After talking at Bingzhuye for about an hour, Chengling King Zhao Shen got up and left, leaving Zhao Hongrun alone in the meditation room.
Not long after, Zongwei Chief Wei Jiao walked in with a wool blanket, draped it on Zhao Hongrun, and said with a chuckle: "Your Highness, how was your chat with King Chengling?"
"It's okay." Zhao Hongrun nodded, and then asked Wei Jiao: "Did the Zongfu punish you to wait?"
Wei Jiao, the chief of the imperial clan, smiled and said, "It's nothing more than a scolding and a fine of some salary."
"Hmm." Zhao Hongrun nodded, not surprised.
After all, Zongwei's status has always been transcendent. Sometimes, the princes he loyal to have to be punished, but Zongwei does not have to. As for today's fine, it is just a painless thing for the princes who caused the trouble.
It's just a trivial matter - they have already passed the age where they can rely on their salary to survive.
Wrapped in a sheepskin blanket, Zhao Hongrun lay on the mattress, closing his eyes and quietly recalling the conversation he had just had with Chengling King Zhao Shen.
The tacit understanding achieved with Chengling King Zhao Shen this time was really beyond Zhao Hongrun's expectation, but it is undeniable that some of Chengling King Zhao Shen's views were indeed on point, and he guessed Zhao Hongrun's thoughts.
Regarding the nobles in the country, Zhao Hongrun roughly divided them into three types of people.
First of all, the first category is the aristocrats who are clean and self-sufficient, but because they are too honest and upright, their family background is not prosperous and their families are not prosperous, such as the "He family" of He Zhirong in Yu County, Shang Xun of Shang County
The "Shang family" includes Concubine Shen Shu's natal family, "Huangyi Shen family", etc. This type of nobles has good moral character, but due to various reasons, they are unable to gain power in the Wei state. Zhao Hongrun hopes to support it.
The second category is the small nobles who are unable to enter the true aristocratic circle of Wei due to their own ability or financial constraints, such as Nan Xihou Zhao Zi and Chen Caohou recommended by the third uncle Zhao Laiyu in the list
Zhao Mi, Nan Caohou Zhao Jiu, etc.
The aristocrats of this level are the most mixed. There are aristocrats like the first category of aristocrats who are strict in family education and clean themselves, and there are also some guys who are actually not honest. The reason why these people have not done anything corrupt and perverted for the time being is not because
They don't want to, but their status or power is not enough for them to collude with local officials or merchants.
The third category is the aristocrats with wealthy families.
It is no exaggeration to say that any big aristocrat with a wealthy family has more or less some dirty money-making channels. Take Chengling King Zhao Shen as an example. It is not that the court did not know that he was secretly mining mines, and even
, Chengling King Zhao Shen also has some relatively small workshops under his name, which specialize in making some bronzes, ironwares and the like, and sell them to the market.
Even Chengling King Zhao Shen also had an industry in Song County. He opened more than a dozen porcelain-making workshops in Song County. He recruited people from Song County to work for him at low wages, but sold the porcelain they fired to Sanchuan at high prices.
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There are even rumors that because Chengling King Zhao Shen treated the Song County employees too harshly, the Song County employees resisted several times, but they were eventually suppressed by the soldiers of Chengling King Zhao Shen.
From this point of view, Chengling King Zhao Shen seems to be no different from the aristocrats of Chu State who suppressed the common people. However, not long ago, when Wei State and South Korea went to war, this great nobleman resolutely invested huge sums of money to build an army.
A rebel army of five thousand people moved it to Suanzao.
This rebel army is not the kind of peasant soldiers with naked clothes, but an army with complete weapons and armor. It is even said to be equipped with hand crossbows. Zhao Hongrun has been in charge of the army for a long time, and he knows how to build such an army from scratch.
How much food does the army need to spend?
What surprised Zhao Hongrun even more was that before that, Chengling King Zhao Shen had sold a batch of grain that had just been harvested that year to the court on credit at a price that was 10% above the market price.
Don't think that the price that is 10% above the market price is very high. In fact, considering the cost of Chengling King Zhao Shen hiring thousands of civilians to transport the grain himself, it can be said that he made almost no profit, and even suffered a loss.
And this is a common characteristic of big nobles like Chengling King Zhao Shen: usually they take advantage of the country when they should, and they still try to suppress the common people when they should, but when the country is in trouble, these people will resolutely stand up to support the country.
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At this point, there is no guarantee that every one of these people will be loyal to the country. I can only say that this kind of big nobles are very smart, and they understand the principle of "if the skin is gone, the hair will be attached" - if the Wei Kingdom is destroyed,
How can they continue to enjoy the treatment of today's great nobles?
It is precisely because of this that Zhao Hongrun recommended Zhao Shen, King of Chengling, this time. He felt that for such a big noble, he could just hammer it in time and there was no need to push him to a dead end.
After all, as Chengling King Zhao Shen said, an army cannot be supported by soldiers alone, and civilians alone cannot support a country. As the saying goes, existence is the truth. Since the influence of the great aristocrats is difficult to eradicate, then from now on
From another perspective, doesn’t it prove that this force is necessary to maintain a country?
The big aristocrats that Zhao Hongrun really wants to eradicate are the kind who spare no effort to take advantage of the country's loopholes, harm the public and private interests, spend their money in a wasteful way with the wealth that has usurped the country's interests, but when the country is in trouble, these people hide their heads one by one.
The tail is missing, just like the giant sun king Xiong Li of Chu State - to deal with the moths in this kind of country, Zhao Hongrun prefers to collapse first and ask questions later.
