As early as a few years ago, when Zhang Fei borrowed money from a charity foundation to form a transportation team to replace Yameng, he had actually thought about the insurance industry.
But I just thought about it, because at that time, it was really crazy to engage in the insurance industry.
In the end, this transportation team is responsible for everything. If the goods are lost, they will compensate. The solution is to increase the transportation price and strengthen their own strength. This transportation team is also the only one allowed to exist outside the imperial court.
armed forces.
However, the leader of this transport team was the emperor's personal guard, and was actually still under the emperor's control.
Moreover, the business undertaken by this transportation team is actually only a very small part, which is dedicated to transporting expensive goods, such as copper coins, jewelry, silk, etc.
No water transport is involved.
Because there was no power to change the water transportation at that time.
But this time and that time.
Not only have the Public Security Bureau, Procuratorate, and Judgment Bureau grown up, and the administration of officials has been improved, but in fact, the Public Security Bureau, Procuratorate, Procuratorate, and Judiciary Bureau have also found it difficult to solve the problem of water transportation on their own.
Because water transportation is systemic corruption, if the system is not changed, the role of the public security organs, procuratorates, and law will actually be very limited.
This is not the first time Zhang Fei has faced this situation, and his approach is to use Wang Anshi's reforms to connect with the public prosecutors and law.
The New Deal and judicial reform are not two parallel lines, but two wavy lines. There are many overlaps in the middle. The two are complementary to each other. Just building the public security law, even if the emperor lets you toss it, will not succeed.
Because the law requires clear boundaries, but in many current systems, the boundaries are very blurred or even non-existent, and the public security organs, prosecutors, and law are powerless in this regard.
Now that the internal strife among the imperial court has begun to weaken, the imperial court has the power to solve this problem.
So the question now is how to connect water transportation with the public security organs and law.
This is back to the same old path.
Wang Anshi proposed a reform policy, which was to split water transportation and set up business agencies one by one to move in the direction of profitability. After commercialization, the public prosecutor and the law would be able to intervene to eliminate corruption.
However, Wang Anshi ignored one issue, that is, this business agency is different from hospitals, colleges, and newspapers, because it cannot be left without it. If the college's business is not good, it can close its doors directly, but this business agency cannot close, no matter how they do it.
Do it, the imperial court must cover up all this.
Compared with the WFP run by Cai Jing, this industry has high losses, many accidents, a vast territory, high mobility, many people and many hands, and is extremely special.
Based on this alone, it is difficult for the public security bureau, procuratorate, and law to carry out comprehensive supervision.
The insurance industry is about to emerge.
The insurance industry sets shipping standards, and then the Public Security Bureau and the Public Security Bureau protect the interests of the three parties through a tripartite contract.
This is also the only way.
Although the establishment of the insurance industry will inevitably increase costs, considering the losses in water transportation and the interference of officials along the way, it is nothing.
Wang Anshi and Xue Xiang agreed to Zhang Fei's suggestion after checking the losses of water transport.
After the three people agreed, the routine remained the same.
It is the procuratorate that takes the lead in attacking.
Legislative Council.
"We have sent people to confirm. If the current evidence is correct, our procuratorate will launch an administrative lawsuit, and the government should compensate those businessmen."
"According to the contract they signed, there is no compensation provision in it." Zhao Pin questioned.
Zhang Fei said: "But that's because the government refused to sign the compensation regulations, and the merchants have made demands for this. Of course, this alone is untenable. The main reason is that in the past few years, the three ministers were shipping In order to effectively supervise the ships, merchant ships and tank ships were mixed, which left those merchants with no choice.
All the current evidence is realistic. At the time of the incident, the sea was calm. According to the confession of the boatman who survived, the boat was very dilapidated and should not have appeared on the river. At that time, it suddenly jumped from the bottom. It cracked, causing the entire ship to disintegrate.
Using such a dilapidated ship to transport goods is obviously a problem of water transportation, and they should bear full responsibility."
Fu Bi said: "But have you ever thought that this may trigger more lawsuits, and at the same time lead to chaos or even suspension of water transportation. The court cannot afford the consequences."
Zhang Fei said: "I have been thinking about this issue, but this is the only thing our public prosecutors and law can do. Only by doing this can we urge the court to reform water transportation and safeguard the interests of the country. This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster. This could have been avoided."
Fu Bi looked at Zhao Pin again.
After Zhao Pin thought for a while, he nodded and said: "Everyone knows that this water transport is the most corrupt and the most damaging to people's livelihood. It is time to rectify this."
