Ma Zhou was a little hesitant. After the Zhengdan ceremony, he was summoned by the emperor to the palace to talk. After returning, he was a little confused.

"Actually you should go back. I know you have ambitions, and now is the time for you to show your ambitions. In the court, you have a broader stage." Li Chao advised Ma Zhou to return to the court, and Li Shimin talked to Ma Zhou, but he admitted his mistake to Ma Zhou in private and hoped that he would go back.

The emperor admits his mistakes to his ministers, even in private, is an extremely rare thing. This attitude made Ma Zhou confused. He really hoped that he could be in the court. This was not because he was incestuous of power, but the ambition of a scholar. All scholars were always like this, and they were full of dreams of governing the country and helping the kings create great causes.

Even full of transforming kings.

The arrogance that Li Shimin showed before hurt Ma Zhou's heart. But now the emperor has admitted his mistake, and Ma Zhou's heart is alive again.

"Don't you go back?" Ma Zhou asked.

Li Chao smiled.

"Recently, I re-read the Wei Book and looked at the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty. I found a very interesting character, Cui Hao."

Cui Hao, a famous capable minister in the Northern Wei Dynasty, was also the ancestor of the Cui family of Qinghe, Li Chao's wife. These were two famous counselors who were known as Wang Meng during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Cui Hao was born in the Cui family in Qinghe, and his mother was also a daughter of the Lu family in Fanyang. He went through the three emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Ming Yuan, and the Taiwu emperors, and was the most important counselor of Emperor Taiwu. Even the Northern Wei Dynasty was able to unify the north, defeat Hu Xia, Northern Liang, and defeat Rouran, which was his great contribution.

But in the end, Cui Hao was killed by Emperor Taiwu's entire family and died extremely miserably.

Of course Ma Zhou knew Cui Hao.

Cui Hao died in the prison for national history, which is a public statement. Emperor Taiwu asked Cui Hao to major in the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, just like Li Chao who majored in eight historical books. What is different is that Li Chao compiled the history of the previous dynasty and did not compile the history of the dynasty. Cui Hao compiled the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty because he "promoted the evil of the country" and engraved the "History of the National" on a stone tablet to be praised by the past, so he was killed by Tuoba Tao.

"Why do you think Emperor Taiwu killed Cui Hao?" Li Chao asked.

Ma Zhou first looked around. They were now in the pavilion of the Li family, and the surroundings were very wide and the servants were far away.

"Cui Hao's death is not simply a matter of national history. Cui Hao has always been an important minister of Emperor Taiwu, or even a confidant. In many things, Emperor Taiwu did not come forward directly, so he instructed Cui Hao to do it, such as suppressing the prince, killing Buddha, and then sinicizing, etc.."

Ma Zhou was very familiar with history and had a deep study of the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

I have my own opinion on Cui Hao's death.

This view is profound and far from ordinary legends.

"In the prison of the National History, Cui Hao was only a major in the study. There were other officials who actually studied history, but in the end, only Cui Hao was executed by the whole family, and the rest of the study history were not even executed." Li Chao sighed, "In fact, Cui Hao's death was only one reason in the final analysis. The counterattack triggered by Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. When the counterattack became increasingly powerful, Emperor Taiwu could only sacrifice Cui Hao. Emperor Taiwu later sighed, "It's a pity that Cui Hao regrets it too late!"

Li Chao told Ma Zhou today that Cui Hao was not simply talking about historical figures.

But Cui Hao is a person who looks very similar to Li Chao.

Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty was an ambitious monarch, very similar to Li Shimin. With the help of advisers and generals such as Cui Hao, he unified the north. He also vigorously promoted the sinicization reform, cracked down on Buddhism, and developed national strength, making the Northern Wei unprecedentedly powerful.

However, his series of reforms naturally caused the counterattack of the old forces. Buddhist forces and the Xianbei nobles of the Northern Wei Dynasty were constantly counterattacking, and they even united under the prince and carried the prince as a banner to oppose it.

In the end, Emperor Taiwu killed Cui Hao.

Although a few years after Cui Hao's death, the prince's party was severely cracked down by Emperor Taiwu, killing and exiling, and the prince finally died of anger.

But at that time, the struggle for the reform of Wuhan was quite fierce.

Cui Hao's death was on the surface because of the national history, but in fact it was not the case at all. Cui Hao was the pioneer of reform and an important adviser of Taiwu's reform, so he has always been the target of counterattack forces.

In some ways, Cui Hao is Li Chao.

The Tang Dynasty has implemented countless new policies in recent years, involving all aspects, and Li Chao is definitely the leader in it.

The reform of the new policy of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty was no less than that of Taiwu's Chinese reform, and the interest groups offended were also powerful.

Why did Cui Hao die?

Because he is the pioneer of reform and the designer of reform, everyone is staring at him. When a large number of people regard you as their enemy, the small mistakes you make will be widely publicized and your every move will be stared at.

In the spotlight, every move will be exposed, and small mistakes will be difficult to hide.

Li Shimin did invite Li Chao back to the court several times, and the position of Shangshu Ling was still kept for him.

But Li Chao refused to accept it.

At this stage, the suspicion from the emperor may be extremely small, and the bigger ones are from the interest groups that have been damaged in the reform. Just stand behind and shake the fan, there is no need to rush forward in person.

Moreover, Li Chao also hopes to have more time to manage more connections, win over more allies, and resolve the hostility of those opponents.

