Fast Traveling Underworld Wish Department

Chapter 22
Zijin's mission this time was originally a princess. In the first half of her life, she was rich and well-dressed and well-clothed.

She is a subjugated princess, and she doesn't even have her own name. The maid calls her according to her ranking: the third princess, and the concubine mother calls her Ning'er because her title is Princess Anning.

Princess An Ning failed to find peace, and the rebels invaded the capital. His father and concubine set himself on fire in Qianqing Palace with his concubines and children.

Later, I kept hearing that some princes were proclaimed as kings and prepared to restore their country, but they were defeated by the rebels not long after, like a flash in the pan.

This speed made An Ning give up the idea of ​​going to relatives, just listening and watching, listening to the troops of the restoration of the country disappearing one by one, watching the rebels gaining stability day by day, watching the people forget their homeland, and listening to the rebels Be praised.

In this way, An Ning spent her whole life drifting with the tide and being involuntary. She was obedient and controlled by others all her life. After her life ended, she found out that there was still an organization like the Department of Merit and Virtue, so she hurriedly signed up. There are not many dragon spirits to exchange.

There are quite a lot of benefits of dragon energy to Zijin. It can be attacked and defended. Zijin accepted this task.

An Ning hopes to live a good life without being anonymous or being bullied.

Zijin is peaceful now. She came in the 18th year of Tianping, which happened to be the eve of the country's destruction.Although the female family members in the palace knew that the outside situation was not optimistic, they still enjoyed a life of unparalleled wealth with the support of the emperor, and they knew nothing about the upcoming tragedy.

At this moment, An Ning is being dragged to speak by her mother and concubine Shu Concubine.Concubine Shu said with pity: "Ning'er's jewelry is all old, Mother Concubine asked someone to make some new ones for you, don't be reluctant to bring them, just melt them when they are old."

An Ning looked at Concubine Shu who was full of emeralds and full of smiles, and said after a moment of silence, "Concubine Mother, I heard that the outside is not very good, will the rebels come in?"

Concubine Shu was furious at first, and then comforted her: "Which slave said this to you? Your father is outside. He is wise and powerful, and he will definitely defeat the rebels. You are not allowed to say such things in the future, slaves." Forget it, you are my Daping princess, so you shouldn't grow up with other people's ambitions."

An Ning could only nod.

An Ning lived the life of a princess for half a month, and also inquired about some news during this half month, and confirmed that Daping was indeed hopeless.Today's emperor is indeed trying his best to govern, but Daping has already accumulated a lot.

The issue of land annexation, official corruption and clique formation broke out together, and the rebel army was only one of them. Even without the rebel army, it would be a matter of time before Daping died.Moreover, the current emperor does not have the means to reform and innovate.

Daping couldn't keep it if he wanted to, and An Ning could only find a way to preserve more vitality for the future.

An Ning chose the place where Taizu started to conquer the world. The terrain there is steep, mostly high mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but at the same time, because of water conservancy, it is very rich, even if you don't go out, you can basically be self-sufficient.

With the base, money, people, and weapons are needed next. Without these, it is impossible to build an army, and it is even more impossible to talk about restoring the country.An Ning remembered that many restoration teams in the previous life lacked sophisticated troops and wanted to use natural dangers to stop the rebels, but they were easily wiped out one by one.

The issue of money is very difficult. As a princess, An Ning only has some valuable jewelry around her, but these are just a drop in the ocean, and they are useless at all.Not only was An Ning short of money, but the emperor was also short of money. There were rebellions and natural disasters. Taxes had been added for three years, and the treasury of the household department and the emperor's internal funds were all empty.

At this moment, the emperor is convening important officials in the court to try to solve the money problem. This is the fifth time, and the convening is basically once a day.The emperor often said: "What good advice do you love?"

The cabinet assistants pretended to be dumb as usual, and the leaders of several departments looked at each other, and finally all their eyes focused on the Shangshu of the Ministry of Taoism.The responsibility of the Minister of the Ministry of Finance had to bite the bullet and answer the emperor's question.

The Minister of Hubu said: "Back to the emperor, I believe that more taxes should be levied. Now our Daping army is attacking the rebels everywhere. This is also to maintain the safety of the people, so it is better to add a security tax."

Others said: "The minister seconded the proposal."

The emperor asked: "What about the cabinet's opinion?"

The chief assistant of the cabinet replied: "The minister agrees with the Minister of the Household Department, and it is imminent to raise taxes."

The cabinet assistant endured for a long time, seeing everyone's suggestions like this, he couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, I don't think it's allowed to raise taxes."

It is unbearable, and there is no need to bear it anymore. Xue Cong, the second assistant to the cabinet, is a pragmatic official. He climbed up step by step based on his achievements in governing one side. He knows how hard the lives of the people are.

Xue Congdao: "Your Majesty, the common people now have land tax, labor tax, ration tax, and military training tax. Now that they are levied more, the common people will have no way of life. Your Majesty, this is driving the common people to the rebel army."

The emperor thought it was reasonable, so he agreed, "Does Aiqing have any other good strategies?"

Xue Cong's proposal is also to increase taxes, but it is collected from the rich. Even if only ten ones or two are collected, that is a lot of money, and it will definitely plug the current funding gap.

As soon as Xue Cong finished speaking, the other two cabinet ministers immediately objected.

