Chapter 247: The King is Not the King, and the Minister is Not the Minister
Originally, Ou Zanghua was thinking about urging his subordinates to finish their work as soon as possible today so that he could go home and lie down early.

Who would have thought that he even had lunch in the Qianqing Palace.

I don't know what Emperor Zhengde was thinking. He actually asked the Guanglu Temple to prepare lunch for them. Feeding this to pigs is animal abuse.

However, what impressed Ou Zanghua even more was that Yang Tinghe and Fei Hong could eat without changing their expressions.

No wonder he can become a cabinet minister at such a young age, I can’t do it at all.

"Mr. Ou, are you not enjoying the food?" Emperor Zhengde asked with concern as he saw Ou Zanghua having difficulty swallowing.

"Your Majesty, I am just not hungry." Ou Zanghua bowed decisively.

Propose to abolish the Guanglu Temple?
Stop joking. The younger generations must also go through the same hardships that you have gone through, otherwise all your suffering would have been in vain.

As soon as the two finished their conversation, they heard Yang Tinghe say, "It's just right. I'm full too. Your Majesty, let's continue the meeting!"

"Me too." Fei Hong put down his chopsticks gracefully. Ou Zanghua took a look and thought, my goodness, it seems like the two of you just tasted the food briefly from the beginning to the end and didn't even take two bites.

"Okay, let's continue!"

Emperor Zhengde nodded, and immediately a eunuch came out with a hunched back, took away the tableware from the few people, and presented them with a towel of suitable temperature.

Everyone covered their faces with their sleeves, wiped the oil stains from the corners of their mouths, and tidied their appearance before starting the second topic.

This time, Yang Tinghe looked more serious, and Fei Hong also became serious.

"Your Majesty, Liu Liu and Liu Qi have destroyed hundreds of towns and cities, covering thousands of miles, and no one seems to be left wherever they go. Many wealthy families have fallen in this chaos, resulting in large tracts of unowned wasteland. I think that several provinces in the Central Plains should recruit refugees to cultivate the unowned land, and re-register them locally and naturalize them."

After hearing this, Emperor Zhengde thought that this was a good suggestion. However, it seemed a pity to give large tracts of ownerless wasteland to refugees for cultivation. Why not all of it be incorporated into the royal farmland?

Thinking of this, he glanced at Zhang Yong who was waiting on the side.

Zhang Yong understood immediately, and said with a smile: "Lord Yang, as the saying goes, all land under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are the king's subjects. There is a large piece of land, and it should be decided by your Majesty how to deal with it!"

"Minister Zhang wants Your Majesty to compete with the people for profit?"

Yang Tinghe frowned and directly retorted: "The common people of the world have names and surnames, they are not the slaves of your Majesty alone! Your Majesty should understand the world and be kind to the people and love things."

Speaking of this, Fei Hong, the Minister of Revenue, got angry. Zhengde, you dare to jump out on your own, so don't blame him for being rude:

"Your Majesty, since the establishment of Renshou official manor during the Yongle period, it was only during the Xuande period that Qingning and Weiyang palace manors were successively established. These palace manors cover a wide area, starting from Fengrun County in the northeast of Northern Zhili, and extending southwest through Baodi, Wuqing, Jinghai, and all the way to Hejian and other prefectures and counties."

"However, only one month after Your Majesty ascended the throne, he established seven imperial farms in Daxing County, including Shilipu. Since then, more and more were established, and the name of the imperial farm began to be known. In less than seven years, the number increased to more than 300, covering an area of ​​37,595 hectares and 46 acres!"

"Now, Minister Zhang wants to extend his hand to Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Hubei and other regions. This is intolerable!"

Ou Zanghua stood aside, observing everything, and never expected that Boss Fei's data could be so accurate.

How big is 37,595 hectares and 46 acres?
It’s probably the size of a county in later generations!

Emperor Zhengde was stunned for a moment before he spoke: "Fei Qing, why do I do this? Others don't know, but don't you know too?"

Emperor Zhengde stood up and said with a melancholy look, "I still remember it! In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, my father passed away. The funeral expenses were huge. In addition, my succession to the throne and the wedding ceremony required more than 5,000 taels of gold, but the total amount in the treasury at that time was only more than 1.5 million taels."

