Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

From this time on, the two hours of listening to Lu Ci's lectures on classics and history every day quietly became the most secret expectation in Zhao Zhen's heart.

In the first few days, Lu Ci mainly focused on finding out the bottom line. After testing Zhao Zhen's level and study habits, he made targeted lesson preparation.

In this way, every round can be finished in an orderly manner without being too hasty or lagging behind.

Whenever he had some free time, Lu Ci did not leave the palace in advance, but stayed with Zhao Zhen in the form of telling stories, sharing about when he was an official in Fenzhou, whether he met, or heard about, or was in the case. Some stories I have read in the book.

Even if it is a trivial matter, with Lu Ci's eloquence, he can make it interesting and fascinating.

Those carefully selected by him are enough to amaze Zhao Zhen, who has lived in the deep palace for a long time, except for the boring classics and history, and the occasional palace affairs, who are as simple as a blank sheet of paper, and listen to them with great interest.

On this day in late November, Lu Ci finished speaking ahead of schedule.

After Zhao Zhen, who was completely fascinated by what he heard, came back to his senses, he hurriedly asked the servant to ask the time.

Hearing that there was still half an hour left, he couldn't help but feel happy. After ordering the waiter to pour Lu Ci a cup of hot soup to quench his thirst, he took the initiative to ask, "Yu Yu, what are you going to talk about today?"

Seeing his impatient look, Lu Ci couldn't help but smile, but instead of answering, asked, "I wonder how much your Highness knows about the storage and inventory for shortages?"

Zhao Zhen pondered for a moment, then slowly replied: "There are Changping, Yi, Huimin, Guanghui, Shehe Fengchu and other warehouses."

Lu Ci raised his eyebrows in surprise, smiled and stroked his palms and said, "I thought it would be good if His Highness could answer two or three answers, but unexpectedly he could answer more than half of them."

The corners of Zhao Zhen's lips turned up slightly.

Unexpectedly, Lu Ci's next sentence was: "What your Highness doesn't know is that Changping and Yicang have only empty names in many places, and there is no reserve."

Zhao Zhen was stunned, subconsciously disbelieving, and questioned: "If there is such a deceitful act, how did they pass the inspection by the officials? The officials sent to the inspection are different every year. Even if there are colluders, It’s absolutely impossible to hide it forever.”

Changping Warehouse and Righteous Warehouse are both subordinate to the central government. Every year, officials from the capital are sent to various places to conduct spot checks to ensure the abundance of storage.

Lu Ci nodded: "Your Highness's words are not bad. There may be collusion, but it should be a small number. They are able to hide the truth, mostly relying on deception."

Zhao Zhen was thoughtful, Lu Ci waited patiently for a while, and then gave an example: "Take Chenzhou, where the incident happened last year, as an example. When the governor of Chenzhou built two warehouses, he deliberately separated the two warehouses. And the other warehouse is empty. Officials check, often only choose one of the warehouses to inspect. When encountering a situation, you only need to hang up the card of the inspected warehouse, and you can conceal each other."

Zhao Zhen was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a while, but after a long while, he couldn't help but sighed deeply, frowned and said: "If you play tricks like this, you will be in such a mess when the disaster comes, how can you help?! "

Lu Ci nodded: "When there is a locust outbreak this summer, it's clear at a glance where the warehouses have no food."

Fortunately, the locust plague was isolated by tens of thousands of duck soldiers on the dangerous side of the Yellow River, and failed to spread to the fertile land in the south. In addition, some local officials had taken precautions before, so the negative impact was quickly brought under control.

Speaking of this, Lu Ci let the little prince digest the cruel facts for a while, and then continued unhurriedly: "Your Highness thinks, what is the reason for the inability to prepare for the wilderness?"

Zhao Zhen pursed his lips, and said sullenly: "It must be money and rice for the shortage, and some corrupt officials have embezzled it."

Lu Ci smiled and said, "This is just one of the reasons."

Zhao Zhen looked at Lu Ci suspiciously.

Lu Ci said in a slow manner: "The county magistrates of various ways are to support the people. They should persuade the people to be frugal in good years and actively prepare for disasters. However, although the imperial court has edicts, it is difficult for local officials to implement them. Mi Langli, the public is not willing to collect the purchases, and most of the private ones dare not save, and the harvested grains are scattered at will' frequently occur."

Zhao Zhen couldn't help asking: "Why are they so bold, disregarding the imperial edict, and everything is perfunctory?"

Lu Ci took a meaningful look at Zhao Zhen: "Your Highness, you know that local officials are usually tested once a year, or every three years?"

Zhao Zhen had heard about this, so he couldn't help but nodded.

Lu Ci smiled faintly: "Then His Highness must have never heard of it. There is also the saying of 'one year to build prestige, one year to receive favors, one year to plan'."

Zhao Zhen was stunned immediately.

Lu Ci simply explained: "Because of the frequent changes and the short term of office, those who are willing to make contributions have already moved to other departments if they want to rectify the old problems. The local power is deeply entrenched, but it also makes it difficult for most officials to govern because they are not familiar with the customs and customs. They have to rely on subordinate officials. How can they have the leisure to observe the sufferings of the people? When replacing officials, they all need to be greeted and sent. This is a huge financial fortune. burden."

"And when officials take exams, most of them only emphasize seniority and despise political achievements." Lu Ci raised his eyebrows: "For a long time, I am afraid that what has been encouraged is that the officials have no intention of government affairs and seek advantages and avoid disadvantages."

