Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

The next day, the Eight Sage Kings attended the court meeting in formal attire.

In the Song Dynasty, the prince listened to the court and was under the prime minister.

The Eight Sage Kings stood behind Fan Zhongyan, with a solemn face and a wat board in their hands.

Before he could speak, Zhao Yiyi took out the note that Fan Zhongyan had presented earlier, and said, "Fan Qing, I don't understand something here."

Fan Zhongyan said: "Officials, where did the ministers not write clearly?"

Zhao Yiyi opened the letter: "You write here. The officials of Jiangning Prefecture wrote a letter saying that the Yellow River was seriously affected by the disaster this year, and asked the imperial court to reduce their taxes next year."

Fan Zhongyan said: "Yes."

Zhao Yiyi threw the Zha Zi away and said angrily: "It is not impossible for the imperial court to reduce or exempt taxes for the disaster-stricken areas, but Jiangning Mansion is not in the Yellow River Basin. If the Yellow River floods, what has it to do with them? Disaster, is it really possible to be so poor that you can’t even pay your taxes?”

Fan Zhongyan said: "The officials of the Jiangning Mansion said that the imperial government bought rice in Jiangning Mansion in order to get more money and food to subsidize the disaster-stricken areas last year. If the imperial court still wants to collect taxes in Jiangning Mansion this year, I am afraid the farmers will starve to death."

Zhao Yiyi said coldly: "Go and return the official document to the officials of Jiangning Mansion, and tell them that it is nonsense."

How could it be possible for the imperial court to purchase grain from farmers door to door?

Not to mention troublesome, there is a flood in the north, does the court have that spare time to go up the mountains and down to the countryside?

It is enough to collect taxes once a year, and you have to buy food from house to house, you will not be exhausted.

It must be to find a few big grain merchants to cooperate and buy out the grain in the hands of the grain merchants.

At that time, Zhao Yiyi was worried about the disaster situation, fearing that once the floods expanded, the number of victims would increase and it would not end well. He once asked the officials responsible for collecting grain in the south of the Yangtze River to receive enough grain as soon as possible no matter what.

If the emperor said "as fast as possible", the officials below have too much room to operate.

Anyway, the speed at which they harvested the grain shocked Zhao Yiyi. In almost three days, the grain harvest target was reached.After more than half a month, all the food was delivered to the disaster area.

In this era without trains and steamships, Zhao Yiyi is already very satisfied to be able to do this.

But he also understood that there must be a lot of tricks in it.

Not to mention anything else, the national treasury was not too rich at that time, and the money allocated by the Ministry of Households to the grain purchase officials was "as much", that is to say, how much it usually costs to buy these grains, and now it will be allocated to them. how much money.

I also want to know that there is a flood in the north, and seeing that the grain production has decreased, how can the grain merchants in the south not sit on the ground and raise prices?

Usually a bucket of rice costs fifty renminbi, but now a dou of rice costs [-] renminbi.

But the grain buyer really bought a bucket of rice with fifty renminbi.

This is what people do.During the special period, Zhao Yiyi didn't care about how others did it - anyway, it's something that can't be discussed on the stage.

By the way, he remembered that the grain buyer sent to Jiangnan back then seemed to be Pang Ji...

Zhao Yiyi glanced at Pang Ji thoughtfully.

He is still the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, standing honestly in the ranks of civilian officials.

A good emperor is a good emperor who knows people well, and such a capable person must be used well...

However, Pang Ji must have used some extremely offensive method in the south of the Yangtze River to buy up all the grain in his hands.

Food is a very special commodity.

Every year, crop after crop of grain grows from the ground.

Growing food requires a whole year of complicated and heavy labor, and food is something that everyone needs. Everyone has to eat a lot of food a year. The price of food should not be too expensive or too cheap. Low grain hurts farmers.

This also determines that growing food is unprofitable.

There is only one way to gain profits from food—to expand the scale of transactions.

Even if there is only five to ten cash profit margins for a bucket of rice, once the scale increases, tens of thousands of stones are easily bought and sold, and the profits are extremely considerable.

And grain is a hard currency, so you never have to worry about being unable to sell it in your hands.Dig a cellar as a granary, which can be preserved for more than ten to twenty years.In case of chaos in the world, if you have food in your hands, you will not panic, and you can live your life behind closed doors.

This also determines that those who can be grain merchants in such a wealthy place in the south of the Yangtze River are wealthy merchants with strong capital in their hands.

Zhao Yiyi admired Pang Ji's ability to dig out meat from these people.

After all, when he himself was fighting against Jiangnan grain merchants, he still smashed the golden Buddha of Daxiangguo Temple and cast them into shiny copper coins, so as to appease the group of hungry wolves who were only looking for profit.

No matter how Pang Ji did it, anyway, the grain merchants in the south of the Yangtze River bought out the grain at the low price during the disaster year. The grain merchants had no grain in their hands and hadn't paid the national calamity. Naturally, they were angry. We must try our best to snatch this piece of meat back from the imperial court.

Grain merchants have no grain in their hands, so naturally they can no longer buy low and sell high to manipulate grain prices, which is extremely unfavorable to them.

Only by taking advantage of buying a large amount of grain this year to fill up our own grain depot can we make up for some losses.

Every year, there are countless grains produced in the south of the Yangtze River. If the government collects a part of the tax, they can buy less, which is not acceptable.

The only way is to collude with local officials and persuade the court to cut taxes.Only when the court tax revenue is reduced can there be surplus food for them to buy.

