I studied in modern times

Chapter 579 The fragrance of tea overflows
Bingxu (the first day of the lunar month) in the eighth month of the first year of Yuanyou.

Jiying Hall, which had been rested for two months, is open again.

In the palace, the curtain has been lowered, and the two palaces are sitting in it.

In the hall, the senators and prime ministers sat on both sides, all wearing court uniforms to show their solemnity.

The accompanying readers all wore white round-neck robes, which is a very popular fashion nowadays.

Zhao Xu was surrounded by his companions in the center. Today he was wearing a plain white crimson gauze robe, a small folded hat, and a jade belt around his waist.

Lu Gong is the prime minister and the minister, so he is the host of today's sutra banquet.

He held a book and read the contents in a rhythm.

Zhao Xu sat upright and listened very carefully and seriously.

The entire Jiying Palace was completely silent, and even the two palaces inside the curtain were not talking.

Zhao Xu listened, with tears in his eyes, and immediately said that he must inherit the holy virtues of Huang Kao, study hard, and examine himself three times.

"It is said that Cai Bian, deputy envoy of the Sixth Huaihe River Road of the capital, and Song Yongchen, ambassador of flood control of Huainan Road, sent back a report on disaster relief and river control in Huainan." Feng Jing said in a low voice.

After Lu Gong wrote the book, other banquet officials appeared one by one according to their status and official position.

Although the content is obscure, it contains many political metaphors.

Zhang Dun, who has a hot temper, and Cai Que, who likes to play tricks on such things, have also left their homes.

Zhao Xu listened and kept smiling. When Lu Gong finished reading, he stood up and handed over his companions as a disciple: "Your Prime Minister said the lecture on benevolence and the virtues of the three saints of our ancestors. I sincerely accept it." teach!"

Zhao Xu himself said that he was still young and it was difficult to distinguish between the good and the foolish, and he asked the ministers to correct him.

Lu Gongzhu quickly returned the salute and said: "May your Majesty, the Emperor, practice the virtues of our ancestors. If you do this, I will shed tears of gratitude and die a hundred times as retribution."

"Now I have the protection and support of the two benevolent sages above me, and the assistance of the ministers below me. Even though I am King Wu and King Cheng, it is nothing more than this."

……

Ministers from the new party and the old party would often quarrel over the direction of a plot, or even the use or nonuse of a word.

Zhao Xu looked at the two palaces and said immediately: "Go and invite Shi Duzhi and Guo Sheren to come in and talk."

First, Li Qingchen, the minister and governor, appeared on the stage, told a small incident about the late emperor, and then elaborated on the noble nature of the late emperor's benevolence and virtue.

Zhao Xu put down the tea cup and asked, "Is there anything you need to do when you are here?"

Because what Lu Gongzhu is reading now is the preface to the "Three Dynasties Precepts" that Lu Gongzhu was ordered to compile together, including all the banquet officials, as well as officials from the Secretariat Province and Chongwen Academy.

In addition, Wen Yanbo and Han Jiang are also in charge.

After a while, Shi Deyi and Guo Zhongxiao each brought a thick stack of documents into the bedroom. When they arrived in front of Zhao Xu and the two palaces, Shi Deyi bowed his head and bowed: "I give you to the two palaces. , greetings everyone.”

After Li Qingchen, there was Fu Yaoyu, the minister of Jiying Palace and the censor Zhongcheng.

Therefore, the new party and the old party will quarrel and quarrel again and again, but after getting red in the face, they will still sit down and discuss a result that everyone can accept.

"Good!" Zhao Xu nodded: "King Wu has ten rebellious ministers, and King Cheng is assisted by Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao."

Feng Jing then came to report: "Everyone, Shi Duzhi and Guo Sheren from the Tongjian Department are here."

"May your Majesty take a clear look at this."

Throughout the entire process, Zhao Xu was highly serious and serious-looking from beginning to end. When communicating with the banquet officials, he also appeared to be open-minded and thoughtful.

So he ordered Feng Jing to give Mr. Lu a piece of royal tea and asked him to take a seat.

