Thanks to [Han Yu Jiang Xiang Luan] for the reward of 100,000 coins~
————The following text————
"The official family is re-planning the strategy against Xia. I hope to borrow Zhao Zhengyan's wisdom."
After receiving the imperial order to re-formulate the strategy against Xia, Song Xiang made a plea to the officials.
Gao Ruona from the side didn't say anything, but he bowed his hands, apparently tacitly agreeing with Song Xiang's proposal.
After all, the new Xia strategy itself was Zhao Yang's idea, so it was natural to ask Zhao Yang as a consultant to avoid omissions.
Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "That's right. Zhao Yang, you and your two husbands will go to the Privy Council to discuss it carefully. I will also remember you for your contribution."
Although Zhao Yang was concerned about the location of the workshop, he still accepted it after weighing it.
After walking out of the Chui Gong Hall, Song Xiang solemnly saluted Zhao Yang and said, "Thank you for your help, Zhao Zhengyan."
Zhao Yang had a good impression of Song Xiang. Although the two were initially unhappy over whether to summon Fan Zhongyan back to the capital, there was no conflict afterwards, especially with Gao Ruona, Qian Mingyi, and Wen Yanbo as comparisons. Under the circumstances, Song Xiang can really be called a friendly group.
Therefore, Zhao Yang naturally would not be rude and responded with a smile: "Xiangong Song said seriously. In fact, I am also a little curious about the Privy Council. I just took the opportunity to see it today."
"Haha, in that case, Song will give Zhao Zhengyan a tour...please."
"please."
The two walked through the hanging arch door talking and laughing, Gao Ruona, the dignified deputy privy envoy, followed behind him expressionlessly, as if like a follower, which made Wang Zhongzheng and others who were following Zhao Yang secretly amused.
The long street outside Chuigongmen is a street that runs from east to west of the palace city. It reaches Donghua Gate in the east and Xihua Gate in the west. It can be regarded as the boundary between the front court and the harem.
Across this street from the vertical arch gate to the south, directly opposite is the back door of Wende Hall. This door is generally closed and not opened, and is guarded by special guards.
A little further to the west along the high wall of the back door, there is a side door called the Right Yintai Gate. There is a long and narrow palace passage through this door, which is connected to the Right Changqing Gate at the other end.
The building complex to the west of this narrow road is where the Xiuguo History Academy and the Longtu Pavilion, Tianzhang Pavilion and other academic pavilions are located. The former is as its name implies, and the latter two pavilions are mainly used to collect portraits and old belongings of emperors of the past dynasties, including imperial memorials and imperial collections. And royal books, etc.
And this narrow passage is close to the east end of the Changqing Gate on the right, that is, the corridor group south of the Wende Hall Group. From west to east is the old Privy Council, Zhongshu Sheng, Dutang and Menxia Sheng—— Therefore, at that time, the Privy Council was also called Xifu, and Zhongshu was called Dongfu.
However, the Zhongshu Province and the Menxia Province have long been merged into the Political Affairs Hall, and their offices have been moved to the small hall corridor on the west side of the Daqing Palace Complex. From the old site, you can go east through the west corridor and the west side door to reach the Daqing Palace Complex.
In other words, the four rows of verandas south of the Hall of Wende are basically exclusively used by the Privy Council and are also the location of the Privy Council's superior institutions.
For example, the Privy Council Office.
According to Song Xiang’s introduction and explanation, the Department of Chengzhi is the most important higher-level organization of the Privy Council, and is mainly responsible for managing the official affairs of the Privy Council. The chief officers of the department are the Privy Council Chief Chengzhi, the Deputy Chief Chengzhi, the Privy Council Chengzhi and the Deputy Privy Council Chengzhi. Each has one or two members, but they are not full at present; the next level is the four rooms of soldiers, officials, households, and rites. In addition, the punishment room was added during the Shenzong Dynasty, and it is collectively called the fifth room of the Privy Council. In addition to the two persons appointed according to the decree, one person was appointed for each of the others.
The above-mentioned people work in the main hall most of the time. The main hall is located in the first row of corridors from west to east. It has walls on three sides and a series of narrow and high doors on one side. When they are all opened, there is plenty of light in the room.
