White-robed Minister

Chapter 196-0194 [Leisure Time Before the Great Battle]

"Shen Xingzong (Shen Qi) has arrived in Chang'an."

Cai Kang told Xu Lai, "He sent an official document expressing his difficulties. He promised to transport 5 shi of grain, 10 bundles of hay, and 5 guan of cash (provided by the provincial authorities) before July. Another batch will be transported before October, but the exact amount is unknown."

"It's not bad," Xu Lai said, understanding Shen Qi's predicament.

Since last year, Shaanxi has been facing a severe shortage of funds and grain.

On one hand, there's the arms race with the Western Xia. On the other hand, there's the issue of supplies and provisions for the six southeastern routes; a significant amount was transferred to Shandong last year.

Disaster relief in Hebei.

Cai Kang then said, "His Majesty has allocated 500,000 strings of cash, which is the money from selling pearls from the Imperial Treasury, specifically to help you solve your urgent problem."

Xu Lai quickly added, "The Emperor's grace is boundless!"

The pearls in the inner treasury came from several sources, including the imperial collections of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, as well as confiscated property of officials, tributes from neighboring countries, and goods transported to the capital by the Maritime Trade Office.

Zhao Xu had no interest in this thing; whenever he was short of money, he would auction off the beads from the imperial treasury.

Last year, in order to purchase warhorses for Hebei and Shaanxi, Zhao Xu sold pearls worth over 1000 million strings of cash. There was still some money left, so he allocated 50 strings of cash to Xu Lai for military expenses.

Xu Lai could use this money to buy grain locally.

Whose grain should we buy?

The archers' newly harvested wheat in Qin Prefecture and Tongyuan Army territory!

Those archers don't have to pay taxes, so Xu Lai can't force them to pay; he has to pay the archers to buy grain.

Of course, there are also many households within Qin Prefecture, from which grain can be purchased.

"I'll leave the matter of procuring grain and fodder for Qin Prefecture and Fengxiang Prefecture to you, Lord Cai," Xu Lai said, rising and bowing.

Cai Kang smiled and nodded: "It's my duty."

Alas, the military generals only need to fight, while Xu Lai and Cai Kang have many other things to consider.

They were extremely worried about money and supplies.

After bidding farewell to Cai Kang, Xu Lai visited Gong Dingchen and collaborated with the Tea and Horse Bureau on the market exchange. The market exchange law later promoted by Wang Anshi was initially derived from the successful case of Qin Feng Road.

However, the business environment on Qin Feng Road is much simpler. The success of the Market Regulation Law here does not mean that it can be promoted nationwide.

In particular, some local officials, in order to curry favor with Wang Anshi and boost their own political achievements, even did this in impoverished towns and villages, forcing countless small merchants to go bankrupt.

In the end, it even became so that anyone wanting to do business had to first secure a loan from the government. The annual interest rate was 20%.

Not only did it fail to uphold the original intention of the reform, but even the operational procedures were completely distorted, turning it into a tool for the government to exploit merchants and amass wealth.

After leaving Gong Dingchen's residence, Xu Lai rode his horse home.

First, she held her son and played with him for a while, then played with Pianpian and Yu'er.

The son's nickname is Amang.

Miscanthus is everywhere, and it has a strong vitality.

The main point is to give them a humble name so they can be raised easily.

Wang Anshi's nickname, for example, was a humble name: Badger Boy.

Xu Lai's little admirer, Ouyang Bian, had a nickname that took a different turn: Monk.

Amang's real name is Xu Wei.

The Wei River flows through Qinzhou City, and Xu Lai's official residence was also located in the ancient Weizhai. At that time, he was still planning to capture Weiyuan.

All of these are related to the Wei River, so he simply named his son Xu Wei.

"Amang is getting fatter and fatter," Yu'er muttered. "He hasn't eaten anything else, he's just been drinking milk."

Pianpian laughed and said, "He can eat too much."

Pianpian's milk supply was insufficient, so after she finished feeding her colostrum, the responsibility of feeding her was mainly handed over to a wet nurse.

