"A rich man's house has hundreds of buildings, fields are full of fields, thousands of slaves and maidservants, and thousands of followers. Ships, carts, and dealers are all over the place; abandoned residences and hoards fill the capital. A wealthy house cannot bribe treasures. Horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs cannot be tolerated in the valley. Demonic boys and beautiful concubines fill the beautiful rooms; singing music and dancing fills the deep halls." - Zhong Changtong's "Li Luan Chapter".
This is the description of the wealthy folk families by Shangshu Lang Zhongchangtong during the reign of Emperor Xian.
For example, Mi Zhu, the general of Anhan who helped the late lord Liu Bei to start his own business, was one of the wealthy families in the Central Plains who "had a long history of cultivating goods, thousands of children and guests, and a huge inheritance of over 100 million".
The same is true for the wealthy Bashu clan who have been isolated and peaceful since ancient times.
If someone with such a huge amount of wealth, land, and children were to hold power again, it wouldn't be long before the palace would change its owner.
Therefore, it is not surprising that when Zhuge Liang asked whether the "extension of favor" strategy was intended to grant power to the wealthy families in Shu, Zheng Pu was immediately stunned.
Is this asking for advice?
Clearly he was asking Zheng Pu if he wanted to change his surname to Han Dynasty!
Alas, indeed!
In our country, in our country, and in the world, the Xiangdang clan is the rule of the world. As a scholar from Yizhou, what I say will inevitably be misunderstood and it is the conspiracy of the Xiangdang.
Even if you are as wise as the prime minister, you can only see it for a moment, and you are not exempt from vulgarity.
With a deep sigh in his heart, Zheng Pu faced Zhuge Liang's inspection, his eyes were extremely clear, and he responded loudly: "Replying to the prime minister, it is more plausible than false."
"Um?"
The very unexpected answer made Zhuge Liang slightly raise his eyebrows and look surprised.
Without even realizing it, his body leaned forward slightly.
Immediately, he seemed to realize that he had lost his composure, so he sat up straight again, closed his eyes and rubbed his face, thinking for a while, then slowed down his voice and said gently, "Zijin, you can say whatever you want."
"promise."
Zheng Pu nodded and spoke again, already full of anger, "There are wealthy people in Shu, their residences are spread across the prefectures and counties, and their fields are connected to Fang Kingdom. I don't have the life of half-passing Qinglun, but I steal the clothes of Sanchen Longzhang." ; instead of being the leader of a group of households, there are battles for thousands of houses and famous towns. The glory and joy are too great for the king, and the strength is too weak to keep the order. To the extent that the weak and less intelligent son is defeated through the curtain, and he will die without restraint. He is unjustly impoverished and dare not take care of himself. He is actually a rat in the country! It is not an exaggeration to call it a gangrene attached to the bones! Although Pu is also from Shu, he despises it!"
"This is a great thing to say!"
Suddenly, Zhuge Liang held up his palms and smiled, with admiration in his eyes.
After thinking for a moment, he asked urgently, "According to Zijin's intention, I want to imitate Emperor Xiaowu's act of extending favor and divide the rich and powerful of these countries... Well, the wealthy families in Shu are divided into many small households. To eliminate its power?"
"Although it's not a hit, it's not far off!"
Zheng Pu got so excited about talking that he got carried away for a moment and even uttered witty remarks.
While looking around, I was shocked when I saw Zhuge Liang's expression that seemed to be smiling but not smiling.
Only then did he realize that just now he had actually made a mockery of the powerful Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty!
In an instant, countless cold sweats suddenly broke out on Zheng Pu's back, and he quickly bowed his head and confessed, "You are a despicable man in the wild, who has no form, is arrogant, and is arrogant. It is a capital crime! A capital crime!"
"Hahaha~~~~~~"
Zhuge Liang laughed happily.
Even the tiredness between his brows and eyes seemed to have been bounced away by the laughter.
After a while, he stopped smiling, raised his hand to support me, and said, "I'm so stupid! Get up."
"Thank you, Prime Minister, for not taking responsibility."
Zheng Pu thanked her profusely, but did not dare to add any extraneous details, and expressed his thoughts loudly, "Pu has two thoughts."
