Chapter 672 Even if Butcher Zhang dies, we still wont eat the whole pig
"Pah!" Sheng Minglan dropped the teacup in her hand and splashed tea fragments all over the floor. "Chunlan, the rebels have occupied the palace? How about Uncle Gu?"
Chunlan felt a little unhappy and said calmly, "Sixth Miss, the young master is not a rebel, but the King Qin's army who killed the false prince!"
"The false prince?"
"The false prince Zhao Zongquan murdered two princes and a prince of the royal family. The truth has been revealed. As for Erlang of the Gu family"
Sheng Minglan stood up and took Chunlan's arm and asked anxiously, "How is Uncle Gu?"
Looking at the beautiful and beautiful sixth girl of the Sheng family, she is really a beauty with a poor life. If she doesn't do anything good, the eldest lady of the Qi family... She sighed softly, "The second son of the Gu family died in the battle."
Uncle Gu is dead!
Sheng Minglan's vision went dark and she fainted. Chunlan had quick eyes and quick hands and grabbed Sheng Minglan. Xiaotao hurriedly stepped forward to help...
There was a flurry of excitement in the hall.
"Hel Ming girl into the house," Mrs. Sheng calmly directed everyone, "Danju, go and call the doctor quickly."
The eldest maid Danju responded, turned around and trotted out of the house.
When Chunlan returned to the hall, Mrs. Sheng took her to ask about Gu Tingye's situation. When she learned that the whole person was blown to pieces, her eyes felt a little sore. She was not sad for Gu Tingye, but pitiful for Ming. Her mother died when she was a child. Now,
Not yet married but now a widow
How unfair God is!
Thinking of the culprit of this matter, the old lady couldn't help but cursed Sheng Hong and his son. The originally good marriage was ruined for the rest of Minglan's life because of their greed.
Mrs. Wang couldn't help but want to defend Guan He and her son. There was something wrong between them, but if Liu Yatou insisted on not agreeing, she could still force her to get married. The old lady only scolded Guan He.
Bai'er, you're too biased.
Rulan saw the old lady opening her mouth to defend herself, and quickly stretched out her hand and pinched her, signaling her not to speak. The old lady was very angry. Now, isn't she looking for scolding for talking too much? She couldn't retaliate after being scolded. Such a stupid thing was not possible.
Only I can do it!
Besides, if the old lady scolds a few words, Daddy Zha and his second brother will not lose a piece of meat. After the old lady finished scolding and went into the house to see Minglan, Rulan pulled Chunlan and said, "Are my father and second brother okay?
"
Chunlan smiled and said, "Guan Sheng and the second young master are both safe and sound."
After hearing that both her officials and her son were safe and sound, Wang finally let go of her worries and asked her maid to bring Chunlan a cup of tea. Then she asked about the situation in the palace and learned that the new emperor was actually Princess Fukang.
Extremely surprised, with a face full of disbelief, "Princess Fukang is a woman..."
Rulan said in surprise, "Those civil servants agreed??"
Chunlan said, "The late emperor left an edict."
Ru Lan snorted and asked curiously, "Well, Brother Heng has worked so hard. What did the new emperor reward Brother Heng? At least make him a Duke, right?"
"The new emperor has just ascended the throne today. The most important thing next is to deal with the affairs of the late emperor and his successor. It should take a few days to wait." Seeing that it was getting late, Chunlan hurriedly talked about business, "Come here this time, besides
In addition to telling the young lady the news about the young master, there is another thing, but this requires the eldest lady’s consent.”
Wang pointed at herself and said, "What do you need my consent for?"
Chunlan said, "Young master is not worried about the safety of the girl, so he wants to arrange some guards for the girl."
Wang asked in confusion, "Guards? What kind of guards should we arrange so well? The capital is going to be in chaos?"
Chunlan waved her hands and said, "Madam, I can't explain this matter in a few words. I'll just ask you personally when the young master comes to visit me next time."
Wang nodded and asked, "How many people are there?"
"Three personal guards." Chunlan shouted to the door, "Leling, Yuanxiang, Xiaomao, you guys came in and saw the girl."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw three young girls wearing straight guard uniforms walking into the room. After the three of them stood still, Chunlan gave a brief introduction, "Fifth girl, your safety will be protected by Leling in the future.
