Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 464
In the afternoon, Fan Ning invited Zhao Zhongzhen to drink tea in the elegant room on the second floor at the Huangjianzui Teahouse next to the Zhuque Gate on the Imperial Street. huge stress.

Fan Ning said indifferently: "Your Highness knows what it means for the officials to make you king?"

Zhao Zhongzhen nodded, "It is precisely because I know that I feel a lot of pressure. The emperor's grandfather has great expectations for this military reform. If the reform fails, he may be very disappointed."

Fan Ning smiled and said: "This is actually an exam. Whether you can become the king of Zhongxing in the hearts of the officials depends on how you answer the questions in this exam."

"Please envoy to teach me!"

Fan Ning thought for a while and said, "I think you need to learn to communicate first. The official doesn't really care about the result. He just wants to understand the process. The first thing you need to do is to draft an answer outline and tell the official in detail. Home, where do you plan to start, and then you write a detailed report every other month, telling the official what difficulties you encountered, how you solved them, the effect, where you did not do enough, how you plan to make up for it, etc. Wait, the more detailed the better, one year later, when you finish writing thirteen reports, your status will be determined, it doesn’t really matter whether the reform is successful, understand what I mean?”

Zhao Zhongzhen thought for a while, but he still didn't quite understand what Fan Ning meant by "it doesn't matter whether the reform is successful or not".

Seeing that his eyes were a little confused, Fan Ning continued to wake him up and said: "It's not a day's cold to freeze three feet. The army has accumulated evils for a hundred years. If the reforms are too drastic and too eager for success, Da Song will not only hurt his muscles and bones." , and even shake the foundation of the country. In fact, among all the reforms, the army is the best and most difficult to reform. It is said that it is the best reform because the army does not have much power, and they can only passively accept it. It is impossible to modify the content of the reform, or it is impossible to form a strong resistance force within the court, at most it is unwilling to change. In this case, as long as people are replaced, the reform can continue to be implemented.

It is said that it is the most difficult to change, because the risk is too great. Enemies like Khitan and Xixia are watching outside, and even extreme events such as mutiny will occur. The officials are also very aware of this, so the success of the reform is a surprise. Failure is also reasonable. What the official cares about is the process. Whether you want to break the boat and make comprehensive reforms, or step by step, find weaknesses, and break them one by one. He wants to know your methods, capabilities, and determination to reform. "

Zhao Zhongzhen was convinced, bowed his body and said: "I understand, thank you for your teaching!"

"So how are you going to write your first report?"

Zhao Zhongzhen thought for a while and said: "I want to write a few steps, find a breakthrough, then write the time arrangement, and then write some other things, such as establishing a government office, selecting some key officials, etc. The outline is nothing more than this , makes you feel so?"

Fan Ning still shook his head, "This can be written, but it is not the first thing to be handed over to the official."

"Then what should be handed in first?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "In the first copy, you should write about what you have done in the past two days, for example, write about our first meeting now, write about what we talked about, and then write about our visit to Han Qi. Get some money, food and land, hoping to get the support of Zhizhengtang, and then write that you will visit the Cao family and Gao family, hoping to get the support of these military heroes’ families, and then write that we will go to the money shop and discuss with the money shop whether we can give you money. Regarding the possibility of soldiers opening individual accounts, you have to write about visiting generals and low-level soldiers in the barracks to understand their suffering and needs.”

Zhao Zhongzhen understood, "What the envoy means, my first report is to write about my preliminary investigation and preparation, right?"

Fan Ning nodded, "That's right! Only after full investigation and research, you write reform plans and outlines, can you be convincing. This is the correct way to do things."

Zhao Zhongzhen became a little excited, "I see, where should we go now?"

Fan Ning pointed to the opposite side of the street, and said with a smile: "The opposite is Zhu's money shop, which is my wife's dowry property. Let's go to the money shop to find out about opening an account."

Fan Ning paid for the tea, and brought Zhao Zhongzhen to the main store of Zhu's Money Shop on the opposite side of the street. After hearing the news, Master Liu greeted him and invited Fan Ning and Zhao Zhongzhen to the back hall. Fan Ning introduced him: "This This is His Royal Highness King Liang, come with me to learn about the operation of the money shop."

Liang Wang is a prince, and Liang Junwang is one level behind, but most people don't know the distinction so clearly, just like introducing a deputy director to others in life, they will never use an adverb. This is the reason for drinking and respecting people.

Shopkeeper Liu heard that he was a prince of the royal family, so he quickly bowed to salute. Fan Ning smiled at Zhao Zhongzhen again: "Treasurer Liu has been a big shopkeeper for 30 years, and he is a leader in the money shop industry. Basically, we can be sure of our identity from him. whether the plan can be implemented.”

