Chapter 169: Be polite to others
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you!"
"Jiefu, there's no need to be so polite."
Zhao Xing waved his hand, asked someone to give Wang Anshi a seat, and said with a smile: "Jiefu, you have worked hard. How do you feel about this time?"
"This is my duty, it's not hard." Wang Anshi pondered and said, "My biggest feeling is that I have some ideals, of course."
"Oh?" Zhao Xing smiled and said, "Tell me in detail."
"I used to think that the laws I proposed were all beneficial to the country and the people. It was not until I was personally responsible for the land survey in Yangwu County that I deeply realized the difficulties involved. Your Highness once said that the success of the reform depends on people rather than the law. In fact, I have always disagreed with this in my heart. Now I finally understand the deep meaning of your Highness's words." Wang Anshi said.
Zhao Xing felt relieved when he heard this. Wang Anshi was good in every way except that he was a little too stubborn.
This seems to be a common problem among many capable people.
"I am very curious about what you encountered in Yangwu that made you have such an insight."
"I was in charge of the land measurement in Yangwu County. I was not confident in the officials in Yangwu County, so I selected some people from the county school. Even so, many of them were bribed."
"This is the case even with my supervision. If I am not supervising, this problem will be even more serious."
"I used to believe that as long as the laws I formulated were implemented, the court's long-standing problems could be solved. Now, just measuring the amount of land has become so difficult. Now that I think about it, I was really ridiculous at the time," Wang Anshi said self-deprecatingly.
In his opinion, measuring the land area was a relatively simple policy he formulated.
Who knew that something he thought was easy would be so difficult.
"Jiefu, don't underestimate yourself. There are always places in the world where the sun doesn't shine." Zhao Xing shook his head.
Wang Anshi was right. Except for a few, most of the reform policies he formulated became harmful to the people.
Although this was not his intention, this is the reality.
In the end, as the reform failed, almost all of his new policies were stopped.
From this perspective, it seems that Wang Anshi is just talking nonsense on paper.
In fact, it seems to be correct to say this. Wang Anshi had indeed served as an official in many places and understood the sufferings of the people.
But if you look at Wang Anshi's resume, you will find that Wang Anshi served as an official in the local area in his early years.
Although he served as an official in Beijing in the middle period, his positions were not high.
During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, he was appointed to preside over the political reform and became a prime minister.
Some people say that Wang Anshi's reforms were too idealistic.
In fact, Wang Anshi’s idealism did not mean that he did not understand the people and the long-standing problems of the Song Dynasty.
It's his underestimation of human nature.
In Zhao Xing's opinion, Wang Anshi had the ability and vision, but his methods were too poor.
Especially in terms of official intrigue.
It can be said that by the middle and late stages of Wang Anshi's reform, the so-called reform had become a platform for party struggles.
Zhao Xing implemented land survey in Kaifeng Prefecture. On the one hand, it was an experiment to truly feel the difficulty and to prepare for his future ascension to the throne.
Another purpose was to train Wang Anshi and let him see the actual situation of his policies in the process of implementation.
In this way, when he appoints Wang Anshi to carry out reforms in the future, he will be able to pay attention to the defects and drawbacks in the implementation of the new laws.
Instead of stubbornly assuming that others are against the new law when you hear different voices.
"Although the matter of Yangwu County has been settled, the land clearance work in the other 16 counties of Kaifeng Prefecture has not yet been completed. I plan to wait for you to rest for a few days and then let you go to inspect the counties." Zhao Xing said.
"I don't need to rest. I can set off tomorrow," said Wang Anshi.
Zhao Xing tried to persuade Wang Anshi a few times, but seeing that Wang Anshi insisted, he had no choice but to let him do as he pleased.
"Since you insist, let's set off tomorrow. I will arrange someone to accompany you and protect your safety." Zhao Xing said.
"I obey your command!" Wang Anshi replied.
Zhao Xing asked Wang Anshi to go back and asked someone to call Sheng Changwu in.
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you!" Sheng Changwu bowed.
"No need for formalities." Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "Tomorrow Wang Xima will go to various counties for inspection. You will lead your own troops and ask Gu Tingye to transfer another group of troops to you to accompany you as guards." Zhao Xing said.
"I obey your command!" Sheng Changwu replied.
"By the way, have you set your wedding date?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Your Highness, it has been decided. It will be held on the tenth day of August," said Sheng Changwu.
"There's only more than a month left. Didn't I ask you to tell me when you'll set a date?" Zhao Xing said.
"Your Highness, please calm down. My father said that Your Highness is very busy and would not let me disturb Your Highness with such a small matter." Sheng Changwu said.
"I must talk to him next time. No matter how busy I am, don't I have time to say a few words?" Zhao Xing said.
Sheng Changwu didn't know what to say after hearing this and could only remain silent.
"You go back and tell your father that when Li Ge arrives, I will still meet him at your house." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"Yes, I will definitely bring him there. If Your Highness has no other instructions, I will take my leave first." Sheng Changwu said.
"Go ahead. I'll give you a day off today. Go back and have a rest." Zhao Xing said.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
After expressing his gratitude, Sheng Changwu bowed and left.
"Sanshui, make note of this. Prepare a gift and send someone to deliver it on the due date." Zhao Xing said.
"I've made note of that." Sanshui replied.
"Yeah." Zhao Xing nodded and continued to review the notes.
