As early as a few years ago, when Zhang Fei used his charity foundation to form a transportation team to replace the yamen servants, he actually thought about the insurance industry.
But it was just a thought, because given the situation at the time, getting into the insurance industry was really a pipe dream.
In the end, this transport team took on everything. If the goods were lost, they would make compensation. Their solution was to increase the transportation price while strengthening their own strength. This transport team was also the only armed force allowed to exist outside the imperial court.
However, the leader of this transport team is the emperor's guards, and is actually still under the emperor's control.
Moreover, the business undertaken by this transport team is actually only a small part, which is to transport expensive goods, such as copper coins, jewelry, silk, etc.
It does not involve water transport.
Because there was no power to change the canal transportation at that time.
But times have changed.
Not only have the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs grown and the administration of officials improved, but they are also unable to solve the problem of water transport on their own.
Because the canal transportation system is a systemic corruption, if the system is not changed, the role of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs will actually be very limited.
...
...
This was not the first time Zhang Fei faced this situation, and his approach was to use Wang Anshi's reforms to connect with the public security, procuratorate and courts.
The New Deal and judicial reform are not two parallel lines, but two wavy lines. There are many overlaps in between. The two complement each other. It is impossible to succeed if you only build public security, procuratorial and judicial systems, even if the emperor allows you to do whatever you want.
Because the law requires clear boundaries, but in many current systems, the boundaries are very vague or even nonexistent, and the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments are powerless to do anything about it.
Now that the internal party struggles in the court have begun to weaken, the court has the power to solve this problem.
So the question now is how to connect water transport with public security, procuratorial and judicial departments.
This is back to the old ways.
Wang Anshi proposed a reform policy, which was to split up the canal transport system, set up a number of business agencies, and move towards profit. After commercialization, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs would be able to intervene and eliminate corruption.
However, Wang Anshi overlooked one issue, that is, this business agency is different from hospitals, colleges, and newspaper offices, because it is indispensable. If a college's business is not doing well, it can close directly, but this business agency cannot be closed. No matter what they do, the court must cover it.
Compared with the Food Agency under the charge of Cai Jing, this industry has high losses, many accidents, a vast geographical area, high mobility, and a large number of people with diverse tasks, making it extremely special.
Based on this alone, it is difficult for the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments to conduct comprehensive supervision.
The insurance industry is about to emerge.
The insurance industry will set shipping standards, and then the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments will use a tripartite contract to protect the interests of all three parties.
This is also the only way.
Although the establishment of an insurance industry would inevitably increase costs, it was nothing considering the losses in canal transportation and the manipulation of officials along the way.
After checking the losses in the canal transportation, Wang Anshi and Xue Xiang agreed to Zhang Fei's suggestion.
After the three of them agreed, the routine remained the same.
The procuratorate took the lead in launching the attack.
Legislative Council.
"We have sent people to confirm. If the current evidence is correct, our procuratorate will initiate administrative litigation and the government should compensate those businessmen."
"According to the contract they signed, there is no compensation clause," Zhao Yan questioned.
Zhang Fei said: "But that was because the government refused to sign the compensation agreement, and the merchants did make demands for it. Of course, this alone is not tenable. The main reason is that in the past few years, when the three officials were in the Shipping Department, in order to effectively supervise, they mixed merchant ships and grain transport ships, which resulted in those merchants having no choice.
All the evidence currently shows that the situation was calm at the time of the crime. According to the confession of the boatman who managed to survive, the canal boat was already very old and should not have appeared on the river. It suddenly cracked from the bottom, causing the entire boat to disintegrate.
Using such a broken ship to transport goods is obviously a problem for the canal transport industry, and they should bear full responsibility."
Fu Bi said: "But have you ever thought that this might lead to more lawsuits and cause the canal transportation to fall into chaos or even stop operating? The court cannot afford the consequences."
Zhang Fei said: "I have been thinking about this issue, but this is the only thing our public security, procuratorial and judicial organs can do. Only by doing so can we urge the court to reform the grain transport system and safeguard the interests of the country. This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster, which could have been avoided."
Fu Bi looked at Zhao Yan again.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Yan nodded and said, "Everyone knows that the canal transportation is the most corrupt and the most destructive to people's livelihood. It's time to rectify it."
After discussing with Yu Fubi and Zhao Yan, Zhang Fei asked someone to spread the news.
Just say that the procuratorate may file a lawsuit against the canal transport.
This is really a stone that stirs up a thousand ripples!
