After the daily routine, officials who did not participate in the memorial ceremony gradually left their posts, while the official family retreated to the back hall to decide matters.
Wang Anshi followed the official into the back hall, while Wu Chong and Wang Gui returned to the Yamen.
It is understandable that Wang Anshi stayed close to the official family, because as prime minister, he had to be exposed to all the information flow submitted by officials to the emperor. Of course, this is definitely not the case. When officials judge any information, they must have Wang Anshi to assist them and provide reference opinions from time to time. This is also the role of the prime minister.
As for Lu Huiqing, he also walked into the back hall and stayed close to his side.
Zhang Yue retreated into the back hall and saw that Lu Huiqing refused to leave. It was difficult for him to hand over Shen Kuo's instructions. It can be seen that Lu Huiqing is very guarded against him, for fear that he will complain to the officials in his absence.
Zhang Yue thought that it didn't matter, even if he couldn't hand it over today, he could still hand it over tomorrow.
So Zhang Yue waited patiently, but Lu Huiqing was a little puzzled. While the officials were changing clothes and resting, and the servants were passing tea soup to the princes, Lu Huiqing came over to Zhang Yue and asked, "Du Zhi, what are your plans today?" What's the matter?"
Zhang Yue asked, "Why is Brother Jifu asking about these trivial matters?"
Lu Huiqing said, "Just ask."
The two ended the conversation with a few words. Lu Huiqing continued to show his goodwill and handed Zhang Yue a plate of jujube cake, saying that he had bad teeth and did not eat sweets.
Zhang Yue glanced at the jujube cake handed over by Lu Huiqing and put it aside without moving.
Seeing this scene, Lu Huiqing felt a little relieved, and then said a few words to Wang Anshi.
Wang Anshi answered Lu Huiqing absentmindedly, but Zhang Yue and Wang Anshi never exchanged a word from beginning to end.
The three chief ministers in the palace each have their own concerns.
After a cup of tea, the officials went to the palace again. Several princes immediately pushed plates of food, and the officials who were waiting for the performance outside the gallery also stood up again.
The princes can have tea in the palace, but other officials must retreat outside the corridor. This is also a clear hierarchy.
The officials handed over their notebooks one by one. At this time, Zhang Yue also handed over his notes, which contained some opinions on the deployment of troops and horses on various roads in Hebei.
The official took Zhang Yue's zhazi and gave it to Wang Anshi.
In fact, Wang Anshi's shortcoming is military, but he has some control over personnel, and he will not talk about other details. However, Wang Anshi let it go, but Lu Huiqing objected.
After Zhang Yue finished playing, he took out the note from another boot page. It was about Xihe Road, which was also very important.
Lu Huiqing was also confused when she saw that Zhang Yue still stayed in the palace after playing two volumes.
The rest of the officials left after the performance, but the Prime Minister was different. They could stay in the palace to comment on any opinions, unless they had official business to attend to.
Zhang Yue really wanted to stay in the palace, but there was nothing he could do, and there were indeed some urgent matters in Zhongshu that Lu Huiqing needed to deal with. When Lu Huiqing saw that Zhang Yue handed over two memorials, he felt that there would be no third memorial and gave up.
Lu Huiqing stood for a moment longer, and finally took the first step.
After Lu Huiqing left, only a few officials were left to perform matters, and none of them were important matters.
At this time, Zhang Yue took out Shen Kuo's zhazi from the bag he had sewn on his sleeve and handed it to the official.
The officials were also surprised to see Zhang Yue suddenly hand over another letter at this time.
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, Shen Kuo said that if the Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty fought, they should use bows and crossbows to make cavalry. The soldiers and horses of this dynasty are accustomed to bows and crossbows, and there are such unparalleled weapons as divine arm bows and bed crossbows. They should not use chariots to make cavalry. , but use bows to control cavalry. Moreover, the boxcars of the Ordnance Supervisor move slowly and are simply not enough to gallop Youyan and fight against the Khitan cavalry."
