Zhao Huan replied to Luo Cong and Xiao Jiangwei's memorials: No!
If I were to actually agree to this, how would my officials view me?
They did owe Yue Fei a favor, but what they did was beneficial to me; they were genuinely working for me. Let's keep things separate.
As an emperor, how can he control the entire Song Dynasty if he doesn't even understand such a simple principle of balance?
If this is approved, officials will become hesitant and timid in their actions, worrying about this and fearing that.
From a certain perspective, the current outcome is more beneficial to Yue Fei, since someone has already set their sights on him.
However, this matter certainly won't end just because the emperor forbids it.
Luo Cong and Xiao Jiangwei felt guilty. If they continued to serve, they feared they would not be able to sleep, eat, or drink.
Sure enough, the next day, Li Ruoshui, the Minister of Personnel, brought up the matter.
This demonstrates the firmness of Luo Cong and Xiao Jiangwei's resignation.
The emperor said, "No! These two men upheld the law impartially and not only did nothing wrong, but they also rendered meritorious service. They should be rewarded!"
"Your Majesty, their attitude in the letter is resolute, I'm afraid we can't keep them."
"I have replied to them, and I hope they will stay."
The courtiers shouted, "Your Majesty is wise!"
The most basic ability of a qualified politician is to judge the emperor's true intentions.
Those who take everything the emperor says in court as gospel are generally not suited to be in the center of power.
As Li Ruoshui himself said: the emperor may not really want them to stay, but merely to show the world his attitude and encourage officials to be fearless. However, from a selfish perspective, the emperor wanted to punish the two of them.
If the two of them firmly request to resign, the emperor will only feel favorably towards them, and will not feel any dislike towards them.
These unspoken political rules are best left unsaid, but all the experts do them.
Next, Luo Cong and Xiao Jiangwei continued to write letters to the imperial court, expressing their determination to resign.
In the end, the emperor had no choice but to sign and affix his seal to the memorial submitted by the Ministry of Personnel.
The Imperial City Guard and the State Affairs Hall each reassigned their respective officials.
He Yuanshan, the culprit of Jiangling Prefecture, was cut in half at the waist outside the Five Dynasties Gate today!
Thus, the turmoil caused by the drought has temporarily subsided.
The original power of Jiangling Prefecture was completely shattered.
Although the political struggle has temporarily come to an end, the severe drought this year has resulted in half of the fertile fields along Jinghu Road being abandoned and the ponds drying up.
As the largest granary in Jiangnan, it used to supply grain to other places, but this year, it needs to be supplied by other places.
This impact is only just beginning.
Xu Churen said with some concern that more grain needed to be transported back from Jiaozhou this year, and that the imperial court should prepare for a grain shortage.
A bad feeling lingered in people's hearts. On the streets of Tokyo, some people were discussing that there were too many disaster victims on Jinghu Road this year, and many people had starved to death. A large amount of food was needed for supply, which meant that food prices would rise.
Adding to the woes, the impact of last year's Yellow River floods on Jingdong Road and Hebei Road has not yet been fully mitigated, and the grain production in these two areas is significantly lower than the year before, which undoubtedly makes matters worse.
After the start of autumn, there is a certain temperature difference between day and night, and you can occasionally see people adding clothes.
Recently, the clothes sold by Li's Cloth Shop have become increasingly cheaper, and Li's Cloth Shop stores are opening one after another.
But Zhu Qing's grain shop business wasn't so easy.
The current situation is one of supply but no demand.
Throughout July, Zhu Qing transported half the amount of grain back to Tokyo from the south compared to previous months.
He was forced to raise the price of grain to 4 guan per shi (a unit of dry measure), but as soon as the price went up, the government invited him over for tea.
Xu Churen personally received him. The Grand Chancellor of the Imperial Court personally met with the grain merchant, which made the matter clear: the Imperial Court would not allow price increases!
Zhu Qing's face was so bitter it was almost dripping with water: "Master Xu, it's really not that I want to raise prices. The workers' monthly wages are getting higher and higher, and the housing prices in this capital city are still rising. That's fine, but in July, the amount of grain I brought back from the south was halved, but my daily expenses are still the same as before. If prices don't rise, I have no way to survive!"
Zhu Qing's situation is the same one faced by all grain merchants in Tokyo.
Due to the shortage of goods, Zhu Qing dared not supply large quantities to those large restaurants that came to purchase them.
After all, the price he gets from the restaurant is lower than the market price, and he only has so much stock, but there are plenty of people in the market who want it.
In fact, in the past few months, the grain transported to Tokyo has been controlled by the imperial court, and has returned to the level of the second year of the Jingkang era.
This is to prevent food shortages in the second half of the year; by narrowing the food supply, we can prolong the process.
It's inevitable that concerns will arise, and it's also inevitable that merchants will want to raise prices.
However, it was inevitable that the imperial court would try to lower the price.
However, businessmen do business to make money; if they don't make money, they certainly won't continue doing business.
Zhu Qing, for example, was cursing Xu Churen in his heart for not giving them a way to survive.
Therefore, he had no choice but to go back and reduce the number of personnel.
Xu Churen said, "Prices cannot be raised. I will set a special time for you. This year, I will reduce the transportation price of the imperial court to one-third of the original price. You must maintain the original price."
Xu Churen had clearly calculated that Zhu Qing's grain price increase from three guan per shi to four guan per shi was unreasonable.
His grain transportation fee is 20% of his total earnings. Based on the amount of goods he transported back in July, reducing the transportation price by one-third will not only allow him to earn as much as before, but will certainly save him enough money to survive.
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