Guo Song's ascension to the throne was ostensibly opposed by some traditional conservative forces. They defended the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty as a reason to oppose Guo Song's succession to the throne, but in fact their interests were still at work.
Guo Song violated the interests of certain forces in many places. For example, he attacked the political interests of the Guanlong Group, but he used economic interests as compensation to alleviate the Guanlong Group's hostility towards him.
Another example is that he carried out the dual-class reform, abolished the low-level citizenship, and restricted slave registration, especially slaves, which made those who owned a large number of slaves hate him. Guo Song knew this well, and in order to reduce the conflict, he did not use a single pole.
Instead of using hard-line measures to abolish slavery, we used reform methods that recognized the old rather than the new. We extended the old slavery for fifteen years and boiled frogs in warm water to dissolve the opposition forces.
Pei Yanling was undoubtedly a representative figure who opposed the abolition of slavery, as was Cui Yuanfeng. When the slave registration reform proposal was voted on in the political hall, Cui Yuanfeng cast the only dissenting vote. At that time, even Independence Day and Solitary Autumn supported the abolition of slavery.
Of course they knew that they could not prevent Guo Song from ascending the throne, but they wanted to use their opposition to Guo Song's ascension as a bargaining chip in exchange for Guo Song to revoke the abolition of slavery laws.
However, the conservative opposition forces headed by Pei Yanling, Cui Yuanfeng, and Dugu Dashi also have a big weakness, that is, they are relatively scattered. They basically work on their own and do not form a power group.
Guo Song's severe annihilation of Wei Tang will leave them with lingering fears. Now the Wei Tang Hui has not closed the case. Zhou Min, with a large number of internal guards, is still carrying out clearing operations in various places, and the methods are extremely ruthless. They are basically executed in public. This case has been solved.
It has attracted thousands of people and is still going on.
The Wei Tang Hui was not far behind, and these conservative forces did not dare to form a party easily.
However, among the various people who opposed Guo Song, not everyone opposed because of differences in interests. Many people opposed just for the sake of opposition, out of a way to vent their dissatisfaction, and Wei Huan was a typical example.
Wei Huan was originally the Minister of Rites of the Southern Tang Dynasty and the head of a famous family in Chang'an. He returned to Chang'an for the position of prime minister, but Guo Song finally chose Du You, who was also an old minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty, as the prime minister instead of him. Wei Huan
Out of balance, he refused Guo Song's appointment as governor of Gyeongju, and later refused Guo Song's appointment as counselor.
After two rejections, Guo Song ignored him. Later, he failed to meet him several times. However, his younger brother Wei Yingwu got better and better. He served as Jing Zhaoyin for four years, and last year he became the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is said that this year
He will also be promoted to the title of Huangmen Shilang, and he will be the same as Zhongshu's subordinate.
It was this strong gap that made Wei Huan increasingly resentful of Guo Song. He often criticized Guo Song in public, so much so that the major families were no longer willing to invite him to gatherings, causing the Wei family to begin to become marginalized.
, Wei Huan was eventually deposed as the head of the family by the family clan association.
Pei Yanling was very cunning. He was publicly criticized by Du You when discussing matters in the political hall yesterday, which made him wary. He had done too obviously and would be liquidated by Guo Song. It would be best if he could fake it. Pei Yanling thought of his in-law Wei Huan.
This person is narrow-minded and has not been punished for criticizing Guo Song for so many years. He has developed an arrogant mentality. If he is encouraged to come forward to oppose, he may be able to achieve his goal.
"Today there was a fierce debate in the political hall. People from the Hexi faction wanted to depose the emperor and support Guo Song to replace the Tang Dynasty. However, the ministers from the aristocratic faction did not agree and resolutely maintained the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty. The two sides argued with each other red-faced and finally broke up unhappy.
......."
Pei Yanling told lies seriously, just to bully Wei Huan who did not understand the situation. Wei Huan snorted loudly, "I have long said that this person is an ambitious man named Tang Chen. He is actually a national thief. He wants to steal the treasure of the Tang Dynasty without asking the world.
Does the family agree?"
"And a shocking thing happened today. The Tang clan members died one by one. Li Jun, the king of Guo, died of a serious illness four years ago. Li Jinyuan, the king of Chu, slipped and fell into the water three years ago and drowned. Li Wanji, the Duke of Chenliu County, died of illness last spring. If
If Zongzhengji didn't tell us, we really don't know that they are all dead. You can explain that one person died, but it is a bit strange that three people died."
Wei Huan snorted coldly, "Do you still need to ask? One person a year will kill all these clans. He is the best at assassination. In the end, all the clans will be killed. No one will inherit the throne, so he will openly steal the treasure of the Tang Dynasty.
.”
Speaking of this, Wei Huan suddenly frowned, "Is it true that all the Tang Dynasty clan members are dead?"
Pei Yanling shook his head, "The clan of the Tang Dynasty has spread and spread all over the world. How can it be so easy to die out? The lineage of Gaozu may be gone. Several of his brothers have descendants. They are also clans, so as long as you are willing to look for them carefully,
, I can definitely find it, and besides, the current little emperor will also have heirs in the future, shouldn’t his heirs be able to inherit the throne?”