Fortunately, neither Ao Xianggong nor Sima Niu were present in the court today.

How to understand it depends purely on the person who explains it, as well as the person who interprets it.

He talked about the time when Yingmiao was in power, promoting good ministers and denigrating corrupt officials.

Grandma, grandson, mother and son just sat down and took a sip of tea before they had time to speak.

Both the elders and prime ministers who were watching the ceremony, as well as the two palaces inside the curtain on the palace, were all very satisfied.

Zhao Xu nodded to show that he accepted the instruction, and ordered people to serve him tea and a seat.

What Fu Yaoyu told is the story of Yingmiao.

After saying this, Cheng Yi stood up and bowed: "Although this is a small kindness, but if you have a heart for the world, benevolence cannot be used. Since the Battle of Chanyuan at Quedi, the Zhen Temple has not spoken of war for nineteen years. , and the source of wealth in the world comes from this!"

Liu She and Wang Zhan from the old party were also exiled.

Therefore, this "Three Dynasties Sermons" can be said to have things that the new party likes as well as things that the old party loves.

As for the most important preface, it was written by Mr. Lu himself.

Time passed like this bit by bit in the preaching of the banquet officials.

Soon, with the last banquet officer, Cheng Yi, the storyteller of Jiying Palace, appeared on the stage. When he was holding the temple, he returned to the palace after the death row in Qiu, and encountered the imperial chef slaughtering a lamb. He couldn't bear it, and issued an edict to pardon the slaughtered lamb. The story of a lamb, and an edict that no lambs would be slaughtered in the palace from now on.

During the compilation process of this "Treasure Instructions of the Three Dynasties", I don't know how many troubles were caused.

As a textbook specially prepared for Zhao Xu alone.

Cheng Yi respectfully retired, and today's sutra feast ended here.

After the sutra banquet, Zhao Xu returned to Funing Hall surrounded by the two palaces.

Guo Zhongxiao bowed his head and said: "He is loyal and filial, and I wish His Majesty the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, and the Emperor long blessings."

"Get up and talk to Douzhi and Sheren." Zhao Xu ordered softly: "Feng Jing, give Shi Douzhi and Guo Sheren a seat and tea."

"I don't dare." The two of them hurriedly bowed to each other again. One of them is an internal minister, and the other is a military minister of Enyin. How dare they sit in front of the emperor?

However, Zhao Xu shook his head and said: "As you all know, the reason why I sacrificed my life today is for state affairs. Since it is a state matter, I should be given a seat."

At this time, Empress Dowager Xiang said: "What the emperor said is that there is no need for the two beloved ministers to refuse."

The Empress Dowager also said: "Since it is the grace of the official family, the two beloved ministers can just accept it.

The two of them thanked each other again, and then sat down cautiously.

Zhao Xu waited for them to sit down and then asked: "I remember that in the seventh month of Renshen (17th month), Gan Yongren, a walking horse on the Huainan Road, took over official duties. He reported that it had rained in Shouzhou and that the drought had been alleviated."

"On Jiaxu Day (19th), Song Yongchen also said that it had rained in the affected counties and counties."

"How are the disasters in Huainan now?"

Guo Zhongxiao immediately found a copy from the documents he had brought, knelt down and presented it in his hand: "Your Majesty, this is a memorial from Bian, the Deputy Envoy of the Sixth Route of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River in the capital."

Zhao Xu nodded and ordered Feng Jing to pick it up. Feng Jing followed the order and quickly delivered Cai Bian's memorial to Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu finished reading, handed it to the two palaces beside him, and said with a smile: "Take a look, Mother-in-Law, Queen Mother! The drought on Huainan Road has finally passed, the water level of the canal has finally reached the normal flow rate in previous years, and the water boats are all there. Entering Beijing one after another.”

The two palaces took it and looked at it, both of them were smiling.

This year, everything will go well for the Song Dynasty.

The drought in Huainan is a headache.

Starting from March, Huainan began to experience continuous drought, and the drought quickly spread to most of Huainan Road.

