Chapter 766: The long-lost daily life of father and son
The promotion of Shangshui County to Shangshui County was something Zhao Hongrun had not thought of before, but it was undeniable that this reward made Zhao Hongrun happier than his father's reward of one million silver.
You must know that Wei's criminal law clearly stipulates the land area of county-level cities and the number of garrison troops.
Take the original Shangshui County as an example. Yang Yantao, who is still planning to build a city in Shangshui County, the area of the city he planned is actually illegal, because the newly built Shangshui City greatly exceeds the
The county-level standards even exceed the county-level standards, which means that they are closer to the royal capital.
Not to mention, the number of people directly under the Shangshui Army stationed in Shangshui County far exceeds the standard.
How many troops were stationed in Daliang?
Adding together the three guards, the Imperial Guard, and the Lang Guard, plus the dredging troops stationed outside the city, the number of garrison troops in Daliang, the royal capital, was only 30,000.
And what about Shangshui County? The original Shangshui Army numbered 30,000, but now, after the Qi, Lu, Wei, and Yue joint crusade against the Chu State, the Shangshui Army absorbed many regular soldiers of the Chu State, and the number increased to 70,000 to 80,000 in one go.
The total strength of these six garrison armies is almost close to that of the six garrison battalions two years ago.
That is to say, Zhao Hongrun has frequently gone on expeditions and won battles over the years, making the imperial court a lot of war wealth, and he is now the favorite son of Emperor Wei. Otherwise, this kind of serious transgression alone would be enough to make the Censor of the Censor Prison.
The doctor impeached him day after day at court meetings: It is a county-level fiefdom, the size of the new city is as large as Daliang, the capital of the Wei Dynasty, and the number of troops stationed in the territory far exceeds that of Daliang. What do you want to do?
Now, Emperor Wei has promoted Shangshui County to Shangshui County, named Zhao Hongrun the commander-in-chief of southern Xinjiang, and authorized Zhao Hongrun to independently defend the southern territory of Wei State. This solved the problem in disguise between Shangshui County and the Shangshui Army.
An awkward situation.
Yes, promoting Shangshui County to Shangshui County was just one of the many rewards given by Emperor Wei to his son Zhao Hongrun.
In fact, even Zhao Hongrun didn't expect that his father would be so generous this time.
Because Emperor Wei not only promoted Shangshui County to Shangshui County, but also merged several adjacent counties into Shangshui County, which was equivalent to increasing the scope of Zhao Hongrun's fiefdom.
But when Zhao Hongrun received the imperial edict and took a closer look at the names of the counties that were included in Shangshui County, his good mood suddenly disappeared.
"That's unreasonable!"
Zhao Hongrun rushed to Chui Gong Hall with five clan guards, including Wei Jiao, Lu Mu, Mu Qing, Zhou Pu, and Chu Heng.
At the same time, in the Chui Gong Hall, Emperor Wei was holding a tea cup and chatting and laughing with several ministers in the hall. He was not surprised at all by Zhao Hongrun's arrival.
In fact, he seemed to have expected this son to come.
"Hongrun, you came here this time to express your gratitude?"
Upon seeing Zhao Hongrun, Emperor Wei asked with a smile.
Thank you? I thank you!
Zhao Hongrun stared at his father fiercely, shook his right hand holding the imperial edict, and suddenly, the edict fell straight down.
At this time, he pointed to the imperial edict and asked angrily: "Father, what is going on in these counties?"
Emperor Wei didn't take it for granted at all, and said with a smile: "This is a reward from me in recognition of my son's expedition to Chu and his great victory. Is there any problem?"
"What's the problem?" Zhao Hongrun sneered and chanted word by word: "Xiping, Zhaoling, Linying, Xihua, Changping, Yanling... Father, does it sound familiar to you? Does it sound like it?
Those counties that were completely destroyed by the Chu army two years ago?"
"Hmm." Emperor Wei stroked his beard and said pretendingly: "From what you said, Hongrun, these counties are really familiar..."
"Father, stop pretending. Master Lin, Master Yu, they are all laughing...Father, you are fooling me with such a few pieces of land?" Zhao Hongrun looked at Emperor Wei in disbelief.
It has to be said that the several counties that Emperor Wei added to Zhao Hongrun this time cover a large area of land together. The problem is that the counties of Xiping, Zhaoling, Linying, Xihua, Changping and Yanling, They were all the counties that were most severely affected by the war when Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu Yangcheng, led his army to invade Wei two years ago.
At that time, those Chu troops almost destroyed the farmland and buildings in these counties. Today, two years later, except for Yanling and Changping, which are home to hundreds of thousands of former Chu civilians, the situation is slightly better. Several counties and cities are just a complete mess.
It's like the kind of poor county town where Zhao Hongrun doesn't want anything for free.
Facing his son's question, Emperor Wei smiled, put down his teacup, spread his hands and said, "Hongrun, I feel that even if I reward you with a million taels of silver for your contribution to the conquest of Chu, it will not be enough." Pass...but you can see the current situation of our Wei Dynasty. The war with the Chu State in the south is over for the time being, but in the north, the war between our Wei Dynasty and South Korea is not over yet. You also As a commander who has been on the battlefield for a long time, you should be able to tell that the war in Northern Xinjiang will not be determined for one to two years or even three to five years. During this period, how much food will the court need to consume? The national treasury is also tight..."
