfering in the internal affairs of Great Wei, asking the empress to dismiss officials? If they agreed to this, how could Wei lose face?
Not to mention whether Xu Qingnian has done anything wrong, even if she has done something wrong, it’s not your turn to interfere in the internal affairs of Wei, is it?
What’s more, you want the empress to remove Xu Qingnian from her post!
Who is Xu Qingnian?
The new saint of Wei.
The most popular person in Wei right now, and to remove Xu Qingnian? If the empress really dismissed Xu Qingnian from her position, the people of the world would probably not agree.
“No.”
“Shang Shu Zhou, you can’t fight.”
“Shang Shu Zhou, you cannot fight.”
When they heard of war, several Shang Shu hastily spoke to stop it, not because they were afraid, but because of the current situation, they could not go to war.
However, just at that moment, Chen Zhengru’s voice rang out.
“Your Majesty, I’m afraid there is something fishy about this matter.”
Chen Zhengru opened his mouth, and with one sentence, the Shang Shu fell silent.
Zhou Yan also stopped speaking, quietly looking at Chen Zhengru.
“What is fishy, Chen Aiqing, just tell us.”
The empress asked.
“One, the joint impeachment of Xu Shouren by the twelve foreign nations is a bit fishy in itself, and it is obvious that they have colluded.”
“Secondly, it is impossible for the twelve foreign nations not to know what position Xu Shouren holds in Great Wei today, and it is also impossible for them not to know your Majesty’s attitude.”
“Thirdly, these twelve foreign nations, instead of impeaching after the return ceremony, or after the death of the Fanshang, impeached today, which proves that this matter is not as simple as it seems.”
Chen Zhengru stated his opinion.
The other five officials all nodded, acknowledging what Chen Zhengru had said.
Indeed, they could not possibly be unaware of Xu Qingnian’s current position in Wei, nor could they possibly be unaware that the empress would not accede to their request.
And why did they have to wait until now to impeach him?
If this wasn’t fishy, they really didn’t believe it.
“Aiqing Chen, what is your opinion?”
The Empress did not say anything, but continued to ask Chen Zhengru what he thought.
“In my opinion, this is a test! A test by the foreigners.”
Chen Zhengru thought for a moment, and then stated his guess.
A test?
Gu Yan, Zhang Jing, Li Yanlong, Wang Xinzhi and Zhou Yan were all curious, their gazes filled with doubt as they pondered involuntarily.
The empress was the only one who remained calm and incomparable.
“How is a test of intent?”
The Empress inquired.
“Since the twelve nations have joined hands, it does not mean that they are the only twelve nations, I think there are many smaller nations behind them that want to participate, only that they do not dare.”
“Most of these twelve zhengzhi are powerful va*sal states, they are taking advantage of the issue to impeach Xu Shouren and test Your Majesty’s attitude.”
“If Your Majesty agrees to remove Xu Shouren from office, they have nothing to say, but for some people, it would be a good thing.”
“But if Your Majesty does not agree to remove Xu Shouren from office, I am certain that they will not rest in peace.”
Chen Zhengru gave his reply.
But as soon as he said this, the voice of Zhang Jing, the Minister of Penalties, could not help but ring out.
“If Shouren is removed from office, it will be good for those people?”
“Also, Lord Prime Minister, didn’t you say it was a test? What is this testing? A test to see if His Majesty will depose Shouren?”
Zhang Jing was a little curious, he didn’t quite understand.
Hearing Zhang Jing’s uncomprehending voice, Chen Zhengru shook his official robe and said.
“If Shouren is removed from office, no matter what factor it comes from, the people of the world will be disappointed in His Majesty, and also in the imperial court!”
“After all, Shouren has done his utmost to build a successful career for the Great Wei, the waterwheel, the government and business, which of these things is not a great achievement? Which of these things will not be famous for ages?”
“But if Shouren is removed from office, it will not only chill Shouren’s heart, but also the hearts of the people of the world, especially the Tusi Dynasty and the First Yuan Dynasty, who will probably send spies to contact Shouren at the first opportunity.”
