mtl008 Chapter 644 Public Opinion War
Chapter 644 Public Opinion War
Looking at the "Temporary Tax Law" handed to him by Zhong Yao, Cao Pi's face remained calm, but his heart was in turmoil.
This tax law is too ruthless. It's not just cutting flesh from the gentry, it's practically sucking their marrow dry. If Cao Cao had this tax law, he probably would have unified the country long ago.
It seems that Liu Bei poses a greater threat to the gentry of the Central Plains than he imagined, forcing them to collectively sever ties. Impressive.
As for whether this tax law could be implemented, Cao Pi was not worried at all, because this time it was not he who wanted to force it to be implemented, but the gentry of the Central Plains who begged him to implement it.
Cao Pi looked at the tax law and then at Zhong Yao, and sighed sincerely, "This matter will be difficult for the Grand Tutor."
These words were spoken with utmost sincerity and without any ulterior motives. Cao Pi knew all too well what kind of people the aristocratic class were. It must have taken a lot of persuasion from Old Man Zhong to get them to sign such a contract with their noses in their mouths.
Zhong Yao bowed and said, "For the sake of the court, this old minister has no choice but to do so."
Cao Pi stopped being coy and pondered, saying, "Guan Xing is right. Money only counts when it's spent. If it's just sitting in the warehouse, it's just scrap metal. So, we'll have to put in a lot of effort, Grand Tutor, to figure out how to spend this money to turn it into strength to fight against Liu Bei."
Zhong Yao replied, "Of course, this old minister will discuss it with everyone again and come up with a plan to spend the money as soon as possible to submit to Your Majesty."
Cao Pi nodded and said, "Grand Tutor, please go ahead and do it. I will take care of the rest."
Zhong Yao bowed and took his leave, beginning his new work.
Under Liu Bei's threat, the Cao Wei court united for the first time, and under Zhong Yao's leadership, formulated a series of policies that benefited the country and its people, such as reducing taxes for the people, helping the poor, and building schools and water conservancy projects.
To put it bluntly, the old ministers of Cao Wei were not incompetent, but they were selfish. They used to only know how to fight for power and profit, but now that they realized that fighting for power might very well be doing the work for Liu Bei, they temporarily put aside their selfishness.
The high-ranking officials of Cao Wei, who abandoned their selfish desires, did not unleash their full potential; they simply exerted the strength they were meant to have.
This shows that as long as the Han people don't fight amongst themselves, they are truly invincible.
While Zhong Yao presided over the implementation of a series of policies, he also specially established an office called Xuanshu and recruited hundreds of scholars to join it.
Xuan means propaganda. The Xuan Office did nothing but write articles to criticize Liu Bei, constantly reinforcing the threat posed by Liu Bei and reminding the gentry of the Central Plains that Liu Bei had not yet been defeated and that everyone still needed to work hard.
Otherwise, if we don't constantly remind everyone, the gentry of the Central Plains will probably forget about Liu Bei in a few days. After all, people are forgetful creatures. Only by reminding them every day will they understand the threat Liu Bei poses and continue to abide by the Provisional Tax Law.
Of course, it also served another purpose: to deepen the hatred of Liu Bei among all social classes in the Central Plains by smearing him, thereby achieving the goal of unifying thought.
It's worth mentioning that the staff of the Xuan Shu Yamen were paid by the articles they wrote. They would get paid a certain amount for each article they wrote, and those who wrote well would have the opportunity to be transferred to other Yamens. In short, all the staff of the Xuan Shu Yamen were temporary workers, but they had the opportunity to become permanent employees, which greatly increased their enthusiasm.
The result was that this group of shameless people who had no bottom line for money not only cursed Liu Bei, but also all the important officials of the pseudo-Han dynasty, including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhuge Liang, and the curses they hurled were extremely offensive.
……
"These scoundrels are despicable! These Confucian scholars are utterly hateful, utterly hateful!"
In the imperial study of the Jiangling Palace, Liu Bei angrily crumpled up a piece of white paper in his hand and threw it out. Still not satisfied, he grabbed the edge of the table and tried to overturn it, but failed.
