Chapter 46 Gu Tingye resigned
"Mom and Dad!"
"Heng'er is back."
With sad faces, Duke Qi and Princess Ning saw Qi Heng come in and squeezed out. A smile.
"Dad, I heard that His Majesty issued an order to warn my father. I wonder what mistake his father made?" Qi Heng saluted and asked hurriedly.
"Heng'er, your father served as the transfer envoy of the Gyeonggi Road. He failed to detect the corruption in the salt affairs and was responsible for dereliction of duty. Therefore, the officials issued a decree to reprimand your father. Not only your father, but also many officials who were investigated and punished. All officials related to the salt affairs were ordered to do so," Princess Pingning said with a smile.
Qi Heng was a little skeptical after hearing this. If this was really the case, then why did he see his father and mother with sad faces when he first came in.
Qi Guogong changed the subject and said: "Heng'er, do you have any homework today?"
"The gentlemen did not leave any homework, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave us a question. The child was thinking Ask your father for advice." Qi Heng said.
“Oh?”
Hearing this, Duke Guo of Qi said: "Your Highness has given you a question. This is a test for you. I wonder what the question is?"
"Your Highness said that the reason why the salt affairs are corrupt is that although the problem lies with people, there are also problems with the system. "The problem is, let's think about how to improve the salt affairs system to prevent this from happening again. The child doesn't know much about the salt affairs, so he wants to trouble his father to talk to the child," Qi Heng said.
The Duke of Qi was startled when he heard this. Could it be that His Highness the Crown Prince raised such a topic because the officials intended to restructure the salt affairs?
He quickly gave up the idea. Although he did not participate, he still had a general understanding of the corruption in the salt affairs.
The officials did not intend to go into details this time. It was obviously to knock the mountain and sway the tiger, and it did not seem like they wanted to reorganize the salt affairs.
From this point of view, it should be His Royal Highness’s idea.
Although the prince does not have any rights now, this is only temporary. The situation will naturally be different when he ascends the throne in the future.
Whether the Salt Service should be reorganized or not, Qi Guogong had little influence. He thought carefully and felt that the prince seemed to have the intention of reform.
This idea is a bit absurd. After all, the prince is only seven or eight years old. Even though he is smart, he is still too young.
But the prince was still young, and when he heard about the corruption in the salt affairs, he had the idea of restructuring the salt affairs. As he grew older, gained power, and saw various shortcomings within the Song Dynasty, he might have this idea.
Regardless of whether it is salt affairs restructuring or reform, it actually has little impact on Lords like the Qi family.
But it’s different now. Qi Heng is the prince’s companion. If the prince reuses Qi Heng in the future, it will have something to do with the Qi family.
“Father.” Qi Heng couldn’t help but call out when he saw his father was lost in thought for a long time.
Qi Guogong came back to his senses and said: "My father is thinking about how to tell you. How to prevent me? My father can't think of any good way for a while, so I will tell you the general process of salt affairs. Think about it for yourself, it’s okay if you can’t think of anything, after all, you are still young, and His Highness will not blame you.”
“Yes, I understand,” Qi Heng responded.
Qi Guogong told Qi Heng the process of salt affairs operation in detail.
Qi Heng pondered for a while after listening, and said thoughtfully: "Father, if you do something about the salt industry, will it be able to prevent the corruption of the salt industry?"
"Haha, what you said is indeed feasible, but many things are not as simple as you think. But this is His Highness's test for you. You can write whatever you have in mind." Qi Guogong said.
"My child understands. Thank you father for informing me. My child will go back to your room to think carefully and see how to write." Qi Heng said.
"Well, let's go." Qi Guogong smiled and nodded, and said, "I will have someone call you after dinner."
Qi Heng saluted and walked out.
"Official, since you said that His Highness the Crown Prince is testing Heng'er, why don't you give Heng'er some pointers? If he answers well, he can also show his face in front of His Highness the Crown Prince." Princess Pingning said.
"Showing your face now may not be a good thing." Qi Guogong sighed.
“Why?” Princess Pingning asked in confusion. Duke Guo of Qi told Princess Pingning the absurd idea he just had in his mind.
"No way? The official family doesn't plan to change the law. His Royal Highness is so young, how could he have such an idea?" Princess Pingning exclaimed.
"Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the worst. The official family does not plan to restructure the salt business, but the prince has this idea. Who can say what will happen in the future?" Qi Guogong said.
"In this case, Heng'er really shouldn't show off. Do you want to give Heng'er a warning?" Princess Pingning asked.
"That's not necessary. Heng'er is young and can't write anything. And Heng'er can't explain it." Qi Guogong shook his head.
Princess Princess Pingning thought it made sense, so she gave up the idea.
...
During the break the next day, Zhao Xing called Sheng Changbai Qiheng and Gu Tingye to the pavilion behind Zishan Hall.
"I wonder if you have any good ideas about the questions I asked you yesterday?" Zhao Xing asked.
A few people looked at each other and said nothing.
Seeing this, Zhao Xing said directly: "Zecheng, please tell me first."
Sheng Changbai bowed after hearing this and said: "Your Highness, the common people don't know much about the salt affairs. Your Highness once said that without investigation, there is no right to speak. After the common people went back yesterday, they only focused on understanding the operation process of the salt affairs, and did not think about it in the future. This question."
Zhao Xing nodded slightly, looked at Qi Heng, and said, "Yuan Ruo, please tell me."
"His Royal Highness, I don't know much about salt affairs either. However, my father is the salt transport envoy on Gyeonggi Road. I asked my father for advice after I returned yesterday and had a rough idea." Qi Heng stood up and bowed.
"Sit down and talk." Zhao Xing pressed his hands and said.
“I think we can set up a new yamen, and all the salt produced will be handed over to this yamen, and this yamen will be responsible for inducing the release. In this way, production and sales can be separated and reconciled with each other, which can very well avoid officials being in trouble. There was manipulation and corruption," Qi Heng said.
"Yuan Ruo's words are feasible to a certain extent, but as you said, they are a bit superficial. However, it is really rare that Yuan Ruo can think of so many things in a short period of time." Zhao Xing praised.
Actually, although what Qi Heng said is of some use, it is not much.
Separating production and sales is indeed a good idea, but in this way, it will only be useful for a short time. Over time, new problems will arise.
Moreover, the Song Dynasty court was already bloated, and the rights and responsibilities of many departments overlapped.
If you encounter a problem and rely on adding new departments and agencies to decentralize the solution, it will only make the already bloated official system even more bloated.
Of course, Zhao Xing didn't expect to find any way to solve this problem once and for all.
Even when he asked this question to several people, he never thought that they could give any useful suggestions. It was just to train them.
"Zhong Huai, where are you?" Zhao Xing asked, looking at Gu Tingye who was distracted.
"Your Highness, I didn't think of any good suggestions." Gu Tingye came back to his senses and cupped his hands.
Hearing this, Zhao Xing asked Sheng Changbai and Qi Heng to leave first, leaving Gu Tingye behind.
"Zhong Huai, I seem to be absent-minded when I see you these days. What happened?" Zhao Xing asked.
Hearing this, Gu Tingye gritted his teeth and bowed: "Your Highness, I would like to resign!"
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(End of this chapter)