Chapter 490 Sharpening the Knife
"Your Majesty, have you heard any new rumors?" Chen Gong suddenly asked.
"Do you need me to listen? I can understand the data Yuan Hao reported after just a quick look." Tian Ze said coldly.
"In the previous campaign to clean up corruption, a lot of officials and businessmen were arrested, but not many wealthy and powerful families were involved."
"Who are the people behind those businessmen? How many of those officials are their people?"
"Moreover, the number of powerful families being purged has decreased over the years. Are they really that clean?"
During this period, Tian Ze was busy with the war, but Jia Xu was not idle. He had been secretly investigating the matter.
The conclusion reached made Tian Ze extremely helpless.
He really underestimated these powerful families.
When it comes to the ability to find loopholes within the rules, he really admires it. No wonder there is a saying that the family has been around for thousands of years.
Tian Ze established a new order, but within the new order, these families quickly found their own position and began to develop rapidly.
"If they only rely on their own accumulation and knowledge to gain the advantage, I will accept it! Many people actually take advantage of loopholes and use tricks. Do they really think my knife is blunt?" Tian Ze said in a deep voice, his words full of murderous intent.
"How far is your majesty prepared to go?" Chen Gong asked.
"Only 30% of the noble families in Yizhou will be kept. There is no upper limit for the rest of the states!" Tian Ze said in a deep voice.
Tian Ze could not tolerate that after all his efforts in seeking development, someone was stealing his achievements and even digging up his roots.
"It just so happens that the Ministry of Finance is short of money and food right now. After confiscating this wave of households, it should be enough."
Upon hearing this, although Chen Gong was a little worried, he nodded in agreement.
Times of chaos are supposed to be a time for reshuffle, but under Tian Ze's control, the Han people's vitality was intact, so the game was not completely broken.
Even though Tian Ze started from scratch and established a new business, these powerful families always found a way to infiltrate it.
There have been constant wars in the world in recent years, but the northeast and north have been peaceful.
Especially under Tianze's vigorous development, everywhere is thriving and full of opportunities.
The prosperity of the people means more resources and money in the market, which is undoubtedly a feast for the wealthy and powerful families who are good at business.
Even if they have lost most of their resources, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and their knowledge is far beyond that of ordinary people. They know very well how to plunder wealth reasonably.
Their wealth is growing much faster than that of ordinary people, but in the face of the overall positive economic situation, these problems are ignored and hidden.
With Tian Ze's careful investigation, some problems gradually surfaced.
More than 98% of the wealth circulating under the rule of Da Qi is in the hands of ordinary people, while less than 60% of the wealth is in the hands of ordinary people.
Remember, this is less than ten years.
Numbers don't lie. No matter how well these powerful families hide themselves, Tian Ze doesn't care about them at all and directly finds another way to reverse the situation.
To put it bluntly, if all these people were killed, there would inevitably be many unjust, false and wrongful convictions. However, if two are drawn and one is killed, there will definitely be a large number of fish that slip through the net.
"Gongtai, you are responsible for this matter together with Wenhe, Yuanhao, and Bo Ning. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Discipline will investigate the people, the Ministry of Finance will check the accounts, the Ministry of Security will arrest the people, and the Ministry of Justice will try the case."
"Except leaving some room for Yizhou, don't let go of anyone who should be captured or killed in other places. Before the end of the year, I want to see enough money and food to support the two-year war and the development of the Central Plains." Tian Ze said in a deep voice.
"promise!"
A major crime that will shock the world is about to break out, and Chen Gong seems to have seen the scene of a river of blood.
Although he was shocked, Chen Gong also felt quite relieved. With such a strong emperor backing him up, what could be impossible?
As for the issue of money and food.
Ha ha.
Do you really think that hundreds of years of operation by aristocratic families is a joke?
Before the chaos, he controlled at least half of the world's land and 30% of the hidden population, plus other industries. Add them all together, converted into copper coins, and it would be worth no less than trillions.
Although Tian Ze's business has been booming in recent years, the annual output value of Da Qi has already exceeded one trillion.
But if we really talk about the total amount of wealth, the accumulated total output value to date is estimated to be not much more than the savings of the wealthy and powerful families.
After all, the time gap between the two sides is too big. It is incredible to reach this point in just twenty years.
If it weren't for the strong foundation of these aristocratic families, the princes of the Central Plains would not have been able to afford so many wars. They all relied on these people for blood transfusions.
Tian Ze had reaped a lot of wealth from these powerful families before, but he still left a lot of room, especially in recent years, when the powerful families were extremely cooperative.
But now, Tian Ze is ready to take this opportunity to settle the scores and deal with the powerful families once again.
Even if only a part of their wealth is food and supplies, and the rest is mostly copper coins, it is enough to fill the current gap.
Looking at Chen Gong leaving after receiving the order, Tian Ze smiled coldly.
"You are a bunch of people who deserve to be punished. Do you really think that I can't do anything to you just because I don't want to break the rules I set?"
All along, Tian Ze has tried his best to be reasonable and use relatively gentle means to carry out reforms.
Although the rules were reshaped, they did not negate everything that had come before. Even the most valuable land was purchased and not directly taken away from the wealthy and powerful families.
Because Tian Ze knows very well that only if he abides by the rules he has set can he convince others, otherwise it will be just empty talk.
If you want to convince the world, you must first not break the rules you set.
But this also became an invisible shackle on Tian Ze, making some powerful families think that as long as Tian Ze was prevented from finding evidence, they could not do anything to them.
It’s a pity that they underestimated Tian Ze.
Those things that cannot be made public should not be investigated. Once the serious matter is dealt with, no one can escape.
Tian Ze was just busy with development and construction before, and did not pay enough attention to them. Tian Ze's many officials, intelligence personnel and propaganda personnel were not there for free.
If the situation was not so urgent, perhaps Tian Ze would consider the impact and stability issues and deal with it slowly.
But now, the Minister of Finance Chen Gong, who was short of money, was about to resign. Naturally, Tian Ze could only choose the lesser of two evils and take action directly.
"Your Majesty, another fish has been caught."
The waiter who was holding the fishing rod carefully at the side suddenly said in surprise.
Tian Ze quickly looked towards the river and saw that the fishing line was taut and a large black shadow was struggling violently under the water, splashing water everywhere.
The fish was shaking its body so hard that the waiter could hardly hold on to the rod.
"Give me the pole!"
He took the fishing rod from the waiter, and relying on his great strength, Tian Ze used a little skill to lift the fishing rod high up. With the sound of the fishing rod breaking, a big fish was thrown to the shore.
Looking at the fish weighing dozens of kilograms, the waiter immediately admired it and said, "What a big fish! Your Majesty is so powerful!"
Tian Ze smiled faintly, threw the fish aside, and picked up a new fishing rod from the side: "Although it's a waste of a fishing rod, it's not bad to catch such a big fish."
(End of this chapter)