...
After Yu Fubi and Zhao Pin discussed it, Zhang Fei asked people to spread the news.
It is said that the procuratorate may initiate a lawsuit against water transportation.
This is really a stone that stirs up a thousand waves!
Water transportation affects too many interests. Leaving aside those corrupt officials, most of the materials needed by the civil and military officials of the dynasty and the hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops were transported to the capital through water transportation.
Mere rumors make officials in the DPRK and China very worried. They are also putting pressure on the public prosecutors and the law to varying degrees. You can't prosecute this casually, or big trouble will happen.
As for water transport, they are confident because this case does not involve corruption. As for why they used broken ships, water transport even said that they were also victims because the money given by the court was too little, so water transport used this to ask the court to increase the amount of money. Water transportation expenses.
This is the main reason why water transport can survive.
Because the water transport was just an accomplice, the culprit behind the scenes was actually the court.
They haven't given enough money at all, but the tasks have only increased rather than decreased. Doesn't this imply that the water transport itself is squeezed and exploited?
This situation is most likely to give rise to institutional corruption.
You only pay ten cents, but let people do the work for the same amount of money. If you don't use crooked ways, it won't be possible at all.
Go to the imperial court to reason and see who is embarrassed.
Water transportation officials are greedy for this kind of money, and they really don't panic at all.
Since so far, these are just rumors, and it has not been said that the Procuratorate is really going to prosecute. The Royal Court and the Legislative Council only said that everything is currently under investigation. The only thing that can be confirmed is that the Procuratorate is investigating the case.
investigation.
All we can do is put pressure on the public security organs, let the police, the procuratorate, and the law take their time, and put the overall situation first.
Little did he know that he was actually waiting for Lu Huiqing to come back.
Xue Xiang is not paying attention to this matter at all, they are busy with his monetary policy.
Since everyone's attention was focused on water transportation, the third company found an advantage and quickly reached an agreement with the three major Jiekupu stores.
But there are still some differences from the previous rumors. In the previous rumors, the three major warehouse stores were trying to borrow one million yuan interest-free, but the final agreement was to borrow three thousand yuan at an interest of one thousandth a year.
Dajie Kupu borrowed one million guan from the imperial court.
In fact, this is not much different from interest-free. It is purely for fun and to give the court a little favor.
Once this news was confirmed, the market's worries about the currency were immediately eliminated.
...
And at the end of the year, secret reports came from Xihe in the west and Yongzhou in the south.
Zhao Xu also immediately summoned Zhang Fei into the palace.
"The south side is stable for the time being."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei was overjoyed when he heard the news. In fact, he had always kept this matter in mind, because he couldn't remember when the fight was won, but starting a war in the south now is definitely not in line with the interests of the Song Dynasty. No matter whether he wins or loses, only Xixia and Liao
The country takes advantage.
Because before the sea transportation was completely opened, that land actually had very little effect on the Central Plains, and at the same time, it would increase a lot of management costs.
The Song Dynasty currently faced the enemies of Xixia and Liao. This was a two-front battle and could no longer spread its forces.
"Um."
Zhao Xu nodded, but said with lingering fear: "However, this process is more dangerous than we imagined. In fact, Jiaozhi has been plotting against our country's Yongzhou before, and in recent years, due to the loss method and the green crop method, there have been incidents in the local area
The money shortage caused dissatisfaction among landowners and chiefs, and the local situation was also turbulent. In addition, after the expansion of the Xihe River spread to Jiaozhi, they were ready to take action, and they have been mobilizing troops at the border.
When Guo Kui led his troops to settle in, Jiaozhi thought that our army wanted to strike first, so they immediately sent troops to Yongzhou. Fortunately, Guo Kui arrived in time and was able to repel the enemy.
However, since Guo Kui was ordered to go there, he did not take advantage of the victory and pursue it. Instead, he sent an envoy to question Jiaozhi, who explained that it was just a misunderstanding.
Later, the two sides negotiated, and Guo Kui agreed to strengthen trade with Jiaozhi, which made Jiaozhi believe that Guo Kui's troops were not stationed to attack them.
But Guo Kui believes that this Jiaozhi wolf is so ambitious that he is only willing to reach a settlement when our army arrives and he is not sure of victory. We should also strengthen border defense."
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "After finishing dealing with Xixia and Liao, they will be the fish on the chopping block. We must make them look good."
A flash of excitement suddenly flashed in Zhao Xu's eyes, and he said, "Now the opportunity seems to have come."
