Gong Yangxu shut his mouth.

Zhu Chong smiled faintly.

He stood up, put his hands behind his back, and walked slowly around the hall.

"When Dayin established the country, the ones who really benefited were the military families."

Zhu Chong looked at Bai Changkong and said calmly: "Master Bai is very knowledgeable. There are some things that I don't need to say more. Many of Dayin's military families have a long history, such as..."

After a slight pause, Zhu Chong said softly, "For example, the Lu family of Jingyang, their family history can be traced back to more than a dozen dynasties before Dayin. It goes without saying that these families are very powerful."

A family of military honors.

A family with great military achievements like the Lu family of Jingyang.

Dynasties one after another fell, but these military families, relying on their peerless military force, vast territories, countless private soldiers, and huge wealth accumulated from generations, could not be harmed in the slightest even when the country was in turmoil.

In many cases, the demise of some dynasties was masterminded by these military families.

Every demise of a dynasty and the establishment of a new one was a feast for these aristocratic families.

Just like the current Dayin, the Lu family of Jingyang behind the Laiguo Mansion, their family's territory is tens of thousands of miles in radius, and there are tens of billions of people under their rule. The annual tax revenue is really like a mountain of gold and silver filling the treasury.

The huge Mansion of Duke Lai was just a signboard put forward by the Lu family of Jingyang and placed in the court of Gaojing.

The Duke of Lai's Mansion is indeed rich and powerful, but the real behemoth is the Jingyang Lu family, who occupies their territory without showing off, and enjoys the endless wealth wholeheartedly.

"They have land, their family territories span tens of thousands of miles; they have people, countless slaves, countless private soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of their own Miao descendants; they have money, mines, pastures, trillions of acres of farmland, and chambers of commerce that are spread all over the world."

Zhu Chong suddenly stopped, pointed his finger at the ground and said loudly: "But, those are the nobles."

"Most of our cultural and educational children come from the grassroots and are from ordinary people. Our cultural and educational predecessors told them that if they study hard, they can make progress, and if they make progress, they can be prosperous, and if they are prosperous, they can be rich!"

"We also tell our disciples and students that studying is the shortcut to success. As long as they study the classics, they will be famous and successful, and fame and fortune will be within their reach."

Zhu Chong said loudly: "Our culture and education have risen in Dayin for three hundred years. Three hundred years, let alone the great families like us, the Zhu family, the Gongyang family, the Linghu family, etc., who are respected as the 'Family of Saints' and the 'Family of Sub-Sages'."

"Our disciples, those who are loyal to culture and education, will get married and have children in three hundred years. They will have branches and leaves. Many of them have grown from families of three or five to large families of hundreds or thousands of people."

Zhu Chong shouted loudly without disguising himself: "So many people are our disciples of culture and education, our loyal supporters, and the basis for us to gain a foothold in the court and control the government."

"So, they want to eat good food, delicacies from land and sea, and aged wine."

"So, they want to wear fine clothes, silk and satin, and gold hairpins and jade pendants."

“So, they want to live well, have luxurious houses and courtyards, and have lush gardens.”

"So, they want good seats, rare horses, and four-wheeled carriages."

"So, they want to have nice things, beautiful wives and concubines, handsome boys and pretty maids."

"So, even if they die, they want to be buried in a grand manner. They want to choose a Feng Shui treasured site, build a mausoleum, and bury gold, silver, pearls, and jade with them. Even the coffins... My colleagues used a one-foot-two-inch golden nanmu board, with three layers of coffins inside and outside. Do you have the nerve to use a nine-inch thick ash wood?"

Zhu Chong stood in front of Bai Changkong and said with a smile: "All of the above require money! So."

Cui Wubu, the Minister of Revenue who looked harmless and fair-skinned like a glutinous rice dumpling, said in a gloomy voice, "So, when we provided disaster relief, all the money, grain, medicine, bricks and wood for rebuilding cities and houses, and other materials, totaling 8 billion strings of cash and 2 billion dan of grain, were not used for the victims. We took it all."

