Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 109

Xu Ming was defeated, the Wang family had five marquises a day, and Wang Feng eventually began a dictatorship. Liu Ao was isolated and helpless in the court, but at least he had the support of the neutral Xu Bo.

Therefore, they did not lose all power. Although the Wang family was a dictator, they did not dare to go too far. After all, this was still the world of the Liu family, and this law could not be shaken for the time being.

But it is not clear whether this is a blessing or a curse, because Liu Ao was extremely stupid. In his early years, he favored his first wife, Empress Xu. Later, because she was old and ugly, he fell in love with someone else and turned to favor Ban Jieyu.

This is actually nothing, Ban Jieyu is very virtuous and is known as the "contemporary Wei Zifu". The problem is Liu Ao's other favorite concubine, the famous evil concubine Zhao Feiyan!
This person was beautiful but extremely jealous. She exposed the fact that Empress Xu's sister, Xu Ye, cursed the concubines, and Empress Xu was subsequently implicated and deposed.

Zhao Feiyan began to enjoy special favor, and Liu Ao obeyed her in everything. He built palaces and engaged in large-scale construction projects without any sympathy for the people's strength.

The whole country was in misery, with refugees everywhere, bandits rife, and peasant uprisings extremely frequent. The Han Dynasty was officially on the verge of collapse.

Jinghou Mansion.

Xu Bo looked at the memorials sent from the local authorities with a very grim expression. The Han Dynasty's finances were already in deficit, and it could only levy taxes on local tyrants to satisfy Liu Ao's extravagance.

But now the imperial court no longer has the influence it had during the reign of Emperor Wu. Taxes cannot be collected just by saying so. For Zhao Feiyan, who is a bottomless pit, it is still a drop in the bucket.

"Prime Minister Xu, this...sigh, this is truly the sign of the country's demise."

Chen Nian was extremely anxious. As the Minister of Agriculture, he knew better than anyone the financial difficulties of the Han Dynasty, and there was no extra money or grain in the local area.

If he insisted, he would only be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. This man is much more foolish than the previous emperor. At least Emperor Yuan only delegated power to Shi Xian.

Shi Xian brought harm to the country, but the most he did was accepting bribes and making money, which was far less influential than Your Majesty's large-scale construction projects.

Moreover, the government affairs of this dynasty were also monopolized by Wang Feng. Liu Ao was a typical incompetent and playful person. As a result, he was completely played to death by himself and then started to give up.

Even the power is not in his hands. It is really true that each generation is worse than the previous one. He originally thought that the previous emperor was bad enough, but Liu Ao refreshed his understanding.

This should be the extreme of a tyrant, only slightly better than the legendary Qin God of War Ying Hu Hai.

"This world belongs to the Liu family. He is determined to ruin the family. What can we, as his subjects, do?"

Xu Bo sighed. His Majesty asked him to raise money again. What could he do? The common people themselves could not even get enough food to eat. He really could not afford to continue raising taxes.

He couldn't conjure up money and food out of thin air, but the palace had to be built and the emperor's extravagant life had to continue.

"The general should not have stopped the late emperor's request to change the crown prince." Chen Nian felt very sorry. The King of Dingtao Liu Kang who died of illness before was much better than this one.

Although he lived a short life, it was much better than squandering his wealth and causing public resentment.

Xu Bo raised his head and reminded him, "Chen Sinong, be careful with your words. Your Majesty is your Majesty. Can a minister despise the king?"

Chen Nian closed his mouth helplessly. After a moment, he said, "Then what should we do? We can't get the money."

"Well... let's do this." Xu Bo thought for a moment and said, "Brother Ming and I will pool the money together to make up for it."

"But this..." Chen Nian was even more helpless.

The Xu family has donated money more than once. The last time the Guanzhong disaster relief was provided by the grain provided by Xu from Henan, and the garden built for Zhao Feiyan was provided by Xu from Qinghe.

The two families have spent tens of millions of dollars together. No matter how rich they are, they cannot afford to spend like this. More than half of their century-long accumulation is gone.

The last part is Xu Bo's final bottom line, to fill the hole as much as possible. He hopes that His Majesty can change his ways and use the money to help the victims. Even if it is used as military expenses, it is better than building a palace.

Unfortunately, you can never wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep. This Majesty only wants to enjoy himself and doesn't want to work hard at all.

In the end, all this money will be wasted.

.........

Jizhou, Qinghe.

The farmlands are crisscrossed with each other, and countless farmers are working facing the loess, with smiles on their faces. This time it is a great harvest.

His own public fund came from the well-known philanthropist Xu family, and their commission was the lowest among all the Han people. Not only was there enough for himself to eat, but he could also leave some left over to sell for money.

