The rise of the prince

Chapter 391 Disputes of Interests
Farewell to Wang Tong in the small courtyard of Xiangfu.

Li Xingzhou followed De Gong into the garden, and he was also familiar with the road.

Wang Tong hesitated again and again, stepped forward and cupped his hands: "This matter. This matter is my fault. I was careless in making friends at the time, and I missed a word. Even now, if there is any disadvantage to the prince, I will never shirk it and will take full responsibility for it. "

Seeing his attitude, Li Xingzhou became even more angry.Anyway, in the final analysis, the head can be broken, the blood can flow, and it is impossible to admit his mistake and pay it. If he can afford it, Li Xingzhou really wants to sell his father-in-law.

He didn't say much to him, just nodded, and sat down in the small courtyard with Mr. De.

Degong's courtyard is very particular about the arrangement of rocks, plants and trees, and Qiuju is just right at this time.After a while, the servants brought the food, just in time for lunch, Wang Tong was somewhat embarrassed by his ignorance, his face was not very good, but he also sat down.

Afterwards, Degong retreated from the servants who were waiting on the left and right, picked up his chopsticks, and said to him seriously while eating: "It's too late to say anything now, the most urgent thing is to prevent Yu Chengan and others from getting you involved in Jiangzhou's affairs." .”

Degong said stroking his beard, and then glanced at him: "You are young now, and you are the king of Pingnan County, the champion general, the new commander of the new army, and the minister of Honglu Temple. It is good to raise and train the new army. It doesn't matter whether the envoys of the Kingdom of Jin deal with each other, it is a major national event and must not be missed.

They want to drag you into the quagmire of Jiangzhou, and they always need the approval of the old man or the emperor. The old man will not agree, and the old man will carefully check the memorials in the hands of the emperor one by one, and check for you. Just do your own thing well. . "

Li Xingzhou poured the wine by himself, then poured it for De Gong, after thinking about it, he also poured it for Wang Tong, then he raised his glass and said, "Thank you De Gong, but don't worry, it's not so easy to harm me."

De Gong glared at him: "It's because of your temper that I don't trust you, Yu Chengan and these people are not the thieves you deal with, they are all court ministers, if you are not careful, you will suffer a lot !"

Li Xingzhou smiled and nodded: "I know, I know that they are not bandits even if you don't tell me. I can use a knife to deal with the rebels, but my knife is useless to deal with them."

Only then did De Gong nod in satisfaction: "It's good that you understand this truth! You have to be careful recently, that Tong Guan is the commander of the infantry of the guards, and he has the forbidden army in his hands. He dare not do anything to you, but there are so many people in your mansion." At this point, Degong didn't say anything more, but the meaning is self-evident.

Degong deserves to be in the court of peace and order, and he sees things thoughtfully and thoroughly.

Tong Guan's forbidden army has already attacked the palace, and the first one to attack is Zhao Si. Tong Guan dare not directly deal with King Pingnan, but it does not mean that he dare not deal with other people in the palace.

"Why are they dissatisfied with the palace? Could it be that there is something hidden in it?" Wang Tong, who was a little confused, finally couldn't help asking this question.

De Gong sneered: "Why? You only know how to be an official in Buddhism, but have you ever wondered where our royal family's money and silk expenses come from? Your little salary, and the old man's salary, can afford such a big prime minister's mansion, Jiangzhou Is there a total of several hundred people in the Wang family's mansion and the plum garden outside the city?"

Degong said and shook his head: "You, you are really stupid to be an official. There are your cousins ​​in the Jiangzhou area and the Guanbei area. The business they are engaged in is the most important source of money for the mansion. I often open the door for them. Now they all follow the Xiaowang Mansion to do perfume and wine business."

Speaking of this, Wang Tong was shocked, and De Gong continued: "Why did those people deal with the palace? Isn't it obvious, it's all for profit!

The wine business along Guanbei Road was previously run by the Yu family. The commander of the Xiangjun on Guanbei Road was the Yu family. Now that the business has been robbed by the palace, can they let it go?
As for Tong Guan, in the past, most of the leather business of the Military Weapons Supervisor was done by his Tong family with the help of the Imperial Army.

Not to mention that Tong Guan withheld military pay privately, he also took advantage of the forbidden army to collect leather from the people in the west of Beijing and sell it to the Military Armament Supervisor to make a profit.

