In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 582: When you get older, you become stupid

Zhao Xi is the son of Zhao Kui. He has known Zhao Yurui since childhood, but to be honest, his abilities are average and he is also old.

Shi Jieqing is the eldest son of Shi Songzhi and the great-nephew of Shi Miyuan.

Zhao Yurui knew who should be the prime minister at a glance.

He thought for a moment and then asked, "What do you think? Please share your thoughts first."

The four Shangshu looked at each other, and everyone looked at each other, and it seemed that no one dared to speak.

Because if I say something wrong, I might offend the new prime minister in the future, and I might end up staying in Lin'an for the rest of my life. Who wants to stay in Lin'an?
The officials of the eight ministries in Lin'an all wanted to go to Yanjing.

"No one dares to say it?" Zhao Yurui said in a deep voice at this time.

As soon as he finished speaking, someone stood up, walked in front of Zhao Yurui, and knelt down: "Your Majesty, I dare to say this."

"Okay, Wen Yunsun, you go ahead." Zhao Yurui was very happy, proving that I was not wrong about Wen Tianxiang.

The other three were all secretly glancing at Wen Yunsun and shaking their heads secretly, thinking that he was still young and didn't understand the rules of officialdom.

Wen Yunsun then said, "Shi Jieqing is the son of Shi Songzhi, and the great-nephew of the former powerful official Shi Miyuan. I think this is inappropriate."

He said directly that it was inappropriate, and the other three lowered their heads, not daring to look at the emperor.

How did the emperor come to power? He came to power by overthrowing Shi Miyuan. In recent years, Shi Jieqing has been appointed to the cabinet, which is quite generous. How can he be made the prime minister?

But Zhao Yurui knew that Shi Jieqing was still very capable. If we leave Shi Miyuan aside, he was indeed one of the candidates for the prime minister of the cabinet.

"Go on." Zhao Yurui remained calm.

"Zhao Xi is old and should retire next year." Wen Yunsun was the second person to mention Zhao Xi.

If Zhao Xi is not promoted to the position of Prime Minister, he will have to retire next year. If he is promoted to the position of Prime Minister, he can still work for another two years. Wen Yunsun definitely does not want such an old guy to continue working, as this would offend him greatly.

"Lu Shikui's father, Lu Wende, was a general who commanded troops. There are generals of the Lu family all over the country in the Song Dynasty today. He cannot be the prime minister." Wen Yunsun said it more clearly this time. Lu Shikui was incapable of doing it.

The Lu family is currently very powerful in the military, and we cannot allow him to be the prime minister anymore.

After this process of elimination, only Yu Rusun can do it.

Yu Jie was also a general, but he had been dead for two years, and he had only one son, who had been working as a civil servant.

Not only did Lu Wende not die, he also had twelve sons who were spread all over the Song Dynasty. There were civil servants, military generals, and his clansmen, Lu Wenhuan, Lu Wenxin, etc. The Lu family was spread all over the Song Dynasty and had great influence.

Everyone looked at Wen Yunsun with sympathy. This kid had really offended the Lu family.

He also offended the second prince Zhao Xie.

Zhao Xie's wife, Li, was the youngest daughter of Emperor Li, while Emperor Li's other eldest daughter married Lu Shikui.

Zhao Xie and Lu Shikui are brothers-in-law.

After hearing this, Zhao Yurui fell into deep thought.

At this time, he was already thinking about appointing a crown prince.

If he wanted to pass the throne to Zhao Xie, he must let Lu Shikui be the prime minister, otherwise it would definitely not be possible.

The hall was completely silent, and no one dared to breathe. After a moment, Zhao Yurui said slowly, "Wen Yunsun, come with me."

After saying that, he stood up and turned to go to the side hall behind the Chuigong Exhibition.

Wen Yunsun hurried to catch up.

Hu Song also hurriedly followed, and then stood at the door of the side hall to prevent anyone from approaching.