That's great! The prerequisite is that the government doesn't raise taxes anymore.

In Jizhou, there was no large-scale famine because of the assistance from some powerful people headed by the Xu family. The situation in Nanyang and Runan was even better. Every family had surplus food. It was called "Paradise on Earth", the last pure land of the Han Dynasty.

This is also the reason why the Xu family has a very high reputation at the grassroots level. The common people are very simple and they are willing to work for whoever can give them food.

What's more, there is no need to risk your life.

Boom boom boom!
Footsteps were heard, and a man in official uniform walked among the farmlands with a smile on his face. He looked at the plump ears of wheat with great satisfaction in his heart.

It was a year of bumper harvest. Nanyang, Runan, Qinghe and Dongjun were responsible for nearly half of the tax revenue of the Han Dynasty. Many places, such as Qingzhou and Guanzhong, were waiting for food to save their lives.

Therefore, this bumper harvest is very important. Qinghe is the most important granary in Jizhou! It has more than one million grain reserves.

"Hello, Lord Xu..." People from a distance greeted him in unison, with smiles on their faces!

In the Han Dynasty, "dad" referred to father. It was a very down-to-earth title, and sometimes people would address prestigious officials in this way.

As for an official who is a parent of the people, if he can be called such by the people, he will die without regrets.

"County Magistrate Wang, how much grain can your county harvest this year?"

Qinghe prefect Xu Min turned his head and asked.

"Fifteen thousand shi is no problem." County Magistrate Wang said in an affirmative tone.

One hundred mu of land can yield three hundred dan of grain. This is another bumper year. For such a rich county, 150,000 dan is not a lot.

I heard that the harvest in Nanyang is better, and 150,000 shi is only average.

"Well... okay, that's great. With these foods, the refugees will be saved." Xu Min said easily.

He didn't feel anything when he was in Chang'an, but when he went to the grassroots level, he deeply realized the sufferings of the people and that they were in dire straits all the time.

It can be said that having a full meal is a luxury. Xu Min believes that he does not have the ability to save the world like his ancestors Xu Zhen and Xu Gong, so he can only do the best he can.

First, he wanted to ensure that every family in Qinghe would not starve to death, and then extend it to Jizhou, Hebei... and even the whole world. At present, he has completed the first goal, but the second one is nowhere in sight.

Even in the wealthy Jizhou, hunger still existed. It seemed that no matter what he did, it was just a drop in the bucket. The only two places in the Han Dynasty that were truly free from famine were Qinghe and Nanyang.

This is also the base camp where Xu’s family focuses on development.

"General Xu serves the country and the people, and I admire him!" Magistrate Wang said with great admiration.

There is really not a single coward in the Xu family. When the governor took office, he dismissed several high-ranking officials such as prefects and county magistrates. The officialdom of Jizhou was completely transformed, and the corruption of the past has almost disappeared.

After Xu Min and others became the governors of Qinghe and Dongjun, they vigorously developed people's livelihood, used their influence on the powerful class, reduced rents, and vigorously supported the people to reclaim wasteland. It has been quite effective, and I believe that before long, the whole of Hebei will be affected by this trend.

Many ambitious officials have sighed more than once that if the Han Dynasty were full of such ministers, it might be possible to restore the prosperous era of Kangxi, Xuande and even Wenjing!
That was an era that countless people yearned for, and that was why people all over the world did not lose hope in the Liu family.

The prosperous times of the past are still before our eyes. Everyone is holding on to hope that perhaps a wise ruler like Emperor Wen will appear.
Good days will come then... Unfortunately, generation after generation, they have never made it through.

Xu Min's expression remained unchanged, and he said calmly, "It's just my job, it's what I should do, what's there to praise?"

He never understood that it was the duty of a local official to govern a place well! If you didn't do it well, you were derelict in your duty, and if you did it well, you were just doing what you should do.

Only those with achievements like Xu Zhen and Xu Gong in the past are qualified to brag about it.

"The imperial edict from the court has arrived, Governor Xu." An official dismounted from his horse and trotted over.

Xu Min nodded, took the bamboo slips and looked at them, his expression gradually changed from calm to ugly.

After a long while, he threw the bamboo slips to the ground and shouted, "What are you trying to do again? Four million coins? This...how many disaster victims can this save? Your Majesty, can't you see?"

The county magistrates nearby looked at each other but said nothing. Questioning the imperial court was a serious crime, enough to get one dismissed from office.

Only such famous and powerful families can be so fearless.

After cursing for a while, he turned around and asked, "Chen Juncheng, how much money does Curry have left?"

"Two...two million dollars."

"Two million..."

Xu Min fell into deep thought. It seemed that there was no way other places could raise enough money, so he could only entrust it to the relatively wealthy Qinghe.