Armand has a really good appetite; his wrists are all knotted up, making him look like the Michelin Man.

Commonly known as: Big Fat Boy.

Yu'er took out a backgammon set and ran over to set it up on the board. The loser would then go and hold the child to watch, and the three of them took turns playing, having a great time.

Pianpian asked, "Does Sanlang know about the Ayun case?"

Xu Lai asked in surprise, "It's already spread to the streets of Qin City?"

"Yes," Pianpian said, "even our servants are talking about it, arguing about how to judge the case while they're working."

This case is actually an old case.

In Shandong, there was a young girl named Ayun who was forced into marriage by her uncle during her mother's mourning period. Ayun was already unwilling, and when she discovered that her husband was too ugly, she killed him with a knife at night.

The husband did not die, but he injured his finger.

Xu Zunchu, the prefect of Dengzhou, believed that it was improper for a woman to marry during her mother's mourning period, and that the marriage should be declared invalid according to the law. Therefore, A-Yun had only committed ordinary murder, not the unforgivable crime of "murdering her husband." Furthermore, because the murder was unsuccessful, she met the conditions for surrendering herself, and a general amnesty was granted, so her crime did not warrant the death penalty.

The Jingdong Criminal Division, however, argued that the marital relationship was established, constituting murder of the husband. Although the murder was unsuccessful, injury was caused, thus failing to meet the requirements for surrender. Murder of a husband is not covered by amnesty. According to the law, the sentence should be death.

What was originally a very ordinary murder case was reported to the central government for a ruling due to disagreements among local officials. As a result, it became embroiled in a political struggle!

Wang Anshi supported not imposing the death penalty.

Sima Guang supported the death penalty.

The reformists and conservatives took sides, thus beginning the Xining factional struggle.

Wang Anshi took the opportunity to demote his opponents and promote officials who supported his reforms.

The case ended in Wang Anshi's victory, and all future related cases must be judged in the same way.

This case involved far-reaching interests; even Sun Changling, the Imperial Censor, was demoted to the position of Vice Prefect of Qizhou because of it. It was clearly a political struggle.

The emperor himself made the judgment months ago, yet the debate continues. It has even reached Qin Prefecture, where Xu Lai's servants have begun discussing it.

When Xu Lai was serving as the judge in Yingtian Prefecture, he memorized the "Song Criminal Code" perfectly. He told Pianpian and Yu'er, "If we're only talking about the case, I'm on Prime Minister Wang's side."

"Why?" Yu'er asked.

Xu Lai explained in detail: "According to the 'Song Dynasty Criminal Code - Household and Marriage Law,' any woman who marries while her parents or husband are in mourning will be sentenced to three years of penal servitude and separated from her husband." Marriage during the mother's mourning period is not subject to public scrutiny or official investigation. However, if the government becomes aware of it, they will certainly declare the marriage invalid. Since the marriage is invalid, how can there be any attempted murder of the husband?

"So that's how it is." Pianpian suddenly realized.

Xu Lai continued, "Sima Guang and his ilk are nitpicking over the words, focusing on the phrase 'separately,' arguing that the marriage was illegal but valid, and that it was a de facto marriage before the government's forced divorce ruling. But in reality, this marriage was invalid from the very beginning."

The main problem is that the "Song Criminal Code" is not clear enough, which has led to repeated debates.

It's hard to say who started the factional infighting.

Wang Anshi wanted to establish his political authority by judging this case.

Meanwhile, Sima Guang and his ilk were the first to form cliques and stir up trouble, hoping to use the A-Yun case to attack Wang Anshi. Their intention was clear: what right did someone who couldn't even judge a case have to be a vice prime minister?

Wang Anshi was annoyed by them and reacted extremely strongly, so he also started to act recklessly. He simply used the A-Yun case to demote his political enemies and promote his cronies!

The conflict escalated step by step.

This is just like an argument. Two people who don't like each other exchange insults, and the language gets uglier and uglier. Gradually, it escalates into a fight, and then into a life-or-death struggle.

