Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 40

When Zhao Zhifu said "difficult to take into account" again, Zhao You's face was already gloomy. It was obvious that Zhao Zhifu's words didn't satisfy the officials. The predecessors plant trees, and the descendants enjoy the shade. The old minister has been the prime minister for many years, and if he does not open up the sea because the results are slow, it is short-sighted.”

He didn't care about Zhao Zhifu's livid face, he was a little bit uneasy, and continued to say slowly, "This dynasty respects Confucius and Confucianism, and its moral government directly follows the rule of the three generations. The so-called heroic Tang Dynasty is nothing. Your Majesty wants to create an unprecedented prosperity. In this situation, it is an essential step to open up thousands of miles of sea and territory. Zhao Xingde, the supervisor who presented the "Ten Strategies for Expansion of the Sea", is also a rare talent. If he is well cultivated, he will be a pillar of the country."

When Cai Jing said this, Zhao You nodded with a smile and said: "What Cai Xiang said is very true." But Cai Jing said again: "However, after reading this policy carefully, you can see that the heroic spirit is the best, but it is a little less calm and steady. Thinking about it, Zhao Xingde is talented and has read a lot of poetry and books, but after all, he is only a prison student with little experience. The old minister has a suggestion, since Mr. Tong is going to Hebei, it is better to order this son to accompany him. He practiced for a year and a half, on the one hand to increase his knowledge, and on the other hand to give him a chance to make meritorious deeds. From now on, His Majesty will cultivate him deliberately, and even entrust him with the important task of opening up the sea, it is hard to say that His Majesty is too kind to him."

Zhao You thought carefully about Cai Jing's suggestion, and felt that there was some truth to it. The "Ten Strategies for Expanding the Sea" proposed by Zhao Xingde was to open up a situation that had never been seen before in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. He originally wanted to give Zhao Xingde an official position first, stay with him for a period of time to take the school exams, and then let him take charge of the expansion of seas and borders.But thinking about it carefully, Zhao Xingde had never held any official position before. Although he was well-read in poetry and books and extremely intelligent, he was suddenly entrusted with an important task, which would be considered negligent.It's better to let him go to Hebei with Tong Guan, and see how major events are handled.

"Then according to Prime Minister Cai's proposal, what official position should Zhao Xingde confer?"

Cai Jing seemed to be thinking carefully, and Zhao Zhifu, the political adviser, coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, scholars in this dynasty are proud of being Jinshi. Although it is the right way to select officials from the Imperial Academy, it is still a bit regrettable.

The minister thought that since His Majesty intends to cultivate Zhao Xingde, it is better to let him live in Lord Tong's shogunate as a supervisor. With his talent, he will definitely be able to beat the crowd when he participates in the Tribute Academy Competition next year.If he is favored as a Jinshi and ranks first, that is also his blessing. "

Jinshi and Ji refer to the top three in the national imperial examinations. The champion, second place, and Tanhua hand-picked by the king are the lifelong honors of scholars.The three civil servants present here, Cai Jing and Zhao Zhifu, were born as Jinshi, but Li Bangyan was not. No matter how favored he was, he always felt inferior to these two.Zhao You also thought that even the third prince Zhao Qi was born noble and talented, but he still envied the glory of Jinshi and begged himself to let him pass the imperial examination.

Thinking of this, Zhao You couldn't help laughing: "This is also the 'nature' of young people. Forget it, it's Zhao Xingde's luck and my great Song's blessing that all the officials are so supportive and backward. Let him live in the Taoist Shogunate as a supervisor, and wait for him to come to the Gongyuan Come back to take the imperial examination when you are in the big competition."

The monarchs and ministers made arrangements for Zhao Xingde in a few words, and then discussed how to raise taxes in the southeast to raise the cost of Jinglue Youyan. The prime minister reported that he would tax the house valuations in Bianjing and other cities through the interim method. , the imperial court can increase its wealth by 2000 million guan this year, and by auctioning the land with the land competition method, the imperial court can also increase its wealth by 300 million guan. The combination of the two is not only enough to support the expenses of redundant soldiers and officials, but also only needs to increase the tax rate , even the cost of managing the remote Yan and opening up the sea is enough to meet.

This discussion lasted until evening, during which Zhao You specially ate the imperial meal with six officials. After the imperial meal, they also watched a song and dance. After watching the song and dance, they discussed many important state affairs. down.

Seeing the officials rubbing their temples quite tiredly, Lieutenant Liang Shizhong respectfully presented ginseng tea, and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty is diligent in governing, do you still want to see those ministers who are in the Mingguang Palace?" ?”

"Mingguang Palace?" Zhao You repeated unconsciously, a feeling of tiredness came to his head, and he said casually, "I'm gone today. If there is something to play, let them leave the memorial, and I will read it tomorrow morning." He said After taking a sip of ginseng tea, he leaned on the imperial chair and stood up staggeringly. He only felt pain in his waist and legs. He heard that the emperor of Xia State entrusted all major state affairs to his ministers. He usually watched memorials more often and seldom made direct decisions on state affairs. , quite a bit of the demeanor of "the government is the prime minister, and the sacrifice is the widow". I am so happy, I am afraid that within five years, the surname Zhao will not be in this world.

Zhao Xingde almost fell asleep several times. Like the officials waiting in the Mingguang Palace, he did not eat any rice from morning to night, and only drank a dozen cups of imperial ginseng tea. Seeing that the officials waiting around looked calm, he simply closed his eyes, put his hands on the mat, and took a long breath with the technique of concentrating and training Qi that he had learned from Li Rui. Get up until someone taps him on the shoulder.

