Zhang Fei still prefers to go to Jiangnan. After all, it had been planned long ago, and Su Shi and others were there. He also believed that he would be able to better display his talents by going to Jiangnan.
The biggest problem in the Northwest is military-political relations, and he really doesn't know how to handle this relationship.
Of course, Zhao Xu would not force Zhang Fei to handle such a national affair. Zhang Fei said he couldn't do it, so why send him? That would be crazy.
However, the most urgent task is to implement the royal family reform.
Nowadays, these powerful people and big landlords are attacking everywhere, solving each problem as they can.
On the second day, Zhao Xu convened an important meeting in Chuigong Hall.
As soon as he came up, Zhao Xu complained bitterly, "You should know that I did not protect Governor Zhao. This case was tried by Kaifeng Prefecture, and I have discussed with you about the verdict of Governor Zeng, and you all agreed. But now they are still holding on to the royal family and making trouble. This is really unreasonable."
When I talk about the latter part, I feel both aggrieved and angry.
Wen Yanbo was unaware of this, and he also believed that Zhao Xu was intentionally biased towards the royal family in this case, so he said, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, they are not without reason. The royal family's expenditure is indeed too much, and the current fiscal revenue is already insufficient, so it should be reduced."
Zhao Xu glanced at Wen Yanbo and then at Wang Anshi.
...
...
Wang Anshi understood what he meant and said immediately: "The financial problems of our dynasty are the three redundancies. It is inappropriate for them to compare the royal family to the officials in the capital. If compared with the officials in the world, the royal family is only a handful."
Zhao Xu nodded immediately.
Wen Yanbo also thought that the problem of redundant officials should be corrected, but Wang Anshi's words at this time were clearly a threat to him. How about we make a one-for-one exchange, using the imperial favor to exchange for the royal family? Wen Yanbo immediately retorted: "The imperial favor generally only involves the sons of officials, and the relatives of the royal family have long exceeded the five mournings. It is not a bad idea to impose some restrictions."
Wang Anshi said: "But they are talking about finances, not blood relations."
Sima Guang suddenly stood up and said, "I think what Mr. Wang said makes sense."
After hearing these words, Wang Anshi was stunned, and Wen Yanbo was also stunned.
Sima Guang also said: "Finance is finance, and relatives are relatives. We cannot judge relatives by money. This goes against the way of heaven. I think that no matter whether it is the relatives of officials or relatives of the royal family, they should not be kept idle. Birds and beasts know how to teach their children to find insects and catch food, so people should do the same. We must find ways to let them support themselves."
Zhao Xu asked, "What suggestions does Sima Xueshi have?"
Sima Guang said: "In my opinion, we can send the sons of the royal family and the sons of the imperial family to study in the Imperial Academy, just like those candidates. The best ones can become officials in the court, and the worse ones can become merchants, workers or officials. It's all up to them to strive for it.
The court only guarantees their monthly expenses before they finish their studies, and after they finish their studies, they have to work hard on their own, but there is no need to exclude clan members outside the five mourning periods from the clan."
Wen Yanbo understood immediately and added, "If all the clan members outside the five mourning periods are removed, their household registration names will have to be revised, which will add a lot of trouble and will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the clan members."
Zhao Xu frowned slightly and glanced at Wang Anshi again.
Wang Anshi immediately said, "If you use the name of a royal relative to engage in business and work, I'm afraid it will affect the reputation of the royal family."
Zhao Xu nodded repeatedly.
But in fact, he didn't care about these things at all. Historically, he encouraged royal family members to intermarry with common people and encouraged royal family members to take part in the imperial examinations. You should find ways to make money on your own and don't always rely on the court.
He just wanted to be thorough and just throw away this burden. If he kept it in, it would still be troublesome if anything happened in the future.
Of course, he also wanted to take revenge on these clan members for bullying his father.
Sima Guang was also straightforward: "There are so many royal family members who are spoiled, their reputation is not as good as that of merchants and craftsmen. What is the difference between giving them land to farm and giving them coins to do business?"
Wang Anshi remained silent. In his heart, he agreed with Sima Guang's suggestion, because Sima Guang's suggestion did not mention whether it was outside or within the five degrees of mourning. In other words, all members of the royal family, both inside and outside the five degrees of mourning, needed to be sent to the Imperial College, and everyone would compete for a place based on their own abilities.
