In the Song Dynasty, people were lawless. Chapter 274 of the main text: A sudden change in the back garden, luring the snake out of its hole. In late June, the whole of Bianliang was shrouded in mist and rain.
It rained for seven or eight days. Although it was not a heavy rain, just moderate or light rain, it caused the water level of the Bian River to rise a little.
The Bian River naturally has more than just this amount of throughput, but recently the downstream area is widening the river channel, building dams to block water, and constructing diversion channels to irrigate farmland, so the water level has risen a little.
In the rolling river water, yellow sand surged up and down. As a tributary of the Yellow River, the Bian River obviously also carried a large amount of silt, making it turbid.
The people of Kaifeng have long been accustomed to all this. The only good news is that since the Zhiyuan cleared out the underground evil forces such as Wuyou Cave and Guifan Tower, the successor Kaifeng Prefecture has been committed to rebuilding the sewers.
Today's sewer system is much wider than before, thanks to the huge investment in repairs by hiring the lower-class people of Bianliang and some of the soldiers. Basically, ordinary floods can hardly completely submerge the city.
The only consequence was that in recent years the court had been engaged in large-scale construction projects everywhere, and the constant spending had led to an increasingly empty treasury, so that even the scale of the 26th birthday party for Queen Cao was much smaller.
The banquet was held in the back garden.
The queen usually lives in Kunning Palace, and the back garden is accessible through the back door.
Because he was worried that the poisonous buildings in the palace would harm the health of the royal family, Zhao Zhen built several wooden palaces on the west side of the Qincan Palace in the back garden.
After the regular meetings were moved from the back garden to Chongzheng Hall, he and the royal family moved there.
This time, no heavy metals such as cinnabar, mercury, and lead were added to prevent insect infestation, so it should be much safer.
Because it was drizzling outside and Zhao Jun was cutting down on royal expenses, there was no grand celebration. It was just an ordinary family banquet in the Chenming Tower next to the Qincan Palace.
There were three tables set up in the building. In addition to Zhao Zhen and his wife, Zhao Jun and his wife, there was also the former Imperial Attendant Yu, now Imperial Concubine Yu, and Zhao Xin.
Then there were the many prime ministers of the Constitutional Council, as well as Zhao Zhen’s uncle Li Yonghe and Cao Cong, Cao Xiu, Cao Ren and other members of the Cao family.
"The national treasury has been spending a lot lately. If this continues, we might run into a fiscal deficit as early as next year. Should we introduce some new policies to ease the financial burden?"
The banquet in the building had not yet started, and before Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun and his wife arrived, everyone had already arrived and were chatting in groups of three or four.
Song Shou said to Yan Shu beside him, "This morning, Xia Song sent over the expenses for the first half of this year. In addition to the original military expenditures, there has been a substantial increase in construction expenses. There are also disasters in the local area, and disaster relief is still needed. The national treasury is not in a good state."
"Well, there's nothing we can do. Han Long also said that we're in a period of pain right now. Most of the original treasury surplus came from the sale of state-owned assets. This method is definitely not sustainable. However, the government does have a lot of money in its treasury."
Yan Shu touched his beard and started to think about Zhao Zhen.
The money for the national treasury came from the sale of state-owned assets such as tea plants, salt fields, and mines, while the money for Zhao Zhen's treasury mainly came from the confiscations from Zhao Jun's early crackdown on corrupt officials.
The Song Dynasty was not like the Ming Dynasty, where the national treasury and the internal treasury were clearly separated. It was common for the emperor to transfer funds from the internal treasury to the national treasury.
For example, in the second year of Jingyou, there was a severe drought in Huainan. Zhao Zhen allocated 200,000 pieces of silk from the treasury to the national treasury to help Huainan pay taxes, thus exempting Huainan from taxes.
Therefore, if the national treasury is empty, we can indeed ask Zhao Zhen to allocate internal funds.
"Today, the report from Jingdong Road was also submitted. The situation in the army is worrying. There has long been a phenomenon of low-level soldiers being beaten, having their pay withheld, being transferred to forced labor by their superiors, and even being killed. The situation is even worse than in Jinggi Road."
On the other side, Cai Qi and Jiang Tang were also talking.
Jiang Tang sighed, "This is the court's fault for not doing its job properly. Fortunately, the Prefectural Court is taking this matter very seriously, and this time, we must vigorously rectify it. This malpractice has persisted for too long, and it's no wonder that the Song army was so vulnerable later on."
"This phenomenon is still too widespread, and it's not easy to resolve in a short period of time. I'm afraid we'll have to work overtime to handle all military affairs."
Wang Zeng next to him joined in the conversation.
Sheng Du and Zhang Shixun were also talking at the table on the right.
They were talking about this year's tax situation.
Agricultural taxes have been reduced for two years since the second year of the Qingli period. Domestic people's livelihood has recovered well, and the court has been purchasing grain, maintaining the price of grain at more than 200 wen per stone.
However, they are currently spending more than they earn, and they are discussing whether they should raise the customs tariff from the original 10% to the 15% during the Zhao Kuangyin period. This would bring in about 10 million guan of additional maritime trade tax revenue each year.
While everyone was talking in groups of three or four, Wang Shouzhong walked in and shouted.
"Your Majesty has arrived! The Queen has arrived! The Imperial Concubine has arrived!"
Zhao Zhen and his wife were the first to go up the stairs to the second floor, followed by Concubine Yu holding the second prince, and Zhao Jun and his wife.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
Everyone bowed hurriedly.
"No need to be polite, everyone please take a seat."
Zhao Zhen walked towards his table from the stairs, pressing down with both hands, indicating that they should sit down.
Everyone then returned to their seats.
The three tables were arranged in a triangle, with Zhao Zhen, Zhao Jun, their children, and Concubine Yu sitting at the main seat.
The rest of the people sat down on both sides.
Zhao Zhen smiled and looked around and said, "Today is a family dinner to celebrate the Queen's birthday. Let's not talk about state affairs, let's talk about family matters."
He had just heard the prime ministers talking outside the door. Although it was good to talk about state affairs all the time, which proved that they were indeed handling state affairs, it was a birthday party after all, so he should talk about something else.
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