Song Gexing

Chapter 160 Auspicious beast and chaste woman

"That's not right. Our people are in charge of Cochin now. Why send these things away properly? You have so much time to do!"

Zhao Fang, who was halfway through, remembered that after Jiaozhi was incorporated into the territory of the Song Dynasty, it was renamed Jiaozhou Prefecture and administered the area of ​​the original Jiaozhi Kingdom, and the jurisdiction of Guangnan South Road was established.

Originally, the Song Dynasty only had two east and west roads in Guangnan, but now there is an extra road. In fact, someone originally proposed to call it Lingnan, but it was rejected by the ministers.

Because the Lingnan area as it was called in ancient times is too big, and Jiaozhi is only a small part of Lingnan. How can we call it a big area and a small area?

Hearing his question, Wang Zhongzheng immediately replied: "The descendants of the original Li Dynasty donated it to Wang Xianggong. I asked him to present it to His Majesty on his behalf, saying it is auspicious."

Only then did Zhao Fang realize that it was the people from Jiaozhi who made it. He couldn't help but raised his forehead and said, "Ms. Wang is real. He believes in auspiciousness and so on. It's just a lie. There is no auspiciousness in the world."

Wang Zhongzheng was frightened and shouted quickly: "Your Highness, be careful what you say! There has been auspiciousness since ancient times, and officials also believe in it. Your Highness can't throw cold water on it and leave others with excuses."

Zhao Fang glanced at him with disdain and said, "You are the crown prince, are you worried that my father will be unhappy?"

"My Highness! It's not that the officials are unhappy, it's that the ministers will gossip."

Wang Zhongzheng almost wailed, thinking silently in his heart, "Don't be angry, don't be angry, this master has been like this since he was a child, I'm used to it."

Fortunately, Zhao Fang didn't complain anymore, and arrived at the palace smoothly, and went straight to the Daqing Palace, wasting Wang Zhongzheng's vicious glaring at the guards along the way.

"It's a unicorn, isn't it a Javanese rhinoceros? It's a fool's game, right?"

Zhao Fang finally saw the legendary beast that had been controversial throughout history, and he immediately began to curse unhappily.

When the ministers saw that the prince actually knew this thing, they all asked curiously. They must know that before he arrived, the ministers had been having a headache for a long time, and even the well-informed Sima Guang did not recognize him.

Zhao Fang resented the lack of iron and scolded him: "It's true that Mr. Wang has been working as a manager on Guangnan South Road for more than three years. Haven't you ever learned from the locals that this is a species of rhinoceros? They are rare in number and very few people have seen them.”

While talking, I will explain to everyone the types of rhinos, from the most common black rhinoceros, to the Sumatran rhinoceros and the white rhinoceros in Africa, to the Indian rhinoceros in India, and finally the rarest Javan rhinoceros.

The Javan rhinoceros is somewhat similar to the Indian rhinoceros, except that it is larger, has a single horn, and has skin folds similar to armor.

There is a subspecies of Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam. There are only a few dozen of this thing left in later generations and it is listed as a critically endangered species.

It should be caused by being too docile in nature and being too stupid to resist people's hunting.

"By the way, don't give them a bath. It's best for them to let them roll in the mud. You see, the gaps in their armor are full of tender meat, which will be bitten by mosquitoes. Mud is a powerful weapon to protect them."

Zhao Fang stroked two rhinos and told the breeder.

He looked at Zhao Zhen again and said with a smile: "Dad, there is no need to worry. Although this thing is not a unicorn, it can still be regarded as a benevolent beast. It is also extremely rare and can be raised as an auspicious beast."

When Zhao Zhen heard him talking about the benevolent beast, he also became happy and said with a smile: "Since my son knows him and says it is an auspicious beast, let's raise him well and give Li a reward."

Zhao Fang smiled and said: "There is no need to give them too many rewards. I heard that the Jiaozhi area regards the golden bird as auspicious. Let's just send him two pairs back. A few batches of Shu brocade will be enough."

He was afraid that his father would forget his sense of propriety when he was happy and give an official position to the descendants of the Li family, which would be the source of trouble in the future.When they first conquered Jiaozhi, the Song army captured the entire Li family, and according to Zhao Fang's wishes, they wanted to kill them all.

However, his father was a man of benevolence and did not want to kill them all. He just ordered the execution of the pseudo-emperor and his son, and all the rest of the Li family were pardoned and demoted to civilians.

Zhao Fang disagreed, but after thinking about it, he let it go. His father's reputation was more important. As for worrying about the Li family's rebellion in the future, there was no need to worry about it.

As long as he does not act foolishly, holds on to the military and political power of Jiaozhi, and implements benevolent policies to bring people back to their hearts, the Li family will not be able to cause any trouble.

Therefore, Guangnan South Road has set up the Economic Strategy and Appeasement Department, not the Transportation Department, which means that the military and government should be in charge to suppress the different voices below.

The current manager is Wang Su, a famous official, and those who will succeed him must also be reviewed. Only those who are loyal to the emperor first and military and political skills second can be appointed.

Originally, he wanted Di Qing to be in charge, but the ministers disagreed, fearing that he would be uncontrollable when he grew bigger. After all, the economic and strategic pacification envoy was equivalent to a vassal town in the Tang Dynasty and had great power.

The Economic Strategy and Appeasement Department of the Song Dynasty was a non-permanent official position and was only set up on the border to facilitate control and resist foreign invasion.

If there is no war, the Economic Strategy and Comfort Department will be abolished and replaced by the Transportation Department, which is responsible for civil affairs.

A few days later, when Zhao Fang was reviewing the memorial, he saw a death sentence verdict, which made him furious.

"Come here! Send this verdict back for review. Such a crazy person is just waiting in jail. What is the court doing?"

The servant seldom saw him angry, so he was so frightened that he quickly picked up the verdict and ran to the court.

It turns out that this case happened in Jiangxia. A prodigal son of the local wealthy Xie family saw a beauty while walking on the street, and a vulgar plot happened.

Young Master Xie fell in love with the beauty, but the beauty Zhang was a married woman, and a very well-behaved woman. How could she be willing to let Hongxing cheat on her? No matter how much money Young Master Xie offered her, she would not be able to seduce her.

This time Young Master Xie became angry. Taking advantage of Zhang's husband's absence, he broke into Zhang's house with a knife to force him.

Xie Da saw her dead and didn't want to let go of the body, but he couldn't untie her belt and was blocked by the neighbors who came after hearing the news.

This incident caused a sensation in Jiangxia. Young Master Xie was tried on charges of forced rape and murder, and was reported to the Criminal Court for execution.

However, the Criminal Court actually reduced his sentence by one level and sentenced him to imprisonment, which was a suspended death sentence. This made Zhao Fang not angry.

Wang Gongchen, who came in a hurry, reluctantly handed him over and said: "During the review of the case, the subordinate officials believed that Xie had no motive for intentional homicide and that it was a wrongful death. Although the nature was bad, the law was such that I had no choice but to do it." Ask again."

In fact, Wang Gongchen didn't know about this case at all. As a dean, it was impossible for him to pay attention to a private criminal case.

This case was reviewed by other officials of the Criminal Court, but now that Zhao Fang was being held accountable, he had to stand up and defend his subordinates.

How could Zhao Fang not know this kind of rule? He sneered and said: "Wang Qing, you don't have to take charge of this matter. This case is not only a bad problem, but also has the significance of affecting people's values. I want to hire a martyred woman to create a chastity arch for the Zhang family." , do you think that if Xie does not die, how will he explain to the people?"

(End of this chapter)