Zhao Yang glanced at the inside of the main hall and saw that the long and narrow corridor was decorated with calligraphy, paintings, and potted plants. The decorations were quite elegant. There were several rows of three-foot small cases arranged neatly in the hall, and more than a dozen officials in regular uniforms. Sitting on a low stool behind the case, he picked up a pen and wrote. There were two normal-sized desks at the front, and a foreman official sat behind the desk. The scene looked like a teacher leading a group of students, which made Zhao Yang couldn't help laughing.
The laughter caused the officials in the palace to turn their heads to look.
"Sorry to bother you." Zhao Yang said hello with his hands in hand.
All the officials in the palace looked at each other but did not respond. They just looked at Zhao Yang doubtfully. After all, they also noticed Song Xiang and Gao Ruona standing beside and behind Zhao Yang - even if they did not recognize Zhao Yang, they should recognize him. The two Lord Privy Councilors.
The foreman official also noticed Zhao Yang and the others, stood up to greet them, and saluted Zhao Yang and the others: "Xianggong Song, Xianggong Gao, and Zhao Zhengyan."
Huh?
Zhao Yang returned the gift with some surprise, and Song Xiang introduced from the side: "This is Wang Yiqing, Deputy Wang Ducheng, and an official of the Chang Dynasty."
ah……
Zhao Yang, who had no memory of this, couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He handed over his hand again and said: "Officials in the court, I only remember the few who impeached me. They all accepted the decree even if they didn't recognize it in person. Please don't be surprised."
"Ha ha."
Wang Yiqing smiled and returned the greeting: "Zhao Zhengyan is very sharp in the palace, but I didn't expect him to be so straightforward in private. It suits my temper. I hope we will have more interactions with him in the future."
"That's right." Zhao Yang only smiled and nodded.
While the two were chatting, Song Xiang coughed and said, "Xiangong Gao and I invite Zhao Zhengyan to come to our Privy Council to discuss important matters, so I won't disturb you all for now."
Zhao Yang glanced at Song Xiang thoughtfully, and then said goodbye to Wang Yiqing.
During the ensuing journey, Song Xiang did not mention Wang Yiqing, but continued to introduce the personnel composition of the Privy Council's Imperial Edict Department as if nothing had happened. For example, there were eight deputy directors, twenty-five Lingshi, and thirty-four Lingshi. The left and right escorts, one deputy magistrate each on the left and right, six leading officials, ten military generals, one hundred Dacheng officials such as Dutou, ten generals and deputy generals, and twenty-eight chefs in the east and west. People wait.
After talking about the Department of Chengzhi, he also introduced the subordinate organizations of the Privy Council, such as the four rooms of soldiers, officials, households, and rites. In addition to the above-mentioned deputy Chengzhi Department, each also has one chief executive, several orders and histories, and several orders and histories. The house serves the officials.
In addition, there are the Privy Council Editorial Department, the Military and Horse Planning Department, the Lecture Department, the Propaganda Department, the Skin Peeling Department, the Imperial Archery Department, the Provincial Horse Department, etc. Some of them are located inside the palace, and some are located outside the palace. , the complexity gave Zhao Yang a headache, and in the end he only left one impression: anything related to "military", "military use" and "ban" is basically under the control of the Privy Council.
While introducing and leading the way, Song Xiang took Zhao Yang to the main hall where he and Gao Ruona worked. It is said that it was converted from the capital hall where the prime minister used to work. The main hall is where Song Xiang worked. Gao Ruona was there A little further next door is the old political office of the Councilor.
After inviting Zhao Yang into the main hall, Song Xiang ordered the officials in the office to serve tea. At the same time, he ordered someone to fetch the Song-Xia border defense map and spread it on the table. He then called two more clerks to record it, and then began to discuss the strategy against Xia.
Seeing this, Zhao Yang couldn't help but be surprised: "How many of us are there?"
As if he had guessed what Zhao Yang was thinking, Song Xiang explained with a smile: "I invited Zhao Zhengyan here just to discuss the general strategy. Only by confirming the general strategy first can Xianggong Gao and I issue orders and take charge of the Zhizhi Division and others. We will formulate detailed strategies together. Taking city construction as an example, our Privy Council will send people to Shaanxi Fourth Road to conduct on-site inspections of suitable places for city construction, and mark and record them one by one. Then our Privy Council will make separate plans for city construction and construction based on the topography of each city site. Strategies to defend against enemies to deal with different situations. Furthermore, our Privy Council must also formulate relevant strategies in advance for the transportation of laborers, materials required for building the city, and the money and food spent during the construction period..."
