"Forgiveness"
One day in March of the eighth year of Kaibao's reign, Zhao Kuangyin was about to have a meal when he suddenly found a cute louse playing happily beside the bowl.
Zhao Kuangyin hurriedly stabilized the servants and warned them not to show off, otherwise someone would die in the imperial dining room. Historical records say that Zhao Kuangyin was greatly inspired by reading it. He admired the rule of Yao and Shun and opposed harsh punishments. Within a few years, he pardoned as many as 4,108 death row prisoners.
We will describe Liao Muzong's attitude towards his servants in detail later. Comparing the two, it is not difficult to understand why the Liao Kingdom was at a disadvantage during this period.
"Fishing Law Enforcement"
Scholars are not all nerds, nor are they all gentlemen. Throughout the ages, many so-called educated people and public intellectuals have always talked about benevolence, justice and morality, but have been full of male thieves and female prostitutes. Therefore, the people have a feeling that "most people who are righteous are slaughtering dogs, and those who are unkind are mostly scholars."
There was a scholar named Liu Pan who was promoted to Jinshi in the Later Han Dynasty and entered an official career. This person is "good at setting up strange deceptions" and is full of bad ideas. At the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was appointed as the head of the dyeing institute. Liu Pan deliberately placed an informant on the roadside. Whenever Zhao Kuangyin was going to inspect the work of the dyeing hospital, Liu Pan could always get the information in advance, so he wore dirty and tattered work clothes, holding a big stick, and looked unkempt. The workshop supervised the workers at work. When Zhao Kuangyin suddenly arrived, he "panicked" and hurriedly knelt down to greet him, saying that he did not know that the holy driver was here and that he would be punished with death.
Zhao Kuangyin was very satisfied and thought that he devoted himself wholeheartedly to his work, even forgetting to eat and sleep. He was indeed a model worker in the new era. He called on all employees to learn from Comrade Liu Pan and gave him 200,000 yuan.
With his outstanding acting skills, Liu Pan has a prosperous official career and has been rising steadily.
Later, Zhao Kuangyin asked him to inspect the smuggling of tea in the Huaihe River area. At that time, tea, like salt and iron, was related to the lifeline of the country's economy and was a strategic material strictly controlled by the government. Because it is under control, the black market tea trade has huge profit margins. Many businessmen take risks in the face of huge profits and engage in illegal activities of selling smuggled tea.
When describing the topic of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the previous article, I mentioned that in order to bring down the economy of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty launched a trade war against the Southern Tang Dynasty, set up a "Zhebo Service", strictly controlled the trade between the two countries, and used the invisible big hand of economy to strangle the Southern Tang Dynasty. Nantang's neck. Therefore, from this perspective, smuggling of tea at the border is no longer a minor economic problem, but an act that undermines national strategy, supports the enemy, and is a treasonous crime of transfusing blood for the enemy to survive.
The government strictly investigates the sale of illegal tea, but the ban continues. Because the stricter the investigation, the higher the profits from selling illicit tea, and the more unscrupulous businessmen can be tempted to take risks.
After Liu Pan took office, he used a fishing method to enforce the law and achieved remarkable results. The specific method is very simple. Liu Pan wears civilian clothes, rides a thin old horse, knocks on the door from door to door, claims to be a tea seller, and wants to purchase goods at a high price. The local people did not doubt his presence and gladly sold him tea. Not surprisingly, these common people who were willing to sell goods were arrested.
From then on, no one dared to sell private tea to strangers. As for the regular customers, after several rounds of conventional crackdowns, they have been reduced to a controllable range, and the smuggling of smuggled tea has been effectively curbed.
Liu Pan was once again praised by Zhao Kuangyin. In the future, Liu Pan shone brightly in his position as a transport envoy and performed outstandingly, winning many awards from the emperor. In the second year of Chunhua, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, Liu Pan died of a stroke at the age of 73.
"Suppressing Actors"
In April of the eighth year of Kaibao, Comrade Wei Deren, chairman of the Royal Folk Art Association, submitted a retirement application to the organization, and attached a small request, asking the organization to arrange a senior municipal official position for him to provide for his retirement, and cited the post-Tang Dynasty The practice of Zhuangzong period.
Li Cunxu doted on actors and actresses, and often made guest appearances. He gave himself a stage name, and once pretended to be his father-in-law to tease his wife - "Pumping his father and plotting against Liu". At that time, whenever an actor retired, Li Cunxu would reward them with the post of governor.
