Seduction

"Wu Zheng..." Zhan Xingruo said softly, "If Chen Jiang returns to the northwest, the imperial guards will be the last protection of the imperial city, and the emperor will not even guard his own home."

Wuzheng shook his head, "Father also told me the way of freedom." He smiled sarcastically, "Ask me if I know what freedom is. He wants to rule the world by doing nothing, and let everything choose freely according to its cause and effect. If you fight, you will fight, and likewise, Yuezhu will die if you want to die, and the gods and men have no merit, he doesn't care about these things."

After Wu Zheng finished speaking, he clenched his fists and lowered his head.

"I understand." A moment later, Zhan Xingruo said, "No matter how indestructible the Northwest Iron Wall is, it can't withstand such a toss, Yuezhu, do you still want to save?"

Wu Zheng raised his head and frowned, "I am the crown prince, why don't you save me?"

"A dynasty is going to be destroyed. Sometimes it cannot be stopped. Whoever stops it will die. Do you understand that there is no dispute?" Zhan Xingruo asked again.

"I met you at the Lantern Festival back then, and promised to bring peace to the world with you. I haven't changed in the past ten years, so why should Ah Li ask again?" Wu Zheng said.

Zhan Xingruo nodded, "Then give me a fight, life and death are fate, don't be sympathetic to each other."

"A Li..." Wu Zheng's gaze flickered, and Zhan Xingruo raised his head to meet his gaze, "Prince, do you remember the reform I told you about?"

Yuezhu, where it had rained, carried a soft cool air, and the wind moved among the blades of grass. The grass nodded and straightened its waist again.The girl was fascinated, and the gentle smiling face of Hepan Guqing kept appearing in her mind. She smiled unconsciously, "Brother Qing, how are you doing now?" The girl smiled, tapped the grass with her fingertips, asked freely.

"Miss." The servant leaned over, she didn't notice, the young man called her timidly, the girl turned her head, "It's too cold here, I, let me get you some clothes."

"It's already summer." The girl smiled and stood up, and turned around to the young man. The light pink skirt added a little light to the cloudy sky, "Does it look good?" She asked.

The young man nodded shyly, and the young girl smiled triumphantly, thinking that she would wear this skirt to meet her lover brother.

"Xi Rao."

Suddenly, the girl heard someone calling her name.

Zhang Jiyao opened the curtain of the backyard and saw Zhang Xirao having fun with his servants.He smiled and opened his arms, "Come here and give Dad a hug."

Zhang Xirao was like a little rabbit, and rushed towards Zhang Jiyao excitedly. Zhang Jiyao was thrown back two steps, but still hugged Zhang Xirao and turned around twice.

"A new dress?" Zhang Jiyao put him down and asked with a smile in his eyes.

"Yeah." Zhang Xirao nodded, "Does it look good?" She asked coquettishly.

"My precious daughter looks good in anything." Zhang Jiyao said, dragged Zhang Xirao into the room and sat down, and ordered his servants to make some hot soup for her.

"It's rainy and cool, don't stay outside for so long, wear more clothes, I'm not at home, and the servants can't control you." Zhang Jiyao said softly.

"What do you want them to do with me? I've grown up." Zhang Xirao reluctantly picked up the soup and boasted, "You're not at home, and I'm not allowed to go here or there. Let's go."

Zhang Jiyao lowered his head, "I have wronged you, dad is doing it for your own good."

Zhang Xirao raised her head and looked at him, her eyes blinked, "Forget it, I forgive you." She smiled, "Dad, do you want to go again when you come back this time?"

"Not leaving for now." Zhang Jiyao said.

"That's it..." Zhang Xirao nodded, hiding her little disappointment. She used to always look forward to her father coming home, but this time she couldn't sneak out to see her father coming home. Brother, a little lost.

"What's the matter?" Zhang Jiyao asked Mo Ruo's father, seeing that her expression was wrong.

"I, I..." Zhang Xirao didn't know how to explain for a moment.

"Miss your mother?" Zhang Jiyao asked suddenly.

Zhang Xirao was taken aback for a moment. His mother left early, but his father rarely mentioned it.

"When you were young, your mother and I always took you to Luohua Temple, do you remember?" Zhang Jiyao asked.

Surprised, she put down the soup, "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"I understand that you feel wronged, but now the world is in turmoil and it's too dangerous outside, so I dare not ask you to go out by yourself. When the mountains and rivers are completely returned to Zhao, I will let you go out and have fun. Dad is incompetent and can't take care of you. I'm sorry your mother."

Zhang Xirao raised her head to look at her father's face, and shook her head distressedly, "Father, don't say that." She paused, "Really, are we going to war?"

Zhang Jiyao nodded, "A fight is coming, are you afraid?"

"A little."

"Don't be afraid, your father will protect you." Zhang Jiyao held his daughter's hand tightly, "Everything my father does is for you."

Zhang Xirao frowned slightly, "Father..."

"In the future, when your career is successful, dad will spend a lot of time with you."

"I understand, I know dad is busy. I don't blame dad." Zhang Xirao said.

"It's hard for anyone to tell the ups and downs of this country. If Dad does something wrong, are you willing to forgive Dad?" He asked again.