The canal transportation affected too many interests. Leaving aside the corrupt officials, most of the supplies needed by the civil and military officials in the court and hundreds of thousands of imperial guards were transported to the capital through the canal transportation.
Just the rumor was enough to make officials in the DPRK very worried. They also put pressure on the public security, procuratorate and courts to varying degrees, saying, "You can't just prosecute casually, or something serious will happen."
As for the Grand Canal, they had nothing to fear because this case did not involve corruption. As for why they used broken ships, the Grand Canal said that they were also victims because the money given by the court was too little. The Grand Canal took this opportunity to ask the court to increase its spending on Grand Canal.
This is the main reason why the canal transportation has been able to survive.
Because the canal transport system was only an accomplice, the real culprit behind the scenes was actually the imperial court.
There was no sufficient money given at all, but the tasks only increased and never decreased. Isn't this suggesting that the canal transport industry should exploit and squeeze the people themselves?
This situation is most likely to give rise to institutional corruption.
You only give them ten cents, but ask them to do the work of one tael of silver. This cannot be done without using crooked means.
Go to the Imperial Court and reason with the people, and see who is disgraced.
The canal transport officials were not at all worried about the greed for money.
So far, these are just rumors, and there is no news that the Procuratorate is really going to prosecute. The Royal Court and the Legislative Council have only said that everything is currently under investigation. The only thing that can be confirmed is that the Procuratorate is investigating the case.
All we can do is put pressure on the police, procuratorate and courts to take it easy and put the overall situation first.
Little did they know that they were actually waiting for Lu Huiqing to come back.
Xue Xiang is not paying attention to this at all. They are busy with his monetary policy.
Since everyone's attention was focused on the canal transportation, the three companies actually got an advantage and quickly reached an agreement with the three major warehouses.
But it is somewhat different from the previous rumors. In the previous rumors, the three major Jieku shops were trying to borrow one million strings of cash without interest, but the final agreement was that the three major Jieku shops borrowed one million strings of cash from the court at an interest rate of one thousandth per year.
This is actually not much different from interest-free. It is just a gesture to give the court some face.
Once this news was confirmed, the market's concerns about the currency were immediately eliminated.
At the end of the year, secret reports came from Xihe in the west and Yongzhou in the south at the same time.
Zhao Xu also summoned Zhang Fei into the palace as soon as possible.
"The south has stabilized for now."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei was immediately delighted when he heard the news. He had actually been thinking about this matter all along, because he couldn't remember when the war started. However, starting a war in the south now was definitely not in the interests of the Song Dynasty. No matter they won or lost, only Xixia and Liao would benefit.
Because before sea transportation was fully opened up, that piece of land actually had little effect on the Central Plains, and it also increased a lot of management costs.
The Song Dynasty was currently facing enemies including Western Xia and Liao. This was already a two-front war and the forces could not be dispersed any further.
"Um."
Zhao Xu nodded, but still had lingering fears, and said, "But this process is more dangerous than we imagined. In fact, Jiaozhi had always been plotting against our Yongzhou. In recent years, due to the equal distribution law and the Qingmiao law, there has been a shortage of money in the local area, and it has caused dissatisfaction among landlords and chiefs. The local situation is also unstable. In addition, after the news of Xihe's expansion spread to Jiaozhi, they were eager to move and have been mobilizing troops on the border.
When Guo Kui led his troops to settle in, Jiaozhi thought that our army was going to take the initiative, so they immediately sent troops to Yongzhou. Fortunately, Guo Kui arrived in time and repelled the enemy.
However, since Guo Kui was sent there on orders, he did not pursue the victory, but instead sent an envoy to question Jiaozhi. Jiaozhi explained that it was just a misunderstanding.
Later, after further negotiations, Guo Kui agreed to strengthen trade with Jiaozhi, which made Jiaozhi believe that Guo Kui's troops were not stationed there to attack them.
But Guo Kui believed that Jiaozhi had evil ambitions and was only willing to reach a settlement because they saw our army arrive and were not sure of victory. We should also strengthen border defense.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "After we deal with Xixia and Liao, they will be like fish on the chopping board. We must make them pay."
Zhao Xu's eyes suddenly flashed with excitement, and he said, "Now it seems that the opportunity has come."
Zhang Fei was surprised and asked, "What opportunity?"
Zhao Xu said: "It seems that our original plan against Xixia is about to succeed."
"plan?"
Zhang Fei was a little confused.
