Chapter 352: Choice (Part 1)
No one cared about Mr. Zhao's self-conceited and hypocritical analysis, and he didn't mention it to outsiders.
Even if Concubine Pan became Concubine Pan Xian, it would not shake the overall situation of the court... Quite the contrary, in the eyes of the prime ministers, the demotion of Concubine Pan would be a rare boost to the overall situation. It would make the pattern of establishing a crown prince without setting up an eastern palace as proposed by Emperor Zhao clearer, thus making the court more stable.
Stability is the natural pursuit of bureaucrats, especially those in power, and has little to do with whether they are radicals or what relevant propositions they have.
As for the fact that Zhao Jiu also confiscated two million strings of cash and beheaded a "Hanlin scholar", it was not a big deal at all... You have to know that Cai Mao and his group are really the dregs of history, lambs to be slaughtered. You can see this from the fact that they were ignored by those in power and targeted by speculators as soon as they came back.
In a sense, this incident may not have caused more shock than the flashy big balloon.
As for the fact that Emperor Zhao used some tricks to transfer Ma Shen away, it was not because he was worried that Ma Shen would have too much involvement with this group of old dignitaries... They were all good in the southeast, and they were all frustrated people, but the Taoists were not comrades-in-arms with the old dignitaries. Things like what happened to Wang Ciweng back then were relatively rare.
What's more, even if other Taoists were considered frustrated, Ma Shen, the chief official of the Ministry of Justice, was definitely not considered a frustrated person.
It was just that Emperor Zhao was remembering the previous experience and was worried that Ma Shen would resort to procedural justice, just in case.
After Ma Shen returned to the court, he did not do anything. He just wrote a letter to advise Emperor Zhao and then went back to work.
To put it bluntly, the real life and death situation for the court was the Northern Expedition, and the real problem caused by the Northern Expedition was the huge financial hole faced by the ruling Northern Expedition radicals. When it seemed that this hole could be plugged through a series of measures, the situation would of course be very good.
As a result, all the voices of doubt and opposition also subsided, and Emperor Zhao and his ruling team became more arrogant.
At this moment, nothing seems to matter.
In fact, in the spring of the eighth year of Jianyan, the entire court and even the entire society were in a high-spirited attitude. In February, the court struck while the iron was hot and launched a new policy, which was a reform aimed at the royal family.
The so-called royal family reform was nothing more than reducing the supply of money and grain, and relaxing restrictions to allow and encourage royal family members to engage in production activities. For example, those who wanted to do business would be directly given a royal operating qualification, or be given empty promises such as shares in a maritime trade company that was actually still being established. Those who wanted to become officials would be given certain extra points in the upgrading examinations of the Imperial College, State College, and County College.
In a sense, this matter is actually a natural outcome.
You know, the management of the royal family in the Song Dynasty was not as healthy as imagined. On the contrary, huge problems were revealed as early as the reign of Emperor Shenzong. The situation was complicated and the management was chaotic... But fortunately, the Jingkang Incident occurred.
The Jingkang Incident not only eliminated the problem of redundant soldiers and officials in the Song Dynasty, but also helped the Song Dynasty solve the problem of royal family members in an unprecedented way. Because even if Emperor Zhao later brought these close relatives back, they still lost their most basic political influence. Moreover, because of Emperor Zhao's inexplicable alienation from them, these people directly lost the protection of the imperial power.
Therefore, considering that the royal family's heirs were safe and the position of the crown prince was secure, plus the court's general political task of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, this matter was of course as logical as dealing with the old nobles who fled to Yangzhou.
According to the final result, even the dozens of brothers of Emperor Zhao's family had to make their own livings because of their previous demotion in Shaoxing.
For a time, the argument that the government was cold-blooded was once again raised, but it no longer caused any waves.
By early March, another financial matter was completed - with the fleet heading to Goryeo returning with a full load for the second time, the re-export trade had indeed achieved the expected success. Emperor Zhao officially announced the establishment of the Great Song Royal Maritime Trade Company in front of the public pavilion outside the Xuande Building and under the vertical banner hung on the hot air balloon.
This company has been in the works for more than a year, from the time Emperor Zhao proposed the plan to Zhang Jun in the winter of the year before last to its official establishment... But there is nothing that can be done about it, because this is a new thing and many people are confused about it. A simple statement of making money by doing business with Emperor Zhao is not enough to put everyone at ease.
Even Zhang Jun, who had served as a general in Lianghuai for such a long time, had to spend a lot of effort to facilitate such a one-time maritime trade activity, let alone such a large-scale and institutionalized company?
In fact, when the financial hole seemed to be endless, this matter had no chance of success. It was only when the profits from maritime trade were shown, this joint action was successfully carried out many times, and a prestigious monarch made a strong push for it in the court, that it became possible to actually carry it out.
But no matter what, it was successful in the end.
This company included the royal family, clan members, several wealthy silk and satin merchants in Lianghuai, all the famous porcelain kilns in the Central Plains, and almost all large-scale large sea merchants north of the Yangtze River. It also dragged in almost all the wealthy merchants from the Central Plains, Guanxi, and Jiangnan temples and other industries who participated in the Qingmiao loan, and automatically subsidized close clan members, members of the Secret Council, the Public Council, and the various commanders and governors of the imperial camps in the form of dry shares... And this kind of setup automatically monopolized China's traditional East China Sea trade with Goryeo and Japan almost as soon as it was established.
At the same time, all these people were only qualified to participate in investment and dividends, while the specific operations were left to the maritime merchants, silk merchants, and official kiln owners themselves. The only person who represented Emperor Zhao and the public cabinet to take charge of the overall situation was called the company's president, and he was the former Taichang Wang Shuzhan, who had been unemployed for a long time.
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