Conspiracy

"A conspiracy, this is an out-and-out conspiracy."

The head of the Han family smashed the tea cup with a livid face at this time.

"I didn't expect Emperor Hongwen to be so cruel and vicious."

That's right, Lu Yaoyao's strategy is a conspiracy.

Using the Dong family's donation of 100,000 shi of food as an introduction, Emperor Hongwen proposed the establishment of a monument to record merits and deeds.

Then Zhen Guogong and Wen Songtao responded one after another.

Thereby using the public opinion of the people to force the aristocratic families to donate food.

Just imagine, after the merit monument was erected, the Dong family was the first to respond. What would the people think after seeing it?

Almost without exception, people will feel that the Dong family is righteous, especially those victims in the north who will be grateful to the Dong family after learning about it.

How much fame can this accumulate?

What is the most important thing for aristocratic families? Isn’t it reputation?

If only one aristocratic family, the Dong family, donated the merit monument, what would the people think of people from other aristocratic families?

If you say it out loud, it won't sound good.

No aristocratic family can sit still.

Especially the Han family, they have always wanted to replace the Dong family and become the first family.

The current situation is that Emperor Hongwen is here to do something like this. Should he donate it?

Donating it would be equivalent to falling into Emperor Hongwen's scheme and having to bleed a lot.

If you don't donate, the consequences will be very serious. Let alone replacing the Dong family, I am afraid that the reputation of the Han family in Dongzhou will fall to the bottom for a long time.

This is really cruel.

As for why the head of the Han family said that Emperor Hongwen was poisonous.

That's because this is a good opportunity to accumulate reputation, and comparisons between aristocratic families will inevitably occur.

You know, the aristocratic families are not all in harmony, it's just that there are no major conflicts on weekdays, and everyone doesn't want to get into trouble.

Now that the Merit Monument is out, even if they know it's a conspiracy, they still have to dig in.

Why?

Because this is an opportunity to accumulate a good reputation, but it is also a crisis where it is easy to get a bad reputation.

If the donation is too small, then others will say, look at the so-and-so family, how powerful it is on weekdays, but this is the result?

By that time, there is blood and you have not yet gained a good reputation. How irritating are you talking about?

Therefore, the inevitable result is that even if there is bloodshed, every family will fight tooth and nail to fight against it.

This makes it clear that he wants to tear off a large piece of flesh from the family's body.

And even if your flesh is torn off, you may not be able to gain a good reputation. Why not call you ruthless or poisonous?

"What a good move. Emperor Hongwen really used a good move this time."

Wu Yue, the person in charge of the Wu family's capital city, was helpless when he received the news.

"Master, what should we do?"

"This is already the case, what else can we do? Inform the family and mobilize 150,000 shi of food."

"One hundred and fifty thousand dan, isn't that too much? The Dong family all have one hundred thousand dan."

Wu Yue smiled bitterly.

"The Dong family were the first to respond. The situation is different from ours."

"And how much are these 150,000 stones? In my opinion, this is not much, not even enough."

"Our Majesty, this time plans to cut off a large piece of flesh from the noble family."

The same thing happened in the Luo family. The head of the Luo family, Luo Shanping, personally wrote a letter and asked his servants to send it back to the family.

As the largest grain merchant in Dongzhou, the Luo family naturally cannot donate less.

What Luo Shanping said in his letter was two hundred thousand stones.

The last one is the Han family.

Why do you say they are last?

There was no way, Patriarch Han was unwilling to accept that so much food was taken away by Emperor Hongwen so lightly.

However, there was no other way. After learning that both the Wu family and the Luo family had taken action and had reported the amount of food donated to the court, he had to make a decision.

"Clan leader, how about we give you 150,000 dan, no more, no less."

"no."

Patriarch Han gritted his teeth and continued, "My Han family has been looked down upon by other aristocratic families because of my birth."

"This time we must suppress them all."

The Han family is a family that slowly rose to prominence after the founding of Dongzhou. In terms of foundation, it is far inferior to the other three families.

In addition, the Han family is also very ambitious. Don't they want to replace the Dong family, the oldest of the four major families?

This is a time of competition. The Han family was so arrogant in the past. If the situation is low now, I wonder what other families will say about them.

"Send me an order to have the family mobilize 200,000 shi of grain and 50,000 taels of silver."

"Clan leader, this can't be done. Does our family have so much food?"

The Han family is in the salt business, and there is not a lot of grain. If they were asked to take money, the other three families together might not be enough for him.

But food is not enough, and two hundred thousand dan has exceeded the limit of the Han family.

"If the family can't afford it, why can't we still buy it?"

"Go and do it quickly."

Having already said this, what else can be done?

The attendant responded and stepped back.

In the imperial study, Emperor Hongwen listened to Wang De's report, and the smile on his face never broke.

Thinking about it, he was still worried about food before, but in the blink of an eye, he got so much.

"Wanfu is indeed my lucky star. She has made great achievements this time. I really don't know how to reward her."

Wang De was also happy for Lu Yaoyao.

"The princess is a contented person. How about your majesty make a note of it first, and then give her a great gift after the princess gets married."

"That's all it can do."

Emperor Hongwen nodded, and soon the smile on his face faded.

"The aristocratic family is really underestimated."

When he said this, his eyes were cold.

Even though the family gave so much food this time, Emperor Hongwen also saw how terrifying the family's wealth was.

The agricultural situation in Dongzhou is not good this year. A severe drought has resulted in no harvest in many places.

The treasury is almost empty, but what about the aristocratic family?

But under such circumstances, he was able to produce so much food in one move.

He does not think that these grains are the limit of the family. What can be taken out in this way will most likely only be a small part.

From this we can get a glimpse of how rich the family's wealth is.

"The three families of Dong, Wu, and Luo have been passed down for many years, and they have already had a good reputation in the previous dynasty. I am not surprised to have such a heritage."

"Only this Han family seems extraordinary to me."

Emperor Hongwen's eyes turned cold again.

Indeed, compared to the previous three families, the Han family has been able to outdo the three families for less than a hundred years, which is indeed extraordinary.

It seems that this salt industry is really a big piece of fat. Take a look at how the Han family has been promoted.

At this moment, Emperor Hongwen was more determined to take back the salt industry in the hands of the Han family to the state.

Just then, a little waiter came in from outside.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue would like to see you."

"Let him in."

Soon an old man walked in quickly from outside.

"Your Majesty, I am so happy, so happy."

"My dear, don't be impatient. Let's talk slowly. Where does happiness come from?"

"I just received news from the person in charge of the Luo family that the Luo family is willing to add an additional 100,000 dan of food to the original 200,000 dan."
Chapter completed!