Zhao Xu was very dissatisfied and said: "You have forgotten, haven't you suggested to me to use private salt to split Xixia internally?"
Zhang Fei was surprised: "So fast?"
After all, it's just a small amount of smuggled salt, and it hasn't been going on for a few years. Is it necessary to split up directly?
He is such a ruthless person who doesn't talk much!
Zhao Xu said: "This is just an introduction. The main reason is that the one who currently holds power in Xixia is Queen Liang, and the young master of Xixia will come of age next year. According to the law, Queen Liang must return power to the young master.
However, judging from all the signs, Queen Liang does not seem to intend to hand over power.
And after our previous deployment, the merchants currently trading with Xihe are all nobles and merchants who support their young master. According to Wang Shao's letter, these people have actually strengthened their power by relying on trade with Xihe.
However, it also attracted the attention of Empress Liang and her brother. They planned to strike the power of the young master of Western Xia first, so they banned them from trading with Xihe on the grounds that they sold grain to Xihe.
This exposed their ambitions, and thus caused great controversy in their country. Someone from Xixia had already contacted Wang Shao, hoping to get support from our dynasty, and Wang Shao thought this was a great opportunity. "
Zhang Fei hesitated and said, "But there is a Liao Kingdom above us that is eyeing us covetously."
Zhao Xu said excitedly: "But this opportunity cannot be missed! Only by creating internal strife among them can we have a chance. Otherwise, we will inevitably have to fight on two fronts."
Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment, and suddenly said: "When I was checking the accounts of the charity foundation before, I thought of a question."
Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment, "What's the problem?"
The topic jumped so much that he was a little overwhelmed.
Zhang Fei said: "I wonder if Your Majesty has noticed that the fastest-growing technologies in the country are writing brushes, inkstones, paper, and printing."
Zhao Xu said: "I didn't notice it, but what does it have to do with this matter?"
Zhang Fei further explained: “The reason why these technologies developed so quickly is because the emergence of newspapers and periodicals led to a huge demand for these products, so that merchants continued to innovate.
The same is true for firearms. The period when firearm technology developed fastest was when the royal police on Jingdong East Road used firearms to suppress bandits.
Therefore, if we want to develop firearms, we must rely on war, and we cannot develop them behind closed doors.”
Zhao Xu immediately said, "Isn't this just right?"
Zhang Fei said: "But firearms are not yet mature, and the number of times they have been used on the battlefield is even fewer. Most generals do not know how to use them. If a large-scale war is launched, firearms will not be of much help, and it will be difficult to bring out their advantages.
But if it is a small-scale war, for example, quietly sending people into Xixia to subdue their internal separatist forces and provide them with firearms support, this will not only accelerate the innovation and improvement of firearms, but also help explore the tactics of using firearms. "
Zhao Xu still seemed a little hesitant. To give up such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a weapon, wasn't this putting the cart before the horse?
Zhang Fei added: "Your Majesty, this kind of slow intervention will make the situation more controllable, whether it is domestic finances or the Khitans in the north. Moreover, through this intervention, we can pull those people from their young master to our side, and avoid making wedding clothes for others in the future. When the time is right, we will send troops.
In the past, we had no choice but to adopt the system of custody, but this system also had obvious shortcomings, that is, it was easy to rebellion. But now we have the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, and facts have proved that the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs can very well incorporate foreign races into our dynasty and accept central management. "
Hearing this, Zhao Xu was a little moved. He couldn't let Xixia become an independent regime. Today he could make peace with you, but tomorrow he could stab you in the back. He asked, "So what do you mean?"
Zhang Fei said: "We should proceed according to the original plan and continue to instigate internal struggles among them. At the same time, we will secretly send troops to support them according to the specific situation, but mainly with firearms."
Zhao Xu hesitated and said, "But the firearm is very expensive."
It is not cost-effective to support others with such expensive weapons.
Zhang Fei said: "Of course we can't use copper firearms. In fact, the reason why the Military Equipment Supervisor showed us copper firearms last time was mainly to ensure that they were foolproof. Bamboo and iron firearms are not completely unusable."
Zhao Xu nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei added: "What Your Majesty needs to do now is to dispatch some generals who are good at using firearms from Jingdong East Road to Xihe area. At the same time, secretly build several large firearms workshops in the northwest. As far as I know, the northwest is very rich in iron and coal mines."
Zhao Xu suddenly seemed to have thought of something and said, "In fact, before you went to Hezhong Prefecture, the northwest was mainly engaged in the casting of iron coins. There were many coin casting workshops in the area, but now those workshops have been abandoned. You can use those workshops for firearms."