The other three people in the hall looked at each other, wondering what the emperor would say when he summoned Wen Yunsun alone.

In the side hall, Zhao Yurui and Wen Yunsun stood on a huge map. The emperor did not speak, but looked at the map with his hands behind his back. This was the map of the Song Dynasty. It was extremely huge, ruling the four seas and covering a territory of tens of thousands of miles.

Wen Yunsun has not been to so many places on the map yet, the farthest he has been is Lin'an.

He is from Jiangxi Province, and Lin'an is the farthest place he has ever been to, he has never been overseas.

He also looked at the map carefully and was also very shocked.

After watching for an unknown amount of time, Zhao Yurui suddenly asked, "Wenqing, do you think that people over sixty are considered old?"

Wen Yunsun was stunned for a moment, then his face turned red. The emperor was over sixty years old. Was he blaming himself?
But he was a man of upright character and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Your Majesty - not old, not old -" He stammered, and what he said was obviously not true.

"Wenqing, you must learn to tell the truth and keep telling the truth." Zhao Yurui asked again: "Wenqing, do you think I am old?"

Wen Yunsun hesitated for a long time this time, and finally said in a deep voice: "The famous emperors in ancient times were not as good as your majesty, but even a famous emperor like Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty would be unable to do things after he got old."

"Wen Qing is right." Zhao Yurui said immediately: "People always become a little foolish when they get older--"

"..." Wen Yunsun remained speechless.

"Li Longji was able to work hard to govern the country in the early days, but he changed later."

In history, many emperors were able to work hard in the early stages, but their performance suddenly took a turn for the worse in the middle and late stages.

"I have conquered thousands of miles of territory for the Song Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to call me the greatest emperor in history. But I am also afraid that when I get older, I will become incompetent and be infamous for eternity."

Wen Yunsun wanted to cooperate and say a few nice words, but he was too embarrassed to say them out loud.

"In your opinion, Yunsun, among my princes, who can be the crown prince?" Zhao Yurui suddenly changed his tone and called Wen Yunsun's name.

Wen Yunsun's face changed slightly. If it were any other minister, he would have been kneeling on the ground by now. How could I say these words? Your Majesty, please don't scare me.

But Wen Yunsun really thought about it seriously.

"Your Majesty, does the Song Dynasty still need to expand its territory?" Wen Yunsun asked while looking at the map.

"That's all. The rest will be left to future generations." After conquering the Delhi Sultanate, Zhao Yurui stopped expanding, and there had been no major wars in the Song Dynasty for eighteen years.

"The second prince Zhao Yu can be the crown prince."

Zhao Qi was gentle and upright in character, so it might be difficult for him to control the colonies of the Song Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty conquered so many countries, but after so many years, there were still occasional rebellions in various places. Given Zhao Qi's character, I'm afraid he would have to adopt a conciliatory policy, which is obviously not the way to be a king.

The third prince Zhao Yi is too cruel and vicious. If he becomes emperor, he may have to continue to wage war against foreign countries.

Compared with these three, the other princes were slightly inferior. They left their posts late and were afraid that they would not be able to subdue the local governors.

Therefore, Wen Yunsun believed that Zhao Xie could be the crown prince.

Zhao Yurui didn't say anything for a long while before he asked, "Are you willing to go to the capital? To be promoted to the Minister of Personnel."

The Minister of Personnel here went to the Vice Minister of Personnel in the capital. It sounded like a demotion, but in fact it was a promotion. Wen Yunsun immediately bowed his head and said, "I obey your order."

In January of the 41st year of Yuanzhen, Zhao and Rui did not return to the capital to celebrate the New Year. After celebrating the New Year in Lin'an, they planned to tour the country. The news spread and shocked the capital.

It was time for Prime Minister Zhen Zhidao to retire, but the emperor did not approve it. Instead, he traveled around the country. The Song Dynasty was so big that it would take at least half a year or even a year to travel around the country.

Soon a rumor came out that the emperor wanted to see which prince was qualified to be the emperor.

