Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 318 0313 [Outlaw Dean Zhu]

"Spring, the first month, Ding Youshuo, there is a cloud in the middle of the day, and there is green and black air swirling like water waves."

The solar eclipse that appeared in the spring gave the officials another opportunity to target the "six thieves" with crazy output.

Although Cai Jing dismissed as prime minister, he did not leave the capital, and there were too many former officials of his disciples.Some of the servants in his family are officials, and the dowry maids in his family can actually be named wives.

As for the Cai party, Wang Fu punished one group and incorporated another group.

Cai You also took the opportunity to incorporate, and a large number of Cai's party chose to defect.

People found that even if Cai Jing left, the court still looked like that.

Wang Fu respected the virtuous and corporal and abolished the bad government, but it was just a show.Even the officialdom became darker, and they began to sell their officials unabashedly. For those lucrative positions, they had to give money to Wang Fu and his henchmen, and they didn't take it when they gave too little.

Especially this year's new subjects Jinshi, those who take the top four and top five exams, don't want to get real shortages if you don't run away from relationships and give gifts.

Because of the abolition of the school, a large number of teachers who were Jinshi came back to the capital to seek officials.They are hungry and want food, no matter how small they are, they compete head-on with the young people who have just landed.

More than 200 Xinke Scholars, nestled in the capital and don't know what to do.

Cai Jing's number one henchman, Deng Xunwu, died of illness after the solar eclipse.The evaluation of him in the history books is: "The defeat of Beijing and the chaos of the world began with the beginning of Xunwu."

But it's very interesting. One year before Deng Xunwu's death, he was always against the Liao Dynasty, so he was dismissed from the post of privy envoy.

Tokyo.

Song Huizong had a headache from the quarrel these days, and Wang Fu and Tong Guan fought head-on.

"Why do you want to stop the two armies and twelve states?" Song Huizong summoned Wang Fu alone to ask.

Wang Fu said: "The twelve states of the two armies, Kuixia and Guangnan, were all set up by Cai Jinghao's great success. The state spends money on the top, and the people's money is consumed by the bottom. Instead of paying taxes, they have to allocate money every year. Now the treasury is empty. It is thought that the twelve states of the Second Army should be abolished. Those with a large number of Han people should be changed to counties, and the rest should be reserved as fortresses."

Song Huizong asked: "Is there really no money?"

Wang Fu bit the bullet and said, "There may be a shortage."

Song Huizong sighed helplessly: "Stop withdrawing, if you can save it, save it."

Wang Fu bowed his head and said yes, his heart was full of joy.

These southern state troops are all Cai Jing's achievements in expanding the frontier, and all of them are abolished to eradicate Cai Jing's influence.

At the same time, it can reduce financial expenses and win over more centrist ministers.

The ass decides the head. Wang Fu is now the prime minister. He has no interest in fighting, and all he thinks about is how to make money for the country and himself.

Song Huizong asked again: "The envoy of the Jin Kingdom has been here for two months. What do you think should be done about the joint Jin campaign against the Liao Dynasty?"

Wang Fu replied: "But pay the state letter, and no longer condemn the envoy."

Song Huizong glanced at Wang Fu, already disheartened towards Faliao.

Ever since Wang Fu became the prime minister, he no longer urged the emperor to attack the Liao Dynasty, and often showed resistance in his words.

The eight words "but pay the state letter, and no longer condemn the envoy" are to let Song Huizong try to delay the time as much as possible, while maintaining good relations with the state of Jin.Wang Fu's idea was to wait until the finances were ample before fulfilling the agreement to join forces to conquer Liao.

Song Huizong waved his hand, Wang Fu bowed and retreated.

In the afternoon of the same day, Tong Guan came to ask for an interview: "Officials, the Jin people have been waiting for a long time, and have repeatedly urged the conclusion of the agreement. Please set the date for the expedition to Liao as soon as possible."

Song Huizong said: "I have my own opinion on this matter."

Tong Guan wanted to persuade him again, but Song Huizong was so annoyed that he sent him away with a few words.

