Chapter 270 New Year
Zhu Jingyu told Zhao Xing in detail what he saw and heard in Jiangnan.
Zhao Xing listened quietly, and after Zhu Jingyu stopped, he said: "You have been praising Jiangnan. You said that Jiangnan is like a paradise on earth. Could it be that in your eyes, Jiangnan only has advantages and no shortcomings? ?”
“Of course there is.”
Zhu Jingyu took out a letter from his sleeve and said, “I have detailed some of the shortcomings and problems I have seen in Jiangnan. Recorded. Please take a look at it!”
Without Zhao Xing's instructions, Sanshui stepped forward to take the zhazi and brought it to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing took it and unfolded it to read. The more he looked at it, the colder his face became.
Zhu Jingyu’s letter contains a lot of content, ranging from the small things like the government officials going to the countryside to collect taxes, to the big things like officials being corrupt and bending the law. Everything he saw was recorded in detail.
The most common one is collusion between government and businessmen.
Business in the south of the Yangtze River was prosperous, and Hangzhou Port was one of the four major commercial ports in the Song Dynasty.
Maritime trade flourished during the Song Dynasty, and many trading ports were established.
Hangzhou Port ranks among the best among all ports.
This means that a large number of merchant ships depart from Hangzhou Port to other countries, and there are also a large number of merchant ships from other countries transporting goods from various countries to Hangzhou.
This also laid the foundation for the prosperity of Jiangnan business.
With business prosperity, various competitions will naturally exist, and bribery of officials is naturally very common.
Officials in Jiangnan don't even bother to exploit the people. After all, how much money can be gained by exploiting the people?
Those businessmen can make money much faster if they show a little filial piety than they can by exploiting the people. Who cares about those poor people?
However, the collusion between government and business has a big drawback. Many things have almost formed monopolies.
Some officials have tasted the benefits of being in Jiangnan. Hua Zhongjin bribed officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, falsified evaluations, and tried to stay in place for re-election. When they could not be re-elected, they were transferred to Jiangnan.
In order to stay in Jiangnan, many people are even unwilling to be promoted.
"He has really become a local emperor!" Zhao Xing sneered after reading it.
"Your Highness, these are the benefits I have received from serving in the south of the Yangtze River over the years. I haven't touched a single penny and they are all here." Zhu Jingyu took out a stack of silver notes and said.
The money was collected from him by Zhao Xinggao before he went to Jiangnan to take up his post.
His identity cannot be concealed. If he does not collect money, the officials in Jiangnan will be on guard against him.
Fortunately, Zhao Xing has an uncle who is greedy for money. Although he has become a lot more honest over the years, the old stereotype is still there.
After Zhu Jingyu went to Jiangnan to take up a post, those people sent people to send him money, deliberately testing him.
Zhu Jingyu accepted Zhao Xing's instructions and accepted all comers.
Slowly, the officials in Jiangnan became relieved.
This allowed Zhu Jingyu to find out these secrets.
Zhao Xing took the banknote from Sanshui and looked at it. It turned out to be more than fifty thousand taels.
You must know that Zhu Jingyu was only promoted to county magistrate two years ago.
No wonder it is said that three years to clear the magistrate's office costs one hundred thousand snowflakes and silver.
This is certainly due to the relationship between Zhu Jingyu and him, but it also proves the official's ability to make money.
"The people are poor, the court is poor, but these officials are all very fat."
The official salaries of the Song Dynasty are the highest in history, but these officials are either fighting for power or profit. Really hateful.
"Thank you for your hard work, cousin. I won't be in a hurry to take up my post after the new year. I'll spend more time with my uncle and aunt at home. I'll wait for the appointment documents from the Ministry of Personnel to come out before I take up my post." Zhao Xing said.
"Yes!" Zhu Jingyu didn't even ask where he would be transferred next, and Zhao Xing didn't say anything either.
After chatting for a while, Zhao Xing glanced at Sanshui, who understood, bowed and left.
After about a stick of incense, Sanshui came back again.
Zhao Xing asked Zhu Jingyu to go back.
Not long after Zhu Jingyu left the East Palace, his wife Fang also walked over under the guidance of the palace maid.
Behind him were a group of palace maids and eunuchs holding things.
"Official, these are rewards from the Crown Princess." Fang said.
"Yes." Zhu Jingyu nodded and said, "Let's go."
…………
After Zhu Jingyu left, Zhao Xing looked at his tattoo again and rubbed his head.
The various shortcomings of the Song Dynasty were more serious than he imagined.
The most serious problem is shade sealing.
In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination was perfected, and the court also attached great importance to education.
Everything is inferior, only reading is superior.
The nobles and nobles throughout the dynasty were all scholars.
These all describe the status of scholars in the Song Dynasty.
But in fact, officials who passed the imperial examination accounted for less than half of the total.
More than half of the officials in the imperial court entered the official position through Yinfeng.
If a civil servant is of the fifth rank or above, his descendants will be able to obtain the title of official. There is no need to take the imperial examination and they can directly become officials.
In addition, when large-scale sacrificial activities are held, or on the emperor's birthday, participating officials, descendants, and relatives in the family can receive Yin Feng.
When an official becomes official and dies, his family members can also receive a seal.
There are many high-ranking officials with dozens or even more than twenty descendants in their families.
The seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's door.
The original meaning of this sentence is that the status of the gatekeeper in the prime minister's family is equivalent to that of a seventh-rank official.
But in the Song Dynasty, this situation could really happen.
Because the imperial court's seal can not only seal descendants, but also relatives, disciples, and slaves. The redundancy of officials in the Song Dynasty was actually caused by the overflow of the feudal system.
Zhao Xing remembered reading a statistics in his previous life. During the two and three hundred years of the Song Dynasty, only over 100,000 officials were admitted to the imperial examination.