We've just entered the fighting phase; in two years, it'll be a life-or-death struggle.

Xu Lai was too lazy to get involved. He was just a minor figure now, and even if he participated, he would only be able to follow others and cheer them on. Only after he recovered the Hehuang region would he be qualified to establish his own faction.

Fu Bi was quite clever; as prime minister, he remained silent on the case, watching the two groups fight it out.

After another game of backgammon, Xu Lai "unfortunately" lost. He took the child to the wet nurse and returned to sit beside his wives and concubines playing chess.

Xu Lai seized the opportunity and said, "Yu'er, let's hire you a personal maid. My salary is enough now."

Yu'er stole a glance at Pianpian, shook her head and said, "No, it's fine like this."

Pianpian knew what they were thinking: "Hire one, I'll find a broker myself."

Xu Lai and Yu'er finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Throughout history, there have been relevant regulations regarding the practice of taking concubines.

The term used here refers to a formal concubine.

Take the Northern Song Dynasty as an example—

Given Xu Lai's current official rank, he can only take one concubine at most. Moreover, concubines must be of good birth; the government usually does not recognize concubines of low social status.

Officials were prohibited from taking women from the area where they served as concubines, in order to prevent rent-seeking.

Taking a concubine required the consent of the principal wife, and it was strictly forbidden for a concubine to become the principal wife. If discord arose between the wife and concubine, leading to family disputes, the official could be impeached. If the matter escalated too much, the official could even be dismissed from office.

Some time ago, Xu Lai even held a belated concubine-taking ceremony according to etiquette. He asked Yang Shu to be a witness, presented betrothal gifts, drew up a marriage contract, and reported it to the government office.

In this way, Yu'er became a concubine officially recognized by the government.

If Xu Lai makes great contributions in the future, and there is no other reward to be given, the emperor may grant him the honorary title of Yu'er.

This situation is rare, but there was a precedent in the Northern Song Dynasty. Tian, ​​a concubine of Shen Lun, a prime minister in the early Song Dynasty, was granted the title of Lady of Lu by the emperor.

Yu'er is about to have a personal maid, and she is quite grateful to Pianpian.

That night, she kept her bedroom door tightly shut, refusing to let Xu into the room, to show her respect for his legal wife.

Xu Lai naturally did his best to serve Pianpian well. When Pianpian woke up the next day, she was full of energy and in a very good mood. She immediately sent someone to help Yu'er find a maid.

Xu Lai stayed for another day before setting off back to Guwei Village, making the most of his time to connect with the village chiefs along the way.

He would occasionally dismount and inquire of the archers and farmers harvesting wheat, asking if they had been oppressed by officials and if this year's grain procurement policy had been arbitrarily implemented.

Last year, several civil officials acted improperly when purchasing grain from the people. Xu Lai used them as examples and severely punished them: they were exiled to the local area and assigned to work as tenant farmers for archers!

From then on, the administration of Tongyuan Army became increasingly clean and efficient.

At dawn, Xu Lai left Ningyuan Village, and Zhang Shouyue personally saw him off.

Xu Lai led his entourage westward on horseback, only to see a group of people ahead whose attire did not resemble that of locals.

"Are you here to do business?" Xu Lai asked as he caught up with them.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and a head popped out, then exclaimed with delight, "Xu San—Xu Anfu Envoy!"

Xu Lai recognized the other person and immediately laughed, "Haha, Ding Erlang is here too."

Before Ding Zhengchen could respond, Ding Xiaomei poked her head out, smiling brightly, and said, "Sanlang, do you remember me?"

"You are—" Xu Lai really couldn't be sure.

The last time I saw Ding Xiaomei, she was only twelve or thirteen years old, but now she is eighteen or nineteen.

As girls grow up, they change and become even more beautiful and charming.

Moreover, her beauty is very aggressive, making other women instinctively wary.

Ding Zhengchen said, "This is my younger sister; Governor Xu has met her before."

Xu Lai thought to himself: Why did you bring your sister along when you followed me all this way to open up the border? Could it be—damn, are you crazy? (Seeking monthly votes.)