Jiuxi

Chapter 710 708 [Weaving a Web]

Jing Qingshan, courtesy name Taichuan, was 43 years old at the time and was from Yuwen County, Jialing Prefecture, Huzhou.

He was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Yuankang, and was sent to be the magistrate of Ling County, Dongyuan Prefecture, Hezhou before the fall of Heluo.

In the second year of Jianwu, he was promoted to Tongzhi of Dongyuan Prefecture due to his outstanding political achievements.

In the fifth year of Jianwu, he was transferred to the capital to serve as the director of the Ministry of Revenue. In the eighth year of Jianwu, he was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel to serve as the director of the Ministry of Personnel.

In the 12th year of Jianwu, the post of prefect of Yongjia Prefecture became vacant, but not many people were willing to take over this chief official position under the emperor, because it had always been an awkward position that was always subject to pressure. In the end, it unexpectedly fell to Jing Qingshan, who had no family background.

Many people were waiting to see Jing Qingshan make a fool of himself, because before him, the average tenure of each prefect of Yongjia Prefecture did not exceed one year, and many of them were powerful people from aristocratic families. A prefect of the capital like Jing Qingshan, who had no connections to support him, would probably resign in disgrace after only a few months.

However, what they didn't expect was that Jing Qingshan had been in office for more than two years. Although he had suffered a lot of humiliation, he was always as steady as a mountain and solved some difficult problems with great difficulty.

At this time, Jing Qingshan's talents gradually emerged, and he naturally came into the sight of the late emperor and the ministers in the court.

On the night of rebellion in the capital, Jing Qingshan encountered the most important opportunity in his life.

Faced with the ferocious rebellion of the Beijing army, the prefect of Yongjia did not panic at all. He immediately warned the whole city to summon people to protect the emperor, and personally went to the residence of the Duke of Jing at that time, begging Han Lingfu, who was still able to get out of bed at that time, to come forward to quell the rebellion.

Although his actions did not play a decisive role, and the rebellion was finally suppressed with the help of the imperial guards and the two elite armies brought by Lu Chen, the decisiveness and loyalty he showed during the turbulent and chaotic period were unanimously praised by the late emperor and Han Lingfu.

And because he had worked in the Ministry of Revenue before, his promotion to Minister of Revenue was a natural progression.

After taking office, Jing Qingshan continued to shine, especially the Jingjie Law he proposed, which amazed the previous emperor and soon became the national policy of Da Qi, and Jing Qingshan naturally took charge of this matter.

Among the six ministers in the court today, Li Shizhi has the highest status in the heart of the emperor, followed by Jing Qingshan, who is in charge of the treasury of Da Qi, and then in order of importance are the new Minister of Rites Hu Jingwen, Minister of Punishments Gao Huan, Minister of War Ding Hui and Minister of Works Zhu Heng.

In the eyes of outsiders, Li Shizhi and Jing Qingshan did not have a deep friendship, and their interactions were limited to normal dealings with state affairs. Therefore, their private meeting at this moment seemed very subtle, and from the way they addressed each other, it could be seen that the relationship between the two was far more than just being officials in the same court.

After sitting down, Jing Qingshan said with emotion: "Over the past year, I have always been grateful for your kindness, but it's a pity that I have never been able to meet you."

Since Li Zongben ascended the throne, Li Shizhi and Jing Qingshan have never met privately again until today.

Li Shizhi smiled and said, "The new emperor has ascended the throne, the situation in the capital is complicated, and my father has not yet returned home, so I dare not act rashly. Now that the overall situation is gradually stabilizing, I am confident that I can control the power under the water, so I asked someone to notify you to meet here."

Jing Qingshan looked at the thin face of the middle-aged man and sighed, "Thank you for your hard work, brother."

"If you want to bear the heavy burden, you must be exhausted. This is an eternal truth." Li Shizhi was calm and said jokingly, "Taechuan, you are full of smiles, not as good as before."

This sentence instantly brought back Jing Qingshan's memories, and he said sincerely, "Looking back on those years, it's like falling into a dream. Eleven years ago, my brother wanted to transfer me to the capital. At that time, I was very nervous, fearing that I would fail your high expectations. From the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of Personnel, and then to the prefect of Yongjia Prefecture, which everyone avoided, I was walking on thin ice, and sometimes I couldn't help but feel confused. Until that night, I followed my brother's instructions, only issued a few orders, and went to the Jingguo Mansion. Later, I really rose to prominence. My brother is very smart and is really a genius of the time."

Li Shizhi smiled lightly.

He was planning the rebellion in the capital throughout the whole process. One of his important goals was to help Jing Qingshan to ascend to power, and he had his sights set on the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue from the beginning.

Controlling the national treasury was extremely important to him, which was why he used the connections of the Jinlin Li family eleven years ago to transfer Jing Qingshan from a lower-level prefecture to Beijing to serve as the head of the Ministry of Revenue.

Hearing Jing Qingshan's sincere words, Li Shizhi was also quite touched and said earnestly: "Taichuang is overpraising me. In those years, I have visited many government offices, and there are not many people I truly admire, and Taichuan is one of them. You are far more talented than me, but due to your weak family background and ordinary appearance, you have never been valued by your superiors. As a second-class candidate, you were not able to stay in Heluo, but were maliciously excluded and driven to Jiangnan to be a small county magistrate. How can I remain indifferent to this?"

Jing Qingshan fell silent upon hearing this.

