"Your Majesty, this is the King of Qin who gave this route of money delivery to Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda, and then there was any unsavory deal between them, and I don't know about this. This route is through the purchase of moon cakes, and then a large amount of money is transferred to the major inns in Chang'an, and then King Qin ordered those bosses to go to Wanchun Lou for consumption, so that they can happily go to Wanchun Lou to find women. Because the money came too easily, they spent it very lavishly, it was a lot of money, and the money was all for them anyway, so they didn't take them seriously. In this way, they are also in the dark, and the money is transferred to which Wanchun Building. And Wanchun Building was jointly opened by the Chen family and the Xiao family, so the money was returned to Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu. In this way, this money will be easily laundered, and then it will become a reasonable and legitimate income on the surface, and there will not be too many problems. Zhang Chao said.

Li Yuan took a look at this process, and Zhang Chao also drew some flow charts, so that Li Yuan could see at a glance what this flow chart was like. And Li Yuan also took the initiative to nod and didn't say much.

"Go and call Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu!" Li Yuan said.

Soon, Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu also came over, and then they saluted Li Yuan together. And Zhang Chao was also watching from the side, and Li Yuan didn't let him leave, and the two prime ministers, Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu, were also on the side.

"Chen Shuda, Xiao Yu, as the prime minister of the imperial court, you are actually open for business?" Li Yuan asked.

And Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu were surprised, because these scholars actually do business behind their backs, and it is common for them to do business and make money. They use their official status to help make money, and then use the money to maintain their position, which is also a good (evil?) Sexual cycles. And this routine is no different from the Shi clan doing land. The scholars exploited the people through the land of their comrades-in-arms, and after obtaining wealth, they supported their own people to become officials, and used money to maintain the status of their own family members in the officialdom. On the other hand, the officials of their own families also further annexed land through various means, and finally gained more wealth, and then let their descendants obtain higher official positions. This is a perfect cycle. In order to maintain their so-called status, they constantly mythologize themselves, belittle the Hanmen, and even disdain to pollute their noble bloodlines by marrying the Hanmen. Especially those top scholars, even the royal family looked down on them, thinking that the royal family could not be compared to themselves, and they were proud of their bloodline. However, Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu were not able to achieve the kind of look down on the royal family, but were able to look down on the royal family. At present, there are only a very few families such as the Cui family of Qinghe and Boling, and other families cannot really ignore the royal family. However, although those people did not dare to offend the royal family too much, they cruelly belittled those ordinary poor people, and even treated them as inferior to pigs and dogs. So, this pride of theirs is simply anti-human. Even if they don't mix well and the family has fallen into decay in the end, they still look down on those poor officials. Therefore, their thinking is fundamentally to regard the poor family, who is also a human being, as a lowly creature. Isn't this anti-human? This is also the reason why Zhang Chao desperately wants to fight against them.

"Xiao Yu, Chen Shuda, you actually opened a green . Lou, are you still a member of the imperial court? If you do, are you not competing with the people? The members of the imperial court actually compete with the people for profit, this is simply unreasonable. So you should hurry up and close down that Wanchun Tower, otherwise I will send someone to seal it up immediately. Li Yuan asked.

Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda glanced at each other, and immediately understood that they were at the bridge with Li Yuan. Li Yuan's meaning was very obvious, that is, he wanted to beat them so that they would not interfere in the battle between the crown prince and the king of Qin. Especially now that they are about the same strength. There is no need to fight like this. If the prime ministers of the imperial court are involved, then I am afraid that this matter is really very troublesome. That's why Li Yuan will beat them. Li Yuan agrees with the primogeniture inheritance system from the bottom of his heart, so he is slightly biased towards Li Jiancheng in his heart, and naturally he doesn't want his prime minister to support Li Shimin. So Li Yuan chose to beat his prime ministers and seal the channels they used to launder money, so that they could be much more honest.

"Your Majesty, that Wanchun Tower is a lot of businessmen and people around it, if it is rashly closed, then we ......" Chen Shuda was still a little hesitant, obviously thinking that he didn't want to close this cash cow.

This Wanchun Building is a very profitable place, and this kind of business is very profitable, because the service staff in it are all obtained from the servants of the government, and they don't have to pay a penny. And those slaves are actually unpaid, and they can be squeezed as much as they want, so the cost is almost zero. In this way they make a lot of money, which makes them very rich. This Wanchun Building is not only for those who launder money, but also for the real business part.

