Chapter 712 of the Main Text of the Chief Justice of the Northern Song Dynasty: Professional Governance of the Country Regarding the questions raised by Liu Renzan and others, this meeting did not give a specific answer.

In fact, it is assumed that the Imperial City Bureau will handle it on its own.

However, in the initial stage, Sima Guang and his colleagues still planned to use this case to impose restrictions on the Imperial City Administration, so they had to severely punish Liu Renzan and others. However, under Zhang Fei's lobbying, Sima Guang chose to look further ahead, which was to try his best to ensure that such things would not happen again.

Then as long as the emperor agrees to let the Imperial City Bureau connect with the public security, procuratorate and courts, whether Liu Renzan is punished is not that important.

The emperor and his ministers finally reached a consensus.

But in fact, this consensus was completely manipulated by someone behind the scenes, and that person was Zhang Fei.

Although Zhang Fei, the instigator, did not directly participate in this meeting, he was the planner behind the scenes. He still came to the palace today and was having a leisurely drink in the attic.

After the meeting, Zhao Xu went directly to the attic.

"My ministers are truly the pillars of the country. If I hadn't discussed this with you long ago, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed this time!"

Zhao Xu picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, feeling filled with emotion again.

...

...

Zhang Fei's heart trembled, "Your Majesty, what's the problem?"

Zhao Xu first waved his hands, then said with a bit of embarrassment: "I wanted to use this incident to fight with them, but ended up being defeated."

Although everyone was just acting, Zhao Xu actually tried his best, because he wanted to use this opportunity to exchange a few moves with these prime ministers. At least he had a backup plan, but in the end he found that he still couldn't hold on.

Sima Guang played the good guy, while Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo played the bad guys. He didn't even know how to respond.

It turned out that the little emperor had grown wings and wanted to fly to the sky! Zhang Fei suddenly realized it, and suddenly an idea came to his mind. He smiled and said, "Your Majesty, no one can argue with them. How many books have they read? How many books have we read? They can easily write classic articles. If you want to gain the upper hand, you have to find another way."

Zhao Xu asked curiously, "How can we find another way?"

"Two words: professional!" Zhang Fei replied.

"major?"

"good."

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "For example, the style of work of Sima Xueshi is very rigorous, but his suggestions on finance are usually approximate numbers, such as one million or one hundred thousand. But if Your Majesty can be precise to every penny, then Sima Xueshi will not be able to argue with Your Majesty no matter how eloquent he is.

For example, when it comes to building a canal, Sima Xueshi only sees that it will involve a lot of hard labor and damage the people's strength. But if Your Majesty can tell him exactly how many people will benefit from this canal, and calculate exactly how many acres of land will be irrigated and how many households will be taken care of, Sima Xueshi will be at a loss for words. "

Zhao Xu thought for a moment and said, "I still don't quite understand."

Zhang Fei added: "To put it simply, their benevolent government is mainly based on ideas, which are all empty. It is one thing to say and another to do. But if they don't do it, they can't deny these great principles, and then they will always be right.

Therefore, as long as Your Majesty can make the benevolent government concrete and make it real, they will be powerless to resist, and Your Majesty will be able to suppress their great principles. "

"Use 'do' to refute 'say'?" Zhao Xu said thoughtfully.

Zhang Fei said: "That's right."

Zhao Xu then asked: "How can this benevolent government be made concrete?"

“Professionals.”

Zhang Fei said: "Your Majesty should recruit more professional talents, so that those ministers can be well checked. For example, Sima Xueshi advocated recuperation and believed that this would benefit the people. But if Your Majesty asked Sima Xueshi how much the people's income would increase and how much the treasury's income would increase if the court adopted his policies, Sima Xueshi would definitely not be able to answer.

Then whoever calculates the final answer will win the debate.

How to calculate requires a large number of mathematical talents, and use them to calculate how much the wealth of the people and the country can be increased by adopting the policy of recuperation and rest, and how much the wealth of the people and the country can be increased by adopting the new policy of Wang Xue Shi.

This will not only weaken the rhetoric of Sima Xueshi and his men, but will also make it easier for Your Majesty to govern the country."

Zhao Xu was surprised and asked, "But can this be calculated?"

"Of course."

