Joy of Life: I am a Han Dynasty succubus, and I rebel from the beginning

Chapter 144, Deposing the Prime Minister? I am not willing to endure Lin Ruofu's counterattack

Fan Xian didn't expect Liu Hong to punch him and was stunned.

He instinctively wanted to fight back, but when he heard Liu Hong's words, his body froze in place again.

"What's wrong with serving the country and punishing corruption?"

Fan Xian gritted his teeth and retorted to Liu Hong without giving in.

"Be loyal to your country? His Majesty wants you to be loyal to him, not to Qing."

Liu Hong looked at Fan Xian sarcastically.

Taking advantage of the sound of heavy rain, even a ninth-rank master would not be able to hear the news quietly within their perception.

As for Emperor Qing secretly eavesdropping? He is an emperor after all, how could he do such a shameless thing.

After hearing Zhongjun's remarks, Fan Xian growled.

"Without the Qing Kingdom, where would the emperor come from?"

"That's enough! I don't want to discuss loyalty to the country or the emperor. I reminded you time and again that His Majesty wants you to be a lone minister, but you didn't listen! I asked you to have less contact with the famous officials, but you didn't listen either."

Liu Hong's eyes were sharp and he spoke again.

"At the last grand court meeting, I asked him to execute the famous minister to save his life! But he was stubborn and insisted on dragging me down with him. How could I save him this time?"

Fan Xian stood there in a daze.

He suddenly recalled that Liu Hong's two comments on Lai Mingchen both used the four words "barking and howling".

On the surface, he was calling Lai Mingchen a dog, but in fact he was praising Emperor Qing.

After all, no one would bother with a dog unless the dog was really annoying.

When Hong Zhu saw the two of them fighting, he slowly walked over and tactfully held an umbrella for them.

Even though they were soaked through, with their court robes and underwear sticking close to their skin, they still had to have a sense of ceremony.

"Why……"

Fan Xian's tone was dry and bitter.

He didn't understand why Emperor Qing, who considered himself a wise ruler, would kill his loyal ministers.

Liu Hong took Hong Zhu's umbrella and slowly walked out of the palace.

Both Ye Qingmei and Fan Xian are idealists in their bones.

The feudal system is now the main system in the world, and with the rise of Dongyi City and Jiangnan commerce, it can only be said that the commodity economy is prosperous.

Feudalism, capitalism, proletariat, communism, and great harmony. This is a gradual trend.

Wanting to make everyone in the world his king in one fell swoop, isn't this the second Wang Mang?
Ji Xin, who was guarding outside the palace, was slightly startled when he saw Liu Hong's wet clothes, and quickly found some clothes from the carriage.

Liu Hong returned to the Minister's Mansion, took a comfortable hot bath, and came to the study, where Zhang Liang had been waiting for him.

"Sir, does His Majesty want to remove the powerful Prime Minister Lin Ruofu from his position?"

Zhang Liang held in his hand the news from the discussion in the imperial study.

Liu Hong nodded softly.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Emperor Qing wants to abolish the prime minister system, and from now on all power will be in the hands of the emperor."

"Your Majesty, are you crazy? If a tyrant appears in the future, I'm afraid Northern Qi will march south to Qing."

Zhang Liang looked at Liu Hong in disbelief.

The prime minister commands all officials and can indeed check and balance the imperial power, but he is also an effective supplement to the imperial power. In case the emperor makes absurd political decisions, the prime minister can clean up the mess.

Just like the Yu State in Beihai Lake, its two consecutive kings were both mediocre people. The previous king even intervened in the war between the two countries without knowing the consequences and was killed by Liu Hong outside the city wall of Yu State.

However, it was the prime minister who suppressed the civil and military officials and ensured a smooth transfer of power.

It’s not that deposing a prime minister is a bad thing, but at least it has to be a unified dynasty.

"Your Majesty is extremely talented, so naturally there will be no one to check him. Besides, if Your Majesty is still alive in twenty years, he will probably be able to unify the world."

Liu Hong shook his head.

This is the difference between him and Emperor Qing. Emperor Qing wants supreme imperial power and the power of life and death in his hands.

However, Liu Hong believed that imperial power was a balance between common people and aristocratic families, civil officials and military generals, the central government and local governments...Yin cannot exist alone, and Yang cannot exist alone!

