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Chapter 507 The gentry suffer, and Liu Gonggong bears the infamy!
“But the truth… is too unbearable, too troublesome.” Zhu Shou looked at the dazzling Shichahai Lake and subconsciously resisted, saying, “The Emperor doesn’t like to worry, this is too much to ask of him.”

“Yes, good medicine tastes bitter.” Su Lu said firmly, “It is precisely because we have been deceived for so long and cannot see the truth that small problems have been allowed to fester into major hidden dangers, and the situation has become increasingly unbearable! It’s like Bian Que meeting Duke Huan of Cai… Bian Que initially said that his illness was on the skin and would worsen if left untreated, but Duke Huan of Cai only thought he was exaggerating. Later, when the illness spread to his blood vessels and stomach, Bian Que repeatedly advised him, but he became annoyed and avoided the advice. By the time Duke Huan of Cai himself felt unwell, the illness had already penetrated to the bone marrow, and medicine was ineffective. Bian Que had already long since left.”

"The tragedy of Duke Huan of Cai was precisely because he refused to face the truth of his 'illness' and refused to listen to honest advice. The situation in the Ming Dynasty today is similar. The unbearable truth is like this chronic illness; the more you avoid it, the more deeply rooted it becomes. If Your Majesty continues to be blinded by rosy words and refuses to face the facts, you will ultimately repeat the mistakes of Duke Huan of Cai!" He paused, his gaze pure as he looked at Zhu Shou:

"A true friend should first and foremost be a beneficial friend. I can't let you not tell me the truth when things are in such a critical situation!"

“Yes, you should tell me the truth.” Zhu Shou patted his shoulder, finally managing to turn him around. “Everyone of them wants something from me, only you don’t, so I believe you.”

"Thank you..." Su Lu smiled helplessly. What kind of strange rule is this? It's made it impossible for him to speak up and save his teacher.

Zhu Shou then turned to look at Su Lu, his face full of confusion: "Then tell me, how exactly did this mess come about? Grand Secretary Li said it was the eunuchs' doing, but Liu Daban is pushing all the blame onto the civil officials."

“I think they all bear responsibility,” Su Lu said frankly. “But in the end, the root of the problem lies with the civil officials—corruption in officialdom, land annexation, and chaotic household registration are all problems accumulated by civil officials in power over the years.”

He paused for a moment, then added fairly, "The eunuchs are also brutal, greedy, and destructive, which has exacerbated these conflicts prematurely. It's like a seriously ill person being given a potent drug—how can things possibly end well?"

He added objectively, "Of course, this is just my opinion. According to our school of thought, correct understanding always comes from practice. We need to conduct more investigations in the future to find the real answer."

Zhu Shou, however, did not listen to the second half of Su Lu's words at all.

It wasn't that Zhu Shou was annoyed by what he heard again, but rather that he had a problem with not being able to concentrate for long periods of time...

"Then tell me, what stage has the Ming Dynasty's illness reached? Is it in the skin, the stomach and intestines, or the bone marrow?" Zhu Shou asked to himself.

Fortunately, Su Lu had seen all kinds of students, and he calmly replied, "Don't worry, it hasn't reached the bone marrow yet. At most, it's on the surface of the bone, and it can still be cured by scraping the bone to remove the poison."

"Are you so sure?" Zhu Shou looked at him.

"Of course, do you remember what I told you about magical power? All the fundamental solutions are in 'law'."

“Yes, you only talked about tactics and momentum that day, but not about ‘law’,” Zhu Shou nodded.

“Yes, because it is harmful and useless to talk about reforms before one has mastered the skills and gained the necessary power.” Su Lu said, “Just like Eunuch Liu, who had neither skills nor power, he rushed to promote new policies. Apart from getting hurt and causing trouble for the emperor, he did nothing to benefit him.”

"Yes." Zhu Shou nodded. Given that Su Lu's evaluation of Liu Jin was higher than that of the civil officials, he believed that Su Lu's words were still quite objective.

He looked at Su Lu expectantly and said, "But could you tell me first what those fundamental reforms are, so that I can have some confidence in the future?"

Then Zhu Shou shamelessly added, "Otherwise, if you're discouraged, you won't have the energy to do anything."

"..." Su Lu sighed helplessly, "It's fine to tell you, but I must solemnly remind you again..."

"I know, I know. We absolutely cannot talk about reforms before we have mastered the techniques and the situation is ripe!" Zhu Shou quickly replied.

"You have to remember it even if you know it," Su Lu said.

"Don't be more nagging than my mother," Zhu Shou said, giving him a disapproving look.

"Don't say I'm nagging..." Su Lu glared at him before whispering:

"The crux of all problems must be found at the root, and the so-called 'curing the root' must naturally be done from the root. For example, the root cause of the hidden land and households is that the court granted officials and gentry the privilege of tax exemption and corvée exemption, and the officials and gentry can use their power to expand this privilege several times, or even dozens of times!"

"So you mean, to solve the problem of hidden land and households, we need to abolish the ancestral system of tax and corvée exemption for officials and gentry?" Although Zhu Shou's attention span was short, he possessed unparalleled insight, and his ability to understand complex issues far surpassed that of ordinary people. "Yes, if officials and gentry could perform corvée labor and pay taxes like ordinary people, without any preferential treatment or privileges, half of the root cause of this problem of hidden land and households could be eliminated." Su Lu nodded and sighed, "However, this ancestral system has been in place for a hundred years, touching upon the vital interests of officials throughout the country, making its implementation extremely difficult."

