Chapter 168 Cruel and Merciless

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His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with a dark complexion sat on the seat of the main hall master of the Nanliang Mansion, trembling as he looked at the counted figures.

Three days ago, the prince abandoned the caravan, the artillery locomotive, etc., and took only a few people to Nanliang mansion. What he saw was the city wall collapsed, the buildings empty, and the rats infested. As for the building complex of the prince's harem that Li Yuanming presided over, it had been burned down by a fire long ago, which brought a thick layer of dust to Nanliang mansion by the way.

For the past three days, the people around the prince, even those around Yuan Zhao, have been running around, inquiring, and counting the situation of the people. The result is so infuriating - less than 30% of the people are left! Seventy percent of the people have moved their families to Anyang.

Luliang County, which used to have 8 million people, now has less than 2.2 million people left! Moreover, most of the people left behind are old, weak, sick and disabled.

"Crack!" The prince slapped the half-worn table with a grim expression, "It's too deceiving!"

Suddenly, a soldier came to report: "Report...Your Highness, there are more than 100,000 people in the north, and they are planning to move their families to the north to Anyang!"

"What!" The prince was furious, "Stop it for me. If you catch a few more leaders, I will ask why!"

In the evening, several middle-aged people were brought in. After seeing it, the prince immediately asked, "What's your name?"

One of the middle-aged men said neither humble nor overbearing: "Your Highness, little Liu Shan."

"Then why did you leave Luliang County? You didn't leave before, but why did you leave at this time?"

Liu Shan replied sonorously: "Your Highness, I didn't believe the rumors that His Highness was wrong. But the day before yesterday I saw His Highness's car, which turned out to be a moving palace, extremely luxurious. Such a moving palace Presumably the cost is high, which is enough to show that His Highness's life is indeed extremely extravagant.

So, after seeing this mobile palace, many of us who still have confidence in His Highness are very disappointed! "

The prince tightly gripped the table with his fingers, his joints were pale! Got swayed again!

Should you be angry? Or roar? The prince no longer knew how to describe his mood; from the beginning to the end, Li Xian took advantage of him!

The huge welcome ceremony is delaying time; the carefully prepared mobile palace is actually a trap!

Over and over again, His Royal Highness was kneaded like a piece of dough.

Yuan Zhao didn't speak, but suddenly felt a little emotional in his heart. The once stupid "good brother" seemed to have become more shrewd and good at calculating, taking one step and calculating three steps.

Yuan Zhao didn't speak, Yue Qingfeng sighed a little, and spoke with restrained anger, "Liu Shan, that's just a gift from Anyang to His Highness."

Liu Shan chuckled, "Then we ordinary people, do we need to give gifts to His Highness in the future?"

This question was so good that Yue Qingfeng was speechless for a while. The only one who can answer this sentence is the prince. Both Yuan Zhao and Yue Qingfeng looked at His Highness the Crown Prince.

Where is the prince? His Royal Highness, who was already angry and lost his sanity, started to roar, and shouted without thinking, "The matter of paying tribute is justified! The Great Xia Kingdom has raised you, so what's the big deal if you ask you to pay tribute!"

When Yuan Zhao heard this, he sighed in his heart: Brother, you won. You are a good prince, and you played him to death forcibly! Although this prince is ineffective, he still has some majesty of a prince; now his majesty has been completely wiped out! Once these words come out, they will become a stain on the prince forever!

As for Yue Qingfeng, he was in a daze for a long time, never expecting the prince to be so unwise. But finally he sighed and persuaded with all his heart: "Your Highness, it is necessary to pay taxes, but paying tribute is unnecessary."

But the prince slapped the table: "Am I the prince or you are the prince. This Luliang County is mine, I have the final say! In addition, Liu Shan and other 100,000 untouchables will have all their assets confiscated and punished with hard labor for one year!"

"Your Highness, no!" Yue Qingfeng turned pale with shock. Yuan Zhao also had to come out to persuade him at this time. If this order is really issued, the remaining two million people in Luliang County will flee in a hurry! Now Yuan Zhao is already beginning to imagine how to merge Luliang County into Dongyuan County.

