Returning to Funing Hall, Zhao Xu's mind was still filled with the neat piles of gold, silver and copper ingots in Jingfu Hall.
A box full of bronze coins.
There are mountains of incense and white ivory.
Countless silk brocades.
There are even 10,000 pieces of Jibeib.
Jibeib may be unfamiliar to modern people, but its other name should be familiar to everyone.
cotton!
As early as the Tang Dynasty, cotton had been planted in Lingnan and other places, and began to be woven into cloth, named: Jibei cloth.
The quilts made of Jibei cloth were what people at the time called: heavy quilts.
Bai Juyi's poem says: The sun is high and I'm still sleepy when I've slept enough. The quilt in the small pavilion is so heavy that I'm not afraid of the cold!
In the Song Dynasty, as the cotton planting area further increased, especially after the Renmiao period, the southern region began to develop.
Jibei cloth and heavy quilt, specialties of the south, began to appear on the market as commodities.
But, these things are expensive!
It is at least ten times, or even dozens of times, the price of ordinary silk cloth!
Therefore, except for the noble and wealthy businessmen, few people could afford it or use it, and the scope of circulation was also very narrow.
Even if it belongs to a wealthy family, it will be made into a heavy quilt when they buy it back.
Cotton-padded clothes and trousers are not unavailable, but they are very rare - truly wealthy people will not wear cotton-padded clothes that are neither fashionable nor good-looking.
Don’t fox fur and mink clothes smell good?
Ordinary citizens simply cannot afford the expensive Jibeib.
In addition, the output of Lingnan kapok is also very limited, which affects the promotion of Jibei cloth.
Therefore, in the late Song Dynasty, Jibebu's role and status were very embarrassing.
However, Zhao Xu, who had studied abroad in modern times, knew. The most suitable place for growing cotton is actually not Lingnan.
But...
Xihelanhui Road!
Because the local area not only has the right climate and rainfall.
The most important thing is that there are large tracts of wasteland suitable for cotton cultivation! And a large number of cheap labor!
…
"What are Sixth Brother thinking about?" Queen Mother Xiang couldn't help but ask when she saw Zhao Xu was in a daze alone in the palace after returning to the palace.
"Queen Mother..." Zhao Xu came back to his senses and looked at the Queen Mother Xiang: "I am thinking about a dynasty allusion that my father once told me..."
"Um?"
"Last year, when my father took his son to study in Qingning Palace, Zeng He'er said that when Taizu first came to the throne, he wanted to make a smoke cage and ordered a minister to present it immediately. First, go to Shangshu Province, and Shangshu Province will go to the main department. The main department will go to Bencao, and Bencao will go to the bureau. The bureau will review it, and then it can be presented. In this way, it will take a few days before it can be presented to the emperor. Taizu was furious and asked his left and right: Who? Do it in such a coherent way to restrict me?..."
Listening to the Queen Mother, she knew that what Zhao Xu was talking about was the most famous story of the ancestors of this dynasty, the fumigation cage system!
So, she listened quietly, her eyes filled with admiration.
"The left and right answer: It's the prime minister!"
"Taizu was angry and ordered Zhao Hanwang (Zhao Pu) to reprimand him: When I was among the people, I could only get a few dozen coins for a fumigation cage. Now that I am the emperor, I can only get it for a few days. Why?"
"King Zhao Han said to him: This pass was not established for His Majesty, but for His Majesty's descendants!"
"When Taizu heard about it, he thought it was a great virtue. He praised it and said: This is a very good line!"
Zhao Xu finished telling this ancestral story that almost everyone in the Song Dynasty royal family knew.
Then he blinked and looked at the Queen Mother Xiang: "Today, my son will follow his mother to the Jingfu Palace..."
"I saw countless treasures and silks in the inner treasury left by my father!"
"My son has been thinking... If our ancestors want to be in a smoke cage, they must set up a coherent system to warn their descendants!"
"Today, the wealth and silk that my father left behind is more than tens of millions? I thought, I wonder if it can be organized so that people inside and outside can use it at will?"
Queen Mother Xiang listened quietly, the admiration in her eyes could no longer be suppressed.
She is a civil servant and a prime minister.
Zhao Xu's attitude and thoughts seemed to the Empress Dowager to be absolutely correct, and they were deeply rooted in her heart!
Daughters raised in scholar-official families are naturally inclined to the ideology of scholar-officials.
So, she smiled, hugged the child, and said, "Don't worry, my son, I have been able to have the integrity since our ancestors!"
"Although the pile treasury left by the Daxing Emperor is a large internal fund, it must be inspected by the outer court..."
This is a fact!
In the ancestral system of the Song Dynasty, although the money for sealing stakes in the inner court was an internal fund, the outer court could also intervene and even supervise its use.
This is because at the beginning, the purpose of sealing the money in the inner treasury was to regain Yanyou.
