Tang Dynasty Mingyue Song Dynasty Pass

Chapter 172

Runzhou City, Han Mansion!

In the study room, the lights were bright, Han Xizai and a literati in green shirts were drinking tea while exchanging about affairs of court and China, which could be regarded as a candlelit evening conversation.

This man in the green shirt, about 36 years old, was the leader of the Jinling imperial envoy group in the Guofu Posthouse during the day, and he was transferred to Gao Yuan.

This Gao Yuan is not only the transfer envoy of the capital, but also Yuanwailang of the household department, and Han Xizai was the servant of the household department before he was dismissed from office, and the boss of Gao Yuan's immediate boss.

In addition to the relationship between the two under the household department, Gao Yuan and Han Xizai belong to the Sun Party camp.

As the saying goes, "The Han Dynasty was imprisoned by the party, and the Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the cronies." The prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties in the end was due to the struggle between the two major literati groups. Falling apart, heading for decline and perdition.

In the imperial court of the Southern Tang Dynasty, cliques also existed, and they fought for many years. The two major factional forces were the Sun Party and the Song Party.

The leader of the Sun Party is Sun Sheng, a native of Mizhou in the north. He is eager to learn and write, especially good at poetry. He was Zhu Shouyin's staff in the later Tang Dynasty.

Eight years ago, Zhou Shizong attacked Huainan, and Sun Sheng was ordered by Tang Lord Li Jing to envoy Hou Zhou to the north. He was killed by Shizong because he refused to provide information about Jiangnan.The news spread back to the Southern Tang Dynasty, Yuanzong Li Jing heard that he had runny nose, presented it to the Tai Tuo, and made him the Duke of Lu.

The rest of the Sun Party are Han Xizai, Chang Mengxi, Xiao Yan, Jiang Wenwei, Li Deming, brothers Xu Xuan and Xu Kai, brothers Gao Gaoyuan and so on.These people have one thing in common, most of them are from the northern part of the Central Plains, because of the turmoil in the Central Plains, they went to live in Yang Wu and Li Tang.

The leader of the Song Party is Song Qiqiu, who is knowledgeable. During the 30 years of assisting Wu Guo and the Southern Tang Dynasty, he was a prime minister worthy of his name and reality. However, this person was greedy for power, vain and treacherous, and only considered his own interests. When Li Min, the ancestor of Lie, planned to seize power and establish a country, Song Qiqiu actually considered whether he had done his best and deliberately delayed Li Min's important affairs, which made Li Sheng very dissatisfied.

Later, Song Qiqiu also interfered in the royal family's struggle for succession, supported Li Jingsui, and opposed Li Jing's becoming the crown prince, which was hated by Li Jing.Six years ago, Song Qiqiu took the lead in Jianghuai's anti-Zhou campaign, but he suffered a crushing defeat and lost all Huainan territory. In a rage, Li Jing dismissed Song Qiqiu and made him return to his hometown for the rest of his life.

The members of the Song Party include Li Zhenggu, Chen Jue, Feng Yansi, Feng Yanlu, Wei Cen, and Zha Wenhui. Among them, the latter five were named the five ghosts of the Southern Tang Dynasty by the history books of the Southern Tang Dynasty because they were treacherous and misleading the country. Bad reviews.The characteristics of the people in the Song Party are also obvious, all of them are natives of Jianghuai and Jiangnan, representing the power of officials in the south.

The dispute between the two factions has been entangled for more than 30 to [-] years. After the Northern Zhou Dynasty conquered Huainan, Li Jing was very dissatisfied with the Song Party at the end of his reign and began a round of purges.For example, Song Qiqiu's phase was dismissed, and officials were reduced to the people; Chen Jue and Li Zhenggu were killed by an imperial edict, and Zha Wenhui, who was sick, was exiled to Xuanzhou, and the Song Party was greatly weakened.

However, after Li Yu ascended the throne, he changed course again, resulting in a new situation in the Jiangnan court.

Han Xizai poured Gao Yuan a bowl of tea, and said with a smile, "Don't be cautious, you are a guest from afar, and there is nothing lost today, we are friends who have forgotten the year."

Gao Yuan cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Sir Minister!"