The Li family in Bashang has developed so rapidly over the years, not just focusing on developing and making money. The Li family has always attracted many allies. Not to mention the nobles from Shandong, he also got close to the Shandong gentry and tied up interests through marriage. Li Chao also paid attention to the wealthy families in Long, the gentry in Jiangnan, and even merchants and ordinary scholars.

One more friend and more roads.

Less enemies and fewer arrows.

Like Cui Hao, as the hawk of Emperor Taiwu, he was loyal and bitten whoever he asked him to bite him. As a result, he offended countless people. In the end, he not only caused his family to be executed by the whole family, but also allowed many Han families who married him such as the Lu family in Fanyang and the Wang family in Taiyuan to be exterminated.

He didn't want Li Shimin to kill him one day. In a few years, he shouted "It's a pity for Li Chao, it's too late to regret it."

It is enough that Li Shimin, the prince, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, Ma Zhou and Wei Zheng are all people who insist on implementing reform. Although Li Chao is the chief designer of reform, he doesn't have to stay in the court to preside over the presidency.

Compared to staying in the court, Li Chao believes that it is more important to be idle at home, develop the economy more often, and tie the interests of major families and other families.

"Binwang, you stay in the court and I am in the wild, the same is true."

After hearing what Li Chao said, Ma Zhou also understood a lot.

"You are the first contribution to the new Zhenguan policy and reform of the reform. Even if you don't stay in the court, no one will forget your contribution. However, if you leave, you can still attract less attention and not become a target for gathering fire."

"Yes, you continue to implement reforms in the court. I will go deep into the enemy camp, make friends with them, and turn enemies into friends!" Li Chao said with a smile. He has always believed in the saying that there is no eternal enemy, only eternal interests. The new reform policies he proposed did offend many people, but he also believed that he had a way to let these people enjoy the benefits of alliances.

Follow him, Li Chao, and make money.

In the feudal princes, everyone had the opportunity to win their own territory for their families. When developing industry and commerce, everyone could become capitalists of the Tang Dynasty.

Ma Zhou said seriously, "Wen Yuan can do it with confidence. I will definitely make it convenient for Wen Yuan in the court."

Li Chao laughed.

This is what he wants to hear, "This time I return to the court, Your Majesty is going to give you any position?"

It turned out that Ma Zhou was the Minister of Shang and the Minister of Revenue, but now the Right Pushe is Yuwen Shi and the Minister of Revenue is Dai Zhou, so he has no place for him.

"Shishu Secretariat."

Li Chao nodded, this position is good. To be honest, the Minister of the Central Secretariat must be given the title of prime minister. In terms of ranking, among the ministers under the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, the Minister of the Central Secretariat ranks fourth, only after the Shangshu Ling, and before the left and right Pushe. Now that the Secretary of the Central Secretariat is vacant, Ma Zhou has actually become the third-ranked prime minister.

This is a blessing in disguise, and the ranking has risen to three places in a row.

In today's central era where the Secretariat is the main force, the Secretariat Secretary actually presided over the Secretariat, with a special status and a high position and a powerful position. Li Shimin seemed to really attach great importance to Ma Zhou.

"After you return to Zhongshu, do me a favor." Li Chao said.

"You said." Ma Zhou was not polite either. This kind of thing was not in line with the rules.

"This time, Your Majesty gave the land of Liaodong a great exile. The nobles who obtained the fiefs of Liaodong are now planning how to persuade Your Majesty to send troops to conquer Liao. They also thought that the more soldiers the better, and they wanted to send a million troops at once like Yang Guang to destroy Liao in one fell swoop." Li Chao shook his head. Although he was also one of the vassals of Liaodong, he did not want to see such a scene.

"I hope that after you return to the Secretariat, you will ensure that the court will not send troops to conquer Liao."

Ma Zhou was a little surprised.

"Don't you conquer Liao?"

"Well, the time is not right now. If the imperial court really needs to have strength, it is said that it will be necessary to deal with Ye Hu first and attack the Western Regions first."

"But those marquis may not be willing to wait."

Li Chao smiled.

"Of course it's okay to fight Liaodong, but I have to fight myself. I have a proposal here, which is the five-year plan for Goguryeo. There are two parts of the plan, part of which is the court that makes the court provoke the Liao Dynasty, and then we secretly instigate the rebellion of Quangai Suwen and his son, causing civil strife to Goguryeo."

Ma Zhou asked the second part.

"The second part is that the court allows the title of marquis in Liaodong and even merchants from the Tang Dynasty to apply for a privateer permit from the court, and then sail to the coast of Goguryeo to rob."

Ma Zhou has heard of Li Chao's strategic plan for pirates. If the court really issued such a license, it would indeed be a big blow to Goguryeo.

Moreover, Li Chao's shipyard will immediately get countless new orders and make a big profit.

"I support your plan." Ma Zhou replied.

"The shipyard is preparing to expand its scale, recruit new partners and issue shares to raise expansion funds. It plans to build multiple shipyards and build supporting timber factories, cable factories, iron anchor factories, etc. We plan to produce more than 300 three-masted sailboats a year, which is equivalent to producing one in a day. I will leave you one for this shipyard!"

Ma Zhou shook his head, "I don't have a chance to join the stake."

"The court also has no law that stipulates that you cannot participate in the shares. Besides, if you invest in the name of your son, he will be my adopted son. Is there any problem with investing in my shipyard?"

This time, Li Chao planned to recruit more shareholders and bring him hundreds of nobles together. In this way, everyone can make money and advance and retreat together with the interests.
Chapter completed!