What situation did Zhao Huan want?

The lower-ranking officials dared to criticize the prime minister!

Of course, despite the criticism, Zhao Huan wouldn't easily do anything to the prime minister.

The current prime ministers were all promoted by Zhao Huan. He couldn't treat them like he treated Li Bangyan and Cai Jing. Otherwise, who would be willing to work sincerely with him?

The emperor encouraged his subordinates to criticize the prime minister, and he would back them up, all in an attempt to dampen the prime minister's arrogance.

Hu Yu forced a smile and said, "Your Majesty, the problem lies in the fact that some officials collude with wealthy merchants. In the matter of buying and selling land, officials and merchants have absolute control and drive down land prices. This is a disguised form of exploitation of the people!"

Zhao Huan asked, "A physician seeks the root of the disease. Why do you think this happened?"

Hu Yu continued, forcing himself to speak, "I dare to say that the reason for this incident is that the court was not strict in its supervision and made an improper choice of personnel!"

His words were practically an insult directed at the Grand Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor.

Lax supervision and improper personnel management.

What I mean is that when you, Tang Ke, were formulating the plan, you should have considered what to do if problems arose.

The problem lies in the fact that the State Council failed to properly assess officials when appointing them, resulting in the emergence of a prefect like Sun Liangquan. The State Council's Ministry of Personnel was negligent, and its leader, Xu Churen, also bears responsibility!

"Minister Xu, Minister Tang, do you think Hu Yu's words make any sense?"

Holy crap! Emperor, you sent him to confront us, do you think we can say he's wrong?!

We can only stand here obediently and let someone of a lower rank than ourselves talk back to us!

Moreover, you would never dare to retaliate afterward. With you backing me up, if anything happens to this Prefect Hu Yu, you will definitely suspect that it was the two of us who were trying to get him!

With Liu Yanzong's shameless methods, we'd be completely overwhelmed.

Adhering to the principle of "better to avoid trouble than to cause trouble," Xu Churen and Tang Ke both agreed with Hu Yu's words.

Tang Ke said, "Hu Sixian is right. It was my oversight. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

That's what they said, but no one present thought Hu Yu's claim of "misusing people" made sense.

How can we determine if we are doing a good job in employing people?

Both sides have their own reasons, so it's best not to argue.

In short, Sun Liangquan, kneeling here, was wholeheartedly implementing the emperor's new policies.

At this critical juncture, there seems to be no problem at all. If speeding up the new policies is considered a problem, then what about other officials? Won't they slow down?

Zhao Huan did not express his agreement with Hu Yu's statement. He simply said, "Get up, everyone. Sun Liangquan, you get up too."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Sun Liangquan was covered in sweat.

Zhao Huan said, "Liu Yanzong, you must investigate this carefully. There are many things in the new policies that are done in cooperation between the court and merchants. The court uses its great resources to support merchants, but it must not use this as an excuse to harm the people at will!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"All of you may leave. I still want to eat hot pot."

The ministers said, "We take our leave."

The emperor did not give a direct verdict, but in fact he had already given one, he just didn't say it.

As seasoned and shrewd officials, how could Xu Churen and Tang Ke not know what the emperor was thinking?

Upon returning to the Hall of State Affairs, Xu Churen instructed the Ministry of Personnel to draft a document promoting Sun Liangquan, praising his effective implementation of the new policies.

However, the Imperial City Guard personally escorted Sun Liangquan back to Mingzhou, and on the way, they found a secluded place and hanged him.

However, it was publicly announced that Sun Liangquan died of illness on his way back to Mingzhou.

The emperor was not particularly saddened by the loss of a talented person under the new policies. In court, he acted as if he wished it were him who had died of illness.

New officials quickly took office, and the controversy surrounding the land sale in Minnesota was swiftly suppressed.

Furthermore, it was publicly announced that a wealthy merchant named Zhang Yan from Mingzhou colluded with the county magistrate to deliberately suppress prices.

The county magistrate was dismissed from his post and taken to the capital for questioning.

Thus, the progress of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields in Mingzhou remained unchanged, only the intensity was temporarily slowed down.

The local soldiers of Mingzhou began to go deep into the mountains to try to win over the locals.

This matter is not over yet, because Zhao Huan's problem of 120 million has not been resolved.

If overseas silk can indeed bring Zhao Huan such income within three years, he will dare to greatly expand the firearms battalion and cavalry within three years.

At that time, he will personally lead an expedition against Western Xia, destroy the Western Xia kingdom in one battle, and bring Western Xia back into the embrace of the Song Dynasty!

So, let's get back to the question of 120 million.

The emperor did not make any public statement regarding the Mingzhou case, but his actions had already shown Tang Ke: don't think about sacrificing agriculture to support your silk industry, or I will make you bleed.

However, the silk must be produced for me according to the schedule.

Before the total amount of grain increases, Tang Ke will not be able to move the existing farmland on a large scale.

The imperial court could not possibly introduce a policy to buy silk at high prices; that would be digging its own grave. If such a policy were implemented, people would see that silk production was more profitable than farming, and they would all raise silkworms, leading to a decrease in the total amount of grain and an inevitable rise in grain prices.

If grain prices rise, the emperor will have people executed.

Therefore, there is only one solution: invest a large amount of manpower and resources to reclaim wasteland, and have the imperial court organize a large-scale team to professionally cultivate silkworms.

Increase the production of silkworm silk first, and once the food crisis is alleviated by the increase in grain production, release these people and let them take charge of contracting silkworm silk production themselves.

That is, to gradually change from public ownership to private ownership, this not only solved the immediate crisis, but also laid a good foundation for the future.

When Tang Ke proposed this plan to Zhao Huan, Zhao Huan was shocked by the intelligence of the Song Dynasty's prime ministers.

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