Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

cabinet.

The official at Zhongshu brought a stack of official documents and said, "Prime Minister Li, I have checked all the documents and they are correct with the main text of the memorial."

"I know, let it go." Li Bangyan said with a yawn.

Yinhuang is a summary of the content of the memorial. This thing existed in the Tang Dynasty. The words were written on yellow paper and pasted in front of the main text. The emperor or prime minister could understand it at a glance.

In the cabinets of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, even the power to divert the Yellow Emperor was seized upon.

Now it is up to the Tongzhengyuan to post the pornography, and the Zhongshu Section under the cabinet will check it. Zhongshu Sheren verified that it was correct, attached his own opinions, and handed it over to the cabinet minister for processing.

For ordinary official documents, cabinet ministers can quickly give routine instructions by simply looking at the summary of the contents.

Only when matters are relatively important or special, cabinet ministers will read the full text carefully.

Li Bangyan is now in charge of culture and religion. He is not the one who talks about the cultural and educational work, but focuses on this aspect. Relevant memorials are occasionally sent to other cabinet ministers.

I stayed up until midnight last night and felt a little sleepy today. Li Bangyan went to the cabinet and slept for a while.

Fortunately, Zhongshu Sheren provided reference opinions. Li Bangyan felt that there was no problem, so he quickly wrote the imperial edict and zhazi.

The imperial edict was originally a document drafted by Zhongshu Menxiamin, who would write an imperial edict to the emperor, and then the political affairs hall would publish it on a disc.

Zazi is Zazi, which is a kind of document for officials to advise the emperor, or for subordinate officials to advise superiors.

These two things were standardized in the early Song Dynasty. As the imperial power increased day by day, by the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, they were actually very similar to "votes". The word "Edict" written by the emperor is almost the same as "Pihong".

However, most of the time, the emperors of the Song Dynasty just habitually wrote the word "edict" and followed the prime minister's decision-making intact.

In this way, the emperor held the final decision-making power in his hands without having to work too hard, and he could still blame the prime minister for any problems.

Don't look at Zhu and his son turning Zhongshu's province into a cabinet. In fact, many things are similar.

Officials are still accustomed to using the old names, calling "Biao Yao" "Imperial Order" and "Pan Hong" as "Public Imperial Order".

No one even calls the chief minister, the chief minister is called "prime minister", the second assistant is called "secondary prime minister", and the ordinary cabinet ministers are called "auxiliary prime minister".

In this case, Zhu Guoxiang followed the public opinion and determined the official titles of imperial edict, imperial edict, prime minister, secondary prime minister and assistant prime minister.

It doesn’t matter what it is called, the key is to unify it.

In the Song Dynasty, not only were there a wide variety of official positions, but the names of official documents were also diverse. The same official document may have four or five names, which makes history researchers of later generations extremely troublesome.

After Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming discussed it, they strictly unified the names, formats, etc. of the official documents.

Not only that, after the format of daily official documents is determined, commonly used words are specially engraving and printed, and officials only need to fill in the content in the relevant positions.

The reason why movable type printing is not used is because it requires repeated printing in large quantities, and the printed content is not complicated. In this case, engraving is far easier to use than movable type.

This series of operations greatly improves office efficiency!

After finishing a lot of official duties, Li Bangyan was finally able to lie down and rest.

He called the people from Zhongshushe and sent them to the prime minister or deputy prime minister.

The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister do not have specific directions in charge, but the official affairs handled by the Assistant Minister need to be handed over to them for review again. If you have any objections, add your own opinions and call back for the Prime Minister to consider.

If the opinions of both parties cannot be reconciled, all cabinet ministers will be summoned for discussion.

If it is difficult for even the cabinet ministers to vote on the proposal, then it can only be sent to the emperor for decision.

Alas, the prime minister of the new dynasty is really not fun.

Li Bangyan was somewhat nostalgic for the days of the old Song Dynasty. At that time, if the prime minister wanted to relax, he could bring dozens of officials with him as secretaries. Leave all trivial matters to the secretary, and you can take control of the major matters yourself.

Unlike now, I am so busy.

Although there are also people from Zhongshu She who serve as secretaries, there are more and more things that need to be done by oneself.

Going to work every day is like going to jail. Only when you are off work do you belong to yourself.

Li Bangyan now feasts every day and rushes home as soon as he gets off work. His family has top chefs and theater troupes. He called many colleagues or subordinates, and sometimes invited scholars who were not officials, to have fun and have fun until midnight.

Li Bangyan felt so tired. His time was filled with work and play, and he had no energy to write scripts.

Even on holidays, he would drag members of the Yuan Club to play football on a suburban field.

While he was lying on his desk to catch up on his sleep, a man from Zhongshushe ran in and shouted happily: "Prime Minister Li, great victory on the front line, great victory on the front line!"

Li Bangyan woke up in a daze and was very angry. He frowned and said angrily: "Why are you disturbing my rest?"

Zhongshu Sheren said: "A great victory on the front line, and more than 100,000 Xixia soldiers were captured!"

Li Bangyan suddenly stood up and walked back and forth, saying as he walked: "It is really a great victory. The new Ming Dynasty is full of martial virtues. How can it be compared to the weak Song Dynasty? I want to write a drama to praise the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty. Virtue!"

Since you want to write a script, you need to know detailed battle reports.

Li Bangyan walked out of his office quickly, only to see other ministers arriving in the corridor.

Everyone had smiles on their faces and bowed to each other.

After chatting for a while, everyone decided to go to the audience first to congratulate the emperor on this happy event in person.

Of course, I have to go to the prince’s place.

Now everyone can see how powerful the prince is.