This is in line with his philosophy on education.
Zhao Xu looked displeased and said, "Okay! Let the Secretariat and the Privy Council jointly draft this matter. However, I hope this matter can come to an end and there will be no more disputes. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."
After saying that, he left angrily.
It has to be said that the little emperor's acting skills were quite good, and among the people present, only Wang Anshi knew the truth.
"This is really a big slap on the wrist. No one gets any good results!"
Wen Yanbo smiled bitterly.
Sima Guang said: "What can we do? They brought this upon themselves. But this is good, as it can reduce the financial burden on the country."
In fact, streamlining the number of officials was also Sima Guang's political philosophy, but he made it very clear that reducing clan salaries did not necessarily mean excluding them from the clan.
As soon as the news got out, the war stopped immediately.
Both the royal family and officials were dissatisfied with this.
It’s so cruel that I could eat by lying down before but now I have to study hard.
At the same time, they also came to their senses and realized that they could not continue fighting. While the snipe and the clam quarrel, the fisherman benefits.
But they did not strongly object. After all, it was they who said these words and it was their mutual accusations that led the higher-ups to choose to do as they wished.
It would be foolish to go back on your words right away. Let's wait until later.
Anyway, this cannot be done immediately.
There was only one department that was ecstatic, and that was the Imperial College. It had already expanded its enrollment, and now all the children of royal families and those who were granted imperial favors had to come to the Imperial College to study in order to receive the benefits and become officials here. So everyone would beg them for favors.
But Zhang Fei had no time to pay attention to these things at the moment, because he was facing another hurdle in his life, and this hurdle was extremely familiar.
It's just moving.
Of course, they didn't really stay there until the rent was due, they moved in three days earlier, after all, they had to choose an auspicious day.
It was still dark when the whole family had already arrived at the new house.
"Huh? Why don't you see my brother-in-law?"
When he arrived at the door and was about to enter, Xu Lingxiao suddenly found that Zhang Fei was nowhere to be seen.
Xu Zun looked around and said, "He was just beside me."
Niu Beiqing suddenly shouted, "Mr. Xu, your son-in-law is here."
As he said this, he pointed his hand backwards.
Everyone looked in the direction of the dim candlelight, and saw Zhang Fei lurking behind Niu Beiqing.
Gao Wenyin asked curiously, "Sanlang, what are you doing?"
Zhang Fei looked around and said in panic, "I'm afraid of being beaten."
"ah?"
When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
Only Xu Zhiqian kept giggling.
Mu Zhen asked curiously, "Qian'er, what's going on?"
Xu Zhiqian then told Mu Zhen about Zhang Fei’s previous adventure of moving, which made the latter unable to help laughing.
Zhang Fei blushed and said, "Zhiqian, good luck, stop talking nonsense."
Xu Zun was also at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and said, "There are so many people here, what are you afraid of? Come over here quickly."
"oh."
Zhang Fei mustered up his courage and stepped forward, looking around everywhere, especially at the height. The sack that fell from the sky was really too terrifying. He didn't want to experience it again. After entering the door, he whispered again: "Yanei! I know you are here, come out quickly."
Xu Zhiqian chuckled and said, "What are you talking about? If Yanei wants to come to congratulate you, it's not now."
"But the only one who dares to hit me right now is Yanei."
Zhang Fei was still very cautious.
Niu Beiqing said carelessly: "Sanlang, I'm here, what are you afraid of?"
Zhang Fei thought about it and it made sense. Now he didn't just have a loser like Li Si by his side. He also had Niu Beiqing and the legendary master Long Wu.
Then they straightened up, and after a traditional ceremony, the day was bright.
It just so happened that this was Xu Zun’s first time back, so Zhang Fei and Xu Zhiqian accompanied Xu Zun for a walk.
Arriving at the small pavilion in the garden, Zhang Fei asked, "What do you think, father-in-law?"
Xu Zun laughed and said, "Who doesn't want to live in such a nice house? Who doesn't want to have good food and wine every day? But it's hard to go from luxury to frugality. Once you live in such a nice house, it's hard to go back. You will only want to live in a better house, but where will the money come from?"
