Liu E withdrew from the stage and returned to the background.
We hold the same power, but standing in front of the stage and standing behind the scenes are completely different things.
Standing in front of the stage, she can influence government affairs, participate in discussions about government affairs, and guide government affairs in the direction she wants.
Standing behind the scenes, she could only make judgments on a bunch of government affairs that had already been discussed, and this judgment power was not in her hands alone.
The power in her hands has obviously remained unchanged, but her influence on government affairs has been reduced by more than half.
The imperial censor and officials felt unhappy because they failed to depose Liu E.
But the method proposed by Kou Zhun was by far the best way to resolve the conflict between them and Liu E, and they had to accept it.
Wait until Kou Zhun finished speaking what he meant.
The censor took the lead and said: "I obey the order!"
The rest of the officials followed suit and said, "I obey your order!"
From then on, Zhao Zhen and Kou Zhun were the only two people on the imperial steps of the Chui Gong Hall.
Zhao Zhen was young and could not manage politics, so Kou Zhun was in charge of all matters in the court.
Kou Zhun became a powerful minister.
Even if he has no intention of becoming a powerful minister, the government and the public will treat him as one.
Liu E's matter has come to an end.
The food shortage in Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang has become the biggest problem in the court that needs to be solved urgently.
Kou Zhun sat on Kou's bus, frowning and saying: "Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are facing a food shortage problem. What do you colleagues think?"
Li Di held up the Chao Hut and said loudly: "Open the warehouse to release grain and provide relief to the victims."
Wang Zeng, Ding Wei, Wang Qinruo and others all nodded.
They all agreed to open granaries to release grain.
Kou Zhun said solemnly: "The number of victims is huge. If we want to feed the victims, we can only open the Changping Granary. Once the Changping Granary is opened, the people who are frightened by the food famine will inevitably rush to grab food crazily.
The imperial court is in Huainan, and the three-year grain reserves in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are likely to be robbed."
Li Di said: "The food is gone, we can save it. We can't let the people go hungry, let alone force them to rebel."
Kou Zhun nodded slowly and said: "Then give the order to the Huainan Road Changping envoy to open a warehouse to release grain. At the same time, order the Huainan Road pacification envoy to lead the Xiang soldiers and rural soldiers from all over the Huainan Road to quickly eliminate the rebels who took the opportunity to cause rebellion.
thief."
With Kou Zhun's decision, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty began to act quickly.
Originally, after the Great Court Meeting, all officials would seal off their respective yamen and go home to celebrate the New Year.
Now that such a big thing has happened, they no longer care about celebrating the New Year, they are all busy with disaster relief.
Kou Zhun did not return home after the dismissal of the dynasty, but went to Zishi Hall.
Naturally, Kou Ji did not return home and followed Kou Zhun to Zishitang.
Inside the Zishi Hall.
The grandfather and grandson arrived at Zishi Hall, but there was no one in Zishi Hall, and Liu E was nowhere to be seen.
Zhao Zhen had been sitting in the court hall for a long time today and his body was a little stiff. Chen Lin led him to stretch his muscles.
Kou Zhun led Kou Ji to the seat in Zishi Hall, pointed to a seat and asked Kou Ji to sit down.
Then, while rummaging through the recent memorials of Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang generations, he asked Kou Ji, "What do you think of the food shortage in Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang generations?"
Kou Ji sat on a chair, pondered for a moment, and said: "Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang generations have not had a lack of harvest this year, but there is a food shortage for no reason. Someone must be behind it."
Kou Zhun found a memorial from Huainan about food. While reading it, he said: "Of course I know someone is causing trouble. The question is who is causing trouble?
Are they profiteers who want to take advantage of the opportunity to make huge profits, or is there someone in the government who is planning something secretly and secretly hoarding grain?"
Kou Ji pinched his chin, analyzed it in detail, shook his head and said: "Whenever there is a food shortage, there will be profiteers who will interfere with it. However, the power of profiteers is limited, and they can only affect one or two state capitals, and they cannot reach the level of
Eight state capitals are so big.
If someone in the court wanted to collect grain and use it to plan something, they would not be able to collect grain from the people, let alone make such a big fuss.
They can completely use the Changping envoys in various places to quietly take away grains from the Changping warehouses in various places and collect all the grains they need."
Kou Zhun put down the memorial in his hand and asked doubtfully: "Then tell me, who is behind this?"
Kou Ji couldn't think of a clue for a moment, so he simply suggested: "Grandpa, why don't you look through the memorials of transshipment envoys from various places. So much food has been lost in Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so there must be traces left.
And these traces are likely to be hidden in the memorials of transshipment envoys from various places."
In Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, eight states have lost their food.
No matter where the food goes.
Transportation is a huge project, and it is impossible not to use transshipment in various places.