The emperor also wanted to see the opinions of the local governors.

There are also rumors that the emperor intends to move the princes to other places.

For example, Zhao Qi, who was the first to leave the city, had already stayed in Hanzhou and Nanyang for twenty or thirty years. The other princes had also stayed there for quite a while. It would definitely not be good to stay in one place all the time, especially when deciding on the crown prince. The emperor might ask everyone to move to other places. When this news came out, some people became worried.

On January 28th, Zhao Yurui set off from Lin'an on a steamship, with their first stop being Dongying Province.

Japan was Zhao Xie's fiefdom, but his palace was in Far East City, and he was usually in the Far East. When Zhao Xie received the telegram, he wanted to go to Japan quickly, but Zhao Yurui called him and told him not to come. Zhao Yurui would stay in Japan for a few days and then leave.

In early February, Zhao Yurui's ship arrived in Tokyo. The local governor Lu Qingfu, the commander-in-chief Gao Da, the captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Zhang Shijie and other officials were there to greet them at the port.

Just as Zhao Yurui was about to get off the boat, he felt the deck shaking. The wind was strong and the waves were big today, and it was the first time that his old bones felt a little unstable.

Seeing this, Quan Kang, the Imperial City Supervisor, wanted to step forward and lend a hand to help him, but was pulled back by his father Quan Yong behind him, and finally did not dare to move.

The emperor obviously didn't want to admit his age, and it was probably not a good thing to help the emperor in public.

Quan Yong also had a head full of white hair, and he felt extremely complicated as he looked at his cousin in front of him.

Quan Yong was the director of the Imperial City Department a few years ago. He has worked in this position for almost his entire life and is the person Zhao Yurui trusts the most.

After retiring a few years ago, he was replaced by his youngest son Quan Kang.

Quan Yong had two sons in his early years. The eldest son Quan Ying was good friends with Zhao Xie, and the second son Quan Meng was good friends with Zhao Qi.

Many years later, she gave birth to her youngest son, Quankang.

Quan Kang was less than 30 years old at this time, but he had taken the most important military officer position in the Song Dynasty.

The Imperial City Department has subordinate departments such as the Intelligence Department and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and is also responsible for the emperor's protection and safety, which shows the trust that Zhao Yurui has in the entire family.

Zhao Yurui let Quan Kang take this position not only because he was Quan Yong's son and nephew, but also because Quan Kang's wife was an ordinary commoner who had no connections with any nobles. Also, because he was born late and there was a big age gap between them, he had never played with the princes since he was a child.

You see, Quan Yong’s eldest son Quan Ying grew up with Zhao Xie and they have a very close relationship.

Quan Meng and Zhao Qi have been playing together since childhood and they have a very close relationship.

Quan Kang was born late and had never played with many princes. This was one of the reasons why Zhao Yurui valued him.

After Zhao Yurui got off the boat, all the ministers came forward to pay their respects to him. He had not been involved in state affairs in the past few years, and many people only remembered his name but had never met him.

There are more than thirty civil and military officials present today, but only Commander-in-Chief Gao Da and Governor Lu Qingfu have met him.

It was he who signed and confirmed the appointment of Zhang Shijie, a captain of the Imperial Guard, but he had never met him in person.

At that time, Zhao Yurui was willing to sign and did not summon him to meet him. He just remembered his name and was considered a loyal minister of the Song Dynasty.

But he is definitely not a capable minister.

Looking at the civil and military officers kneeling on the ground, Zhao Yurui looked around and said to a military officer on the right side of the first row, "Are you Zhang Shijie?"

"I am Zhang Shijie." Zhang Shijie said with a little excitement.

Zhao Yurui was speechless for a moment. Lu Qingfu's younger brother was Lu Xiufu, who was just a teacher in a certain county. Unexpectedly, Zhang Shijie still had some connections with Lu Xiufu.

"Get up, Lu Qingfu, Gao Da, both of you, follow me for a walk."

