The big man has a living father

Chapter 35 Monthly Subscription (Additional Update)
The mornings in late autumn are particularly cold.

However, Huo Hai's room had a kang, so it was very warm to sleep in.

Unfortunately, the noise of slaughtering pigs and sheep outside was too loud, and Huo Hai couldn't sleep well.

What's more, there were people talking loudly outside the house.

Huo Hai pushed open the window in a bad mood after waking up.

Outside the room where he slept, Li Cai and Huo Qubing were talking.

Li Cai saw Huo Hai push open the window and was a little puzzled: "Master Huo, aren't you cold? You actually opened the window wearing only a single layer of clothes. Young people are in good health."

Huo Hai yawned: "Oh~ha~ah, are you cold? Don't you feel cold?"

Huo Qubing saw Huo Hai getting up and said, "Lord Li wants to talk to you about something. Hurry up and get up. I still have to practice my spear."

Huo Qubing spoke up, and Huo Hai couldn't stay in the room any longer: "Wait a moment, right away."

Soon, Huo Hai put on thick clothes, put on a cloak and walked out.

Li Cai cupped his hands: "Master Huo."

Huo Hai returned the greeting: "Lord Li, you are the Prime Minister, I cannot afford your greeting."

Li Cai smiled: "Today it is not the Prime Minister who is visiting the Prince's attendant, but the coin official who is visiting the wealthy businessman. I heard that your paper business is very good, and you are also doing other businesses, so there is a lot of money coming in and out?"

Huo Hai was alert: "You are not here to collect taxes."

Li Cai stroked his beard and chuckled, "Of course I have to collect taxes, but not today. Today I'm here to check for bad currency."

"Please, Lord Huo, take me to where you store your money. I've brought someone with me and asked them to do a random check."

Huo Hai: “Okay.”

Huo Hai took Li Cai to the room where they saved money, reminiscing as he went along. It seemed that he could only remember one poem written about Li Cai.

[General Li, who was remembered throughout the ages, captured the Hu people’s horse.]

Li Cai was a humble man, but he was granted a title of nobility.

The mugwort removes its old roots, and the bamboo adds new tiles.

If the emperor asks me to work on the farm, who else can I do it for? 】

This poem "卜算子" by Xin Qiji was written after he was accused, saying that Li Guang had great achievements but was not granted a title of nobility, while his brother Li Cai was not a very good person but was granted a title of nobility.

What he meant was to mock the person who reported him for having low character and saying that he was able to become a high-ranking official because he had no bottom line.

In fact, this poem really praises Li Guang and belittles Li Cai.

Li Guang's military achievements were not as great as Li Cai's. Li Cai was under Wei Qing at that time, and he was not an ordinary character, but a vanguard general.

Moreover, Li Cai and Li Guang joined the army at the same time, and their achievements over the years were similar. Their military merits and official ranks increased simultaneously, until a few years ago when they started fighting against the Huns. Li Guang began to perform poorly, and Li Cai made repeated military achievements.

Li Guang captured Huer horses? Not as many as Li Cai captured Xiongnu kings.

Moreover, Li Cai did not have a good ending either.

Originally, before Liu Che, all prime ministers were aristocrats, who were first granted a title of nobility and then appointed as prime minister.

Including Cao Xiang’s ancestor Cao Shen, who “drank strong wine day and night and did nothing”. Emperor Hui of Han couldn’t bear it anymore, so he asked Cao Shen’s son to persuade him.

Cao Shen didn't give any face at all and just hung his son up and beat him. Emperor Hui of Han had no choice but to go and listen to Cao Shen's nonsense in person.

Although the prime ministers of later generations were not necessarily as powerful, they were almost the same.

It was not until Emperor Wu of Han that Emperor Wu of Han allowed Gongsun Hong, a commoner, to ascend to the throne, and then conferred the title of nobility on him.

Gongsun Hong was no longer a marquis or prime minister in the traditional sense, but he was made a marquis because he served as a prime minister.

Originally, according to Liu Che's intention, he would continue to implement this policy and suppress the power of the prime minister.

However, when it came to the issue of managing the Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions, Liu Che thought about it and decided to appoint Li Cai as prime minister.

There are three reasons. What Li Cai is going to do will definitely offend other big families, and the Longxi Li family may be excluded.

Second, Li Cai is not a traditional noble, and cannot get along with other nobles, so it will not affect the overall situation of weakening the power of the prime minister.

Third, although Li Cai was Li Guang’s cousin, he had already moved his family to Anle County (now Yanjing) because of his title of nobility.

But unexpectedly, Liu Che miscalculated.

First, although Li Cai was strict in salt and iron, currency policy, and tax reform, he would never interfere once it involved the big families, so he did not offend anyone.

Second, although Li Cai had no contact with the big families, his deputy Zhang Tang was an ambitious eccentric. He stirred up trouble here and almost replaced the power of the prime minister, which led to the weakening of the overall situation of the prime minister.

Thirdly, it was because Li Cai's whole family had moved away that the Longxi Li clan was not lost after Emperor Liu Che found an excuse to kill Li Guang's whole family.

This means that God's calculation is worse than man's calculation.

After serving as prime minister for four years, Emperor Liu Che found an excuse to put Li Cai in jail, and Li Cai committed suicide immediately.

