Chapter 142: Wen Tiren, Morality-Starved

Whether it was Wen Tiren or Shi Fenglai, who had not had a chance to speak the whole time, both secretly shivered. The Emperor's cold laugh was far too terrifying — who knew how many heads would roll because of that one laugh.

Shi Fenglai stole a glance at Wen Tiren, thinking to himself that Wen could keep the Chief Grand Secretary post. If you just went along with the Emperor's wishes like that, how many people would you slowly offend? After you died, they'd even dig up your grave!

On this point, Wen Tiren showed far more spine than Shi Fenglai. Wen Tiren did not care in the slightest whether his grave would be dug up after death.

Anyway, if he followed the Emperor's lead and in the end managed to be buried beside the imperial tomb, then unless someone dug up the Emperor's grave, his own grave ought to be secure enough.

Speaking of digging up graves, Wen Tiren actually thought up a ruthless extermination scheme. Since he was resolved to follow the Emperor's path, he might as well go all the way and burn every bridge.

Wen Tiren bowed to Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty, your servant has one more matter to report."

Chongzhen was quite curious. A crafty old fox like Wen Tiren — if you didn't drop him an explicit hint, he would dare play deaf and dumb for a lifetime.

Now, besides shouldering the blame for standardizing weights and measures and settling the Hui intermarriage issue, what else had this fellow thought up? Curious, Chongzhen immediately asked, "What matter does my beloved minister have to discuss?"

Wen Tiren glanced at Shi Fenglai beside him, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, in the Former Han dynasty, wealthy households were often relocated to live near the imperial tombs.

Now our Great Ming could also learn a thing or two from this — relocate wealthy households to the vicinity of the late emperor's tomb, to serve as tomb-keepers for the late emperor."

As soon as Wen Tiren's words fell, Shi Fenglai beside him bristled: "Minister Wen, your words are mistaken! What the Former Han could relocate, our Great Ming cannot!"

Hearing Wen Tiren's words, Chongzhen recalled that novel he had read in his past life, I Want to Be Emperor.

There was indeed such a practice in it — after each successive emperor died, they would relocate the realm's wealthy households to guard the tomb, which essentially served as a way to fleece the sheep.

When a huge pile of rich people are gathered together, is money still money? But this was clearly a good thing — so what was Shi Fenglai objecting to?

Ask when you don't understand, for eagerness to learn is supreme. Chongzhen immediately asked Shi Fenglai, "What different opinion does my beloved minister Shi have?"

Shi Fenglai bowed and said, "Your Majesty, if Your Majesty possessed an invincible army under heaven, or could, like the Exalted Emperor, the dynastic founder, overawe every guard station and local gentry across the realm, then relocating wealthy households to guard the imperial tombs would be a brilliant move."

Seeing Chongzhen's thoughtful expression, Shi Fenglai continued, "Your servant risks death to speak bluntly. In the realm today, tax revenues can barely be collected.

What does Your Majesty have to control the guard stations all across Great Ming? Without the guard stations in hand, if the relocated magnates and wealthy merchants raised banners in revolt, how would we put down the rebellion?"

Chongzhen cursed inwardly — damn. This really wasn't something he could just handle by brandishing the butcher's knife. Never mind that killing a few ministers in court was no big deal; if he really tried to play this the Former Han way, the southeast would immediately erupt in beacons of war.

Right now, Great Ming's finances were a bloody mess, with hardly any money coming in. The money he had confiscated from the Eight Locust Merchants still had to be spent sparingly.

Xu Guangqi's Academy of Sciences alone was a gold-devouring beast, and who knew how much more would have to be poured into it later. And if Xu Guangqi couldn't produce results there, the army he wanted would remain forever out of reach.

What kind of army couldn't even line up and fire volleys?

Without a few armies he could truly trust, with funds running short, and with the southeast rising in flames of war again — at that rate, Great Ming really would be on a fast track to swallowing dates and taking the pill.

But this scheme Wen Tiren had proposed — damn it, he really, really wanted to give it a try! Just thinking about it was bloody thrilling.

Slowly shear the wealthy households of the southeast once, wait a few years, then find another pretext to shear them again — just imagining it felt incredibly satisfying.

Just as Chongzhen was pondering how to harvest the leeks, Wen Tiren interrupted his train of thought: "Your Majesty, your servant also knows that relocation cannot be done lightly. But now that the late emperor has passed on, he has sent a dream to Your Majesty — that provides a reliable pretext."

Shi Fenglai sneered, "Minister Wen certainly has fine ideas. Even if the late emperor sent a dream to Your Majesty, under what grand moral principle would you relocate these wealthy households? One misstep, and the consequence is beacons of war everywhere. Can Minister Wen bear the consequences?"

