Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

"Your Majesty, the next official is..." Wang Qinruo was about to explain, when De Fang turned to Zhenzong and said, "Your Majesty, as far as I know Lord Qi, although he is a bit pedantic, he is devoted to ancient learning and good at talking about theory. I like to talk about civil affairs, and I love you very much. I think that Lord Qi wrote this book out of his loyalty to His Majesty and his responsibility to the people of his country."

"Well," Zhenzong nodded, "What the emperor said is that Qi Lun has a simple temperament, is rigorous in his work, and has profound knowledge. He must have not fully understood the intention of the court when he played this matter. I will summon him in person to clarify these things."

"Your Majesty Shengming."

Zhenzong looked at Wang Dan and said, "Prime Minister, how did Yu Shitai investigate the matter of Huazhou Zhizhou Zhang Shu?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, Yushitai sent people to Huazhou to find out that Zhang Shu did order the government to collect money from the local people for the construction of the Confucius Temple, and the people's reports are all facts."

"Then how does the Prime Minister think about dealing with Zhang Shu?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, Zhang Shu is an upright official with good achievements in government, clean and selfless, and his family has no money left. The matter of collecting money this time was also due to a momentary misconception. The minister thought that Zhang Shu's move to build the Confucian Temple was intended to make the people diligent in learning. , There is nothing wrong with this, but it is indeed inappropriate to collect money from the people. Zhang Shu himself is deeply remorseful, and is willing to return the money to the people and apologize at the tower." Wang Dan handed over his hands, "I dare to ask Your Majesty to forgive Zhang Shu."

"I also know something about Zhang Shu, but..." Zhenzong knocked on the table with his fingers, "This time, the people came to Beijing to report. If I don't punish Zhang Shu, how can I explain to the people of Huazhou?"

"Your Majesty," Defang said, "it's better to let the Huazhou government refund the people's money, let Zhang Shu post a list to apologize to the people, and then punish him with some symbolic salary."

"Well! Brother Huang, this is a good way, that's it," Zhenzong said, "The prime minister, drafting an order, ordered the Huazhou government to return all the money of the people. The construction of Confucian temples is all allocated by the imperial court, and it is not allowed to collect money from the people without authorization."

"The minister obeys the order."

"Also..." Zhenzong thought for a while, "From the beginning of this month, in the monthly salaries of all civil and military officials, the disbursements have been changed to direct payment of cash. If the officials are willing to disburse, they can continue as usual."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhenzong beckoned, Zhou Huaizheng held a tray, opened the cover, and saw a gold belt on it, Zhenzong pointed, "Three lovers, look at this gold belt."

Defang, Wang Dan, and Wang Qinruo looked at the gold belt, but they didn't understand what Zhenzong meant. Zhenzong asked, "You three, what can you see?"

The three looked at each other, not knowing why, Defang asked, "Your Majesty, what do you want the three of you to see?"

"Brother Huang, with your knowledge of identifying ancient objects, I believe you can tell the fineness of this gold belt."

"Natural quality?" Defang looked carefully again, "Yes, the fineness is not the best, but the gold belt is usually rewarded by His Majesty to the ministers, so it is not very important."

"No," Shinzong said, "I think it's very important. This gold belt was made by Ding Wei, the envoy of the third division of power, who chose the worst gold in the left treasury. I rewarded the ministers with gold belts to reward their contributions. How can you be stingy and inferior? I have issued an edict to Ding Wei to melt down all the gold belts that have been made but of poor quality, and then use the best gold to remake them."

Defang thought for a while, "Your Majesty, please supervise this matter."

"Brother, please order?"

"Yes, Your Majesty"