, Yuanxiang and Kitty are in charge, Leling is the captain, and Yuanxiang and Kitty are the deputy captains.”
The three girls raised their hands in salute.
"Leling, Yuanxiang, Xiaomao, I have met the fifth girl."
Rulan hurriedly returned the gift, and her eyes lit up when she saw the pistol box slung around the waists of the three of them...
There were only three of them, and they were all women, so Wang nodded and agreed.
Chunlan said: "Leling and the others are personal guards. Every time the girl goes out, there will be a team of 20 guards following her, but those 20 people do not live in the Sheng family."
Rulan asked curiously, "So many people? Where do those 20 people live?"
Chunlan said, "It's the Li Mansion next door to the Sheng family. When the girl goes out, they will automatically follow her."
Mrs. Wang suddenly said, "It turns out that the Li Mansion next door was bought by Brother Heng." A month ago, the neighbor next door moved. She was also surprised that the Li family had lived there for decades and nothing happened, so why did they move?
ah.
Less than an hour after the Queen ascended the throne, the news spread to more than 1.2 million people in the 17 counties of Bianliang, Tokyo. Thanks to the good reputation that Song Renzong had built up over decades, although ordinary people felt that it was a bit deviant, they did not feel that it was a bit deviant.
How wrong it is. Among the people, if there are no sons in the family, it is common for daughters to recruit husbands to inherit the family business.
However, the civil servants reacted fiercely and wrote memorials one after another to impeach several prime ministers. The prime minister who was scolded the most was Zeng Gongliang. As the prime minister, he did not stop such a ridiculous thing. It was really a shame for the civil servants! Zeng Gongliang and several prime ministers did it.
Hold one head and two big ones.
Imperial College of the Capital
"Absurd! Absolutely ridiculous! I have thousands of clan members in the Song Dynasty, but I can't find a suitable clan member?"
"I think my husband is afraid of the sword in Qi Heng's hand! I didn't expect these people to be so greedy for life and afraid of death."
"Qi Heng harbored wolfish ambitions, killed loyal people, disturbed the court, and his disobedience was clearly revealed!
"
"Qi Heng deposed the crown prince without any reason, used the emperor to command the princes, and carried out Cao Mang's deeds."
"The Song Dynasty has been raising scholars for hundreds of years. The dog thief Qi Heng violates the ancestral system. We will never let him succeed."
"Qingjun side! Destroy the traitors!"
"Qingjun side! Destroy Qi Heng!"
"Tomorrow morning, everyone will go to Xuandemen to petition!"
"good!"
"Let's go together."
Early the next morning, at dawn, the gate of the Imperial College was already bustling with people. There were more than 2,000 students in the entire Imperial College, and almost 80% of the students came.
"Daily Daily News, Tokyo Daily News, the new emperor has ascended the throne, and he has decreed that Enko will be added!"
"Daily Daily, Tokyo Daily, the new emperor has promised that Enke will get six thousand Jinshi!"
Admit six thousand Jinshi?!
The originally noisy atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
The students all thought they heard it wrong. In previous years, it was held once every three years, and a maximum of more than 300 people were admitted. When the new emperor ascends the throne and opens Enke, the admission rate will be higher, but only four to five hundred people.
Six thousand people?
"Little agent, give me a daily report!"
The students got the daily newspaper and quickly found what they wanted. It clearly stated that six thousand Jinshi were admitted!
Damn it!
That’s six thousand!
Enlarged twenty times!
"Six thousand Jinshi were admitted!"
"The Emperor's grace is mighty!"
"Long live the official family!"
"Long live the Queen!"
All the students were very excited and their favorability towards the new emperor reached 100!
Some people poured cold water on it and said, "With so many admissions, how can we get so many official positions?"
Student A said, "Yes, there are six thousand Jinshi. Don't get the Jinshi in the exam. When the time comes, let us wait, just like Emperor Zhenzong did?"
During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, due to the excessive number of officials, it was stipulated that the fifth-level Jinshi should be elected, and the other four-level officials could still be exempted from selection.
Student B said, "Even if half of them are elected, there are still three thousand people, which is ten times the usual number. Moreover, we are the first batch of disciples of the new emperor, so His Majesty will not treat us badly."
