On the second day after Wang Gang returned to Beijing, he got up before dawn and prepared to attend the court meeting.
Today, at the court meeting, Wang Gang will pay homage to the Prime Minister, and the young emperor will publicly announce Wang Gang's achievements in the battle against the Liao Kingdom, and his title will be upgraded to another level.
Wang Gang was originally the Duke of Qing, a first-grade Duke, and he could only be promoted to the rank of King.
On such an important day, Hai Chaoyun had already gotten up as early as Wang Gang and helped him wash up.
The two have been married for twenty years, and their relationship is naturally deep. Hai Chaoyun's only regret was that he only gave birth to a daughter for Wang Gang, and then had nothing to do with it.
"Official, I have chosen two concubines for you. You can take care of things when you come back in the evening!" Hai Chaoyun said calmly while tidying up Wang Gang's clothes.
Wang Gang was surprised and said: "Why did you give me a concubine again? Didn't I say that marrying you is enough for me in this life?"
Hai Chaoyun sighed and said: "The rules of my Hai family are that you are not allowed to take concubines until you are 40 years old. I have kept my promise and there is no need to abide by the rules of my Hai family in the future."
"Don't we have Ziqiao? It's not like we have no heirs." Wang Gang said with a smile.
"Zi Qiao is a girl after all. Sooner or later she will get married." Hai Chaoyun said aggrievedly:
"The official position is extremely popular, and there will be no one to inherit the title in the future. This is my daughter-in-law's fault."
Wang Gang held his wife's hand and whispered softly: "We will be together for the rest of our lives. Don't you understand what I am thinking."
Hai Chaoyun suddenly burst into tears and said, "If an official loves me, pities me, and loves me, he should take concubines and have children. Otherwise, I will be a sinner of the Sheng family."
Wang Gang was a little helpless. He had been married to Hai Chaoyun for twenty years, but her feudal ideas had never changed.
"If it really doesn't work, let's discuss it with my second brother and adopt a son." Wang Gang said.
Hai Chaoyun shook his head and said: "In the circle of ladies in the capital, many people have gossiped about me, thinking that I, Hai Chaoyun, am jealous and preventing you from taking concubines.
The official is really kind to me, so he married two concubines to make me less gossipy."
Wang Gang frowned and said displeasedly: "Which woman is talking nonsense!"
Hai Chaoyun said angrily: "Does the official still want to settle accounts with the woman?"
The couple discussed for a long time, and Hai Chaoyun finally succeeded in convincing Wang Gang and found him two beautiful concubines to consummate their marriage tonight.
Wang Gang loved Hai Chaoyun and had no choice but to obey her.
If word of this gets out, I'm afraid it will become a laughing stock in Bianjing City.
It is not a very honorable thing in this era for a wife to marry her husband a concubine, but the husband is not happy with it.
After Wang Gang went to court, Hai Chaoyun took his concubine home.
Marrying a concubine is not like marrying a real wife. There is no need for three etiquettes. Even if the matchmaker is marrying, the concubine cannot come in through the front door.
Hai Chaoyun found someone to decorate his new house, put some happy words on red cloth and that was it.
She also carefully selected her two concubines. They were from clean family backgrounds, handsome in appearance, and gentle in temperament. Even if they were married, it would not affect her status as the eldest wife of the family.
Wang Gang naturally didn't know that his wife had been planning for him to take a concubine for a long time, and even if she knew, she wouldn't care much about it.
He walked all the way to the entrance of the palace and met many ministers who were going to court. Regardless of whether they knew them or not, they would stop and say hello whenever they saw Wang Gang.
Wang Gang even saw an unexpected person.
"Lord Sima."
Wang Gang unexpectedly saw Sima Guang dragging his old and frail body to the palace.
"Man Shanda is paying homage to the Prime Minister today, and I will definitely come to join in the fun."
Sima Guang looks good today. It seems that he has taken the medicine of tiger and wolf and is in a strong fighting spirit.
"Why do you have to work so hard, sir?" Wang Gang said puzzledly.
"Yesterday, I found a few friends and told them your ideas for reform. Even if I am no longer here, they will not be an obstacle to you."
With Sima Guang's words, Wang Gang knew that the resistance to his own reform would be reduced by half.
Wang Gang cupped his fists and bowed deeply to salute Sima Guang.
"Alas, I'm actually not doing it for you, but for those old friends. They are by no means your opponents. Instead of trying to do something for yourself, it's better to stay useful and serve the court."
Wang Gang and Sima Guang walked into the palace together, which immediately attracted the attention of many people, especially the reformists, who thought that Wang Gang was also a member of Sima Guang's party.
As soon as the little emperor arrived, the morning court ceremony began. First, the little emperor gave Wang Gang and Sima Guang an honor. They were given seats in the Golden Palace, and they refused to bow to you when they saw you.
Then the eunuch read out the imperial edict, and Wang Gang was granted the title of King of Qing County for his military exploits, and officially became the prime minister and concurrently served as the Privy Council.
