The prince is more stable

Chapter 954 Inspection of the Capital Region
Court officials flocked to his door to pay their respects. Zhao Hao forced a smile as he received them, listening to their praises of his profound understanding of righteousness and his sacrifice of his personal life for the greater good of the Song Dynasty. Zhao Hao's smile grew increasingly stiff.

The words were all well-intentioned, but Zhao Hao couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about them.

It sounds like an insult no matter how you look at it.

Zhao Xiaoqian's land tax equalization law was already hated, and now rumors are circulating that Zhao Hao has voluntarily handed over his land, which makes him equally hated. The more people who come to praise him, the more they feel that they are cursing him.

After dealing with the situation for most of the day, Zhao Hao finally couldn't take it anymore and ordered the doors to be closed to all visitors, refusing to see a single person.

Then Zhao Hao returned to the backyard of the Prince's Mansion, where he directed his servants to dig soil and move bricks at the foot of an artificial hill, starting infrastructure construction.

The secret room in the study was discovered by the spendthrift son, and Zhao Hao felt very insecure. So he decided to quickly move the secret room, dig a new one under the artificial hill, and move all the valuables in the palace to the new place.

Although he only had one son and wanted to leave everything in the Prince's Mansion to his son in the future, Zhao Hao was unwilling to give it up now.

…………

The weather is getting colder and colder, and in the blink of an eye, the first heavy snow of the winter has fallen.

Snowflakes, as white as goose feathers, fell softly, enveloping the world in a vast expanse of white.

Kaifeng Prefecture is located in the heart of the Central Plains, a flat and vast plain. With no mountains to shield the city from the cold, the city feels even colder in winter.

In response to the severe weather, Emperor Zhao Xiaoqian, out of consideration for his court officials, decreed that the court sessions be held every five days instead of every three.

However, the Council of State Affairs and the Censorate remained busy, with virtually no days off. This was because the recent implementation of the Equal Taxation Law for the Fields, a new policy that was being forcefully enforced despite the criticism from officials and powerful figures across the country, had encountered considerable obstacles. The Council of State Affairs and the Censorate had been working themselves to the bone these past few days.

The Fangtian Equal Tax Law was first implemented in the capital region and then gradually spread throughout the entire Song Dynasty.

This decision was made after discussions between Zhao Xiaoqian and the State Council.

This is also the safest approach. When implementing any new policy, it should first be tested on a small scale to summarize the mistakes and experiences, and then gradually promoted.

The capital region of the Song Dynasty was still located in the heart of the Central Plains, encompassing most of what would later become Henan and a small part of Hebei.

The government affairs office was only responsible for issuing the new policies to the local areas, and then handling various events reported by the localities and issuing instructions quickly.

The busiest department, however, is the Censorate.

Officials from the Control Yuan are to be sent down to various localities to personally supervise local officials in implementing the new policies and then take action on the spot.

In such cold weather, braving heavy snow, and trudging along the snow-covered straight road after leaving Bianjing, it was truly a difficult journey.

On a rugged, muddy straight road, a horse-drawn carriage is struggling to move forward through a heavy snowfall.

The carriage was an ordinary single-shaft, single-horse carriage with a blue canopy, followed by a cavalry of less than a hundred men. The cavalrymen were all from the Bianjing Palace Guard, and they wore armor, kept their heads down, and rode against the wind and snow.

Inside the cramped carriage, a young official sat upright. A charcoal fire burned inside, flickering as the carriage swayed, but the interior remained bitterly cold.

Sitting to the side of the official was a middle-aged man dressed in ordinary clothes. Compared to the young official's shivering appearance, the middle-aged man was not so cold, and was quietly flipping through a yellowed booklet.

The young official's name was Liu Zening, and he was the newly appointed Inspector of Gyeonggi East Road of the Supervisory Office.

Liu Zening was a newly appointed Jinshi in the second year of Shaosheng. For the two years after passing the imperial examination, he worked quietly as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, responsible for compiling history.

In the third year of the Shaosheng era, when Liu Zening was compiling the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of the current dynasty, he consulted the records of the Imperial Diarist and found a record that clearly stated that Emperor Shenzong allocated 2.14 million strings of cash to the imperial treasury to purchase rare and precious jade and stones from all over the world to entertain himself.

Liu Zening recorded this information perfectly in the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong, but it was this record that caused a major incident.

Clearly, this record is very detrimental to Emperor Shenzong's posthumous reputation; such behavior is almost something a tyrant would do.

So Liu Zening stirred up a hornet's nest. After writing this record into the history books, first the prime minister of the State Affairs Hall talked to him, then he was summoned by the Empress Dowager, and finally he was personally summoned by Zhao Xu, who asked him in a pleasant tone if he could delete this record.

Liu Zening was very young when he passed the imperial examination; he was only twenty-four years old, a time when he was full of passion and righteous indignation. Faced with Zhao Xu's request, Liu Zening was very stubborn and righteously declared that he would not change a single word.

Fortunately, Emperor Zhao Xu was a relatively benevolent ruler who respected his subjects and was not particularly domineering. When Liu Zening stubbornly insisted that he would not change his ways, Zhao Xu could do nothing about it and the matter was eventually dropped. As expected, the entry that Liu Zening wrote into the history books was never changed.

However, after this incident, Liu Zening's career was greatly affected. He, who originally had a bright future, was marginalized. He was no longer allowed to revise historical records and was instead put into the Zhaowen Hall as a proofreader, which was equivalent to making him a librarian with no power.