Zhang Fei asked in astonishment: "What chance?"
Zhao Xu said: "Our original plan against Xixia seems to be almost successful."
"plan?"
Zhang Fei was a little confused.
Zhao Xu was very dissatisfied and said: "Have you forgotten? Didn't you suggest me to use private salt to split Xixia internally?"
Zhang Fei was surprised: "So fast?"
After all, this is just a little secret, and it hasn’t been done for a few years, so why should they just split?
He is such a ruthless person and doesn’t talk much!
Zhao Xu said: "This is just an introduction, mainly because the current person in power in Xixia is Queen Liang, and the young master of Xixia will come of age next year, so according to the law, Queen Liang must return to the young master.
However, judging from various signs, Empress Liang does not seem to intend to hand over power.
After our previous arrangements, the merchants currently trading with Xihe are all nobles and merchants who support their young master. According to Wang Shao's letter, these people have really strengthened a lot of power by virtue of their trade with Xihe.
But it also attracted the attention of Empress Liang and her younger brother. They planned to attack the power of the young master of Xixia first, so they banned them from trading with Xihe on the grounds of selling grain to Xihe.
This exposed the ambitions of their siblings, so it caused a lot of controversy in their country. Someone from Xixia has already been contacting Wang Shao, hoping to get the support of our court, and Wang Shao thinks this is a great opportunity."
Zhang Fei hesitated and said: "But there is a Liao Kingdom above that is watching covetously."
Zhao Xu said excitedly: "But this opportunity cannot be missed! Only by creating civil strife among them will we have a chance. Otherwise, we will have to fight on two fronts."
Zhang Fei pondered for a while and suddenly said: "When I checked the accounts of the charity foundation before, I thought of a question."
Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment, "What's the problem?"
The topic was so exciting that he couldn't even react.
Zhang Fei said: "I wonder if Your Majesty has noticed that the fastest developing technologies in China are pen, ink, paper, inkstone and printing."
Zhao Xu said: "I didn't notice it, but what does this have to do with this matter?"
Zhang Fei further explained: “The reason why these technologies are developing so fast is because the emergence of newspapers and periodicals has led to a huge demand for these products, so that businessmen are constantly innovating.
The same is true for firearms. The period when firearm technology developed the fastest happened to be when the Royal Police on Jingdong East Road used firearms to suppress bandits.
Therefore, if you want to develop firearms, you must rely on war, not behind closed doors."
Zhao Xu immediately said: "Isn't this just right?"
Zhang Fei said: "However, firearms are not yet mature at present, and the number of times they have been used on the battlefield is only a handful. Most generals do not know how to use them. If a large-scale war is launched, firearms will not be of much help, and it will be difficult to use their advantages.
.
But if it is a small-scale war, for example, quietly sending people into Xixia to give them internal separatist forces and provide firearms support, this will not only accelerate the innovation and improvement of firearms, but also explore the tactics of using firearms."
Zhao Xu still seemed a little hesitant. To give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a weapon was not putting the cart before the horse.
Zhang Fei added: "Your Majesty, this kind of slow intervention will make the situation more controllable, whether it is domestic finance or the Khitan people in the north. Moreover, through this kind of intervention, we can remove those people from their young master.
Come to our side and avoid making wedding clothes for others in the future. When the time is right, we will send troops.
In the past, we had no choice but to adopt the custodial system, but the shortcomings of this system are also obvious, that is, it is prone to rebellion. But now we have the Public Security Bureau, and facts have proven that the Public Security Law can very well integrate foreigners into our dynasty and accept central management.
"
Hearing this, Zhao Xu felt a little moved, but he could no longer let Xixia become an independent regime. He can make peace with you today, and he can stab you tomorrow, and asked: "What do you mean?"
Zhang Fei said: "We will continue to act according to the original plan and continue to provoke internal struggles among them. At the same time, we will secretly send troops to support them based on the specific situation, but mainly with firearms."
Zhao Xu hesitated and said, "But those firearms are very expensive."
It's not cost-effective to support others with such expensive weapons.
Zhang Fei said: "Of course you can't use copper firearms to shoot. In fact, the reason why the weapons inspector showed us copper firearms last time was mainly to ensure that they were foolproof. Bamboo and iron firearms are not completely unusable."
Zhao Xu nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei added: "What your Majesty has to do now is to dispatch some generals who are good at using firearms from Jingdong East Road to the Xihe area. At the same time, he secretly builds several large-scale firearms workshops in the northwest. As far as I know, the northwest
Iron ore and coal are very rich."