"Therefore, the court will use the 200,000 taels of silver from the more than 80,000 hectares of farmland awarded to the royal family, the royal consorts, meritorious officials, the eunuchs, and the temples and monasteries in previous years to lend for one year."

"I am the Son of Heaven! I actually need to borrow the income from royal relatives and temples before I can succeed to the throne and get married. How can I let this humiliation go?!" Ou Zanghua stood aside and found that both sides were interested.

Boss Fei was scolding Zhang Yong on the surface, but in reality he was scolding the emperor for being greedy.

Emperor Zhengde was no pushover either. He used all his skills to criticize others. It seemed that he could not swallow the humiliation he had received from the royal relatives and temples, but in fact he was scolding the civil servants for being stingy and even refusing to pay for the emperor's enthronement and marriage.

Neither of them gave in. Zhengde was determined to dig out a piece of the land today.

Fei Hong's attitude was also very tough. Not only could the emperor not dig, but he also had to spit out some of what he had accumulated before.

Yang Tinghe was obviously on Fei Hong's side. He also felt that the emperor should not occupy so much land. He even pointed out implicitly that the Liu Liu and Liu Qi Rebellion was caused by the emperor's hoarding of land, and that the emperor should release some land to quell public anger.

This immediately angered Emperor Zhengde, who said directly, "Lu Wan was recommended by Yang Qing. His failure to suppress the bandits led to the rise of Liu Liu and Liu Qi. Why didn't Yang Qing suggest that all the officials give up some land to calm the people's anger?!"

Fei Hong asked in return: "This is Lu Wan's fault alone, why should all the civil officials bear the responsibility?"

"Yup!"

Emperor Zhengde nodded and said confidently: "Liu Liu and Liu Qi confessed that they were forced to rebel by Liu Jin. Liu Jin has already received the due punishment. Why do you want me to give up some land to quell the anger of the people?"

Yang Tinghe frowned slightly and said, "Your Majesty, this is wrong! The relationship between the ruler and his subjects, the father and his son, is that the ruler is responsible for fulfilling the will of heaven and shaping the nature of the people."

"The ruler is the parent of the people. The people are the ruler's children. The ruler should treat the people with kindness and love, care for their sufferings and ensure their safety. The people should also respect the ruler as their father, obey his orders and abide by his laws."

"If your majesty has made a mistake, you should correct it yourself instead of blaming others."

Ou Zanghua was shocked. Lao Yang’s move was quite powerful!

It can be said that he was scolding Zhengde right in the face.

Emperor Zhengde was indeed responsible for the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi. If he had not allowed Liu Jin to do whatever he wanted, even if Liu Liu and Liu Qi had caused trouble, it would not have been possible to cause such a big commotion.

But you are targeting Zhengde alone, which is a bit too much.

Emperor Zhengde was furious at Yang Tinghe's words, and a strong internal force gathered in his right palm. Ou Zanghua was shocked, fearing that Zhengde would use one move against Yang Tinghe and they would be in chaos.

Even though Yang Tinghe is known as the best expert in the cabinet, that's just a prefix.

He quickly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Elder Yang and Elder Fei, please calm down. Your Majesty has his own considerations, and the cabinet has its own ideas. I think we should first integrate the ownerless land, and then discuss how to distribute it."

"Humph!"

Emperor Zhengde snorted coldly, swept his sleeves and walked out: "I feel unwell, I'm going back to the palace!"

Yang Tinghe wanted to stop Emperor Zhengde from fighting again, but Ou Zanghua immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I respectfully send you off!"

Lao Yang and Boss Fei had no choice but to follow and see them off.

Then, Yang Tinghe looked at Ou Zanghua with dissatisfaction: "Ou Jingyu, you..."

Ou Zanghua said with a kind smile: "Lord Yang, His Majesty is still young and not hot-tempered. Can we call him a young man? Let's try another way and coax His Majesty!"

Fei Hong sighed, looked at Ou Zanghua and said, "No matter what, I will not agree with Zhang Neixiang's proposal. The imperial farm is powerful and we should take care of it."

(End of this chapter)