Big Song Xiaohou Ye

Chapter 186 Impeaching Zhao Ji
On the second day, in the Palace of the Great Song Dynasty, in the Zichen Hall, it was early court time.

"Your Majesty, I want to impeach King Xiao Yuan." A minister stepped forward and said loudly.

Everyone secretly wondered who was so bold to impeach Xiao Yuan Wang. They saw that this man was about forty, thin, and his complexion was a little sallow. He seemed to be recovering from a long illness, but his big mouth was very eye-catching. He is a man who can speak well.Everyone saw that it was Fan Xi, an admonishing doctor. This person has always been quiet and endless, so it is not surprising that these words came out of his mouth.

Zhao Ji is the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture on a temporary basis. This position is equivalent to the mayor of the capital, so it is naturally in the early order at this time.As soon as Fan satirized opened his mouth, Zhao Ji shot a cold look at him, which was full of threatening meaning, but Fan satirized held his head high and didn't even look at him at all.

Zhao Zhen glanced at Zhao Ji meaningfully, and said, "Why did Doctor Fan impeach King Xiaoyuan?"

"Your Majesty, merchants in Kaifeng Mansion have gone on strike since yesterday, and many shops have already closed their doors! Even the busiest Imperial Street is much deserted today."

"Oh? Is there such a thing? Why are the merchants making trouble?" Zhao Zhen asked.

"Just because there are too many miscellaneous taxes and rents have risen, the merchants can no longer survive." Fan Xie said loudly.

Zhao Ji's face was livid, and he played tricks on another famous speaker, Deng Wenshi. Deng Wenshi always followed Zhao Ji's lead, so he hurriedly stood up and said, "Is such a petty matter worth taking to the court? Isn't it just a few merchants making troubles?" Is it? Let the Kaifeng Mansion investigate and deal with it, Mr. Fan must have made a big deal out of a molehill, right?"

Fan Xi was talking alone and felt that he had nowhere to focus, and suddenly he jumped out with such a target, he had a target to fire on.He pointed at Deng Wenshi angrily and reprimanded him: "Master Deng, you and I are both speech officials, how dare you ask the speech officials to classify things into big and small? If they are divided into big and small, then is there a standard for judging? If you are so random in characterization, Such a big thing happened, but you think it’s a trivial matter, have you lived on dogs for more than 40 years!”

Fan Satire's last sentence was not without viciousness, and only his big mouth could utter such words.

Deng Wenshi was stunned, obviously he didn't expect Fan Xie to call him a dog!It wasn't until the ministers around him snickered that he didn't realize that being so humiliated by his colleagues in public would make an adult feel uncomfortable.

"You...you Fan Dazui, did you eat shit in the morning? Your mouth is so stinky!" Deng Wenshi blushed with anger, and cursed angrily without giving in.

Zhao Zhen frowned, these two people ran against each other and attacked each other, how dignified it is for a dignified court official to scold the street like this!

"My lords, if you have something to say, isn't it rude to insult each other like this?" Kong Daofu, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, couldn't stand it anymore, and stood up to criticize.

"Hmph, some people are just elm lumps, and they talk like they're letting go..." Fan Xi was still grinning and bluffing. When he looked up and saw Zhao Zhen's displeased eyes, his voice was quiet, and he didn't say the last word after all. come out.

At this time, Deng Wenshi regretted why he forced himself to get ahead and got into such trouble, this Fan Xi is a fool, if he offended him today, he will inevitably be impeached by him in the future, alas!

"Right now, half of the shops in Tianshui Lane, Rendian Street, around Xiangguo Temple, and Yujie are closed, and the remaining half are due to skyrocketing prices. As far as Wei Chen knows, the original price of cloth was [-] Wen per piece, but now It’s five hundred cash! The price of rice used to be six hundred cash per shi, but now it’s a penny! How can the common people afford such a skyrocketing price, and if we don’t manage it, the common people will rise up!” Fan satirized and sprayed at Deng Wenshi. road.

"Where is the young governor of Kaifeng?" Zhao Zhen's face grew greener the more he heard it, because although Zhao Ji was the governor of Kaifeng, this governor was just a name, and it was the young governor Liang Jinghuan who actually handled government affairs.

Liang Jinghuan hurried out of the queue, and replied anxiously: "My minister is here."

"When something like this happened, why didn't you deal with it, or even conceal it?" Zhao Zhen was a little annoyed.

Liang Jinghuan knew it by himself. This matter has been aroused since yesterday afternoon. As the young governor of Kaifeng Mansion, how could he not know?But the order to increase the tax was issued by Zhao Ji, Zhao Ji is his immediate boss, and judging from Zhao Ji's usual style, he dare not go against him even if he has the guts to go against him!

Seeing Liang Jinghuan's hesitation and hesitation, Zhao Zhen knew that he already knew about it, and the reason why he didn't dare to say it was because he was frightened by Zhao Ji's influence.

"Your Majesty, I know about this matter." At this moment, Chen Yaozuo stood up.

Zhao Zhen nodded for him to elaborate.

"Ever since King Xiaoyuan came to serve as governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, he forcibly interfered with the taxation of Kaifeng Prefecture. The household department of the third department has approached him many times, but King Xiaoyuan still went his own way. Cui Yibai, the judge of the household department of the third department, can testify to this matter. .In the past, the tax rate was increased repeatedly. Because the increase was not large, merchants complained, but they were forced to accept it. But this time is different. As far as I know, King Xiaoyuan raised it by one-tenth this time. Second, many merchants don’t have enough money to pay taxes, so merchants have united to resist this tax increase.” Chen Yaozuo had done an investigation earlier, so he said it logically.