Zhao Xu suddenly thought of something and said: "Actually, before you went to Hezhong Mansion, the northwest was mainly for casting iron coins. There were many coin minting workshops there, but now those workshops have been abandoned. Those workshops can be used for
firearm."
Zhang Fei said happily: "This is really the best."
Zhao Xu added: "However, it is not appropriate to let the courtiers know about this matter yet. You can let Li Bao and the others arrange it. If there is money, I will allocate it from the internal treasury."
At present, all the ministers of the DPRK and China are focusing on domestic affairs. If they know about this kind of thing, they will definitely oppose it.
Zhang Fei said: "Let me pay for the construction of the workshop. This can better conceal the situation from others. Your Majesty has recently allocated a lot of money from the internal treasury."
Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment and said: "This is not a small sum of money."
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "I know that, but there is no one in my family who spends money, so I have saved a lot of money, but it is of no use leaving it there. My philosophy has always been to use the money."
Zhao Xu was very happy and said: "If all the powerful people in the court can be like you, why worry about Xixia being immortal!"
Zhang Fei hurriedly said: "Your Majesty has thanked you. I am here today only because of your Majesty's care. This is what I should do."
Zhao Xu smiled and nodded, and added: "By the way, Wang Shao's letter also mentioned that the entire Western Front must cooperate with this plan, so to complete this plan, a commander is needed."
When it comes to this issue, Zhang Fei is actually very depressed.
Looking around, I really can't find a suitable commander.
Unlike in the Tang Dynasty, there were Li Jing, Li Ji, and Su Dingfang, one generation after another, and they could not stop at all. Even decades later, there were still talented commanders such as Zong Ze, Zhong Shidao, Wu Jie, Yue Fei, and Han Shizhong.
The current situation is a period of leadership vacuum.
This is also related to the system of the Song Dynasty, which could not train commanders.
Zhang Feisi thought about it and said: "For the time being, I think Wang Shao is the most suitable. This plan is mainly to split Xixia, not a head-on confrontation. They are not suitable for Zhong'e. And Wang Shao is playing like this on the edge of Xihe River."
One move, and he also proved that he is a talented commander."
Zhao Xu smiled and said, "Do you know who Wang Shao recommended?"
Zhang Fei asked: "Who?"
Zhao Xu said nothing, just looked at him with a smile.
Zhang Fei pointed at himself in disbelief: "Me?"
Zhao Xu nodded.
Zhang Fei immediately said: "Your Majesty, I take back what I just said. This Wang Shao is not a commander. He doesn't know people at all."
Asking him to engage in diplomacy is already reluctant enough, but fortunately, it only asks him to delay, not to actually talk. Asking him to be the commander-in-chief is no different from self-destruction.
Zhao Xu laughed and said: "The reason why Wang Shao recommended you is because you were kind to Zhong E and other generals of the Western Army during the military trial, and Zhong E and the others were quite prejudiced against Wang Shao, so Wang Shao did not recommend you.
Instead of leading the troops to fight, I will let you be responsible for persuading the Western generals to cooperate with this plan."
Wang Shao strongly agrees with this infiltration and separatist plan. He prefers this kind of outside strategy, but it is difficult to complete it in the Xihe area alone. The entire Western Front must work together.
However, the Western Army is currently very unhappy with Wang Shao and cannot possibly listen to him.
Wang Shao knew about this plan and Zhang Fei was also involved. He hoped that Zhang Fei would convince the generals.
Zhang Fei weighed it for a while and said, "If it's just to convince those Western Army generals, I would be willing to make a trip."
Zhao Xu nodded, "I actually hope you can go there, because now in the entire northwest region, only Yanzhou, Fuzhou and other places have not yet implemented the public security law."
In places such as Fuzhou, the system is quite special. Basically, everything is controlled by the family. Cai Bian and Su Zhe have no way to implement the public security law in the local area.
But Zhao Xu obviously hoped to use the public prosecutor's office to check and balance these warlords.
In fact, he didn't have much trust in Wang Shao at first, and he was planning to transfer Wang Shao back before. After all, Wang Shao had been there for too long and was about to reach the point of being a military envoy.
It was later that he learned from the privy envoy that Wang Shao had taken the initiative to turn nearly half of the army into the royal police, and Cao Ping accepted it. He felt relieved and considered making Wang Shao the commander-in-chief.
Zhang Fei said: "But if we rush to implement the public security law there, will it cause misunderstandings among the generals of the Western Army? After all, this civil and military discord will affect the operations of the frontline generals."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Zhao Xu asked: "Do you have any better suggestions for this?"
