Chapter 102 Thoughts
"Your Highness, Your Majesty told me that the original thorough investigation of the salt affairs was advocated by His Highness, which shows that His Highness has the ambition to reform. However, if he wants to reform the law, Feng Deguang cannot let the officials Order to execute him," Han Zhang said.
"Joke, is Feng Deguang that important?" Zhao Xing sneered.
"He didn't, but the official's attitude is very important." Han Zhang said seriously.
Zhao Xing frowned slightly, as if he understood what Han Zhang meant, and said, "Does the Grand Prime Minister mean that this will arouse some people's resistance?"
"That's right."
Han Zhang nodded and said: "Although many people opposed the thorough investigation of salt affairs before, it was limited to the court. Because many people were lucky, even if it was true Even if it's bad, they won't lose their lives. But if the officials kill Feng Deguang, no one will be lucky anymore, because if they do something wrong, they will lose their lives."
< br>"It's simply ridiculous! What does it matter if they are lucky or not? Can they still rebel?" Zhao Xing said disdainfully.
“Of course we don’t dare to rebel, but it will definitely be more difficult to implement reforms.” Han Zhang said.
"Have you ever thought about it, Grand Prime Minister, that it is precisely because my father is too lenient that these people have no fear at all?" Zhao Xing retorted.
"Of course I know, but everything must be done with the overall situation in mind!" Han Zhang said.
"The overall situation is the most important thing? What is the overall situation?" Zhao Xing sneered and said: "Does the Grand Prime Minister come here this time to ask Gu to ask his father to take back his life? Gu clearly told the Grand Prime Minister that Gu is not If you will go and plead for mercy, what are you going to do? Go to the emperor and give him a death sentence?”
“When I came, I had already asked the minister to carry out the work of eating the emperor’s salary and being loyal to the emperor. I will only do my best to dissuade you, but if I refuse to remonstrate, I will become a sycophant," Han Zhang said.
Hearing this, Zhao Xing's expression softened and he said, "Master, if you have nothing else to do, please go back first."
"I retire!" Han Zhang bowed and retreated. Go down.
Zhao Xing looked at the calm lake and fell into deep thought.
Han Zhang was worried that once he started killing civil servants, it would arouse the civil servants' resistance.
This idea is a bit too ridiculous, and it is too whimsical to try to use gentle means to solve the long-standing shortcomings of the Song Dynasty.
Facts have proved that blind kindness is useless and cannot influence those people.
……
In autumn, all things wither. The ancients believed that autumn was the season of hibernation, so the execution of prisoners on death row was basically done after autumn.
However, there are also those who are sentenced to death. In this case, there is no need to wait until the autumn. As long as the identity is verified, they will be executed directly.
Three days later, Feng Deguang was executed at Caishikou in Bianjing City, which attracted many people to become officials.
It has been more than thirty years since the current official succeeded to the throne at the age of thirteen, and this is the first civil official to be executed.
The civil servants in Bianjing felt a little sad. After Feng Deguang was executed, even the fighting between them temporarily stopped.
In the past, they always thought that passing the test would be equivalent to getting a gold medal for immunity from death. Their status as civil servants was more useful than the iron certificate of the Lord's alchemy book.
It can be said that Feng Deguang's death was a great shock to them, and some people have restrained their behavior a lot.
No one dared to accept even the Bing Jing sent from the local government, and they were all sent back.
However, this kind of shock will not last long. People's hearts are always greedy, and some people will always take risks.
If you don’t see it, Zhu Yuanzhang killed so many people in the early Ming Dynasty that he even skinned them, but he still couldn’t kill all the corrupt officials.
Some people say that it was because the salary given in the early Ming Dynasty was too low and Zhu Yuanzhang was from a low background. He completely treated his ministers as long-term workers of the landlord's family.
But the Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the highest official salary in history. The emperors of all dynasties were very good to officials, so there were still so many corrupt officials.