Cui Wu Bu said with a smile on his face: "At that time, the young emperor ascended the throne. He was only seven years old and knew nothing. The empress dowager was behind the curtain. She was a woman in the deep palace and knew nothing. The general was busy buying people's hearts. He was a butcher who killed dogs. What did he know?"

Shaking his head, Cui Wu Bu said leisurely: "As for those military heroes, they will not care about the lives of a group of common people."

Cui Wu Bu clapped his hands and smiled brightly: "Everything has been divided up, except for some scapegoats who were destined to die. The whole matter was handled properly and without any loopholes."

Zhu Chong smiled and looked at Bai Changkong: "Master Bai, you ask about the land in Anping Prefecture."

Shaking his head, Zhu Chong said calmly: "The land of Anping Prefecture is now all ours. The Zhu family, Gongyang family, Linghu family, Zhuge family, Wang family, Cui family... well, it's basically what people say, we have six saints, nineteen sages and sixty-three masters of culture and education, and we have occupied all the land in Anping Prefecture."

He stared at Bai Changkong and said, "The people of Anping Prefecture are now ours. The natives of Anping Prefecture who survived the natural disaster are now all landless people. They are farming for us and working for us."

"Their sons were treated like slaves by us, and their daughters were played with by us at our pleasure."

Grand Chief of Police Gong Yangxu said calmly: "The entire Anping Prefecture is surrounded by mountains, and there are only three or five passages leading to the outside world. Over the years, we have built it into a fortress, and not a single word can leak out."

Zhu Chong smiled and said, "So, that's why we said, is it the royal family? Is it the nobles? Is it the princes? Or, is it those two, do they want to attack us? Apart from them, those peasants in Anping Prefecture, can they make such a big fuss?"

Waving his hands, Zhu Chong said with a smile: "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Zhu Chong extended his hand to Bai Changkong: "I will make the decision and give the Bai family a fertile land in Anping Prefecture. Today in the court, Lord Bai gave a signal and so many disciples came out enthusiastically. Lord Bai can be said to have deeply understood the essence of my culture and education."

Bai Changkong looked at Zhu Chong's hand. He knew that this was Zhu Chong's kindness.

The performance of his disciples at the grand court meeting today made Zhu Chong believe that he was qualified to move from being a superficial figure in culture and education to an insider in the core circle of culture and education.

'Six saints, nineteen sages and sixty-three wise men'!

Is Bai Changkong finally qualified to step into the core circle of culture and education?

Great!

Bai Changkong reached out and held Zhu Chong's hand: "I see, that's how it should be. I want the position of the headmaster of the Imperial College."

Bai Changkong has always held the title of deputy president of the Imperial College.
Bai Changkong had long wanted to remove the word "deputy".

Zhu Chong tightened Bai Changkong's hand, hesitated for a moment, and nodded: "It's not easy to do, but we should give it a try."

The two shook hands vigorously, then released them at the same time.

Bai Changkong looked at Zhu Chong. He certainly knew what Zhu Chong meant by "not easy to deal with".

The huge Dayin, the huge imperial court, the various government offices, the various markets, from the military to civil affairs, from administration to finances, are there any areas that the cultural and educational officials cannot touch?

One is Taishitai, which is the hereditary territory of Taishi Ling Lu Buya.

Historians are not people to be trifled with, they form their own school. Although culture and education have incorporated "history" into the culture and education system, everyone knows that historians are historians, and they have nothing to do with other schools of thought.

If you want to intervene, you'd better be prepared to be infamous for eternity, so at least at this stage of culture and education, you don't have the confidence to intervene in the Taishitai.

One is the Imperial College.

The Imperial College is an institution that recruits talented people from all over the world and teaches them. It is an institution that recruits talents for the country.

Logically, the Imperial College is the territory of culture and education, but the current president of Dayin Imperial College is a freak and an alien who no one can afford to mess with.

