Chapter 6: Red Makeup (4)

Seeing Zhao Kuangyin talking around the bend like this, Zheng Ziming couldn't help but smile dumbly, "Second brother has heard some rumors, I don't care what those people think! I, Zheng someone, have not embezzled public children, and second, I have not drunk the blood of soldiers and eaten empty salaries, spending my own money, and caring about other people's!"

"One is not corrupt, and the other is not drinking the blood of soldiers!" As soon as the words fell, Chai Rong couldn't help but stroke his palms hard, "These two are easy to say, and there are only three or five that can be done in the whole world." It's really disgusting that some people have so much money under their butts that they can smoke ants to death, but they are staring at the third brother spending their own money to get married!"

He had just recently been officially canonized as the crown prince by Guo Wei, put down his military power, and began to follow Wang Jun and Feng Dao to familiarize himself with government affairs. Immediately, he was shocked to find that the Great Zhou, which had just been established for less than a year, was actually full of rats in the city. And if you want to eradicate these corrupt officials and moths, it is difficult to climb to the sky. Either they risk provoking a mutiny, or they will completely paralyze at least one or two departments of the imperial court.

And Wang Jun and Feng Dao seem to have been surprised by this. He did not refuse to say that he was "filial" to his subordinates, and he also advised him very "kindly" to have an imperial bearing. Only when the water is clear is that there are no fish, and only by tolerating a certain degree of corruption among officials can the other party be loyal to the other side. And when the imperial court wants to eliminate an official, the method is simpler. Just deal with the other party's embezzlement directly, and once you catch a quasi-child, you don't need to find other mistakes at all.

This is the peaceful and prosperous era that the common people are also looking forward to? This is the Great Zhou that my father and predecessors worked hard for half a lifetime to establish? What is the difference between such a Great Zhou and the Later Han Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty? How could a country with corrupt officials and corrupt officials in the Manchu Dynasty take on the heavy task of reorganizing Kyushu?

Regarding the rhetoric of Wang Jun and Feng Dao, Chai Rong didn't want to believe a word. The Great Zhou in his mind was by no means another Later Han Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, let alone a Houliang with frozen bones on the stinky road of Zhumen's wine and meat! He hoped that with the efforts of his father and himself, the Great Zhou would be like the legendary Han and Tang Dynasties, with a literary scene and a chaste atmosphere. He hoped that one day, he would be able to lead 100,000 tigers north to Yanyun, drive the Khitans back to their nests completely, and seal the wolves!

Obviously, with the current situation, it is impossible for Da Zhou to fulfill his wishes. Even if his father Guo Wei handed over all the authority to him and let him do whatever he wanted, there was no possibility of achieving his wish. Therefore, when he deals with government affairs every day, he is like sitting on pins and needles. That is, in his own home and the mansions of Zhao Kuangyin and Zheng Ziming, he can completely relax and sigh in his heart!

"Big brother, you, you are now the crown prince!" Seeing that the eldest brother Chai Rong not only did not work with him to persuade Zheng Ziming to relent, but instead used Zheng Ziming's incorruptibility to compare the greed of other ministers in the court, Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but feel a little angry, frowned, and added in a low voice, "As the saying goes, everyone is full of gold, and they accumulate and destroy their bones. It is precisely because Ziming's money comes from an innocent background that he needs to be more cautious. Otherwise, those guys who are not clean under the ass will inevitably think that he has broken the rules, and then unite against him. Even if there is a big brother behind his back to support him, sooner or later he will not be able to stand it one day!"

"That's right! But, I really don't want to be a brother, like my father, I pretend to be confused all day long!" Chai Rong was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then sat down at the table, took a sip of water, and sighed long: "Recently, my father has made me familiar with government affairs, and I am about to be driven crazy by those city fox society rats, now that I think about it, it is still the days when the three of us brothers are fighting outside." Everyone's hearts are working together, and there is only one goal, to win! Unlike now, alas, now, sometimes, I really can't figure out what I'm doing!"

"Alas-" Zhao Kuangyin listened, and sighed faintly.