However, what Zhao Xing cares about is not the deterrent effect, but that his father broke the rule of not killing civil servants after he succeeded to the throne.
After he ascends the throne in the future, the so-called ancestral system will no longer be able to restrict him.
……
"I (the common people) pay homage to His Highness!" Fang Zhongrong and Sheng Wei saluted.
In early August, Sheng Wei and Fang Zhongrong completed the transaction and returned to Bianjing.
After completing the transaction, Sheng Wei wrote down the details of the transaction and ordered it to be sent back to Bianjing. Before they came back, Zhao Xing already knew the general story.
This time Sheng Wei brought a total of more than 1,200 kilograms of wine to the Song and Liao mutual trade. In addition to the gifts, he also exchanged more than 1,100 horses.
However, these horses were left in the north and were not brought back.
The imperial court stipulated that the imperial court would select and acquire horses that merchants exchanged in the Song and Liao mutual markets.
Horses that can be used as war horses must be sold to the court. Horses that cannot be used as war horses can be disposed of by the merchants themselves.
So these horses were sold directly to the court by Sheng Wei, who brought back nearly 60,000 taels of silver notes.
To be honest, Zhao Xing originally set such a high price because he wanted to test the attitude of Liao merchants.
For example, among the common wines on the market in the Song Dynasty, the best ones only cost more than a dozen taels per jar, which works out to a few taels of silver per kilogram.
Of course, this refers to new wine, not the kind of old wine.
There are some that cost less than a few cents per pound.
Although his wine is good, it sells for one hundred taels of silver per catty, which can be said to be a sky-high price.
His base price was twenty taels per catty, allowing Sheng Wei to act cheaply. Unexpectedly, Sheng Wei actually exchanged more than a thousand war horses from the Liao Kingdom for the price of one catty of wine and one horse.
Although this is only the first transaction, it will depend on the ability of the Liao nobles to accept this wine.
But Zhao Xing is very confident in this wine.
"Please get up quickly, you have worked hard in this industry, please come and sit down!" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
Inviting the two of them to sit down, Zhao Xing asked again in detail.
Over the years, Zhao Xing has learned some ways of serving his subordinates.
Although he already roughly knew the process, he still wanted to give Sheng Wei and the others a chance to explain it. Firstly, he could understand it better, and secondly, it also gave them a chance to express themselves.
After Sheng Wei finished speaking, Zhao Xing clapped his hands, and several palace maids walked in holding trays with pieces of finely crafted jewelry placed on them.
Zhao Xing looked at Sheng Wei and said, "Thank you for your hard work this time. My son is getting married soon. I will give you two months of vacation. These are my congratulatory gifts."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Sheng Wei stood up excitedly to thank him.
Zhao Xing praised Sheng Wei for a few words and asked him to go back first.
"Zhongrong, how credible do you think Li Ge's words are?" Zhao Xing asked.
In addition to studying over the years, he also learned about some situations in Liao and Xixia.
Zhao Xing, the king of Qin, naturally knew that he was the younger brother of the current emperor of Liao.
At that time, their mother wanted to make King Qin emperor, but he was reported by King Qin.
Zhao Xing didn’t believe that he had no idea about the throne. When King Qin reported on his mother, he probably knew that he had little chance. Even if he became the emperor, he would become a puppet.
That's why he reported on his mother.
If the Liao State can be brought into civil strife, even if it cannot take the opportunity to regain the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, it can still cause the Liao State to be in chaos and weaken the strength of the Liao State.
“To be able to mobilize so many war horses at once, he must not be lying.” Fang Zhongrong said.
"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded slightly and said, "I will give you a few days off. Go back and have a good rest."
Even if Li Ge is really a member of the King of Qin, his status is not I can't get much higher, so I can only slowly look for opportunities later to see if I can get in touch with King Qin.
As long as he is ambitious, he will definitely be willing to get help from Da Song.
(End of this chapter)