After listening to Lu Gongzhu's words, Zhang Yue was speechless for a moment.
Lu Gongzhu had always opposed the Song Dynasty's war against Xixia, not only before and after the two-pronged expedition to Xia.
When I asked Lu Gongzhu to go to Dangxiang as an envoy, Lu Gongzhu asked himself very bluntly, you Zhang Yue and the emperor have no real intention to make peace with Xixia, why do you send me, Lu Gongzhu, to negotiate peace?
Zhang Yue admitted that he used some rhetoric in his discussions with Lu Gongzhu.
Of course, it's not appropriate to lie. You can only talk, which is similar to a salesperson selling products.
Of course, Lu Gongzhu was not that stupid. He did it because the two of them were in-laws, so it was hard for him to shirk Zhang Yue's words out of love, and Zhang Yue did object to using troops against Dang Xiang.
If it were an ordinary person, Zhang Yue would have scolded him a long time ago. You, Mr. Lu, are now the Deputy Privy Envoy. Through the negotiation of peace, I have single-handedly guaranteed your position in the two houses. Didn't you get the benefits?
Isn't it nice that you are now the deputy privy envoy?
Why are you talking to me?
But Zhang Yue said this and even revealed this meaning. Lu Gongzhu immediately walked away and never thought about entrusting him with anything in the future.
Therefore, a gentleman is a gentleman, but those who have the ability to achieve things are also gentlemen. Otherwise, why would Zhang Yue find Lu Gongzhu? If other people wanted to go, Zhang Yue would not want him to go.
Zhang Yue said: "Lü Gong, political matters are not either one or the other. This is one moment and the other is the other. This is not the case between the imperial court and Dangxiang."
"Lü Gong considers the people of the world as his own, and hopes that the Song Dynasty and Dangxiang can stop the war so that the people will no longer suffer from military disasters. This really makes me awe-inspiring."
"However, I have always been pragmatic in handling matters. Only when you can fight can you make peace, and if you can make peace can you also fight."
Lu Gong wrote: "Prime Minister, why don't you want to make peace with Dangxiang? Now the leader of the country has given up the strength of the Liang family, switched to the Han system, and re-appointed Li Qing as the prime minister. Once the military is restarted, the leader of the country will definitely re-employ him. Liang, at that time, both sides will be in trouble."
"Does Mr. Zhang know what will happen in the future once people's hearts are stirred up? This move is like playing with fire!"
Zhang Yue wanted to refute when he heard this, but he suppressed it.
He thought about it carefully.
In another time and space in history, Bismarck launched a war to unify Germany.
At that time, most of the parliament opposed it, and Bismarck forcibly dissolved the parliament. Later, he also sent people to monitor the speeches of the members.
In the decisive Battle of Sadowa in the Austro-Prussian War, it was generally believed that the Austrian army was stronger than the Prussian army. At the critical moment of the decisive battle, the Prussian Crown Prince commanded reinforcements to arrive and defeated the Austrian army.
At that time, someone said to Bismarck that if the Crown Prince's army arrives later, you will be the sinner of Prussia, but now you are a great man.
After the victory in the war against Austria, the people who had been opposed at the beginning all became supporters of Bismarck. Every day, thousands of people waited in front of Bismarck's official residence and cheered him when he went out.
In the Prussian elections that followed, most of the MPs who originally opposed the war were replaced by those who advocated the war. However, Bismarck suppressed speech, abolished newspapers, and wiped out the opposition, which also planted the seeds of militarism in the later empire.
In fact, Zhang Yue has always followed Bismarck's path.
But Lu Gongzhu is right, establishing the political correctness of crusading against Dangxiang and having the whole country support his war against Dangxiang from top to bottom is like playing with fire.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yue asked: "Then let me ask Mr. Lu how to deal with it?"
Lu Gongzhu was slightly surprised when he heard this and said: "It is better to handle it with caution. Dangxiang does have the intention to make amends with this dynasty and stop fighting. However, if he insists on backing down, Dangxiang will think that we are easy to bully."
Zhang Yue smiled slightly when he heard this. When the matter came to him, he kicked the ball back.
He repeatedly insisted on attacking Xixia, and Lü Gongzhu would definitely oppose it, but he allowed Lü Gongzhu to make his own decision and returned to his neutral position.
Zhang Yue said: "Lv Gong is right, Dang Xiang is indeed a man who is willing to push even further."
Lu Gong wrote: "We must uphold principles and act accordingly. I live in a big country, so I should uphold etiquette and uphold morality."
Zhang Yue nodded and said: "This is a golden and good advice."
After Lu Gongzhu left, Zhang Yue looked at his back.
Yes, I want to follow Wang Anshi's idea of "one morality", but one morality does not mean that we should reject dissenting opinions.
There must be objections from good deeds in the court.
It seems that when everyone is cursing and noisily discussing things, things are going uphill. But when everyone stops talking and is too lazy to express their opinions. Knowing that speaking out is in vain and may even lead to retaliation, then it often starts to go downhill. .
It is necessary not only to unite the political correctness of attacking party items, but also to maintain dissent and make people dare to speak. How to hold both ends and hold on to the middle?
…
Zhang Yue returned to the West Hall of Zhongshu and saw that Cai Bian seemed to have been waiting for a long time. Seeing Zhang Yue coming, he said: "Prime Minister, Qin Fenglu's official envoy Sun Lumi reported that one hundred and thirty-two officials in Qinfenglu were derelict in their duties and corrupt."
In one breath, he told me that one hundred and thirty-two officials on Xihe Road had problems.
Zhang Yuezhan read the letter and found that nearly half of the officials were involved in a nest case.