"What can be done? He holds military power and wants to be in power. Who can stop him?"
Although Wei Huan hated Guo Song, he was not stupid. He knew that Guo Song's rise to power was a foregone conclusion, and he could not stop it by finding some inexplicable clan.
"Although I can't stop him, I can at least let him know that this world is not his alone. At least let him learn to respect others and respect the family."
Pei Yanling could be said to have understood Wei Huan's psychology. He knew that Wei Huan was deeply resentful of Guo Song. If he had the opportunity to disgust Guo Song, he would definitely take the initiative to ask for help. Pei Yanling did what he wanted without mentioning any opposition to the abolition of slavery.
Things.
Wei Huan was indeed interested. Although he could not prevent Guo Song from ascending to the throne, if he could seize the opportunity to disgust Guo Song, he could vent his anger.
"Is there any good way?"
Pei Yanling was waiting for his words. He lowered his voice and said: "There is a good way, but you don't have to come forward yourself. You can do this..."
When Guo Song returned to Jin Palace, he unexpectedly found a group of palace maids and female guards discussing in low voices around a large table. After he coughed lightly, everyone realized that Jin Jin was back, and they quickly bowed and left in a hurry.
Only then did Guo Song see what was on the table. It turned out to be a huge bear skin, spread flat on the table. Guo Song's eyes lit up. He stepped forward to take a closer look. It was a brown bear skin, at least two meters tall.
, the coat is shiny and extremely soft.
It can be seen that the bear skin has been tanned for many years and is perfectly preserved. This is the first time that Guo Song has seen a bear skin of this kind. It is considered to be the best.
"My husband is back!" His wife Xue Tao's voice came from behind.
Guo Songxiao asked: "This bear skin is very good, where did you get it?"
"It was sent by the Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Guard this morning. He said that his men got it in Liaodong. I told him at the beginning of the year that my father had a hard time in the winter and asked him to get a good animal skin for me.
, and he remembered it.”
Guo Song's father-in-law, Xue Xun, was in poor health and had cold legs. He was afraid of the cold in winter, and it was especially painful to sleep at night. He had to use Tang Pozi to sleep every night and burned his legs several times. At the beginning of the year, Guo Song told his wife,
He asked her to give her father a few ten-year-old sheepskins, but she unexpectedly got an old bearskin.
Since she has this filial piety, Guo Song will not say anything more. It is indeed the most appropriate thing to give this bearskin to the old man.
"How much did it cost to get this bearskin guard?"
"I inquired about it and found that the market price of an old bearskin of this quality is about 10,000 taels of silver, so in the afternoon I sent someone to deliver a banknote of 10,000 taels of silver, but Commander Wang returned it. He said
My subordinate only spent five hundred taels of silver in Liaodong, which I think is unlikely, so if he refuses to accept the money, I plan to return this bearskin."
Guo Song admired his wife's way of distinguishing public and private matters. Although Guo Song also had an internal treasury, his internal treasury was completely different from Li Shi's. His internal treasury was still part of the Ministry of Household Finance, but it was
It is under his direct control and does not need to be approved by the political hall.
For example, when Zhu Si was killed this time, he took out one million yuan from his internal treasury and lent it to Liu Feng through Baoji Cabinet, which triggered severe inflation in Luoyang and led to the collapse of military morale.
The total value of the various restaurants, shops, warehouses, houses, and manors that Liu Feng used as collateral to repay his debts exceeded 5 million yuan. This was actually a kind of asset hunting.
For example, Yang Mi and Jiang Min also took advantage of Luoyang in their personal capacities and each bought a large house at a very low price.
Even if he buys a large amount of assets at a low price, it has nothing to do with Guo Song's personal life. It belongs to the inner treasury of the King of Jin. The separation of public and private matters has always been Guo Song's requirement for his family.
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "Five hundred taels of silver is indeed impossible in Chang'an, but it should be real in Liaodong. I think it is this price."
"But people who sell animal skins, don't they know that this bear skin is very valuable?" Xue Tao asked puzzledly.
Guo Song explained with a smile: "The animal skin merchant sells it to the shopkeeper for five hundred taels of silver. The shopkeeper sells it to Youzhou Dadian, and the price becomes two thousand taels of silver. Youzhou Dadian then sends it to Chang'an.
If you give it to a big fur merchant in Chang'an, the price will rise to 5,000 taels of silver. The big fur merchant sells it to a wealthy family in Chang'an, and the asking price is 10,000 taels of silver, but after bargaining, you can buy it for 8,000 taels of silver, so every link is
To make money, it is now equivalent to Madam buying the bear skin directly from the animal skin merchants in Liaodong. For these animal skin merchants, the cost of collecting the bear skin is very low. It may take only a dozen kilograms of salt and sugar.
They made a net profit of almost five hundred taels of silver and did not lose anything."
Xue Tao suddenly realized it and said with a smile: "If your husband says this, then I can accept it with peace of mind."