After returning to the palace from Zhongshu, Lu Huiqing thought to herself, after Zhang Yue returned to the court, I, Lu Huiqing, was isolated and helpless in the two palaces.
At this time, Lu Shengqing and Lu Wenqing came out to greet him. Seeing that Lu Huiqing looked bad, they asked what was going on.
Lu Huiqing told the story of the discussions between the two governments in the past few days. Lu Shengqing thought that the imperial court was going to repurchase Jiaoyin, and the number of Jiaoyin on the market would skyrocket in the future.
Both of them were interested in making money. Lu Shengqing said: "Brother, the problem right now is with Feng Jing, Zeng Bu and Zheng Xia, not Zhang Duanming!" Lu Huiqing knew that her brother and Zhang Yue got along well in Xihe, so she didn't want them to fall out and asked, "What about you?" Is there any way?" Lu Shengqing thought for a while and said: "Brother, you can first introduce Zhang Zihou and Deng Wen to enroll the two of them into the bachelor's college." Lu Huiqing said: "They are not qualified enough." Lu Shengqing said: "Entering the bachelor's college is not necessarily a good idea. A Hanlin bachelor's degree can go directly to the bachelor's college." The direct bachelor's college, like the Zhisheren's college, is to promote party members and allow people with insufficient qualifications to join the ranks.
Both Zhang Dun and Deng Wan were too junior. If Lu Huiqing wanted them to enter the bachelor's college, he could only go directly to the bachelor's college.
Anyway, Lu Huiqing had a glorious experience of being a Hanlin scholar for two months, so there was nothing wrong with using this method to promote Zhang Dun and Deng Wan to the bachelor's college.
It's nothing more than being criticized by the government and the public for a few words of "lucky to advance". Lu Wenqing on the side said: "It is well known that Zhang Duzhi is at odds with Zhang Zihou. With him in check, my brother will have someone to deal with Zhang Duzhi." Lu Huiqing nodded and said: "I have heard a little bit about the grievances between Zihou and his younger brother. Lu Shengqing said: "The two of them have different political views at the moment. Zhang Zihou will be my brother's best helper in dealing with Zhang Duzhi in the future. But after all, Zhang Duzhi is different from Feng Jing and Zeng Bu, so it's not necessarily wrong for my brother to keep him in the court." Lu Huiqing nodded and said: "Zhang Duzhi is a great talent. Back then he changed the Green Miao Law. The cross-citation laws he formulated the day before yesterday are all detailed and well-planned."
"That day, he told me in private. Nowadays, the rich and high-ranking officials are exhausted from the benefits. The burdens on the government and the public are getting heavier day by day. No matter how they are removed, it is difficult to remove the benefits. And the people at the lower level are burdened with servitude. Poverty, once cornered, will lead to poverty and even the government will force the people to rebel. Therefore, when the imperial court implements reforms, only a well-off and well-off family can gather some money. How can you bear this?"
"To be honest, his plans and concerns are far deeper than mine, and he sees things more thoroughly, so this is what the officials value about him. But..." Lu Huiqing suddenly changed his words at this point: "Not only that, in fact, I and Du Zhi are on the same page. We have been able to get along well with each other for many years. I may not be able to give him a place as prime minister of Jin in the future, but since he opened his mouth to protect Zeng Zixuan, I can't tolerate him." Lu Shengqing, Lu Wenqing knew that this was the cruelty of politics.
Lu Shengqing immediately fell into the trap and said: "Zeng Zixuan intends to take up the post of the Third Chief of Staff. If he leaves, I am afraid that Zhang Duzhi will take over. Then something will be wrong." Lu Huiqing said: "Yes, Zhang Duzhi cannot be allowed to take the position of Third Secretary. Secretary." Zhongshu is located to the west of Wende Hall.
The abbreviation of Zhongmenxia in the Song Dynasty did not mean the original Zhongshu Province in the Tang Dynasty. The political hall is within Zhongshu.
Zhang Yue arrived at the Political Affairs Hall. In the past, prime ministers could ride horses directly into the Political Affairs Hall. However, after Wang Anshi entered the palace on horseback and was beaten last year, no prime minister or official entered the palace on horseback anymore.
The Government Hall is the place where the two governments discuss and work. Behind the Government Hall is the main hall where the ministers handle matters.
Emperor Renzong did not allow officials to enter the Central Committee to discuss matters with the prime ministers during non-meeting periods, but this rule could not be enforced at all.
Cheng Hao was dismissed for opposing the new law. Zhang Jian rushed into the political hall to argue with Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi had to cover his face with a fan and laugh awkwardly.
