The seal script on the Heaven's Path Stone Stele flowed like water.
The emperor and ministers standing on the high platform had complicated thoughts.
At first, he saw that there were many merchants from the Great Han Family on the rankings.
Liu Hong's expression was much better, and joy could be seen on his face.。
After Liu Hong ascended the throne at a young age and was good at politics, he joined the eunuchs in charge of the inner palace after entering the North Palace.
Relying on the power of the eunuchs, they had directly wiped out the power of the former emperor's relatives, General Dou Wu, and Empress Dowager Dou.
He also killed the leader of the gentry, Chen Fan, for the crime of treason.
From then on, they would use the new gentry to support the new forces of Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, and the other eunuchs to eliminate the old eunuchs left behind by Emperor Xiaohuan.
He was able to control the supreme authority.
In a sense, the Yang family of Hongnong, who had four generations and three dukes, was successfully created by him supporting his teacher, Yang Ci's family, and forcefully promoting them to divide the reputation of the aristocratic families with the Yuan family of Runan.
This was to prevent the Yuan family of Runan from seizing the Han Dynasty and giving birth to the next Wang Mang.
Liu Hong felt that he had played Tian Zi's Art of Balance extremely well.
After Emperor Zhang and Emperor Zhi, the power of the emperor fell into the hands of the relatives and nobles.
He was able to make the imperial relatives, nobles, and eunuchs work together and truly wield power.
He was definitely not the fatuous ruler that the aristocrats were criticizing.
Liu Hong also knew that he was extravagant and flashy.
However!
"I am the emperor of the Great Han Dynasty. The land of ten thousand miles is my private property, and the people are my people. What's wrong with living a better life?!”
"Are you going to learn the frugality and simplicity of the rule of Wen and Jing, and let the aristocrats accumulate their foundation?”
The man's name occupied more than two-thirds of the Wealth Rankings.
Liu Hong was excited.
The wealth of the Great Han Dynasty was unparalleled in the world. To a certain extent, it meant that his governance for the monarch was effective, and the Great Han Dynasty was thriving.
On the other hand, he thought about how there were so many rich people with deep assets.
Liu Hong blinked his eyes, and a strange light flashed in them.
Soon, the names on the Rich List were updated to the top ten.
10th place: Luan Ti Hu Bei
[Wealth: 380,000 Gold]
[Faction: Kangju Country]
[Ranking reward: Good weather in your territory for a year]
……
9th place: Lu Kang
[Wealth: 390,000 gold]
[Faction: Big Man]
[Ranking reward: Good weather in your territory for a year]
……
"Hmm?" " Huh?" Liu Hong asked.
"I remember that Luandi is a big surname of the Xiongnu. What kind of country is this Kangju Country? It can actually surpass the Xianbei, a country that is ten thousand miles large, and the Hundred Vehicle Dynasty, which is located in the south of the continent and has fertile land.”
Ever since the Heavenly Dao Stele had descended, Liu Hong, who had obtained many benefits, had been paying close attention to the various powers on the continent.
Was it because they valued the empires that posed a potential threat, or because they coveted the rewards on the rankings?
Even Zhang Rang and his close friends didn't know!
In the face of Liu Hong's question, how could Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, who had never left Luoyang since entering the palace, know? They could only glance at the officials behind them.
"Your Majesty, Minister Lu is knowledgeable and knowledgeable. He definitely knows about the situation in Kangju Country.”
Lu Zhi saw that Zhang Rang had thrown the question at him and secretly rolled his eyes. However, when he met Tian Zi's gaze, he had no choice but to step forward.
"I hope Your Majesty knows that Luan Ti is indeed one of the Xiongnu surnames. The current Xiongnu Khan is Luan Ti Yu Fuluo.”
"As for the Kangju Country, it is 12,000 li away from Luoyang and is located in the middle of the continent.”
"The Kangju Empire is as strong as any other empire. It is only slightly weaker than the Kushan Empire, which is located in the southern region.”
"In the past, when Ban Dingyuan suppressed the thirty-six countries of the Western Regions, Kang Ju feared the might of our Great Han and sent an envoy to express his submission.”
"And the relationship between Kangju and the Xiongnu isn't strange. Half of the territory of Kangju is in the Western Regions. Two hundred years ago, when the Xiongnu expanded, a branch of them was attached to the King of Kangju.”
"A hundred years ago, the Great Han Empire's Divine Armament suppressed and destroyed the Xiongnu Empire. Half of the Xiongnu survivors followed the Great Han Empire, while the other half fled to the Western Regions and followed King Kangju.”
"Luan Tihu Bei is ranked tenth on the Wealth Rankings. I think it's because the Western Protectorates have been weak recently, and the Xiongnu have borrowed the power of the Kangju Kingdom to plunder the wealth of the Western Regions.”