The old guy was not in Haojing and had been traveling around for nearly ten years. Bai Changkong had also been forced to stay in the position of deputy headmaster for nearly ten years.

Thinking of that somewhat scary old guy, Zhu Chong also felt a little toothache.

It is really difficult to deal with, but since Bai Changkong has made a request, Zhu Chong is also willing to truly accept Bai Changkong into the small circle of culture and education - as he said, at today's grand court meeting, Bai Changkong has already demonstrated enough strength.

Among the grassroots officials in the court, Bai Changkong has a terrible say.

Gentlemen of culture and education, it makes sense. Bai Changkong, you have many disciples and countless followers, so you are qualified to be the one to cut the cake.

Bai Changkong’s first requirement for joining the group is culture and education, and we must work hard to help him achieve it.

Zhu Chong was a little annoyed.

It would be difficult to implement Bai Changkong's wish.

The reason why Bai Changkong had the opportunity to express this wish in front of him was undoubtedly because, at the grand court meeting, Zhu Chong asked Bai Changkong not to snipe Lu Yi and let Lu Yi be successfully conferred the title of Duke of Tianyang.

The reason why Zhu Chong owed Bai Changkong this favor was undoubtedly because the emperor used the incident of Anping Prefecture to threaten Zhu Chong and other cultural and educational officials to counter Lu Yi's title of Duke of Tianyang.

So, here's the key.

After Zhu Chong, the reason why he helped Bai Changkong strive for the position of the principal of the Imperial College was all because of Lu Yi!

In comparison, calming down the situation in Anping Prefecture was not a big deal.

“This Lu Yi.” Zhu Chong stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the dozen purple-robed ministers in the hall who had become his people: “Gentlemen, this Lu Yi… hey, hey hey.”

A group of important officials began to figure out the taste.

Yes, that's right. This Lu Fu is a little bastard who was pushed forward by the emperor to cause trouble for these gentlemen of culture and education.

Otherwise, given the personalities of the emperor and the empress dowager, could the government affairs of places like Anping Prefecture be directly handed over to the dignitaries to handle?

Even the emperor, who usually walked his dog in Jiuqu Garden, had no chance to know the name "Anping Prefecture".

If the emperor had not wanted to confer a title on Lu Yi, and if he had not been afraid of opposition from all the ministers in the court, would he have used the matter of "Anping Prefecture" to challenge so many ministers?

It can be seen that the culprit is Lu Yi.

This matter could have been handled peacefully and leisurely behind the scenes, but it had to be brought to the court, known to all the civil and military officials, known to the people of the world, and made the royal family, nobles, and princes all pay attention to this matter.

It feels bad to have this kind of "guilty conscience" put under the spotlight.

If it wasn't for Lu Yi, would this have happened?

"This boy should be eradicated."

Grand Minister of Justice Gong Yangxu held up a teacup and said slowly, "We need to make the emperor sober up. He can't just push out a lackey and let him do whatever he wants."

"A sixteen-year-old 'gong'? This is ridiculous, ridiculous. How could such a thing happen in any dynasty?"

A message flashed through Bai Changkong's mind.

Without mentioning those too ancient, let’s say that when Dayin was just established and was at war on all sides, a strange man came to rescue the founding emperor of Dayin from being surrounded by heavy troops. That strange man was thirteen years old at the time, and his martial arts skills had reached the pinnacle.

The founding emperor gave him a jade plate and a gold medal, and named him "King Wu". But the stranger refused the position, and only took three jars of old wine, drank and sang.

Bai Changkong smiled calmly, threw the news out of his mind, and said quietly: "This little dog has been a little rampant recently. It's time to teach him a lesson."

Before he finished speaking, there was a commotion outside the hall.

The guards standing outside the hall shouted harshly.

An old voice came from afar: "Prime Minister, Prime Minister, it's bad, the two young masters, the two young masters, have been beaten by that little thief Lu Yi and are vomiting blood and unconscious."

'Click.'

The teacup in Zhu Chong's hand shattered into pieces.