Cannon Fodder is King [Quick Transmigration]

Shower breaks.

Xie Jianze lay on Meng Zezhi's body, panting lightly, limp and weak, he didn't even want to open his eyes.

At this moment, his mood was incomparably calm, and the previous hesitation, apprehension, and hesitation... all turned into passing clouds.

He accepted his fate.

For a man who has never met a few times.

Like moths to a flame, knowing that there is no future.

Satisfied, Meng Zezhi walked over Xie Jianze's body with his right hand, the smooth and delicate touch made people love it.

After being a vegetarian for decades, I can finally eat meat again, and I can eat whatever I want.

After adjusting his mood, Meng Zezhi suddenly spoke, breaking the tranquility of the afternoon: "Gu remembers, the editor once said to Gu, the emperor is not Tang Taizong, and Gu is not Prince Min."

Hearing this, Xie Jianze suddenly opened his eyes, his complexion changed drastically, he straightened up, facing the paranoia and madness in Meng Zezhi's eyes, he said in a daze, "Your Highness—"

What he meant was clearly to imitate Prince Min's rebellion.

Meng Zezhi looked at him with a dazed expression on his face, and said, "Gu has no way out."

As if he had made up his mind, he said word by word: "Gu has no way out!"

"Your Highness."

Xie Jianze's heart ached when he saw that his hostile expression was no longer as gentle as before.

There is nothing more hopeless than being betrayed by those closest to you.

No wonder he let go of so many cronies under his command and asked him to investigate the affairs of the third prince, Qin Shi. Who knows how many of those people under his command were the secret work inserted by Emperor Tianming.

"I understand." Xie Jianze's heart gradually calmed down.

Anyway, I have already given my body and mind, so I don't care about this life anymore.

To rebel, you must first have soldiers in your hands.

Although there were six commanders in the East Palace (the Prince directly subordinated to the army) under the predecessor's name, about 3000 soldiers and horses, but the real control was in the hands of Emperor Tianming, and the predecessor could only mobilize [-] troops.

At this time, it is the turn of the aristocratic family to contribute.

Meng Zezhi directly threw the things found by the Xie family in front of the heads of the aristocratic families. They were not stupid, so they naturally knew what it meant.

Emperor Tianming is trying to force the family to a dead end!

Mr. Yuan put down the letter raft in his hand, with a solemn expression: "What does Your Highness mean?"

Meng Zezhi had no expression on his face, took a sip of tea from the tea bowl on the table, and then said: "Your Majesty alone, the kindness of father and son is beyond measure."

"This—" Everyone seemed to have an idea in their minds, but after all, it was a matter of wealth and life, and they couldn't make up their minds for a while.

"Let me say a few words first." The head of the Xie family said.

Everyone instantly looked at him.

"Obviously, Your Majesty is determined to deal with the aristocratic family, and we have nowhere to escape."

The people present were either the predecessor's Yue family, or the predecessor's natal family, or the heirs of the family were working next to the predecessor.In short, they are now grasshoppers on the same rope as Meng Zezhi.

"People are killed by knives, and I am fish." The Patriarch of the Xie family said, "Thinking that my family has made great contributions to the Great Qian Dynasty, it would be ridiculous to become a thorn in the side of His Majesty."

Hearing this, everyone looked at Meng Zezhi from the corner of their eyes.

Meng Zezhi didn't change his face. To put it bluntly, this is the contradiction between imperial power and ministerial power. The emperor wants to be arbitrary, and the scholar-bureaucrats want to rule the world with the emperor. Everyone wants to overwhelm the other.

Patriarch Xie was trying to test Meng Zezhi's opinion on this matter.

"Thank you, Patriarch, what you said is very true."

Meng Zezhi's thinking is very simple, the standard of a good emperor has never been arbitrary, hardworking and caring for the people.It's about being good at employing people, and when it's time to recuperate, never expand the territory and make rash moves.When it's time to set things right and kill decisively, never look forward to the future for your own selfishness.

Just like Emperor Chongzhen, he can be regarded as a model of diligence and love for the people, but didn't the Ming Dynasty still perish in the end?Another example is Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty. He was obviously a greedy and lustful villain, but he was able to establish the foundation of the Han Dynasty forever, because he was good at employing people and only promoted talents.

For Meng Zezhi, not being able to monopolize power is really not a bad thing, he just needs to be the sword hanging over the heads of scholar-bureaucrats.

Meng Zezhi's answer was obviously in line with everyone's wishes.

Patriarch Xie finally said: "It's not a good thing to say. If a dog is in a hurry, it will jump over the wall. Can we just compromise and wait for death?"

How could the people present not understand what he meant: "It's just that we don't have many soldiers and horses in our hands."

As the so-called rebellion by a scholar cannot succeed in three years, this is what he is talking about.

"We have no way out." Mr. Yuan immediately made a decision: "My Yuan family will provide five thousand guards and 20 taels of silver. The guard Ma Jun Sidu Yuhou Zhao Gan is my nephew, and he can mobilize at least eight thousand soldiers. horse."

The so-called guards are actually armies privately supported by the major aristocratic families.

Formerly the son-in-law of the Yuan family, other aristocratic families may have the opportunity to be low-key, but the Yuan family does not have it. Meng Ze knew that if he could not go further, what was waiting for the Yuan family would be doomed, so in addition to supporting Meng Ze There is no choice but to know.

——Obviously, the Yuan family was not aware of the relationship between the Yuan family and the third prince, Qin Shi.

