I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 104 How can reform be without bloodshed?
...

Ye Shiyun's performance puzzled Zhao Ya.

How to describe it?
Among the five girls, Zhao Ya didn't know the details of Yuan Qingcheng, but he had experienced the other four girls.

In Zhao Ya's opinion, Ma Xiaojiao and Zhang Chun were the kind who knew a little, but not much, and had no practical experience at all; while Li Lin was a complete blank slate, who knew nothing, but was bold and dared to try anything.

It's Ye Shiyun's turn.

Zhao Ya discovered that Ye Shiyun seemed to know it all. Judging by her knowledge alone, he wouldn't believe her if she hadn't experienced dozens of men. But when you look at Ye Shiyun's practical skills, they're no better than Ma Xiaojiao, Zhang Chun, or Li Lin. At best, she's a bit more aggressive, a bit bolder, and a bit more curious, but that's all.

'That's a little strange.'

But soon, Zhao Ya put this strange incident behind him and went to court.

By the way, the court has been a bit chaotic recently.

As for the reason, it is nothing more than the faction struggles between the old and new parties becoming increasingly fierce.

At the beginning, Empress Dowager Xiang and many ministers believed that there were mistakes in both the Yuanyou and Shaosheng periods, and that prejudices should be eliminated, contradictions reconciled, and a middle road should be taken. Now it seems that this is not feasible.

Of course, Zhao Ya was also responsible for this.

Zhao Ya asked the new and old parties to investigate corruption separately, but they ended up treating it as a turf grab.

As a result, both parties are extremely concerned about anti-corruption, and they act quickly, accurately and ruthlessly, as if if they are slow to act, the territory will be taken away by the enemy.

Protecting corrupt officials?

It's not impossible to say that this situation absolutely didn't exist, but the form of their cover-up definitely changed. That is, instead of helping corrupt officials evade responsibility, they were now being told to quickly pay back the money they owed the court. The court was serious this time; if they didn't pay the bills they were responsible for, they would surely face disaster. As the saying goes, "There's always hope."

Moreover, there are voices in the DPRK that "after the old and new parties have finished inspecting the areas they are responsible for, they will exchange locations for re-inspections."

This was not news that Zhao Ya asked the Imperial City Bureau and the East Factory to spread, but was guessed by some smart people based on Zhao Ya's style of doing things.

If this is true, if there is a loophole in the area they are responsible for and it is discovered by the enemy, not only will they be embarrassed and give the enemy something to attack them, but the enemy will definitely take this opportunity to drive a nail into their territory, monitor their officials, and even influence their officials' administration.

Therefore, both the old and new parties are vigorously fighting corruption and eliminating corrupt officials. At the same time, they are removing those lazy officials and replacing them with officials from their own party, never giving the enemy any opportunity to take advantage.

If local officials at all levels did not want to be punished, they had to pay back all the money they had embezzled, even the money that could not be reconciled with the accounts. Otherwise, even if they committed suicide out of fear of punishment, their homes would be searched and their clans would be asked to pay back the money they owed to the court.

So in this process, they targeted the people and plundered their wealth to make up for the stolen money or recover their losses?

You're lucky if you can't catch it.

Once caught, the crime would be even more severe and the entire clan would be exterminated. That is, all the men in the parents', brothers' and wife's families would be beheaded, and all the women would be sent to the Jiaofangsi. All the property of the families would be confiscated without leaving a single cent.

ruthless?
How can reform be without bloodshed?

But then again, in this process, many corrupt and inactive officials were removed and replaced by motivated and capable officials, and the court also obtained a lot of stolen money.

But this also led to a very serious problem, that is, the new and old parties fought more fiercely for their own political ideas, for more territory, and for more official positions.

Some people in both the old and new parties now even feel that only by completely defeating the enemy can they claim victory and be free from this constraint and torment.

Zhao Ya came to Wende Hall.

At this time, the discussions and even quarrels of the ministers in the hall rose and fell, surging like the tide.

But all these sounds suddenly subsided the moment Zhao Ya stepped over the threshold, leaving only the low breathing and the occasional rubbing of clothes.

Zhao Ya walked slowly to his dragon throne and glanced down.

In the court, the new and old parties were clearly separated. Even if there were new and old party members sitting next to each other, they would consciously keep an absolute distance from the enemy to show their firm political attitude.

Of course, there are also many centrists, some of whom are determined not to form cliques, and some of whom stay out of it. It’s just that they are relatively fewer in number and cannot unite, so their influence is limited.

Wait for Zhao Ya to sit down.

Led by Prime Minister Zhang Dun, the ministers shouted "Long live the emperor" to demonstrate Zhao Ya's authority and status.

Then, Zhao Ya began to listen to the reports from the prime minister and ministers.

The first to come out was still Prime Minister Zhang Dun. He reported more than a dozen major and minor events related to politics, economy, military affairs, people's livelihood, etc. His report alone took up more than half an hour.

A representative example of this was that there were already signs of famine in Hebei, Hedong and Shaanxi, and Zhang Dun requested Zhao Ya to order the generals in various places to open their granaries to provide disaster relief.