At this point, he warned Zhang Fei very seriously, "Zhang San, you are also an official now, you must learn to restrain your desires, so as not to go down the road of no return!"
He has always been very simple, knowing that once you pursue material things, you will become addicted to them. Therefore, he never pursued these things.
Zhang Fei also said seriously: "Father-in-law, please rest assured, I will not be confused by these, after all!"
He glanced at Xu Zhiqian beside him and said, "I married a good wife."
Xu Zhiqian could hear his sarcasm, but she smiled and said, "Don't worry, Daddy. I will keep an eye on him."
Zhang Fei quickly said: "I'm just joking, don't take it seriously."
Xu Zunfuxu laughed.
Just then, Li Si came over and said, "Third brother, Mr. Chen and his men are here."
Zhang Fei sighed: "I didn't send out invitations either. I feel a little embarrassed to host such a happy event."
This time he was really low-key and didn't tell anyone, including Fan Li and the others. This happy event was indeed a bit too much.
In this world of human relationships, it is indeed not appropriate to only take in and not give out.
But there is no way, he just won a lawsuit, although there are undercurrents, but on the surface, he is the most popular. Of course, people will not miss such an opportunity to get close to him. It would be better if you don't send out invitations, everyone can come.
But when he saw them, Zhang Fei discovered that they seemed to be here not just to congratulate him, but all of them had sad faces.
"Everyone, I did hold a few more weddings, but... but I didn't send out invitations this time. You don't have to come. I'll be happy if you come, but don't look so sad."
Zhang Fei said very dissatisfiedly.
Chen Maoqian forced a smile and said, "Sanlang, we also want to come and congratulate you happily, but...but."
"But what? Just tell me!" Zhang Fei asked anxiously.
Huang Can sighed heavily: "But nowadays, business is not easy for everyone!"
Zhang Fei's eyebrows jumped when he heard this, but he asked, "What's going on?"
Fan Zheng said: "Third brother, you may not know that the price of coins has risen a lot recently. No one is willing to spend coins, which makes it difficult for us to do business."
Zhang Fei frowned. Is it coming so soon?
Ma Tianhao suddenly said: "Our charity foundation has to spend less money recently, and I don't have much money to lend to you now."
Zhang Fei glanced at him and knew his relationship with Xiangguo Temple. It must be Xiangguo Temple that asked him to stop the charity foundation from releasing currency.
But this is not the point. The point is that this is coming faster than he imagined.
He expected that the money shortage would occur at the earliest when the summer taxes were collected, but he did not expect it to happen so soon.
There is only one explanation, that is, there is not enough money in the market, and this problem will be exposed as long as there is any slight disturbance.
Fan Zheng said: "Our movable type workshop and carriage and horse rental have been affected to some extent. I guess the football league that is about to start will also be affected."
Zhang Fei asked: "What is going on?"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Fan Zheng whispered, "It is said that the exemption tax increased the value of coins too much, resulting in insufficient coins circulating in the market. At the same time, grain prices were falling, causing many commodities to fall as well. Naturally, coins became more valuable."
Chen Maoqian said: "Nowadays, except for coins and salt, the prices of almost all goods are falling."
Zhang Fei frowned and asked, "Didn't the price of salt fall?"
Chen Maoqian said: "What's the point of falling? It actually rose quite a bit!"
Zhang Fei asked curiously: "Why is this?"
Ma Tianhao said: "You still don't understand?"
"Why should I know that?" Zhang Fei wondered.
Ma Tianhao said: "The case of Wang Hongjin has caused those salt fans to be afraid to commit crimes and sell private salt. The amount of salt on the market has suddenly decreased a lot, and the price of salt has naturally risen."
In fact, there were many private salts in Bianjing. Xu Yu's private salt was sold to Kaifeng Prefecture. This also led to Xu Ji's failure to help his brother escape the crime, because Bianjing had no shortage of official salt. If you also sold it, could you say that you were selling medicine?
Because the Tax Commissioner had such a strong deterrent effect, private salt dealers no longer dared to sell private salt in Bian Jing, resulting in a sudden decrease in the amount of salt on the market. The price of salt, like the price of currency, began to rise.
Zhang Fei frowned.
(End of this chapter)
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