"Your Majesty is tired today, everyone, please go back." The eunuch in charge of the Mingguang Palace said to him condescendingly, his disdain was mixed with a trace of annoyance, fortunately he thought Zhao Xingde was a new favourite.

Zhao Xingde looked around in a daze, and saw that the waiting officials had slowly stood up, some acquaintances were still saying goodbye to each other, and some took out the memorial from their sleeves and handed it to the servants on duty.

The four-horse chariot he was in when he arrived was nowhere to be found, Zhao Xingde had no choice but to leave the palace through the right armpit door of Xuanhe Tower under the leadership of the eunuch.In fact, Taixue is not far from the Donghua Gate in Miyagi, but the officials who come to court always come out from the right armpit gate.The right armpit gate is on the west side of the south of Miyagi, and it takes a half-circle outside Miyagi to return to Taixue.

Zhao Xingde yelled, his head was dizzy, he could only hear his stomach bulging like thunder, looking along the imperial street, he saw that the two hundred paces wide imperial street seemed extremely empty.Two rows of red lacquer forks are 'inserted' in the middle of the imperial street. The middle of the red lacquer forks is the imperial road, and pedestrians can only walk outside the vermilion lacquer forks.There are rows of black lacquer forks outside the red lacquer forks, and between the two forks is called the imperial corridor. In the imperial corridor, there are two royal rivers repaired with bricks and stones. Lotus flowers are planted in the river, and peaches, plums, pears and apricots are planted on the bank. It is spring at this moment. At the turn of summer, looking around, there is a lot of beauty.But Zhao Xingde didn't care to look at the scenery, a gust of fragrant and soft evening wind blew by, and he felt even more hungry.

Originally, this imperial corridor also allowed small vendors to buy and sell soup, samovar and cakes in it, but unfortunately it was banned during Zhenghe years because it affected the appearance of the city.Cursing, Zhao Xingde walked forward along the Royal Corridor, while thinking, after crossing Zhouqiao, the plum blossom buns in Wanglou Cave, Wang Pobo's meat pie shop, or Li Sifen's Teahouse, he should eat back what he owed.

After Prime Minister Cai Jing returned to the mansion, he ordered his servants to set up a small banquet. In a short while, the Qionghua glazed lamp was tall and illuminated like daylight. In the dense flower hall, don’t look at these small snacks. A single plate of steamed buns is worth a hundred dollars. It is made of crab roe as the main ingredient. In Cai Xiang’s back kitchen, shredded green onions are made, crab roe is made, and noodles are made. There is no such delicacy in the world after leaving the Cai Mansion.This chicken porridge has been boiled in dozens of pots, and it is discarded after the heat is over. Whenever Cai Xiangguo wants to drink porridge, he has good porridge to drink.The salty soy sauce was presented by Jiangxi officials. It is made purely from the gizzards of the oriole. One cake of salty soy sauce is the life of hundreds of orioles. The wine is used to store the white jade bottle inside, and there is a double-layer silver box for ice on the outside. In order that Cai Xiangguo can drink ice-cold wine even in the scorching summer, Xiao Bing also thoughtfully gave him an ice cellar.In the past few years in the Song Dynasty, the courtiers in power have all advocated the Northern Expedition instead of the Western Expedition, and Xiao did not make a big effort.

As soon as the small banquet was arranged, the privy envoy Wang Fu, the privy envoy Li Bangyan, and the guard infantry commander Tong Guan came to bother him.The four people sat down in the flower hall, Cai Jingping retreated to the left and right, and Li Bangyan smiled and said: "Zhao Zhifu was supported by Cai Xiang, and he didn't want to repay his kindness. Instead, he took refuge in the King of Wei and opposed Cai Xiang. Now he is smart, in order to save his favor, he persuaded the prince to come out. Jing’s tour of Hebei must have made him green with regret.”

Li Bangyan's words are frivolous, and he has two ends of the head, he has shown his favor to the prince Zhao You many times in private, and he has shown in the court that he and Cai Jing are not advancing and retreating together.Therefore, Zhao Zhifu wanted the crown prince Wei Wang to inspect the Hebei camp on behalf of the sky. First, he found Li Bangyan and asked him to propose to His Majesty together with him.As a result, three of the six most trusted ministers of the official family agreed with the crown prince's tour of Hebei. Shen Yun never intervened in the battle for the crown prince, and Wang Fu was less responsible. Even if Cai Jing opposed it, he would be alone.If this is done, the prince Zhao You will inherit the Datong in the future, and he will definitely repay Li Bangyan for his secret assistance.

Li Bangyan agreed on the surface, and immediately told Cai Jing secretly about Zhao Zhifu's wooing. Cai Jing decided to plan, discussed with Tong Guan, and supported him to take charge of the camp in Hebei. Beijing has its own Cai party to fuel the flames, and it is called the official Yichu East Palace.The East Palace dispute is the root of the rise and fall of the Cai party and the Zhao party. As long as the prince loses power, Zhao Zhifu will be implicated, and the Zhao party will naturally fall apart. Cai Jing is not afraid that His Majesty will promote another deputy to check and balance himself. Some, as long as the third prince Zhao Qi inherits the throne, he is a veteran of the two dynasties, and has meritorious support, his power will only become more and more powerful. Wealth is enough.

Zhao Zhifu didn't know what it was, so he was very happy to get Li Bangyan and Tong Guan's promise. The three formed an alliance to support the crown prince Zhao You. Promoting shipbuilding to go out to sea and competing for profits with Southeast Asian merchants.