Yantiesi's behavior was very wrong, but Zhao Jun did not attack them immediately, but gave them another chance.
If he was a murderous founding emperor, or if he rebelled successfully and gained power over the Song Dynasty, then in such a situation, he could naturally act arbitrarily and remove him at will, or even kill at will.
But now that he didn't like the Song Dynasty, he finally ushered in a compromise between the emperor and some scholar-bureaucrats and was willing to make concessions, so naturally he had to give them a little less favor.
In fact, the main reason is that the current situation is different. The founding emperor has a very strong authority. Even if the scholar-official class is killed, the entire scholar-official class can only crawl at his feet.
Now in the early and middle dynasties, the power structure is gradually fixed, and many unspoken rules have been born. It is not easy to break these unspoken rules forcibly, and it may attract the opposition of the entire bureaucratic class.
Although Zhao Jun is not afraid of such a situation, many things must be done on the surface. It would be too ruthless to not give the other party any chance.
This is not very beneficial to a person in power who wants to reform. It will make the lower-level people feel afraid, thus affecting the advancement of reform.
So clear distinction between rewards and punishments is very important.
You must establish an image of an absolutely fair superior, and you can be forgiven if you make a mistake the first time.
But if you are given a chance for the second or even third time, and it remains the same, then you will have a reason to take action, and it will be hard for others to say anything.
To put it simply, you must pay attention to what you say, otherwise you will not be able to convince the public.
After the order was issued, everything was sent back to the Salt and Iron Division. Zhao Jun didn't pay attention. Instead, he ordered people to go to the Duzhi Division, which was in charge of Xia Song, and ordered Xia Song to hand over the data of the Duzhi Division before tomorrow.
At noon, Zhao Jun, who had been busy all morning, left the Constitutional Yuan, went all the way to the Privy Council, and entered the hall. Officials at all levels along the way saluted him when they saw him.
He nodded slightly and walked towards Wang Deyong, the deputy privy envoy. Wang Deyong was a little more respectful, cupped his hands and said, "I've seen the Imperial Academy before!"
"Deputy Ambassador Wang."
General Zhao Jun, who was born as a soldier and served as a privy envoy with military merit like Di Qing, still respected him very much. He bowed his hand and returned the gift. He looked around and saw no one around, so he said casually: "Xixia has been provocative all year round. There may be wars. You Be prepared.”
Wang Deyong was stunned at that time and quickly asked: "Zhiyuan, are you planning to send me to the northwest?"
"Um."
Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Let me tell you the truth. There is a lot of noise about Zhao Yuanhao's founding of the country. He himself has informed me of the Song Dynasty many times. This is something that the Song Dynasty cannot tolerate. Once the war starts, it will be Please, old general."
Wang Deyong was overjoyed and had an excited expression on his face. He just kept clasping his fists and was so excited that he could not speak.
In fact, in recent years, many people in the Song Dynasty knew that there might be a war in the northwest.
As mentioned before, Li Yuanhao made a lot of preparations before the founding of the People's Republic of China, such as notifying the Song Dynasty many times that he wanted to found the People's Republic of China.
He also attacked the surrounding Uyghurs, Tubos, and Qiang, and married into the Liao Kingdom. He also established political and military systems based on the Song Dynasty, created Xixia writing, clothing, rituals and music, promoted Xingzhou to Xingqing Prefecture, established the capital, and so on.
They even continued to provoke, plunder, clear grass and valleys, and send undercover agents on the northwest border of the Song Dynasty to test the Song Dynasty's bottom line step by step and find out the Song Dynasty's attitude.
Under such circumstances, there were voices within the Song Dynasty court that wanted to send troops to Xixia. However, Zhao Zhen and other scholar-bureaucrats were more timid. Until Li Yuanhao discovered that the Song Dynasty was a paper tiger and decided to formally establish the country, they only verbally condemned it. .
This also led Li Yuanhao to feel that the Song Dynasty was weak and could be bullied. Not long after the founding of the country, he launched three battles and defeated the Song Dynasty in succession, establishing his authority in the first battle of the Xixia Empire. He then defeated the Liao Kingdom, and the Three Kingdoms began.
