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

Chapter 257: Fan Xian, who believes in meritocracy, and Liu Hong want to hold a trial meeting for people

Liu Hong grabbed Chang Kun, who was kneeling on the ground like a cold stone statue, and walked towards the back.

"Master Fan, if there is nothing else, then let's end this matter today. After tonight, Chang Kun will still be the admiral of the navy."

The white-haired Chang Kun glanced at Liu Hong, wanted to say something, but then shut his mouth obediently.

From ancient times to the present, has there been any provincial governor who was hated by the emperor and yet was able to hold on to his high position?
Moreover, under the extremely harsh reprimand in the oral order, Chang Kun no longer had the face to stay in the position of admiral of the navy.

Fan Xian's expression looked grim, and his pretty face, which was comparable to a woman's, looked as if it was covered with black soot.

Wang Qinian spoke in a low voice.

"Sir, doesn't the Overwatch Council still have evidence of Chang Kun's crimes?"

From the very beginning, Wang Qinian was pessimistic about Fan Xian's assassination.

He could clearly order the Supervisory Council to conduct a thorough investigation, but Fan Xian was afraid that Chang Kun would become desperate and instigate a mutiny in the navy, so he chose to assassinate him.

"Yeah……"

Fan Xian came to his senses and couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

Ever since he left Kyoto and rose to prominence with the help of imperial edicts, he had become accustomed to relying on the quick success of imperial power.

He forgot his original authority as the Censorate and the Imperial Treasury.

These are the powers that truly belong to Fan Xian, powers that even the emperor cannot easily deprive him of.

"The evidence of Chang Kun's crime is there, both witnesses and evidence. Grand Admiral, are you still going to protect the admiral?"

Fan Xian took out the envelope and regained his confidence.

"Smuggling with Dongyi City is a crime of treason punishable by the execution of nine generations of the clan. I did not tell His Majesty clearly just to give the admiral some respect."

"Since none of you gentlemen want this respectability, let's investigate this case thoroughly!"

The Jiaozhou soldiers, naval commanders, and Jiaozhou governor Wu Heng all fell silent at the same time.

The look in his eyes was strange and confused.

Jiaozhou is a port city close to the coast, and most of its land is saline-alkali land that cannot be cultivated.

There are indeed many good caravans, but those are all carrying the titles of royal members, such as the crown prince, the eldest princess, and the second prince.

Do local officials and generals dare to collect taxes from these people?

The wealthy and powerful families in the city also encroached on the land on a large scale, and the land tax could not be collected.

Four thousand Jiaozhou soldiers and twenty thousand Jiaozhou navy, are they going to survive on the military pay that is withheld by the imperial court and Dongshan Road?

Is there any other solution besides smuggling?

Chang Kun sighed. His already hunched body could hardly be lifted up. He looked dozens of years older in an instant.

Liu Hong's palms were shaped like eagle claws, tightly pinching Chang Kun's body as he tried to kneel down. His voice was soft, but it carried an unquestionable tone.

"If you want to see your navy cronies slaughtered in blood, then kneel down!"

"Get behind me. I can handle this alone, no matter how big the problem is."

Chang Kun moved his lips for a while and stood obediently behind Liu Hong.

Liu Hong looked at Fan Xian and spoke with a smile.

"So it was smuggling. No wonder they carried out the assassination. Using smuggling to capture a top official is probably not enough! Besides, Fan Xian, aren't you and I smuggling?"

This statement was made with great righteousness: Grand Governor-General Andong and his deputy governor-general were both smuggling.

How would they have the nerve to take down another naval admiral?

Fan Xian engaged in smuggling by normalizing trade with Northern Qi.

Liu Hong engaged in smuggling through Qianlong Bay, with the Western Hu royal court, Northern Qi, and Dingzhou.

This evidence alone has no deterrent effect at all.

The governor is allowed to set fires, but the people are not allowed to light lamps? If the top beam is not straight, how can you expect the bottom beam to be straight?

Fan Xian's face turned pale. He never thought that Liu Hong would dare to openly expose their smuggling to the public.

Besides, Fan Xian was not smuggling just for the small amount of silver.

It was just to leave a way out for himself so that he could escape to Northern Qi's political arena one day.