Zhang Dun also estimated that the grain reserves in Hebei, Hedong and Shaanxi might not be enough for disaster relief, and proposed that the court send six officials and deputy officials to the three places to preside over disaster relief and purchase grain in a timely manner when necessary.

Then, Zhang Dun recommended six capable New Party officials to take charge of this matter.

Zhao Ya usually agreed to Zhang Dun's memorials directly.

Of course, for some things, Zhao Ya would also ask the reasons or even reject them.

But in general, Zhao Ya still relied heavily on Prime Minister Zhang Dun, and did not have any prejudice against him just because he was originally Zhao Xu's prime minister and was not promoted by himself.

Next, Privy Councilor Zeng Bu reported the border military situation and other matters to Zhao Ya in detail.

Since the Zhao Song Dynasty now had very tense relations with the Liao and Xia countries, the Song army was not only in a state of war with the Xia army in the northwest, but was also gathering in Hebei and ready to march north at any time. Zeng Bu took a long time to report.

Next, Deputy Prime Minister Han Zhongyan reported to Zhao Ya on the reforms in education, people's livelihood and other areas under his responsibility.

In terms of education, soon after Zhao Ya ascended the throne, he vigorously developed school education, that is, establishing a school education network across the country and replacing the old imperial examination system with school education.

As for people's livelihood, Zhao Ya soon agreed to establish a nationwide system of social welfare institutions, including nursing homes, Anjifang, and Louze Garden. Nursing homes were used to support the widowed, widowed, and lonely; Anjifang was used to provide relief to the sick who could not afford medical treatment; and Louze Garden was a government-designated land for the burial of the poor who could not afford to hold a funeral.

This is not a charity, but a people's livelihood project that benefits the entire people and is very original in Chinese history.

These two matters were first proposed by Cai Jing, and should have been left to Cai Jing's responsibility.

But Zhao Ya felt that Cai Jing had too much burden on him, so he let Han Zhongyan take charge of these two things, which happened to be what the old party was good at.

Next, Cai Jing, whose power had recently increased due to his focus on the economy, submitted a memorial on the "Financial Reform of the Salt Administration," "Auction of Religious Franchises," "Overseas Trade Options System," and the progress of reforms he proposed in the areas of tea, salt, and wine.

Afterwards, Cai Jing reported to Zhao Ya on the two matters he was responsible for: selling scrap and issuing "salt permit bonds".

After using Cai Jing for a while, Zhao Ya found that Cai Jing was really useful. Not only was he capable, but he was also extremely energetic. No matter how many things Zhao Ya gave him to be responsible for, as long as he was given power and people, he would get it done.

The key point is that Zhao Ya asked Ye Shiyun to calculate that all the things that Cai Jing was responsible for were progressing according to the expected progress, and the costs paid were all within the controllable range.

Therefore, Zhao Ya simply asked Cai Jing to cooperate with Zhang Dun to take charge of the economy. For some key projects, Zhao Ya personally named Cai Jing and let Cai Jing be responsible.

Anyone can see that Zhao Ya is relying on Cai Jing, and Cai Jing's future is limitless.

From the way Zhao Ya used people, it is not difficult to see that Zhao Ya was actually still taking the path of reform and change. It can also be said that Zhao Ya still chose to inherit Zhao Xu's policy line, and the overall positioning of the Zhao Song Dynasty did not change.

This is very important.

You must know that positioning determines strategy, strategy determines tactics, tactics determine behavior, behavior determines results, results determine success or failure, success or failure determines direction, and direction determines trend.

However, Zhao Ya was not as anxious as Zhao Xu.

Moreover, Zhao Ya faced all problems squarely and dared to let the old party expose the problems existing in the new policies.

The key is that Zhao Ya and Zhang Chun and Ye Shiyun behind him are often able to come up with solutions to problems and promote reforms when the old and new parties are arguing endlessly.

This rhythm is actually quite good.

However, party strife is still inevitable.

After Cai Bian and Su Zhe finished reporting on the progress of their respective anti-corruption efforts, Zhang Shangying, Li Qingchen and Su Shi finished reporting on the progress of their assessments of officials.

It was time for the most lively free performance stage.

Han Zhongyan was the first to come forward and report his affairs. He said, "When Zhezong ascended the throne, he issued an edict to the whole nation, inviting people to speak out honestly. Thousands of people offered their opinions. When Zhang Dun became prime minister, he set up a bureau to compile and categorize those who spoke similarly and labeled them slanderous. Most of those who responded to the edict the day before were convicted. Now, Your Majesty has issued another edict, allowing people both inside and outside the country to speak frankly about the shortcomings of government. If these are compiled again, those who dare to speak out will surely be suspicious and fearful. I urge you to immediately order the bureau to be abolished, and all the documents compiled to be collected and placed in the imperial palace."

Zeng Zhao, the secretary of the Secretariat, echoed this sentiment, saying, "Since our ancestors, memorials submitted by officials have never been compiled... The current compilation is not a tradition followed by our ancestors, and there are also time limits. Moreover, from April of the eighth year of the Yuanfeng reign to the beginning of the country, and from April 12 of the ninth year of the Yuanyou reign to the present day, the memorials have not been compiled, and only the memorials from these ten years have been compiled. I do not understand why. I would like to request that the memorials submitted by the Secretariat and the Privy Council be dismissed."

