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The Seventh Prince, Zhu Hejian, this ambitious man with a deep city, scheming and ruthless, and unscrupulous means, is finally going to step out of the background and appear on the stage.

In this way, in addition to Emperor Deqing, Zhou Shangjing, and Zhao Shancai, another figure worthy of Zhao Junchen's attention has appeared!

For such a situation, Zhao Junchen had expected it a long time ago, but when this day really came, Zhao Junchen still felt a faint sense of pressure.

In fact, Zhu Hejian's mental means may not be as good as Zhou Shangjing's, nor does he have the righteous name and political skills of Emperor Deqing, nor is he as virtuous and famous as the crown prince Zhu Heyu, but in a way, the pressure that Zhu Hejian brought to Zhao Junchen is stronger than these three people.

This is because Zhu Hejian's city government is extremely deep, the most ruthless, and his style of action is not as traceable as Emperor Deqing, Zhou Shangjing, and Zhu Heyu, and his strength is still deeply hidden, for Zhao Junchen, Zhu Hejian's existence can be described as full of unknowns.

The unknown often means danger!

Only by knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can one win a hundred battles, but Zhao Junchen's understanding of Zhu Hejian is only the tip of the iceberg, so Zhao Junchen naturally has no grasp of dealing with Zhu Hejian.

Although Zhao Junchen and Zhu Hejian currently have a cooperative relationship, Zhu Hejian is obviously not a broad-minded person, and may not be able to tolerate Zhao Junchen's existence, and the two are likely to turn against each other in the future, so Zhao Junchen has always been wary of Zhu Hejian.

In this way, Zhu Hejian is about to turn from dark to light...... However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, Zhu Hejian's biggest advantage in the past was to hide in the shadows. No one could perceive his plans and actions, but he was behind the scenes. The biggest advantage is lost, and I can take the opportunity to test his true skills...... The position of the Prince. It's eye-catching, but this position is also a crater, and even if he can sit on it, he may not be able to sit firmly......"

Zhao Junchen thought secretly.

On the other side, seeing that Zhao Junchen looked thoughtful and didn't answer his question, Prince Zhu Heyu's brows furrowed more and more, and he asked, "What, don't you want to?" ”

looked at the crown prince Zhu and Yu in front of him. A trace of pity flashed in Zhao Junchen's eyes - this person is certainly pedantic and stubborn, but he is definitely a good brother, and he can be said to have worked hard and done his best for the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, but the seventh prince Zhu Hejian has been taking advantage of his brotherhood and coveting his position as the prince, and he is secretly calculating against him all the time, and I don't know when the prince Zhu Heyu will be able to detect this.

For a moment, Zhao Junchen wanted to tell Zhu Heyu the truth.

However, Zhao Junchen finally held back.

Because, the crown prince Zhu and Yu will never believe their warnings. And Zhao Junchen also hates to do useless work.

In the end, Zhao Junchen just lowered his head and replied: "Do your best for the royal family, of course the lower officials are willing, and please rest assured that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is also reassured." After the court meeting was over, the first thing the lower official did after returning to the house was to personally send the famous doctor Zhang Decheng to the mansion of the Seventh Prince. ”

The focus of Zhao Junchen's sentence lies in the word "personally".

Because. Zhao Junchen suddenly found that he took advantage of this opportunity to diagnose the condition of the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian. He and the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian can have contact with the Seventh Prince in a righteous and open way - if it is usual, a foreign minister like Zhao Junchen cannot contact the prince at will. But with the request of the crown prince Zhu and Yu, this meeting will not cause too much suspicion.

Then, Zhao Junchen can also take the opportunity to test the reality of the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian.

On the other side, after hearing Zhao Junchen's answer, Prince Zhu Heyu did not notice the deep meaning of Zhao Junchen's words, but just nodded with satisfaction.

******

After Prince Zhu and Yu achieved their goal, they naturally didn't want to talk more with Zhao Junchen, so they planned to turn around and leave.

It's just that just as he turned around, Prince Zhu Heyu suddenly thought of something again, and his body paused slightly, but he set his eyes on Zhao Junchen again.

Then, after the crown prince Zhu and Yu hesitated slightly, he spoke again: "In the past few days, people have repeatedly mentioned you to me, saying that only you, Zhao Junchen, have the ability to reverse the chaotic status quo of our dynasty's commercial taxes...... Taking advantage of this opportunity, I would like to ask you, are you really sure that you can reverse the status quo of commercial taxation in our dynasty? ”

Zhao Junchen also hesitated slightly, and finally said honestly: "Xia Guan has some ideas in his heart, and he is about six or seven percent sure. ”

"Six, seven?" After hearing Zhao Junchen's answer, the crown prince Zhu Heyu was slightly stunned - he knew the difficulty of rectifying commercial taxes, so the certainty of six or seven percent was definitely not low - and then he shook his head and said: "If it is not an exaggeration, this is already a very high certainty, but even if it is true, I will never allow you to be responsible for this matter!" Even if my father's attitude has been decided, I will definitely fight with my father! ”

After hearing the remarks of the crown prince Zhu and Yu, Zhao Junchen was just silent, did not question the reason, and did not refute it.