Seeing that the Chongzhen Emperor was also looking toward him, Wen Tiren, long since fully prepared, cast a faint glance at Shi Fenglai and smiled.

"Grand Secretary Shi thinks too much.

If the late emperor sent a dream to Your Majesty, simply say that he felt that when he dispatched agents to collect the Suzhou and Hangzhou textile taxes, it caused much inconvenience to the local people, and his heart was deeply ashamed.

Now he misses the people of Suzhou and Hangzhou dearly, and so sent a dream to Your Majesty, asking Your Majesty to relocate some of the people of Suzhou and Hangzhou to guard the imperial tomb."

Pausing slightly, and seeing Shi Fenglai's utterly dumbstruck expression, Wen Tiren felt a surge of secret delight. He continued, "If relocating from Suzhou and Hangzhou is inconvenient, then relocate from Suzhou Prefecture alone.

If even Suzhou alone cannot be relocated, then relocate only from Taicang. In this way, even if there is some trouble, the Embroidered Uniform Guard plus the guard stations of Suzhou and Hangzhou will be sufficient to resolve it.

As for later, relocate gradually. The Exalted Emperor, the dynastic founder, needs people to guard his tomb; the Chengzu Emperor needs them too.

Just take it slowly."

When these words came out, not only was Shi Fenglai dumbstruck, but even Chongzhen secretly admired him in his heart. No wonder they say scholars are the worst — such a shameless maneuver, only Wen Tiren could have thought it up!

We are still too kind-hearted; such a morality-starved idea, We really hadn't thought of it!

After a moment of silent admiration, Chongzhen continued, "This matter can wait a couple of days. Tomorrow, first settle the weights and measures issue at the court assembly.

As for relocating wealthy households to guard the imperial tombs — put that aside for now. Matters must be handled one at a time, and meals must be eaten one mouthful at a time."

After both Wen Tiren and Shi Fenglai bowed in acknowledgment, Chongzhen went on, "Beloved minister Shi, explain to beloved minister Wen the matter of Zheng Yiguan's amnesty from the other day, and the matter of the treasure ships."

After Shi Fenglai had finished telling Wen Tiren about Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan's acceptance of Zheng Zhilong's surrender, and about Chongzhen's plan to resume construction of the treasure ships, Chongzhen then continued, "We intend to use Zheng Yiguan's forces to transport grain from the southern countries, shipping it from Guangdong to Shandong, and then from Shandong to the Shanxi region.

What are my two beloved ministers' views?"

Wen Tiren immediately responded, "Your Majesty's rebuilding of the Great Ming navy — this matter happens to align perfectly with what your servant just proposed about relocating wealthy households to the imperial tombs."

Seeing Wen Tiren bring up that matter again, Chongzhen asked curiously, "How so?"

Wen Tiren said, "The concerns Minister Shi raised just now were originally your servant's concerns as well, which is why your servant proposed relocating wealthy households from just one place first, to avoid provoking a major upheaval. But with this Zheng Yiguan, the situation has taken a turn."

Seeing that Chongzhen still wore a curious expression, Wen Tiren, though he did not believe the Emperor had failed to guess his thinking, still reported in proper form: "The southeast has always relied on maritime smuggling for exorbitant profits.

If we have Zheng Yiguan's navy in hand, and if the wealthy households of Suzhou and Hangzhou refuse to comply, we can tighten the blockade on the southeast maritime ban.

When the time comes, with just a few rumors leaked out, there will be no fear that the great magnates and wealthy merchants of Fujian and Zhejiang won't pressure the wealthy households of Suzhou and Hangzhou. In this way, the greater part of the matter is accomplished."

A note of explanation: Before transmigrating, this book's protagonist was merely an ordinary programmer. He did not bring a library or a supercomputer with him when he transmigrated, nor does he have a Baidu he can consult. Thank you.

Put yourself in his shoes. No matter how awesome you are, even if you've read every transmigration novel on Qidian, answer this: after transmigrating, could you build guns, cannons, and rockets?

Do you know what Zu's ratio is? Do you know what Euclid's Elements is?

Do you know how to make cement? Glass?

First, the protagonist is positioned as an emperor — a programmer transmigrated into an emperor. He is not an immortal or omniscient!

Second, please think for yourselves: could you really make cement and glass? Without using Baidu, without books for reference, without any materials to consult, even if the raw materials were freely available for you to buy right now — would you even know what to buy?

Sorry for affecting everyone's power fantasy.

(End of chapter)