Song Huizong knew what the court was like, and the increasingly distressed finances could not support a war.But a little unwilling, after much deliberation, he decided to use Wang Fu's method and delay the time for a few years before looking at it.

It's only been a few years, the Kingdom of Jin can't destroy the Kingdom of Liao, can it?
Therefore, Song Huizong personally wrote the letter of credence.He expressed his goodwill to Jin, and said that according to the previous agreement, Song and Jin would definitely attack Liao.

But Song Huizong didn't mention when to send troops, and he no longer sent envoys to the Kingdom of Jin.

The envoy of the Kingdom of Jin was furious. He came to Tokyo to negotiate for three months, but nothing was negotiated.

After the envoys from the Kingdom of Jin left, the conflict between Wang Fu and Tong Guan became public.

Wang Fu and Liang Shicheng encouraged Song Huizong to restore Hua Shi Gang, and blamed Fang La's uprising on Cai Jing's salt tea method.Not only invalidated the "imperial decree" promulgated by Tong Guan, but also secretly prevented Tong Guan from attacking Liao Dynasty.

Tong Guan wanted to conquer Liao and become the king, so he had to raise military expenses as much as possible, so he opposed the restoration of Hua Shigang, and hated Wang Fu and Liang Shicheng.

Of course, this is only temporary.

Historically, Song Huizong had already planned to give up the expedition against Liao, and it was Wang Fu who was the first to jump out and persuade him!

Because of the solar eclipse, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty pardoned the world.

Ju Ming is also in the ranks of pardons, changing from editorial management to resettlement.

Editorial management is to allow prisoners to settle in a certain place, and they are not allowed to leave the place of household registration, and they have to report to the government every month.

There is no need to change the household registration for resettlement. If something happens, you only need to apply to the government and get approval, and you can leave the resettlement place temporarily.Such as family visits, funerals and the like.

……

Yangzhou.

The new magistrate is Cao Zao, a native of Yichun, Jiangxi.

The three brothers of the Cao family were the same as Ke Dengdi, and their branch was later called the "Sanguitang Cao family".

While selling officials and nobles, Wang Fu also promotes talents to buy fame for himself.Especially for local officials such as Zhizhou and Zhifu, he asked the centrists who came here to recommend him, and he appointed and dismissed dozens of them in the past few months.

Cao Zao is the lucky one who was recommended.

"Why is the population of Yangzhou not increasing but decreasing?" Cao Zao asked.

Hu Cao joined the army and Li Yanzhi hesitated, but he couldn't hold back: "Zhu Guoxiang occupied the land and hid the population. Most of the people in the three counties of Yangzhou defected with their families."

Cao Zao said angrily: "Order the county magistrates of the three counties to check the population and land!"

Li Yanzhi said: "The officials of the county government don't dare to investigate. Zhu Guoxiang has a high prestige among the people, and he even practiced village bravery privately, saying that he wanted to guard against bandits."

Cao Zao remained silent, and went to Jintan Village for a private visit the next day.

The area of ​​Jintan Village has more than doubled compared to the initial period.

Zhu Guoxiang not only opened up wasteland in the valley, but also spent money to buy land outside the valley.The exploitation by the government has become more and more serious, and more and more small landlords choose to sell their land.Some self-cultivating farmers simply donated their land directly and took the initiative to be tenants for Zhu Guoxiang. The purpose was nothing more than to avoid taxes and corvee.

Cao Zao is rafting up the river, and the paddy fields along the river are being transplanted.

Most of the peasants were dressed in more shabby clothes, with distressed expressions on their faces.

No matter how much food is harvested, the government will always find ways to increase taxes, and all kinds of exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes are already overwhelmed.Landlords can only pass it on to tenants, and renters earn more and more.Small landowners and yeoman farmers are bankrupt every year.

"The front is Jintan Village, which used to be only in the valley, but now the area outside the valley has also been merged into the village." The local guide pointed to the front and said.

Cao Zao got off the boat ahead of time and went ashore to observe and move forward.