"Zhang Chao, you said that the imperial court and his family are doing business in the territory, how should they be punished?" Li Shimin asked.

Zhang Chao replied: "They should be whipped and their illegal gains confiscated." However, Chen Shizhong and Xiao Fuchu are both members of the imperial court, so they can use copper coins to atone for their sins! ”

Zhang Chao took the initiative to speak out about the Tang Dynasty's law, which prohibited officials and their families from doing business, especially not being able to do business in their territories. If according to the punishment of officials in the Tang Dynasty for doing business, it is to be punished with punishments such as whipping, but after all, the Tang Dynasty was a feudal dynasty, and naturally although there were laws, there were still some loopholes that future generations could not understand. For example, those who have official positions and are scholars can get some special relief measures. For example, it can be compensated by removing officials from official positions, or by paying a certain amount of wealth. And the wealth paid is not too high, but it seems slightly lower. However, only officials and nobles were able to get this opportunity, and ordinary people still could not use money to atone for their sins.

Zhang Chao said this, which means that the establishment of this law is equivalent to not establishing it, but only forcing Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu to close the so-called Wanchun Building.

"Okay, the old ministers have also closed this Wanchun Tower!" Chen Shuda said.

Soon, Chen Shuda closed Wanchun Tower, which was equivalent to releasing a political signal. That is Chen Shuda's intention to terminate his cooperation with Li Shimin. In other words, Chen Shuda will not say good things for Li Shimin in the future, and Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu will choose to be impartial in the next few days. Conduct things in a neutral manner. And at that time, he didn't plan to care about the affairs of the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the king of Qin, Li Shimin, who he loved! Anyway, they represent the interests of the wealthy family in Jiangnan, so naturally they will not choose to think of anything to gain benefits by seizing the heir. They only cooperated with Li Shimin out of the increase of their personal wealth, and did not cooperate with Li Shimin on behalf of the Jiangnan wealthy family. Therefore, there is no problem for them to terminate their cooperation.

But. This news in Tiance Mansion immediately made it very depressed.

"Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu no longer plan to get involved in the affairs of the Lone King and the Crown Prince, and they were all beaten by their father. Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu were forced to close the Wanchun Tower, the hen that laid the golden eggs, which means that the father already knows how we transferred the funds to Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu, and the father forced them to close the Wanchun Tower this time, that is, he is telling the Gu Wang that he has seen through our transaction and cut off our channels for transporting funds. They cut off the route, which means that we can't effectively channel the money the way we used to do it. Then we can't help it. Li Shimin said.

And immediately Fang Xuanling said: "King Qin, why don't I think of a way again and continue to try to transfer funds in the past?" ”

Du Ruhui suddenly sneered and said, "Xuan Ling, your planning methods are not very good!" actually broke a junior generation, and it took less than two days for them to cut off and crack the plan that you spent ten days to set up, and your method is not very good. ”

But Fang Xuanling was not to be outdone, and countered and said, "Since you have a way." Then come up with a solution! ”

Du Ruhui immediately said: "I don't have this ability, I admit it." But there are some people who do it when they know they can't do it. Is that really looking for trouble? ”

"Duke Ming, what do you have to say to me clearly, don't be so cynical!" Fang Xuanling said.

And Li Shimin immediately snorted: "Okay, don't make trouble here, now is not the time for you to make noise." ”

When Li Shimin saw this scene, he couldn't help but shake his head. Maybe. Many people in history have praised Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui as a pair of friendly comrades, but as long as people who know a little bit about politics can understand that they cannot be friendly comrades of good base, but will definitely be enemies. Back then, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were in charge of Shangshu Province together, would Li Shimin, a wise emperor, allow two people from the same faction to control the most important department of Shangshu Province together? The people under the weak country are all from the same faction. According to them, they must be deceived and deceitful, so that the emperor is also unstable. The best way is to let people from different factions control Shangshu Province, so that Li Shimin can feel at ease.