Student C asked, "Then shall we still go and petition?"
Please make a wish!
If the new emperor is so enlightened, why make such a fuss?
Gone, gone.
The most important thing at the moment is to find out who Enke’s ‘master’ is this time.
More than a thousand students dispersed in a hurry and went home to find a way out
After exercising in the morning, Wang Lidong came to his parents' courtyard. As soon as he sat down, Qi's mother asked, "Heng'er, what do the officials plan to do with the queen?"
Wang Lidong said, "This is Fukang's family matter, and I have no intention of getting involved."
Seeing that his wife was in a low mood, Qi's father quickly changed the subject and said, "Heng'er, the imperial mausoleum is built with cement, there will be no problem, right? This can't be careless."
After the emperor ascended the throne yesterday, he inquired about the funeral of the late emperor. When she learned that the false prince only planned to spend 15 million to build the imperial mausoleum, Princess Fukang cursed this man for being disobedient and unfilial.
It is the smallest imperial mausoleum in history.
With a wave of his hand, the money doubled.
Building the late emperor's mausoleum was a big job. The money did not go to outsiders, so how could it be easier for outsiders? Wang Lidong directly asked his father to take over the job.
Wang Lidong said, "As long as cement is well maintained, there will be no problems for hundreds of years. Father, if you are worried, you can go to several maritime bases and have a look. Some places have been soaked in seawater for several years. A little
fine."
Qi Hai nodded and said he would take time to take a look in the next two days.
Wang Lidong made another suggestion. The personnel to build the imperial mausoleum this time should be directly transferred from the Forbidden Army and the Xiang Army to reorganize the Construction Engineering Corps. From now on, these people will be responsible for building various infrastructure projects, which will coincide with the reorganization of the army.
Qi's father frowned and said, "According to the official's wishes, I made a rough calculation last night and found that the manpower required to build the imperial mausoleum this time will be at least 300,000. Such people will be idle in seven months. By then, you
What are you going to do?"
In 976, Song Taizu died suddenly, and the construction of the imperial mausoleum started in a hurry. After the Yongchang Mausoleum was built, Taizu's coffin was buried in Gongyi from Tokyo. When he arrived at the mausoleum, it was exactly 7 months after Taizu's death. From then on, the Song Dynasty continued to form a rule
:The emperor's imperial mausoleum must be built within seven months after the emperor's death.
"Father is worried that there will be trouble if there are so many people with nothing to do." Wang Lidong said with a smile, "I also think that there are too few people. After the imperial tomb is built, I plan to reuse all the streets in Tokyo City and Bianliang.
The cement paving alone will definitely not be completed in two years with such a small number of people."
After breakfast, Wang Lidong went out to the palace. Unexpectedly, other shareholders had already arrived. After greeting everyone, he was about to start today's topic when a person walked in outside the hall. He was the late emperor's personal manager, now the new general manager.
The emperor's chief steward, Liang Daguan.
Liang Daguan seemed to be a different person from yesterday, his face was rosy and he looked like he was twenty years younger. He walked up to Princess Fukang and bent down to report, "The petition teams at the Imperial Palace, the Imperial College and several major academies have been disbanded.
"
Princess Fukang breathed a sigh of relief. If she was brought to the palace by the scholars on the second day after she ascended the throne, she would be embarrassed.
Duke Cheng Guo said in a rough voice, "I told you, Yuan Ruo's trick will definitely work. If these big turbans have breasts, they are mothers, and they don't care who becomes the emperor."
"These big turbans talk about benevolence, justice and morality all day long, but in fact they are most adaptable to the changing circumstances."
After a while of teasing, after everyone had had enough, Wang Lidong asked Fugui to give each person a copy of the prepared materials, "The Song Dynasty is now terminally ill. The country has redundant personnel, troops, and expenses, and several surrounding countries are watching eagerly.
Ready to bite us anytime.
Our dynasty has always valued civil service over military force, which resulted in the army having no combat power at all. Even Xixia, a country with a population of more than 3 million, can beat us!
If we don’t make changes, one day when the prairie cavalry goes south, everyone will become the slaves of the barbarians.”