So many people know that the battle with Li Yuanhao is inevitable.
Wang Deyong naturally knew this, so historically he asked Zhao Zhen to go to the northwest to guard the border and guard against Xixia.
It is a pity that in the Song Dynasty, whether the emperor or the scholar-bureaucrats, the defense against warriors was much more severe than the defense against Xixia and Liao Dynasty, so they did not agree to Wang Deyong's request at all.
In the end, the old man died of regret, full of grievance just like Di Qing.
Now that Di Qing has not grown up, although Fan Zhongyan has been appointed as the coach of the Northwest War, there must be a general under the coach, and Wang Deyong is obviously a good general.
Although he tried to make as few promises to others as possible before the matter was decided, he was different from Zhao Zhen. How could he abandon a general?
So since I happened to see the old man today, I would like to mention to him by the way that it is also to allow Wang De to study the situation in the northwest as soon as possible and find an opportunity to defeat the enemy in the battle with Xixia.
Seeing that the old man was speechless with excitement, Zhao Jun looked around and saw that there was still no one around, so he whispered to him: "The deputy envoy can go to Fan Zhongyan. I plan to let Fan Zhongyan take charge of the northwest next year. You go to partner up, and you two should first understand the situation in the northwest before making any calculations."
"Yes, yes, thank you, Zhiyuan."
Wang Deyong's face beamed with excitement. He was like a clay sculpture in the Privy Council. The literati disliked him for being vulgar and were unwilling to deal with him. Now that the newly appointed President of the Constitutional Yuan appreciated him so much, he was deeply moved.
The most important thing is that the warriors of the Song Dynasty were too frustrated, including Wang Deyong before him and Di Qing and Yue Fei after him. The old man spent the first half of his life fighting, and it was clear that he could continue to serve him in the second half of his life. However, the emperor and scholar-bureaucrats were afraid of his high prestige in the army and did not dare to let him go to the front line. This is really regrettable.
Now that his long-cherished wish seemed to be fulfilled, the old man was inexplicably excited.
Zhao Jun also warned: "Don't tell others about this. Zhao Yuanhao has a detailed operation in Bianliang. It's good for you to know. Even if you go to find Fan Zhongyan, just tell him that I sent you. He will naturally know and will tell you some information." .”
"Yes Yes."
Wang Deyong nodded repeatedly.
"Um."
Zhao Jun held up his hands and said, "I have some other things to do, and I'll leave the rest to the deputy envoy."
"Congratulations to the Imperial Academy."
The old man's attitude became more and more respectful.
Although he actually knew very well that Zhao Jun's promise might not be fulfilled.
After all, if he really wants to be sent to the northwest, the scholar-bureaucrats in the court who are afraid of him will definitely not miss the opportunity, and the number of impeachments will probably increase day by day.
Just like in the past two years, some people actually said that he looked rebellious because of his strange appearance, and that he might be rebellious by impeaching him.
He was not surprised that the scholar-officials would do any outrageous and bizarre things in order to suppress the warriors.
But having hope is much better than living in despair all year round.
Zhao Jun and Wang Deyong parted ways, walked through the vestibule of the Privy Council, and went all the way to the courtroom of Tongzhi Privy Councilor Li Shen.
Different from the fact that the chief officials of the Political Affairs Hall and the Constitutional Yuan all work in the same lobby, they are prime ministers who need to discuss and hold meetings together, so there is no separate courtyard.
However, the Privy Council has a greater symbolic meaning. It has no military power and is mainly responsible for military logistics. Therefore, the chief officials are relatively free.
Otherwise, Li Zhen, a Privy Council member in charge of military affairs, would not have been sent to reform the tea law.
When Zhao Jun stepped into Li Shen's official residence, he was chatting with an official.
Seeing Zhao Jun come in, the two quickly stood up and said: "Zhiyuan."
"Um."
Zhao Jun said: "Li Xiang, I came to you for something."
"You go first."
Li Zhen waved his hand and signaled the official to leave first.
The official bowed his hands to Li Shen and Zhao Jun respectively, and then retreated.
