Compete for the Song Dynasty

Self-inflicted, the rest of the soldiers left the scene with the one who fell to the ground.Cai Jing then ordered the rest of the people to retreat, leaving only the behind-the-scenes officials to accompany them.Then he walked into the ancestral hall surrounded by the people, and after burning incense and offering sacrifices, he left Xue Gong's ancestral hall together with the king's side Shen Kuo.

The people behind him talked about it one after another, and the people who said that Cai Jing made publicity had also changed their tune. With such a prefect who knows his mistakes and admits his mistakes and is close to the people, there is hope for the governance of Fucheng during his term of office.

Cai Jing invited Wang Pang and Shen Kuo to his mansion. The prefect's mansion was heavily guarded by soldiers, and the decorations inside were also very elegant. A lot of thought was spent on the decoration of the mansion.Wang Pang knew that it was arranged by the imperial court for officials to work in the Tian Mansion, but the household furnishings were brought by the officials themselves. From the furniture decorations in the mansion, it can be seen that Cai Jing has made a lot of money in these years.

After the three people seated at the banquet in the hall, Cai Jing respectfully toasted to the king: "My lord, Shu Yuanchang didn't know that my lord came here, this cup is considered to be a welcome for my lord."

Wang Pang held up the wine glass: "Yuan Chang, let me toast you with this glass of wine. You have given me enough face today. Now you are a magistrate, what about me? It is uncertain whether I will be a prince when I return to the court." .”[

Cai Jing hurriedly said humbly: "What are you talking about? I didn't mean to save face for you today, and there were indeed some things I did wrong. Compared with Xue Gonglian, I am ashamed. Besides, my glass of wine , not because you are a prince, but because of your kindness in knowing you."

This is just right, Shen Kuo said with a smile: "Even if we reunite after a long time, don't say polite words. We don't care about the official position or rank today, just treat it as the reunion of old friends and have a good drink or two. Hey, I'm coming down this way Don't you just relax, come, come, drink."

Wang Pang also had mixed feelings in his heart, the unpredictability of the world probably meant this. "I've been away for 14 years. If I didn't happen to stay near Fucheng today and come to Xuegong Temple to worship again, I'm afraid I won't be able to see Yuanchang again. However, I am a little surprised about one thing. When will the prefect Are you leading troops?"

Not to mention the Song Dynasty, but in modern times, the magistrate is equivalent to the governor, and the governor usually calls the public security department to cooperate when he goes out, and he has never mobilized the armed police or the army.Compared with the Song Dynasty, it would not be strange for the magistrate to follow the government servants, but it is a bit novel to follow the soldiers.

Cai Jing hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty doesn't know something. Xining has implemented many new laws in the past ten years, but there are many opponents. Even the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager have put a lot of pressure on the Emperor. Since Wang Xianggong resigned Afterwards, many new laws were abolished. In the past few years, the old and new laws have alternated, and the implementation situation in various places has been very chaotic. Take the military law as an example: divide the garrison from each road into several units, and each position will have a general and a lieutenant, who are responsible for training the army My team of soldiers was escorted by the imperial court when I was on a mission to the Liao Kingdom, but the organization changed again when I returned to the imperial court. At this time, the recruitment law had not been abolished, and the state and county governments paid their own money to hire people to respond. No one wants to pay more money, but they don’t meet the retirement regulations. So I kept it with me, besides, I offended a lot of people in the past few years, so I paid the money myself just for peace of mind.”

Wang Pang was dumbfounded when he heard this, but at least he understood that these soldiers were all hired by Cai Jing himself: "You are quite courageous, don't you think you are afraid of being impeached if you hire soldiers yourself?"

"What are you impeaching me? Just these dozen or twenty soldiers will impeach me to support myself? Whoever impeaches me will let them settle the ownership of these soldiers. What am I afraid of?! At most, I will demote and lose officials. Anyway, the new law was abandoned halfway. It doesn’t make sense to do it or not.”

As Cai Jing said, he picked up the cup and drank it all in one gulp, as if he was using wine to drown his sorrows in an extremely depressed mood.

Shen Kuo said: "It's one thing that you offend many people. I heard that you have made a lot of money all these years. Your family has a lot of money. It should be protected by someone." Due to Wang's presence, it seems to have been very tactful.

Cai Jing didn't hide anything: "Hey, Brother Shen, you're really right. Those water conservancy projects in the first few years, where ditches and canals were built, where dams and bridges were built, were all subsidized by the imperial court. You Can you say that the local officials are not desperately sharpening their heads for approval?"

Wang Pang calmly picked up vegetables and drank, and at the same time looked at Cai Jing with a half-smile: "Do you dare to accept this money?"

"This money must be collected! Of course, there is a principle of receiving and receiving. If it does not conform to the regulations, even if it is given to me, I will not take it. But where it meets the regulations, it must be collected. The local government will collect it. , and contracted projects. If you don’t charge anything, they will think that you are not on the same page with them. If you send a lot of money, you will cut corners. Therefore, if you accept it properly and let them do it in a down-to-earth way, you will be able to do things well."

Upon hearing this, Wang Pang scolded: "You bastard, did you even give gifts when you took bribes? If the briber builds a dam and cuts corners, it's a disastrous thing. If you are not afraid of retribution, you should also think about the black hat and black hat on your head." Let's put this head under it!"

Cai Jing was taken aback, then smiled and said: "Hehe, you can only speak like a prince. Come on, drink, let me tell you, if it's really that kind of job, I'll just return their money and tell them I can't afford it." .Guess what? If you can pass the test, the money will be collected steadily, and you will be able to get by. If you are fooled by everything, if you give money, you will have to sell you sooner or later. This is the experience I have summed up over the years, and it has never worked!"