Chang Kun and others were simply trying to make money.

Liu Hong looked at Fan Xian, whose face was pale, shook his head and sighed.

"I will not let you take Chang Kun away today. Since you say Chang Kun is guilty, let the people of Dingzhou City speak for themselves whether he is guilty or not!"

Almost everyone didn't understand what Liu Hong was trying to do. If he wanted to protect Chang Kun, he could just take him away. Why did he have to make this known to everyone?

If it wasn't protected, Liu Hong wouldn't have had to come tonight.

What if Fan Xian took control of the three naval forces at lightning speed?
The Quanzhou navy in Cangzhou Road and the Shazhou navy in Jingdu Road can be controlled by Fan Xian.

Would the Jiaozhou navy in Dongshan Road dare not obey Liu Hong's orders? Their food and wages were in Liu Hong's hands.

Fan Xian stood there in a daze, as if he had fallen into an icy cave, and he was unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

It was not until Liu Hong led the Jiaozhou soldiers and personal guards to place Chang Kun and the naval generals near the post station.

Fan Xian took a deep breath and spoke in a lost voice.

"Liu Hong wants to enlighten the people!"

Wang Qinian and Yingzi were confused as to how this incident could be related to the enlightenment of the people.

Fan Xian's mind was in a mess. He did not explain anything to the two of them. He just ordered the Black Cavalry to clean up the Admiral's Mansion and let them stay there.

As Liu Hong said to Zhang Liang at the beginning, it doesn’t matter whether Chang Kun is appointed as the admiral of the navy.

He was the Grand Commander of Andong, in charge of the military and political power of three routes.

Even if the three major naval forces fell into Fan Xian's hands, they would still obey orders and not announcements.

Liu Hong can also rebuild a Danzhou navy.

However, Liu Hong was still quite happy to be able to use this incident to damage Emperor Qing's reputation.

That night, Fan Xian had no desire to sleep and kept muttering to himself.

"You can make the people follow it, but you cannot make them know it."

Fan Xian has always had a petty-bourgeois literary style and has always firmly believed in one truth.

Elite politics is far superior to mass politics.

The people below can't read a single word, what do they know? Just let them do the work.

If we really want them to have a sense of ownership, they will probably ask questions all over the place. Things that could have been completed in a few days may be dragged out for ten days or half a month, and the work will be forgotten by the time it is done.

Liu Hong was in a good mood. He didn't expect that Emperor Qing and Fan Xian would cooperate with him so well.

He simply executed Chang Kun without teaching him a lesson, and then made one wrong step after another.

I seized the opportunity and started a discussion throughout Jiaozhou City.

This time, Liu Hong wants to get the noble families, soldiers, common people, merchants, and craftsmen to participate.

Let them also be the masters of Qing Kingdom.

As for Fan Xian's petty-bourgeois literary ideas, he advocates elite politics.

Liu Hong has always been disdainful.

It seems that in his previous life, Fan Xian and Yi Lin read too much, and his brain became abnormal and he fell in love with Western culture.

Mass politics can also implement the two major principles of democracy and centralization.

In the end, elite politics is dragged down even further by the people. Just look at the countries that are dependent on oil.

The senators and representatives of each state have become puppets of the people below them. Even though they know that this is wrong, they still have to push it through for the sake of their official positions.

"Master Wu, thank you for your attention during the trial these days."

Liu Hong stretched out five fingers and slowly opened them.

"The noble families, merchants, military officers, generals, manual workers, and common people will share the quota of 800 people."

"The quota is chosen by them themselves. This governor personally invites them to the trial meeting. They will also be provided with food and a subsidy of half a tael of silver per day."

The previous invitation personally sent by the governor was mainly aimed at aristocratic families, merchants and soldiers.

These people are struggling for connections and are eager to climb up the social ladder, so of course they will try to please Liu Hong.

The subsequent food and silver subsidies were mainly given to manual producers and poor people.

Those people are busy with their lives every day, so how can they waste time getting involved in politics?

If you don’t give me money or food, I’m afraid I won’t even come.

Wu Heng wrote down these arrangements, and then spoke with some shame.

"Sir, I'm afraid the treasury can't take out these thousands of taels of silver."

(End of this chapter)