To put it bluntly, the probability of a disaster year is actually low.

Instead of doing some thankless missions to prepare for the famine and make it cheaper for those who come later, it is better to be lucky and hope that disasters will not happen under your control, and then concentrate on dealing with the exams.

At this point, Lu Ci stopped in time.

He brushed away the seriousness of the topic just now, a gentle smile appeared on the corner of his lips again, and he said briskly: "Okay. The time is coming, I will take my leave, and please take care of yourself, Your Highness."

In the end, he shared these local affairs with the little prince mainly to inspire the other party's thinking and expand the way of thinking. Don't just focus on reading dead books, but also plant a small seed of worry and reform in the other party's heart.

It's definitely not whimsical, just by chatting with Zhao Zhen for a while, these long-accumulated ills can be eradicated at once.

Zhao Zhen was still immersed in the heavy atmosphere at the moment, and the white and tender Baozi's face was full of folk sufferings. Hearing Lu Ci's tone suddenly, it took a while to wake up.

This is leaving again?

Subconsciously, he was about to get up and see him off, but was stopped by Lu Ci with a smile.

He could only continue to sit, watching Lu Ci's handsome and handsome back getting further and further away.

Zhao Zhen's mood also involuntarily fell a little bit, and he fell down on the table slowly, sighing deeply.

Two hours is not long, nor is it short, why does it feel like it passes so fast?

Zhao Zhen didn't stay depressed for long before he got good news.

His father, Zhao Heng, who might not be able to see him for a few days, suddenly had a whim and wanted to come to the East Palace to have dinner with the only remaining prince under his knee.

Compared with the other five princes, Zhao Heng doesn't really like Zhao Zhen very much.

Whether it's the unsmiling and old-fashioned temperament, or the biological mother who has little affection for her and has a very humble background, it is difficult for him to feel much affection for her.

However, the other princes all died young, and only the weak Zhao Zhen stayed.

In addition to grief, Zhao Heng naturally paid more attention to him.

After all, Zhao Zhen is young, so he is very happy to be able to share dinner with his father, but he has always been reserved and shy, and even if he is happy, he is used to not showing it.

Seeing that he still looked lifeless, even if he came out to greet him, he only smiled reluctantly...

Even Zhao Heng wanted to express his concern, but it was really hard for him to open his mouth, so he simply gave up.

After eating, Zhao Heng habitually checked some of Zhao Zhen's homework. Zhao Zhen was secretly nervous, but he knew everything by heart.

Zhao Heng nodded in satisfaction, and after giving the compliment, he was ready to go to Liu E's for a sit down.

But at this moment, Zhao Zhen mustered up the courage to speak: "Daddy, I want to ask one more thing."

Zhao Heng stopped in surprise, and turned around to look at this son who was usually a boring gourd: "But it's okay to ask."

Zhao Zhen breathed a sigh of relief quietly, and asked, "I don't know how the states and counties that are not able to provide relief will be dealt with in the end when the summer locusts are out this year?"

"..."

Zhao Heng, who had been a hands-off shopkeeper for a long time and only knew that Wang Dan was going to deal with it, but he didn't know the follow-up, was immediately stopped by questioning.

Zhao Heng frowned: "For no reason, why did you ask this?"

Zhao Zhen then briefly explained to Lu Ci about the abuse of storage that Lu Ci had mentioned.

"Lu Zuo Yude?"

Zhao Heng was stunned for a moment, and then from the corner of his memory, he found the little Xiangrui whom he remembered so much a few months ago, and matched up with this new official position: "He taught you all these things. of?"

Since Wang Dan died of illness, he was "forced" to appoint Kou Zhun as his prime minister holding his nose, and he became even more disinterested in handling government affairs.

It was only now that he remembered that there was still such a stubble.

Zhao Zhen became nervous, thinking that his father was dissatisfied with Lu Ci's teaching of things other than Confucian classics, so he quickly said a lot of good things for Lu Ci.

Seeing that his face was flushed and he was so nervous that he stammered, but he insisted on explaining to Lu Ci, Zhao Heng was amused: "I didn't say I would punish him, what are you in a hurry for?"

As soon as Xiao Taotie was mentioned, Zhao Heng's mood inexplicably improved a bit.

Thinking of paying more attention tomorrow, he summoned someone to ask a few questions, and at the same time joked to his worried son: "Thanks to your reminder, otherwise I would have forgotten, and I still owe him the royal meal delivered every two or three days." .”

Lu Ci still didn't know that his royal meal benefits were about to be restored. After he finished his lecture on Confucian classics, he didn't go home directly. Instead, he took a different route and went to the market.

Having such a worry-free student is countless times better than he originally imagined to accompany the bear to study. He is proud to reciprocate, not only doing his best in teaching, but also coaxing people to be happy.

There are countless rare treasures in the palace, but the folk gadgets also have their unique features.

In addition, according to Lu Ci's observations in recent days, Zhao Zhen is not a luxury person, so it is very suitable for him to choose some novelty, interesting, but cheap small items as gifts.

Unexpectedly, he had lost his sight in later generations, so he wandered the market for a long time, but he couldn't find any novelty items that he wanted.

After much deliberation, he finally decided that he might as well wait until the holidays and make one himself.

Before he took a few steps, Lu Ci remembered something and couldn't help smiling.

——Since you want to do it, just make one more.

At that time, I will send it to the little raccoon slave, as a reward for his hard work in studying.

After all, a copy of "Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals" is enough for a young man to chew on for a long time.