After a series of considerations, Yuan Zhao roughly understood the emperor's arrangement, which was to compensate the Yuan family and check and balance the Li family. His Majesty the Emperor sent the crown prince to Luliang County, and the crown prince made friends with the Yuan family; as long as the Great Xia Kingdom was in chaos or collapse, this Luliang County would naturally belong to the Yuan family. But there is one more condition for the Yuan family to accept Luliang County - to protect the crown prince, this is the condition offered by His Majesty.

"The emperor is arranging funeral arrangements!" Yuan Zhao also saw the emperor's intentions, and suddenly there was a feeling in his heart that the death of the rabbit and the fox would hurt others, and the emperor was still going to die anyway.

But after having such considerations, Yuan Zhao got up to persuade the prince, "Your Highness, you are angry here, just to make Li Xian more proud. Now you should calm down and re-govern Luliang County.

At the beginning, Anyang only had a population of more than 200,000, and Li Xianneng started his business with this; now His Highness has a population of more than 2 million, so why not rise up!

Could it be that His Highness also feels inferior to Li Xian? "

Yuan Zhao's words were much better than Yue Qingfeng's simple persuasion, His Royal Highness listened to it!

"Li Xian! Li Xian! Li Xian!" the prince repeated, his fingers grabbed a piece of sawdust on the table, and finally calmed down his anger, "Yuan Zhao, what do you think Gu should do now?"

"Your Highness, although Li Xian moved a large number of people away, he also left a more stable and easy-to-control foundation for His Highness. With a population of more than 200 people, there are lands with eight million people. Why don't Your Highness transfer the redundant The land rewarded to the rest of the people, let them feel the care of the prince.

In terms of taxation, it is good to keep the original state.

In addition, His Highness needs to publicly state that apart from taxation, he will never ask the people for a grain of food! "

After all, the prince is still a prince, and his anger gradually calmed down, and his rationality began to return; he officially appointed Yuan Zhao as Wencheng of Luliang County, in charge of civil affairs, and appointed his uncle to form an army-military power should still be in his own hands. You can be confused, but you can't be confused on this point.

In addition, the prince began to invite his maternal relatives to start living in Luliang County. Whether it is doing business or participating in politics, it is better than having no one.

On the other hand, Yuan Zhao also began to place members of the Yuan family; the Yuan family also actively communicated with the prince, and circulation began between Dongyuan County and Luliang County.

After the chaos and emptiness of the war, Luliang County seems to be slowly recovering its vitality.

Li Xian is very clear about the situation in Luliang County; when Luliang County began to recover, Li Xian was discussing with his advisers.

But it wasn't just about Luliang County that was discussed, but also Zhao Guoshan and Zhao Youdan. Compared to the empty Luliang County, Li Xian paid more attention to Zhao Guoshan and his son.

How to evaluate and even deal with the two of them, Li Yuanming has the right to say, "Master, both Zhao Guoshan and Zhao Youdan were once false kings of the separate regime, and they will definitely not be willing to live under others. The best way is... forever future trouble!"

Li Xian was terrified after hearing this suggestion, "Li Yuanming, did Zhao Guoshan and his son ever feel sorry for you?"

"No!"

"Since that's the case, why do you disregard the past friendship and want to avoid future troubles forever?"

Li Yuanming looked serious, "Young master, the counselor's creed is food for the emperor and loyalty to the emperor. Half-hearted and half-hearted is not the style of a counselor, and no one would like a half-hearted adviser.

When literati rule the country, small mistakes are harmless.

Counselors are mostly related to military affairs and policies. If you make a mistake, you will lose everything, and if you make a wrong step, you will never be able to recover. Therefore, we can only do things wholeheartedly.

And I have done my best to Zhao Guoshan, at least at his last moment, I still did not abandon him, and I even went through life and death for him. I have a clear conscience.

Now that I do things for the young master, I still need to have a clear conscience.

In fact, we have our own ideals, and for this ideal, we are not afraid of mountains of swords and seas of fire. Even if it is criticized by thousands of people and left a bad reputation for thousands of years, it will not hesitate. "

Li Xian turned to look at Xu Ren next to him, and found that Xu Ren didn't express anything, and even agreed a little bit.

Li Xian took a deep breath, and suddenly understood that counselors are also a bunch of lunatics! A group of lunatics with ideals, brains, pursuits and principles!

"I respect the spirit of counselors. I was rude. Then how do you think Zhao Guoshan and his son should be dealt with? You can't kill them for no reason."