Song Gexing

Chapter 234 Even if you drink tea, you will be attacked

"How are the officials planning to arrange Dongfan and Ryukyu? It's not a big place, so it's not a good idea to set it up as a province, right?"

After talking about the northwest, Wang Yaochen returned to the southeast. There was no plan for these two places in his memorial. After all, they were both newly developed lands.

Fortunately, Zhao Fang had already thought about this matter, otherwise he would have been questioned.

After pondering for a while, he said: "Dongfan can be placed directly under the jurisdiction of the governor of Fujian, but an admiral must be set up to take charge of the army to suppress the local area, and more importantly, to deal with external threats. After all, although the strait is not far away, it is still difficult to get through during the typhoon season."

After speaking, he hesitated and said: "Ryukyu is too small, and it is too far to return to the east. How about simply using it as a logistics base for the two military garrisons in Tamra and Wa?"

The ministers did not object, but asked how to control the troops stationed outside the sea in that case to prevent them from becoming disloyal.

Zhao Fang thought for a while and shook his head and said: "I can't think of anything better for the moment, but now both Zhe Katsuyuki and Zhong Yi are trustworthy. Let's think about this later. Let's set up a mansion in Ryukyu first. The prefect temporarily monitors the garrison, but cannot interfere in the military."

Several ministers nodded slightly in agreement, and then asked how to set up the government affairs in Dongfan. Zhao Fang replied: "Find a place in the north and south where a city can be built to set up two governments. In the future, as the land reclamation area expands, another county will be added." At the lower level, the admiral's office should be placed in the south, and it will be useful in the future."

"usefulness?"

Everyone looked at him suspiciously, Zhao Fang waved his hand and said: "Let's not mention it for now. Let's stabilize the northwest and Bozhou first, and then we can wait until the two prefectures in the east and west are stabilized in a large scale."

Everyone can only give up, because he is right, Xixia was destroyed last year, and now it is unnecessary to say anything else. Stabilizing and consolidating the foundation is the key.

Moreover, the Liao Kingdom should be able to determine the winner this year. Once one side wins, they will have to argue with the Song Dynasty. After all, they are unwilling to accept it.

Everyone who was drinking tea in peace began to chat about other things. Somehow the topic turned to Hunan. Su Xun suddenly stood up and said: "I heard that to the west of the Xiang River, the native seedlings of Wuzhai sent four beauties to Beijing. I didn't know this. Whether the matter is true or false, please ask Your Majesty to clarify."

Zhao Fang was taking a sip of tea, and choked up at the words, and wanted to get angry, but seeing that it was Su Xun, he had no choice but to hold back.

"Su Qing, who told you that? This is not your style."

Su Xun bowed his hands respectfully and said, "A good friend of mine came from Tanzhou and said he met him on the road. I didn't think that my friend would lie to me, so I was confused and had to ask Your Majesty."

Zhao Fang now knew that he could no longer hide it. Of course he knew that this matter was true. Both the Imperial City Secretary and Zhang Dun had given him the news, and they were almost here.

He just wanted to hide it for a day and didn't want to argue with the ministers. Now he had no choice but to argue.

After raising his hand to signal Su Xun to sit down, he said: "This matter is indeed true. Zhang Dun reached an agreement with Tumiao. The other party returned to his hometown and sent the beautiful girl to the palace. From now on, there will be no more wars in Xiangxi. I accepted."

"How can your Majesty be coerced by him? This matter cannot be done. I object to it!"

The first one to stand up was Bao Zheng, glaring at him with an angry face, almost calling him ridiculous, which was actually very polite.

Lao Bao is so smart. He immediately understood this. If Zhao Fang hadn't agreed in advance, Zhang Dun wouldn't have been so bold and agreed to the other party's conditions.

But Lao Bao is different from the past. He is now a staunch supporter of Zhao Fang. Naturally, we can't let everyone think that way. We can only preemptively say that Zhao Fang was coerced.

But the objection is true. In the Song Dynasty, there were no draft girls selected from non-Han people. If they were not Han people, only tribute girls could enter the palace.

Zhao Fang looked at the cabinet members and wanted to find their support, but Han Qi was the first to object: "I support what Xiren said. My emperor is the emperor, how can he be coerced."

"Yes, yes, Xiren is right about this." Bao Zheng's old relative Wen Yanbo spoke, and then Fu Bi, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang and others all stood up to second their opinions.

Zhao Fang, who had a headache, raised his hand helplessly and asked everyone to sit down. He shook his head and said, "How could you, your ministers, have such an idea? Think about it, everyone. After the native seedlings change to native return, will they be no different from other Han people?" You are all my subjects of the Song Dynasty, why are you not qualified to enter the palace to serve me? We cannot divide people into three, six or nine grades, we must treat them equally, so that we can appear broad-minded and open to all rivers, which is great!"

He changed the concept secretly and said that the selection of show girls was a matter of qualifications, which made everyone startled and there was no reason to object.

If you want to oppose it now, you must think clearly first, otherwise you will be framed as someone who looks down on other ethnic groups and does not treat them equally.

The hierarchy that Confucianism talks about does not include ethnicity, but the difference between scholars and other people. To put it bluntly, Confucian hierarchy is the social division of labor between scholars, farmers, industry and merchants, not the distinction between ethnicity and family background.

Although nobles and commoners are different in everyone's mind, this can only be said in the heart, not out loud.

Just like the Western democracy of later generations, the loud slogan is that everyone is equal, but in fact it is impossible to be equal at all, but this cannot be said.

Even if you lie to a fool, you have to continue to lie. If it is said that all people are not equal, then the foundation of the entire society will collapse.

The same principle applies to Confucianism. The scholar-bureaucrats did not dare to speak out because they were made uncomfortable by the general Zhao Fang.

"Even if what His Majesty said today is correct, it's not right not to discuss this matter with everyone, right?"

Lu Huiqing, who was sitting far away, stood up and said. Zhao Fang could only secretly smile bitterly. The only flaw in this matter was here.

He thought for a while, but he really couldn't tell the difference for himself, so he simply admitted his mistake and said: "I was indeed negligent, but now that the matter is over, I can't let him return halfway, right?"

"Why not? How can a mere humble young man dare to act so arrogantly?"

Lu Huiqing opened her mouth to answer without thinking, and Wang Anshi quickly shouted: "Ji Fu, be careful! Have you forgotten what my father just said about the sea embracing all rivers?"

Classmate Xiao Lu was startled. He bowed quickly and sat down, saying no more.

Zhao Fang shook his head helplessly. It is difficult for ministers like him to change their inherent thoughts. In fact, it is not just Lu Huiqing. Most people are like this, but they just don't show it.

"Forget it. Your Majesty must remember to be cautious next time."

Han Qi came out to smooth things over. He had no choice. He originally wanted to object tactfully, but Lu Huiqing said it bluntly. It would be bad to say anything more. It would be a slap in the emperor's face.

As the head of civil servants, he must ensure that while checking and balancing the imperial power, he must also protect the emperor's majesty, so that he can be a qualified prime minister.

Besides, he is still Zhao Fang's father-in-law, and he must maintain his son-in-law's dignity.

Today was the first time Zhao Pan'er saw Zhao Fang's difficulty with her own eyes, and her heart ached immediately. She knew it was difficult to be a wise king, but she didn't know it was so difficult.

As the emperor, he was scolded by his ministers because he sent several women to his subordinates. Thinking about the emperors in the history books, they were not so aggrieved.

Now she finally understood why her husband had not wanted to be the emperor since he was a child.

(End of this chapter)