“Although I believe that Shouren will never fall for this, I cannot guarantee that Shouren will not make the wrong choice out of anger.”
Chen Zhengru explained the first meaning.
However, he deliberately explained that this was actually said to the Empress.
He didn’t know what the empress thought, but he had to say it clearly in advance, in case the empress really dismissed Xu Qingnian from her official position, there would be nothing to say.
Even if Xu Qingnian had even greater reasons to stay in Great Wei, he would probably have to leave, not to go to another country, but definitely to return to the mountains and not to suffer from this anger.
Especially for a bloodthirsty teenager.
So Chen Zhengru was reminding the empress of this.
On the dragon chair, the empress instantly understood Chen Zhengru’s meaning, and at that moment she could not help but speak.
“No matter what, unless Aiqing Xu has done something to betray the country, I will never remove him from his post.”
The Empress spoke up and gave her answer, which also put Chen Zhengru’s mind completely at ease.
And with the empress saying so, Chen Zhengru continued to explain the second matter.
“I believe that the foreigners are not testing Your Majesty’s attitude towards Xu Shouren.”
“Rather, they are testing, Your Majesty’s attitude towards the alien nation breaking away from Great Wei.”
Chen Zhengru spoke, word by word, and as he said this, the five ministerial prefects’ faces instantly changed greatly.
“Minister Chen, are you serious?”
“Seceding from Great Wei? Shang Shu Chen, what is the basis for that?”
“Impossible, even if they were bold enough, they would never dare to break away from Great Wei, don’t they want their lives?”
“If they dare to break away from Great Wei, I will personally lead the army and conquer the nations.”
“Minister Chen, is this a serious statement?”
After all, Chen Zhengru’s a*sumption was a bit exaggerated.
To break away from Great Wei?
What was the role of the va*sal states?
To manifest the might of the Lord’s country.
Increases the chi of the Lord’s country.
Deploy the layout of war.
Pay tribute and taxes to the main country.
These four are the role of the va*sal states, to put it bluntly, they are the little brothers, to show the majesty of the big country, after all, a big country, if there is no little brother support, this can not say.
But the main thing is to increase the national luck, the more affiliated countries, the stronger the national luck, if the affiliated countries leave, it will also have a great impact on the national luck, especially these not so weak affiliated countries, if they leave the Great Wei Dynasty.
If these not-so-weak va*sal states were to secede, they would lose at least half of their national fortunes.
It would take decades, if not centuries, for Wei to remedy this half a percent.
As for the deployment of the war effort and the payment of tribute and taxes, they were also of the highest priority.
Tribute and taxes were the least important, after all, since the prosperity of Great Wei, many foreign states were almost exempted from paying tribute and taxes.
Especially after the decline of the Great Wei, it was a clear exemption, just like the birthday of the empress, they sent something to the Ministry of Rites to prepare something to send back, in fact, it is just a formalism, a face-saving project.
The three things that are extremely important are national luck, national prestige and war layout.
“What makes you think so, Aiqing Chen?”
The empress looked calm, she did not have any hint of change, but asked what made Chen Zhengru think they were testing this.
“Back to Your Majesty.”
“I have received secret reports from the northern border that in recent months, the barbarians in the north have been moving around and have obtained a large number of weapons, as well as all kinds of food and property from somewhere.”
“It is very likely that the northern barbarians are going to conquer war against Great Wei again.”
“And today, the twelve foreign nations have suddenly launched an attack, ostensibly to impeach Xu Shouren, but there is no way they do not know Xu Shouren’s status in Great Wei today and in the past.”
“They are doing this intentionally, looking for trouble with Xu Shouren, knowing that His Majesty will not agree, and will then use very radical methods to force His Majesty to agree.”
“If Your Majesty does not say yes, they may take the initiative to break away from Great Wei and choose to join the barbarians in the north, and behind this, I am afraid that there are also the figures of the Primordial Yuan Dynasty and the Tusi Dynasty.”
“Otherwise, no matter how much I think about it, I cannot understand why they want to impeach Xu Shouren.”
This was Chen Zhengru’s explanation.
He had received his information a month later than the Empress, but also a little earlier than the remaining five ministers.