Entering the boundary of Jintan Village, the appearance changes instantly.

The fields are still the same fields, and the farmers are still the same farmers, but the mental state is completely different.

The Baojia chief in the village was arranged by Zhu Guoxiang.

Taxes are first handed over to the village, and then escorted to the county by the head of Baojia.How much tax to collect, Zhu Guoxiang has the final say, pay the full amount of tax to the government, and the rest is his own.

There is no violation of the law, because the land of the entire village is nominally owned by Zhu Guoxiang.He is not collecting taxes, but the landlord is collecting rent.

The real crime is that Zhu Guoxiang is hiding the population and land!
"The seedlings are growing very well and I hope to have a good harvest this year." Cao Zao said to several farmers who were planting seedlings while standing on the ridge of the field.

No one paid attention to him, they were all working.

And full of energy, because with Zhu Xianggong, the days are getting more and more hopeful.

Zhu Xianggong is a good man, which has become the consensus of all places.Some people were even unbearable to be exploited by the government, and they dragged their families for dozens of miles to seek refuge, and they were all arranged to open up wasteland deep in the valley.

Cao Zao continued to walk in and talked to people many times, but they couldn't find any results.

The villagers are very jealous of strangers now, afraid that the government will track them down, and their good days will come to an end.

After traveling for two or three miles, Cao Zao saw a large residential area.

There is a paper factory, and the scale has expanded a lot.More than half of the paper workers came from inside and outside Yangzhou City, and Zhu Guoxiang recruited a large number of bankrupt citizens.

"Is the customer here to buy paper?" Liu Shidao, the deputy village head, suddenly appeared behind Cao Zao.

Cao Zao smiled and said, "I'm a merchant passing through Yangzhou. I heard that Yangzhou Yuandang Paper is famous, so I came here to have a look."

Liu Shidao asked again: "What was your business before?"

Cao Zao made up a nonsense: "Trafficking spices, medicinal materials, etc., the ship will not be empty on the return journey, and some goods will be collected."

Liu Shidao asked again: "Last year, the weather in Hanzhong was good, and the herbs grew well. The honored guest came at the right time. How much can you buy Bupleurum this spring?"

Cao Zao couldn't answer it, so he casually mentioned a price, and Liu Shidao laughed twice.

Cao Zao also said that he would go to see the Yuandang paper to determine whether he wanted to buy it. Liu Shidao accompanied him all the way, so of course no deal was reached in the end.

After making a mess, Cao Zao asked a two-story building in front of him: "Where is the inn?"

"No," Liu Shidao replied, "That's Zhu Xianggong's viewing tower."

Cao Zao said, "I am going to see Mr. Zhu."

Liu Shidao said: "Mr. Zhu is not in the village."

Cao Zao walked towards the two-story building, and saw a lobby and a counter inside, but Liu Shidao blocked him from entering, and even prevented him from going forward.

Cao Zao had no choice but to give up and left Jintan Village with a gloomy face.

It's not really an inn there, but there are a few guest rooms for merchants who buy paper.

There is another store on the side, which is an illegal salt store in this village.

Not only the villagers of Jintan Village buy salt here, but even the neighboring villages also buy salt here.Zhu Guoxiang has cooperated with private salt dealers for a long time and has become a retailer of private salt.

Cao Zao had enough reasons to be angry, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Zhu Guoxiang What is this?

Compared with Zhu Xi, he is nothing more than a small witch.Zhu Xi and his son occupy hundreds of thousands of acres of land and have more than 1000 private soldiers. The local officials just pretended not to see it.

Zhu Ming was expelled from the editorial management, and Zhu Guoxiang was not so favored, but he was registered with the emperor after all.

Cao Zao decided to go to Daming Village again. If it was too outrageous, he would write a letter directly to his Bole, who would hand it over to Wang Fu.Impeach Zhu Guoxiang for occupying the land of the people, hiding the land, and accumulating the population privately!

By the way, I heard that the Zhu family is also involved in smuggling.

(End of this chapter)