The most terrible thing is that the Bianhe River, the lifeblood of Bianjing, and the Huainan section of the Grand Canal have both reported insufficient flow and difficulty in sailing ships.

This is fatal!
After a hundred years of expansion, the population of Bianjing City has already exceeded one million.

Therefore, the food supply needed by Bianjing has already climbed from four million shi in the early days of the Kingdom to 6 million shi in Renmiao and now to 8 million shi now.

It is conceivable how serious the consequences will be once water transportation is affected.

Now, the drought has finally passed and water transportation has returned to normal.

This is the best news for the court!

"Is there anything else?" Zhao Xu asked.

Shi Deyi stood up and bowed: "Everyone, Song Adban has sent back an assessment of the affected states and counties."

As he spoke, he also presented a memorial in his hand.

Feng Jing was immediately ordered to fetch it.

Zhao Xu took it and looked at it. He immediately lowered his head, sighed and handed it to the two palaces: "Mother, Queen Mother, Song Yongchen said that the counties and counties affected by the Huainan Road this year may only be able to produce half of the previous years!"

The two palaces took it over, looked at it, and both fell silent.

They have very deep memories of the drought in Huainan.

Because, since last year, God has started to mess with me again.

First in the summer, there was a drought in Yongxingjun and Shaanxi, but it finally passed. It didn't rain in Kaifeng Prefecture for another month.

In the end, Zhao Xu personally went to Jinling Palace to pray for rain, and God finally made it rain.

But, in winter, the drought turned into floods.

Daming Mansion is in emergency!
He had no choice but to send Song Yongchen to Hebei for disaster relief and dredging.

Finally, we managed to survive and had a stable year. However, in the first month of the new year, there was another severe drought in Yongxing Army.

In February, Henan Prefecture reported drought.

In March, there was a severe drought on Huainan Road, and this time it lasted particularly long.

From March to April, there was no rain on Huainan Road.

This directly caused the flow of the Grand Canal to plummet. It finally rained a little in May, thinking that the drought would be alleviated.

As a result, after only half a month of recovery, it started not raining again.

Flows in the Wheatgrass Dead Canal continue to decline.

Throughout May and June, the Grand Canal's navigation volume was only half of last year.

There was no choice but to let Song Yongchen take command again and lead 10,000 forbidden troops to go south for disaster relief.

The main task is to keep the Grand Canal open to navigation!

Now, the drought is finally over.

However, the drought that lasted for several months directly abolished agricultural production in many prefectures and counties on Huainan Road.

According to Song Yongchen's report, in the most severely affected areas, the entire township's crops even failed to harvest.

"Mother-in-law, Queen Mother, what should we do about this matter?" Zhao Xu asked.

The two palaces looked at each other.

They have no experience in dealing with the aftermath of such a large-scale disaster.

I don’t know what to do!

He could only tentatively say: "How about inviting the chief ministers and elders to the palace tomorrow to discuss and come up with an idea?" Of course, the chief ministers and elders of the Song Dynasty had rich experience in disaster management.

This is all done through practice.

However, Zhao Xu didn't want their advice.

Because, with his eyes closed, Zhao Xu could guess what methods these chief ministers and elders would use?
First of all, it is natural to recruit the young and strong among the victims as Xiang troops.

Then, arrange for the elderly and the weak to eat along Liangzhe Road or Jingxi Road along the Grand Canal.

I will return to my place of origin after next spring.

As for how many farmers went bankrupt, how many wives were separated, and how many families were destroyed during this process, it was not within the scope of the rulers' consideration.

Because they are used to it.

Since the time of Jingyou, the Yellow River burst and changed its course.

Natural disasters occurred frequently in the Song Dynasty, and floods and droughts followed.

He returned to the river twice, each time creating a refugee group of one million people.

The number of soldiers, civilians and officials who were drowned or washed away by the flood was also in the millions.

I've seen a lot of things like this.

The bosses don't care anymore.

Anyway, it’s just numbers.