On this day, Zhang Yue entered the political hall to discuss the matter of friendship with Lu Huiqing. When Zhang Yue arrived in front of the Zhongshu Gate, the court official saw Zhang Yue and said, "Zhang Duanming, please wait here." After hearing this, Zhang Yue thought to himself, "Why are you, Lu Huiqing, putting on this air?"
Unexpectedly, after a while, Lu Huiqing came out to greet him in person. Zhang Yue was a little surprised. There was a system for the prime minister to greet Hanlin scholars personally when they arrived at the political hall, but this had not been used for a long time.
Because the prime minister becomes more respected and the academicians become more humble. Seeing Lu Huiqing's courtesy, Zhang Yue said that he didn't dare to take off his shoes to enter the hall. The court official on the side said: "Duan Ming doesn't have to do this." Zhang Yue thought to himself, is he even exempted from the ceremony of taking off his shoes?
This Lu Huiqing must be too considerate of herself. Officials sat in the hall, including Xu Anshi from the fifth room of Zhongshu, Kong Mufang from the official room, Pu Zongmeng from the official room, Xiong Ben from the household room, Xiang Zongru from the ceremonial room, and Yu Chong from the execution room.
Then Feng Jing and Wang Gui also arrived from this hall one after another. Zhang Yue took his seat, took the tea soup from the court official and drank it leisurely.
At this time Xu Anshi asked: "A few days ago, Duanming Shangshu proposed to change the original Yizhou Jiaoziwu to Jiaozijian. But why not put Jiaozi and Yanyin under the jurisdiction of Jiaoyinjian, and Jiaoyinjian under Jiaoyinjian?" It has jurisdiction over three offices, namely the Salt Bank Office, the Jiaozi Office, and the Counterfeiting Office. Isn't it better to do this?" Xu Anshi was in the same department as Zhang Zhi and ranked second. It is said that he was the same as Xu Jiang, the number one scholar in Jiayou's eighth year. After a long time, the two also joined the clan.
After Wang Anshi became prime minister, he also promoted Xu Anshi, and Xu Anshi was ranked second in the list. Zhang Yue said: "The Yizhou Jiaoziwu was abolished and replaced by Jiaozijian, imitating the Capital Water Supervisor, Guozijian, and the Ordnance Supervisory Regulations are directly under the central government's money law. One case is one case, and they do not govern each other."
"Yan Yinjian prints salt banknotes as large coins, with denominations of five guan, ten guan, twenty guan, fifty guan, and one hundred guan. All small coins are discarded."
"Jiaozijian prints Jiaozi, and Jiaozi is a small coin. It mainly solves the money shortage among the people, that is, the difficulty of redeeming copper coins. The highest denomination of Jiaozi is Yiguan, followed by five hundred, three hundred, and one hundred coins." Lu Huiqing said: "But it would be too complicated to establish a new Jiaozi prison. It is better to merge Jiaozi affairs into the jurisdiction of Sinong Temple." After Lu Huiqing proposed, everyone said they had no objection, and Zhang Yue accepted it.
After the first thing was settled, Xiong Ben said: "Originally, the money can be exchanged for one thousand copper coins, but due to the copper shortage, the maximum exchange rate is 560 copper coins."
"To resolve the money shortage, can more salt banknotes be printed? As far as I know, selling salt banknotes in the imperial court was equivalent to selling salt. But later, some people bought salt banknotes not to buy salt but to use them as air tickets. Others bought salt banknotes. It is like saving money like gold and silver. Some people even use salt banknotes exclusively for speculation, and some people even have their salt banknotes eaten by fire and insects. I will not go into detail here."
"Salt banknotes have been set at 2.8 million guan per year. Last year, only 1.5 million guan was spent on Zhangyan salt and salt industry. I think it is possible to increase the number of salt banknotes to more than 3 million guan!" Kumamoto Chushu He was responsible for the official affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs and was also the judge of Sinong Temple. This man was very talented and trusted by Wang Anshi.
Zhang Yueze said: "Salt banknotes are paid with salt from salt ponds. The maximum output of Jieyan salt in a year is only more than 300,000 sheets of salt. If more than 3 million salt banknotes are printed in a year, it is more than enough, but at low times, it is only less than 100,000 sheets of salt. Tens of thousands of seats, what will we do then? There will be no trace of the salt banknotes." Lu Huiqing expressed support for Zhang Yue: "This matter is as Duan Ming said, the salt banknotes are still 2.8 million. Change!" Everyone in the political hall could see that Zhang Yue and Lu Huiqing were making the decision in this political discussion, and no one else could make up their mind. Even Feng Jing and Wang Gui could only listen attentively.