Zhao Zhongzhen also smiled and nodded, "I'm going to trouble Shopkeeper Liu today."

"Where! Where! It is my honor to do things for the proprietor and the young prince. Please sit down and talk."

Fan Ning and Zhao Zhongzhen took their seats in the back hall, and shopkeeper Liu Da made someone serve tea.

Fan Ning smiled and said, "Do you still remember the last time I talked to you about soldiers opening accounts?"

Shopkeeper Liu was taken aback, "Proprietor, you really want to promote this matter!"

Fan Ning shook his head with a smile, "It won't be fully implemented, and we may choose a test site. The Xiang army on Jingdong Road has about 3 or [-] people. We plan to send military salaries directly to everyone's account in the money shop."

Shopkeeper Liu thought for a while and said, "Last time I also said that the difficulty of this matter lies in the fact that the scope of this matter is too wide. Soldiers come from all counties in the world. It is a bit unrealistic to open accounts for soldiers in each county. I think we must For implementation, there are two options to consider.”

Zhao Zhongzhen became interested, and hurriedly said, "Tell me more about the shopkeeper."

"First of all, it is unrealistic for family members to withdraw money. Money shops also need to consider profits and risks. Recruiting a few people in a small county to open a small money shop, on the one hand, has no profit, and on the other hand, it is too risky. We can't control the money being swept away, so I still advocate sending it directly to the soldiers, because the soldiers are usually stationed near the more important cities, so that the money shop can be promoted, and it is no problem to open an account for each soldier. Then when the soldiers return home to visit their relatives, they can exchange the money into silver and bring it to their families. The proprietor also said before that the purpose of opening the account is to prevent the general from deducting the military salary. In fact, as long as the money is sent to the money shop account, the deduction can be avoided. .”

"What about the second plan?" Fanning asked again.

"The second plan is that we open a money shop in the capital city of each state, and then cooperate with the local money shop, and the imperial court will give us the military salary, and then we will distribute it to the states, and the branches in each state will transfer the money to us. Local money shops can also do this, but it’s more cumbersome, and many big money shops need to participate together, and one family can’t do it.”

Fan Ning shook his head, "I'm not talking about the whole army now, just the pilot project of the Jingdong Road Xiang Army."

Shopkeeper Liu thought for a while and said, "The Xiang army is all local troops, and the soldiers are all local residents. Both options are acceptable, but I personally prefer the first option, which is simpler."

As Zhao Zhongzhen wrote down the minutes of the conversation, he said, "I am also inclined to the first plan. Anyway, there are only nine military camps, all of which are stationed in relatively large states. Zhu's money shop can open nine branches, which is simple and effective. .”

After a pause, Zhao Zhongzhen laughed again: "Should there be some restrictions on the money in the account? The main purpose is to prevent the soldiers from squandering it by themselves. It is best to leave some for their families."

Fan Ning shook his head, "It's not necessary, the restriction will make the soldiers have doubts about the money shop. Whether to be frugal is a matter of personal character, and it doesn't make sense to restrict the withdrawal of money. He can still borrow money if he can't withdraw it. Anyway, I think it’s better to freely withdraw and deposit money.”

Shopkeeper Liu pondered for a moment and said: "If the proprietor is the one to carry out this matter, should the Zhu's money shop avoid it for a while? To avoid being criticized, saying that the proprietor is using power for personal gain!"

Shopkeeper Liu was really worried. He knew that there were too many benefits involved. The annual military expenditure was the largest expenditure of the imperial court, which involved salary, material procurement, military product manufacturing, military camp construction, logistics support and so on.

Take out the salary and give it to the money shop, and then the military expenses in the future will be handed over to the money shop one after another. It will be an amazing amount of money, and other money shops will definitely be extremely jealous.

He knew that every big money shop had a background behind it, like Zhang's Jinqiao money shop, which is currently the largest money shop in Yingtianfu, and Zhu's money shop that just entered Yingtianfu took over this big order, Jinqiao money shop Definitely going to jump.

He worried that the proprietor would be attacked in the court.

"There's no need for that!"

Zhao Zhongzhen decisively denied shopkeeper Liu's worries, "I will report to the emperor, and after obtaining the emperor's consent, I will say that it is the emperor's intention to cooperate with Zhu's money shop, and no one dares to make irresponsible remarks."

Fan Ning also laughed and said: "It's normal for Zhu's money shop to participate in the first month if it is close to the water. Prepared in advance."

Shopkeeper Liu nodded, "I'll start thinking about it today!"

(End of this chapter)