…………
The next day, under the protection of Sheng Changwu, Wang Anshi went to various counties to inspect the progress of the land measurement.
After inspecting several counties, he found some problems and reported them to Zhao Xing.
When Zhao Xing found out about this, he did not show any leniency but directly held him accountable and promoted the county magistrate to take over.
After a few times, the county magistrates became more obedient and dared not act recklessly.
Those landlords and gentry, including those with strong backgrounds, did not dare to use any extreme measures.
After all, it had not been long since Zhao Xing was assassinated.
The government is investigating this matter. If you dare to do anything radical at this time, you might be regarded as the person behind it.
…………
Yin Hanzhang worked hard and finally found some clues about the assassin. He hurried to the Eastern Palace to report to Zhao Xing.
"So the assassin is really related to Prince Yong?" Zhao Xing found it a little unbelievable when he heard the news told by Yin Hanzhang.
Yin Hanzhang didn't find anything useful from those dead men.
Zhao Xing asked him to focus on monitoring the movements of Prince Yong's Palace and Prince Yan's Palace, but he did not find anything unusual.
So after careful consideration, he changed his approach.
Three hundred assassins, so many people must have a place to stay.
Places like villages and county towns are very easy to be exposed.
The area around Bian Jing is all plains, with almost no uninhabited places.
If these assassins want to hide, they can only hide in various villages.
There is a big difference between the so-called Zhuangzi and the village.
Landlords, gentry and officials owned large tracts of land.
In order to facilitate management, a farm would be built and people would be sent to manage the land and the tenants.
Those who live in the manor are the managers sent by the owner, and the tenants can only live nearby, not in the manor.
If you want to hide someone without being discovered, Zhuangzi is the best place.
Yin Hanzhang then ordered people to check all the farms in Kaifeng Prefecture to see if there was anything unusual.
This matter is simple at the same time, and it is also very difficult at the same time.
Zhuangzi's tenants depended on their masters for survival. Not only did they rarely come into contact with outsiders, they also had a certain degree of loyalty to their masters.
You must be careful when checking, otherwise you will be easily exposed.
After spending so much time, he finally found some clues.
Generally speaking, there are not many people in charge of managing Zhuangzi, and the Zhuangzi is completely self-sufficient in terms of food and drink.
However, starting from the past few months, several farms began to show abnormalities. They would buy some meat from outside every few days, and the quantity was not small.
After Zhao Xing was assassinated, those farms stopped purchasing meat.
These Zhuangzi have one thing in common: they are all under the name of King Yong.
"I am not sure yet and need further investigation." Yin Hanzhang said.
Since the matter concerned the royal family, Yin Hanzhang did not dare to say much. All he could do was report the clues he had found to Zhao Xing.
As for what Zhao Xing thinks, it is none of his business.
"You did a good job, keep investigating." Zhao Xing said.
After sending Yin Hanzhang away, Zhao Xing fell into deep thought.
Zhao Xing was a little bit unbelievable about this result at first.
After all, judging from Prince Yong's performance, he can be completely classified as a fool.
He had clearly won the fight for the crown prince position and all he had to do was wait to ascend the throne.
Just because his daughter was jealous of Rong Feiyan, he had Rong Feiyan kidnapped.
You must know that Rong Feiyan is the emperor's favorite concubine. If something goes wrong, she might lose her position as crown prince.
Later, he did not lose his position as crown prince. In order to avenge his sister, the Rong family helped Prince Yan rebel.
In the end, Prince Yong's entire family died tragically, and Zhao Zongquan took advantage of the situation.
Zhao Xing originally thought that such a fool would not have the courage to assassinate him, and always believed that it was the King of Yan.
After all, this person is the one who dares to rebel.
But now that I think about it carefully, it seems normal for Prince Yong to be so stupid and do such a thing.
…………
In late July, the sun was scorching and the weather was extremely hot.
Zhao Xing was not as diligent as before when he went to the Kaifeng government office.
Basically, he would go there once every few days, and usually he would ask Sheng Hong to deliver the official documents that needed his processing to the East Palace.
On this day, Sheng Wei sent someone to deliver the news that Li Ge had arrived in Bian Jing.
Zhao Xing asked Sheng Wei to take him to see the glassware first, and went to Sheng Wei's house to meet Li Ge early the next morning.
Li Ge first presented the generous gifts he had brought, including top-quality century-old ginseng, sable fur, tiger skin and tiger bones.
There are even a few tiger whips.
Tiger skins and bones are nothing.
In later generations, this thing is a protected animal, but in ancient times it was very common, even rampant.
Every year there are cases of tigers injuring people in various places, and the government offers rewards for killing tigers.
However, century-old ginseng and high-quality sable fur are still relatively rare.
But for Zhao Xing, these are just that.
"Thank you, King Qin, for your kindness." Zhao Xing waved his hand and asked people to accept the gift. Then he looked at Li Ge and waited for the next step.
When you treat others with courtesy, you must ask for something.
This gift was heavier than the last one, and Zhao Xing was very curious about his purpose.
Thanks to Mr. Wang for the 2-coin reward for his bookcase. I owe you more.
I currently owe four chapters, and I will definitely return them later.
The update frequency has been changed to two times during this period, but the number of words has not changed.
Previously, there were three updates with 6,000 words, and now there are two updates with 6,000 words.
(End of this chapter)