Zhang Fei said: "Let's say that corvée can affect the income of the people. Your Majesty only needs to find two hundred households, one hundred of which are in service and one hundred of which are not, and at the same time determine that the number of acres of their land and the fertility of their land are similar. See how much difference there is in the annual income of the one hundred households that serve and the one hundred households that do not serve. If there is a difference, then investigate and see what the specific reasons are that lead to the difference. This will also help the court to determine how to govern so as to satisfy the people's service while not affecting their lives.

Now it is the exemption law, but the principle is the same. These data can give the court a reference to see how much compensation to give to the people to make up for this part of the loss, so that there is no difference in income between serving and not serving. Based on this, it can also accurately calculate how much exemption tax should be collected, which is the most reasonable. "

After hearing these words, Zhao Xu suddenly became enlightened, but he was also very curious and asked, "What you said makes sense, but why didn't our ancestors think of this?"

“Because there’s no need.”

"What do you mean?"

"Take the Tang Dynasty for example. It was an equal-field system combined with a military system. They only needed to calculate the number of acres and households to come up with a relatively accurate number."

Zhang Fei said: "But this does not apply to our Song Dynasty. First of all, our Song Dynasty does not have the vast land of the Tang Dynasty!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu's expression suddenly became a little lonely. He subconsciously picked up the wine glass and took a sip in silence.

Zhang Fei saw this and said quickly, "Your Majesty, everything has two sides. It is precisely because our land is not as good as that of the Tang Dynasty that the court pays more attention to improving farmland irrigation technology. In other words, as long as we conquer the same territory in the future, the wealth of our Song Dynasty will definitely exceed that of the Tang Dynasty."

Zhao Xu smiled and said, "Don't comfort me. Acquiring territory is much more difficult than improving technology!"

Song Chao was obsessed with Xihe and Yanyun to the point of going crazy thinking about them.

Zhang Fei immediately said: "No, no, on the contrary, improving technology is much more difficult than acquiring territory."

Zhao Xu asked, "What do you mean?"

Zhang Fei said: "Assuming that due to technological improvement, the yield per acre can double, and the iron output can double, who in the world can defeat us? Wouldn't the territory be within our reach?

On the contrary, if you have a vast territory but backward technology, isn't that just for others?"

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "What you said does make some sense."

Zhang Fei added: "Secondly, the commercial tax in our Song Dynasty has exceeded the agricultural tax. This has never happened in the past dynasties. To govern a country with such a developed business, it is difficult to take care of all aspects based on Confucianism alone. This requires more complicated calculations.

Finally, the rise of commerce also changed people's way of life. When the Tang Dynasty was at its peak, Chang'an's commercial prosperity was not as good as that of my Tokyo Bianliang. "

Zhao Xu smiled and asked, "How do you know?"

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "There is a phenomenon that can illustrate this point. The people of Chang'an will not take the initiative to break down the walls and open shops directly on the street, but the people of Bianliang will do so because they can make money. This is caused by strong demand. The market is already full of people in Bianliang, which shows the prosperity of business. But this also makes the people's lifestyle more complicated, which also requires more professional governance methods.

This is why litigation flourished in the Song Dynasty. As people came into closer contact with each other, disputes naturally increased, and litigation flourished.

After hearing this, Zhao Xu felt very comfortable and his eyebrows began to rise. Although our territory and national defense are far inferior to those of the Tang Dynasty, we also have our own shining points.

Zhang Fei struck while the iron was hot and said, "But Sima Xueshi is still stuck in the Tang Dynasty's governance system. As long as Your Majesty moves faster, they will immediately feel that they are unable to cope with the situation."

Zhao Xu couldn't help but think about it seriously. He actually agreed with Zhang Fei's professionalism because he had tasted success as the Commissioner of Taxation. However, he had never thought about what kind of advantages would be brought to him by applying this professionalism in the power game.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

Benevolent government must be upheld.

However, it is impossible to defeat Sima Guang and others in terms of benevolent government, even if there were ten Zhao Xus.

But if we talk about benevolent governance at the data level, Sima Guang and others may not be the match.

While Zhao Xu was thinking, Zhang Fei quickly picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and then drank it all in one gulp. This made him feel really dry in the mouth.

It can be seen that eating out from three parties is by no means easy. He has to consider not only how to deal with this thorny issue, but also how to operate in order to meet the needs of the three parties at the same time.

For example, in this case.

Wang Anshi obtained the labor force needed for the new policy.

Sima Guang expanded judicial power and at the same time restricted the Imperial City Administration, indirectly restraining imperial power.

