In January of the first year of the Kangding reign, Fan Zhongyan wrote down the conditions under which the Liao Kingdom hoped for peace talks and sent it back to Bianliang.
He even suggested in a memorial that the increase in currency could be reduced to 100,000.
That is, the original annual tribute was 300,000 strings of cash, and the Liao Kingdom requested an increase of 200,000 strings of cash. He thought that an increase of only 100,000 strings of cash would be enough.
What was Zhao Jun doing when the memorial was sent back to Bianliang?
He was attending a funeral.
Wang Sui's funeral.
The old man didn't make it after all. Even though he was given some medicine and managed to survive until the end of the year, he still passed away in January.
At the funeral, Li Di was extremely sad and cried loudly, which made Lu Yijian's mouth twitch.
In fact, since the establishment of the Constitutional Yuan, the personnel have been stable, and Zhao Jun stipulated that the term of office would be five years. Even if the performance in these five years was not satisfactory, the term would not be changed unless it broke the law.
Since Fan Zhongyan has made such great contributions in the next term, it is only natural to remove him from the reserve list and promote him. If Fan Zhongyan has been promoted, should Yan Shu be promoted as well?
Lu Yijian certainly hoped to promote Yan Shu to a higher position to expand his own power, but he knew very well that if Yan Shu was promoted, Zhao Jun would definitely promote Li Di as well to check and balance the growing Lu Party.
So in the end, it will become a political exchange. From then on, everyone will take off the hat of alternate Tongzhi and officially become Tongzhi of the Constitutional Yuan, and be on equal footing with him, Old Lu.
However, he was already very satisfied with having three votes in the Constitutional Council. When Zhao Jun was not around, he would still be the top official and the one holding great power.
After the funeral, Li Di went to ask for an audience with Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun did not give a definite answer. Now he also knew how to play politics. He just said some ambiguous words and hinted, and let Li Di leave happily.
In the afternoon, Fan Zhongyan's memorial was delivered to the Institute of Political System. Inside the Institute, Zhao Jun was handling local government affairs in an orderly manner, and the reform matters had been almost sorted out during this period.
Although Wang Sui died, it did not affect the operation of the Constitutional Court. In fact, the workload of the Constitutional Court is no longer as great as before. The various departments under it can handle ordinary matters on their own. The Constitutional Court's only task is to supervise and make large-scale plans.
However, these old men are too power-hungry and fight for power. Not only do they form cliques within the Constitutional Council, they also want to replace the nominees of the ministers below with their own people, which makes Zhao Jun very annoyed.
It was fine when he was around, but once he's gone, won't these people cause chaos?
But he was too lazy to care.
Since Lu Yijian and the others are no longer with us, I am still alive and well. Being young is an advantage.
The old guys are all dead, and the Constitutional Yuan will still have the final say in the future.
"The Ministry of Works' plan is a good one. Mobilizing the people along both sides of the Yellow River to dig and build small canals might not have much impact, but what if there are thousands?"
Zhao Jun looked at the project in hand and said, "Hundreds or even thousands of small projects have accumulated into a large project. This should temporarily alleviate the problem of the Yellow River's possible diversion in the future. Most importantly, it can also irrigate Hebei Province. A single county can handle the project's workload."
"Haven't we dug a lot of canals like this before?"
Lu Yijian turned his head.
"We still have to dig. The more canals we dig, the better. We also have canals. Transportation will be so convenient in our new era, so we have to keep digging."
Zhao Jun said, "My university friend is from Jiangsu. They have a canal there called the Tonglv Canal, which connects many other canals. It was excavated in the 1950s and 1960s and was still being dredged after the millennium. Inland canals haven't lost their significance just because transportation has become more convenient."
"Yeah, but I'm still short of money."
Wang Zeng responded.
"We'll have it in the future. Didn't Old Fan win a great victory? He even defeated the Liao Kingdom. It would be a good thing to save this little bit of annual tribute and build a few more canals."
Zhao Jun smiled.
At this moment, a clerk came in hurriedly delivering documents and said, "Minister, urgent news from the front line."
"oh?"
Zhao Jun turned his head and looked at everyone, smiling, "Speak of the devil, here I am! Let me see what surprise Old Fan has in store for me."
As he said that, he took the document, opened it and started reading.
Everyone was curious and came to the side, but before they could take a look, they saw that Zhao Jun's face suddenly fell and he looked very unhappy.
"What's wrong? What's the big deal?"
Seeing that his expression was not right, Yan Shu hurriedly asked, "Did Fan Xiwen underestimate the enemy and advance rashly, resulting in a setback in his attack on Yanjing?"
"no."
Zhao Jun threw the document on the table and said unhappily, "This guy has relapsed."
"Let me see."
Lu Yijian took the document.
A large group of old men also gathered together, several of their white heads staring at the note.
After a moment, Lu Yijian's face darkened and he said, "Fan Xiwen is confused."
Zhao Jun spread his hands and said, "Isn't it?"
Lu Yijian smacked his lips. "How can he reduce the price by 100,000 strings of cash all at once? It would be better to just keep it at 200,000 strings of cash."
"Um?"
Zhao Jun's expression became even more disturbed. He looked at Lu Yijian and asked, "What do you mean? Are you happy about losing our sovereignty and humiliating our country?"
"But it's not a loss of sovereignty or humiliation of the country. The annual tribute hasn't increased, only the birthday ceremony for Empress Dowager Xiao has been restored. Exchanging 200,000 strings of cash for our development is a good deal."
Lu Yijian argued, "I understand your feelings, but from the perspective of the country, this is the best solution."
"What about you guys? Do you think so too?"
Zhao Jun looked at the others.
Wang Zeng said in a deep voice, "If there is no other solution, this is the only way."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