The chief minister of the cabinet said: "Your Majesty, you can't. The country gentry and rich men are helping the Emperor manage the place with all their strength. If they are taxed now, it will chill their hearts."

Several ministers seconded the proposal.Hubu Shangshu said: "The emperor wants to collect taxes and the squires will naturally obey, but they are also in trouble now. Wherever the rebels go, the first to suffer must be the squires and rich people. Their business has received a big blow. This Taxing them at the right time also pushes them toward the rebels."

Xue Cong was so angry that he refuted again and again, fighting with the officials, and refuted them speechlessly.

The emperor looked at the movement below, feeling very conflicted in his heart. The result of the previous levy was not satisfactory. This is still the situation of the national levy. If only the gentry and rich people are added to the levy, they will get even less money. I don’t know if it can be done. .

Furthermore, what the Minister of the Household Department said made sense. The influence of the country gentry is unmatched by ordinary people. If they are forced to turn against them, it may not be good.

But the emperor thought again that ordinary people really couldn't accept such a high tax, so how could they ensure the supply of the army without increasing the tax!
The emperor hesitated for a long time, and the chief minister of the cabinet said: "I have another plan, but I only hope that the emperor will forgive me first, so I dare to say it."

The emperor was hesitating, and when he heard that there was a good plan, he hurriedly asked people to talk about it.

The chief minister of the cabinet said: "It has been hundreds of years since the founding of our country in Daping, and countless princes and clans have been born in these hundreds of years. These princes and clans have a lot of gold and silver in their hands. Would you like to ask the princes to donate a little?"

This countermeasure is not much better than the previous one. One is to attack the people, and the other is to attack relatives. The emperor is not willing to do it.But in comparison, if you attack relatives, you can get money faster. After all, these princes and clans all depend on the emperor for survival.

After discussing for several hours, this strategy was finally decided, and the emperor then decreed that the imperial family donate their finances to help Daping.The banner is quite decent, but there are not many clans that are willing to listen to it, and the emperor is not from his own line, so it's fine if he doesn't have power. Now even the clan's only money is taken away, and taking money is like killing people.

Countless clansmen began to cry in the palace to express their grievances. Those who were close to the emperor were suffering, and those who were far away and could not see the emperor also tried their best to cry to the women in the harem.The masters above the rank of concubine in the harem, the princes and princesses have all received crying clans.

The emperor insisted on letting Wang Xian be responsible for the property donation of the clan.Wang Xian used to be a royal censor with a stubborn temper and dared to say anything. He was squeezed out and lost his official position. Now that he encountered this difficult matter, the cabinet recommended him to the emperor.

Wang Xian was courteous first and then soldiers, but after persuasion failed, he chose King Rui as a breakthrough.Strictly speaking, King Rui was not a formal clan. His ancestor was the adopted son of Taizu, who followed Taizu in the South and North Wars, and was finally named King Rui by Taizu. He received the same treatment as Taizu's own son.But in this situation, King Rui is a soft persimmon. If he is not related to the emperor by blood, who else should he choose?

Wang Xian concocted a big case of treason in Prince Rui's Mansion. The entire Prince Rui's mansion should have been executed. The emperor wanted to spare the achievements of the first generation of King Rui.

Prince Rui's mansion begged everywhere, wanting to show his innocence, but he didn't speak up for Prince Rui's mansion. The clan was busy protecting itself, and the officials wished that the emperor's sword would fall on the clan.

An Ning knows that Wu Feng, the son of King Rui, is a talent. In his previous life, he followed King Lu after he became self-reliant and planned to retreat the enemy army. It was a great victory that can be written in the history of King Lu's restoration of the country. But Prince Rui's stratagem contributed a lot.It's a pity that King Lu failed later, and the son of King Rui was betrayed and killed by the rebels.

Thinking of the tough achievements of King Rui's son, An Ning decided to save King Rui.When Princess Rui begged to come to her door, An Ning didn't shirk, but she didn't give her permission either.

An Ning said: "For Anshun's sake, I can go and plead with the emperor, but I don't know what the result will be." Anshun is the daughter of Princess Rui, and she attended classes with Yuanshen before.

Princess Rui ran around, and finally found someone who was willing to help, and she was very grateful.Princess Rui said: "Thank you, Princess, for your help. The women are very grateful. Regardless of whether it is successful or not, you are the benefactor of the whole family of the women."

Without further ado, after Princess Yuan Rui left, An Ning immediately went to Qianqing Palace.At this moment, the emperor, under Wang Xian's suggestion, was preparing to let several larger clans watch King Rui be beheaded.The emperor learned that An Ning asked for an audience, and soon let him in.

The emperor said kindly: "What is An Ning going to see Father?"

An Ning looked at Wang Xian who was beside Hou, and the emperor said: "Wang Qing, go down first, we can discuss this matter later."

After Wang Xian left, An Ning said: "Father, Princess Yuan Rui begged me, and she couldn't help but cry. My daughter couldn't bear it for a while, so she agreed to save King Rui. I want to ask my father, King Rui, if I can't kill him. If it doesn't work, my daughter doesn't want to embarrass her father."

The emperor said: "This King Rui has received the favor of the emperor, but he still conspires against him. Not killing him is not enough to deter the clan. I have already let the rest of Prince Rui's mansion go, and they are still not satisfied!" The more the emperor said, the more angry he became.

(End of this chapter)