And Zhao Xu.!

In fact, there is an error here. Sima Guang, Fu Bi and others thought that Zhao Xu's exchange with them was simply not to hand over Liu Renzan and others.

They didn't pay much attention to what Zhao Xu said at the end, which was to reorganize the Taxation Bureau.

They thought it was just Zhao Xu's angry words.

It doesn't matter.

But in fact, this is not the case. In fact, this last sentence is Zhao Xu's condition for exchange.

Soon, they realized that something might be wrong.

This is not a simple internal reorganization, but a drastic reform of the Imperial City Bureau.

On the second day, Zhao Xu suddenly issued an order to split the Imperial City Department into two and set up a new department - the State Security Department.

The Imperial City Department will only protect the imperial city from now on and will really become a gatekeeper, while the State Security Department will be fully responsible for investigating treason and cases that threaten the country.

That's fine.

After all, no one expected Zhao Xu to completely abandon the Imperial City Administration, which was impossible.

The key point here is a very important personnel arrangement, that is, Zhao Xu transferred Li He, the head of the Capital Taxation Bureau, to the State Security Bureau as the director.

What the hell!

The ministers and dignitaries were instantly defeated.

Just thinking about that expressionless face that refuses to listen to anything makes me feel creepy!

The meaning of this arrangement is very clear, which is to turn the Department of State Security into the Department of Taxation.

The department that the powerful and wealthy are most wary of at the moment is the Commissioner of Taxation. The autumn tax is just around the corner, and this year is different. They will directly collect the total tax, not just the exemption tax. The tax money of these powerful and wealthy will increase significantly. Whether the treasury can generate revenue depends on this year. They are still racking their brains over how to deal with the Commissioner of Taxation.

As a result, there is another State Security Department with the same structure?

It's not just the money that's at stake, your life is also threatened, and you may not be able to speak in the future.

They even blamed Sima Guang and others, saying, "Why are you making so much trouble? It's really not worth it!"

Sima Guang and his colleagues also responded quickly and immediately announced that they would divide the "Song Dynasty Criminal Code" into four parts: "National Security Law", "Criminal Law", "Civil Law" and "Military Law".

Not only that, but two special imperial courts must be set up to connect with the National Security Law and the Military Law.

You are the only one who can do mitosis. I can do it too. I can even divide into four.

This response left the ministers somewhat confused.

In other words, the National Security Bureau, like the police station, only has the power of investigation but not the power of trial?

It seems to be quite beneficial to them.

Han Mansion.

"What a rare guest!"

Han Qi walked into the hall with a cane in one hand and the old servant's help. When he saw Fu Bi was about to stand up, he quickly waved his hand and said, "You'd better not move your legs as much as possible!"

Fu Bi glanced at him and thought, you are already like this, and you still have the nerve to talk about me.

After sitting down, Han Qi said, "What wind blew you, Fu Yanguo, here today?"

He couldn't even remember how long it had been since Fu Bi came to visit his home.

Fu Bi said: "I came to visit you today mainly for the National Security Law."

Han Qi looked at him with a hint of doubt.

Fu Bi asked again: "You have heard about this, too, right?"

Han Qi nodded.

Fu Bi added: "We must be cautious about this law. Although we are only going to include the relevant laws in the Song Dynasty Criminal Code, I am afraid that something will be missed or added, so I want to ask for your advice."

This law mainly involves imperial power, and full consideration must be given to imperial power. However, based on his experience in this area, Fu Bi knew very well that Han Qi was better than himself.

Han Qi looked at Fu Bi suspiciously, "Yan Guo, you are not trying to drag me into this?"

Fu Bi frowned and said unhappily, "Am I, Fu Bi, such a person?"

Han Qi said: "I didn't know before, but now."

Fu Bi asked, "Have I changed now?"

Han Qi said: "Your methods are much more sophisticated now than before."

"means?"

Fu Bi was stunned for a moment, "You mean to persuade the government to enact the "National Security Law"?"

Han Qi frowned slightly, "Why? Could it be that Sima Junshi came up with the idea? That's unlikely."

Fu Bi asked, "What are you talking about?"

Han Qi said: "What you are doing is making the court officials more dependent on the public security, procuratorate and courts, aren't you?"

"Rely on the public security, procuratorate and courts?" Fu Bi said.