At this time, Wang Gang's power truly reached the point where one person was less powerful than tens of thousands of people. He was in charge of military affairs and the emperor's words were not of any use to him.
Sima Guang died of illness at home not long after he went to court. Wang Gang even attended the funeral in person, and the young emperor also granted him the title of Duke.
Then Wang Gang took complete control of the court and began his own path of reform.
Wang Gang did not implement the three major reforms in one fell swoop. He chose to carry out the "Huo Huo Gui Gong" first, for the simple reason that this was the easiest to implement.
The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the lowest firepower consumption in all dynasties. Because the Song Dynasty implemented high salaries to support integrity, the salary of officials was the highest in the history. It can be said that there is no one before and no one will come after.
Even someone like Wang Gang, who holds multiple positions, gets multiple salaries.
Therefore, officials in the Song Dynasty were not short of money, and naturally the situation of exploiting the people was the lowest in history.
Although there was resistance to Huo Xiao's return to the government, it was not serious. Wang Gang was able to review the abilities of officials and select his own talents for reform when implementing the return of Huo Xiao to the government.
National reforms can never be completed by one person. Wang Gang needs a team and team of his own to implement the second step of sharing the land.
Because of his young age, the little emperor did not interfere with Wang Gang's reform. It was not until three years after the implementation of Huoxiao's return to the public, a large group of hard-working officials gathered around Wang Gang, and the tree was big and the roots were deep, that the little emperor became afraid.
Once, the young emperor invited Wang Gang's family to the palace in the name of a family dinner. He saw his cousin Sheng Ziqiao and fell in love at first sight. He immediately mentioned it to the Queen Mother and wanted to recruit his cousin into the palace as a concubine.
Sheng Minglan originally thought that this was a good thing to get closer to each other, so she mentioned it to Wang Gang. Unexpectedly, she aroused strong opposition from Wang Gang.
In this era, when a cousin marries a cousin, it is called an extra kiss, but Wang Gang thinks it is chaotic and will of course object to it.
This incident also became the trigger for discord between the emperor and the emperor.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Soon the little emperor found several ministers and wrote a letter proposing to take over the government personally, hoping to take back the power in Wang Gang's hands.
Wang Gang realized something was wrong, but in order for the reform to proceed smoothly, he had no choice but to hold on to power and rejected the proposal to pro-government.
After the young emperor went to court, he lost his temper in the harem. Even the Queen Mother Sheng Minglan was alarmed and ran over to comfort her son.
"Your uncle, your uncle doesn't let you take charge of the government, it's actually for your own good. He implements reforms and knows that it will offend too many people, so he wants to take everything into his own hands. He will bear all the hardships and sins by himself, leaving you with
A peaceful and prosperous age.”
"I also know what my uncle wants, but I have grown up and I can't hide behind my uncle anymore." The little emperor said unwillingly.
"Isn't this bad? My uncle has done all the hard work for you, and you can enjoy the fruits of it from now on." Sheng Minglan asked puzzledly.
The little emperor stopped talking. He was thinking, what if his uncle does not return to power in the future? Who can suppress him?
Seeing that the young emperor was still unhappy, Sheng Minglan said, "Don't embarrass your uncle in the future. He has the late emperor's edict in his hand and can depose you at any time."
"Mother, what did you say?!" The little emperor was shocked and inexplicable.
Sheng Minglan said: "The late emperor told me before he died that he left a testament to your uncle. If you become foolish and dishonest in the future, you can use the testament to abolish it and establish a new emperor."
The little emperor's eyes widened and he said: "Mother, why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier!"
Sheng Minglan wondered: "Actually, the late emperor didn't let me tell you this because he was worried that there would be a rift between you and your uncle."
The little emperor's eyes were spinning wildly and his thoughts were changing. He couldn't understand why the late emperor did this. Isn't this a lie to his son?
From then on, the little emperor became much more honest and obeyed Wang Gang's advice.
Wang Gang also spent his energy on reform.
After Huo Hao returned to the father-in-law, Wang Gang began to divide the land into acres, but he encountered great resistance.
The land tax was placed on the big landowners, which really caused a backlash. It was impossible for the gentry who owned large tracts of land in the south of the Yangtze River to spend large sums of money to pay the tax.
The good days have gone too long, who wants to live the hard days?
Many landowners in the seven provinces south of the Yangtze River united to put pressure on the court. Even many courtiers in the south of the Yangtze River wrote letters opposing the land allocation.
Some radical ministers even bumped their heads against golden pillars to express their opposition.
The little emperor was a little scared when he saw it, but Wang Gang chose to be tough. Anyone who objected was pulled out and beaten. When the landowners in Jiangnan refused to pay taxes, Wang Gang had a typical example brought out, accused of treason, and his family confiscated and exterminated.
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Wang Gang, who holds military power, specializes in dealing with all kinds of dissatisfaction.
It was only amid the noisy beheadings that the practice of arranging ten thousand acres of land in the south of the Yangtze River was carried out.
Wang Gang's reputation has gradually deteriorated, and many people have slandered him behind his back, saying that he has misused power and harmed the country.