Zhang Fei said happily: "This really can't be better."
Zhao Xu added: "However, it is not appropriate to let the court officials know about this for the time being. You can ask Li Bao and others to arrange it. As for the money, I will transfer it from the inner treasury."
Currently, all the ministers in the court are focusing on domestic affairs. If they were to know about this kind of thing, they would definitely oppose it.
Zhang Fei said: "I will pay for the construction of the workshop. This way, we can conceal the truth better. Your Majesty has recently allocated a lot of money from the inner treasury."
Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment and said, "This is not a small amount of money."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I know that, but there is no one in my family who spends money, so I have saved a lot of money, but it is useless to just keep it there. My philosophy has always been to spend money."
Zhao Xu was very pleased and said: "If all the dignitaries in the court could be like you, there would be no need to worry about the destruction of Western Xia!"
Zhang Fei hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. I am where I am today because of your care. This is what I should do."
Zhao Xu smiled and nodded, then said, "By the way, Wang Shao's letter also mentioned that this plan requires the cooperation of the entire western front, so a commander-in-chief is needed to complete this plan."
When it comes to this issue, Zhang Fei is actually very depressed.
Looking around, I really can't find a suitable commander.
Unlike the Tang Dynasty, which had Li Jing, Li Ji, and Su Dingfang, one generation after another, they could not stop. Even decades later, there were talented commanders such as Zong Ze, Zhong Shidao, Wu Jie, Yue Fei, and Han Shizhong.
The current period is a command vacuum.
This is also related to the system of the Song Dynasty, which could not train a commander-in-chief.
Zhang Fei thought about it and said, "For the time being, I think Wang Shao is the most suitable. This plan is mainly to split Xixia, not to confront it head-on. Zhong Yan and his men are not suitable. Wang Shao is good at expanding the border in Xihe, and he has also proved that he is a talent for commanding troops."
Zhao Xu smiled and said, "Do you know who Wang Shao recommended?"
Zhang Fei asked: "Who?"
Zhao Xu said nothing, but just looked at him with a smile.
Zhang Fei pointed at himself in disbelief: "Me?"
Zhao Xu nodded.
Zhang Fei immediately said: "Your Majesty, I take back what I just said. This Wang Shao is not a commander. He doesn't know how to judge people."
Asking him to go into diplomacy was already a stretch, but fortunately it was only to delay the negotiations and not to let him really negotiate. Asking him to be the commander-in-chief would be no different from courting his own destruction.
Zhao Xu laughed and said, "The reason why Wang Shao recommended you is because you were indebted to Zhong Yan and other generals of the Western Army during the military trial, and Zhong Yan and his men have a prejudice against Wang Shao. So Wang Shao did not recommend you to lead the troops to fight, but asked you to be responsible for persuading those generals of the Western Army to cooperate with this plan."
Wang Shao strongly supports this infiltration and division plan. He prefers this kind of off-the-plan tactic. However, it would be difficult to accomplish it relying solely on the Xihe area. The entire western front must work together.
But the Western Army is currently very unhappy with Wang Shao and is unlikely to listen to him.
Wang Shao knew about this plan and Zhang Fei was also involved. He hoped that Zhang Fei would persuade those generals.
Zhang Fei weighed the pros and cons for a while, "If it's just to persuade those Western Army generals, I'm willing to make a trip."
Zhao Xu nodded, "I actually hope that you can go there, because now in the entire northwest region, only Yanzhou and Fuzhou have not yet implemented public security and judicial systems."
In places like prefectures and counties, the system was rather special. Basically, the Zhe family was in charge of everything. Cai Bian and Su Che had no way of implementing public security, procuratorial and judicial systems in the local area.
But Zhao Xu obviously hoped to use the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems to check and balance these warlords.
In fact, he did not trust Wang Shao very much at first, and had even planned to transfer Wang Shao back. After all, Wang Shao had been there for too long and was almost about to reach the level of a Jiedushi.
Later, he learned from the Privy Councilor that Wang Shao had taken the initiative to transfer nearly half of his troops to the Royal Police, which was to be taken over by Cao Ping. Only then did he feel relieved and considered letting Wang Shao serve as the commander-in-chief.
Zhang Fei said: "But if we rashly implement the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems there, will it cause misunderstandings among the generals of the Western Army? After all, this discord between the civil and military officials will affect the battles of the generals on the front line."