Han Qi said, "Now the government has ordered the establishment of the Social Security Department, which is more worrying than the Imperial City Department. However, you have also established the Social Security Law and ordered the establishment of the Imperial Court to specifically hear such cases. In this way, who would dare to try every means to target the public security, procuratorate and court? If I am sued by the Social Security Department in the Imperial Court, it will not be a matter of paying more taxes."

In fact, regarding such cases, the proportion of officials involved is much higher than that of ordinary people, but in most cases, they do not really intend to rebel.

From this point of view, it is actually more beneficial to the ministers for the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs to connect with the State Security Bureau, because the trial system of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs is less likely to lead to wrongful convictions.

Fu Bi stroked his beard and said, "Yes! The public security, procuratorate and courts are the biggest winners."

Han Qi asked: "Isn't this what you planned?"

Fu Bi shook his head and said truthfully: "We just hope that the Imperial City Bureau can be restrained and not be allowed to arrest people indiscriminately."

Han Qi asked again: "Whose idea was it to pass the National Security Law?"

Fu Bi opened his eyes and a figure suddenly flashed through his mind.

Han Qi frowned and asked, "Zhang San?"

Fu Bi nodded.

The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are so busy here, and Wang Anshi over there is not willing to be left out either. I am the protagonist!

The Regulations Office of the Two Prefectures immediately announced that it would carry out reforms targeting the garrison troops.

As soon as this news came out, it immediately attracted national attention.

But the law of state only concerns the emperor, and others are just there to watch the fun.

But the transformation of these soldiers is closely related to the people!

Establish regulations offices in the two prefectures.

"Zi Gu, I was sorry to you last time. I invited you here this time to make it up to you."

Wang Anshi spoke to Zeng Gong very enthusiastically.

Zeng Gong felt a little panicked, "What's the matter first?"

Wang Anshi said, "I intend to let you concurrently serve as the Minister of Works."

Zeng Gong asked in surprise: "Minister of Works?"

"good."

Wang Anshi said, "I want to reform the military. We need to set up several departments, each responsible for a specific matter, such as building bridges and roads, transporting grain, or building buildings. Most of these new departments will be assigned to the Ministry of Works."

Zeng Gong wondered: "But the Ministry of Works has no authority."

Wang Anshi said: "It didn't exist before, but it exists now, and it will become a department with considerable power."

Zeng Gong couldn't help but ask curiously: "Why?"

If we set up the Ministry of Industry, wouldn't we be able to return to the three provinces and six ministries?

This is no small matter!

Wang Anshi was just about to answer when Chen Shengzhi suddenly came.

"Zi Gu is here too."

"Privy Councillor."

Zeng Gong bowed.

The three of them exchanged greetings, and Chen Shengzhi said to Wang Anshi, "Jiefu, are you being too hasty about the reform of the wing barracks?"

Wang Anshi asked, "What do you mean?"

Chen Shengzhi said: "Many people in the three yamen are dissatisfied with this."

Wang Anshi frowned, "They are dissatisfied because they often call on soldiers to do private work for them. What's worse, they even use soldiers to work in their shops."

Chen Shengzhi said: "So you should know how many people this will offend. In fact, you can reform it, but you don't need to separate the Xiangbing Camp from the Three Yamen!"

Wang Anshi said: "I did this because of this. The military discipline of the wing barracks has long been lax. If I don't separate the entire wing barracks, then unless we reform the three yamen, it will be almost useless."

Just like his previous plan, that is, to start anew, the conflicts of interest within the three yamen are too complicated and more corrupt than any other government office. As long as they exist within this system, any changes will be futile.

Therefore, he insisted on transforming the barracks into an administrative department.

Chen Shengzhi asked: "If you draw it out, won't this problem arise?"

Wang Anshi said, "Look at the Royal Police, most of them are from the Imperial Guards. What they are like in the military camp is what they are like in the police station. Isn't it obvious whose problem this is?"

Chen Shengzhi said: "That's because the salaries at the police station are sufficient."

Wang Anshi said: "Do you think that even if the reforms are carried out in the three yamen, the salaries can be fully paid to the soldiers? In addition, it is not just a question of salary, but also a question of discipline.

The officials in the three yamen are almost all powerful people, and except for the Cao family, the police station is full of ordinary officials. Who dares not to abide by the rules? "

Chen Shengzhi asked again: "Then which government office do you plan to put the Xiangbing Camp under?"

"Ministry of Industry!"

"Is it really in the Ministry of Industry?"