Without unexpected good fortune, Liu Zening's political career would likely have ended there. Fortunately, Liu Zening was quite lucky.

In the first year of the Jingkang era, the imperial court established a new Censorate and expanded its staff. Li Qingchen, the Left Censor, personally approached Liu Zening. After a discussion, Li Qingchen invited Liu Zening to take up a post in the Censorate.

Therefore, Liu Zening was transferred from the position of proofreader to a supervisory official, and was directly promoted to the fifth-rank position of Inspector of the Eastern Circuit of the Capital Region, responsible for supervising the officials of the prefectures and counties of the Eastern Circuit of the Capital Region. He had the power to report directly to the emperor based on hearsay.

Becoming a supervisory official is not as easy as one might imagine. First, in terms of selection and appointment, the Supervisory Office selects candidates from thousands of officials in Bianjing. The best candidates are judged on their character and reputation, then their personality, and finally they must undergo various tests, both overt and covert, by the Supervisory Office.

Fortunately, Liu Zening was of impeccable character and survived all the tests the Supervisory Commission put him through.

The most difficult of these are the tests of power, wealth, and beauty. It is said that the tests are set by the Imperial Guards, who will start them unexpectedly when you are relaxed and unprepared.

For example, someone might suddenly come to his house, secretly pile up money in the front hall, and then tell him that as long as he becomes an inspector in the future, he can do someone a favor without even having to take any risks, and all the money will belong to him.

For example, when a friend invited him to a brothel, and they were halfway through their drinks, a stunningly beautiful courtesan whispered in his ear, pleading with him to put in a good word with a certain government office to get someone out of trouble.

Liu Zening was not a saint, but he had his own bottom line and was a very upright person. Otherwise, he would not have refused Zhao Xu's request to revise the history book.

He could disregard even the emperor's face, so it was naturally difficult for him to compromise with other temptations.

Therefore, Liu Zening passed the inspection of the Censorate without any problems. In the end, Li Qingchen told him with a smile that everything was just a test set up by the Censorate against him. If he hesitated or agreed at any of these tests, he would never be able to enter the Censorate in his life.

Upon learning this, Liu Zening suddenly realized what was happening, and then broke out in a cold sweat.

Li Qingchen had one more thing to say: if Liu Zening couldn't resist these temptations, he would not only never be able to enter the Censorate, but he would also probably lose his current position as a proofreader.

Perhaps he could only become a low-ranking official with a meager salary, spending his entire life in mediocrity, barely surviving on that small stipend.

What enabled him to pass these unexpected tests was his unwavering integrity over the years.

And this is the key criterion for the Supervisory Office to select personnel.

After Liu Zening passed the test, Han Zhongyan, the head of the Censorate, personally signed the appointment document, appointing him as the Inspector of the Eastern Circuit of the Capital Region. From then on, Liu Zening became a formal censor.

However, Liu Zening knew very well that even after entering the Supervisory Bureau, he could not rest easy.

The Ombudsman's examination of his subordinates is a lifelong process.

In other words, there's always the possibility of another test coming one day. These tests are so complex that it's hard to tell what's real and what's fake, and they're all interconnected. Unless someone has truly impeccable character, it's difficult for a supervisory official with questionable conduct or an unstable personality to pass.

At this moment, Liu Zening sat in the swaying carriage, his shoulders hunched, his hands almost touching the charcoal stove in front of him.

The middle-aged man next to him wasn't so afraid of the cold. Looking at Liu Zening's appearance, the middle-aged man chuckled.

"Scholars are really... Besides studying, don't you ever exercise your bodies? You're so weak, what if you end up freezing to death before you even finish your job?"

Liu Zening paused, looked up and gave him a disgruntled look.

This unpleasant-speaking, unfiltered middle-aged man wasn't in the same system as him; he was an official under the Imperial City Guard named "Zhao Xin".

It is said that Zhao Xin once served the emperor and made many contributions to the emperor during the two years of war between the Song and Liao dynasties.

Later, when the emperor ascended the throne and bestowed titles and rewards upon the people, Zhao Xin was supposed to be promoted and transferred. However, this guy must have lost his mind. When he heard Zhen Qing say that he was to be transferred out of the Imperial City Guard and perhaps go to a local area to become a county magistrate, Zhao Xin jumped up in a panic.

The man hung a rope from the beam of the main hall of the Imperial City Guard and threatened Zhen Qing in a fit of rage that if he were to be expelled from the Imperial City Guard, he would kill himself in front of Zhen Qing.

Being a county magistrate is clearly a lucrative position, and in terms of rank, it's two levels higher than Zhao Xin's current rank in the Imperial City Guard. It's by no means a bad deal for him, but Zhao Xin just refuses to accept it no matter what.

When people stay in one place for a long time, they do develop feelings for it and are reluctant to leave.

Zhao Xin would rather give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for promotion than leave the Imperial City Guard. Zhen Qing had no choice but to report the matter to Zhao Xiaoqian, remembering that Zhao Xin had once served the Emperor.

Zhao Xiaoqian remained noncommittal after hearing this. After all, Zhao Xin was an old subordinate from back then, and since he was unwilling to leave the Imperial City Guard, Zhao Xiaoqian still had to respect his wishes.

Therefore, Zhao Xiaoqian issued a special decree that Zhao Xin remain in the Imperial City Guard and continue to serve as his clerk.

(End of this chapter)