Finance in the Northern Song Dynasty was under the jurisdiction of the three divisions, namely: Yantie, the Ministry of Households, and Duzhi. This household department was not the one that registered the population, but the household department that was in charge of taxation.

Cui Yibai, the magistrate of the Ministry of Household Affairs, came out and said, "I did look for King Xiao Yuan many times before, but King Xiao Yuan never paid any attention to him."

Zhao Ji looked at the two of them coldly, trying to use this to bring down the king?Just rely on you?hehe……

"My minister also sent people to thoroughly investigate this matter, but it was done by King Xiao Yuan." This time the speaker was Shenzhizhengshi, the deputy prime minister - Lu Yijian.

Lu Yijian is more than 50 years old this year. Before he became the deputy prime minister, his political achievements were quite outstanding. However, after he was promoted to the deputy prime minister in the past few years, he suddenly died down. Zhao Ji.

As soon as Lu Yijian spoke, Zhao Ji became a little flustered. What he was afraid of was not that Lu was the deputy prime minister, but that he was puzzled. Lu Yijian belonged to Ding Wei, and Ding Wei and Chen Yaozuo had always been at odds. Why did Lu Yijian stand with Chen Yaozuo today? ?In addition to Fan Xi from Yushitai, the three forces are all pointing at him today!
Zhao Ji secretly caught a glimpse of many ministers who seemed to be dissatisfied with him, and suddenly realized that many industries in Yujie and Tianshui Lane are actually owned by the ministers in Beijing, and they are the real masters behind the scenes!Although the law stipulates that officials should not compete with the people for profit, none of the officials in Beijing has much property.

Zhao Ji was annoyed at how he had forgotten this!Isn't raising taxes just cutting their flesh?No wonder this group of people joined forces to impeach themselves today.Thinking of this, there was a trace of panic in his eyes, and he couldn't help turning his head to look at Ding Wei. Ding Wei was impeached because of his son Ding Qi, and today he remained silent as always.

Zhao Ji secretly rejoiced that as long as Ding Wei didn't speak, it would be fine. There are many Ding Wei's properties on Yujie. As long as he keeps silent, the officials will not be afraid even if they argue.

Ding Wei doesn't have the time to care about the small profits. Recently, because of his son Ding Qi's disobedience to the Holy Majesty, the officials at Yushitai have seized the opportunity, and the daily court meetings have almost become Ding Wei's personal affairs. Criticism meeting!Zhao Ji took over the flag today, and he wished that Zhao Ji could carry the flag higher, so to a certain extent he was grateful to Zhao Ji.

"Zhao Ji, the royal family gives you money every year. Among all the princes, your salary is the highest. You are not satisfied, but you still want to squeeze the people. What do you want?" Unanimous, but no matter what, this is beneficial to him, so take this opportunity to teach Zhao Ji a good lesson.

Zhao Ji looked up, and today the queen mother did not listen to the government behind the curtain.Although he is arrogant, he is not stupid. So many ministers joined forces to impeach him. As the saying goes, his arms cannot twist his thighs. , they will be useful in the future.

"Your Majesty's atonement, I know I was wrong, and I will return to the original tax after the court." Zhao Ji finally began to bow his head.

"Things have already happened, how can you just admit your mistakes." Fan Xi said with a big mouth.

"What else, the king has already admitted his mistake and promised to correct it." Zhao Ji said angrily, if the tiger doesn't show its power, you will treat me as a sick cat.

"Taxation is the most important matter related to a country's financial resources. King Xiao Yuan is so reckless, I feel that King Xiao Yuan is not suitable for the post of Governor of Kaifeng!" Fan Xie said loudly.

All the ministers were in an uproar, how dare you, Fan Dazui, dare to say anything, and dare to ask for the removal of King Xiao Yuan. Everyone knows that Empress Dowager Liu likes King Xiao Yuan very much, and there are even rumors that the Queen Mother prefers King Xiao Yuan to replace him. Zhao Zhen.The ministers impeached him today, it is really helpless, since Xiao Yuan Wang has promised to change, everyone is almost ready to accept it, you Fan Dazui is really serious, you actually want to smash Zhao Ji to the end!
Zhao Zhen had a headache for a while, this Fan Xi, I would like to dismiss Zhao Ji from his post as governor of Kaifeng, but the question is, will the Queen Mother agree?
This time, no one agreed with Fan Tiao anymore. Fan Dazuo glanced behind his head and no one responded. He couldn't help looking at Chen Yaozuo, but Chen Yaozuo ignored him. He then looked at Cui Yibai, the judge of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Cui Yibai pretended to have sand in his eyes, rubbing eyes...

Deng Wenshi looked at the helpless Fan Xi with a sneer, Fan Dazui, Fan Dazui, you not only have a big mouth, but also no brains!

"In the future, taxes in the capital cannot be increased arbitrarily, and no one is allowed to act rashly without the approval of the three chief envoys. Finance is the foundation of a country. Anyone who tampers with finance will dig the roots of the century-old foundation of the Great Song Dynasty!" Zhao Zhen He said sternly that he also wanted to take advantage of this matter to hit Zhao Ji severely, but Zhao Ji had no choice but to have the support of the queen mother, and he was powerless.

"Punish Xiaoyuan Wang's salary for one year." But Zhao Zhen was unwilling to let Zhao Ji get away with it, so he added another sentence at the end.

Zhao Ji glared at Zhao Zhen, he was not afraid of himself as the emperor, Zhao Zhen, you are so cruel, you directly confiscated my salary for one year!That's more than 1 taels of silver!
Zhao Zhen ignored him, and asked instead: "How are the merchants handling the trouble now?"

"Report to Your Majesty, Li Ce, Marquis of Yu Yu, who is in front of the palace, is being ordered to mediate." Chen Yaozuo said.

(End of this chapter)