After he left, Li Zhen covered his mouth, coughed and said, "Please sit down, Zhiyuan, someone is here."
The attendant came in outside the door.
"Make tea."
He ordered and coughed twice.
In fact, Zhao Jun heard a cough just before he entered the door. Seeing Li Shen's pale face, he couldn't help but frown and said: "Li Xiang, how are you?"
"It's an old problem. The official has asked the imperial doctor to see him. He has become ill from overwork. I'm afraid he won't live for two years."
Li Zhen sighed.
He has been feeling unwell recently, and occasionally even coughs up blood. The doctor has seen him and he has been taking medicine, but he is not feeling better.
Zhao Jun thought for a while and asked, "Are there any symptoms?"
"Coughing all the time."
Li Zhen covered his mouth and said, "The imperial doctor said it was lung disease."
"That's it."
Zhao Jun then summoned his attendants and asked him to go to the Imperial City Division to deliver a message and bring two pills of amoxicillin.
Amoxicillin is not a panacea. If Li Shen suffered from cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and other non-bacterial infections, there would be nothing that could be done.
However, if it is just a lung infection, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, typhoid, respiratory infection, etc., there is still hope.
The main reason is that the medicines he brought were all common medicines, not even aspirin, so there was nothing he could do about the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
While the man was getting the medicine, Zhao Jun sat on the chair next to Li Shen's head.
This is Li Shen's official residence, and it is impossible for him to overwhelm the guest.
After he sat down, Li Zhen asked, "Why did the Supreme Court come to see me?"
"It's about tea law and discussing some opinions."
Zhao Jun said: "Nowadays, tea and salt are all government-run, but the government-run businesses are corrupt and the tea and salt produced are of low quality. People are more willing to buy from private tea and salt vendors, which is extremely detrimental to the government-run businesses."
"Um."
Li Zhen coughed twice more, and then said: "I have discussed this matter with the government, intending to change the unfavorable situation of government-owned tea, and even found a big tea merchant to set the price of commercial stocks and collude with him. Cooperation. But my body is getting worse and worse."
The big tea merchant he was talking about was Tian Chang. Zhao Jun didn't need to talk about the reform of the government business, as there were already voices in the court.
For example, Ouyang Xiu wrote a letter last year about the dangers of official business selling. Later, through the efforts of some courtiers, Zhao Zhen ordered the reform of the official business, so he asked Ouyang Xiu to write the "Tea Trade Edict" to lift the tea monopoly by official decree and implement trade.
It is a pity that the "Edict on Trade and Tea Law" harmed the interests of a large number of wealthy merchants, who colluded with some officials to fiercely oppose it. In the end, there were constant voices of opposition inside and outside the imperial court. Even Ouyang Xiu and Liu Chang, who drafted the edict on tea trade, wrote separately and put forward the theory that trade had one benefit and five harms. As a result, the tea trade law was abolished by the court.
As the prime minister of tea law reform, Li Shen naturally knew the dangers of tea selling and wanted to carry out reforms. It is a pity that he is not in good health. He had already agreed with Na Tian Chang that he would build a state-owned enterprise with him in the future, but due to his poor health, it has never been carried out, which is a pity.
Seeing that he was ill, Zhao Jun said with concern: "Li Xiang should pay more attention to his health. I have asked someone to bring the medicine. I will try it later. This medicine has miraculous effects on some diseases. One or two pills It can probably be cured, but if it’s another disease, it won’t be possible.”
"hehe."
Li Zhen smiled and said: "I am almost old enough to have good ears, and I can see life and death with a clear mind. If I can serve the court, it doesn't matter if this old bone is dead."
"The body is the capital of revolution. If Prime Minister Li wants to make more contributions to the court, he should pay more attention to his body."
Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "In this way, Prime Minister Li will not have to go to the morning court every day, nor will he have to come to the Privy Council for duty. I will ask the official to let Prime Minister Li rest at home for the time being. If the medicine is useful, I will send someone here Deliver medicine.”
He originally wanted to come to Li Zhen to talk about tea, salt and grain reform issues, but now that he saw Li Zhen's body and remembered that he died of illness not long ago in history, he temporarily put his thoughts aside.