Later, Taizu told the ministers in court about the purpose of the money for sealing stakes in the inner treasury: "The army and the army should prepare for themselves in advance, and do not collect lavishly from the people when the situation arises!"
This is to use the pile sealing money as a modern national strategic reserve.
Later, the Zhen Temple and the Ren Temple gradually completed their systems.
Especially during the Renmiao period, a system was established in which the expenditure of money and silk by Zuozang and Youzang was supervised by the three ministers and the chief of the political affairs hall.
Renmiao once said to the minister personally: "The state prohibits money, which has no internal or external consequences. It is used to help finance the situation!"
But the problem is that there are 32 treasury in Xining and 20 treasury in Yuanfeng.
It is neither left Zang nor right Zang.
Rather, it was the same as Taizu's sealing money in the old years. It was an internal fund that could only be controlled and used by the emperor alone.
Although in name only, everyone, including the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Dutang Prime Minister, can intervene.
However, if the emperor really wants to spend money, who can restrict it?
The Five-Road Expedition to Xia, the Battle of Yongle City, the Guoluo Pass to Bian, and the reconstruction of the Bianjing Imperial City.
Zhao Xu's father is determined and no one can stop him.
It is precisely because of this loophole.
During the Yuanyou period of my previous life, the Empress Dowager was said a few nice words by the ministers from the outer dynasty. As soon as her hands were loosened, the money and silk from the inner money flowed out like water.
What's even worse is that these expenditures were not even embezzled.
A lot of it is simply a waste.
For example, Sima Guang implemented the new law, but the country needs money to operate, and the government from top to bottom also needs to operate.
Especially after the exemption law was repealed, most local governments were instantly paralyzed.
Up and down, there were endless complaints.
How to do it?
The only option is to use the money from the pile sealing money to support it first!
But the money for sealing piles is limited. It can cover it for a year, but not for a lifetime.
In Zhao Xu's previous life, after Sima Guang and Lu Gongzhu passed away successively, the money for sealing the piles finally became unbearable.
Therefore, their disciples and grandchildren invented a new thing: service money.
In fact, the exemption money has a different name.
But the problem is that no one dares to restore the immunity from service law - the last person who proposed to restore it has been labeled as a traitor and an evil party member and driven out of the court.
That person's name is Li Chang.
Zhao Xu, the emperor's father, was a member of the army when he was hiding in his residence. He was also one of the most fierce opponents of the new law at the beginning of Xining's reform!
However, he was still accused of being a "treacherous official" and a "villain" and was driven out of the court.
So, although the people paid the money.
But you still have to serve Yaqiang!
This is why the new law only wants money, but the old party wants both money and lives.
By the way, Qingmiaofa, whom Sima Guang hated deeply, also came out again in a different vest after his death.
It’s the Chang Ping method!
The old party scolded Wang Anshi every day for amassing money and harming the people.
But when they come to power and have no money in their pockets, they still have to obey reality.
But they can't slap themselves in the mouth.
Therefore, we had no choice but to use the bottles of the old law to hold the wine of the new law. The shortcomings of the new law and the shortcomings of the old party were all mixed together - what a poisonous cocktail this was!
So, before Zhao Xu took charge.
The old party has made the whole world angry and resentful.
They have offended most people, including those who once supported them the most and their own people, who were also considered to be members of the old party.
Naturally, Zhao Xu could not give those people another chance to act recklessly without any bottom line.
Keeping the money for sealing the stakes is one of his means of restraint - without money, Sima Guang would have to obey reality even if he could change his mind seventy-two times.
"Is it just a test?" Zhao Xu blinked a pair of innocent and innocent eyes and looked at the Queen Mother Xiang: "I think it is better to set up a unified system to clarify the system of superiors and subordinates and establish rules for hundreds of generations!"
"This is also what my father told his children to remember last year!"
"My mother, why don't you go to your mother-in-law and ask your mother-in-law to summon the ministers to discuss how to seal the money in the inner treasury..."
Queen Mother Xiang listened and nodded slowly, feeling that what Zhao Xu said made sense.
Moreover, this is something that Emperor Daxing specially entrusted to Sixth Brother.
Must do! Do it right away!
Moreover, the Queen Mother did not think there would be any difficulty in this matter.
Everyone in the government and the public, including the Empress Dowager, would only agree.
It just so happens that this matter can also be used to divide the discussion between the government and the public, and also to divide the hearts of the Queen Mother.
otherwise……
The Empress Dowager Xiang thought of yesterday and today, when she persuaded the Empress Dowager to leave some dignity for Wang Gui in Baoci Palace, the Empress Dowager remained silent.
She was really scared!
Just in case, the Empress Dowager of Bao Ci Palace makes up her mind and must peel off the Ma Wang Gui!
Then the whole world will be shocked!
Note: Kapok is cotton. This has been proven by the notes of Su Shi and Su Che.
Note 2: The old party’s ridiculous manipulations during the Yuanyou era were ridiculous...
(End of chapter)
