After swapping bodies with the princess, this prince slaughtered his way through the court and becam

For Xun Gui

Alliances and collusion among nobles are sometimes far more important than merit!

Take Zhang He, the Marquis of Anren, for example.

He had no merit whatsoever before becoming the First Marquis.

It was entirely because of the favor between his sister, Empress Zhang, and the emperor.

Moreover, after abandoning the salt mine, he immediately made contact with a group of nobles, including Marquis Xuanwei and Marquis Changxin, who had participated in the acquisition of salt tickets.

Without Ren Jingxing's involvement, Marquis Anren would likely have been crippled after losing the salt mines and without support from other nobles.

The waterwheel this time is the same.

While the waterwheel's contribution was significant, for Xun Gui, a single achievement meant nothing.

The most important thing for nobles is to unite with other nobles, support each other, and ensure that the title can be passed down from generation to generation!

Previously, Marquis Xuanwei had already established contact with Marquis Changxin and other nobles through the salt merchants.

However, the connections between the nobles were still not close enough.

The Marquis of Xuanwei's mansion will need to provide assistance to the other marquises a second and third time.

Only then can a closer interest group be formed.

Although it sounds a bit unfair, there's nothing we can do about it; the Marquis of Xuanwei's family has a low social status.

The next morning, Marquis Ren Bing of Xuanwei went to court early.

Although Ren Bing was nominally a marquis, his actual official position was the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture.

Therefore, he stood in the last row in the imperial court.

He stood with some young officials who had just entered the court through the imperial examinations and did not hold any official rank.

In the past, he would have felt somewhat aggrieved and embarrassed.

But now, he is very considerate of these young officials and also curious about them.

Because in the future, his son is very likely to stand here as well.

In the imperial court, the officials and powerful nobles were arguing again.

The conflict between the nobility and the civil officials was always ongoing.

Because the nobles do not engage in production, yet they always occupy the country's best resources.

The underlying reason why the elites occupy resources is because they have made contributions in the past.

High-quality resources are a reward for meritorious service.

Breaking the rules leads to a lack of clear distinction between rewards and punishments, which is detrimental to the long-term stability of the country.

Marquis Changxin, Marquis Anren, and other top nobles engaged in heated debates with various ministers on a variety of issues.

The rest of the minor officials and nobles trembled with fear below.

Their arguments often influence the country's final major decisions.

The argument escalated, seemingly stemming from a disagreement about whether to fight or make peace with the northern Tartars.

The two sides entered a phase of revealing each other's secrets.

The Vice Minister of Revenue suddenly raised his protective board, stepped forward from the left, and shouted:

"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

The capital city of my Great Wei, as well as the fertile fields near the river in the suburbs, are all controlled by the estates of Xun Gui.

The people in charge of these farms have seized the river, blocked the water source, and prevented the people from watering their fields!

The grain tax in my capital city comes entirely from the people.

Xun Gui Zhuang Tian occupies the best land, yet he is exempt from paying grain and taxes!

If this continues, the grain produced by the granaries of our Great Wei will not be able to compare with the output of Xun Gui's estate!

Your Majesty, please move Xun Gui's estates from the riverbank and return them to the people!

Or, starting this year, even noble estates will have to pay grain taxes!

These words immediately caused an uproar among the elites.

For Marquis Xuanwei or other minor marquises.

Their salaries were barely enough to cover the expenses of the entire Marquis's mansion.

Many nobles relied entirely on their estates for their livelihood.

If we move the farmland away, or make them pay grain and taxes.

By then, the emperor won't even need to strip the nobles of their titles; they'll just starve to death in the capital!

As for the powerful Xun Gui...

The farmland under their control was not only fertile, but also quite large.

Although their salaries were not low, the income from their estates was ten times, or even dozens of times, more than that!

To tamper with this would be even more painful than cutting flesh from Xun Gui's body!

The nobles immediately retaliated with a clamor.

"Absurd! Are all the fields along the river owned by nobles?"

I remember that many officials in the Ministry of Works had fields along both banks of the river, right?

The civil officials immediately retorted:

"Although we own land, we never seize the rivers!"

"Why should valuable estates be subject to taxes? If taxes are to be paid, then everyone should pay taxes!"

I think we should also amend the regulations that exempt those who pass the imperial examinations from paying taxes!

"We civil servants don't have to pay taxes while we're alive."

Whether or not one can pay taxes after death depends entirely on the abilities of their descendants!

But Xun Gui's estates grew year by year, and the amount of land he didn't have to pay taxes on only increased!

"If His Majesty hadn't stripped them of their titles, I'm afraid all the land in the land would have ended up in the hands of these nobles!"

The arguments between civil officials and nobles grew increasingly heated, even escalating to the point of considering abolishing the hereditary system of titles.

Upon realizing the topic had completely veered off course, the emperor coughed lightly.

The eunuch beside him suddenly cracked his whip and shouted:

"quiet!"

Once the court had quieted down, the emperor turned to a lean official below and asked:

"Minister Liu, how should we resolve the issue of irrigation for the people's farmland?"

Minister of Works Liu Qian immediately stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said:

"Your Majesty, the people are the foundation of a nation, and food is the most important thing for them."

The matter of the people paying taxes is of utmost urgency. I believe this matter should be resolved as soon as possible and should not be delayed.

After the Minister of Works finished speaking, all the officials below shook their heads.

Liu Qian just spouted a bunch of nonsense.

What does it mean to be very important and absolutely cannot be delayed?

Do you even need to tell me?

However, Liu Qian is already old, and it's understandable that he wants to retire and no longer want to get involved in court affairs.

At this moment, the newly appointed Minister of Works, Liu Zhenji, stepped forward:

"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

In my opinion, relocating the army's estates or requiring them to pay taxes and grain duties are merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

As soon as Liu Zhenji finished speaking, he immediately gained the support of Xun Gui.

There is some truth to that.

Even if the riverside pavilion were given to the people.

Over the years, for various reasons, they will eventually return to the hands of powerful nobles and wealthy families.

The reason for forcing nobles to give way was simply that civil officials were suppressing nobles, not that they were addressing the issue of tax payment.

"Therefore, I believe that the Ministry of Works should take the lead in this matter and construct the irrigation canal."

The water from the main river was diverted to the fields on both banks.

After Liu Zhenji finished speaking, the court was plunged into conflict once again.

Some people think it's useful.

No matter how the land is allocated, there will always be people who are allocated land that is far from the river.

Then the disputes over water resources will never end.

Building irrigation canals is a practical way to change the relationship between farmland and water resources.

To a certain extent, this is the way to fundamentally solve the problem.

However, some people think it's useless.

First, building irrigation canals will inevitably disrupt farming.

In addition, how much to repair, how long to repair, and where to repair are also problems.

Most importantly, it was the opposition of the Minister of Revenue.

"The imperial court is out of money; it is not suitable to start construction."

Moreover, the problem of irrigation exists throughout the country; does the entire Great Wei Dynasty need to build irrigation canals along both banks of the rivers?

Just as everyone was arguing, Ren Bing, the Marquis of Xuanwei and the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture, who was not a prominent figure in the court, suddenly stepped forward and bowed:

"Your Majesty, I have a memorial to present!"