Chapter 290: Supreme Conspiracy Wen Zhong Returns to the Court

Emperor Xin originally planned to wait for Wen Zhong to come back after he pacified Yuan Futong, but Wen Zhong insisted on staying in Beihai for a few more years.

Although Yuan Futong had been pacified, Beihai was geographically remote and far away from the royal capital, and the 72 princes were still ready to move.

For a single prince, the strength might not be that strong, but if they were united by people with ulterior motives, they would become an extremely powerful force.

If something happened again, it would only continue to deplete the national strength of the Shang Dynasty.

It would not be good, so Wen Zhong wanted to eliminate the trouble forever and make Beihai completely submit to the Shang Dynasty.

Wen Zhong had made outstanding achievements in Beihai for three years, greatly reducing the power of the 72 princes and firmly controlling Beihai.

In addition, he also controlled dozens of iron mountains, copper mountains, and mines in Beihai, and continuously supplied a large amount of resources to the Shang Dynasty.

At the gate of Chaoge City, Emperor Xin led the civil and military officials to welcome the Grand Tutor Wen Zhong. At the wide gate, a steady stream of the Shang Dynasty’s elite entered Chaoge.

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, Emperor Xin finally saw the black unicorn, the exclusive mount of Grand Master Wen Zhong.

The black unicorn seemed to have sensed the strong human luck emanating from Emperor Xin, and it came to him with four hooves and ran wildly.

Wen Zhong was so surprised to see Emperor Xin leading all the civil and military officials to greet him that he couldn't close his mouth. He quickly got off the black unicorn and greeted Emperor Xin.

"Old minister Wen Zhong, greets the king. What virtue and ability does Wen Zhong have that the king personally went out of the city to greet him? This really makes this old minister embarrassed."

Emperor Xin smiled and helped Wen Zhong up, "Grand Master went to the North Sea without any complaints, defeated the rebel Yuan Futong, and then worked hard for three years, bringing huge wealth to our Shang Dynasty. It is only natural for me to go out of the city to greet him."

Emperor Xin led all the civil and military officials into Chaoge City, and then immediately summoned Wen Zhong to Longde Hall to discuss matters.

Although there was no one in Longde Hall, the candles burning in the hall made the entire Longde Hall as bright as day.

After washing up, Wen Taishi changed from his military uniform to court clothes, holding several thick books, and walked slowly from the gate. When he saw Emperor Xin, he bowed and said, "Your Highness, I, Wen Zhong, pay my respects to you."

"Taishi, please stand up quickly."

Emperor Xin said with a smile, and then his expression became serious and he looked behind the screen, "Come on, why don't you give Taishi a seat?"

A royal attendant hurried out from behind the screen, brought a Taishi chair, and then quickly retreated to Emperor Xin to serve.

"Your Highness, these are the iron mountains, copper mountains, and mines that I discovered in the North Sea during my expedition to the North Sea. How many are there in total, how much is the annual output, and how much can be transported to Da Shang every year. I remember them all clearly. Please check them out, Your Highness."

The attendant took the account books from Wen Zhong and handed them to Emperor Xin. Emperor Xin flipped through them casually. In fact, Wen Zhong had reported these things to him many times in the past three years.

This time it was a summary, but even so, when Emperor Xin saw these numbers, he couldn't help but feel excited.

With so many mineral resources, it is enough for all the soldiers of Da Shang to wear full armor.

It is enough for Da Shang to build an invincible team.

Putting the account book aside, Emperor Xin smiled and got to the point, "In fact, the reason why I am so anxious to summon the Grand Master this time is not only to see the Grand Master's harvest in the North Sea, but also to discuss an important matter with the Grand Master."

"I am all ears."

Wen Zhong seemed to have expected it, and he bowed his hands, looking like he was all ears.

Emperor Xin said seriously, "Since the founding of the Shang Dynasty by our ancestor Cheng Tang, every Shang king has granted fiefs to the princes. By the time of Emperor Yi, there were already 800 vassal states in the world, with strong soldiers and sufficient strength, which posed a serious threat to the rule of our Shang Dynasty. The Grand Master went on an expedition to the North Sea for three years. I thought of a way to perfectly solve the problem of the princes being too powerful to be eliminated."

"Oh? May I ask your Majesty, what is the solution?"

Wen Zhong became interested and asked hurriedly. In fact, the trend of the princes being too powerful to be eliminated had already shown a trend during the time of the previous previous king.

And the previous previous king, Emperor Yi, developed the trend of being too powerful to be eliminated to the extreme.

The four great lords in the east, west, south and north each controlled 200 vassal states, and their strength reached the peak, making them the kings among the princes.

Even at the end of Emperor Yi's reign, he could no longer fully control the government.

It was after Emperor Xin succeeded to the throne that he invented the curved plow, refined sugar, refined salt, and refined iron ore, and the Shang Dynasty gradually suppressed the four major princes.

Over the years, Wen Zhong has also tried many ways, but without exception, they have basically been ineffective.

Emperor Xin made a slight gesture, and the attendant beside him came to Wen Zhong with a piece of white paper and handed it to Wen Zhong.

Wen Zhong took the white paper and glanced at it slightly, but his face instantly became extremely serious.

He stared at it, and nothing else in the outside world could disturb him.

After a full quarter of an hour, Wen Zhong woke up from his dream. He was holding a light piece of paper in his hand, but it seemed like he was holding a mountain of ten thousand pounds, and his whole arm was shaking.

The Enfeoffment Order, as the name suggests, involves the inheritance of the princes, since the ancestor Cheng Tang established the Shang Dynasty.

The entire Shang Dynasty implemented the eldest son inheritance system. The eldest son, in the face of inheriting the foundation, has the advantage of legal system.

After the death of the previous king, the eldest son of the previous king will inherit the throne of the king, and the other sons of the king will be granted the title of princes.

After the death of the princes, the eldest son will inherit the fiefdom and the title of king, and the other sons can only share some property, houses, shops, etc., and it is naturally no problem to be rich and powerful.

But if you want to get the same rights as the princes, don't even think about it.

For example, the former king Di Yi had three sons. Although Di Xin was the youngest son, he was the legitimate son of Di Yi, while Wei Zi Qi and Wei Zi Yan were illegitimate sons. Unless Di Xin was gone, the throne of the human king could fall on them.

The wonderful thing about this Enfeoffment Order is that it broke the rules since the founding of the country by Cheng Tang's ancestors. The descendants of the princes, in addition to the eldest legitimate son inheriting the title and the fiefdom, the remaining illegitimate sons can also divide a part of the territory and property, and are called marquises.

No matter how powerful the princes are, after the reform of this Enfeoffment Order.

In less than three or two generations, they will become fragmented and can no longer pose a threat to the Shang Dynasty.

Of course, what amazed Wen Zhong was not this, but this Enfeoffment Order, which directly pushed all the illegitimate sons under the princes except the eldest legitimate sons to the camp of the Shang Dynasty.

Human nature is evil. As long as the Enfeoffment Order is announced, even if the four princes do not want to implement it, the illegitimate sons under them will do their best to fight for their own interests.

Thus, they stood on the opposite side of their father and kept making trouble.

Why should you inherit all of his property when you are his son?

No matter how powerful the princes were, they could not suppress it. Brothers would fight against each other. Over time, even the most powerful princes could not bear it.

Such conspiracy was rare in the world, and it simply made Wen Zhong amazed.