What's more, the interest groups they represent behind are also different, Du Ruhui's ancestors are all from the Northern Dynasties, and Du Ruhui's ancestors have worked for the Guanlong Group for generations, so it can be said that they are a small family in the Guanlong Group, and they are considered to be members of the Guanlong Group. And Fang Xuanling's background is also a little more complicated, he was born in the Shandong Shi family, and his wife is from the Fanyang Lu family, and his mother is from the Li family of Zhao County, so whether it is identity, nationality, mother, or wife, they are all Shandong Shi clans, so Fang Xuanling is an out-and-out representative of the Shandong Shi clan under Li Shimin. The relationship between Guanlong Group and Shandong Shi is very complicated, but it is generally a competitive relationship, so these two guys can become good friends, then there is a ghost. It's just that they are now relying on a boss to reward food, so naturally they have to listen to the boss.

However, on the whole, they are still working together at present, although they look at each other unpleasantly, but they will not make a mistake about it, after all, their enemy is still here, and they naturally dare not mess around.

"King Qin, I think it's better to give up! At this time, don't expect anything to continue to get the support of Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu. If we continue to hope for their support, I am afraid that the old man of the emperor will be very angry, and if he acts irrationally under the anger at that time, it will be very bad for us. What's more, behind this Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu are the Jiangnan wealthy clans, they are too far away from our Chang'an to effectively influence us, so at most we can only get the personal support of Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda, and nothing else. And how much influence they can personally have above the imperial court. It's just a help to say two nice words, and it's useless. Therefore, it is definitely not worth it to force the emperor's old man to be anxious for this period. This Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda have become a tasteless chicken rib that is a pity to discard, so there is no need to be so uneasy. Du Ruhui said.

But Fang Xuanling still said: "But." Isn't that our hard work in vain? What's more, they are a prime minister after all! ”

"King Qin, you have to listen to me this time, you have to give up the support of Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu, they can't give you more support, and if you barely get their support, if the old man of the emperor doesn't plan to maintain the balance and directly help the crown prince, then we will be under too much pressure. So. When it is broken, it is broken! ”

At this moment, the personalities of Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui are also reflected. Although Fang Xuanling is good at planning, he is a little hesitant when he encounters a key problem, and he is reluctant to give up Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu, who have become chicken ribs. But Du Ruhui accurately saw that even if he got the continued support of Du Ruhui and Xiao Yu, it would be useless, but would overstimulate Li Yuan. If Li Yuan was furious at that time, he would completely choose to support Li Jiancheng. That would be very unfavorable to Li Shimin. Li Yuan can be said to be a winner and loser, although Li Yuan is slightly biased towards Li Jiancheng, the eldest son. However, this is not a personal feeling or Li Yuan is more optimistic about Li Jiancheng, but out of the rule of maintaining the primogeniture inheritance system. And Li Yuan actually didn't know that Li Shimin's ability was much better than Li Jiancheng's, but in order to maintain the primogeniture inheritance system, Li Yuan couldn't help but favor Li Jiancheng. However, in case Li Shimin went too far. made Li Yuan completely give up on Li Shimin and chose to support Li Jiancheng, then Li Shimin's pressure is too great, maybe he will lose! Therefore, Li Yuan can't be stimulated too much. Otherwise, this old man would not be reconciled. People just want to have a stable old age, so if anyone dares to interfere with his old age, then who is also his enemy.

When Li Shimin saw this scene, he also took the initiative to say: "Okay! In the future, I will cut off contact with Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu, and I will not contact them for the time being. ”

Of course, Li Shimin knows which is more important, if he stimulates his father Li Yuan too much, then Li Shimin will lose more than he gains. Because Li Yuan is only Li Jiancheng, it is only out of natural maintenance of the primogeniture inheritance system, not to discriminate against himself. But if he offended him like this and didn't give him face, maybe he would really give up on himself completely, and then support Li Jiancheng. This is not a good result for Li Shimin, so Li Shimin chose to cut off the connection between Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu.

"Let's go, go meet Zhang Chao with me!" Li Shimin said.

"See Zhang Chao? See what he does? Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were surprised.

Soon, Zhang Chao saw Li Shimin again, and they didn't say anything, just sat down directly.

"Zhang Yushi, you have made the Lone King very unhappy recently!" Li Shimin said.

