Yan Shu lowered his head in thought for a moment, then raised his head and asked, "Your Majesty, should I ask Zhao Jun about this?"
Zhao Zhen was unhappy and said, "The Jiaozi affairs are only known by Zhao Jun. If anything goes wrong, he will be the only one to be blamed. What's the point of the Song Dynasty having so many scholars? I hope that after his eyes are healed, he can look at my Song Dynasty and see me and my ruler and ministers. It is not as bad as he says."
Yan Shu smiled bitterly and said, "But if we don't ask him for help, what will happen to the tea merchants? I think that even if they don't unite all the merchants in Chengdu who have deposited money in the Jiaozi Shop, as long as they buy out the Jiaozi they have, the Jiaozi Shop will be in trouble."
Chengdu was the first place to establish the Jiaozi business, so merchants there generally recognized the value of Jiaozi as a currency. Instead of using Jiaozi to withdraw cash from a Jiaozi shop, they used Jiaozi directly to buy and sell.
Bianliang now also recognizes Jiaozi. It is hard to say about merchants in other routes, but merchants in Chengdu will definitely recognize that Jiaozi can be traded with each other.
Compared to arriving in Bianliang, queuing up at the Bianliang Jiaozi Office to withdraw money, waiting for a while to get the money, and then starting to purchase goods, it is more convenient to use Jiaozi to buy and sell goods directly.
Therefore, Yan Shu believed that as long as the tea merchants who wanted to stop the court's payment method were not stupid, they would definitely use this method.
By then, the Bianliang Jiaozi Bureau would be bankrupt due to a bank run, and the Jianqian Fa would lose its source of funds and eventually be aborted. This would be another great victory for the tea merchants in their fight against the imperial court's policies following the one during the Tiansheng period.
Zhao Zhen pondered for a moment, then raised his head and glanced at Yan Shu. After staring at him for a long moment, he said softly, "I heard that Duke Lu, Duke Song, Prime Minister Xia, and Prime Minister Jia are all quite wealthy."
Yan Shu had been a little nervous under Zhao Zhen's gaze before, and now when he heard this, he looked at Zhao Zhen in surprise, but after a slight hesitation, he said, "Yes."
"Fan Xiwen came to question Prime Minister Lu and Prime Minister Song before."
Zhao Zhen changed the subject and said expressionlessly, "I'd like to ask, which side will Uncle Tong stand on?"
Yan Shu felt his hair stand on end, and his heart was suddenly filled with chills. Then he said, "Your Majesty, wherever I am, I will be there."
"Is this what Uncle Tong really said?"
Zhao Zhen asked.
"yes."
Yan Shu said seriously: "To eat the salary of the emperor and share his worries is the duty of a minister."
Zhao Zhen smiled and asked, "Don't be so nervous. I just want to ask my uncle, Prime Minister Lu and others, whether they will really agree to dismiss the officials with family connections."
"Won't."
This time Yan Shu answered much more quickly.
He knew which side he was on.
The problem that the Song Dynasty is facing now is that a large number of officials with connections have occupied the court and have formed absolute power.
Because there were only more than 30,000 candidates selected through the imperial examinations in the entire Northern Song Dynasty, there were only 117 Jinshi on average each year.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong, there were only about four to five thousand people who passed the imperial examination. So where did the more than 40,000 officials of the Renzong Dynasty come from?
Most of them are through the shade of the door.
Fan Zhongyan wanted to depose these officials who held seven or eight out of ten power in the court. Even if Lu Yijian agreed, the others would certainly not agree.
Zhao Zhen said calmly, "In that case, take a look at this."
As he said this, he pointed to the note written by Fan Zhongyan next to him.
Yan Shu came over, picked up the note, glanced at it briefly, and said in astonishment, "This..."
"Tell this to Prime Minister Lu, he might know what to do."
After Zhao Zhen finished speaking, he thought for a moment and added, "Don't tell him that I want him to know."
Yan Shu was quite shocked, and then he immediately understood what Zhao Zhen meant. He said to himself that being with the emperor is like being a tiger. Even the most benevolent emperors in history have their own ways of being an emperor.
But he reacted quickly and immediately said, "Yes."
"Okay, go down."
Zhao Zhen waved his hand.
"I'll take my leave."
Yan Shu backed away.
Only after he left the study did Zhao Zhen put his hands on the table and rub his temples.
Although the cash payment law and the Jiaozi business are beneficial to the country and the people, things will definitely not be as easy and smooth as Zhao Jun said.
For many national affairs, it is definitely not possible to make decisions based on a snap of the fingers, just like the Qingmiao Law. It seemed to be a good policy no matter how you looked at it, but in its implementation it directly harmed the people.
So Zhao Zhen was not without mental preparation, and had the determination and perseverance to face any test.
What he didn't expect was that the merchants would think of a boycott measure so quickly. After only two months of opening the Jiaozi business, they were already planning to empty the Jiaozi shops through a run on the banks and force the court to abandon the cash payment method.
Although the first wave of attacks was not too powerful at the beginning, if most tea merchants united, it would still be enough to cause trouble for the imperial court, so we had to defend ourselves against it.
The officials in the court were indeed wealthy and powerful, but just in case, they had to think of other ways.
Hmm...it seems I have to go to the Queen.
Zhao Zhen thought to himself.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