Chen Shengzhi said in surprise.

Zeng Gong smiled bitterly and said, "I was also curious about this just now."

Wang Anshi said: "The Ministry of Works is currently just an empty shell, which is very suitable for my reform plan. I also plan to let Zi Gu concurrently serve as the Minister of Works to take charge of this matter. It just so happens that Kaifeng Prefecture has lost its judicial power, which makes things much easier than before."

Chen Shengzhi asked: "Did the government agree?"

Wang Anshi nodded.

Chen Shengzhi and Zeng Gong looked at each other tacitly.

Zeng Gong suddenly said: "But the Xiangbing system is based on our dynasty's military system. If it is separated, there will be a lot of changes to be made!"

Wang Anshi said: "I have already thought about this. The main thing to change is the entry and exit. After the wing barracks are incorporated into the Ministry of Works, a strict recruitment system will be established, instead of recruiting people randomly as before.

In addition, the Ministry of Works is mainly responsible for unusual projects and river maintenance. As for those major projects that are not so urgent, they will be kept aside for the time being. If a natural disaster occurs, these major projects will be activated. At that time, the court will directly allocate money to recruit disaster victims to work and help them overcome difficulties, while completing these major projects at the same time. "

Chen Shengzhi said: "But this will cost a lot of money!"

Wang Anshi said, "I sent someone to do the math. If we recruit them into the garrison, it will be a burden for decades. But if we build a large-scale project, it will only take a year at most. When the disaster is over, they will go back home to farm. This is much less than the cost of recruiting them into the garrison."

Zeng Gong asked: "But where do the local government get so much money?"

Wang Anshi said: "The Director of the Ministry of Revenue will be in charge of this matter."

Now that the Ministry of Revenue has become the financial hub of the new policy, if the Ministry of Industry is revitalized, Wang Anshi will have one more industrial department at his disposal. Of course, this is due to the birth of the Enterprise Law and the last hearing, which made Wang Anshi pay more attention to the Farmland and Water Conservancy Law.

With finance in the left hand and industry in the right hand, who can be its enemy then?

While Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were making frequent moves, Zhang Fei, the instigator, seemed to have disappeared and returned to his ordinary work in the procuratorate, yawning and drinking tea.

"ah!"

Zhang Fei stretched his body and said to Zhou Zheng who was working hard, "Xiao Zhou, it's almost time. You can go home now."

Zhou Zheng raised his head and said, "I still have some things to do."

"There's not so much to do."

Zhang Fei said: "Take a good rest recently. We will start collecting taxes soon, and you will be busy then."

"yes."

After giving some instructions, Zhang Fei packed up his things and left the procuratorate. When he came to the door, he suddenly saw Long Wu driving a carriage towards him. He was stunned. He tried not to ride in a carriage on such a hot day. But he immediately reacted and got on the carriage. As expected, Li Bao was sitting inside.

"What's up?"

"The first thing is about the Department of State Security." Li Bao asked, "Does the Department of State Security share the same set of intelligence personnel as the Department of Taxation?"

Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "Do you think this is possible?"

Li Bao said, "I've also been thinking about this. The people in the tax bureau all make a living on bonuses, and they won't care about things like treason. In other words, do we have to recruit another group of people?"

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "But all the spies on the border will be assigned to the Department of State Security. As for the domestic situation, we will select a group of backbones from the Taxation Department, and then select a group of people from the Imperial Guards, and let them infiltrate the grain transport, the transportation team of the charity foundation, the police station, and other government offices or private businesses with a wider range of activities.

Of course, you can also share information with the tax department, but it is best for you to be responsible and not allow the two sides to communicate directly. This way, the two sides can supervise each other. "

Li Bao nodded, and suddenly seemed to remember something, and said: "Also, Dagou wrote to me recently."

Zhang Fei asked, "What's the matter?"

Li Bao said: "The banknote merchants and salt merchants over there have become very crazy, and the price of salt is also rising."

Zhang Fei asked, "Did they exchange grain for salt?"

Li Bao nodded and said, "Yes. These grains are just enough for Xihe to get through this most difficult period. But the Transportation Bureau really doesn't have much salt, only enough to pay the interest. If the salt debt matures and they all exchange it for salt, then everything will be ruined."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "No, they want to sell it at a high price. If they can't sell it, and the government can pay the full interest, they will definitely choose to postpone it.

Everything is going according to plan, and we have them beat with this empty city tactic."