Although Zhao Yang was not surprised to hear such details, he couldn't help but ask: "How long does it take to remake a strategy like this?"
Song Xiang shook his head and said: "It has to be calculated by year. The first draft can be as short as more than a year or as long as a few years. As for the subsequent deletions, there is no definite number. For example, in the fourth year of Chunhua, the Privy Council reworked the Liao strategy. It has been five years since In the past ten years..."
"Fifty years?" Zhao Yang opened his eyes in disbelief.
From the side, Gao Ruona finally caught the opportunity and hummed: "How long? Over the past fifty years, the Privy Council has formulated a total of three sets of general strategies and six sets of emergency plans. In addition, every city on Hebei Road, and every There are several sets of strategies for each river, swamp, lake, etc., which are used for large-scale Khitan invasion, small group harassment, etc. There are strategies for holding on, blocking, containing, and counterattacking, etc. There are hundreds of them... Zhao Zhengyan Do you think that my Privy Council is sitting around doing nothing all day long?"
Zhao Yang suddenly nodded, but he was dissatisfied with Gao Ruona's tone. He tilted his head and sneered, "Why, you're still not convinced, Xiao Gao?"
Xiao...Xiao Gao?
Gao Ruona, who was over fifty years old, opened his eyes wide and his face turned red with anger, but he did not dare to get angry. When Song Xiang couldn't help but laugh, he swallowed his anger and said: "I will discuss the matter and I won't quarrel with you. Don't bully others." Too much!"
Zhao Yang also felt a little tired after the narration in the morning court and Chui Gong Hall. He nodded and said: "Okay, I'm a little tired too. Let's call it a truce for today... Have you two read these strategies?"
Song Xiang shook his head and said: "I have looked through some, but not all of them. The more critical ones such as Zhending Mansion, Daming Mansion, etc., the Privy Council will make some adjustments and modifications every year, and finally hand it over to me to confirm that there are no flaws; the remaining two or three It will take years or even longer for some adjustments to be made. If I am not in office, I naturally don’t know much about it. As for going to the warehouse to look at these strategies..."
He shook his head and looked like he was unable to do anything. He probably had too many strategies and had no time to look through them one by one.
Seeing this, Zhao Yang asked thoughtfully: "Are these strategies piled up in the warehouse? Then if they need to be used..."
Song Xiang explained: "These strategies are classified and sealed according to place names and kept properly. When they are needed, the Privy Council will take out the corresponding strategies and make slight adjustments for use on the front line..."
"Oh." Zhao Yang nodded as expected.
Later generations often laughed at the fact that the frontline generals of the Song Dynasty did not have the right to make decisions about troop deployment. When encountering foreign invasion, they could only ask the central government for instructions first. The result was that the frontline was often defeated, but the instructions from the central government had not yet been sent. But in fact, strictly speaking, the model of the Song Dynasty was not backward but also very advanced. After all, a large Eastern country still had this model a thousand years later.
Under normal circumstances, the war plans that have been repeatedly deliberated and made by strategy-making bodies such as the Privy Council for many years must be better than the decisions made by frontline generals in times of crisis. Of course, the premise is that the person formulating the strategy must be familiar with military affairs. If it is a war plan thought up by a group of civil servants who do not know the military, then it is another matter.
In addition to the inconvenience of information transmission, the most critical issue of the Song Dynasty was that civilian officials were in charge of military affairs. The plans and strategies that a group of civilian officials who had never fought in a war came up with were really unconvincing.
However, Zhao Yang can't change this situation at the moment. After all, he just said to the imperial army, "Who said that only those who sing the number one scholar outside Donghua Gate are good people?", and he was criticized by all the people - and this only concerns the sergeants. , if he openly proposes to improve the status of military attaches, or even supports military attaches who can fight to enter the center of the imperial court, then the entire imperial court may be overturned.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yang shook his head helplessly. All he could do now was to put aside distracting thoughts and discuss the strategy against Xia in detail with Song Xiang and Gao Ruona.
At least on this matter, he could check the situation for Song State with his vision of a thousand years later. Although he could only talk on paper, he could at least screen out some of the plans that the civil servants had thought up.
On that day, the three of them discussed until dusk. Not to mention that the two clerks were so tired that they almost broke their hands while writing. Zhao Yang also felt his throat was hoarse after drinking tea all afternoon.
