Guo Chengyou was executed the next day.
On the day of the execution, he was still shouting that Zhao Jun was a powerful official today and a traitor, so he asked the officials to open their eyes.
But it was a pity that the officials could not hear his voice, and his head was soon beheaded.
It is not a pity that Guo Chengyou died.
In fact, the officials of the Song Dynasty cannot be considered to be full of scum.
At least officials in the early and mid-Northern Song Dynasty still had some dignity and would not go too far.
Coupled with the court's policy of high salaries to support integrity, there were not many named corrupt officials during the Song Renzong period in history books.
More often than not, like the Renzong Tiantuan, each of their names will remain in history and become a good story among civil servants in history.
But the corrupt officials who can leave their names in history books are basically the kind that go too far.
There are a series of crimes in Guo Chengyouguang's history books. Now according to Zhao Jun's actual verification, it can be regarded that the admonishers and censors did not check all the evidence.
After all, the admonishers and censors did not have as much power as Zhao Jun, and they could only impeach based on public reaction. Unlike Zhao Jun, who directly ransacked Guo Chengyou's home and looked for evidence of guilt in Guo Chengyou's home.
Therefore, compared to the people who have been harmed by this person, beheading him is considered cheaper.
However, his death still caused a big disturbance in Bozhou, and also caused a big disturbance on the ground.
After all, it was very rare in the Song Dynasty to lose one's head just like this.
In particular, Guo Chengyou was a person with a background. Everyone knew that his ancestor was the founding general of the country, his wife was the princess of the Zhao family, and she was also an official in the east palace of the emperor.
As a result, people with such a powerful background died in the hands of Zhao Jun. How powerful is this Zhiyuan?
So much so that officials from top to bottom of Bozhou were trembling with fear and took actions one after another to improve efficiency.
Even if they were not greedy or possessive, the bureaucrats who were ineffective and overstaffed all seemed to be working diligently, going to the mountains and countryside, and visiting the people everywhere.
It made Bozhou seem to have clear seas and rivers all of a sudden, and a scene of peace and prosperity for the country and the people.
It's just that Zhao Jun knew that this situation would probably return to his old ways soon after he left Bozhou. If he wanted to maintain the status quo, he still needed the imperial court to send a capable Bozhou magistrate.
So he wrote to the court again, asking the court to select people carefully and not to deal with those messy people who came to harm the people. He would kill as many such people as there were.
By late February, Zhao Jun arranged the affairs of Bozhou, and then set off again, heading southeast into Suzhou.
Since his whereabouts had been exposed, he simply stopped making private visits incognito, openly showed off his imperial guards, and headed east.
Almost as soon as he arrived in Linhuan, Wang Su, the magistrate of Suzhou, and Yang Cha, the magistrate of Suzhou, had already come to greet him.
Wang Su is 31 years old this year, and Yang Cha is only 25 years old. However, these two people have already become the magistrate and general magistrate of a state. They are the first and second figures in the state capital. They can be said to be young and promising.
In fact, although Wang Su is young, he has been in officialdom for 11 years.
He was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Tiansheng's reign. He was admitted to the imperial examination at the same time as Bao Zheng, Han Qi, Wen Yanbo and others. He served successively as general magistrate of Yingzhou, Huaizhou and Xuzhou, and as Shangshu Tuntian Zhongwailang, knowing Puzhou, Ezhou, Suzhou, quite senior.
Yang Cha was a Jinshi in the first year of Jingyou, and he has been working in the officialdom for four years. Later, due to his outstanding political performance, he went to Yingzhou and Shouzhou, and at the beginning of Qingli, he served as the envoy of Jiangnan East Road.
In other words, this Yang Cha was admitted to Jinshi in the first year of Jingyou, and in just seven years of the first year of Qingli, he rose from Tongpan to the highest-ranking officer.
This is equivalent to later generations of Kaogong observing politics in the first year, becoming deputy mayor in the second year, and becoming a high-ranking official in the seventh year.
What outrageous experience?
Of course Zhao Jun didn't know that these two were great people.
Wang Su and Yang Cha were both outstanding and honest officials in history, and they were highly praised in history books.
Wang Su, in particular, was one of the four admonishers alongside Yu Jing, Ouyang Xiu, and Cai Xiang. His political achievements were very good when he was in local government, but he was obviously not as famous as people like Fan Zhongyan and Su Shi.
Since Zhao Jun doesn't read "History of the Song Dynasty" very much, he is only familiar with household names such as Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan, Su Shi, and Wang Anshi, but he doesn't know much about Wang Su.
However, since he entered Suzhou, the people along the way lived and worked in peace and contentment. Although there were some who lived in poverty, they were at least much better than Yingtianfu and Bozhou, which made him very fond of them and full of admiration.
In the Linhuan County government office in Suzhou, Zhao Jun looked at the Suzhou magistrate, Tongpan and Linhuan county magistrate standing below, and said with a smile: "Wang Su, I have read your resume. You did a lot in Ezhou last year." Yes, not only did they open warehouses to release grain before the official disaster relief document came from the court to prevent the people from starving to death, they also abolished the system of selling salt by mouth, which made the people of Hubei appreciate your virtue. This is good."
Wang Su was not happy because of the praise, his expression remained unchanged, and he bowed his hands in a graceful manner and said: "The magistrate is full of praise. It is said that one should be in one's position and seek one's government. Do one's job and fulfill one's responsibilities. This is what a subordinate should do." What an official should do is not something worth boasting about.”
"Ah, very good."
Zhao Jun nodded with satisfaction and said: "Only on the way here did I find out that you are the son of Wang Wenzheng. The prince "has been in power for eighteen years and has served as prime minister for twelve years." Even the officials praised him as a veteran of all virtues. Now it seems that you are the son of Wang Wenzheng. Just like your father."