Doesn't Ci control the army?
Even, for some people, natural disasters are an opportunity to gain political achievements and make money.

Not to mention, after every natural disaster, a large number of farmers go bankrupt and land prices plummet.

This is a good opportunity for Zhao Guan's family to merge!
Yes – you read that right!

The largest landlord in the Song Dynasty was not a landlord class at all.

But the government, to be precise, the emperor!

In the sixth year of Yuanfeng, the Ministry of Household Affairs reported that the prefectures and counties in the Song Dynasty had more than 7.2 million hectares of registered cultivated land, of which 322,000 hectares were official land, accounting for 4.3% of the total acres. .

However, this data does not include the fields allocated by the imperial court to schools in various prefectures, the job fields of officials, the farmland allocated to archers along the border, and the pasture land controlled by Taipu Temple.

If you include these figures...

The amount of official land in the hands of the government will definitely exceed 500,000 hectares.

What is a palace-owned economy?
This is!
Therefore, the criticism of the old party is actually not unreasonable - Emperor, you have so much property, but you still want to shovel it into your mouth, it will look ugly! Would you like some facial expressions?

Of course, the official land was not owned by the emperor personally.

Its nature is not static.

In general, the official land policy of the Song Dynasty implemented the policy of buying at low prices and selling at high prices.

The imperial court often sold off official land in large quantities and used the money raised for engineering construction and water conservancy construction.

When encountering a disaster, it is also the first time to buy a large amount of land at a low price.

Even, the land of the victims who fled the famine was directly confiscated!

If Zhao Xu had not studied abroad in modern times, he would only handle this matter in the old way.

However, he studied abroad in modern times.

Therefore, he is very clear about the consequences of following the old method - the entire Huainan Road economy will be severely damaged.

It won't take more than ten years to recover.

The lost tax revenue and lost population are even more immeasurable.

Moreover, he has spent a lot of money on disaster relief.

Even his integrity was thrown to the ground and Song Yongchen was allowed to build a casino and a casino on Huainan Road. Song Yongchen's reputation was now completely ruined.

Among the scholars, the new nickname given to the big Diao Dang is - Ambassador Goulan.

The Imperial Guards called him: Skinless Zhaoxuan.

Who told him to blatantly set up hook bars and casinos on Huainan Road, so that many Forbidden Army officers not only spent all the money they earned from building rivers and digging wells, but even owed a huge debt!
As for the heroes of Denglai, they not only put in their money, but also put in three to five thousand people!
A new group of heroes have now boarded the ship and are on their way south to Guangxi.

Zhao Xu did so many things and sacrificed so much.

How could you be willing to follow the old path?

In fact, Shi Deyi and Guo Zhongxiao chose to report after Zhao Xu after the banquet, which was something Zhao Xu had arranged long ago. ,

Zhao Xu looked at the two palaces and thought in his mind that in order to provide disaster relief this time, he ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Packaging Storehouse to each provide one million gu as capital. He also ordered Cai Bian to intercept grain from the Jianghuai Sixth Road Shipping Department and intercept 1 million gu for the purpose. This is a gift for disaster relief.

His eyes began to turn red and tears began to roll.

Two million copper coins!
One million stones of rice!

It's all my money!
My heart hurts so much!
When the two palaces saw Zhao Xu's expression, they became a little panicked.

Especially Queen Mother Xiang, who quickly hugged Zhao Xu and asked softly: "Brother Six, Brother Six, what's wrong? Why are you crying suddenly?"

The Empress Dowager also hurriedly stepped forward, knelt down, hugged Zhao Xu, and comforted: "Guan family, don't cry, official family, don't cry."

Zhao Xu sobbed and choked, stretched out his arms to hug the Queen Mother, looked back at the Queen Mother, and shed big tears.

Two million copper coins were bouncing in his heart.

That's two million strings!
In Jing'anfang, he worked hard and even lost his moral integrity to make such a small amount of money.

The amount of grain that Cai Bian intercepted was an astronomical figure.

That’s one million stones of rice!