After being reminded by Kou Ji, Kou Zhun reacted and hurriedly rummaged through the pile of memorials. He also ordered the eunuch waiting outside the door to go to the place where the memorials were stored and deliver all the memorials submitted this year by the transfer envoys from various places.
Came over.
When all the memorials submitted by the transshipment envoys from various places were brought this year, they were piled up on a large table.
Kou Ji accompanied Kou Zhun and began to read the memorials.
The grandfather and grandson were busy from noon to the afternoon, and finally discovered the clues from the memorial sent by the transfer envoy on Huainan Road.
"The Liao merchants purchased one million dan of grain... The Jurchen leader purchased 300,000 dan of grain..."
"The last payment was made by a Korean businessman, who purchased 500,000 dan of grain..."
Kou Ji sketched out some of the information about grain purchasing in his hand and copied it onto a piece of paper. After calculating it carefully, he looked shocked.
"In the entire Huainan, five million shi of grain was bought this year?"
Kou Zhun threw the statistics of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang generations to Kou Ji and said in a deep voice: "The Jiangsu and Zhejiang generations are in the same situation."
The grandfather and grandson looked at each other, their expressions looking a little heavy.
After pondering for a moment.
Grandfather and grandson said in unison: "The grain was bought by the Liao people."
The Liao people bought so much grain from the Song Dynasty. For what reason, both their grandfather and grandson knew clearly.
Since the Liao people occupied the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun and the late Queen Mother Xiao Chuo of the Liao Kingdom vigorously promoted Sinicization in the Liao Kingdom, some nobles in the Liao Kingdom began to get off the horseback and chose to live the same life as the Song people.
But the Liao people were good at herding horses and sheep, but not good at farming.
Except for the large number of Han people farming in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, other places in the Liao Kingdom still had herding as their main industry.
The people of Liao wanted to live the same life as the people of Song, but the food supply of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures alone was far from enough.
Therefore, every year, the Liao people would purchase a batch of grain from the Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty would send people to transport grain to Youzhou City in the Liao Kingdom, and the Liao Dynasty would send people to deliver money to the Song Dynasty.
But this year is different from previous years.
This year, Emperor Yelu Longxu of the Liao Dynasty first led his troops to conquer Goryeo, and then led his troops into the mountains to prepare for the attack on Xixia. Naturally, more food was needed.
In order to conceal his purpose of attacking Xixia, Emperor Yelu Longxu of the Liao Dynasty did not want the Song Dynasty to take advantage of the opportunity, so he had to buy grain without telling the Song Dynasty.
In the name of the small tribes and vassals that surrendered to the Liao Kingdom, he bought grain bit by bit from the Song Dynasty, and finally went to the Liao Kingdom, where they were gathered together and turned into military rations to help him attack Xixia.
Kou Ji picked out one of the many memorials and handed it to Kou Zhun. He said in a deep voice: "The first purchase of grain by the Liao people started in July. In other words, in July, the Liao Emperor
When Yelu Longxu's conquest of Goryeo was about to end, he had the idea of attacking Xixia and began to make plans for this.
The previous increase in annual coins introduced from the Liao Kingdom, and the domineering posture adopted by the fourth prince of the Liao Kingdom, Yelu Angkor, after arriving in the Song Dynasty, are probably all illusions.
The purpose is to confuse me, the Song Dynasty, so that I, the Song Dynasty, cannot interfere in the war between them and Xixia."
Kou Zhun nodded gloomily.
Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Emperor Yelu Longxu's plan is really profound."
Kou Zhun had a gloomy face and whispered: "The Liao Kingdom wants to conquer Xixia. I'm afraid the grain they bought from Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang is not enough. Xixia is not Goryeo, and will not be manipulated by him.
When Emperor Yelu Longxu of the Liao Dynasty wanted to conquer Xixia, he must be fully prepared for a long and fierce battle, and the amount of military rations he had to prepare must be huge.
Then check the memorials of other transfer envoys to see if they have similar memorials."
With this guess in mind, the grandfather and grandson quickly looked through the memorials of other transport envoys.
Soon, Kou Ji found the memorials of the Daizhou Guangou Changping Company, and found traces of Liao's purchase of grain.
"Daizhou..."
Kou Ji stared at Kou Zhun and said two words in a deep voice.
Kou Zhun raised the memorial in his hand and whispered: "Tangzhou..."
"..."
"Xinzhou..."
"..."
"Dengzhou..."
"..."
As the grandfather and grandson continued to read, one memorial after another was read out.
Finally, eleven memorials were placed in front of Kou Zhun's ancestors and grandson.
Kou Zhun stared at the eleven memorials and gritted his teeth and said: "Including Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there are a total of eighteen states. Yelu Longxu bought less than half of the grain of the eighteen states. Yelu Longxu bought this and that.
