King of Song

Chapter 156
With Cai Jing's support, Lin Zhao immediately gained confidence. With the Changping warehouses in two counties, could he not be able to beat the unscrupulous grain merchants?
Lin Zhao left Yuhang County contentedly, and was careful not to be noticed along the way.The Changping position in Yuhang is equivalent to a secret trump card, and it must not be revealed until the critical moment.

Later, Lin Zhao reported the matter to Zhizhou Zhao Bian, and got the full support of Mr. Zhao, so Lin Zhao was not afraid, and went all out to deal with the grain merchants headed by the Lu brothers.Immediately, a food price war was staged in Qiantang County, which was quite thrilling.

On the way back, Lin Zhao couldn't help wondering: "It stands to reason that when the memorial arrives in Bianjing, there should be a reply from the official's house. Why is there no movement for so long?"

"Yeah!" Yu Xuan's face also showed a faint look of worry, Lin Zhao is "cutting first and playing later".Although it is a matter of business and for the livelihood of the people, the officials have not expressed any opinions for a long time, which is inevitably a bit intriguing.Thinking that what the officials care most about now is the young crop law, I can't help but feel a little uneasy.

Su An, who was on the side, also felt a little strange when he heard it, but how can the Lord think wildly? In addition, some things he saw recently should be reported, and it is okay to add up a little temptation.

With food supplies, Meng's Grain Shop still sells food at a fair price every day, and has no intention of stopping.There are still people who buy grain at high prices. Seeing the profits, many people enjoy reselling grain. A strange situation of grain flow has emerged in Qiantang County.

As time went by, the ones who complained the most were the brothers from the Lu family.

In Qinghe Hall, Lu Shan frowned, Lao Gao hurriedly entered the door and said, "What the hell, the door is broken! It has been seven days in a row, and the Meng family is still selling grain as usual."

Lu Ji's face also became gloomy, his eyes became a little more serious, and he asked, "How much did we buy?"

"Forty percent is always there, but it costs a lot of money, and it's almost unbearable!" Lu Shan said, "Where did the Meng family get so much food? It is impossible for Lin Zhao to empty the entire Changping warehouse. Support the Meng family? Brother, in my opinion, it must be Zhang Ziheng and others who are secretly supporting Lin Zhao!"

Lu Ji had always been very confident and calm, but in today's situation, he couldn't help but start to feel a little drummed in his heart.He sighed: "This is Lin Zhao's brilliance. He intentionally didn't know how to use the Changping warehouse to sell grain. In this way, we can't figure out the specific situation, and we have constant suspicions, so it is difficult to find a countermeasure!"

"But he is like this, it is inevitable that he is suspected of using power for personal gain, and his relationship with the Meng family is not usually close." Lu Shan said: "As long as the operation is done properly, some crimes cannot be escaped."

"This is just our speculation. There is no evidence to jump to conclusions. The news has been sent to Bianjing. What to do is Dalang's business. You and I don't have to worry about it."

"Yeah, I don't know what's going on with Da Lang. It's been a long time without any news!" Lu Shan was also very anxious.

"Forget it, just wait for the news from Bianjing. I believe Dalang will make a decision." Lu Ji shook his head and said, "In addition to continuing to purchase grain, let's find a way to transfer grain from other cities in the south of the Yangtze River!"

Lu Shan immediately cursed angrily: "I'm afraid it won't work. There have been frequent shipwreck accidents in the Jiangnan generation recently. All the water terminals and gates on the Liangzhe Road are now being thoroughly investigated. The sailing is extremely slow. I'm afraid it will be too late..."

Lu Ji couldn't help but smiled wryly, this was like shooting himself in the foot, if it wasn't for sinking the Meng family's boat, how could it have caused such consequences.He didn't expect for the time being that this was actually County Magistrate Lin's tactic of tit for tat.Don't forget, Shen Kuo is the visiting envoy of Liangzhe Road, and it is not difficult to do some small things.

The Lu brothers also began to feel that things were a little tricky, and all aspects began to exceed expectations, and they also began to feel overwhelmed.

"Let's wait for news from Da Lang. Our side is in a difficult situation, so why not Lin Zhao's place? Now it's up to who can persevere!" Lu Ji didn't know if it was helpless or self-comforting.

In addition to these, he also thought that the aftermath of some things must be handled properly, and he must not leave any clues for the other party to catch.Everything else doesn't matter, the loss is nothing more than belongings outside of the body, except for those three people, if something goes wrong, it will be irreparable!
In extraordinary times, we must be more cautious, or they must leave quickly and disappear from the world.Or...then don't blame me for being cruel!While contemplating, Lu Ji clenched his fist tightly, and the veins on the back of his hand were bulging, which was really obvious!
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In Bianjing City, Lu Huiqing spent a few days of hard work and finally figured out that Hangzhou officials, including Lin Zhao, had not sent any memorials recently.