After a pause, he continued with a hint of ridicule on his face: "As for those counties, I think they are worth more than a million taels of silver, right?"
"..." Zhao Hongrun looked at his father in silence and asked coldly: "Father, I wonder how much food you will allocate to my son to help him develop those counties?"
Emperor Wei glanced at his son in surprise, with an expression on his face as if he wanted more money, and asked pretending to be puzzled: "Didn't you bring a lot of loot from the Chu Kingdom?" As he said this, he pretended to be generous. Said: "Well, you don't have to hand over the property to the treasury this time...Are you satisfied?"
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun felt his teeth itch with hatred.
Indeed, the Wei army under his command in Chu this time has certainly gained a lot, but building a county is a bottomless pit. Take Shangshui County as an example, how much energy did he invest? How much manpower and material resources did he invest? It also made the original Chu of Shangshui County How much manpower and material resources did the country's nobles invest?
How could the wealth looted from Chu State alone be enough to develop Xiping, Zhaoling and other six counties?
You know, Zhaoling, Yanling, and Changping are fine, but the other three counties are now simply desolate places with few inhabited people.
"My father's kindness is appreciated by me!" Zhao Hongrun said coldly: "My son would rather follow the past rules and turn over part of the income to the state treasury than accept those messes."
"If you don't want to, just don't want to." Emperor Wei smiled strangely when he heard this.
Huh?
Zhao Hongrun was stunned for a moment, then listened to Emperor Wei continue to say: "Since I don't want to, I will take it back. It's just..."
Glancing at his son, Emperor Wei suddenly changed the topic and asked: "Speaking of which, regarding the more than one million Chu refugees you brought back from Chu, where do you plan to place them?"
This seemed to be an irrelevant topic, but when Zhao Hongrun heard it, he was slightly shocked.
He finally realized that the father in front of him had another purpose to expand his fiefdom.
At this time, Emperor Wei said with a half-smile: "If you don't want to, just don't. You are my son, and I am your father. Is there anything that is not easy to say between father and son?...Hongrun, you
Are you really unwilling to accept my kindness?"
"..." Zhao Hongrun was slightly angry.
"Tsk, tsk, Shangshui County alone may not be able to accommodate more than one million Chu refugees. Or, Hongrun, do you plan to separate those refugees and place them in various parts of the country?... This is troublesome. What if the Wei people and the Chu people
If a conflict arises, it's better for you to intervene... My son brought those people from Chu to Wei, but he couldn't arrange them properly.
Their destination, tsk tsk tsk... I can arrange it for you, but I can't do it myself after all. If something bad happens during the period, well, it won't be easy to handle..." As he said that, Emperor Wei glanced at
To his son, he said with a half-smile: "Hongrun, tell me, are you willing to accept the pieces of land you talk about?"
provocative!
*Naked provocation!
Zhao Hongrun frowned when he heard this, and his anger was almost rising. Just when he was about to speak, he heard Emperor Wei say calmly: "Don't act out of emotion, think it over carefully before speaking... You must know, let me take it back.
It's okay to make this your destiny. But if you regret it afterwards, I won't pay attention to you again."
"..."
Zhao Hongrun was shocked, and then he realized that the man in front of him was not only his father, but also the king of Wei.
Gritting his teeth, Zhao Hongrun whispered: "My son...is willing to accept it."
"What?" Emperor Wei asked deliberately, pretending not to hear clearly.
…
Zhao Hongrun gritted his teeth and shouted loudly: "My son! I am willing to accept it! ...Thank you for your father's grace!"
Zhao Hongrun would not give his father more opportunities to tease him.
Seeing this, Emperor Wei also showed some appreciation in his eyes. Then he smiled at the three ministers in the palace and said, "How about it? I just said, my son is willing to accept this imperial edict?"
You are playing with fire, Your Majesty...
After finding out that Zhongshu Youcheng Feng Yu, who didn't know much about Zhao Hongrun, Zhongshu Ling Lin Yuyang and Zhongshu Zuocheng Yu Ziqi secretly glanced at a certain Prince Su who had a gloomy face, and laughed dryly.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun cupped his hands towards Emperor Wei and said expressionlessly: "If my father has nothing else to do, I will leave for the time being."
"Well, let's go." As if he had won a great victory, Emperor Wei had a smile on his face.
And just when Zhao Hongrun was about to leave the inner hall, Emperor Wei suddenly called him out again, and said with a half-smile: "Hongrun, develop those counties well, and don't let me live up to my expectations... I still want to
I hope those counties will turn over a large amount of tax revenue to the national treasury in the future."
Zhao Hongrun turned around and glanced at Emperor Wei, and unexpectedly smiled: "Okay."
However, this smile made Emperor Wei slightly wary and frowned subconsciously, while Lin Yuyang and Yu Ziqi in the hall looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
This beam... looks like it’s going to be lively again. (To be continued.)