But I didn’t expect that what was in Qinghe Prefecture’s treasury was far from enough!
Of course he knew what the money was used for. It was simply to provide the emperor's concubine with further enjoyment. How could it be used for the right purpose?
There is also a large amount of additional food, enough to empty this harvest. What will happen to the refugees in Guanzhong and Qingzhou? Will they be allowed to gnaw on the bark of trees and eat their own children?
Yes, cannibalism is not uncommon.

It can even be described as prevalent. When famine broke out in Guanzhong, 800,000 people died of starvation, and if the unrecorded number is included, the death toll would exceed one million! The history books only recorded a short sentence about this catastrophe: "There was famine in Guanzhong, people ate each other, and one million people died."

In just one line of words, the blood and tears of so many families were recorded. This situation continued to happen, and the court did not provide disaster relief, but instead used precious money and grain to do those unimportant things.

Is it necessary to build this palace? Emperor Wu also loved to build palaces, but the storage of the national treasury is not the same!
Perhaps, this court should have perished long ago...

A treasonous word emerged in Xu Min's mind. Yes, if the Han Dynasty he longed to be loyal to was really so incompetent, then there would be no need to continue to protect it.

Of course, it's just a thought. My position cannot change, and saving the country does not necessarily require a change of dynasty.

"No way... Even if I empty the treasury it will still be a drop in the bucket." Xu Min muttered to himself. He could not disobey his superiors, and he really had no control over how the money was used.

But the biggest problem now is that the hole still cannot be filled, and the taxes levied on Jizhou are already very heavy.

Looking down, he finally saw another letter from home.

Picking up the bamboo slips, I saw that it was signed by Prime Minister Xu Bo.

"Huh, prepare the horses and go to the Marquis Changyuan's Mansion." After reading the things above, Xu Min gave the order.

.........

The Xu family's main residence is located in the county seat of Qinghe. It is the largest mansion among the families and covers a very large area.

With thousands of slaves, they are undoubtedly the second most powerful family in the Han Dynasty.

Xu Ming has lived here since he resigned from his official position and retired. At this moment, he was sitting in the garden basking in the sun with a teacup in his hand.

He felt very comfortable and looked much better than Xu Bo in Changan. In fact, retirement was really more comfortable. Xu Bo had had enough of it a long time ago, but he was burdened with a responsibility and could not take the initiative to take a rest.

If I didn't have myself in Chang'an, I would have no place to enjoy myself.

"Father...Father..."

Xu Min walked in with the letter from home, his expression a little ugly.

"Donating money again?" Xu Ming slowly opened his eyes, his face calm, as if he had thought of it a long time ago.

"Yes, the court still has a hole, and they want us to make up for it with two million yuan."

He was a little impatient. How could his family have two million? They had almost donated all the money they had accumulated over the past hundred years. Even a mine couldn't withstand the millions of dollars they donated.

There was also food for disaster relief, a considerable portion of which came from their own families.

If it was for the people, he would reluctantly accept it, but this was not a serious expense and they had every right to refuse.

"What can we do? We can ask those guys to raise some money, and sell the land for the rest. My Xu family is big and powerful, so we can always get the money together."

After reading the imperial edict, Xu Ming said with some self-mockery that His Majesty was always hinting that the Xu family was a big family. Doesn't this mean that he has money and should donate it quickly?

"This... is." Xu Min had no other choice but to go down and raise money.

Now the only valuable things they have are these fields. Their foundation is here. Thousands and tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land are their greatest wealth.

.........

Nanyang, Jinghou Mansion
Xu Zhong put down the imperial edict from Chang'an and seemed to be thinking about something.

"Brother, what did father say?"

A rather burly man from the Xu family asked anxiously.

"What else can I say? I'm short of money."

"Hurry up and raise money, hehe... five million yuan, His Majesty really thinks highly of us."

Xu Zhong felt helpless. His father was too kind. He wanted his family to repair the mess left by the tyrant.

I have invested so much, but it is still not enough. It is simply a bottomless pit! Anyway, I will not sell anything after this.

Henan Xu's industry is mainly in Nanyang. He is the most powerful family in the Han Dynasty. The wealth he has accumulated is terrifying, several times that of Qinghe Xu. But he can't withstand the blackmail of the court!

You said you want money, but you don't use it in the right way.

"Go ahead and give the order. The disaster relief that is needed cannot be delayed. This is a major matter. It's almost what the court wants, but we can't be careless in Guanzhong."

"These are human lives. Saving lives is like putting out a fire. If all else fails, we can just raise more donations from ourselves. These guys have plenty of money to exploit."

"Yes, second brother." The burly man agreed.

(End of this chapter)