Although he is now the emperor's favored minister, the memorials are all between Zhongshu, Zaifu ministers, and the emperor. It is still difficult to verify one thing quietly.

After getting the news, Lu Huiqing smiled, and finally caught Lin Zhao's handle.But how to do it in the end still needs to think and plan.

When I got home, seeing the smile on my eldest brother's face, Lu Shengqing asked, "Brother, is there any news?"

"Not bad, as expected!"

Lu Shengqing immediately excitedly said: "That's great, Lin Zhao is really audacious. He dared to transfer the food in Changping warehouse at will, use his power for personal gain, and embezzle public funds. It's really abominable. Brother, write a letter to impeach these moths of the state!"

"Second brother, aren't you in a hurry?" Lu Heqing shook his head and said, "You can't be too hasty. We don't have any definite evidence right now. What if the food didn't come out of Changping warehouse? Then someone will bite you back." But it’s not good. Either don’t move, and if you move, you’ll be hit. Not to mention... besides, the elder brother’s identity is sensitive, so I’m afraid it’s inappropriate to report impeachment in person!”

"This is also..."

Of course Lu Huiqing couldn't come forward, after all, Lin Zhao is now Wang Anshi's man, if he doesn't do well, he might offend Wang Xianggong.Or Wang Anshi intervened, and the matter became passive, and now he can only find ways to operate in secret.

It's just that in the end, people will inevitably be noticed, how will Wang Xianggong react?How could it be so simple to deal with Lin Zhao? Lu Huiqing deeply felt that dealing with the aftermath was quite troublesome.So this matter must be done as carefully as possible, at least not leaving obvious handles to others.

"You don't have to think too much about impeachment. Brother Wei naturally has a way to mention this matter calmly..." Obviously, Lu Huiqing had already made up his mind, and said, "It's just that we need to be careful while we are collecting evidence. Tell Lu Ji And Lu Shan, let them deal with it properly."

"Brother, don't worry, Lu Ji and the others have their own measure!"

After saying this, Lu Huiqing had no choice but to smile bitterly. If she was really sensible, would she first think of such rash actions as scuttling other people's ships?I just hope that there are some mistakes in other things and leave some handles!

Lu Heqing said: "Brother, you can think of a way. It's best if we can check Lin Zhao's food storage in a fair and honest way. How can he hide?"

"Well, my brother knows it well!" Lu Huiqing immediately kept his expression down, lowered his head in thought, obviously already planning a plan, and probably already knew it in his mind.

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There was no court meeting the next day, so Emperor Zhao Bian stayed in the Chuigong Hall to handle government affairs.

There have been a lot of things happening in the past few days. First, Li Bingchang of Xixia wrote a letter to surrender, asking for the restoration of the old Fanyi.Could it be that Queen Mother Liang changed her temper?This is bound to make people a little suspicious.

Since the conflict during the reign of Renzong, and the premature death of Li Liangzuo, the previous leader of Xixia, the crown prince Li Bingchang was just a child.The power of the Xixia Kingdom was in the hands of his biological mother, the Empress Dowager Liang, and her uncle and prime minister, Liang Yibu.

If orphans and widows want to gain a firm foothold and stabilize the situation, they must obtain the support of party aristocrats.The Empress Dowager Liang's reform was to be hostile to the Song Dynasty, or even go to war, to abolish the etiquette of the Han family in Xixia, and restore the original customs of the party.

Regardless of the right or wrong of the method, the effect is obvious, and it has indeed won the support of the party and nobles in Xixia.Coupled with the friendship with the Liao Kingdom and the canonization and support of the Liao Lord, the mother and son of the Empress Dowager Liang have survived the most difficult days and successfully secured the throne.

But as time went by, problems emerged.The hostility with the Song Dynasty for too long resulted in the closure of the border market for a long time, and the Xixia people could not trade with the Central Plains people, so that there was a shortage of supplies and life was very difficult.

Last year, the Song people went to Liao to achieve great success, and the current relationship between Song and Liao is also very good. Xixia is caught in it, and there is no way to do things with ease and have both sides.Under pressure from all sides, the Empress Dowager Liang was helpless, and finally bowed her head to the Song Dynasty.