After all, the other party is so ill, and it would be too unkind to discuss state affairs with them.
No matter what you do, health is the first priority. No matter how much money you make, no matter how well you do, as long as people are around, there is still hope.
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Li Zhen was not as moved as Wang Deyong. He knew his own body, and he might live for a few years, so he could see a lot more clearly, so he said: "Because of the concern of the Labor Council, the tea law reform The matter was originally proposed by the Magistrate, and if the Magistrate wants to implement it, I can recommend the tea merchant on your behalf."
"Um."
Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Li Xiangxian is resting at home these days. In his free time, he can think about the tea law, salt law, grain, etc. and discuss the disadvantages of selling. Nowadays, the system inside and outside the government is rigid and cannot be changed, so that various systems harm the court and the people. Interests, I hope to change this situation and have a right-hand man like Li Xiang."
"I am very happy to be appreciated by the academy."
Li Zhen made some remarks, saying that he was neither flattering nor disgusted with the sudden appearance of the Constitutional Yuan Magistrate.
Mainly because many of the things Zhao Jun proposed before were to his liking.
Zhao Jun was the one who tinkered with the tea method and Jiaozi Shop, especially running it in partnership with private tea merchants. This was something he had always wanted to do since he originally felt that the government-run system had many problems.
Now that Zhao Jun is supporting him, things are much better.
The two chatted for a while, and at this time, the people from the Imperial City Si Bingjing Wu brought the medicine.
Now Zhao Jun's medicine is stored in the ice cave, and one pill is used less than the other. Zhao Zhen originally wanted to give medicine to Li Zhen, but no one knew what kind of disease Li Zhen had, so he did not dare to use the medicine indiscriminately.
Although Zhao Jun is not a doctor, he has been a doctor for a long time. He feels that Li Zhen's symptoms may be similar to those of typhoid and lung disease, so he tries it first. What if it works?
Li Shen was surprised when he saw the two pills had a unique shape and didn't know what the outer shell was made of. They were as thin as cicada wings.
Zhao Jun took the medicine and said: "This medicine can treat common lung diseases. Li Xiang has never taken this medicine before, so there should be no drug resistance. Take one pill today and another tomorrow. If it works quickly, the effect will be good." , but if you still have symptoms, just take another pill the day after tomorrow.”
"Xie Zhiyuan."
Li Zhen did not refuse. It was really uncomfortable to cough every day. It was better to take medicine than no medicine.
At that moment, he drank one pill with tea.
He didn't know if it was a psychological effect or if it had a quick effect. His face turned slightly red and he stopped coughing, which surprised him.
Seeing that Li Zhen had taken the medicine, Zhao Jun didn't bother him much, hoping that he would get well soon.
At present, the entire scholar-bureaucrat class is relatively hostile to him. There are very few people like Li Shen who are outstanding in ability and not hostile to him. He does not hope that no one will help him during the reform in the future.
At that moment, he did not continue to disturb him and left.
In fact, this chapter was not written out of emotion. I was originally planning to write it to save Li Zhen's life, and then prepare to reform the tea, salt, iron, and grain systems. It just happened to happen.
I didn’t know Mr. July, but I am full of sadness and regret for his passing away.
Because writing online articles is like this. I am plagued by various diseases, big and small, and I feel the same way.
The protagonist in the book carries so many medicines and is so familiar with them. I have personally experienced them. Before I started writing online articles, I was in good health. After writing online articles, I started to suffer from all sorts of illnesses.
After all, sitting in front of the computer every day, not exercising and not daring to go to the hospital, having to write every day, 360 days a year, being afraid of interruption, and exchanging body and youth for money is something that no one can bear.
The weather has changed again recently. I have been feeling dizzy and dizzy for the past two days. My condition is not very good. My right index finger also hurts. I can only say that I hope everyone will pay attention to their health and rest more when necessary. If you feel uncomfortable, you must go to the hospital. have a look. As for those of us who write online articles, there is really nothing we can do. We hope that God will bless us and prevent us from getting sick.
I wish you all good health, don't work too hard, and all the best.
(End of chapter)