“Yes.” Even Zhu Shou, who disregarded all rules, had to admit, “No wonder you said that the time must be right, otherwise things will turn upside down.”

Then he asked, "What about the other half?"

“We must also implement the method of ‘combining taxes and corvée labor, and levying taxes based on the amount of land,’” Su Lu said in a deep voice. “We should convert the poll tax, land tax, and miscellaneous labor service into the land tax and levy taxes based on the amount of land.”

He paused for a moment and then explained, “In this way, officials and gentry will no longer be able to rely on preferential treatment to annex land and conceal population, and the common people will no longer have to conceal their household registration in order to avoid corvée labor. This will plug the loopholes at the source and truly solve the problem of concealed land and households, allowing the court’s fiscal revenue to reach or even exceed the level during the Hongwu era.”

"Hiss..." Zhu Shou couldn't help but scratch his head vigorously. "This is a little easier, but only a tiny bit easier... at least the landlord will definitely be firmly opposed."

“Yes.” Su Lu nodded and said coldly, “But the problem is, the court is poor, and the people are even poorer. Where has all the wealth of the world gone?”

"Then we can only target those landlords." Zhu Shou immediately understood Su Lu's meaning, and slammed his hand on the railing, saying, "Yes, who else can we target if not them?!"

“Yes.” Su Lu nodded and said, “The people are so poor that they are about to rebel. The only thing we can do is to make things difficult for the gentry. The blame will fall on Eunuch Liu.”

"Damn it!" Zhu Shou couldn't help but curse, shaking Su Lu violently as he said, "Now I finally believe that you really don't want to kill Liu Daban!"

"Yes." Su Lu nodded, holding Zhu Shou's hand to stop him from shaking it, and said in a low voice, "Throughout history, there are only a few people like Eunuch Liu who can suppress all the civil officials in the world with their own power. They are truly rare and powerful figures, even more so than famous generals and prime ministers! But because of their great power, they must be used with utmost caution, otherwise, they will end up like now, accomplishing nothing but driving the world to rebellion!"

"Yes, yes." Zhu Shou nodded vigorously. "Next time we need to be more careful when using him. We can't let him do whatever he wants."

“Yes, even the most powerful weapon must be held in its master’s hand and used methodically to injure the enemy and protect oneself,” Su Lu said in a deep voice. “The most intimidating thing about a longsword is when it is sheathed. If it’s just wildly slashing and hacking all day long, sooner or later it will either break or injure your hand. So now we must persuade Eunuch Liu to stop his reckless actions, especially the land survey, which must be stopped immediately! Otherwise, the blame for the chaos that will engulf the country will fall on his head, and even the Emperor won’t be able to protect him!”

“Indeed, how can we investigate military and civilian farmland together? Wouldn’t that offend both the civil and military officials?” Zhu Shou had already accepted Su Lu’s portrayal of Liu Jin as loyal, powerful, and foolish, and in order to demonstrate his own wisdom, he echoed:
"The most basic principle is to divide and conquer; the way he's doing it is like an old man eating poison—he's tired of living!"

“That’s right.” Su Lu praised, “I told you you were much better than him! The day you become the Grand Eunuch, the situation will definitely improve greatly.”

"Of course!" Zhu Shou said smugly, hands on his hips. "What does he have to compare with me? Who am I and who is he?"

“Alright, I will advise the Emperor to wait until the conditions are right before implementing the reforms.” Then he asked Su Lu in a low voice, “Do you have any other suggestions for the Emperor? How should we deal with this situation? I will convey them to you.”

"Stability is the most important thing," Su Lu said, adhering to his principle of appearing omniscient and omnipotent in front of Zhu Shou.

"The situation is already like this. Even the experienced Grand Secretary says there's nothing that can be done. So, there's obviously not much the Emperor can do either. My suggestion is that, first of all, we must ensure that every decision we make does not backfire. We must never panic and give blind orders... Governing the country is a very complex art. We must have the skill of a master butcher to dissect an ox before we can act. Otherwise, it will backfire and only make the situation more and more uncontrollable."

"Yes, yes, don't worry about that." Zhu Shou nodded with a self-awareness and said, "His Majesty knows he is not capable of governing the country, so he never issues orders recklessly... well, it's definitely not because he's lazy."

"Yes, when unsure how to issue an order, let Eunuch Liu and the cabinet make the decision on his behalf. That way, even if the decision is wrong, it won't affect the Emperor's prestige." Su Lu nodded and said in a deep voice:

"However, there are a few things that are certain to be correct. First, we must quickly restore the local governance system and immediately re-establish the position of governor. We must not let Eunuch Liu delay any longer. We must quickly appoint capable officials to govern each province! If problems arise in each province, let them find their own solutions... In normal times, we can use mediocre talents, but in times of national crisis, we can only rely on capable people to turn the tide."

"Especially for the northern defense line, we must appoint the strongest minister, give him the greatest power, and let him stop the little prince no matter what. We must prevent the court from being invaded by foreign enemies while it is quelling internal strife!"

"What else can the emperor do?" Zhu Shou pressed. It was clear he was truly desperate; he even seemed to think there wasn't enough work to do.

"The army!" Su Lu said in a deep voice, "The more chaotic the times, the more firmly we must hold onto the army! With a strong army in our hands, we can stabilize the regime and avoid losing our country or becoming a mere figurehead like the Zhou emperor!"

(End of this chapter)