Several ministers took the lead in apologizing with a smile, and then the Prime Minister Zhang Jun stepped out from the crowd, bowed and said: "Your Majesty has always admired Wang Shuwang (Wang Anshi), but you don't know that Wang Shuwang's utilitarianism is also based on morality and reason. How can morality and utilitarianism go against each other?"

Zhao Jiu nodded slightly, and all the ministers nodded as well. Even Li Guang did not react to this statement. However, among the people who were smiling apologetically below, many of them were already alert.

"I asked you all to come here today because it's a rare grand ceremony. Since everyone is gathered together, why not take this opportunity to explain two things?" Zhao Jiu waited for the audience to gradually quiet down before speaking. "The first thing is to set up the public cabinet; the second thing is to take advantage of the public cabinet and the secret cabinet to take this opportunity to talk about the major policies of the court in the next few years... Prime Minister Lu."

Lu Haowen was obviously well prepared. He stepped out from the crowd and gave a brief talk on the establishment of a public cabinet which had been discussed long ago.

The atmosphere gradually calmed down as the uncle and nephew of Duke Yansheng, Han Xiaozhou, the head of the Meihua Han family, the two fathers-in-law, the emperor's uncle Zhao who had always been in poor health, the great scholar Hu Anguo, the 19 masters who were selected this time, some unexpected but wealthy merchants who had actually formed close in-laws with the Zhao family in the past hundred years and were nominally no longer merchants, and former officials who lived in retirement at home such as Wang Shuzhan, came forward one by one to express their gratitude.

Because no matter how you look at it or listen to it, it feels like a favor bestowed after a grand sacrifice in the past. It's nothing more than this willful official throwing away all the previous things and changing the way of playing in order to save trouble... And besides, many people here have paid for it, so it's justified.

Of course, those wealthy merchants who were not businessmen in name still aroused everyone's dissatisfaction, except for one of the two fathers-in-law of the emperor, Wu Guozhang, and the imperial concubine Wu. Because of their backgrounds, it was difficult for everyone to say much... In fact, wasn't there the example of Wang Lun?

Therefore, after the bestowal, some people were indifferent and calm, some were obviously disappointed, and some seemed particularly excited... However, after Lu Gongxiang announced that he would serve as the chief of the Gongge, and then the Gongge meetings went directly to the emperor and the capital, the atmosphere still reached a predetermined climax.

After all, there is still a little political status and theoretically existing political power... For many people who have never been exposed to political power before, and for those who desire political power to a certain extent, how can they not be happy?

Thus, this first incident ended happily with the bureaucrats watching coldly and the officers being indifferent.

Then, the second thing is... talking about major policies.

"In the next few years, what should we do to ensure that the Northern Expedition can be advanced within a few years?" Zhao Guanjia flipped through his notes and waved his hand. "Everyone present today can speak freely!"

There was silence below… Having said that, the ministers, chancellors, and vice ministers were all here. If they didn't say anything about the major policies, would Duke Yansheng be allowed to say it?

"Your Majesty!" As expected, it was the Prime Minister Zhao Ding who stepped out after a moment's hesitation. "The Northern Expedition is certain, but if we want to mobilize troops, we still need to govern the country. If we talk about the basics of governing the country, we can either follow the root or investigate the harm... Following the root means starting from the governance itself, looking at what can be done in terms of personnel, finance, laws, sacred learning, engineering, and military preparations; investigating the harm means starting from the problems in front of us and seeing how to solve them."

"Please explain it in detail, sir." Zhao Jiu blurted out.

At this time, many members of the cabinet below were already secretly complaining in their hearts, thinking that they were here to serve as a foil today... What else? Based on this answer, if it is said that the government and the prime ministers did not communicate well, that would be nonsense!

Of course, everything has to be communicated between the government and the prime minister.

As for the White Horse Shaoxing incident in the past, it is said that Emperor Zhao had reached an agreement in advance with the prime ministers and the Chief Censor.

"Personnel, in fact, the government is promoting the matching of name and reality, which is an excellent measure. It can be said to have swept away the trend of various official positions being mixed since the Five Dynasties, and it has also improved efficiency accordingly." Zhao Ding was relatively calm. Rather than discussing the problem, it was more like reporting on the work of Emperor Zhao and several ministers. "Laws, the court is now formulating a new "Imperial Song Criminal Code", which focuses on pardoning people and comforting them..."

"Wait a minute." Zhao Jiu seemed to be thinking about something. "What do you think of the matter I mentioned to you a few days ago?"

"Reporting to the emperor." Zhao Ding said calmly. "The ministers and the officials discussed it in front of the emperor first, and then submitted it to the secret cabinet for public discussion, and then submitted it to the Ministry of Justice to formulate detailed rules. It has been written and is waiting for the emperor to review... But in any case, as the emperor proposed, the lowly slaves will be abolished and replaced with hired maids; the Zhenzong reform will also be abolished, and the criminal system between the master and the hired maids will be punished as good families; as for the matter of pawning wives, we also think that this is against human ethics, but such things are not easy to cut off, and we have set a three-year deadline, starting from the New Year's Day three years later, the pawning of wives will no longer be allowed; as for the release of some official prostitutes, the emperor has issued an order in the first half of the month, and special matters will be handled specially, so there is no need to say more."

Zhao Jiu nodded slowly.

In fact, these are the many basic aspects, or the most direct incidents, triggered by the prostitute incident that day... The conclusion of Yang Yizhong's investigation is very clear. It is meaningless to simply discuss prostitutes. The key is personal liberation and preventing economic relations from endangering the basic human rights of the grassroots people.

You should know that when the Song Dynasty was founded, a major progress was to replace the lowly slaves of the previous Tang Dynasty with hired slaves. The so-called lowly slaves in the Tang Dynasty were like cattle and horses to their masters, while hired slaves were good families who came to work temporarily for their masters. The two parties had an economic employment relationship and did not involve basic personal belonging.

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