In the name of the emperor's son Li Bingchang, he wrote a letter requesting canonization and restoration of the previous vassal relationship.When the news spread to Bianjing, some people said it was good, while others objected, thinking that if Qin Muchu of the Western Xia Dynasty was not punished, he would still be so double-faced in the future.Therefore, it is not in favor of accepting surrender and rewarding it!
Many people just stand and talk without pain in their backs. Can they really win a war with Xixia?Some civil servants are really interesting. When a war is about to take place, they say that the war is a waste of money and life, and they are willing to spend money to buy peace.But when you were willing to accept the surrender peacefully, he told you about the face of the country, and Emperor Zhao Xu was quite helpless about this.

At present, his focus is on domestic reforms. Before the Song Dynasty is truly strong, it is best to avoid foreign wars as much as possible.

Therefore, Zhao Xu happily accepted the surrender of Xixia Kingdom, and canonized Li Bingchang!

He also knows that Xixia is a white-eyed wolf, who seems to be very docile now, maybe he will turn around and bite you at any time.But right now, they are not very worried, because behind Xixia, there is Tubo Qingtang Kingdom in the Hehuang area. Its former leader, Gu Siluo, and the current Dong Zhan are relatively close to the Song Dynasty, and can contain Xixia from behind.

In addition, there are a group of famous families in the northwest, especially several military families guarding it.For example, the family of Qingjian City, such as the Zhejia of Fuzhou.The imperial court has always treated these famous families in the northwest with gentleness and kindness.For example, just a few days ago, Zhe Jishi, the official concierge envoy of the Tibetan government, was appointed as the governor of Zhongzhou, and General Wei Mingshan, the gate guard of the left prison, was appointed as the envoy of the reserve storehouse.

Therefore, Zhao Xu is not worried about the safety of the northwest gateway, and the relationship with Liao State has been good in the past two years.Therefore, Emperor Zhao Xu devoted all his energy to domestic reforms.However, the current situation is not very optimistic. The young crop law has been implemented in some places. Judging from the feedback received so far, the effect is average.

However, Qiantang County and Yuhang County, which had high hopes, were attacked by continuous autumn rain, and the situation was not optimistic at all.Although Zhao Xu knew that both Lin Zhao and Cai Jing had good abilities, but in such a bad situation, it was a bit too demanding for them to do anything big.

This year's luck seems to be not very good. Zhao Xu thinks that the reform has encountered some hardships from the beginning, which is not a small blow to him.There are still many people who oppose the reform, and more officials have been demoted from Bianjing, but there is still no stopping the trend of opposition.

Especially the movement of some heavyweight ministers, Sima Guang resigned from the Imperial Academy, changed his sentence to staying behind in Xijing, and went directly to Luoyang.However, there are also constant problems within the reformed new party. Su Zhe's attitude change, leaving the system and setting up the third division of the Department of Regulations, once caused an uproar and was a big blow.

But compared with what happened later, this is just a trivial matter.Because Chen Shengzhi, the prime minister who founded and established the Three Divisions and Regulations together with Wang Anshi, was shaken and even left.

The personnel changes of these high-ranking officials have had a considerable impact on the reform, especially in the very beginning, making it difficult to get started.The young emperor Zhao Xu had no choice but to transfer Han Jiang, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, into the Department of Regulations of the Third Division, and barely maintained the situation.

Zhao Xu didn't understand, what were these officials thinking?Is the reform really wrong?Or is there something wrong with it?Why is the opposition so fierce?Well, why give up halfway?He was very puzzled, and occasionally there was a wave of wavering in his heart for a moment.Immediately, he shook his head violently. Since he chose this path, how could he back down so easily?Especially for an emperor, this cannot be the case.

What's more, the situation in the Song Dynasty was indeed critical and there were many problems. Reform and reform were the inevitable way.For today's plan, we can only stick to our beliefs and go on as always.

Talent, what is most lacking now is talent.Most of the people who support Naihe and participate in the reform are young people. These people are still inexperienced, and it takes time to cultivate them. It is inevitable that people will feel that they can't wait.

When Zhao Xu was feeling sad, a servant came to report: "The detailed text of the regulations of the three divisions has been prepared, and the Minister of Agriculture, Lu Huiqing, asked to see him."

"Biography!" Hearing Lu Huiqing's arrival, Zhao Xu was shocked, and a gleam of joy appeared on his face.

In the recent period, the emperor has greatly appreciated Lu Huiqing. This person is very understanding, active in thinking, and is a rare talent in the new party.

Although Sima Guang once wrote a letter to advise, saying that Lu Huiqing's character is not good, Zhao Xu didn't take it seriously, and still trusted and appreciated Lu Huiqing.

Today, Lu Huiqing took the initiative to ask for a meeting. I don't know if there will be any good ideas or suggestions?For a moment, Zhao Xu was full of anticipation!

(End of this chapter)