"The first is to divide households. In the past, Cao Cao moved all the people in Hanzhong, so that Hanzhong County is now desolate. It is better for the court to entrust him with other tasks and move the branches of the wealthy families from Shu to settle in Hanzhong."
"The second step is to get the reward. Now that Sun Wu has come to peace, the rebellion of Nanzhong can be defeated! Pu then thought that he might as well take advantage of the attack on Nanzhong to pardon the official positions of the children of the wealthy families in Shu, and let them become monks and fund themselves to recruit brave men from the barbarians.
It is a department. The size of his official position is determined by the number of soldiers recruited. Naturally, since he is appointed an official by the imperial court, he must obey the imperial court's dispatch. If he wants to improve his soldiers, determine the rate of his subordinate generals, and then transfer them to Hanzhong or Nanzhong to garrison.
It depends on the time.”
"If these two things can be carried out smoothly, the wealthy people of Shu will support the Han Dynasty to regain the Central Plains for their own benefit!"
His mouth went dry for a while, and Zheng Pu spoke everything without pausing.
Um..........
After Zhuge Liang listened, he nodded slightly and made a nasal sound, then closed his eyes and thought.
With his intelligence, Zheng Pu didn't need to elaborate too much to understand. For example, "the imperial court entrusted him with things" refers to asking petty officials in various counties to look for the rampant behavior of the nephews of wealthy families in Shu in the countryside.
Illegal things.
It's a piece of cake.
Since ancient times, people have not held officials accountable.
The common people at the bottom are accustomed to being humble, being oppressed by wealthy families, and suffering some grievances. They will not complain to the government, but swallow their anger with the attitude that doing more is worse than doing less.
The same goes for another officer.
All we need to do is find a name to reward the rich and powerful people in Shu and show their sons and nephews.
What he was weighing in his mind were the pros and cons.
Because of Zheng Pu’s two suggestions, the prestige and power of the wealthy people in Shu have grown invisibly!
Then the result is that the tail is too big to fall off!
Take the Zheng family in Shifang as an example. The eldest brother Zheng Yan has already established his own family, while Zheng Pu is guarding the mulberry garden. It seems that the property has been divided and declined. However, they are still in the same spirit and are still advancing and retreating together.
If you want to be completely differentiated, you have to wait for the arrival of "the glory of a gentleman, beheaded in five generations".
This time process is too long!
It looked so good that Prime Minister Zhuge Liang worried that the Han Dynasty would not be able to bear its weight and would brew bitter wine on its own!
There was a long silence.
Zhuge Liang opened his eyes, looked at Zheng Pu, and said softly, "Zijin, have you thought about the importance of this?"
"Return to the Prime Minister, Pu has thought about his fault."
Nodding heavily, Zheng Pu bowed his hands in salute and said, "This is also the third thing Pu was thinking about. When Pu was young, he heard Xian Kao's words, saying that Guanzhong used to be a country of abundance, with a dense population and a prosperous period. Among them, wealthy families, wealthy businessmen, etc. all lived in the Xiaowu Emperor
It is an honor to be around Maoling."
"The heart of a boy is extremely insidious! Hahaha~~~~~"
This time, when Zhuge Liang heard this, he couldn't help but pretended to be angry and scolded him, and laughed again.
Because it was an honor to settle around Maoling, Zheng Pu said the opposite.
When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty built the Maoling Mausoleum, he forcibly moved the country's wealthy businessmen to settle in the surrounding areas. This was to uproot these "folk tycoons" from their local areas and prevent them from dominating the countryside!
Therefore, after Zhuge Liang listened, he knew the cruelty of Zheng Pu's advice.
First, let the wealthy people of Shu take the bait and support the revival of the Han Dynasty by offering profits. After the Sanqin lands were captured, they were all moved to Guanzhong to settle down on the pretext of moving back to their old capital!
If the wealthy clans of Shu leave Shu, do they still need to worry about losing their tail?
As for whether Guanzhong can be captured, there is no need to consider it.
After all, even the wealthy families of Shu have served wholeheartedly and gathered all their strength. If they are still unable to capture Guanzhong, then the big man will have no future. What else do you need to worry about?!
"Zijin, your planning skills have already been demonstrated, so you should encourage yourself."
After laughing for a while, Zhuge Liang grimaced, his eyes were majestic, but his tone was full of expectation, "Given time, I may be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Fa Xiaozhi."