However, although Zhao Junchen did not question or refute, the crown prince Zhu Heyu had already further said: "Because, you are an insatiable corrupt official!" If the matter of commercial tax rectification is handed over to you, I don't know how many people will be greedy for ink by you privately, and it will only be the court and the people who will be damaged! It's only you silverfish who are profiting! ”

Regarding the situation that the crown prince Zhu and Yu said, Zhao Junchen really can't refute it from a certain aspect.

Although Zhao Junchen has not embezzled for a long time, Zhao Junchen's subordinates are a group of insatiable silverfish, but Zhao Junchen has to rely on their strength, so once Zhao Junchen is in charge of the rectification of commercial taxes, there will inevitably be a group of people's fat and people's ointment, and the court tax and silver will be corrupted by them in private.

In this case, Zhao Junchen can't completely change it in a short period of time, and at most he can only control it slightly.

Of course, although Zhao Junchen will not take the initiative to embezzle, after Zhao Junchen's subordinate officials are corrupt, they will also take the initiative to hand over a large part of the stolen money to Zhao Junchen, and in this regard, Zhao Junchen cannot be regarded as innocent.

However, although it is impossible to refute what the crown prince Zhu and Yu said, Zhao Junchen has a different view on the views expressed by the prince Zhu and Yu.

So, Zhao Junchen finally stopped being silent, and suddenly asked: "The lower official has something unclear, and I ask His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for guidance." ”

The crown prince Zhu and Yu were slightly stunned, but still said, "Say it." ”

Zhao Junchen asked: "The most basic duty of an official is to make political achievements?" Or is it honest and self-disciplined? Is a clean official necessarily a good official? ”

The crown prince Zhu Heyu is not a pure stupid person, after hearing Zhao Junchen's inquiry, he quickly guessed the deep meaning of Zhao Junchen's words, but he was silent and did not answer.

Then, Zhao Junchen asked again: "Xia Guan gives an example, of course, this is just an example...... If the lower officials can increase the treasury income for the imperial court by 10 million taels of silver every year without harming the interests of the people, of which another 3 million taels of silver are lost, but they can still increase the treasury income by 7 million taels of silver every year, then is this a good thing or a bad thing? Another official, who can only increase the treasury income of three million taels of silver for the imperial court every year, and can also pay the full amount into the treasury without any loss, so which person is better or worse than the lower officials? ”

After Prince Zhu and Yu sneered, he asked rhetorically: "Your so-called 'loss' is corruption, right?" Over the years, have you used this reason to be corrupt and take bribes with peace of mind? Even if you can really increase the income of 10 million taels of silver to the treasury every year, it does not mean that you have the power to embezzle 3 million taels of silver! ”

Zhao Junchen sighed lightly and said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is reasonable, but your words are just to avoid the important and trivial, and do not answer my question. ”

Prince Zhu and Yu snorted coldly and said, "Hmph! Why did Prince Ben answer your question? There is a fallacy in your question! Why can't someone increase the revenue of the treasury by 10 million taels of silver for the imperial court, and at the same time hand over all this silver to the treasury without any loss? ”

Obviously, since this period of time, although the stubborn character of Prince Zhu Heyu has not changed, his thinking and logical ability has increased a lot, and he has not fallen into Zhao Junchen's logical trap.

It's a pity that Zhao Junchen's inquiry not only involves logic, but also reality.

So, Zhao Junchen replied: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, it's a pity that no one can do both at the same time!" Even if this person is a perfect person, not only has outstanding ability, but also can be honest and self-controlled, but when he does things, he needs the help of the officials below after all, once he loses the support of the officials below, no matter how strong the person's ability is, he will only achieve nothing in the end! But the people under him can't all be perfect, there are not so many perfect people in this world, and you can't use the standard of perfection to demand everyone!

In fact, no matter who you are, if you want to achieve something great, you must first find a way to drive the enthusiasm of your subordinates, so that your subordinates can see the benefits of doing things with dedication, and you can only turn a blind eye to some things, otherwise you will not talk about the enthusiasm of your subordinates, and your energy will be scattered, and most of them will be consumed in rectifying discipline. ”

Zhao Junchen's words seem to have some truth, but unfortunately these truths are completely opposite to the cognition of the crown prince Zhu and Yu, so as soon as Zhao Junchen's words fell, he was subconsciously reprimanded by the prince Zhu and Yu: "False reasoning and heresy!" ”

However, after the reprimand, the crown prince Zhu and Yu could not find specific arguments to refute Zhao Junchen's views for a while.

As a result, the crown prince Zhu and Yu could only stare at Zhao Junchen with disgust, and the atmosphere was stalemate for a while.

Fortunately, at this time, the gate of the Imperial Palace slowly opened.

This means that the Great Dynasty Conference is finally about to begin.

So, after the crown prince Zhu and Yu glared at Zhao Junchen fiercely, they turned around and left.

Looking at the back of Prince Zhu and Yu when they left, Zhao Junchen sighed softly.

The crown prince Zhu and Yu are idealists, like a white lotus out of the mud and unstained, but Zhao Junchen is a realist covered in mud, and they really don't speculate on each other, these are two completely different ideas, with great differences and the most difficult to unify.

However, Zhao Junchen only sighed slightly, and his mind quickly focused on the next big court discussion.

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…… (To be continued.) )