Once upon a time, he had the great ambition to support the country, and he was capable of governing and writing beautiful articles. However, due to the reasons mentioned by Li Shizhi, even staying in the capital was a luxury for him, and he was forced to settle for a lower-class county.

Even though he had outstanding political achievements in Ling County, he still had no chance of promotion. If he had not received the appreciation and assistance of Li Shizhi, he would probably have been depressed all his life. How could he have become the Minister of Revenue today?

Thinking of the past, Jing Qingshan said with a sigh: "In fact, there are countless people like me in this world, but they are not as lucky as me to have the chance to meet my brother."

Li Shizhi laughed and said, "Taichuan still thinks that when I left the Yitong government and returned to Beijing, I passed through Ling County and met you by chance?"

Jing Qingshan was stunned, and hesitated to say: "Could it be..."

Li Shizhi nodded and said, "You should know the background of the Jinlin Li family. At that time, my father had already handed over part of the power to me, and the first thing I did was to have people sort out the resumes of officials from all over the country. Otherwise, how could I have discovered a rough gem like you?"

"I see." Jing Qingshan felt sympathetic and continued, "I always thought it was just a chance encounter."

"In the final analysis, it is because you, Taichuan, have a lot of talent. Especially after talking with you all night, I am more and more convinced of this."

Li Shizhi spoke in a gentle tone and with a calm gaze: "When you were the prefect of Yongjia Prefecture, I did help you solve some difficult problems, but what really allowed you to gain a firm foothold in the court was the Jingjie Law that you created with your life's efforts."

When Jing Qingshan heard the last three words, a hint of pride appeared in his eyes.

Ever since the founding of the Great Qi Dynasty, the presence of powerful families has always been the biggest problem hindering the court's administration. Jing Qingshan, who came from a poor family, has always been worried about this.

He knew that the aristocratic families had long been rooted in the people, and that they were like a centipede that would not die even if it was cut into pieces. Unless there was a huge upheaval, it would be difficult to eliminate those entrenched forces.

From the local to the central government, Jing Qingshan had been thinking about how to solve this problem. Finally, he came up with the boundary method of measuring land and clarifying taxes. This method was relatively gentle and would not cause any difficulties in implementation.

But he had to admit that without Li Shizhi's support behind the scenes, the implementation of the Jingjie Law would still be extremely difficult.

Thinking of this, Jing Qingshan said sincerely: "The promotion of the Jingjie Law is primarily due to my brother."

What this means is that as the Jinlin Li family is the most prestigious family in Jiangnan, Li Shizhi's support for them would mean taking action against himself, and not everyone has the courage to do that.

Li Shizhi said calmly: "I know your ambitions. Back in the cramped back hall of the county government office in Ling County, I told you that people must leave some traces worth remembering in the world. You and I are good at different things. The only thing I can do is to provide you with support behind the scenes so that you can realize your ambitions. No matter in the past, present or future, you only need to do your job well, and I will take care of the rest for you."

Jing Qingshan stood up and saluted.

Li Shizhi did not avoid it and accepted it calmly.

After sitting down again, Jing Qingshan asked, "Brother, you called me to see you today. I wonder what instructions you have?"

Li Shizhi said calmly: "Today, His Majesty summoned me and ordered me to serve as a Hanlin scholar. At the same time, he gave me a piece of calligraphy, saying "Be as cautious as you were at the beginning."

"Be as careful to the end as at the beginning?"

Jing Qingshan pondered and said, "It seems that His Majesty has no doubts about my brother. This calligraphy is quite interesting."

"He just hopes that I can follow the rules and do what he arranges."

Li Shizhi smiled and then said, "Your Majesty, you are worrying too much. Even without this calligraphy, I will always be a loyal minister of Da Qi."

Jing Qingshan also smiled, and both of their smiles seemed meaningful.

"Since His Majesty trusts my brother more and more, can we take a further step?" Although Jing Qingshan and Li Shizhi had not met privately for more than a year, in terms of his understanding of Li Shizhi's thoughts, he was even better than the Minister of War Ding Hui.

"There's no rush."

Li Shizhi shook his head and said slowly, "The changes in the court structure are all within my expectations. Among the six ministers, Hu Jingwen and Zhu Heng are both insignificant and honest men, and Gao Huan of the Ministry of Justice has already revealed some flaws. We only need to wait for the right opportunity to let him pack up and go home to retire. I invite you to meet today, on the one hand, to talk about the past, and on the other hand, the Ministry of Revenue will work hard to manage the logistics for the Northern Expedition Army, and there must be no mistakes at this critical moment."

Jing Qingshan said solemnly: "Brother, rest assured. I have made proper arrangements. As long as the army has the upper hand on the battlefield, I guarantee that they will have no worries."

"That's good."

Li Shizhi nodded slightly, and then whispered: "When the war in Jiangbei comes to an end, we will target Lu Chen from now on."

"Lu Chen..." Jing Qingshan said with a serious expression, hesitantly: "This person is not easy to deal with."

Li Shizhi took a sip of tea and said leisurely, "Don't worry. From what I've seen in the government, someone has already prepared a net for him, just waiting for him to fall into it."

Jing Qingshan felt relieved and said with a smile: "I feel relieved with your words, brother."

Li Shizhi put down the teacup and looked out the window. The spring was full of greenery and vitality everywhere.

He slowly exhaled and said softly: "In the final analysis, the people who really want to deal with Lu Chen are not us."

(End of this chapter)