“I, too, have received secret reports that along the Northern Realm, there has been a sudden increase in trade, with grain and gra*s being the most numerous category, with unknown forces acquiring vast amounts of grain and gra*s.”
Gu Yan, the Minister of Household, followed suit and said.
“I have also received a secret report that these days, many foreigners have come to our towns and counties all over Wei, and it is suspected that they are probing for information again.”
Zhang Jing, the Minister of Justice, had also received a secret report.
As for the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites, they naturally would not get any intelligence, but Zhou Yan, the Minister of War, had not received any secret reports either.
This made Zhou Yan himself a little strange.
“If that is indeed the case, then let’s teach them a lesson.”
“Your Majesty, I will immediately go forward to the Military Office and set up a war strategy within three days to conquer the foreigners and sweep away the injustice for Great Wei.”
Zhou Yan spoke out.
The Minister of War had taken the initiative to invite war, which was very reasonable.
However, Chen Zhengru shook his head and said.
“No.”
“If we really fight, the barbarians in the north will definitely intervene in this matter, and then it will only lead to a new round of northern warfare.”
“Now that Great Wei has only been at peace for a while, if we advance the Northern Expedition, we will be stepping into an abyss of ten thousand fathoms.”
“Moreover, this is only my guess, in case they don’t think like this and you take the initiative to conquer the war, it will be even more troublesome.”
Chen Zhengru balked.
Fight, absolutely no fight.
It was not that Great Wei could not afford to fight, but that it could not fight.
After just two days of good times, you have to start a war, who is willing to fight?
The people are definitely not willing to do so.
“The ambitions of the foreigners are known to everyone on the road.”
“Minister Chen, your tone of voice already tells me that this is eight or nine times over.”
“Right now, it is clear what they want to do, but if we keep hesitating, we are only afraid that if we lose the opportunity to fight first is one thing, and if we turn around and lose the prestige of the Great Wei Kingdom, that would be tragic.”
“It’s just a group of va*sal states, it’s not a northern expedition, is it possible that Shang Shu Chen is afraid?”
Zhou Yan was a bit unpleasant.
You know what they mean, but you don’t fight? Do you just stand there and let them do whatever they want?
He wouldn’t do that.
“Shang Shu Zhou.”
“Whether that’s the case or not, at least don’t lay out a war now.”
“The twelve foreign kingdoms have definitely made a good plan for everything, and if they really fight, they will definitely involve the northern barbarians.”
“There is also naturally the figure of the Primordial Yuan Dynasty and the Sudden Evil Dynasty behind this.”
“Once the troops are sent out, they will fall into the enemy’s trap step by step.”
“At that time, it will be difficult to recover from the overturning of the water, and Great Wei will have to take up the battle, so that the country will be in turmoil and the people will panic when another northern expedition is launched.”
“Inside, there are va*sal kings who have ceded their lands, and once we wait for the army to move north, the ceded va*sal kings will only have to rebel at the first opportunity.”
“Even some demons and devils will also appear at the first opportunity, what with the White Clan, the demon clan and the demon religion, the list is endless.”
“At that time, Wei will neither be able to enter nor retreat, it will be in deep water and fire, within a few years, Wei will fall and become a purgatory on earth.”
Chen Zhengru said very sensibly.
It was not that he was afraid of some va*sal states.
Rather, the current Great Wei could not fight a war.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a big war or a small war, because as soon as Great Wei starts an army, someone will definitely turn a small matter into a big one.
By then you go from being active to being pa*sive, falling step by step into the enemy’s trap and screwing you hard.
To put it in the simplest terms.
There are no small battles to be fought in the Great Wei; a war is a full-scale war.
Chen Zhengru’s words were bitter and heartfelt.
But Zhou Yan still could not help but speak.
“A full-scale war is a full-scale war!”
“Are we still afraid of them?”
Zhou Yan said so, his temper fiery.
He understood this reasoning.
But if he had to take a hard loss, he wouldn’t do it.
He was the Minister of War, he was bloodthirsty, and what Chen Zhengru said was just speculation.
