Chapter 229: Venting for Father
At noon, Zhang Guifen was hosting a banquet to entertain officials and their families. It was inconvenient for Zhao Xing to go over, so he stayed at Sheng Shulan's place for lunch.
I woke up from a nap and was thinking about what to do in the afternoon when Sanshui walked in.
"Your Highness, someone from the palace said that the banquet in the palace tonight has been cancelled." Sanshui bowed.
"cancelled?"
Zhao Xing was stunned when he heard this and asked in surprise: "Why cancel it?"
It has become a tradition to hold banquets to entertain officials during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lantern Festival. The sudden cancellation must mean something big has happened.
"This morning, many officials headed by Prime Minister Zhou came to the palace to ask to see Your Majesty. They talked about the matter of measuring the land of the world. They said that Prime Minister Yu's methods were too drastic and wanted to ask Your Majesty to stop temporarily or replace him with someone else. The emperor was furious and soon sent someone to inform the emperor to cancel the banquet in the palace tonight!" Sanshui said.
"When did it happen? Is father okay?" Zhao Xing asked anxiously.
"When I received the news, His Highness had just fallen asleep. I asked him and he was fine, so I didn't wake him up."
Zhao Xing heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this and said, "Have someone prepare a carriage. I want to go to the palace."
"Yes!" Sanshui responded and walked out.
"Shulan, I can't accompany you this afternoon." Zhao Xing said apologetically.
"Your Highness has been with me for the whole morning, and I am very happy. Business is more important, so Your Highness should go quickly." Shulan smiled and walked forward to help Zhao Xing straighten his clothes.
"Ok!"
Zhao Xing reached out and stroked Shulan's face, bent down and kissed her on the forehead, then turned and left.
…………
When Zhao Xing arrived at the palace, he learned that his father was in the Funing Palace, so he took a sedan chair and went directly to the Funing Palace.
"My son, I pay my respects to my father!"
After being informed, Zhao Xing walked into the hall and bowed.
"Fuer is here." The official saw Zhao Xing smiling, but his tone was a little bleak.
"Father, are you okay?" Zhao Xing looked at his father who looked a little haggard and felt a little worried.
"Come, sit down beside me and talk." The emperor waved his hand.
"Yes!"
A eunuch moved a stool and placed it beside the emperor. Zhao Xing walked forward and sat down.
"You all go down." The official waved his hand.
The palace maids and eunuchs in the hall bowed and left.
The emperor looked at his energetic son and said absentmindedly, "I succeeded to the throne at the age of thirteen. When I first ascended the throne, the late queen mother arranged many wise teachers for me. I studied very hard and was determined to be a wise ruler. After I took power, I always ruled with virtue, and the world was relatively peaceful.
At that time, I was actually quite complacent, thinking that even though I was not as good as my ancestors, I had not brought shame to them.
But after the war with Xixia, I realized that all this was just an appearance. After I took power, the tax revenue of the Song Dynasty increased every year, even exceeding that of our ancestors. However, after the defeat in the war with Xixia, the compensation alone almost emptied the treasury. "
"I was very confused at that time. Taizu and Taizong had led many northern expeditions, and the tax revenue at that time was not as high as it is now. Why did I empty the national treasury after just losing one battle?
I went to investigate and found that the various accumulated problems in the Song Dynasty had become extremely serious.
I thought that this couldn't go on, I had to find a way to solve the problem, so I asked my ministers for advice.
Mr. Fan Wenzheng's words are most in line with my wishes, and he also proposed a solution, so I promoted him to Grand Chancellor and let him preside over the new policy."
"Because I was too anxious, the new policy was implemented hastily, and various problems arose, and there was also great opposition and resistance. At that time, we had just been defeated in the war with Western Xia, and the Western Xia and Liao were eyeing us covetously. The Song Dynasty could not afford internal chaos, so I had to stop the new policy."
"Those people asked me to punish Grand Chancellor Fan who presided over the new policy. I have already let them down, so how can I be willing to punish them?
However, Mr. Fan and others understand my difficulties, and many of them have asked to be demoted. "
The official talked a lot and Zhao Xing listened quietly without interrupting him.
At this point, the emperor paused and said self-deprecatingly: "Perhaps they are disappointed in me."
Zhao Xing still didn't say anything. It was hard to say who was right or wrong in this matter.
Is the emperor wrong?
Of course there were, but the mistake was that the stance was not firm enough and that we did not anticipate the turmoil that the reform would cause.
His father said that he was determined to be a wise ruler. In Zhao Xing's opinion, his father's definition of a wise ruler was actually one who could protect the legacy left by his ancestors.
Simply put, it is the territory of the Song Dynasty.
The reform was to stabilize the rule of the Song Dynasty, and the same was true for stopping it.
In his opinion, the cost of reform has exceeded his expectations, so there is naturally no need for reform.
In these respects, he is definitely wrong.
But that reform was too hasty and had many problems.
It’s not wrong to call a halt.
If we really insist on doing this, the disadvantages will be even greater.
Because the direction of reform was wrong from the beginning.
The Song Dynasty had many problems, and the most urgent one at that time was to solve the problem of lack of money.
The solution to this problem is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
The Song Dynasty had many officials and their salaries were very high.
Officials' salaries alone accounted for a large portion of the court's annual expenditure.
The reformists, led by Prime Minister Fan, first streamlined the court's institutions, conducted performance appraisals on officials, eliminated some unqualified officials, and at the same time established a strict promotion and elimination mechanism, limited recruitment quotas, and so on.