It has to be said that there are not many such moths in the Wei State. However, in the past, the great noble camps united together, which prevented the court, Emperor Wei and Zhao Hongrun from seizing the opportunity.
But now, Chengling King Zhao Shen's change of banner has given the imperial court an opportunity to punish the domestic nobility - after all, with the change of banner of Chengling King Zhao Shen, it can be said that the camp of the great nobles in the Wei Kingdom is on the verge of collapse and no longer what it once was.
Unity and strength.
"This Prince Chengling is indeed a far-sighted nobleman..."
Recalling Chengling King Zhao Shen again, Zhao Hongrun thought secretly in his heart.
He couldn't help but recall the joke made by King Chengling Zhao Shen just now. He said: If he votes for King Qing, King Qing may not be able to defeat King Su, but if he votes for King Su, King Su will be able to take the initiative. What's even more clever is that,
Su Wang Zhao Run had very few connections in the circle of big aristocrats, so his actions were tantamount to providing help in times of need. Even if Su Wang Zhao Run was dissatisfied with his Chengling Wang family in the future, he would still consider today's kindness and be open to him.
I have to say that Zhao Hongrun was really surprised when Prince Chengling Zhao Shen said these words.
However, Zhao Hongrun was also a little confused about this. Zhao Shen, the King of Chengling, was so far-sighted, why did he still worry about the future?
Later, Zhao Hongrun understood the reason. It turned out that Chengling King Zhao Shen had two brothers and one younger brother. He himself also had three sons and four daughters...
Then, Zhao Hongrun understood - Zhao Shen, King of Chengling, could make wise choices himself, and even his brothers and nephews would be able to make wise judgments in the future.
Thinking about all this, Zhao Hongrun didn't fall asleep until late at night.
Early in the morning the next day, he was awakened by a Zongwei Yulinlang. The Zongwei Yulinlang told him that Chui Gong Palace had issued an order to escort the four princes responsible for the incident to Chui Gong Palace.
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but feel a little dumbfounded.
Because in the past, conflicts within the clan's children were all resolved in the clan's mansion. How could his father ever be the one to decide?
If this is the case, what is the meaning of the clan’s existence?
It has to be said that after King Yi Zhao Yuanli assumed the position of Zong Lian and ousted Zongzheng Zhao Yuanyan from taking charge of the Zongfu, not only was the Zongfu's binding force on the imperial power no longer effective, but the imperial power had in turn controlled the Zongfu - in Zhao Hongrun's eyes.
, his sixth uncle, King Yi Zhao Yuanli, was actually the spokesperson of Emperor Wei in the clan.
But having said that, Zhao Hongrun doesn't think this is a bad thing. After all, in his eyes, even though his father, Emperor Wei, made many mistakes when he was young, he is still a wise and wise king. Like this
When you are a wise king, you don't need the Zongfu to restrict you. I believe that the ancestors of the Ji Zhao family originally founded the Zongfu mainly to prevent unscrupulous descendants from misbehaving after ascending to the throne, rather than to create obstacles for wise kings like Zhao Hongrun and his father.
After a while, the Sixth Prince Zhao Yuanli packed his four nephews Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongjing, Qing Wang Hongxin and Zhao Hongrun into a clan carriage, ordered twenty clan guards Yu Linlang, and headed to the palace together.
On the carriage, Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongjing, and Qing Wang Hongxin looked obviously tired. They had obviously spent the night in the meditation room, and Zhao Hongrun also yawned repeatedly.
The difference is that Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongjing, and Qing Wang Hongxin did spend the whole night facing the wall and thinking about it, while Zhao Hongrun was just thinking about the affairs of a noble like Chengling King Zhao Shen, so he delayed his sleep.
Perhaps because of their broken relationship, in the carriage, Qing Wang Hongxin glared at Yong Wang Hongyu and Zhao Hongrun with angry eyes. Next to them, Xiang Wang Hongjing blinked innocently.
"What happened yesterday will definitely be repaid in the future!" Qing Wang Hongxin said through gritted teeth.
Regarding the threat from the Fifth Brother, Zhao Hongrun picked his ears, but Quan pretended that he did not hear it - since they were already at odds with each other, why should he continue to make excuses with this Zhao Wu?
What Zhao Hongrun was thinking about at this time was something deeper.
In his opinion, after yesterday's banquet, the camp of the great nobles in the country could be said to have collapsed. Zhao Shen, the King of Chengling, would bring some of the nobles to defect to him, and the "Uncle Feng, Marquis of Yuanling" who was targeted by him, would definitely convince the other party.
There is no doubt that a group of people defected to King Qing Hongxin.
In this case, those great nobles, headed by Yuanling Hou Feng Shu, who defected to Qing Wang Hongxin, became the first targets to be suppressed in Zhao Hongrun's strategy of "eradicating the stubborn diseases of the domestic nobles".
As for King Qing Hongxin...
Glancing at the Fifth Prince brother opposite who was still glaring at him, Zhao Hongrun secretly laughed twice.
As far as he knew, Qing Wang Hongxin had a batch of armaments orders at the Military Casting Bureau to replace the weapons and equipment of the Second and Third Northern Army under his command.
Although the Weapon Casting Bureau is still under the Ministry of War in name, in fact, the iron blanks and molds required by the Weapon Casting Bureau to forge weapons and armor are all produced by the Smelting Bureau.
"It's time for the "Bing Zhu Bureau" to break away from the Ministry of War..."
Zhao Hongrun thought secretly.
Since Qing Wang Hongxin chose to be his enemy, Zhao Hongrun would not let the Ministry of War, headed by Qing Wang Hongxin, continue to govern the Weapon Casting Bureau, the largest military industrial institution in Wei at present, even if it was a proxy military industrial institution.