Princess Fukang took the manual. There were four vigorous and powerful regular characters printed on the cover, "Four Sea Contract".
I turned over half a page and frowned. The Song Dynasty court will be reorganized and a cabinet will be established. A prime minister and six deputy prime ministers will be established, who will be fully responsible for managing the daily political affairs of the Song Dynasty.
In this way, wouldn’t the emperor himself become just a decoration?
Although I had known that I would be a clay Bodhisattva, I still felt a little bit unwilling when things came to a close. At least I wanted to give her something small to do.
Duke Cheng Guo muttered loudly, "Yuan Ruo, the imperial court is all under the control of scholar-bureaucrats, so let's play ball. Which side are you from?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Wang Lidong smiled and said, "Uncle Liu, can you clean your chamber pot and toilet? Or should you let your elder brother Erlang clean them?"
Duke Cheng's eyes widened and he said, "I am a Duke, and you ask me to clean the chamber pot? Although my brats are not knighted, they are all generals anyway. For such a trivial matter, who is not a servant?
The maid did it."
Wang Lidong spread his hands and said, "That's it. We have ten shareholders in total. Even if we include relatives, there are only a few thousand people. The Song Dynasty is so big and there are so many things to do. Can you come here and do it yourself?"
Lian Guogong was thoughtful and said, "What Yuan Ruo means is that after being a civil servant, he will be a servant, specializing in handling household affairs. The key matters will be decided by us?"
This is not nonsense!
Wang Lidong nodded and said, "Let me put it simply. The Song Dynasty is like a cotton trading company. Everyone here is the major shareholder of the trading company. The civil servants are the shop assistants, servants and shopkeepers we employ."
Duke Cheng Guo shouted, "When you say that, I understand. This is great, haha! The big turban is the servant hired by my old Liu!"
Ling Guogong spoke up and said, "Then should this young man's salary be reduced?"
Wang Lidong nodded and said, "This content is written at the end of the booklet. From now on, all officials will only receive their official salary, and all other additional expenses, disguised salary and salary of the postal officer will be cancelled!"
To put it simply, you only receive a basic salary, and all other allowances and subsidies are removed. For example, when Bao Zheng was appointed governor of Kaifeng, he wore three hats: direct bachelor of Longtuge, doctor of Yousi of Shangshu Province, and right to know.
He works in Kaifeng Prefecture, so he can receive three salaries at the same time. After that, Bao Zheng can only receive one salary from Kaifeng Prefecture Yin, which is only 300 guan in a month and 3600 guan in a year, which is not even one-tenth of his previous salary.
arrive.
All the shareholders took a breath of cold air, this is too cruel, the big turban didn't jump up and make a fuss!
Princess Fukang worriedly said, "Our court has always treated scholar-bureaucrats favorably. If we change this, the civil servants will definitely oppose it collectively. When all of them resign, the Song Dynasty will be in chaos."
Wang Lidong snorted and said, "Your Highness, don't take scholar-bureaucrats too seriously.
Even if Butcher Zhang dies, we still won’t eat pigs. There are tens of millions of people who want to be officials in this world, and there are five to six million people in the Song Dynasty. Without these 20,000 officials, it is not difficult to raise tens of thousands.
Your Majesty has never been to a county. A strong county magistrate is like a local emperor, and a weak one is like a puppet. With or without a county magistrate, the whole county will still function.
There are a total of 20,000 officials in our dynasty, but there are also more than 400,000 clerks. These people usually do most of the work of the major yamen!
If there is a shortage of officials at that time, we will promote some old officials and ensure that the yamen will not be much different from usual."
The nobles all clapped their thighs and shouted, "Yuan Ruo is right, the big turban is nothing! When our ancestors followed Taizu to conquer the world with swords and guns, there were not many big turbans, so the world did not change in the same way."
Princess Fukang was surprised and said, "Promote officials to become officials?"
Wang Lidong nodded and said, "As long as you have outstanding abilities, why not promote them? In this way, the hearts of these 400,000 officials will immediately turn to us. There will be no chaos in the world."
Princess Fukang was worried that the officials would not be willing to accept such a drastic reduction in salary. As the saying goes, it is easy to change from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to change from luxury to frugality. When the time comes, corruption will become common and the people will suffer in the end.