"Then my lord, His Majesty wants you to start a dispute over the removal of the Prime Minister?"

Zhang Liang hesitated. If this happened, Liu Hong would really offend all the officials. If Lin Ruofu fought back, the officialdom power that Liu Hong had worked so hard to build would be destroyed.

Under the pressure from Lin Ruofu's students and old friends, I'm afraid that officialdom will always be Liu Hong's weakness.

"I won't attack Lin Ruofu."

Liu Hong's voice was cold.

The candles flickered all around, and the heavy rain was still pouring down outside.

"Since the emperor wants to remove the prime minister, no matter what Lin Ruofu does, he will step down as long as there is a stain. Do you understand what I asked you to investigate He Zongwei now?"

"It is clear, sir. After He Zongwei was rejected by the Fan family, a eunuch came to find him, and then he took advantage of the cover of night to become our disciple."

Zhang Liang bowed, as if he had guessed what Liu Hong wanted to do.

"Then let him do it, and don't involve our Minister's Mansion."

Since Emperor Qing regards Liu Hong as a black glove, Liu Hong must also cultivate a black glove for the sake of his own reputation.

"The Spring Examination is approaching, and Kyoto will soon be in turmoil."

After the death of Lai Mingchen, Fan Xian finally gave up on Emperor Qing under the suggestion of Chen Pingping and Lin Ruofu.

He is a prince, an illegitimate child, and a subject!
At the same time, the Censorate and the Supervisory Commission worked together to punish corrupt officials and handed them over to the Ministry of Justice for handling.

Liu Hong also described some corrupt officials who were hated by both God and the public as being punishable by death.

As for other officials who just wanted to keep in touch with the world and accept some money, they were fined three months' salary and given a warning.

For a time, the reputation of Liu Hong's officials rose rapidly, including many officials under the crown prince and the second prince.

When Fan Xian saw this, he felt that Liu Hong was destroying his hard work, and he brought Fan Ruoruo angrily to the Minister's residence.

After seeing Liu Hong eating alone, with a bowl of rice and a dish of minced meat and eggplant, the anger in his heart subsided a lot.

"You have been an official for two years and have embezzled at least 400,000 taels. Do you really have to eat so frugally?"

"It's enough for me alone. If it's a banquet, I will naturally prepare something else."

Liu Hong quickly cleaned up the rice in the bowl.

He signaled to Fan Xian and Fan Ruoruo if they would like some.

"You released a lot of corrupt officials."

Fan Xian spoke in a deep voice, if they were released this time, the crimes of those corrupt officials would basically be wiped out.

The next time we find an opportunity to punish him, it will take the Supervisory Yuan almost another ten years to collect evidence.

"Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, don't you know that? Without officials, who will manage the local area and handle public affairs?"

Liu Hong shook his head.

Fan Xian's methods were too radical. It was just an anti-corruption campaign, but it implicated nearly 20,000 officials.

This covers almost the entire Kyoto and local areas, accounting for one twentieth of the total number of officials.

"If we can't cut the Gordian knot and remove the rotten flesh, the Qing Kingdom will be in a state of dire straits and will fall into ruin in a hundred years."

Fan Xian came prepared this time as well and spoke in a deep voice.

Liu Hong was stunned for a moment, and then stared at Fan Xian with a very strange look.

"This is not a normal thing. There has never been a thousand-year dynasty since ancient times."

Liu Hong didn't say it explicitly, but Fan Xian knew that this was called the law of dynasty cycles.

Fan Ruoruo got involved between the two of them and shook her head. She now understood why Fan Jian wanted her to marry Liu Hong.

It was just acting as a lubricant to prevent Liu Hong and Fan Xian from ending up in a bloody fight due to their political differences.

Now that Emperor Liu Hong is in great favor, even if Fan Xian's sixth father is around, he will have to pay the price unless he resorts to assassination.

"You didn't come to me for this matter, did you? The Ministry of Justice has been dealing with the official for several days."

Liu Hong took the tea made by Ji Xin and took a sip to help digestion.

Fan Xian suppressed the anger on his face and spoke solemnly.

"What do you think about the cheating in the Spring Examination?"

(End of this chapter)