Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Zhu Xingli rubbed his chin, “Feng Zhong, tell me.”
Everyone’s eyes came together, Feng Zhong looked at the serious prince, then at the master who was drinking, and slowly got up, “If we all use Luli, the price of Luli will increase. Correspondingly, gold and silver will become worthless. Except for the Zhu family who owns mines, the rest of the princes will have to collect more gold and silver from their subjects in exchange for Luli. Then the ministers can only collect more taxes from the people. The people suffer unspeakably, and finally the world is in chaos.”
The crown prince and the Zhong brothers had never heard of this statement, and they were very surprised.
“How do you know that the price of Luli will increase? Take the gold and silver from the annual tribute to exchange for Luli, isn’t it still the same thing.” Zhong Youyu didn’t quite understand.
The crown prince also frowned and looked at Zhu Xingli.
“Why don’t you understand?” Lin Xin sneered, “Because the Zhu family digs up a certain amount of Luli every year.”
“Yeah, it’s like a roast chicken shop that only makes twenty chickens a day. It’s just right for everyone to buy one. Now everyone wants to buy two. If there are not enough chickens, only the one with the highest price can get one.” Feng Zhong explained conscientiously.
“Well said!” Emperor Feng Zhuoyi walked in with a smile, waved his hand to signal everyone not to be polite, and patted Feng Zhong on the shoulder, “My son should be the pillar of the country.”
“Father is too kind.” Feng Zhong hurriedly lowered his head, but after all he was a young man, and after receiving his father’s praise, he couldn’t help but show a little bit of joy in his tone.
The crown prince’s jaw tensed, and he said nothing.
Shen Lou looked at this scene with dim eyes. When the sixth prince returned to the palace in his previous life, he was not treated so well, and he had never heard that the emperor valuing his Highness so much. On the contrary, it was the crown prince who took care of Feng Zhong. When things went wrong, there must be demons. What was the emperor doing now?
After school got over that day, the emperor gave Feng Zhong the post of Zhongshu Sheng, and ordered him to go to Zhongshu Sheng[1] every day to bring the processed memorials to the imperial study.
Working in Zhongshu Sheng was not a formal official position, but it had a lot of contact with government affairs, and only those who were deeply trusted by the emperor could be given such a responsibility.
In the blink of an eye, August 15th passed, and the weather became colder every day.
The craze of the autumn hunt dissipated, and the city of Yongdu was much deserted. Shen Lou sat on the second floor of the teahouse and listened to Huang Ge’s report on the recent situation.
“After the siege of Yanqiu, no traces of barbarians were found in that area. He Liuhun is the barbarian’s respectful name for a warrior. It is difficult to find out who that person is. But my subordinates have heard that General Wen Shilan, who killed the wolf, had a strange man under his command. Nine feet, strong enough to carry a tripod, I don’t know if it was this He Liuhun.” After Huang Ge took over the news network, his sharpness while speaking improved by leaps and bounds.
Shen Lou stroked the hilt of Yu Yuan sword with one finger, “Wen Shilan, has there been any movement recently?”
“The news from Huan Xinghai said that he is conquering the Dayan tribe.” Just as he was speaking, Zhong Youyu’s noisy voice came from outside, so Huang Ge immediately stopped reporting and stood aside.
“Why are you sitting in the corner room here? It’s hard for me to find it.” Zhong Youyu came in with a bag of fried melon seeds and raised the curtain, followed by Zhong Wumo, whose face was sinking like water.
“What happened?” Shen Lou asked after seeing Zhong Wumo’s expression.
“Hey, it’s not about returning to the Western Regions. I think the emperor is determined to wait until we are crowned before releasing us. It’s useless for the crown prince to say it.” Zhong Youyu sighed and sat down with his younger brother. On the fifteenth day of the lunar month, Uncle Zhong Suifeng tried to take them back again, but was refuted by the emperor again.
“I heard from your family members that the Rong people are in chaos, what’s going on now?” Shen Lou pushed the teapot to Zhong Youyu and asked him to pour tea by himself.
“Hey, don’t mention it. The Western Regions are still in chaos. My uncle can only call his subordinates to discuss and discuss. The subordinates have their own ideas. Uncle thinks that whether this is good or that is good, but he can’t make a decision. So, it’s all delayed.” Zhong Youyu was angry, and took a big mouthful of tea.
The Zhong family was declining day by day, but them brothers could only be trapped in a square inch of the capital.
Shen Lou looked down, not commenting on the Zhong family’s affairs. There was a burst of noise in the lobby downstairs, Huang Ge went out to take a look, and found that some scholars were discussing current affairs, and they were all blushing.
“The crown prince asked you to book it?” Shen Lou pointed to those seats, those who drank tea were all poor students, chatting in this expensive teahouse every day these days, and the bills were recorded in Zhong Youyu’s name.
Zhong Youyu smirked, “The crown prince wanted to fight the king of Ying, so he thought of such a trick. I don’t know what the emperor thinks, if he dotes on the king of Ying so much, can the prince not be in a hurry?”
Lin Xin knew what the emperor thought.
Looking at the memorial in his hand, Lin Xin smiled secretly, it finally came.