Han Xizai waved his hand and said, "The old man is idle at home, so he is no longer a servant."

Gao Yuan said respectfully: "Then let me call you Mr. Han! Over the past few months, the officials have been obsessed with you. They have mentioned several times that they intend to resume Mr. Han's official position, and even intend to let you choose six official posts by yourself, whether it is the servant or Shangshu, you can discuss it."

Han Xizai twitched his eyebrows, raised his head and asked, "That official of ours really said that?"

Gao Yuan said embarrassingly: "It's not the original words, but the meaning is the same. Last time, Mr. Han, you proposed the matter of casting iron coins because you were the servant of the household department, and you quarreled with Feng Yanlu and the group in court. At that time, Mr. Han, you couldn't control it." Temper, rage in the palace, yelling at the people of the Song party, was impeached by the censor in the palace, and lost the face of the official family, so he lost his official position. Afterwards, the official family regretted Han Lao's dismissal. Even since last month, the new policy of iron money has been implemented, which is the money policy proposed by Mr. Han!"

After hearing the words, Han Xizai's face softened a little, he took a sip of tea, and then said slowly: "After the Battle of Huainan, we lost the rich Jianghuai area, and the tax was halved. In addition, the war a few years ago was huge and the national treasury was empty. Financial constraints, after the old man took over the Ministry of Households, I found that there was a money shortage in the Tang Dynasty, because a huge amount of old coins and a large amount of copper coins flowed into the Song Dynasty every year, so that although our land in the south of the Yangtze River produced a lot of copper, it was not enough to use it.”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "The next official is Yuanwailang who works in the Ministry of Finance as Yuanwailang, and I feel deeply about this."

Han Xizai continued: "Master Zhong Mozhong previously proposed to cast big coins, with one as Kaiyuan Tongbao and ten, named Yongtongquanbao; and small coins, with two as one, named Tangguo Tongbao. Improper, after a few months, there are many abuses, the people steal the cast, extremely light, shoddy, and finally failed. But if the money shortage is not resolved, the commerce and trade in the south of the Yangtze River will stop, and the lives of the people will be affected. .”

"That's why the old man proposed to cast iron coins. For every ten coins, the ratio of iron coins to six copper coins to four is mixed to reduce the use of copper. After such a trial, when this new Kaiyuan Tongbao iron and copper coins are fully circulated, they can replace the previous ones. Copper coins, pure copper coins are used to make New Year's coins. The circulation of new iron and copper coins in the south of the Yangtze River can alleviate the copper shortage and ensure the circulation of goods and coins. Unexpectedly, Feng Yanlu, Pan You and others would move out the ancient Zhou rituals to reprimand the old man It is ridiculous and pedantic to be cunning and unconventional, and to fight for the benefit of the people!"

Gao Yuan took it seriously and said, "That's true. They turn a blind eye to the current situation and talk about metaphysical nonsense. They are stubborn and mislead the country and the people!"

After the anger was over, Gao Yuan continued: "However, the reason why they opposed Han Lao so much last time, according to the analysis of Mr. Xu and others afterwards, is that it is very likely that the Jianghuai Song Party and the Jiangnan upstart forces have reached an alliance this time, and they want to take the opportunity to squeeze us out. The expatriates."

"Upstart!" Han Xizai murmured a few words before becoming silent.

The so-called upstart power actually means that after the loss of Jianghuai, Li Tang lost half of his country, and he can only rely on the strength of Jiangnan in the future. Therefore, after Li Yu ascended the throne, he was not so fond of the overseas Chinese from the north and the Song Party members of Jianghuai. Instead, they vigorously supported the natives in Jinling and Jiangnan, such as Pan You, Li Ping, Chen Qiao, Zhu Kuangye, Zhang Ji and others.

Han Xizai was in a depressed mood, sighed and said, "Let's not talk about it, let's talk about today's tribute election. How is the Bai family...?"

"The Bai family? It's very good!" Gao Yuan had a good impression of the Bai family, and immediately praised him a few words.

Han Xizai was a little stunned. Isn't the Bai family in distress, suppressed by the Ding family, and on the verge of decline? How could it be doing so well?

"What's going on? Tell me what's going on." Han Xizai immediately became interested when he heard this.

(End of this chapter)