The Hexi Corridor from Qinfeng Road to Liangzhou is the Silk Road. Now Zhang Yue wants to connect to the Western Regions and has recovered thousands of miles of Xihe Road. In addition, the Song Dynasty also had Beijibu, which is almost equivalent to silk.
Now the Song Dynasty’s northwest foreign trade has surged.
Now Sun Lu has found out that this case was exposed by foreign trade. According to Sun Lu's statistics, the tariffs received by Xihe Road are only one-tenth of the real tariffs.
The rest were either smuggled or were stolen by officials during normal customs declaration.
Zhang Yue couldn't help but smile coldly after reading this. There really is nothing new under the sun.
He had read a joke, how should the three heroes of Zhongxing in the late Qing Dynasty be ranked?
One person ranked higher than Zeng, Li and Zuo. This person was not from the Qing Dynasty, but a foreigner named Hurd.
Under Hart's management, the Qing Dynasty's customs tax revenue surged from less than five million taels a year to 20 million taels a year. It was with this money that the crumbling Qing Dynasty was maintained.
In fact, Hurd didn't have any extraordinary skills. He just discovered a problem. The biggest problem in the Qing Dynasty's foreign trade was smuggling, and it was the smuggling of normal goods.
For example, smuggling of arms and luxury goods is relatively normal, because either arms customs does not allow it, or the tariff on luxury goods is too high.
But why do normal goods need to be smuggled during customs clearance?
Because the customs clearance procedures are too cumbersome and require many layers of cards, merchants can make higher profits by smuggling normal goods.
So Hurd reformed the tax system and put an end to taxation.
Originally it was a humiliation and loss of power, but the Qing Dynasty was able to make it submissive. Later, the British wanted to return the tariffs to the Qing Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty did not want it. Zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang was raised by using the Qing Dynasty's tariffs as pledges to foreign banks.
Zhang Yue looked at the list carefully. In addition to Sun Lu's signature, there was also a signature from Qinfeng Road's transfer envoy Fan Yu, which was obviously confirmed.
I know half of the people here.
In fact, most of them have followed their own blood and injuries on Xihe Road, and they have built up the power of Xihe Road together.
Once he was his subordinate, and the rest are also his subordinates' subordinates.
Cai Bian said: "Prime Minister, the atmosphere in the officialdom has not been like this for a day or two."
"Fortunately, Sun Lu was sent to Xihe Road by the Prime Minister. Otherwise, outsiders or even Cai Que would have gotten a handle on this matter, and the consequences would have been disastrous."
"At the same time, Fan Yu and Sun Lu did not come from the Prime Minister's court, nor did they follow the Prime Minister. Their words must also be reviewed."
Zhang Yue said: "I think 90% of it is true."
"It is precisely because Fan Yu and Sun Lu did not come from my family and have never followed me, so what they said is probably true."
Cai Bian knew that this matter was indeed what Zhang Yue had guessed. Xihe Road was owned by Zhang Yue, and most of the officials serving here had inextricable connections with Zhang Yue.
This is what officialdom is like. When a person rises up, he will support another one, and the person being supported will support the next one.
Therefore, the officials on Xihe Road were not personally promoted by Zhang Yue, but many were promoted by officials he had supported, and they were all his disciples and grandchildren.
Fan Yu and Sun Lu had offended Zhang Yue before, but had nothing to do with the people under Zhang Yue, so they dared to pick them out one by one, and finally broke out into a nest case.
Zhang Yue said: "These people on the list have followed me and thought that after I became prime minister, they could enjoy the shade under the big tree and act without any scruples!"
Cai Bian said: "What Sun Lu means is that these people have made great contributions to the court. As long as they can hand over the corrupt ink, they can be forgiven."
Zhang Yue said: "Punish Wang Hou first!"
"Wang Hou is not strict with his subordinates. Let him be dismissed from the position of commander-in-chief of troops and horses at Xihe Road first! The rest of the people will either be in charge, demoted, or even exiled. They cannot be allowed to remain in their original positions."
"Yuandu, please pack up and go to Xihe Road tomorrow. In the name of the Official System Detailed Division, you can inspect the place! You can pay off your crimes by voluntarily paying the crime, and you can use your discretion if you have meritorious service in the past. You can handle these by yourself. Don't be afraid of others saying that I am wrong.
Third, do not miss old feelings. The truth is that if we want to rectify the world's atmosphere, we should start with the atmosphere on Xihe Road. I will write a letter and give it to Wang Hou to tell him that your words are what I mean."
Cai Bian said yes, knowing that Zhang Yue was angry this time.
At the same time, Cai Bian felt happy that he could be entrusted by Zhang Yue with full authority to handle such a matter, which also showed Zhang Yue's trust in him.
Especially in this sentence, your words are what I mean, almost handling this matter as Zhang Yue's spokesperson.
Of course, Cai Bian also knew that this matter was really difficult. These officials were all Zhang Yue's old friends. He wanted to scare the monkeys and clean up the official atmosphere of Xihe Road. At the same time, he also had old feelings to consider. These people had also made contributions to the construction of Xihe Road.
.
Everyone in the official circles knew that Zhang Yue was very nostalgic for old friendships.
So does Zhang Yue believe that Cai Bian can make a decision for him?
Even Zhang Yue vaguely revealed that he had the intention of entrusting political power to Cai Bian. Wang Hou was Zhang Yue's second disciple, and he had the status of teacher and student.
If this matter is done well, Wang Hou will also give Cai Bian a favor. If nothing else, with Wang Hou's support, Cai Bian's status in the Zhang Party will also rise.
Of course, all this is just Cai Bian's speculation. Zhang Yue is still young and will be prime minister for at least ten years before defeating Dang Xiang.
There's no reason to be thinking about a replacement so early.