The entire city of Tokyo, including the Imperial City, had military power in the hands of the prince.

Even the Privy Council has become a decoration, and the prince also serves as the envoy to the Privy Council. The entire operation of the Privy Council depends on the attitude of the Grand Marshal's Palace, and the Grand Marshal's Palace is essentially the prince's private office!

Even at the Ministry of War, there was Zhang Bor as the Minister of War, responsible for liaising with the Privy Council and the Generalissimo's Office.

Most of the time, Zhang Bor's words are more effective than those of the Minister of War.

Friction is inevitable, but it is harmless, because one side is too strong and the other side cannot resist.

The place where Zhu Guoxiang handled government affairs was not far from the Tongzhengyuan. Everyone was quickly allowed to enter, shouting long live the emperor and the Holy Ming of the Emperor.

Not long after, Ju Ming also came, and everyone simply held a meeting.

Zhang Gen was the first to ask: "How much exaggeration is Lu Bu?"

Ju Ming took out the detailed battle report and said with a smile: "You prime ministers can read it for yourselves."

Zhang Gen was the first to hold it with both hands, read it carefully, and said in disbelief: "Are you really killing 100,000 prisoners?"

Ju Ming smiled and said: "In the last battle, 50,000 Xixia soldiers surrendered. Now they are all imprisoned, waiting for peace talks with Xixia."

Gao Jingshan took the battle report and read it, exclaiming in admiration: "It's like a dream."

Song Huizong used to like military exploits. Although Li Bangyan did not know how to fight, he also studied the situation on the Song-Xia border so that he could flatter Song Huizong at any time.

After reading the battle report, he said: "The Henan Military Division was captured by the heavenly soldiers, the Gansu Military Division also lost troops, and tens of thousands of Xishou Military Division surrendered. These places must be empty of troops. Our Chinese army can take advantage of the situation to kill and regain Huizhou. With Xi'an Prefecture, we will drive straight in to capture Liang Prefecture!"

Zhang Gen immediately objected: "Don't act rashly. Our army is short of food and grass. Once we forcefully send troops, we may be in danger of annihilation."

Li Bangyan said: "A lot of food and grass have been seized. How can there be not enough food and grass?"

Zhang Gen said: "The road to Liangzhou is long and difficult to travel. It requires recruiting a large number of civilians, and countless grains and grass are consumed during the march. Huizhou can indeed be captured, but it is better to send troops to intimidate and force the Xixia peace talks to hand over the lost territory!"

Zhai Ruwen also said: "The north and the south may start a war at any time. It is better to treat Xixia with peace talks."

According to the established battle plan, Li Bao should have fought Zhong Xiang long ago.

But after this summer's harvest, floods broke out in the Yangtze River Basin, and Jingnan and Jingbei were almost flooded, flooding a large area of ​​​​the territory of both sides.

Although the floods have receded, the outskirts of many states and counties have directly turned into swamps.

Daming's territory was relatively good. Some small water conservancy projects were carried out one after another. The dams were urgently reinforced before the flood. After the flood, the government also organized relief for the victims.

However, no water conservancy projects were built on Zhong Xiang's side. The lower reaches of the Jingjiang River even branched and changed its course. Even the veteran helmsman could not understand the hydrological conditions. It was very likely that a large warship would run aground.

The rice harvest in flood-stricken areas is almost non-existent this year.

Zhong Xiang and Li Bao, who each gathered their troops to prepare for war, were dumbfounded by the flood.

As for the northern battlefield, there was a serious shortage of food.

Counting the local Shanxi soldiers, Zhang Guangdao had an army of 40,000, but he did not have enough rations to recruit many civilians.

He simply asked Shanxi soldiers to transport grain and attack Shouyang County nearby. Then let the Shanxi soldiers go back to garrison Taiyuan, and lead the troops to garrison Shouyang, waiting for food to be available next year before going to pacify them.

After defeating the pacification, and then destroying Chengtian Village (Niangziguan), Jingxing can be opened up, and Zongze and others can attack the puppet emperor from both sides.

As for the Jin Kingdom, they have been digesting the territory of the Liao Kingdom this year.

Some Bohai and Xi people were also forcibly relocated to Youyun Prefecture, which could not only replenish the declining population there, but also reduce the risk of rebellion by the Bohai and Xi people.

There have always been rebel forces in the Kingdom of Jin!

It is true that the Kingdom of Jin expanded too fast. In less than ten years, its territory doubled, doubled, doubled, and doubled again, and many areas continued to suffer from famine.

In the face of famine and rebellion, the Jin Kingdom also introduced some good governance, but the actual implementation had little effect.

Every time it was solved by force, all the rebels were killed, and rebellion and famine were no longer a problem.

The Kingdom of Jin has migrated a large number of tribes this year, and they have to wait for the wheat from these tribes to be harvested next year before they can send out large-scale troops. This is not only an issue of military rations, but also involves the hearts and minds of the migrating tribes. If they are not allowed to harvest wheat, the people who have just moved to a different place will not be stable, and the soldiers recruited from these tribes will have no intention of fighting.

There was a rare peace in the entire northern battlefield, with only small-scale frictions breaking out. Zhang Guangdao's capture of Shouyang County was considered a major battle.

There is calm before the storm. The less action we take this year, the more intense the war will be next year.

Gao Jingshan said: "No matter how we negotiate for peace, Hengshan must get it back. If we can't reach an agreement, we will send troops to capture Huizhou and then talk. It is very close to Lanzhou and will not consume too much military rations."

Ju Ming smiled and said: "Li Renli, the envoy of Xixia, has been in Tokyo for two or three months. He is enjoying the food and drink and is not thinking about Shu. It's time to call him to talk about business."