Of course, all the information about Li Cai’s resume was from what Huo Hai saw in the short videos. He could only speculate what exactly happened in the videos.

If history had not taken the same course, Li Guang would have launched a fierce resistance two years later, resulting in the destruction of his army by the Huns. He would have committed suicide after returning.

A year later, Li Cai committed suicide.

It is difficult to tell whether Liu Che persecuted him because of the issue of prime minister power or the issue of the Longxi Li family.

Huo Hai believes that it is the former.

Huo Hai was not familiar with the history of the Western Han Dynasty, but he was familiar with Liu Che.

Watching the short video, we can see what Emperor Wu of Han did. To sum it up in one sentence, he was either exterminating people or on his way to exterminating people.

When Emperor Liu Che heard that Li Ling had surrendered to the Xiongnu, he sent Li Guang's entire family to heaven without any further investigation. Emperor Liu Che used the five-zhu coins to extort money from the people, resulting in one million people out of the 50 million people in the world being arrested for counterfeiting coins.

If it weren't for Liu Che's successful example, Yang Guang, with his wisdom, might not have dared to do so many outrageous things.

Because Liu Che had such a personality, Huo Hai believed that Li Cai's death was entirely caused by Li Guang.

However, precisely because he had watched these videos, Huo Hai was not worried about Li Cai at all.

After opening the door, Li Cai was stunned.

There are three-zhu coins, four-zhu coins, and the newly minted five-zhu coins.

The money filled the whole room.

Huo Hai: "Master Li, are you going to check for counterfeit coins? I have sorted these coins into different categories. Look at these, the ones that are not heavy enough have too many impurities and too little copper."

"They are all in this account book, and they are all left by people who bought things."

"take it."

Huo Hai opened a box and took out a bound book.

Nowadays, although white paper is available, people still make books in volumes, as the saying goes, "reading is beneficial". Huo Hai's book binding may look strange, but it is wonderful if you think about it carefully.

But Li Cai doesn't have time to think about this now. Li Cai is dumbfounded.

I just came to take a look, just take a walk, just to pretend.

Taking advantage of the fact that the General of Cavalry has returned triumphantly today and there are many guests, I deliberately put on a show.

What do you mean by putting this mess here?
Do you want me to die?!

But...don't answer it?

Li Cai didn't dare to take it, but Zhang Tang behind him was so excited that he was going crazy.

If we get this account book and follow the clues, wouldn't we be able to catch all the nobles who forged counterfeit coins?

Civilians? Don't be ridiculous. Where would the common people get the copper to make counterfeit goods?!
Seeing that Li Cai didn't take it, Zhang Tang took a step forward and wanted to get the account book.

Huo Hai glanced at Zhang Tang, put the account book in his arms, and smiled: "I'm lying to you. There's no account book."

Zhang Tang said, "Master Huo, let me see that pile of papers."

Huo Hai: "Who are you?"

Zhang Tang: "Prime Minister Shi Zhang Tang."

Huo Hai smiled when he heard Zhang Tang's name, but his expression remained unchanged, still showing disdain: "What rank?"

Zhang Tang said calmly: "I have no military achievements."

Huo Hai turned his nose to Zhang Tang and said, "Then it's your turn to speak here? You have no manners. Get out of here!"

"Someone, ask them to leave. I want to have a good chat with Lord Li."

Huangfu Hua walked up to Zhang Tang with his precious sword in his arms, forcing Zhang Tang to retreat step by step.

Zhang Tang had a gloomy face and stared at Huo Hai with a sinister look.

Huo Hai looked at Li Cai, then pointed at Zhang Tang: "You dare to glare at me? Hit me!"

Before Zhang Tang could react, Huangfu Hua had already punched him in the eye: "Ah! You..."

Huangfu Hua grabbed Zhang Tang with one hand and hit Zhang Tang's face with the other.

Li Cai sighed and whispered: "He is not just my chief clerk..."

Huo Hai put his hands on his hips and said arrogantly: "I don't care who he is, I'll beat him first."

Huangfu Hua pinned Zhang Tang down and beat him up.

As they were fighting, Xiang Xu came over: "Sir, the emperor is here!"

Li Cai: "It seems that we can't have a good conversation."

After Liu Che came in, he took a look at Zhang Tang, recognized him, and said sternly: "Huo Hai! Beating an official is against the law. You must be sentenced to exile or a fine of 50,000 coins."

Huo Hai smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I choose the fine."

Xiang Xu took a look and waved his hand to ask two servants to carry the box.

Huo Hai stared at Zhang Tang and said, "Bring 1.5 million coins to your majesty. 50,000 coins each time, right? I want a month's payment. This shifty old Biden is annoying to look at. Beat him up every time you see him. Beat him up for a month."

As he said that, Huo Hai turned to look at Liu Che: "Your Majesty, is there a discount for the monthly subscription?"

Monthly subscription?

If someone else was beaten, Liu Che would be really angry. If Huo Hai continued to be so playful, he would be punished.

But since it was Zhang Tang who was beaten, Liu Che was not angry.

Because Zhang Tang was the cruel official he trained.

Could it be that Zhang Tang has set his sights on Huo Hai?

Liu Che could not express his opinion, but had to keep silent to let Zhang Tang know that this person could not be touched.

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(End of this chapter)