"He had discussed this matter with Lu Huiqing before, but was blocked by him and kept silent."
The officials looked very ugly after hearing this, and immediately took Shen Kuo's memorial and read it carefully. Wang Anshi on the side glanced at Zhang Yue.
He knew very well what kind of character Shen Kuo was.
Lu Huiqing could make Shen Kuo betray him, then Zhang Yue could make Shen Kuo betray Lu Huiqing.
The official said angrily: "Lu Huiqing knows that it is inappropriate to use a car to ride, so why does he insist on making such a suggestion?"
Wang Anshi said: "Your Majesty, when I discussed with Lu Huiqing to resist the Khitan cavalry, I also agreed with using chariots to control the cavalry."
Zhang Yue also expected that Wang Anshi would protect Lu Huiqing.
The official nodded and continued to read Shen Kuo's notes.
In the letter, Shen Kuojin said that today's weapons supervisors and craftsmen are in disorganized management, and there is a phenomenon of passive sabotage or shoddy work. Simply relying on the various laws formulated by Lu Huiqing to standardize the process of weapons is not enough. It must be Reorganize.
As far as the armies in Hebei are concerned, they still lack all kinds of crossbows, especially the divine arm bow. If they want to build them all within a few months, they may not be able to cope with the future battles between the Liao and Song Dynasties.
Here Shen Kuo proposed to reform the craftsman system of the weapons supervisor.
How to carry out reform?
Shen Kuo quoted Jia Yi's saying in Zhi'an Shuli: "Many build the princes but lack their strength".
In the original words, this sentence means that Jia Yi advised the Han emperor to implement the order of favor, so that the number of princes would increase, and finally it would be easier to manage.
But here Shen Kuo made another point of view with reference to Zhang Yue's meaning. That is, the weapons supervisor does not manage directly, but uses the method used by Emperor Zhou to manage the princes.
Give some skilled craftsmen the treatment of officials, even officials in the capital, and then use these craftsmen to manage the production of weapons supervisors.
Use official titles to attract craftsmen to join. Only craftsmen can serve as officials, and then use these official craftsmen to manage the affairs of the weapons supervisor.
When Zhang Yue first read Shen Kuo's notes, he actually didn't agree with some aspects.
Shen Kuo agreed with the idea of using craftsmen to manage craftsmen, but the essence of this system was, to put it bluntly, cutting leeks.
But can this method improve the enthusiasm of craftsmen?
This is possible to a certain extent, because the vested interests among the craftsmen will set a relatively high threshold so that the underachievers must continue to work hard in order to join the ranks of vested interests.
By becoming an official, you can mobilize the enthusiasm of the craftsmen in the ordnance supervision, such as inventing some cutting-edge technology or improving the manufacturing process, and then get rid of the craftsman status and join the official status.
The official frowned after seeing this opinion and asked, "Can a craftsman be an official? This has never happened before."
Wang Anshi said: "Your Majesty, there are craftsmen as officials in the Qin Dynasty. Although they are humble, they can receive titles."
"It is well known that the Qin Dynasty was so powerful in making weapons that it annexed the six countries."
"As for the Han and Tang Dynasties, there was no shortage of builders who could serve as ministers."
Zhang Yue said: "If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his weapons. When fighting with the Khitan, the advantage lies in the sharpness of the armor..."
Wang Anshi also agreed.
Zhang Yue thought to himself that only Wang Anshi could agree. If it were Han Jiang, Wu Chong would probably be opposed to craftsmen becoming officials. It is enough to say that the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats rule the world together.
What is a scholar-official? He must be from the scholar class. Are farmers, industrialists, and merchants worthy of being ranked alongside scholar-bureaucrats? Are you worthy of joining the ruling class?
However, the officials were most worried about the Khitan cavalry, and finally agreed to the matter after Zhang Yue and Wang Anshi persuaded them.