[The four domains are rampant, there are many soldiers, and they have not listened to orders of the king for a long time. If things go on like this, the king’s prestige will weaken, the country will be in turmoil, and the ancestral temple would not be able to exist. The law of Xunlu should be practiced, and the year-old tribute should be used to cut down the land of the princes…] It was not different from the half-character share that he saw in the previous life. Lin Xin carefully identified the handwriting, which was more than beautiful, but not strong enough. Immortals always had a little spiritual power when writing, so it was easy to write through the back of the paper. This person wrote very lightly, so he should be a mortal.
He was a mortal!
Feng Zhong also looked at the memorial, frowning.
“What does Jiuying think?” Feng Zhuoyi asked Feng Zhong.
“This method is very beneficial to the imperial power, but it is very difficult to implement. The power of the major families is tyrannical, and I am afraid that no one has the courage to do it.” Feng Zhong told the truth.
The so-called law of Xunlu meant that every year when the princes paid the annual tribute, they would be strictly inspected. If the catty was too heavy or the color was not enough, part of the fief would be cut off as a punishment. If they cut off one county at a time, they would slowly map it out. In the long run, after a few generations, the feudal lands of the princes would have disappeared.
“My son is really smart. In this way, the crown prince is not as good as you.” The emperor said with emotion.
Feng Zhong’s complexion changed slightly, and he hurriedly said that he didn’t dare, “This minister is just talking nonsense, the elder brother of this prince is powerful, and he is not comparable to this minister.”
The emperor smiled meaningfully, “Don’t belittle yourself, I also did it when I was a child. Since I was not born of a direct wife or was a long-term successor.”
Saying this, the meaning was quite big. Feng Zhong didn’t dare to answer and pretended not to hear.
“Luli is this emperor’s plan, and this fact is not easy. I will give that person supreme authority if he takes on this important task.” Feng Zhuoyi looked at Lin Xin who bowed his head and said nothing, “Feng Zhong has been traveling in Zhongshu Shen for a long time, do you have any recommendations? Any candidates?”
This law of Xunlu was proposed by someone a few years ago, and Feng Zhuoyi had already made a detailed plan since it was perfected, but the knife that could stand in front of people had never been found.
Those recommended by the crown prince, such as Zhou Kang and others, did not satisfy Feng Zhuoyi. Zhou Kang was more than ruthless but lacked courage. He was born in a small family, and he had natural resentment and natural fear towards the big nobles.
After several conversations, the emperor was pleasantly surprised to find that Lin Xin was exactly the knife he was looking for. Killing twenty-three barbarians without changing his face; powerful and unafraid, he could defeat the champion of the martial arts competition with a few moves; lonely and angry, consciously keeping a distance from the children of the family; as well as rebellious and unruly, not even giving face to the crown prince.
But a sharp knife needed a handle that could be controlled, and this handle was the Sixth Prince.
Before Feng Zhong could react, Lin Xin had already knelt down on one knee, “I am willing to implement Xunlu for Your Majesty!”
“Lin Xin, do you know what this is for?” The emperor stood up and looked at him with an unfathomable expression.
“I don’t know, but I know that my father had not been able to repay the emperor’s favor!” Lin Xin raised his head and looked firmly at the emperor, like a wolf cub just out of the nest, fearless and loyal.
“Okay, okay!” Feng Zhuoyi went over excitedly, raised his hand, and the guard came over with an old scimitar, “I see that you don’t have a spiritual sword yet, so I’ll give you this ancient sword. Seeing this scimitar is the same as looking at me.”
The thing happened too fast, Feng Zhong watched all this in a daze, and he came out of the imperial study room, and grabbed the demon who swallows the hook[2] in Lin Xin’s hand, “Xinxin, let’s return the scimitar to Father Emperor, you can’t do this.”
Lin Xin snatched the demon who swallows the hook back, and said with a smile, “Why, as long as you get promoted, won’t you allow me to get rich?”
Feng Zhong stopped him, and said anxiously: “Is this money so easy to make?? Do you know what this is for?” Carrying out the law of Xunlu was to make enemies of all princes and noble families!
“I know.” Lin Xin said in a low voice, no one knew better than him what the Xunlu, which was later called the Kanlu order, was for. Pushing away the junior brother who was still talking, he ran directly to the East Palace.
He did something bad again, so he had to tell Shen Qingque.
Shen Lou had just returned from outside the palace, and as soon as he entered the East Palace, he met the eunuch who came to announce the decree, and Lin Xin who was wearing the demon sword that swallows the hook on his waist. The imperial decree announced that Lin Xin would be granted the title of Marquis of Xunlu, all the while inheriting the fiefdom of his father Lin Zhenghan, and occupying the position of Marquis Lu. Once the treasure scimitar of the demon who swallowed a hook was given, there would be many countless rare treasures that would follow.
“The emperor granted me the title of Marquis of Xunlu.” After dismissing the palace servants, Lin Xin jumped up in front of Shen Lou, holding up the demon who swallows the hook to show off, “and rewarded me with this scimitar.”
Shen Lou looked at him with dark eyes. He slowly took the demon sword, remained silent for a long time, and slammed it on the ground, “Lin Bucheng, why are you the Xunlu prince again? Don’t you remember what this title brought you in your previous life?”
Lin Xin was dazed for a while, the corners of his mouth twitching, “Again? Last life?”
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[1] The Zhongshu Sheng, also known as the Palace Secretariat or Central Secretariat, was one of the departments of the Three Departments and Six Ministries government structure in imperial China from Cao Wei until the early Ming dynasty.
[2] This is the name of the scimitar that the Emperor gave LX… Refer to Ch. 7 for further details.