Although he took the initiative to persuade Zheng Ziming to "live with the light and the dust," in his heart, how could he have been satisfied with the status quo? Civil officials are greedy for money, military generals are afraid of death, they are ruthless in their hearts, and they are subservient to the outside world. In the past 70 years since the demise of the Tang Dynasty, many shortcomings have long become "traditions". And if these "traditions" were not eliminated earlier, whether the Later Jin Dynasty replaced the Later Tang Dynasty, or the Later Han Dynasty replaced by the Great Zhou, it was just a dying Lao Suo, replacing another old man who was about to die, except that the banner on the head of the city had changed, from top to bottom, there was no fresh breath.

Among the three, only Zheng Ziming was the only one who did not sigh. He knew about his family's affairs, so he first picked up the teapot and refilled the water for the two elder brothers, then smiled and said unhurriedly: "Big brother, the second brother's heart, the younger brother is ashamed." But although the two of you are at ease, a few words of rumor may not be able to do anything to me! I just want to marry my sister home in a beautiful way. Others, and let others say, little brother, I don't have the time to take care of it now, and I don't bother to take care of it. Besides, the more I am not treated by the Manchu civil and military forces, the more comfortable Wang Shumi will be at me. Otherwise, one day I will really become a virtuous minister who is praised by everyone, and he will definitely be completely unable to sleep at night!"

"You, you are defiling yourself in disguise!" Zhao Kuangyin suddenly realized, pointed at Zheng Ziming's nose, and shouted. "You, you Zheng Xiaofei, you, you can deceive my second brother and me miserably!"

He was born in Jiangmen and learned a lot of self-preservation skills from his father since he was a child. In ancient books, there are also allusions to predecessors. Tricks like self-defilement, Xiao He of the Han Dynasty and Li Jing of the Tang Dynasty are all superb. And the famous generals who did not learn to defile themselves in the history books, such as Han Xin, Tan Daoji, etc., all died without a place to be buried. (Note 1)

Zheng Ziming has the blood of the royal family of the previous dynasty flowing in his body, Zheng Ziming became the top five famous generals of the Great Zhou Dynasty at a young age, and Zheng Ziming's territory and soldiers and horses have steadily ranked first among the younger generation. Zheng Ziming neither accepts the filial piety of his generals, nor does he drink the blood of soldiers, if he doesn't make some other mistakes and says that he has no plans in his heart, how many people in the world can believe it?

Therefore, arrogance and extravagance are probably the shortcomings that Zheng Ziming can accept the most and hurt others the least. The more unscrupulous Zheng Ziming is, the more he spends money, the more reassuring he may be for some important ministers in the court. At least, by far this is one of the best ways to be safe, and not the best.

"Alas-" Chai Rong's mouth suddenly let out a long sigh, and in his young heart, there were mixed tastes.

Zheng Xiaofei, who used to have no heart and lungs, has now learned to defile himself. And he, who is the eldest brother, can only acquiesce to the behavior of the third brother, but cannot take the initiative to stand up and tell the other party that you don't have to be like this at all. With the eldest brother here, between our brothers, there is really no need for this.

He is the crown prince, not the emperor. In the Great Zhou Dynasty, even the emperor may not be able to do what he says. He, the crown prince, is even more impossible, has absolute certainty to ensure that Zheng Ziming will not be harmed in any way.

The leak to the Khitans has not yet found the mastermind. And Fan Aineng, He Hui and other more than 30 generals have joined forces with Wang Yin and other ministers, and asked the court to allocate money for grain and grass to support their respective army expansions. He also unceremoniously pointed out that the reason why they expanded their army was that they saw the effect of the Henghai Navy spending a lot of money to raise elite soldiers, and they were ready to follow suit so that they could serve the country in future wars......

Bullshit, it's all bullshit. What those people were thinking, Chai Rong could guess with his toes. Just because you can guess it doesn't mean he has a solution. The current seemingly calm political situation is actually turbulent, and the third brother, Zheng Ziming, is the center of one of the whirlpools. No one knows how deep this whirlpool will be, and how many people will be swept into it and shattered.

Note 1: Tan Daoji, the general of Liu Song of the Southern Dynasty, was suspected by the emperor and was innocently executed. Before dying, he screamed and waited for the self-destruction of the Great Wall.