Emperor Sutoku was forced to abdicate, Japan reopened trade with the Song Dynasty, and the officials of Dazaifu were reinstated.
As a result, Japan's foreign trade was fully opened up, and a textile boom swept the country.
Although it's almost the coldest month of December, people in Japan don't feel cold at all this year because they're about to have tons of money flowing into their pockets.
From then on, the Song Dynasty became Japan's money bag, and nobles rushed to open textile factories.
Emperor Sutoku, in the cold palace, cried out in anguish: You will pay the price!
Compared to Japan, Goryeo to the north is much colder, especially North Goryeo, where the land is already frozen solid at this time of year.
However, the messenger running on the way to the palace felt hot all over and did not feel cold at all.
For him and for the entire Goryeo Kingdom, the Song Dynasty's current foreign trade policy is absolutely fantastic news.
The messenger brought the news back to the palace, and the nobles, who were shivering in the bitter cold, felt as if spring had arrived upon hearing it.
Soon, the nobles of Goryeo, through personal connections, colluded with a wealthy merchant on the coast of the Song Dynasty. After more than half a month of negotiations, the two parties signed a large procurement order.
Before the New Year arrived, the fire that the Song Dynasty had set in Goryeo blazed fiercely, igniting the desires of the nobles with unstoppable force.
Zhao Huan was drinking tea in the imperial study. On his desk was a thick book called "The Commercial Law of the Great Song Dynasty," sent by Zhang Shuye, with several hundred pages.
He had been reading it for five days. During those five days, he rarely went out, and he even skipped the morning court session. He was reading "The Commercial Law of the Great Song Dynasty".
This was drafted by Zhang Shuye based on the reasons given in the Song Dynasty, with many additional details added.
Zhao Huan read it word by word and pondered it repeatedly. When he didn't quite understand something, he called Zhang Shuye over to explain it, and he also called everyone in the judicial system over to examine it one by one.
This version was then released temporarily.
Before the New Year, the Inspectorate also submitted a report on the mistreatment of laborers by trading companies and the collusion between officials and businessmen to maliciously inflate land prices.
From several major cities in the south to the Central Plains, then to the northwest, and finally including Yan and Yun, the number of officials involved reached as high as 1,200.
The Song Dynasty's officialdom was once again drenched in blood. Some say that it was not only the emperor punishing officials who were driving up prices, but also a demonstration of the emperor's determination to strengthen control over local areas.
These days, it's much harder to be an official than it used to be.
Some officials privately lamented that back when the retired emperor was still in power, the officials of the Song Dynasty spent most of their time composing poems and frequenting brothels.
And now?
Each of the regional military commissioners, judicial commissioners, transport commissioners, and grain commissioners must summarize and report their work every quarter, and all must work diligently to support the imperial court.
The imperial court would review the affairs of the local areas every quarter, and although it would not interfere, the emperor in the inner palace would need to know what they were doing.
For example, if the school construction progress in Hangzhou Prefecture fails to meet the target for this quarter, the government will deduct money from the Hangzhou prefect's monthly allowance, and the military commissioner of Jiangzhe Road will also be affected.
For example, the construction plan for military fortresses in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun was delayed by two months this year, so the Privy Council submitted a memorial to the emperor to deduct a portion from the salaries of Zhong Shizhong and Yao Gu.
The Privy Council would then send letters rebuking the instructors for their dereliction of duty.
If the population migration in Youzhou is delayed, the government will punish Li Guang for his inaction.
If the number of teachers in Chang'an City is insufficient, the Hanlin Academy will immediately send people to Chang'an City to expedite the process and prepare to replace the officials in charge of culture and education there.
If the emperor's chancellors are a little slow or inattentive in handling these matters, causing delays, the Imperial Guards will relay the message to the emperor.
The Censorate might openly cause trouble for the prime minister in court, and the Supervisory Council might even open an investigation to find out the reason for the delay and find fault with it in various ways.
Everything was forcibly accelerated amidst the clamor of the court, and this interconnected system of checks and balances and coercion kept the entire Song Dynasty running at high speed.
In this environment, everyone in the imperial court no longer dared to be lenient in anything, but began to act ruthlessly.
For example, even the gentle and refined Tang Ke would sometimes point his finger at Zhao Ding and berate the Great Song Bank for its inaction, deliberately obstructing funds and refusing to release them to stimulate trade and commerce for the Ministry of Commerce.
For example, Li Gang would often go to the Academy of Sciences to cause trouble, and the weapons he wanted could not be developed for a long time.
Therefore, the Academy of Sciences and the Privy Council had several heated arguments in the imperial court.
The emperor watched these arguments with a "the more the merrier" attitude.
They also frequently encouraged one party to verbally abuse the other in private.
For example, he would imply to Li Gang: You are the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, so go ahead and put pressure on the Academy of Sciences and show your authority as prime minister.
Then, he turned around and whispered to Han Gonglian: You are the apple of my eye. If anyone dares to bully you, you should fight back!
The most insidious thing was that Zhao Huan often hinted to Liu Yanzong: You didn't criticize Xu Churen hard enough. Have you been getting close to him lately and trying to make friends with new powerful figures?
The ministers were really fed up with having such an eccentric emperor.
The most ruthless was undoubtedly the Imperial Censor He Ye, who stirred up trouble in the court almost every day.
The morning court sessions nowadays are a hundred times more lively than those during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song.
First, the prime ministers reported on the situation, then the censorate stood up to criticize the prime ministers, and then the supervisory authority stood up to find fault. The two sides entered the climax of the argument, and then it came to an end.
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