Dong Hu took the water bun that Kuwai had rolled for him and took a big bite. Kuwai, who knew nothing, was very happy to see that he had a good appetite and diligently delivered a bowl of soup...

"If the current empty treasury situation is not changed, the world will not be able to develop healthily. It is like a house full of holes. If there is a little wind and rain outside, there will be a water slum inside the house. It is inevitable that the house full of holes will fall."

"First is the financial crisis of the Han Dynasty, and secondly, the problem of too much local power. The potential strength of the wealthy families has threatened the stability of the empire."

"Since Emperor Guangwu's reign, the empire had laid the root of disaster for today. First, the merger of Shaofu, the generals and the commander of the Shuiheng, made the royal family completely lose their direct financial resources. Second, the county soldiers were abolished, the original county and state commander was dismissed, and the military power was transferred to the prefect. The prefect of the county and state masters had mastered all the power of the 'military and civil law', and Jinran became independent kingdoms one by one. The first emperor went further and turned the governor who had originally supervised the prefect of the county and state into the prefect of the prefect, and further expanded the smaller independent kingdom into the seven heroes of the Warring States Period."

Dong Hu glanced at Yan Zhong and said, "Which of the princes who are rebelling, except Cao Cao, is they not the governor or the prefect? ​​If the county and state commander is still there, if the commander is unwilling to rebel, why can they gather 200,000 to 300,000 troops in several months? Do they dare to rebel?"

"Emperor Wu of Han implemented the order to split the larger vassal states and prevent them from being too strong, thus strengthening the control of the royal family. The same is true for the lieutenant of the county and state. The prefect governs the people, the commander of the army, and the governors above the county and state supervise illegally. This is how the county and state countries can avoid becoming independent kingdoms and avoiding the rebellion of each county and state."

"But Emperor Guangwu changed all this due to insufficient financial resources. By the time of the late emperor, he further expanded the county and state of the independent kingdom into the seven heroes of the Warring States Period. Zhong Shu knew that chaos in the world was inevitable."

"My uncle's entry into Luoyang is just a guide to the chaos in the world. Without uncle, the chaos in the world will definitely come as scheduled. That night, if the soldiers from the eight camps in Xiyuan and the soldiers of the twelve city gates did not slaughter the eunuchs in large quantities, and did not snatch all the money and grain accumulated by the eunuchs. The Grand Tutor Yuan Wei could still confiscate all the eunuch's wealth into Taicang, and the empire could barely support it for a few years, but the money and grain had been stolen by the soldiers. Where did Yuan Wei take out the money to support the soldiers?"

Dong Hu pointed to his nose and said, "We killed Han Sui and Ma Teng. If we don't disband the troops, will tens of thousands of Meiyang Han soldiers dare to disband?"

"Yuan Wei definitely dares not!"

"Meiyang Han soldiers, the eighth camp in Xiyuan, and the twelve city gates have as many as 80,000 soldiers. My uncle is so powerful that he can't get money, so he plundered more than a thousand wealthy families to barely maintain it. How can the Grand Tutor Yuan Wei obtain hundreds of millions of dollars to support his soldiers?"

Dong Hu said disdainfully: "Don't Zhong Shu really think Yuan Wei can't beat his uncle? It's not that he can't beat him, but he knows very well that he has no way to solve the military salary problem of nearly 100,000 soldiers!"

"If you want to solve the salary of 100,000 soldiers and horses, you either take the path of selling official positions in the late emperor or rob the rich family like your uncle. But no matter what you do, the Yuan family, which has four generations and three dukes, will inevitably become a thief in the world. Instead of doing this, it would be better to let your uncle be this scapegoat, and the Yuan family can continue to be a loyal minister."

Yan Zhong opened his lips slightly and finally smiled bitterly. As Dong Hu said, as long as Dong Hu's threat was not solved, the court not only could not disband the Meiyang Han soldiers, but instead would recruit some more troops. The key is, is there so much money and food in the empire Taicang?

What should I do if I don’t have money or food?

Either follow the eunuch's path, steal money from the lower class, or take Dong Zhuo's path, steal money from the rich family. The Yuan family and the entire outer court are determined to kill the eunuchs in the inner court. If the eunuchs are killed, will Yuan Wei still follow the eunuchs? Is shameless? If you steal money and food from the rich family, it will be even more dangerous. If you clear the emperor, it will no longer be Dong Zhuo, but his Yuan Wei's family!

Before any dynasty collapses, no money is a flaw.

Dong Hu swallowed his last bite of food, and saw Yan Zhong shook his head and smiled bitterly, and spoke without hesitation.

"Let's agree first. We will never be the second Han Xin, and we will never give up our troops stupidly!"

As he said that, Dong Hu frowned slightly.

"We are hesitating in the Dong family. The root cause is not my uncle, but my aunt and eldest son. If we must say that we are hesitating in my uncle, it is also because of politics, military and the future direction of the world."

"Political, we are the general under our uncle's name. If we make our uncle's rebellion, if we kill our uncle, Niu Fu, Xu Rong, Li Jue and others, we will definitely become our enemies. Although the troops in their hands have become **, their combat power is much stronger than the 200,000 to 300,000 soldiers recruited by various princes. It is extremely stupid to turn allies into enemies."

"If we kill our uncle because of our strong strength, it will have many influences on the unity of Dong Biyi Cong, such as Dong Chi, the general of Mobei, Hua Xiong, the general of Guyanshan, Liu Qi, two 10,000 tents, Dong Xiaoyi, the general of Liangzhou, and Xu Huang, the general of Hanzhong. Will these generals who are far away from home also cause our rebellion after their strength?"