This desk was a mahogany table that Guan Xing gave him. It was nearly four meters long and over two meters wide. It would take four or five people to lift it. How could an old man in his sixties possibly overturn it?
Liu Bei tried several times without success, and angrily sat back down in his chair.
Just then, Zhuge Liang arrived on orders. Upon entering, he noticed Liu Bei's unpleasant expression and dared not disturb him. He silently picked up the crumpled paper from the ground, unfolded it, and became angry as well.
This is an article written by the Cao Wei Xuan Shu Yamen. It begins with a story about Liu Bei when he was young. It says that when Liu Bei was a child, he was playing under a mulberry tree with his cousins. He pointed to the mulberry tree and said that he would definitely ride in a carriage with a feather canopy like this in the future, which drew a warning from his uncle Liu Zijing.
Then, based on this short story, it is inferred that Liu Bei was born with a rebellious nature and had rebellious intentions from childhood. It is also said that Liu Bei impersonated the descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan and swindled people, even deceiving Emperor Liu Xie of the Former Han Dynasty.
In summary, Liu Bei, the "Big Ear Thief," was a scumbag who cheated and swindled, abandoned his wife and daughters, and was a hypocrite who appeared benevolent but was actually cunning and ruthless. This can be seen from Liu Shan's looting of the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun. The Liu family was inherently evil.
Zhuge Liang was so angry that his hand holding the fan trembled slightly, and his beard shook as he asked, "Your Majesty, where did this come from?"
Liu Bei gritted his teeth and said, "The spies from Luoyang reported that after Yuanzhi returned to Luoyang, Zhong Yao established the so-called Xuan Shu, and gathered hundreds of scholars to write articles criticizing us all day long..."
As Liu Bei spoke, he forcefully threw a stack of white paper covered in writing onto the table. The paper slid across the table to the other side. Zhuge Liang quickly stepped forward and caught the paper just before it slid off the table. He picked it up and was furious when he saw it.
The paper was full of articles criticizing them, saying that Guan Yu was ungrateful and that Cao Cao had treated him so well, yet he abandoned Cao Cao and even killed several of Cao Cao's generals. He was a typical example of repaying kindness with enmity.
To say that Zhang Fei was a good-for-nothing who only knew how to eat, drink, gamble, and whore, and that he openly abducted a woman named Xiahou, is one thing, but when he was left to guard Xuzhou, he made a mistake by drinking and lost the city, making him a useless piece of trash.
They even said Zhuge Liang was despicable and shameless, and that Zhou Yu was angered to death by him, and also said...
In short, not a single kind word was spoken; it was all personal attacks, and the insults were as harsh as could be.
Liu Bei took several deep breaths before saying, "After Yuanzhi returned, Cao Pi reacted by signing a temporary tax law with the gentry of the Central Plains. This law reduced taxes and built schools, completely copying our reforms in Jiangnan. The only difference is that the land and minerals in the Central Plains are privately owned by the gentry, so they just paid more taxes. But this tax revenue can be used for many things."
It is no exaggeration to say that the core factor that led the Han Dynasty to its current state was economic. Even the selling of official positions by Emperors Huan and Ling could not solve the financial crisis.
In short, without money, nothing can be done, and you can only watch helplessly as problems accumulate until you collapse. But with money, there are many things you can do. Liu Bei couldn't guarantee what kind of power Cao Wei would unleash with this fiscal revenue.
Zhuge Liang said, "There is no need to worry about that. It's just a matter of development. There are plenty of ways to deal with it. The most urgent task now is to deal with the propaganda attacks from the Xuan Shu. We can't let them continue to smear His Majesty with impunity. The people of the Central Plains don't know His Majesty and will definitely believe them. If this continues, they can turn black into white."
If you tell a lie too often, it becomes the truth. Once the people of the Central Plains have formed the idea that Liu Bei was a tyrant, it will be difficult to change their minds.
Liu Bei slammed his fist on the table and said, "That's right, we must retaliate against this. We can't let Cao Pi smear us. Where is Anguo? Let him handle this. Tell him to give me a piece of his mind. It's just a war of words, so what? Come on, who's afraid of who?"