Song Dynasty Cannon Fodder Counterattack Record

Chapter 257 Resignation
Just when Empress Cao, Concubine Zhang and others were changing their minds, the topic of conversation between the emperor and Li Buqi changed.Zhao Zhen looked up at the thin clouds in the sky, and had nothing to say: "It seems that there will be another rain in the past two days, and this drought can be regarded as a solution. By the way, this time Fu'an Bank organized merchants to purchase food for disaster relief. It’s really good, I don’t know if I lost or won in the end.”

Li Buqi knew that what should come still came.

In the beginning, when Li Buqi organized a large amount of grain to flow into the north to attack some big hoarders, because of the good secrecy work in the early stage, except for the applause of the local officials and the emperor in the area where the grain was distributed, no matter it was those big families or they were in the middle of the court. The backstage was all dumbfounded.However, some people in the court were anxious. The relationship between these grains and Fu'an Bank and Li Buqi was soon investigated. People who want to find fault have no way to talk, they can only find some small issues such as "competing with the people", "interfering with government disaster relief", "grain crossing the border without disaster relief, causing an uproar among the people".

But the energy of these big households is also great. Seeing that these trivial matters cannot bring down Li Buqi and Fu'an Bank, they soon mobilized the Yushi to impeach the Police Department and Fu'an Bank to control a huge amount of grain, implying that this was an intention of treason.Now that the sense of urgency for disaster relief has passed, the emperor began to worry about his inability to control the country's money and food.

Everyone knows that rebellion requires two conditions-soldiers and money and food. The emperor is not only afraid that the ministers will control the army, but also that someone will control the money and food. This is why Song Taizu's policy of strong cadres and weak branches wants all local money and food to be collected by the central government. reason.Therefore, when a sum of money and food could cause the government and the public to shake, the emperor who grew up in the deep palace trembled again.

Li Buqi reckoned that if it wasn't for the fact that the matter had not been hidden from the emperor from the very beginning, and he had been reporting to the emperor from time to time, the emperor would have been unable to resist asking the Imperial City Secretary to investigate.Therefore, if the emperor can hold back until now, it is considered that he has a lot of trust in Li Buqi.

Now that the emperor asked the words out, it means that the emperor couldn't help it.Now Li Buqi didn't want to dispel the emperor's concerns, but was going to provoke him again.So he didn't intend to entangle in this batch of disaster relief food itself, but said lightly: "This time I made a profit. As for how much I made, I haven't calculated it yet. When there is a result, the internal treasury will report it to His Majesty." I guess I made a lot of money this time. But because I made a lot of money, I'm worried."

The emperor hurriedly asked, "Why?"

Li Buqi said with a serious face: "Most of the money earned this time was earned by wealthy and powerful households from all over the country who sold grain at a high price in order to hoard food at the beginning. After seeing the price of grain hit the bottom, they had no hope of rising and had to sell grain at a low price. The price difference. In other words, these are all earned from the rich and powerful. The more they earn, the stronger the financial resources of these black-hearted powerful and rich. Think about it, Your Majesty. With so much money and food, either the common people must rely on these powerful households in order to survive, or the powerful households took the opportunity to annex the counties and counties. In either case, these powerful households have enough capital to abuse the local government , doesn’t this make people feel vigilant?”

"A rebellion requires troops, money and food. I think that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the vassals controlled the troops and money and food from all over the country. Once the court had something to do, they would have the opportunity to separate themselves, so that there was a chaos of the Five Dynasties; but now the local government has no money, no food, and no soldiers. It eliminates the possibility of local officials and separate regimes, but it opens the door for powerful families to make trouble."

Li Buqi obviously felt the emperor's ears prick up.Sure enough, Zhao Zhen stopped and asked, "How do you say it?"

Li Buqi said: "Three days ago, your majesty saw the case reported by Bao Ti. It would not have been just one day for the big households in Xijing to collude with the bandits in the Peach Blossom Mountain west of Luoyang. The conspiracy to raise the price of grain, instructing bandits to rob the grain carts and be seized by the police, will not be exposed. In fact, Bao Tiju still has a few such cases in his hands that have not been verified, and there are more cases with suspicion but no evidence. From this point of view, in fact, it is not an isolated case that the big households in the local area colluded with bandits, or even were bandits themselves. Now the local government has no money, no soldiers, and even does not renovate the city, and cannot defend against bandits. I don’t know if there is a government. Once there is a big event, there are bandits, and there are rich and powerful people who have money and food. It is not difficult to kill officials and rebel.”

Seeing that Zhao Zhen's face became solemn, Li Buqi began to pave the way for himself in a few years: "It is precisely because of this danger that I used disaster relief to beat those black-hearted powerful families and told them that His Majesty has the means to punish them. , let them know that they respect the imperial court. But this method is only a stopgap measure."