And Zhang Chao shook his head and said: "I can't help it, I'm in the officialdom, I can't help myself!" ”

And Li Shimin immediately asked: "Zhang Yushi, I've always been very curious, what do you want?" Fame and fortune, not like it? You're not the kind of person who is greedy for money and power, but why are you? What the hell are you trying to do, from what you can say to limit the power of the king, I know that you don't really have us monarchs in mind. But I'm just trying to figure out, what do you really want? What is your goal, and what is your purpose as an official? Or, what exactly are you loyal to? I don't know who you're loyal to, but I do know that your loyalty is not to the royal family. ”

"King Qin, can you not be angry? I'm not loyal to the Li Tang royal family, don't you feel angry? Zhang Chao asked.

Li Shimin also took the initiative to say: "To be honest, if I was angry about this thing, then I would have been angry to death." There is no such thing as true and absolute loyalty in this world, and I have known this for a long time. How many of the scholars are loyal to our royal family, and how many of them are loyal to the court? So, if you're not loyal to our royal family, I won't be too angry about this, as long as you don't go too far. But I want to know, what are you loyal to? You're not for money, you're not for power, you're not for women, but what do you really want? ”

Zhang Chao replied: "I am for the sake of hundreds of millions of Chinese people, and I don't want them to suffer from chaos and order again." ”

"Can this ......, this be realized? If it can be realized, then I absolutely support it! Li Shimin said.

Of course, Li Shimin supported it, because if Zhang Chao can really realize the pain of avoiding chaos and governance, then the biggest profit in this way is definitely the Li Tang royal family, and they can be emperors forever. Not enough, Li Shimin is very skeptical, can this kind of thing be realized? It's impossible!

"I think it can be done. However, the power of the king must be greatly reduced. Zhang Chao replied.

After Li Shimin heard this, he immediately said haha: "Let's not talk about these things first, let's talk about something else." Why do you seem to be more special to me lately, why do you favor the crown prince? I can feel that you have been leaning towards the prince a little lately. In the past, I knew you were slightly biased towards me, but now that you have changed, why are you like this? ”

Zhang Chao replied: "It's very simple, because you once proposed to want to go to Luoyang and then share the world with the prince." So, I'm a little disappointed in you. Your idea is very good, that is, you can get half of the country at the worst, but the result of this will inevitably make the people suffer greatly from the war. And I, the Chinese people, have just come from the pain of the Wuhu Rebellion, but if you want to do this kind of thing to split the country and then start a civil war, then I will naturally not support it. So, I'm a little disappointed in you. If for the sake of civil war, let people like the Hu people in the north continue to invade my Central Plains, and then Shenzhou Lu sinks, this is the last thing I want. So, I'm a little disappointed in you. ”

When Li Shimin heard this, he didn't expect that Zhang Chao actually changed his bias for this reason, from favoring himself to Li Shimin.

And Du Ruhui immediately added: "Zhang Yushi, don't worry, King Qin has given up the idea of going to Luoyang." No matter what happens in the future, King Qin will not choose to go to Luoyang, so please rest assured. As for going to Luoyang, it was just proposed by some short-sighted guys, although King Qin was almost deceived by them at that time, but then he immediately woke up, so he dispelled the idea of going to Luoyang. ”

Du Ruhui then turned his head to look at Fang Xuanling, obviously telling Zhang Chao that the one who put forward the idea was Fang Xuanling.

And Fang Xuanling immediately smiled and said, "I'm not for King Qin's good!" ”

And Zhang Chao of course knows what kind of goods Fang Xuanling is, this guy wants to quietly change his mind about the "core" of Datang's rule. Originally, the Tang Dynasty was a country dominated by the Guanlong group, if Li Shimin went to Luoyang, it would represent the Shandong Shi clan to support Li Shimin, and if Li Shimin took the throne, it would also represent a change of heart of the ruling class. Therefore, Fang Xuanling proposed that Li Shimin go to Luoyang, because he definitely had his own private goods, not simply for Li Shimin's sake.

However, Zhang Chao was also a little disappointed with people like Fang Xuanling. Although history has praised him well, in reality he is not enough to be a politician who plots for the interests of his own class. Fang Xuanling Du Ruhui, no matter how virtuous and capable they are, but they are just politicians in their bones, politicians who compete for the interests of their own class groups. Politicians are indispensable, both in ancient times and in later generations. As long as there are classes and competing interests in human beings, then politicians will inevitably exist. Unless one day, the society can develop its productive forces greatly, and then realize the common . Materialism, perhaps politicians will disappear completely. (To be continued......)