Liu Hong nodded and said,"
"However, this is only Minister Lu's personal opinion. I did not receive an urgent report from the Western Regions Protectorate that this matter had occurred.”
Lu Zhihe was furious. He stared at Zhang Rang and the other eunuchs, who had indifferent expressions.
If it wasn't for the Ten Attendants deceiving the Emperor, how could the Emperor not know that the distant territory of the Great Han had been annexed?
However, Lu Zhi sighed lightly and cupped his hands.
"Here."
After saying that, he retreated to the ranks of the officials.
If it was ten years ago, he would have scolded Tian Zi angrily and tried to wake him up.
But after so many years, he knew that Tian Zi was pretending to be asleep. He only cared about playing with the art of balance and enjoying himself.
Even if he really knew that the Han Dynasty vassal state thousands of miles away was being bullied and did not threaten his throne, he would not think much of it.
For example, before the Yellow Turban rebellion, there were three ministers in the court who reported that Zhang Jiao and the other two had committed treason and had plotted against them.
However, Liu Hong didn't really care about the Si Li.
Knowing that the implementation of the Prefecture Overseer would cause the prefectures and countries to be divided into vassal states, Liu Hong only trained the West Garden Imperial Army to ensure that Luoyang was safe and sound. He could be the high and mighty Emperor of Zhou.
Some people said that King Guangyang was a backup plan arranged by the emperor, and Lu Zhi directly cursed.
Other than caring about his own power and enjoyment, this kind of incompetent ruler would be willing to spend his foundation to nurture his descendants.
He, Lu Zhi, was the first to not believe it.
You don't believe me?
A letter?
"King Guangyang is ranked sixth with a wealth of 570,000 gold. Unbelievable. How did he do it?!”
"I know Lu Kang, who is in ninth place. He is the Governor of Lujiang and has made great contributions in suppressing the bandits. The Lu family of Wujun is the Zhongda family of Wu, which is the descendant of Tian Jingzhong, surnamed Gui.”
"It has been rooted in Wu for hundreds of years. If it is shipped by the river, it is somewhat unusual for overseas trade to have such a family capital, but it is still barely acceptable.”
" However, how did King Guangyang develop a small, barren city like Youzhou into a giant city like Handan in just three years? How did he gather more than five hundred thousand yuan, which is even more than the emperors of the other two empires?”
"Even if it's unbelievable, I choose to accept it. To be honest, if Lord Guangyang occupied the top three again, or even the top spot, I wouldn't be too surprised.”
"Sigh, in the past few decades, our Great Han Dynasty has been at a disadvantage in the battle with the foreign tribes. Lord Guangyang destroyed a large country with the strength of a county, which is more than enough to surpass us, who have been muddleheaded in the imperial court for half our lives.”
"How is that possible? If you want to talk about generals, you can say that they were recruited by luck. How can we amass more than 500,000 in a short three years? Then wouldn't our clans be a joke after a hundred years of operation?”
"Even if Lord Guangyang earned a fortune from Goguryeo's ginseng and the maids of Sanhan, he wouldn't have earned so much. Without the hidden heritage of the Han Dynasty that the Emperor had given me, I would have eaten the sh * t of the Ten Generals!”
Among the whispers, there was no lack of people who agreed with the speculation of the person who wanted to eat shit.
If the generals were lucky, they could be like Liu Bei, becoming sworn brothers with two top-tier generals.
However, the accumulation of wealth was not something that could be done overnight.
How could he become the sixth richest man in the world, surpassing the emperors of the two empires?!
If he really earned 500,000 gold in three years, not only would the hundreds of years of wealth of the aristocratic families be a joke, but the Emperor of Parthia and the Emperor of Kushan would also be a joke.
Many of the ministers present had businesses under their names, as well as Black Gloves who ran businesses.
They understood it themselves.
In three years, the traveling merchants would be able to open up trade routes, just at the beginning stage.
500,000 gold was the annual income of the Great Han Empire.
Three years of hard work was enough to offset the taxes of tens of millions of people in the Great Han Dynasty?!
"Even if you add in the cattle, sheep, and horses of the Wuhuan that King Guangyang obtained after his country was destroyed, the wealth converted can't be so high.”
"The grasslands are barren. Even if the Xianbei Khan controls thousands of miles of land, he is only ranked 15th. Could it be that His Majesty is really hiding his strength and biding his time, pretending to be a fatuous ruler to deceive everyone and then sponsor King Guangyang to bypass the aristocrats and revive the Han Dynasty?!”
Lu Zhi was shocked. His gaze passed through the crowd and landed on Liu Hong.
He had never felt that way before!
The back view that he hated day and night seemed so unfathomable now.
……
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