Zhao Xu asked: "Do you have any better suggestions for this?"
Zhang Fei thought for a while and said, "I suggest that we only introduce the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems. As for the selection of personnel, we should fully refer to the opinions of the Western Army generals. This will also ensure local unity."
Zhao Xu nodded and said, "It's up to you."
There is no rush, you can take your time.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Then I will go there next year and get all the firearms workshop things done."
"Thank you for your hard work again."
"I dare not. This is all my job."
"By the way! How are you handling the canal transportation issue?" Zhao Xu suddenly asked.
Zhang Fei said: "Now we are just waiting for Minister Lu to come back from Hebei. What Wang Xueshi meant is to hand this task over to Minister Lu."
Of course Zhao Xu knew what was going on.
Zhang Fei suddenly said: "But this is just right."
Zhao Xu asked, "What do you mean?"
Zhang Fei said: "After the transformation, the grain transport system can strengthen the transportation of grain to Jiangnan, so the grain in the northwest can be stored to deal with this plan."
As he spoke, he suddenly thought of something, "Oh, right! Your Majesty, do you remember the last time I mentioned the Jingdong East Road shipping to Your Majesty?"
Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Of course I remember."
This includes strategies for dealing with the Liao Kingdom.
Zhang Fei said: "Based on the current food dispatch, it is difficult to transport food from Lingnan to the capital, and it is not very cost-effective for the Food Agency to purchase from there.
We can try to transport the food there by sea to Jingdong East Road first, and then transport it to the capital by river."
Zhao Xu asked: "Is this possible? Shipping by sea is very risky."
Zhang Fei said: "If the canal transport is split into business offices, I think they will definitely try sea transport because they need to save costs, so they can make more money."
To the outside world, Zhao Xu only informed his ministers about the conflict with Jiaozhi in the south, and stated that the misunderstanding with Jiaozhi had been resolved.
The conservatives were very pleased with this.
This is enough to prove that Zhao Xu really wants to focus on domestic affairs.
Although Wang Anshi was a little unhappy, there was nothing he could do as this was the trend of the times!
Just at this time, Lu Huiqing finally rushed back from Hebei.
Wang Anshi also presented a generous gift to Lu Huiqing as a reward at the first opportunity.
Lu Huiqing was extremely excited. This gift was very important. He could use it to control the entire water transport system. This was quite a lot of power!
"Master has been so kind to Huiqing, Huiqing will definitely not let Master down."
"I always trust you to do things."
Wang Anshi laughed.
When Zhang Fei learned that Lu Huiqing had returned, he no longer hid the truth and formally submitted a complaint to the imperial court.
This made many ministers extremely angry.
I've tried to persuade him so much, why can't he be persuaded?
Why don't you understand the interests involved here?
Judging from Zhang Fei's past style, once the lawsuit is brought to the imperial court, only God knows how much trouble will arise.
At this moment, Lu Huiqing stepped forward, rushed to the imperial court as soon as possible, and brought a lot of evidence.
"This is the account of our Ministry of Revenue for the expenditure of the grain transport and the responsibility that the grain transport has to bear. This is almost impossible to accomplish, but the grain transport still strives to complete the tasks assigned by the court. It is forgivable that they use old and dilapidated ships."
Lu Huiqing said righteously: "If we want to hold the grain transport responsible, it will be very unfair to the grain transport and will also discourage the grain transport soldiers."
After Zhao Yan read the evidence submitted by Lu Huiqing, he looked at Zhang Fei.
Although he really disliked Lu Huiqing, he had to admit that what he said made sense.
Zhang Fei said: "But those businessmen are also innocent. If we leave it alone, the situation will only get worse."
Lu Huiqing said: "Will the situation not become even worse if it is brought to the imperial court? You, the procuratorate, cannot just focus on enforcing the law and ignore reality."
Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment and asked, "What suggestions does Minister Lu have for this?"
Lu Huiqing said: "I think we should make a big deal out of a small matter. After all, this is just a matter of compensation. We can strive to reach a settlement with those merchants. There is no need to bring it to the imperial court."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "But our procuratorate must also take into account national interests. No matter what the reason, Caoyun has been negligent in this incident. If it is not stopped, it will only continue to damage national interests."
Lu Huiqing said: "Our Ministry of Revenue will make improvements to this situation."
Zhang Fei thought for a while and said, "If the Ministry of Revenue can improve the situation, our procuratorate is willing to withdraw the prosecution."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