To put it bluntly, his own little brother, ready to ride face to face, only to not fight himself? Who can stand that? He couldn’t stand it anyway.
He couldn’t stand it anyway.
Chen Zhengru paid no attention to Zhou Yan anymore, but looked at the empress and said.
“Your Majesty, I think that this matter should be delayed for a few days and pressed for a while, next month is the imperial examinations, so we can use this matter as an excuse to delay for a while.”
“During this time, my ministers and others will discuss it properly, both to prepare contingency means and to investigate carefully to come up with a countermeasure plan.”
Chen Zhengru spoke out, wanting to delay for a while in this way.
Delay as long as you can.
“Allow.”
The empress spoke up, and she agreed to Chen Zhengru’s plan.
There was no other reason than the fact that Great Wei could not fight any more.
Because there were no small battles to be fought in Great Wei, a full-scale war would be fought, there was no such thing as a local war.
We should first delay for a month.
If the other side sends another zheng, then reject it, and delay for another month, the other side will definitely not turn their backs on the other side, but will also negotiate and communicate.
Another month of delay, and then Great Wei will refuse again, another month of time.
If they do turn their backs, Wei can still delay for a month, which is four or five months.
If they do it properly, they can delay it for half a year.
And in those six months, Great Wei could come up with the most comprehensive and perfect solution to deal with it.
And with these six months, Wei can also develop rapidly.
It would be better than facing it now.
“All the loving ministers should go back and think about this matter, it must not be spread out.”
“All right, a few of you are also tired, go back and rest, there will be no morning court today.”
The empress spoke up, she approved of Chen Zhengru’s method, and at the same time told them to go back and rest, it was now three minutes past dawn.
“I bid farewell, long live my emperor, long live my emperor.”
The six ministers spoke in unison, but at this moment, they really didn’t have any desire to continue staying here either.
After leaving the Hall of the Raising Heart.
Zhou Yan walked with his hands behind his back, he was a little angry, but he also understood the bigger picture, he just had a hard time holding it in.
The great hall of Wei.
How could he be afraid of some va*sal states?
How could this not be angry?
Zhang Jing, the Minister of Justice, followed him over, comforting and persuading the other side.
Gu Yan, the Minister of Household, on the other hand, could not help but look at Chen Zhengru and said.
“Shang Shu Chen, Great Wei cannot fight.”
This was all Gu Yan said, he was the Minister of Household Affairs of Great Wei, he was the most qualified to speak if he could fight or not.
Right now silver was not the issue, it was the hearts of the people!
Great Wei had barely begun to flourish now, and every day there were new changes, so much better than the stagnant pool of water before.
At this time, who wants to fight?
Everyone is riveted, waiting for Great Wei to become completely prosperous before discussing the matter of war.
Therefore, at this time, one cannot fight, nor can one fight.
Hearing Gu Yan’s voice, Chen Zhengru nodded his head.
He then spoke.
“Old man understands, later on I will go and take a trip to Shouren, this matter, to see if Shouren has any solutions.”
Chen Zhengru said so.
When this was said, it received the unanimous approval of several Shang Shu.
With this, all of them walked out of the palace and then left separately.
Chen Zhengru went to look for Xu Qingnian.
He did not know if Xu Qingnian had any solutions to this matter.
But this matter involved Xu Qingnian, and he had to tell Xu Qingnian.
Xu Qingnian had to be prepared.
But when he was rushing to the Shouren Academy.
A voice of the people rang out, causing Chen Zhengru to freeze.
“What? The twelve foreign nations have joined together and impeached Lord Xu?”
“The Si Long clan and others, joining hands to impeach Lord Xu?”
“What’s this about?”
“Good lord, they want to remove Lord Xu from his position?”
“Are these people out of their minds?”
“Hmph, a mere group of va*sal states, how dare they ask for the removal of our officials from their positions in Great Wei? Are they stupid?”
As one voice rang out.
Chen Zhengru froze in place.
This was the information that had just been delivered.
Why did the people know about it?
He turned his gaze to look away.
The next moment.
Chen Zhengru’s eyes were filled with coldness.