Dong Hu shook his head and said, "We believe in them because the concept we set for them is the eight virtues of military generals that we spoke out by ourselves, and the system we formulated in the army, not because they are our brothers. But if we destroy the rules and systems we have made and destroy the ideas we have established with our own hands, it would be normal for them to rebel."

"The second is the direction of the world. Whether it is loyal to the Han Dynasty or re-establishing a brand new empire, it is necessary to solve the source of taxes that are abundant in the treasury, namely land and free people."

Dong Hu carried the wine pot and the solemn Yan Zhong poured the wine...

"Wang Mang's new policy, some things are too willful and do things, such as the reform of the official system and the random change of county names, but we still agree with land reform and city reform."

"But he failed!"

"He failed to fight against the wealthy families in the world by one person!"

Dong Hu said: "My uncle is old. If possible, he would rather be a member of the wealthy family and the leader of various major families. However, the reality is cruel. The persecution of various princes and the empty grain of Taicang forced him to destroy the foundation of the wealthy family in Luoyang, and now he has to uproot the foundation of the wealthy family in Guanzhong."

"For us, my uncle is a knife. Although he has his own selfish desires, his cruelty and incompetent can destroy the foundation of the wealthy families. He was thrown to him by Hanoi County and Yingchuan County. Within a year, the wealthy families in the two counties will basically be destroyed. If it weren't for the fact that we wanted to stabilize the foundation of Luoyang and did not want to be attacked from all sides, we would throw away Chenliu County and Nanyang County together."

Dong Hu's face was calm, as if he was talking about something irrelevant, but Yan Zhong was shocked and looked horrified...

"We cannot do some evil, but it does not mean that we cannot pass through our uncle's hands, nor does it mean that we cannot achieve our goals through our hands of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others."

"Wang Mang fought with wealthy families all over the world alone, and Wang Mang died of everything. Now, uncles and Yuan Shao will also attack various families. Although they do not realize this, each of them is Wang Mang. The cruel reality of raising soldiers without money will force them to attack the wealthy families who occupy the fields."

"One Wang Mang cannot shake countless wealthy families, but a large group of Wang Mang cannot shake the wealthy families?

"Of course, the princes of all walks of life do not want to kill the wealthy families. They are just forced by the real dilemma and they just want to become larger families. The generals under their name will also become large families. However, these families were small at first, their foundation was not very stable, and they were easily destroyed and replaced by others."

Dong Hu smiled and said, "Whether you are uncle, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others, for us, they are just knives, and their existence is beneficial to the future world, so we hesitate about our uncle again and again."

...

"My uncle is old and has no ambitions. If he doesn't pull our legs, as long as his knife is facing a wealthy family, not us, we will be willing to be loyal and cooperate. Otherwise, we will work alone, but... we didn't expect that the eldest son would have an accident."

...

"My uncle is a powerful minister and is domineering in nature. It is normal to suppress us. But the eldest son is different. The eldest son is gentle and can tolerate others, and his talent is not inferior to anyone. With him, the uncle will not do anything too outrageous. If his uncle is in a military service, he can still live in peace with us."

“But now…”

Dong Hu sighed in his heart. Whether it is brotherhood or political interests, Dong Mao's existence is irreplaceable. But he did not expect that Dong Mao would have an accident. He wanted to be angry but could not find anyone.

He was a little hesitant about the Dong family. Not only emotionally, but also military, political, and world direction. Ahe is much worse, and even incomparable. Surrendering to the plateau is just a future thing, and it is not impossible to leave it to his descendants. Of course, Ahe's arrival is also an opportunity. Whether it is to open up a road to enter Sichuan or to set up a protective palace on the plateau, Ahe is an opportunity.

Dong Mao's accidental death hit Dong Hu very hard, not only missing a close brother, but also missing an intermediary who had a peaceful conversation with Dong Zhuo.

Seeing the worry on Yan Zhong's face, he knew what he was worried about, but he didn't care much and smiled.

"Wang Mang's land reform was a Wangtian system. Simply put, it was the nationalization of land. We agreed in our hearts because the Han Dynasty was an agricultural society, and the main tax was the output of the fields. Only when the ownership of the land belongs to the court, the tax would not be lost... But Uncle Zhong also knew that this was impossible."

"In the agricultural society, all wealth depends on land. Once the land belongs to the court, we will follow our brothers to fight to death for life and death for a lifetime, but in the end we can only get the salary paid by the court. Their children's income is the same as ordinary people. So why do they follow us to fight to death? "

Yan Zhong nodded silently. This is an extremely realistic question. No matter how good a brother is, no matter how much he is, he should consider his children's future, right?

Dong Hu said: "The final result of the simple 'Wangtian' system is like Wang Mang. He will definitely die and destroy the clan. Because Wang Mang not only breaks the roots of countless wealthy families, but also cuts off the hopes of the civil and military ministers who follow him. If Wang Mang doesn't die, who will die?"

"It is a search for death for the voluntary depriving the wealthy families of aristocratic families, but wars are different. It is done by my uncle for forcibly moving, and it is also done by my uncle for looting wealthy families in Guanzhong. The rebellious princes will definitely attack countless families in order to maintain a large number of troops and for the rights in their hands. How many families will die during this period?"

"I don't know! But we know that there will definitely be countless families killed by them. After that, the princes will fight each other in a melee. Some princes will definitely be defeated and fallen, and the families attached to them will fall down..."

"Mutual annexation will eventually form three or four extremely powerful princes, and then gradually unify them. In the process of fighting for hegemony, as long as we do not accept the surrender of each family and do not recognize the princes enthroned by the Han Dynasty, even if our brothers become powerful people in a brand new empire, the number will be very small. Even if we occupy some land, it will not be enough to affect the tax revenue that governs the world."

Dong Hu smiled disdainfully.
Chapter completed!