On average, more than 300 people are admitted each year, which is actually not a large number.
You must know that the number of officials in the imperial court has been maintained at about 20,000 for a long time.
It doesn’t sound like many at first, but at the peak of the Tang Dynasty, the number of officials was less than 20,000.
But the land area of the Song Dynasty was only one-third and a quarter of that of the Tang Dynasty.
The number of 20,000 officials is not too much to add more than 300 people every year.
However, the number of officials who enter the official position through Yinfeng every year is several times the number who enter the official position through the imperial examination.
But in fact, the imperial court did not need so many officials at all. In order to accommodate the increasing number of officials, the imperial court could only disperse power and increase positions.
Even so, it is still not enough, so many officials can only hold idle positions without actual duties.
To put it bluntly, it means just getting paid and not working.
But the actual job not only has power, but also makes money.
The officials in Yinfeng all have backgrounds, and their families help them with planning, and they can basically get actual jobs.
On the contrary, those who entered the official position through the imperial examination, those in the first and second ranks were fine, but if those in the back had no background, it was almost difficult to get a real job.
This has also led to an increasingly smaller proportion of officials with real power who took the imperial examination and entered official positions.
Jiangnan is rich and prosperous, and it is the first choice of these Yinfeng officials.
According to Zhao Xing’s knowledge, 80% of Jiangnan officials were promoted to official posts.
It is said that the aristocratic families died out, but the high-ranking officials in the Song Dynasty were no different from the aristocratic families in the Han and Jin Dynasties.
They occupy a large number of official positions by virtue of their reputation. Even if they are ordinary people from poor families, even if they can be named on the gold list, it will be difficult for them to get ahead without a background.
So many people can only become disciples of those high-ranking officials.
Zhao Xing had great confidence in solving many of the long-standing shortcomings of the Song Dynasty, but because of this, Zhao Xing had little confidence.
Because all officials are beneficiaries of the shadow system.
High-ranking officials have already received benefits, and those officials who are not qualified to be granted a title are also working hard to climb up, thinking about becoming a fifth-grade official and having a title to their descendants.
If the shadow seal is canceled or reduced, not to mention those officials of fifth rank and above, even those of sixth and seventh rank will not agree.
The failure of Fan Daxianggong’s new law had a lot to do with his desire to change it.
Those officials really didn’t care that much about the thorough investigation of Yintian and the thorough investigation of salt affairs.
As long as they are still officials, they can get it, whether it is land or money.
“Hu~”
Zhao Xing exhaled and murmured: "Why are you thinking so much? When Xixia and Liao are destroyed in the future, then I can also imitate Zhu Butcher and kill everyone who disagrees."
If Xixia and Liao cannot be destroyed, then the Song Dynasty will fall sooner or later, so why bother?
If that doesn’t work, just enjoy yourself as a foolish king. When you die, let the flood flood the sky.
…………
On New Year’s Eve, Zhao Xing and Zhang Guifen went to the palace to watch the night with their father, the queen and the queen.
As soon as midnight arrives, the palace bells ring, indicating that the new year has entered.
Zhao Xing and his father went to the Ancestral Temple to worship their ancestors together. After completing the sacrifice, they ate dumplings and then went back to their rooms to sleep.
Zhao Xing and Zhang Guifen stayed in the palace that night.
Early the next morning, hundreds of civil and military officials entered the palace, and went with the officials and Zhao Xing to the Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices, and then there was the annual Zhengdan court meeting.
The Zhengdan Great Court Meeting is actually a day when hundreds of officials pay New Year greetings to the emperor and vassals from various countries pay homage.
It is a pity that the Song Dynasty had no actual vassal state at all, and the Zhengdan Dynasty Meeting ended hastily after the officials paid homage.
At the end of the great court meeting, the officials held a banquet to entertain the ministers.
In the harem, Queen Cao and Zhang Guifen were also entertaining their female relatives.
On the first day of the first lunar month, officials went into the palace to pay New Year's greetings to the officials and their families, while Mrs. Gaoming went to the palace to pay New Year's greetings to the Queen.
The official family hosted a banquet for the officials, and the queen hosted a banquet for the female family members.
This is something that must be done every year.
After the first day, Zhao Xing and Zhang Guifen returned to the East Palace.
Liu Sanshi came out and followed, describing the situation in the East Palace in the past few days.
"Concubine Sheng Zheng's doctor Ma checked her pulse every morning, noon and night, and everything was normal. However, Concubine Li had a severe reaction to morning sickness, and there was nothing Dr. Ma could do about it."
< br>Zhao Xing frowned slightly when he heard this, and turned his head and said: "Princess, please send someone to inform Mrs. He and ask her to come to the East Palace as soon as possible."
Zhao Xing and Zhang Guifen had previously told Mrs. He to come to the East Palace. Zhang Guifen sent someone to invite Mrs. He to come over and talk about the matter.
Old Mrs. He agreed after thinking about it. She is old and doesn't care about this.
But her grandson is still young and she has to think about her grandson.
Although relying on the connections she has accumulated over the years, her family's medicinal materials business is doing very well.
But after a hundred years, some people will inevitably be jealous of her.
If He Hongwen had the status of an imperial doctor, no one else would dare to venture into the He family's business.
What Mrs. He means is that she will come to the East Palace after the Lantern Festival next year.
But when Zhao Xing heard that Li Yunchu had a severe reaction to morning sickness, the imperial doctor had no choice but couldn't wait any longer.
"Your Highness, although I am not a doctor, I know that morning sickness is a normal reaction for women. What can the doctor do? Those old mothers are more effective than doctors in this regard. Why don't I send my mother Qian there? Wait for a while," Zhang Guifen said.
(End of this chapter)