As mentioned before, Zhao Kuangyin loves to study the history of Li Cunxu the most, taking history as a mirror and deeply learning the painful lessons of the big brother who destroyed the party and the country. It's okay not to mention Zhuang Zong, but when he mentions Zhuang Zong, it's like hitting the point of a gun. Zhao Kuangyin immediately expressed his attitude:
"How can it be effective to use actors as governors because Zhuangzong has lost power?"
The prime ministers understood Zhao Kuangyin's words, but not what Zhao Kuangyin meant, and prepared to appoint Wei Deren as the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee in first-tier cities.
Zhao Kuangyin simply stopped beating around the bush and told me in plain language: "The deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee must also be a scholar, and he must be an outstanding scholar with qualifications, ability, and reputation. How can this be child's play? As for this guy-Old Artist Comrade Wei Deren, please digest it within the Music Association."
In the end, Wei Deren was pleased to mention the Taiyue Department Order of Taichang Temple. What kind of official is this? Taichang Temple is the highest administrative agency in charge of rituals and music. It also has many "departments" under it, such as the Social Affairs Bureau in the suburbs of Beijing and the mausoleum bureaus of various imperial tombs. Among them, the Taiyue Bureau is in charge of court rituals and music. There are two "lings" under the Taile Department. In other words, Wei Deren's "Ling of Taile Department" is the top leader of the Taile Department. What is the specific grade of this leader?
Answer: From the seventh level down.
The seventh grade is not the real seventh grade, but the seventh grade, with "lower" attached. From the seventh rank down, saying "seventh rank sesame official" is flattering to him. The seventh rank official is several levels higher than him.
Seventh-grade sesame officer: "What grade? Compete with me for sesame seeds!"
"Quit safari"
Many emperors liked hunting, especially those who were born in the military. Hunting has many benefits. For example, it is a high-intensity competition that is closest to combat and is comparable to military exercises. However, its shortcomings cannot be ignored. Hunting by the emperor and other noble people cost a lot of money and required a temporary demarcation of an uninhabited land, which caused direct damage to local agricultural production. During this period, rewards were also issued to the retinues. Therefore, being obsessed with safari has always been a criticism of the emperor.
Zhao Kuangyin, who was born in the army, also loved hunting. One day in September of the eighth year of Kaibao, Zhao Kuangyin was hunting in the suburbs. Just as he was chasing a hare at full speed, his horse suddenly stalled, causing Zhao Kuangyin to kiss the land deeply. He can't outrun the rabbit.
Social death scene. Zhao Kuangyin was so angry that he stood up, took out his saber, and stabbed his mount to death in one stroke. However, he immediately regretted it. Facing the ministers who came to escort him, Zhao Kuangyin blamed himself: "I am the lord of the world, but I am obsessed with hunting. How can I blame the innocent horse?" From then on , Zhao Kuangyin gave up the habit of hunting.
It's very touching and inspiring to say. In fact, looking at the time, there was still one year left before his death. However, historians may have more considerations when recording this matter, such as comparing it with Muzong of the Liao Dynasty at the same time. The following article will detail the boring and unpretentious monotonous life of Muzong of the Liao Dynasty.
"Take money to kill you"
In November of the third year of Kaibao's reign, the Khitan mobilized 60,000 cavalry to invade Dingzhou, but was repelled by Song general Tian Qinzuo's 3,000 troops, creating a military miracle of "three thousand against sixty thousand". When the news reached Bianzhou, Zhao Kuangyin was overjoyed and excited. He said to the people around him: "The Khitan invaded the border several times. I asked for a Khitan head at the price of twenty bolts of silk. They only had 100,000 elite soldiers. So I It only takes two million bolts of silk to buy out the Khitan!"
Using "money power" to deal with the Khitans was the final step in Zhao Kuangyin's unification strategy. As mentioned earlier, Zhao Kuangyin set up a "sealing pile library" and allocated a portion of the fiscal balance every year to be used as war reserves. How is this money used specifically?
Zhao Kuangyin gave the answer when he set up the "sealing warehouse". He said that when I save three to five million, I will send an envoy to contact the Khitan to redeem the sixteen states of Youyun. If the Khitan agrees, then everyone will be happy; if not Agree, I will use the money as military expenses to recover by force.
The redemption of the Sixteen States of Youyun is a very advanced political wisdom. This is more than 800 years before the United States purchased land from France, Spain, Russia, and Mexico! It is a pity that Zhao Kuangyin died suddenly, so it was not implemented in Chinese history.
As for the amount of the money, there is obviously a certain misunderstanding. What is the unit of three to five million? Is it "wen" or "guan", "pi" or "ding"? It's not important actually. In short, it's definitely a huge sum of money.