In fact, when the government first appointed Prime Minister Fan to carry out reforms, most officials were taking a wait-and-see attitude.
Some even think that they can profit from the reform.
But after Mr. Fan's actions, officials found that their promotion opportunities became smaller and their salaries and benefits decreased, scholars found it difficult to find jobs, and landlords found that their land was reduced. So officials were unhappy, scholars were unhappy, and landlords were unhappy. Since everyone is unhappy, you can't be happy.
If the reform was like the layoffs in later companies, it could be solved by finding some excuses or paying some money, and it wouldn't be that troublesome.
However, those who need to be laid off are not ordinary employees, but middle and senior management.
If these people start making trouble, the company will be paralyzed.
The big boss, Guan Jia, realized that this was not going to work. Even though the company had problems, it would not collapse.
If things continued like this, the company might collapse. Although that was not necessarily the case, he did not dare to take the risk.
So we called a halt!
"I backed down last time, but I won't this time!"
When the official said this, his expression was extremely firm.
"Father, don't think too much. Most people are selfish. The impact of the land inventory on the interests of officials is not that big. They are just worried that your land inventory will be a prelude to the implementation of a new policy. That's why they try every means to stop it. They are not sure how determined they are. And I have ways to make them so anxious that they have no time to care about these things." Zhao Xing said.
The previous new policy left a bad impression on most people.
The reason they prevented the land inventory was not necessarily because their own interests were harmed.
Instead, they are worried that the government will implement new policies in the future that will affect their interests, so as soon as there is such a sign, those officials will stop it.
But if you ask them how determined they are, in fact, they are not.
Otherwise, there would have been a lot of opposition.
How could they make a fuss now?
"What method?" the official asked.
"Your Majesty, please allow me to keep you in suspense. You will know when the time comes." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
To be honest, his method is a bit vulgar. His father has been influenced by Confucianism and has a bit of a corrupt scholarly air. He may not agree with it if he tells him so.
The official said sternly, "Fuer, you can't do anything rash."
Although he didn't know what Zhao Xing's so-called method was, no one knows his son better than his father. Besides, Zhao Xing was unwilling to say it out loud, so he knew that Zhao Xing was up to no good.
"Don't worry, father. I won't do anything rash." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
The emperor pondered and said, "I canceled the banquet in the palace today just to scare those people. They won't make trouble for the time being. As long as Yu Xianggong and his men make some progress, no one can stop them. I told you that just to tell you that if you want to reform in the future, you must think it through. Once you decide to do it, you can't hesitate. You must not make trouble!"
"Don't worry, father. I know the seriousness of the matter," said Zhao Xing.
Having said that, he did not waver.
No matter how future generations evaluate my father, he was still very good to his son.
These people have made his father so angry, Zhao Xing must vent his anger for him.
Moreover, Zhao Xing thought that it was of little use for his father to pretend to be angry in order to intimidate those people.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. There will be no banquet in the palace today, but the festival still needs to be celebrated. Go back and bring the Crown Princess with you to the palace to have dinner and watch the moon with me and the Queen." said the emperor.
"Yes, then I will go back first." Zhao Xing stood up and saluted.
"Go ahead." The official waved his hand.
Although the emperor was not very reassured after hearing this, since Zhao Xing had given his assurances again and again, what else could he say? He could only send someone to keep an eye on it.
…………
After returning to the Eastern Palace and learning that the officials' wives had all left, Zhao Xing went directly to Chunhe Palace.
"Your Highness!" Zhang Guifen saluted.
"How does it feel to entertain those officials' families?" Zhao Xing came and sat down on the soft rosewood Arhat bed at the top and asked with a smile.
"Don't mention it, Your Highness. I'm almost annoyed." Zhang Guifen came over and sat down, saying with a headache.
Those who came to visit her were officials from the Eastern Palace and the wives of the sons of some nobles and high-ranking officials.
It was naturally impossible for these people to be harmonious. They didn't dare to quarrel in front of her, but they were bound to make sarcastic remarks while speaking.
Zhang Guifen is a rather indifferent person, and these messy things give her a headache.
Zhao Xing smiled. There was nothing he could do about this matter.
In the future, when he ascends the throne and Zhang Guifen becomes the queen, there will be much more to the story than this.
The queen is not only in charge of the harem, although she does not have the right to directly manage the officials' families.
However, he also had to receive some ladies who came to pay him a visit, and often organized some activities and invited officials' families to participate as a sign of royal favor.
"By the way, Siyu seems to have had a conflict with her husband, and she is reluctant to talk about it when asked." Zhang Guifen said.
"Since she didn't say anything, it shouldn't be a big deal. Just don't worry about it." Zhao Xing said.
Cao Siyu married the eldest son of Marquis Anyang. Although the Cao family was a duke's family and a foreign relative, marrying the eldest son of a marquis's family was not considered a low marriage.
Given the status of the Cao family, the Anyang Marquisate would not treat her poorly. It was estimated that there would only be some minor conflicts between the couple.
"Yeah." Zhang Guifen nodded.
"what is this?"
Zhao Xing saw a stick on the low table and picked it up curiously.
"This was given to me by my sister-in-law when she left. She said my father asked her to bring it and pass it on to Your Highness. I didn't dare to read what was written on it." Zhang Guifen said.
"My father-in-law is really something. If you have anything to say, just come to me and tell me directly. Why did you write a special letter and send it to me in a roundabout way?" Zhao Xing shook his head.
(End of this chapter)