Zhang Xirao didn't understand why his father suddenly asked, "I know that my father wants all the people in Yuezhu to live a better life. I don't know what's going on outside, but I just do what I want. People are not saints. Everyone makes mistakes, but my daughter always supports you."

Zhang Jiyao paused, then nodded, "Xi Rao, this soup is cold, Daddy will cook you another bowl." As he said that, he took the soup from Zhang Xi Rao's hand, and Zhang Xi Rao watched his father leave with a puzzled expression.

In the kitchen, Zhang Jiyao poured the soup away, and saw that the colorless soup fell into the pool with white foam.

"You are really vicious." Zhang Jiyao said.

"You are really sharp-eyed." The woman's laughter came around the beam.

Qiao Sanniang leaned against the door of the kitchen.

"This is just a meeting ceremony. I will decide the fate of this little bastard."

Zhang Jiyao put the flying knife out of his hand, the tail of the knife trembled, and got into the goal post.

"Don't come here to make trouble at this time."

Qiao Sanniang chuckled, "What if I have to?" She asked, Zhang Jiyao was pinching the flying knife with his fingertips, and as soon as he turned around, Qiao Sanniang's figure had disappeared.

The wind moves.

The outside of the Prince's Mansion was the same as before, but the inside was full of soldiers looking at Gu Qing.

"A Li, can you tell me in detail?" Wu Wuqi asked.

"Well." Zhan Xingruo nodded, "Wu Zheng, think about it. Now Yuezhu has internal and external troubles, and the foreign troubles are barbarians. What are the internal troubles? It's not just Zhang Jiyao."

"Yes." Wuzheng replied, "War is too costly for us, we can't afford it, and neither can the common people."

"Why can't they fight?" Zhan Xingruo asked.

"Because the tax is too heavy?" There is no question.

"Exactly." Zhan Xingruo nodded, "Children and elderly people pay the same taxes as men in their prime. Do you think this is reasonable? There are seven or eight people in a family, eating a piece of land, no one to work if they don't have children, and they can't pay when they are born. To raise taxes is to drive the people to death.”

"But we don't have so many fertile mulberry fields to share." Wu Zheng frowned.

"The problem is not here, but in the way of tax collection. Since you also know that the amount, size, and quality of land in the hands of each household are not the same. They are all different. What kind of land, what kind of land The harvest, why not harvest according to the size of the land?"

Wu Zheng straightened up slightly, as if he understood what Zhan Xingruo meant.

"On the other hand, think about it, why don't we have enough land? Wasn't there not enough land when the first emperor established the country? Could it be possible that this land will still run away? There have been endless wars in recent years, and the number of people may not be much more, so the land , where did you go?" Zhan Xingruo asked.

"You say that..." Wu Zheng sighed suddenly, "Scholar!"

"Yes." Zhan Xingruo nodded, "One of the parents and officials has all the people's land in his arms, greedy if he can, and robbing if he can. If you want to ask someone to investigate," Zhan Xingruo shook his head, "It is impossible to find out the result of."

Wu Zheng frowned.

"Officials and officials protect each other. Think about it. In the old nine-rank Zhongzheng system, from the bottom up, local officials recommended new officials. What do they recommend officials for? It's background, it's family background. Now the nine-rank Zhongzheng system is abolished Now, the power of the gentry will be greatly weakened, what should you do if you are a gentry at this time?" Zhan Xingruo asked.

Wuzheng thought for a while, "I couldn't think of it at the moment."

"Then just look at how the gentry of the dynasty did it. One piece of firewood is easy to break, but what if it's a bundle?"

"Marriage, intermarriage?" Wu Zheng thought suddenly.

"Almost." Zhan Xingruo nodded, "Most of the famous families are related to each other. The Zhang Jiyao we see is in the open, and there are many enemies in the dark that we can't see. Since ancient times, the clan established the country, The gentry ruled the country, and most of the high-level civil officials in the court were gentry, and most of these many gentry were Zhang Jiyao's henchmen. This is the reason why you feel that you are fighting alone."

"The military power of the uncles was almost taken over by my father back then, and they only had land entrustment and no real power." Wu Zheng said.

"Yeah, and the gentry have land in their hands. This kind of family politics has already formed. It's too difficult for you to think about it. Unless you find out all the people hiding in the dark, find a reason, and pull them all out. "

"A Li, do you know what you're talking about?" Wu Zheng couldn't help interrupting Zhan Xingruo, "Is there any reason to pull out these famous families? When did I have such ability?"

"Of course you don't now. If you continue like this, you will never be a prince in your life." Zhan Xingruo replied immediately.

The atmosphere between the two suddenly became tense, and the summer had a coolness that shouldn't belong to it.

"What do you mean..." Wu Zheng slightly distanced himself from Zhan Xingruo.

"If you want to pull them out, you must first pull out Zhang Jiyao. The tree fell and the monkeys scattered. These gentry lost their backing at once in the turmoil, and they would definitely disperse as soon as possible, for fear of being involved. Then only one Reasons, we can justifiably eradicate them all.”

"What?" No dispute.

"The new emperor ascends the throne, restores power, clears the side of the emperor, and eliminates the rebellious party." Zhan Xingruo paused every word.