Even based on the subsidized rice price in Bianjing City, it is almost two million yuan.

Adding the two together, they can almost catch up with Wen Yanbo’s dowry!
With such a huge effort and sacrifice, wouldn't it be a huge loss if we don't get something back?

"Mother...wuwuwu...mother...wuwuwu..."

"I think of the saintliness of my ancestors..."

"Lv Xianggong said that the saintly virtues of our ancestors are as bright as the sun and the moon. When Injo, Yeongjo and Huang Kao were still alive, they had the common people in the world in mind..."

"Li Shi read the words and said that during the imperial examination, he would not think about the common people every day. Therefore, he practiced frugality and wore no more than three or five items in all seasons. Everything used in the palace was for the common people's daily use..."

"Now, Huainan is hit by a disaster, and the people have no food and clothing..."

"I feel deeply ashamed just thinking about this!"

"The book says: All directions are guilty, and I am the one to blame!"

"It must be that I was young and had weak morals, failed to implement benevolent government, and failed to live up to the emperor's holy virtues. God punished me and warned me..."

"Woooooooo..."

“If God sins, please sin me alone!”

"Why hurt the innocent people in Huainan?!"

At this moment, Zhao Xu's acting skills exploded.

Tears, sobs, and chokes were mixed with intermittent crying and shame.

The two palaces who heard this also started crying.

Everyone on the left and right knelt down to apologize.

Shi Deyi and Guo Zhongxiao immediately kowtowed, even breaking their heads.

"I await the death penalty! The death penalty! Your Majesty, please surrender your body..."

Empress Dowager Xiang hugged Zhao Xu, crying and comforting her: "Sixth brother, don't cry, don't cry..."

"What does this have to do with Brother Six?"

"It's the queen's fault, it's all the queen's fault."

The Empress Dowager could only shoulder the responsibility on herself: "Guan family, this is all Taimu's fault, Taimu's fault."

no way!
Although the scholar-bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty had long disbelieved in Dong Zhongshu’s decadent and backward feudal superstitions.

But they kept deceiving the emperor and wanted him to believe it.

The emperor himself knew it, but he had no choice but to play along.

Because the emperor needed to use the Confucian theory of heaven and man to fool the people and maintain his rule.

Although the theory of heavenly induction is terrible.

But it plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining stable rule and reducing rebellion.

Did you have a strange smell when you were born? Is there a red light? Are there dragons and phoenixes? Is there anything special about your body?
nothing?
Then what are you rebelling against? !
Therefore, most of the peasant riots in the Song Dynasty were carried out under the banner of "anti-corrupt officials, not the court."

Moreover, basically everyone surrendered once the imperial court made a move.

Since the uprisings of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun in Shu were put down at the beginning of the Kingdom, there has never been a peasant uprising that spread all over the Song Dynasty.

On the contrary, the sergeant riots and secret underground churches such as the Maitreya Cult became hidden dangers to the Song Dynasty.

But these guys cannot succeed without the support and cooperation of farmers.

Even the Beizhou Wangze Rebellion back then was nothing more than mediocre.

It can only be said that the Zhao officials are fully equipped with talent trees in terms of maintaining stability.

Now, Zhao Xu is practicing the theory of telepathy and taking all the responsibilities on himself.

This makes it clear that Xiang Zhuang’s sword dance was intended for Pei Gong!
What natural disasters, introspection, guilt.

There is a sin among all places, but I am the only one to blame.

What's the meaning of 'please only blame me and don't hurt my people'.

Isn't this just holding a Confucian sword on the necks of the civil and military officials of the dynasty?
However, not many people can see through it.

Even if you see through it, you can only pinch your nose and cooperate with his performance.

His age, his identity, and the image he has been pretending to be in front of the world make everything he performs now so perfect that no one dares to doubt it.

In fact it is.

When he cried, the two palaces couldn't hold it anymore.

The Empress Dowager quickly ordered: "Shi Deyi, what are you doing standing still? Hurry up and invite the elders to come to Funing Palace to discuss matters!"

(End of this chapter)