I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 32 Zhao Zhen: I should be stronger (please follow up)
The fourth day of March.

In the afternoon, Chuigong Hall.

Two stacks of memorials were stacked on the imperial desk.

The stack, which is nearly two feet high, advocates the abolition of state and county schools built during the New Deal period and their transformation into bookstores.

The pile about half a foot high advocates preserving state and county schools and continuing to invest funds so that more poor people can read books.

Officials mostly support abolishing state and county schools.

The reasons are basically two points.

First, it saves money for the court; second, it is a manifestation of the complete abolition of the new law.

After Zhao Zhen thought about it for a while, he actually tended to reserve it in his heart.

He has been influenced by Su Liang's words, "Look at the world with a thousand years' view".

From a long-term perspective -

Xiangxu’s teachings will last forever.You can save money on other things, but you can never save money on education.

However, there are too many opposing voices at the moment.

The main reason is still: the court has no money.

At present, the treasury of the Song Dynasty is not rich.

Too many expense items.

Zhang Fangping, the Third Chief of Staff, expressed many times that he wished he could break a penny in half and spend it, but it was still not enough.

A thought here.

Zhao Zhen fell into trouble again.

Zhao Zhen rubbed his temples and suddenly remembered a sentence: The answer to court matters may lie among the people.

This was what Su Liang said.

"Maoze, prepare the carriage, I want to leave the palace."

……

After half an hour.

Zhao Zhen and Zhang Mao, wearing moon-white gowns, appeared in the lobby of a hotel called "Jia's Teahouse".

There were more than a dozen plainclothes guards around, so he was safe.

There are many scholars in Bianjing City, and they like to discuss government affairs.

Many scholars from wealthy families always like to hang out in teahouses and talk loudly when they have nothing to do.

The Jia Family Teahouse, located on the east side of Yujie Street, is where many scholars discuss political affairs.

It is extremely lively every afternoon.

The controversy over the abolition of state schools and county schools has spread in the court.

Naturally, the common people will also discuss it.

As soon as Zhao Zhen sat down, the discussion among a group of scholars around him became intense.

A slender middle-aged scholar said loudly: "Those state and county schools established during the New Deal will definitely be abandoned, because Fan Gong's New Deal harmed the interests of the vast majority of officials, and the latter naturally did not want the New Deal to return it. The legacy has results. And our officials have always accepted advice with an open mind, and we will definitely listen to the opinions of the majority of officials."

"No, no. Don't forget that Xianggong Du, Deputy Envoy Ding and Bachelor Ouyang in the court all support reservations." Another young scholar retorted.

"So what if they support it? If the New Deal is not terminated, it may still be maintained. But now, the key to the abolition of prefectural and county schools lies in whether the court is willing to spend the money. In the past two years, we fought with Xixia and consumed a lot of money. At the end of last year, there were additional Sui coins, and the Third Division didn't have that much spare money at all!" Another person stood up and said.

"Don't have any spare money? Officials' salaries will be cut by [-]%, and in half a year, they will have everything!" A young man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old said with an angry look on his face.

The middle-aged scholar shook his head.

"Young man, our court has always advocated that the king and the scholar-bureaucrats and officials govern the world together. The interests of the officials naturally come first. Don't you know why the New Deal failed?"

As soon as he finished speaking, an old man stood up beside him.

"Xu Sanlang, don't talk nonsense. Although our government advocates freedom of speech, you can't say nonsense. The officials still have the people in their hearts. Before these prefectural and county schools were built, couldn't the people live a normal life? "

"Live a normal life? The people at the bottom can only survive."

"The imperial examination is the only opportunity for poor people to change their lives, and schools in prefectures and counties are the guarantee for being able to participate in the imperial examination. If they don't have the opportunity to study and read, how can the children of the poor get ahead?"

"According to this trend, I am afraid that ten years from now, the sons of government officials will still be officials, the sons of farmers will still be farmers, and the sons of beggars will only be beggars. Do those officials really treat us common people as human beings?"

"The official family is in the deep palace. They only know that Bianjing is prosperous, but they don't know that in remote and poor counties, children and girls are sold and they don't have enough to eat. The Song Dynasty seems to be prosperous, but in fact it is strong on the outside and weak on the inside. In addition to the word 'benevolence', the official family also What are your achievements?" After saying that, the man named Xu Sanlang walked away.

In the lobby, it suddenly became quiet.

This is too dare to say!

At this time.

The seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man just now suddenly said: "It is not a good thing for officials to be too benevolent sometimes. If our officials were tougher, maybe this matter and many other matters in the court would not be discussed every day and it would be difficult to achieve results. Got it!"

After hearing this, many people fell into deep thought.

now.

Zhao Zhen's expression was also uncertain.

Zhang Maoze on the side, his heart was beating hard.

He pressed the table with one hand, fearing that the official would be angry and overturn the table.

After a while, Zhao Zhen's expression finally returned to normal.

This was the first time he heard that his "benevolence" was not a good thing.

He knew in his heart that the "benevolence" that the people talked about was no longer "benevolence", but "softness".

Since taking office, he has been very cautious.

Work on thin ice and look forward and backward.

Listen to the opinions of courtiers everywhere.

I have always believed that stabilizing the country is more important than expanding the territory.

More than anyone else, he wanted to regain the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, more than anyone else, he wanted to defeat Xixia, and more than anyone else, he wanted to make Liao Kingdom the horse breeding land of the Song Dynasty.

But he had never said that in front of anyone.

He actually lived a very depressed life.

He is afraid of making mistakes. He is afraid that once he makes a mistake, it will be a big mistake for the country that cannot be undone, and he will become a sinner for the ages, or even the king of the country.

At this time, Su Liang's words suddenly appeared in Zhao Zhen's mind:

"All heroes in the world can accept advice with an open mind, but can also make arbitrary decisions. This is true for Emperor Qin and Han Wu."

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhen felt very relaxed.

"If benevolence is useless, you should show your imperial aura!" Zhao Zhen murmured, suddenly knowing what he should do.

……

Near dusk, Zhao Zhen returned to the palace.

As soon as he sat down, he found the memorial submitted by Su Liang, and he couldn't help but become interested.

He guessed that Su Liang must support the retention of state schools and county schools.

When he opened it, he couldn't help but look ecstatic.

Su Liang's memorial can be summed up in one sentence: If we keep it, the number of bandits and bandits will decrease, the people will not rebel, and the country will have no internal worries.

This reason is absolutely perfect.

Zhao Zhen stood up excitedly.

The most powerful reason why officials such as Jia Changchao advocated the abolition of state and county schools was that the court had no money.

Su Liang said that if poor people are not educated in an orderly manner, they will most likely be forced to grow into thieves and refugees.

Suppressing refugees and thieves costs more than building state and county schools!

In recent years, rebellions by refugees in the Song Dynasty have occurred from time to time, which is a big trouble.

The participants are all illiterate and poor people.

Zhao Zhen gently stroked his beard and smiled broadly.

"This Su Jingming is truly a genius. I just lack such a strong reason!"

Zhao Zhen looked at the golden sunset outside the palace, and a sense of heroism arose spontaneously.

He murmured: "Even if I let the third division sell the iron, I will never let a state or county school go bankrupt!"

(End of this chapter)