As for the gains, in addition to the fact that he, Song Xiang and Gao Ruonei roughly discussed Xia Fanglue and came up with a first draft of the general strategy, Song and Gao also had a better impression of him. At least from the tone and attitude, it can be seen that Zhao Yang was gradually Treated as a colleague, not just a favorite.
During this period, even if Zhao Yang deliberately teased Gao Ruona and called him "Xiao Gao" or "Ruona", Gao Ruona would no longer get angry and just pretended not to hear and was too lazy to respond.
Strangely enough, the three of them seemed to have established some vague initial friendship through this incident.
By the way, Zhao Yang also had his lunch at the Privy Council's East Kitchen. As Privy Councilor, Song Xiang graciously treated him and Gao Ruone to a meal, and even added extra specialties at the level of Prime Minister and Privy Councilor. The cost of a few dishes was credited to his monthly meal allowance as Privy Councilor.
It cannot be denied that the craftsmanship of the Privy Council's East Chef is indeed good. Zhao Yang currently seems to be tied for first place with the restaurant where he hosted the Zhong family brothers. In comparison, the imperial meal prepared by Shang Shi Bureau is more refined and tastes bland. It can only be compared with the restaurants in Xiaotianshui Lane - the former is exquisite and dull, while the latter is just the opposite.
Zhao Yang could probably guess some of the reasons.
When dining at Funing Hall in the evening, Zhao Yang tasted the food carefully and found that it was indeed only averagely delicious.
The next day, the 21st of the first lunar month.
After breakfast, Zhao Yang took Wang Zhongzheng and others straight to the main office of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, preparing to ask Yang Yi, his deputy envoy of the Technology Department, about the progress of the location selection of the workshop.
Unexpectedly, when he came to the government office, the clerks who happened to bump into him congratulated him one after another: "Congratulations to the envoy for avenging a great revenge."
Zhao Yang said a few polite words without being rude. It wasn't until the deputy envoy Yang Yiyi congratulated him that he asked with a strange expression: "You know everything?"
Yang Yi said with a smile: "Yesterday afternoon, the hospital learned the news. It was said that the commander-in-chief killed everyone in the morning, argued eloquently with nine Taiwanese remonstrators, and refuted them one by one, and even impeached one person in the end. Ten Taiwanese remonstrators...Tsk, tsk, one person impeached ten Taiwanese remonstrators, which is unprecedented."
Although Zhao Yang was very proud of this, he was still a little embarrassed listening to others talking about it. He coughed and changed the subject: "Has the 100,000 yuan allocated by the government arrived?"
Yang Yiyi still said: "The two batches have reached a total of 20,000 yuan. Fan Jishi led our officials from the Ministry of Industry to repeatedly count and confirm that the money is currently piled in the warehouse, and I have sent eight officials to look after it."
"Why is it only 20,000 yuan?" Zhao Yang asked confused.
Yang Yi explained: "Firstly, the warehouse in the courtyard cannot be used. Secondly, Fan Jishi feels that it is not necessary. He said that 20,000 yuan can be temporarily used. When a large amount of money is needed in the future, such as purchasing and building in the outer city, For the land needed for the workshop, the envoy can sign and seal it, and ask people to go directly to the inner treasury to pick it up, which also saves the need to carry it back and forth."
"Oh, right." Zhao Yang nodded repeatedly.
At this time, Yang Yi changed his expression and said hesitantly: "There is something else that needs to be reported to the envoy. In the past two days, there has been a rumor in the city that the envoy attaches more importance to sergeants than to scholars. Envoy Fan Ji is also worried and has come to the Yamen for two days in a row. It's a pity that he couldn't wait for the Secretary. Yesterday afternoon, he heard that the Secretary had shown great power in the morning. He was quite surprised at first, but then he became depressed. When others asked him, he didn't answer, so he left the Yamen..."
"Oh, it's okay, I'll go find him later."
Zhao Yang nodded slightly, not surprised by this.
Apparently, the Erlang of the Fan family guessed that Zhao Yang intended to avoid being implicated in the accusation of "valuing sergeants more than scholars". He felt that Zhao Yang despised him and did not regard him as a real friend who could help him in times of trouble, so he made a fuss. A literati mood arose.
If Zhao Yang had not been kind to his father Fan Zhongyan, it is estimated that Fan Chunren would have resigned from his position as technical director.