Thinking about it, the Yuan family's family style is upright, if they know about the dirty things between the Yuan family and the third prince Qin Shi, it is very likely that the Yuan family will be the first to be unable to spare them.

Under such circumstances, how dare the Yuan family tell the Yuan family the truth.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Yuan revealed his family fortune.

After pondering, Patriarch Xie continued, "My Xie family sent out five thousand guards and 15 taels of silver. The commander of the Bazhou Guard is my son-in-law, and he is in charge of six thousand soldiers and horses."

Bazhou is only two hundred miles away from the capital, and it can be reached in one day.

Whether it's for self-protection or for the Xie family's prosperity in the future, he must make a fortune.

Seeing Yuan and Xie's family express their attitude back, the other aristocratic families gritted their teeth and made up their minds.

"My Zheng family sent out three thousand guards and 10 taels of silver."

"My Liu family sent out three thousand guards..."

But in just a few minutes, the people present gathered [-] troops and millions of taels of silver for Meng Zezhi.

Not to mention the influence of the family among scholars.

It's no wonder that Emperor Tianming tried his best to destroy the family.

"Okay." Meng Zezhi immediately stood up, "I'm here to serve tea instead of wine, and I would like to offer a toast to all of you."

Everyone immediately picked up the tea bowls in front of them: "Your Highness."

After speaking, they raised their heads and drank the tea in the tea bowls in one gulp.

Meng Zezhi was in high spirits: "After the matter is completed, Gu will not hesitate to reward you with a high-ranking official and generous salary."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"As for the time of the incident, it should be at the New Year's feast." Meng Zezhi said coldly.

The reason why Emperor Tianming disclosed the matter of the third prince Qin Shi to the Xie family was to force him to rebel!

That being the case, then he will give Emperor Tianming a great gift.

It was late in the evening when we returned to the East Palace, and Man Gui, the personal eunuch, hurriedly greeted him: "Your Highness, Song An, a doctor from the Household Department, and He Xingjian, the left servant from the Ministry of Officials, are here to see you."

Meng Zezhi stopped in his tracks: "Where is he now?"

"I'm waiting in the study."

"Walk."

"Your Highness." Seeing Meng Zezhi coming in, the two quickly knelt down and saluted.

"Excuse me." Meng Zezhi gave him a hand: "What's wrong?"

"Your Highness," Song An stood up, "Censor Yuan Qiao just sent someone to deliver a letter to Wei Chen."

As he spoke, he took out a letter from his cuff and handed it to Meng Zezhi.

The censor Yuan Qiao was a nail placed in the Metropolitan Procuratorate by his predecessor, a confidant among cronies.

Song An continued: "He said that the censor Pei Zhongyue, the deputy capital of the right, is preparing to join more than ten censors to participate in the joint performance. .”

Because there is little rain in the northwest and the grain output is not high, Shaanxi is currently a poor place with empty grain depots.In the previous dynasty, the imperial court allowed wealthy households in Shaanxi to donate grain to the local government office in exchange for the status of supervisor of the Imperial College, and the grain obtained was used to subsidize local expenditures.

Shaanxi is poor, and the price of donating prisons is not high. It only needs more than a hundred stone beans and wheat (100 taels of silver).

It's just that it's not a good reputation to sell officials and nobles. After the establishment of the Qian Dynasty, the court abolished this system.

After Cheng Yuanzhong took office in Shaanxi, when the national treasury was empty and the imperial court was unable to subsidize Shaanxi, Cheng Yuanzhong and You Chengxuan discussed with the envoys and asked for the opening of donated prisons on the grounds of lack of food in Shaanxi. Emperor Tianming agreed after thinking about it.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Yuanzhong came up with the idea of ​​these grains.

On the grounds that the food was inconvenient to transport, he ordered the donors from the prefectures and counties in Shaanxi to directly convert the food into silver and hand it over.

The money was collected, but the grain depot was still empty, so Cheng Yuanzhong, together with Shaanxi officials, falsely reported the drought that year, lied that all the grain was used for disaster relief, and then divided up the more than four million taels of donated silver.

It wasn't until last month that a censor came back to his hometown to visit his relatives and passed by Shaanxi, only then did he discover the truth of the matter.

"Cheng Yuanzhong?" Does Meng Ze remember that there was such a person under his predecessor?

He Xingjian, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, had a wry smile on his face, and knelt down on the ground again with a plop: "His Royal Highness, the minister's concubine brother is currently serving as the magistrate in Shaanxi."

The Qian Dynasty adopted a continuous sitting system to punish corrupt officials. If less than half of the silver was corrupted, they would be dismissed from office;

As the magistrate of a majestic state, He Xingjian's concubine must have received more than 1 taels of silver.

He Xingjian was the right-hand man of his predecessor, if he was implicated in this matter, then Meng Zezhi would suffer a great loss.

Pei Zhongyue, the censor of the right deputy capital, belonged to the eldest prince Qin Yu, so it was obvious that this matter was Qin Yu's handiwork, and the purpose was naturally to avenge the previous one.

"Your Highness, what should we do now?" Song An asked anxiously.

Meng Zezhi raised his eyebrows: "If that's the case, then let's just make things bigger."

It would be best if Emperor Tianming didn't have so much free time to stare at them, so that he could believe that they were really preparing to rebel.

The author has something to say:

The prototype of the corruption case in this chapter is the case of Wang Danwang in the Qing Dynasty.