The story was simple: Zhang Dun was manipulating public opinion in order to force the new law through. He was probably afraid that Zhao Xu would abandon his reforms after seeing so much opposition, so he implemented such a high-pressure policy for the past decade in an attempt to force the new policy through.

Now that Zhao Ya came to power, he not only allowed everyone to submit memorials to him, but also allowed everyone to submit memorials to him secretly.

Han Zhongyan and other old party members naturally wanted to take this opportunity to completely break Zhang Dun's control over public opinion.

Zhao Ya didn't waste any words and said directly: "Yes."

Seeing this, Zhang Dun didn't even raise his eyelids, because he knew that Zhao Ya knew everything and he no longer needed to use such a criticized method.

The old party officials were greatly encouraged, and someone immediately stood up to impeach the Chief Censor An Dun, saying that he had colluded with powerful corrupt officials and launched many large-scale purges, causing resentment throughout the country.

Nowadays, there is a saying in society that there are two Duns and two Cais, that is, Zhang Dun, An Dun, Cai Bian and Cai Jing are treacherous ministers.

The easiest person to mess with here is Andun.

The old party is obviously using Andun as a breakthrough point in order to bring down the new party.

really!

Next, the censor Chen Guan, along with the imperial censors Feng Ji and Chen Cisheng, began to criticize Cai Jing, alleging that he had befriended Empress Dowager Xiang's nephews, Xiang Zongliang, and the eunuch Pei Yanchen. They accused Cai Jing of socializing with relatives of the emperor and colluding with eunuchs. They also said that Cai Bian and Cai Jing were brothers in the same evil ways, misleading the country and misleading the government. They also said that their ambitions were excessive, and that if they were promoted, they would disrupt the old order, leading to chaos and the destruction of the ancestral legacy.

Next, officials of the old party accused Zhang Dun and Cai Bian of usurping power, framing Zhao Xu in an unkind position, and deposing Meng Xiang from the Yaohua Palace.

After the old party members finished their presentations, Zhao Ya said bluntly, "No."

Zhao Ya did not waste time talking to these old party ministers, but directly and clearly rejected their impeachment requests, expressing his attitude concisely and forcefully.

Zhang Dun looked at the old party ministers who were impeaching them and smiled coldly, "Your Majesty needs people who can do things, not you barking dogs. How could he let you get what you want?"

Han Zhongyan, Su Zhe and other knowledgeable people in the old party also understood that only those who can get things done can be valued in Zhao Ya's reign. Don't you see that even though Lü Huiqing had such a bad character, he was still recalled by Zhao Ya and entrusted with important tasks?
After all the censors and imperial censors had finished impeaching someone, Zhao Ya gave a unified reply: "Only those who do things are prone to mistakes, while those who sit in office and do nothing are always blameless."

This is Zhao Ya’s attitude. If you have the ability, use it. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. As long as you are really capable, I will take responsibility for your mistakes.

The current situation is very clear. The New Party can solve problems, but it always makes mistakes, big and small. The Old Party advocates conservative policies and rarely makes mistakes, but it cannot solve problems either.

From this perspective, Zhao Ya's remarks clearly showed his bias towards the New Party.

In this regard, the old party members have a deep sense of powerlessness.

Fortunately, it has come to the stage of personnel appointment and dismissal.

Chen Guan stepped forward and said, "I request that Zou Hao be reinstated as a censor."

At the beginning, Zhao Xu wanted to make Liu Qingjing the queen. The censor Zou Hao submitted a memorial to the emperor to strongly advise against it, but was exiled by Zhang Dun.

Seeing that the old party wanted to bring Zou Hao back, Zhang Dun stopped them, saying, "If Hao is used again, it will only highlight the mistakes of the late emperor."

Zhao Ya said bluntly, "Establishing a queen is a major event. The Zhongcheng didn't say anything, but Hao was the only one who dared to speak up. Why can't she be reused?"

Seeing that Zhao Ya didn't care about Zhao Xu's reputation at all, Zhang Dun could only retreat in disappointment.

Seeing this, the old party members regained their confidence.

Chen Guan seized the opportunity and said, "Your Majesty wishes to blaze a righteous trail and draw upon Hao's past virtues; but Dun, however, deceives the Majesty and seeks to pursue his own selfish interests. If we are to make our likes and dislikes clear, we should begin with Dun."

Unexpectedly, Zhao Ya replied with two words: "No."

When the ministers had almost finished speaking, Zhao Ya said, "I want to reform the currency system. Who is qualified to do it?"

When Zhao Ya said this, many people looked at Cai Jing.

Even Cai Jing himself felt that he had another big task.

This made Cai Jing very excited, and he was ready to continue to repay Zhao Ya's kindness.

In fact, Zhao Ya’s candidate was also Cai Jing. After all, Cai Jing might be the best at issuing money in this era.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, someone stepped forward and recommended himself: "I would like to give it a try..."

……

(End of this chapter)