Zhao Zhen heard Li Buqi say that this time is an expedient measure, so he knew that Li Buqi must have something to say, so he asked, "Is there any solution once and for all?"

The ideas of the literati in the Song Dynasty were really divorced from reality. Whether it was the emperor, they always wanted to find a once-for-all and perfect solution to every problem. If they couldn't find it, they would rather do nothing.When Li Buqi promoted his policies, he had no choice but to label his methods once and for all: "I have a policy that can be done once and for all. I ask your majesty to change the method of strengthening the dry and weak branches, and implement the strategy of strengthening the dry and strong branches."

Zhao Zhen asked: "What are strong stems and strong branches?"

Li Buqi pointed to the crown above his head and said: "Your Majesty, look at this tree. When transplanting a tree, the branches of the tree should be cut off first, so as to prevent the branches and leaves from being blown by the wind and shake the trunk, so as to protect the trunk and roots from withering. But when the tree is planted Finally, the roots of the tree take root and the foundation is stable, but it is necessary to make its branches and leaves flourish. Only when the branches and leaves are flourishing can the trunk grow thick. If the branches wither, the trunk cannot grow tall and thick, and often even the trunk and roots also withered."

"At the beginning of the founding of the country, based on the lessons of the Five Dynasties, the Taizu set the policy of strong stems and weak branches, which is a wonderful way to prevent local separatism, just like protecting the trunk and roots of trees after transplanting. But now the Song Dynasty has been established for nearly a hundred years. On behalf of Jiaohua, Feng Da Song Zhengshuo has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, just like the roots of a tree have been firmly planted in the soil, and nothing can shake it. I think it is time to strengthen the authority of the prefectures and counties. I have been thinking about this for the past few days. In a few days, the minister submitted a letter on this matter."

"Oh, good." Zhao Zhen nodded.To be honest, he didn't have much sense of urgency to change the policy of "strong stems and weak branches".

That’s right, what Li Buqi said makes sense. The Fu’an Bank, which can spend three to five million guan at once, may rebel, so why can’t those wealthy and powerful households in the local area who can spend tens of 500 million guan rebel?How to solve this problem?The millions of money in Fu'an Bank are still under my own supervision, and the local tyrants dare to kill even the county magistrate.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but think of what Pang Ji said-"If there is another catastrophe in the future, there are unruly people like Fu'an Bank who control millions of coins and manipulate food. The government can't compete with it. how?"

So the emperor casually asked the question again.Li Buqi said with a relaxed smile: "There are so many local officials in the imperial court, what can happen? Could it be that His Majesty thinks that so many officials are living in vain? It's just that these officials are all dead, and the Police Investigation Bureau is always paying attention to these trends. The intention of the minister Li advocated the establishment of the Investigation Bureau in the Police Department is to immediately report to His Majesty if there is any trouble."

"Now that the Bureau of Investigation has started to operate, the Police Department has become more and more important. Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to choose a minister to be in charge of the Police Department."

The emperor was taken aback, and said puzzledly: "Both Buqi and Bao Qing are people whom I trust, it's good that you can promote the police department, and I have no intention of appointing others."

Li Buqi said: "I want to ask your majesty to resign from the police department and the military department, so please appoint someone else."

Zhao Zhen asked in surprise, "Why is that?"

Li Buqi said: "Now that the peace negotiation with the Liao Kingdom is about to be completed, there is no need for me to rush into the battle for the time being. I want to concentrate on running this military training school, and then study, but the two dispatches of the Police Department and the Military Supervision are busy. , so please resign."

Zhao Zhen never thought that Li Buqi would drop the pick, so naturally he refused.But Li Buqi insisted repeatedly and sincerely, Zhao Zhen had no choice but to agree in principle, but then asked: "The military supervisor is fine. You resigned from the police department. Who do you think I will let take care of it?" ?”

Li Buqi said: "This is a matter for His Majesty to decide, and it is not good for a minister to talk about it."

Zhao Zhen said generously: "It's okay, just talk about it. I really don't have a suitable candidate in my mind at the moment."

Li Buqi thought for a while and said, "I think Li Gongming is the most suitable."

When Zhao Zhen heard that Li Buqi recommended his cousin Li Zhang, he couldn't help nodding secretly.

Li Zhang is his cousin. Not only is he loyal but also low-key, and his ability is not bad. He will definitely get along with Bao Zheng.So far, Zhao Zhen has completely believed that Li Buqi resigned sincerely.

Now he remembered that Li Buqi gave up his official position to become an official of the Imperial Academy, and he didn't care about his official career at all, because the awkwardness in his heart that was provoked by the chief executive and the officials basically disappeared.

(End of this chapter)