But the skins in the west of Beijing are more expensive than those in the south, because there are more birds and beasts in the south, as well as more hunters.Now the royal ship not only brought cheap leather from the south, but also transferred more than 5000 new troops from the three government offices to the Privy Council. As a result, he lost the leather business and a large amount of military pay that could be deducted. "

Wang Tong was even more surprised, and he said in a dumbfounded voice: "Light and bright, in broad daylight, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, the commanding officer of the infantry of the guards, one of the officials of the three yamen, dares to so blatantly withhold the imperial army's salary! !"

"Wang Fa." De Gong shook his head, and gave him a look of resentment: "You should go out less in the future, remember not to talk nonsense in Beijing, and you can't be as comfortable as you are in Jiangzhou."

Wang Tong still looked puzzled, but Li Xingzhou understood.

Now it seems that Wang Tong is really not suitable for officialdom. He got the first place in the imperial examination and was a virtuous man before he reached his current position. With his temperament, it would be dangerous to go further down.

Why did Tong Guan dare to deduct the military salary openly and aboveboard?Because that's what the emperor wanted.

Li Xingzhou felt helpless, the emperor was very strong, and he was not at ease with his courtiers, which could be seen from the system.

In the period of the strong Han Dynasty, the head of civil servants was the prime minister, and the head of military generals was the general. One was in charge of the world's government affairs and wealth, and the other was in charge of the world's soldiers and horses. Therefore, the power of the prime minister was often enlarged. In many cases, the emperor was emptied by the prime minister or the general.

In contrast to the Song system, the emperor was worried about the prime minister, so the establishment of the three departments of Duzhi, Yantie, and the Ministry of Households meant to separate the economic power from the prime minister Pingzhangshi and limit Pingzhangshi's power.

The privy envoy, who exists like a general, also set up three yamen to remove his rights, so that the privy council can dispatch the world's soldiers and horses, and rule on conquests, but has no right to lead soldiers to recuperate, and the matter of raising soldiers is left to the three yamen: Dianqian Secretary , the horse army division of the guard army, and the infantry division of the guard army.

In this way, the power of the highest civil servants and generals was greatly weakened, so that they could not endanger the imperial power.

The Sanya, as the branch of the Privy Council, is in an awkward position, because it has no real power and can only be a jester. The so-called jester means that power comes directly from the emperor's favor, not the resources or status in his hands.

Once the emperor is not favored, the Sanya will have no real power.

Gao Qiu in Water Margin is the commander in front of the palace, Jia Taiwei. If the Privy Council and the emperor do not authorize him, he can only be an idle official in charge of raising troops, and has no right to transfer troops or send troops.

Because of this, Sanya is destined to please the emperor.

Just like Gao Qiu in the Water Margin, because the emperor's favor is their source of power.In this case, the emperor was happy to see that the officials of the Sanya government deducted the military salary and made the soldiers of the imperial army dissatisfied with them.

The emperor set up the Sanya to divide the power of the Privy Council because he was afraid of the rebellion of the imperial army. Now that the military pay is deducted, the imperial army is not in harmony, and the lower-level officers and soldiers are dissatisfied with the command of the Sanya. Naturally, it is even more impossible to rebel, and the emperor is relieved.

So today's Tong Guan and Gao Qi in Water Margin are the same, the more they are paid by the army, the more at ease the emperor will be, and the more they will be favored by the emperor.

To put it bluntly, it is a move that can both please the emperor and benefit oneself.

But under such a distorted power system, it is the countless soldiers of the Imperial Guards who defend the country who suffer.This is also the reason why the morale of the new army will be high after leaving Sanya and returning to his command, because Li Xingzhou not only does not deduct the military salary, but also often rewards more rewards.

So in history, it is not unreasonable for the central imperial army of the Song Dynasty to have no fighting spirit most of the time. They usually deducted their military pay and drank the blood of soldiers.

The moral man must be well aware of these principles, but he didn't tell Wang Tong, it seems that he is not going to let his son come to Beijing.

Li Xingzhou understood De Gong quite well, because with Wang Tong's savvy and personality, he might not know if he was indeed sold out in the capital.

After lunch, Wang Tong reluctantly obeyed his father's order to send him out, and before parting, he frowned and asked, "Can King Pingnan tell you the reason behind this deduction of military pay?"

Li Xingzhou comforted him: "You're still young, it's normal that you can't figure it out, don't force it."

As a result, Wang Tong's complexion became even worse.

Wanyan Yingge opened her mouth, unable to speak, she thumped the window frame of the carriage angrily, "If there is a chance, I will definitely tear that kid into pieces. He is young, but sinister and cunning!"

Liu Xu smiled wryly: "The more we hate him, the more helpless we are, the more it shows that King Pingnan is not simple, he is killing my country of Jin."

(End of this chapter)