Zhang Fei thought for a while and said: "I suggest that only the public security system be introduced. As for the selection issue, the opinions of the generals of the Western Army should be fully considered. This can also ensure local unity."
Zhao Xu nodded and said, "It's up to you."
There's no rush, you can take your time.
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "Then... I will go there next year and implement all the things about the firearms workshop."
"I'm going to have to work hard on you again."
"I don't dare, this is all my responsibility."
"By the way! How are you handling the water transportation matter?" Zhao Xu suddenly asked.
Zhang Fei said: "Now we will wait for Lu Shangshu to return from Hebei. What Wang Xueshi means is to hand over this task to Lu Shangshu."
Of course Zhao Xu understood what was going on.
Zhang Fei suddenly said: "But this is just right."
Zhao Xu asked: "How do you say this?"
Zhang Fei said: "The improved water transportation can strengthen the transportation of grain to the south of the Yangtze River. Then the grain in the northwest can be hoarded to cope with this plan."
As he spoke, something suddenly occurred to him, "By the way! Your Majesty, do you still remember that I mentioned the Jingdong East Road shipping issue to Your Majesty last time?"
Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Of course I remember."
This contains strategies for dealing with the Liao Kingdom.
Zhang Fei said: "Based on the current food dispatch, it is difficult to transport food from Lingnan to the capital, and it is actually not cost-effective for the WFP to purchase it from there.
We can try to transport the grain there by sea, first to Jingdong East Road, and then to the capital via the river."
Zhao Xu asked: "Is this possible? Shipping is very risky."
Zhang Fei said: "If water transportation is split into business agencies, I think they will definitely try sea transportation, because they need to save costs so that they can make more money."
...
Externally, Zhao Xu only informed the ministers about the conflict with Jiaozhi in the south, and said that the misunderstanding with Jiaozhi had been resolved.
Conservatives are very happy with this.
This is enough to prove that Zhao Xu really wants to focus on the country.
Although Wang Anshi was a little unhappy, there was nothing he could do about it. This was the general trend!
At this moment, Lu Huiqing finally came back from Hebei.
Wang Anshi also immediately sent a large gift to Lu Huiqing.
Lu Huiqing was very excited. This gift was very important. He could use this to control the entire water transportation. This power was not small!
"My mentor treats Hui Qing with such kindness, Hui Qing will definitely not let his mentor down."
"You are always at ease when doing things as a teacher."
Wang Anshi chuckled.
...
After Zhang Fei learned that Lu Huiqing was back, he no longer hid it and formally submitted a complaint to the imperial court.
This made many ministers extremely angry.
I’ve tried to persuade you so much, why can’t you stop me?
Why don't you understand the stakes involved?
Judging from Zhang Fei's past style, once there is a lawsuit in the imperial court, God knows how many things will happen.
At this moment, Lu Huiqing stepped forward, rushed to the imperial court as soon as possible, and brought a lot of evidence.
"This is the account of our Ministry of Revenue's water transportation expenditure and the responsibility of water transportation. This is almost impossible to complete, but water transportation still strives to complete the tasks assigned by the court. It is forgivable that they use ships that have been in disrepair. "
Lu Huiqing said righteously: "If we want to hold the water transport responsible, it will be very unfair to the water transport, and it will also chill the hearts of the water transport soldiers."
After Zhao Pin looked at the evidence submitted by Lu Huiqing, he looked at Zhang Fei again.
Although he disliked Lu Huiqing very much, he had to admit that what he said did make sense.
Zhang Fei said: "But those businessmen are also innocent. If they are left alone, this situation will only get worse."
Lu Huiqing said: "If we go to the imperial court, won't the situation become even worse? Your procuratorate can't just focus on enforcing the law and ignore the reality."
Zhang Fei pondered for a while and asked: "I wonder if Lu Shangshu has any suggestions on this?"
Lu Huiqing said: "I think the big issue should be minimized. In the final analysis, this is just a matter of compensation. We can strive to reach a settlement with those businessmen. There is no need to go to court."
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "But our procuratorate has to take into account the interests of the country. No matter what the reason is, water transport has been derelict in this incident. If it is not stopped, it will only continue to harm the interests of the country."
Lu Huiqing said: "Our Ministry of Household Affairs will improve this situation."
Zhang Fei thought for a while and said: "If the Ministry of Revenue can improve this situation, our procuratorate is willing to withdraw the prosecution."