Wang Lidong sneered at this. He hired a servant, not Lafayette. Even if nine-tenths of his salary was cut, it would still be enough to support seven or eight people. As for high salary to support integrity, it was purely It’s just letting the dog out. Human greed is endless. If you have 100,000, you will want 1 million. No matter how much you give, the desire will be hard to fill.
Take the Song Dynasty as an example. Officials in the Song Dynasty were the best paid in history, and their work was also very easy. However, there were still "nine out of ten officials were corrupt." Just like the Sheng family, all their income depended on Sheng Hong. A person, a small fifth-rank official, can support hundreds of people and provide them with good food and clothing. If they are not greedy, they can only rely on salary and subsidies.
"During the imperial examination, I wrote an article about measures to prevent corruption." Wang Lidong asked everyone to turn over two pages, which contained some specific implementation plans.
The Yushitai was directly placed under the jurisdiction of the emperor and expanded to every county government, requiring about 5,000 officials.
Princess Fukang's eyes lighted up. This power is not small. Finally, she is no longer a clay Buddha!
Cousin Qi Xuan said, "Brother Heng, if you change it like this, some scholar-bureaucrats will definitely rebel? Isn't this unnecessary?"
Wang Lidong understood what his cousin meant and said with a smile, "Rebellion? Righteousness is in our hands now. If any scholar-official dares to raise the flag to rebel, that is treason!"
He wants to kill the nine tribes!
It’s not that I look down upon these big turbans, I don’t dare to rebel even if the three of them have the courage!
At most, as His Majesty said, they will resign as a group in protest. Or they may encourage some clans to rebel. They will follow the leaders of these clans, come up with some bad ideas, and become dog-headed military advisors."
Cousin Qi Xuan muttered, "What a waste of effort. It's a lot of effort!"
You, a science guy, can't communicate with you!
After listening to the explanation, several people roughly understood Wang Lidong's thoughts, and they were convinced that they had not followed the rebellion in vain. Princess Fukang picked up the booklet and continued to read the more than 20,000 officials who were in favor of Enyin. She re-examined and cleared all those who failed. retreat!
Princess Fukang was stunned. Most of the officials in Enyin were civil servants, so the scholar-bureaucrats hated Qi Heng to death.
The Fifth Army Governor's Office was established to have jurisdiction over more than one million imperial troops and Xiang troops across the country. From now on, the military department of the imperial court had no right to intervene in the management of the army, and could only oversee the inspection of all county offices and regiment training in various places.
The Royal Bank of the Song Dynasty was established, and the six major money managers were all taken over by the Royal Bank of the Song Dynasty. Private individuals were not allowed to mint any valuable currency.
All gold and silver expenditures and income of the Song Dynasty court went through the Song Dynasty Royal Bank account.
Princess Fukang said, "Yuan Ruo, is this Royal Bank of Song Dynasty similar to Sihai Bank?"
Wang Lidong nodded and said, "I plan to use the Sihai Bank as the basis to form the Song Dynasty Royal Bank. Everyone can invest in it, but of course it is only limited to those of us."
Ling Guojing said, "Yuanruo plans to seize the imperial court's purse?"
Wang Lidong nodded and said, "From now on, all expenses of the imperial court must be submitted to the Royal Bank of the Song Dynasty for approval. If it fails, there will be no money."
Princess Fukang suddenly realized that the ultimate goal of so many changes was to take away power from the scholar-bureaucrats and the emperor and concentrate it all in the hands of ten shareholders or Qi Heng, which was not much different from the operating mechanism of the cotton trading company.
"Who will choose the seven prime ministers?"
Wang Lidong smiled and said, "Of course it is decided by us ten shareholders. Every time there is an election, each shareholder nominates a quota. In total, there are ten candidates. For officials of the fifth rank and above of the imperial court, each person has one vote, and the one with the most votes is elected.
Prime Minister, the second to the sixth are deputy prime ministers."
On October 9, the 11th year of Emperor You's reign, after three full days of negotiations, the ten largest shareholders of the Cotton Trading Company passed the "Four Seas Agreement" at Wende Hall in Bianjing City. The course of the giant ship of the Song Dynasty made a 90-degree turn and deviated.
turned the original direction and slowly drove into the fog.