Shen Kuo pointed to Cai Jing and said, "You are a moth! A moth of the imperial court!"

After Cai Jing had a few drinks, he saw Wang Pang's relative again. He was a bit defensive, and he replied: "Hey? Brother Shen, this is wrong. Before the new law, the people were trapped by floods. Now there is a good way to solve it." Well, it’s better than those who take the disaster relief funds from the court and do nothing. I only take what I should take, and besides, the court’s law changes every three days. Who knows what will happen in the future? From the beginning of the Song Dynasty to the present, the only What has changed is not to kill scholar-bureaucrats. As long as people don’t die, the rest depends on fate. If you don’t talk about others, just talk about the prince. How big is the family property, how honest and sincere, so what? Once a person dies, everything is given to him Court. My lord, am I right!"

"I'm already dead, why do you still ask me!" Wang Pang returned angrily.

"Okay, don't talk about the prince, let's talk about you, Brother Shen, you have changed sacrifices for so many years, changed this and changed that. Save 10,000+ taels of silver to the court every year, so what? Other than your salary, what have you got? Yes, a Duiqiujia, you just wait for you to go back to Jingchengna this time and watch those people fall into trouble, so I say, only the ones that fall into your hands are the most real."

Shen Kuo drank a glass of mulled wine angrily. What Cai Jing said was not unreasonable, but he also knew that what Cai Jing said was unreasonable, but he didn't know where to refute it. [

Wang Pang knows that it is useless to say anything about Cai Jing now. He has his own way in the past few years. It is hard to say right or wrong, and some things are indeed out of control. "Forget it, it's useless to say these things, Yuan Chang, no matter what you do, just be worthy of your own conscience."

Cai Jing raised his thumbs up: "My lord is right. I think I am doing things for the people, and I don't harm the people. As for those who give me money, they may not be doing it for the good. I am doing justice for the sky!" "

"You will make excuses for yourself. In short, people can do things for themselves in the officialdom." Wang Pang said lightly: "Now that you have arrived in the city, what do you plan to do in the future?"

Talking about the city, Cai Jing's expression became serious: "In this place, when Xue Gong was here, both the law of uniformity and the law of young crops were implemented very well. Business is prosperous and agriculture is prosperous. And the common people also respect these systems. Donations are forced, and the materials are very circulated. More importantly, even if there is a natural or man-made disaster, the people can survive safely relying on the government's assistance. In recent years, new laws have been abolished one after another, and the people are not used to it. There are no major disasters now , if something happens, there will be no relief that was available before, and the common people will cause trouble."

Shen Kuo looked at Cai Jing curiously: "Is the prince's new law really so good? How could there be Zheng Xia's painting "Refugees Picture", in which the refugees are either wearing chains or eating grass roots. At that time, the emperor questioned the new law. Now, if everything is like Yuan Chang said, the people should live and work in peace and contentment, so how can there be any talk of refugees?"

Mentioning Zheng Xia and Cai Jing was very angry: "This villain was fortunately promoted by the prince. At that time, the imperial court promulgated a new method of examination to select talents. Those who passed the examination could be promoted to Beijing officials by leapfrogging. Wang Anshi asked Zheng Xia to get Use him. The prince wanted to use him, but this guy refused on the grounds that he was not familiar with the new law. Therefore, the prince did not reuse him, so he held a grudge. He took advantage of the drought to draw a map of refugees and presented it to the emperor, making the emperor think it was caused by the new law. It's too shameful." After that, he put the wine glass heavily on the table, and the hops were overflowing.The servants on the side hurriedly stepped forward to help Cai Jing wipe the table in front of him, and changed the wine glasses.

Shen Kuo shook his head, as if he didn't agree very much: "Whether Su Shi or Zheng Xia have disagreements with the prince, but it's better than people like Lu Huiqing, Shu, Li Ding, who are fighting for their own interests."

"Could it be that Brother Shen thinks that those who have differences are good people? If we support princes, then we can all rape villains?" Cai Jing asked Shen Kuo angrily.

Seeing that the two people on the table were about to argue, Wang Pang coughed, Cai Jing and Shen Kuo looked at Wang Pang at the same time and waited for him to speak.

"It's just that people are different. The purpose of my father's reform is to make the country rich and the military strong, so we must attack the powerful and prevent mergers. However, because of these corrupt officials' plundering, all the new laws have gone against themselves. Because the enforcers of the new laws always It is to pass the disaster on to the small merchants and peddlers, making the people miserable. For example, the implementation of the Young Crops Law, which is good for borrowing grain and grain to help the people overcome the famine, but the general interest rate is as high as 20%, and in some areas the competition is as high as 50%. [-]%, even to the point where it is not worth the money, and the people are promising. This is not a question of law, nor is it a question of whether there are differences, but a question of implementation. What Zheng Xia has done is excessive, but he is not excluded. If you don’t see the essence of the problem, think about it: when he presented the refugee map, he had just taken office, and he was only in his thirties, and he didn’t understand local affairs at all. The emperor was deceived, let alone him?”

Both Shen Kuo and Cai Jing were silent, and after a while Shen Kuo said: "Now I understand better why the people in the city are so grateful to Xue Gong, this is what an official looks like."

Wang Pang glanced at Cai Jing, Cai Jing said: "I dare not compare with Xue Gong, I can only do not harm the people, as for the legal system of the court in the future, I can only take one step at a time."

"Excellence!" Wang Pang cursed softly.

Cai Jing chuckled, as if he was kind and honored to be scolded by Wang Pang.The official behind the scenes came in from the outside and whispered something in Cai Jing's ear. Cai Jing frowned and turned to Shen Kuo beside Wang and asked, "Brother Shen, is there a man named Xu Xi in the army?"