"Thank you, Zhiyuan, for your compliment."
Wang Su cupped his hands again and said.
After Zhao Jun finished his compliments, he looked around at the crowd and said, "Are you curious? Why is it that the magistrate of the Constitutional Academy of our Academy, who is under one person and above ten thousand people, left the capital incognito and traveled to various places in the Song Dynasty?"
Wang Su said: "Zhiyuan is like this, so he has the intention of Zhiyuan."
"yes."
Zhao Jun sighed: "This time I went to patrol the place, not to look around and find some corrupt officials to chop their heads off. But to explore the people's sentiments, understand the shortcomings above and below, and find ways to save the country."
The way to save the country?
Many officials below were confused. Was the Song Dynasty on the verge of collapse?
"Nowadays, the Song Dynasty is plagued by diseases all over the country. Enemies at the borders block the border and disasters continue in the hinterland. The rich have mansions and thousands of acres of fertile land, but the poor have no place to stand. The rebels are like crucian carps crossing the river, but many officials are intoxicated in singing and dancing to bring peace. It can be described as internal and external troubles. What do you think about this?"
Zhao Jun asked as he looked at the people below.
Wang Su was a future member of the New Party and an ally of Ouyang Xiu and Fan Zhongyan. Since he had been in the place for a long time and had seen too many things, he immediately said in a deep voice: "This is because the government has not done a good job, so that officials everywhere have nothing to do with their bodies. If If we can tighten the punishment and reform the abuses, it will be much better.”
"oh?"
Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Prefect Wang approves that this court will execute Guo Chengyou in Bozhou to crack down on the corrupt?"
Wang Su said: "Yes, I also want to do this."
Historically, when Wang Su was the transfer envoy to Huainan, all the envoys were strict and did not blame others for their mistakes. Those who were greedy would be investigated and brought to justice, so his subordinates respected and feared them. Of.
It means that Wang Su does not deal harshly with officials who make such small mistakes. Only those who are corrupt and bend the law are brought to justice, which is awesome.
"Um."
Although Zhao Jun didn't know Wang Su well, he was very satisfied with his attitude and nodded: "Very good, this court has remembered you. You only served as the magistrate of Suzhou last year. I hope you can show results and treat this state well." There is no need to show mercy to corrupt officials. If you can appease the people below, you will be worthy of the country. If the people's livelihood in Suzhou becomes better in the coming year, I will personally promote you."
In the officialdom, promises should not be made easily. If you promote an official at will, you will easily be criticized by others, who will accuse you of your power and arouse the suspicion of the emperor. Secondly, if the promises you made are not fulfilled due to various reasons, your reputation in the officialdom will not be very good, and you will have difficulty moving forward in the future.
Therefore, the officialdom likes to use that kind of specious official tone, and the words are as incomprehensible as the Riddler.
However, Zhao Jun didn't like the Riddler's tone. He preferred a pragmatic attitude. If you do a good job as an official, do practical things for the people, and manage the place so that they can live and work peacefully, why can't I promote you?
Therefore, he dared to break the rules of Song Dynasty officialdom and make such a promise.
And this time when I went south, in addition to going down to the grassroots to see the lives of the people and catching corrupt officials, I also inspected the local officials to see if there was anything that could be done.
Whether he is a local transportation envoy, an inspector, a criminal magistrate, a prefecture magistrate, a general magistrate, or even a local county magistrate, chief registrar, or county lieutenant, as long as he has the ability to govern the place well and is upright and honest, he will definitely not Will be stingy with promotions.
The most important thing is ability.
After all, people actually prefer the latter to a dull and incompetent honest official, as well as a capable and practical corrupt official.
If you are honest and upright and can do practical things, you will be the best official.
Wang Su's information had been checked on the way Zhao Jun came.
A son of a famous family.
Being an honest official brings benefit to the people.
He has many political achievements in Yingzhou, Huaizhou, Xuzhou, Puzhou, Ezhou and other places.
Before he took office in Suzhou last year, Suzhou was in very bad shape due to the severe drought in Huainan.
In less than a year after he took office, he built water conservancy projects, reclaimed wasteland, resettled disaster-stricken people, and managed Suzhou in a decent manner.
Zhao Jun can naturally appreciate such an official.
Giving such a promise also has the effect of buying horse bones for a thousand dollars.
In addition, Zhao Jun has also known for a long time that if he wants to truly promote reform and development, he will definitely not be able to do it on his own.
You must build your own team.
And relying on Fan Zhongyan and his gang may not be able to accomplish anything. For example, Ouyang Xiu is a pig teammate.
So if he meets a talented person, he can promote him, and later he can form his own force when he gets to the central government. And they are all young and promising people who are dissatisfied with the current status quo of the country. Are they still afraid that big things will not happen?
This inspection can also be regarded as a talent search.
After Wang Su received Zhao Jun's promise, he remained neither humble nor overbearing. He raised his hand and said, "Thank you, Zhiyuan."
At present, Zhao Jun, accompanied by Wang Su, Yang Cha and others, inspected various places in Suzhou.
After staying in Suzhou for seven or eight days, although he only visited a few places, Zhao Jun was not a puppet led by the local officials.
During this time, the Chazi from the Imperial City Division had already penetrated into various counties in Suzhou and went to the countryside to explore the people's sentiments.
Local officials may not necessarily know whether the people in a place are living well or how the officials are doing, but can the people not know?
According to the collected information, Wang Su and Yang Cha are indeed two capable officials, which makes Zhao Jun very satisfied.
So after encouraging the two of them, at the end of February, Zhao Jun set off again, leaving Suzhou and heading south to Haozhou and Shouzhou.
(End of chapter)
