Li Zi, the head of the Privy Council, bowed his head, a bitter smile on his face. Then, trembling with age, he stepped out of the line and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I am old and frail. I can no longer serve the country. I beg to retire."

"Mr. Zhongxun!"

Zhao Zhen frowned and looked at him, then turned to ask Cheng Lin, the Third Secretary, "Is this impossible?"

Cheng Lin shook his head and said, "After the implementation of the cash payment law, the court's expenses may be..."

"this......"

Zhao Zhen rubbed his temples, then waved his hands and said, "Mr. Zhongxun is not even sixty yet. It's time to serve the country and the people. How can he abandon the country now? No!"

"minister......"

"Okay, let's put this matter aside for now. Let me think about it carefully."

"yes."

Li Zi retreated sadly.

Zhao Zhen couldn't help feeling a little depressed, but he forced himself to cheer up and continue to handle government affairs.

Soon all the government affairs accumulated yesterday were completed. In the morning, all the officials dispersed and returned to their respective offices to work.

Originally, Lu Yijian and the other three prime ministers and three councilors should have returned to their respective offices, but now they all followed Zhao Zhen away.

The ministers have all gotten used to it. The emperor and several prime ministers have been acting mysterious lately, staying in the palace every day and not coming out. Those close to him have gone to ask them, but they can't get to the bottom of it, which is very confusing.

After the court was dismissed, Zhao Zhen did not go directly to the back garden, but held a meeting with several prime ministers in the back hall of Chuigong Hall.

"The court's annual expenditure is extremely high. In addition to the three redundant measures, border defense expenses are also excessive. In addition, Zhao Yuanhao is rampant and repeatedly stirs up border troubles. The border troops cannot be without food."

Zhao Zhen sat on the Grand Master's chair in the rear hall, looking at the three prime ministers and other important officials below and said, "However, the inflated prices of the exchange system are becoming increasingly high. Merchants bringing grain to the border counties, counting tea, rhinoceros and elephants, and money, are calculated as three yuan for the real and fake Sanyou. They pay 14 coins and receive 100 coins from the three departments, more than six or seven times as much. The sixteen prefectures along the Hebei border, from the ninth year of Tiansheng to the end of the second year of Jingyou, spent a total of more than 5.68 million strings of cash on grain and fodder in the five years."

Lu Yijian and others below had serious expressions on their faces.

The annual military expenditure of the Song Dynasty was as high as 40 to 50 million strings of cash, the bulk of which was occupied by the local garrison troops, imperial troops and rural troops, while the expenditure of the border troops was only more than 10 million strings of cash.

Because the Song Dynasty did not curb land annexation, a large number of people lost their land and became refugees, and rebels were like fish crossing the river.

In order to appease the rebels, the imperial court had no choice but to recruit and support them.

It is not just about supporting these refugees. The number of registered troops in the army has already exceeded 1.2 million, including 800,000 imperial guards and more than 400,000 garrison troops.

However, there were countless generals who were drawing salaries without working. The imperial court not only had to support those refugees, but also those powerful officials who were drawing salaries without working.

This resulted in unreasonably high military expenditures.

In order to solve the problem of military expenditure, the Song Dynasty court had been looking for ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and the sitting tea method was one of them.

In the first year of Tiansheng, the court adopted Li Zi's suggestion and used the cash-on-the-counter method to deal with the problem of false valuation.

After only one year of implementation of the new law, the revenue from the monopoly of goods in the capital increased by more than 1.04 million strings of cash, the horse fodder in the border areas increased by 11.69 million dan, and the military rations increased by more than 2.13 million dan.

However, expenditures on tea, incense and southeastern silk money decreased by 1.71 million silk coins. The total increase in income and reduction in expenditure amounted to more than 6.5 million silk coins.

It can be said that this is a good idea that benefits both the country and the people.

Unfortunately, because it harmed the interests of tea merchants and a large number of corrupt officials, it caused too much opposition and eventually had to be cancelled.

Now that war is about to break out on the northwest border, the court is afraid that it can no longer bear the expenses and is preparing to restart the tea law.

But restarting the Tea Law meant that there would be countless voices of opposition from both the government and the public. Even Zhao Zhen had to weigh the pressure from the big tea merchants, which made him very troubled.

Cai Qi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, the cash payment method is indeed a good solution in the long run, but the court also has its own difficulties. This method will empty the national treasury in an instant, and there are also constant objections from the three courts."

Zhao Zhen sighed, "Alas, is this all that can be done? Zhao Yuanhao's rebellion is inevitable, and war is about to break out in the northwest. With the border troops being depleted like this, how can the national treasury even sustain itself?"

"This tea law is also due to the harm of the three redundancies. The treasury is empty. It is not a sudden thing, but a combination of various things."

Wang Zeng said, "The Song Dynasty is like a seriously ill patient. The disease comes like a mountain falling, and goes away like a thread being pulled out. It is impossible to cure it with a drastic medicine. We can only take it step by step."

"Your Majesty, if you are unsure about something, ask Zhao Jun?"

Yan Shu put forward his opinion.

"Zhao Jun?"

Zhao Zhen teased, "What good ideas can he have?"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask."

Lu Yijian also agreed.

"Okay then."

Zhao Zhen stood up and said, "Let's go to the back garden."

Everyone went to the back garden.

At this time, Zhao Jun had already finished the first class for the students.

They didn't teach serious subjects like Chinese and mathematics, but they did teach a lot of science and popular science.

But this is also something Zhao Jun is happy to see.

Because cultivating students' scientific historical perspective helps them understand mathematics, physics and chemistry.

The most important thing for students in mountain villages is to pass the exams. If you can't make them yearn for the vast world outside, then rote learning will not be very effective.

When Zhao Zhen and his men arrived, Fan Zhongyan had already taken everyone away.

The children could not go home during this period and could only stay in the back garden. Before Zhao Jun's eyes recovered, they came to class every day. No matter what Zhao Jun taught, they would not suffer any loss.

"Teacher Zhao, this class is very well taught."

After Yan Shu entered, he began by complimenting her: "The parents all praised you highly. Although they didn't understand what you were saying, they all thought you spoke very well."

Don’t understand what you are saying?

Zhao Jun didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he said, "As long as the parents are satisfied, I'm glad. My eyes haven't recovered yet, so it's hard for me to teach the main lessons. I'll give the children two or three knowledge classes every day. I feel like the weather seems to have improved a lot recently. Can I go out for a walk?"

Yan Shu turned around and looked at Zhao Zhen, who nodded. A few days ago, when it rained every day, he could find an excuse to prevent Zhao Jun from going out. But the weather has been sunny in recent days, so it would definitely not be a good idea to find another excuse.

After getting Zhao Zhen's approval, Yan Shu said, "Okay, let's eat something first, and then I'll take you for a walk in the village."

"That's great, thank you Uncle Lari."

Zhao Jun was very happy, and then he said, "By the way, I haven't told any jokes today. Does Uncle Lari want to hear any?"

"listen."

Yan Shu said.

"After the Battle of Gaoliang River, a man in Bianjing shouted, 'Zhao Guangyi is a fool!'" He was soon tried by the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Kaifeng Prefecture, and sentenced to twenty-two years in prison: two for insulting the current emperor and twenty for leaking the Song Dynasty's most confidential secrets."

After Zhao Jun finished speaking, the whole audience fell silent.