Zhao Yurui and the two ministers walked on the land of Shennai County. Looking at the territory of the Song Dynasty, they felt mixed emotions.

In the 19th year of Yuanzhen, Japan was conquered. Now it is the 51st year, and 22 years have passed.

The locals are all called Song people, but the actual number of Han people is probably less than one million.

For more than 20 years, the number of immigrants in the Song Dynasty was less than one million, because in the eyes of the Song people, these overseas colonies were rural areas and few people were willing to come.

Zhao and Rui could only migrate everywhere. Now there are all kinds of people in the local area, including the former Persians, Delhi Sultans, Mongols, Brunei people, Javanese, and Goryeo people.

Locals still make up the majority, followed by Koreans.

"Envoy Lu, you have been in Japan for four years. First, tell me about the difficulties in local governance."

Lu Qingfu was slightly stunned. He thought he had made some contributions in governing the country, but he didn't expect that the first thing the emperor would do was to ask him about difficulties.

After thinking carefully, Lu Qingfu said: "Although we are all Song people now, there are actually many local ethnic groups with different languages. Privately, many of them still speak their native languages, and they are hostile to each other, and conflicts occur frequently--"

The overseas colonies of the Song Dynasty were all multi-ethnic places. Although the imperial court promoted the Chinese language and prohibited the speaking of original tribal languages, everyone still spoke them in private.

For example, in Hanzhou, King Zhao Qi of Han was gentle, and the people often spoke their original language, and the court could only pretend not to hear them.

Another example is Ming Wang Zhao Yi. He was ruthless and cruel. Persian was almost extinct in the local area. No one dared to speak it in public, and few people spoke it in private for fear of being reported. Reporting would bring bad luck. This was determined by the style of each person in power.

Zhao Yi also had a son who reported his father for speaking Persian in private, and then he executed the father and rewarded the son handsomely. As a result, the people were terrified and neither the father nor the son dared to speak in private.

Zhao Xie was more moderate, and his management was neither lenient nor strict. The people were reluctant to say anything about it on the surface, but they would talk about it in private. As long as no one reported it, no one would care.

Lu Qingfu said that there are many ethnic groups here and management is more difficult. Although the court has re-examined many times and everyone is now Song people, in fact they are not really treated equally.

The Han people paid less agricultural taxes, while other ethnic groups paid more agricultural taxes. The same is true for commercial taxes.

There is nothing Zhao Yurui can do about this. If you don't give preferential treatment to the Han people, no Han people will be willing to immigrate here.

He had to slowly increase the proportion of Han people in the local population, hoping that after a hundred or two hundred years, the local Han people would outnumber other ethnic groups.

Lu Qingfu mentioned some difficulties, but in Zhao Yurui's opinion, they were not very difficult. Either Lu Qingfu did not dare to tell the truth, or Lu Qingfu was more capable and was not afraid of other difficulties.

Zhao Yurui and Lu Qingfu talked for about half an hour, and Gaoda beside them just listened quietly without saying a word.

After Lu Qingfu finished speaking, Zhao Yurui turned to ask Gao Da: "Gao Da, tell me, what is the mentality of military officers at all levels in the army now? Have you ever understood it? My Song Dynasty hasn't fought a war for many years. If we reduce the army, what will everyone think?"

Hiss, Gundam took a deep breath, he didn't expect the emperor to ask for military downsizing.

Yes, since conquering the entire Asia, the Song Dynasty army has not fought a large-scale battle for more than ten years.

In recent years, there have been some conflicts with the Great Mongol Empire (formerly the Mongol Mongke clan) in the west, but the Song army did not fight to the death. If they had fought to the death, they would have destroyed the Great Mongol Empire long ago.

The main reason is that the territory Zhao Yurui has obtained now is too large and needs to be digested slowly.

Places like Persia, the Delhi Sultanate, Goryeo and Japan, and the Far East, just these few places were enough for him to digest for dozens or even hundreds of years.

(End of this chapter)