He wanted to buy military rations, and he just wanted to take the opportunity to cause trouble in our country, the Song Dynasty, so that our country, the Song Dynasty, would not be able to intervene in the war between him and Li Deming."
"Bang!"
Kou Zhun slapped the table and said angrily: "From the very beginning, he has been cruel to us, the Song Dynasty. I thought he wanted to marry me, the Song Dynasty, just to show his goodwill.
Now it seems that people clearly take pity on us.
Have mercy on our Song Dynasty, which is full of civil and military officials. Have mercy on our Song Dynasty for having a bunch of civil and military ministers who are as stupid as pigs. Have mercy on us for not discovering his intentions at the end of the year."
After a pause, Kou Zhun cursed again: "There are also those profiteers. They must have smelled that Yelu Longxu was stealing grain from our Song Dynasty, so they secretly followed him to collect grain and took the opportunity to make huge profits.
Although the amount of grain taken away by Yelu Longxu was huge, it was not enough to cause such a huge grain shortage in Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang."
Kou Ji stared at the eleven memorials on the table and said in a deep voice: "Yelu Longxu probably has someone close to him who is proficient in business. This person must be familiar with the conduct of our merchants in the Song Dynasty.
It is precisely because of this that he dared to buy a large amount of grain, allowing those businessmen to smell the opportunity to make money, so they took the opportunity to stockpile grain."
“Bang bang bang!”
Kou Zhun was so angry that he banged the table, "Right now, only Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are experiencing food shortages. Subsequent generations, Deng, Tang and other eleven states will also experience food shortages one after another.
Food shortages broke out in eighteen states, enough to shock the entire government and opposition parties.
At that time, who will pay attention to the war between Xixia and Liao?
Even if the imperial court wants to send troops, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty will prevent the imperial court from sending troops on the pretext that in order to resist foreign aggression, one must first pacify the interior."
Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said: "Grandfather, as things have come to this, it is better to be more generous and let the eighteen states open granaries to release grain together, so as to stabilize the people of the government and the public. What is stored in Changping Granary is the grain that the imperial court has accumulated for more than three years."
.If these grains are thrown out, grain prices will definitely plummet.
As long as we take advantage of the drop in food prices and make public announcements to appease the people, we will surely be able to appease the people.
It was winter now, and the roads in the Liao Kingdom were all blocked by heavy snow. Yelu Longxu led the army to march on the mountain roads, and the speed would certainly not be too fast.
It would take at least a month to get from Beijing to Xixia.
As long as we can pacify the people of the eighteen states within a month, once the Liao Kingdom goes to war with Xixia, we will be free to intervene."
"Bang!"
Kou Zhun slammed the table and said decisively: "I'll do as you say."
In order to hold off the Song Dynasty and prevent the Song Dynasty from getting involved in his war with Xixia, Yelu Longxu did not hesitate to make fun of the lives of the people of the Song Dynasty, which angered Kou Zhun.
Now that there was a way to cause trouble for Yelu Longxu, Kou Zhun naturally agreed.
The Song Dynasty had 14 prefectures and more than 200 states. Only 18 states suffered from food shortages, which was not enough to damage the Song Dynasty.
At most, when the victims of the disaster were fleeing, they would randomly release some bad signals to the people in other state capitals, thereby causing some trouble for the court.
It made the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty think that the world was in turmoil.
Let those peace-promoting officials use this as an excuse to prevent the imperial court from sending troops when it sends troops.
As long as it appeases public opinion and appeases the hearts of both the government and the public.
Then the Song Dynasty will still be the Song Dynasty, the prosperous Song Dynasty, and there will not be too many disturbances.
"What do you want to do as you say?"
Zhao Zhen appeared in Zishi Hall when Kou Zhun was making a decision.
After hearing Kou Zhun's words, he subconsciously asked.
When Kou Zhun saw him, he bowed his hands and said: "When I returned to the official house, after inspection by the old officials, I found that the state capitals in the Song Dynasty that suffered from food shortages were not only Huainan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Deng, Dai, Tang and other eleven states.
I’m afraid there will be food shortages.”
Zhao Zhen opened his mouth in surprise, "So many?"
Kou Zhun nodded heavily and said: "After inspection by the veteran, it was found that this was a conspiracy of the Liao people. Huainan and other places did not have a lack of harvest this year, but there was an unprovoked food shortage. After careful investigation, it was found that all the food had flowed into
Liao Kingdom."
Zhao Zhen asked: "What do the Liao people do with so much food?"
Kou Zhun said solemnly: "In order to prepare military supplies to attack Xixia, in order to hold back the hands and feet of the Song Dynasty."
Zhao Zhen said in shock: "The Liao people want to attack Xixia?"