"The whole country is one. Now that the north is suffering from disasters, I didn't pay more taxes to the south because I was sympathetic to the suffering of the farmers. If you want to follow the tax exemption, there is no way."

Zhao Yiyi said with a cold face: "Who is in charge of the Jiangning Mansion, you go and tell them, if this kind of nonsense is sent to the capital, his official will not even think about being an official, and he will go home to retire. By the way, this year's In the evaluation, give him a low grade."

Fan Zhongyan said: "Yes."

Zhao Yiyi glanced around the Chongzheng Hall: "Who else? Is there any state capital that has not been hit by the disaster and wants to reduce taxes?"

All the officials bowed their heads, not daring to speak.

The emperor is angry, whoever speaks is stupid.

Zhao Yiyi sneered: "No one, right? No one, I can leave."

After speaking, he stood up, and Liu En followed in small steps.

At this time, a needle can be heard in the Chongzheng Hall, and the voice of the Eight Sage Kings suddenly sounded: "The officials stay here."

Zhao Yiyi kept walking: "The emperor also has something to play? If it's a small housework, there's no need to discuss it in the Chongzheng Hall."

The Eight Sages said: "What I want to play is a major national event."

Zhao Yiyi said: "The prime minister handles major national affairs, so the emperor don't have to worry about it."

Eight Wise Kings said: "The prime minister is a minister of the government, even if there are some omissions in the decision-making of the government, he may not dare to speak out."

Zhao Yiyi turned to look at him: "The prime minister dare not speak out, how dare the uncle?"

Eight Wise Kings said: "I dare to advise the prime minister on matters that the prime minister dare not advise."

The hall became more and more silent, and the officials who were close secretly raised their heads to watch the quarrel between the emperor and his son.

That's right, father and son.

Who doesn't know that the Baxian King is actually the emperor's biological father?

Isn't the Eight Worthy Kings always wise and safe? Why is he suddenly playing the trick of erecting a palace to remonstrate with the emperor?

A few days ago, the father and son were still very affectionate, and they asked for a marriage and a sacrifice to the mausoleum. Why is there such a commotion now?

Zhao Yiyi said: "Why would Uncle Huang dare?"

The Eight Sage King said: "Because I am the uncle of the official family, the late emperor entrusted the official family to me before his death."

Zhao Yiyi smiled: "The emperor is confused. The first emperor entrusted me to the queen mother and the Duke of Lai."

Eight Wise Kings said: "Then what about them now?"

Kou Zhun has retired, and Liu E was ill last night. Zhao Yiyi personally sent someone to visit him. At this time, both of them are not in the Chongzheng Hall.

The Eight Sage King said softly: "So I come to persuade the officials, who else would dare except me?"

He took out a letter from his sleeve: "This is the memorial written by the minister overnight. The minister is clumsy in speech and tongue, and he is not as talented as you adults. The only thing he has is loyalty. Please, after reading it, the officials can meditate on their own past, Dismiss Di Qing and choose another senior and virtuous person to serve as the Privy Envoy."

Xiao Huangmen took over the Zhazi of the Eight Sage Kings and passed it to Liu En.

Zhao Yiyi didn't pick it up, but took another look at the Eight Sage Kings, then turned and went back to the inner palace.

The Eight Sage Kings stood in the Chongzheng Hall for a long time before turning around and leaving the hall gate.

Zhao Yiyi didn't open his letter.

Naturally, Di Qing was not dismissed, and he still lives in Qingbei University. Qingbei University is very close to the Forbidden Army camp, so it is convenient to commute to get off work every day.

Every time after that, the Eight Sage Kings would appear in Chongzheng Hall on time and do nothing else. After Zhao Yiyi finished discussing with the officials, he handed over a memorial, urging Zhao Yiyi to let Di Qing go.

In the beginning, a young censor in Yushitai criticized him for this behavior-the clan should not interfere in politics, let alone the emperor's own father.Are you going to be the overlord?

The Eight Sage Kings ignored such remarks, and just appeared in the Chongzheng Hall unshakably, listening to the discussion and handing over the letter.

Gradually, even the censors couldn't bear to criticize him.

What a virtuous king!I don't want to do anything else, I just want the emperor to remove Di Qing from his post.

Speaking of Di Qing, the big guy didn't really admire him, it was just that the emperor's rhetoric led him astray, and he was confused and made him a privy envoy.

Thinking about it carefully, the censors didn't have a good impression of him.

And the Eight Sage Kings have always been the embodiment of virtue, and at this time they silently expressed their dissatisfaction with Di Qing for them-they had wanted to join Di Qing for a long time, but the emperor was determined to protect him, and even made up A bunch of fallacies were spoken out, which made it impossible for them to participate.

If you say that Di Qingnian is too young, the emperor will say that he is familiar with the art of war.

You said that Di Qing had only fought one battle and was inexperienced, so the emperor said that he was born a god of war.

You say that Di Qing's meritorious service is superior to the Lord, but the emperor said that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.

You said that Di Qing was a relative of the emperor, and he was suspected of going through the back door, but the emperor said that it was the empress dowager's approval.

But the Eight Sage Kings were different. The Eight Sage Kings didn't listen to the emperor's explanation, so he just handed over the papers silently.

You can't avoid Di Qing's job!

Stop talking so much nonsense!

Day after day, the censors actually developed a feeling of sympathy for the Eight Sage Kings.

Alas, they are all in the business of admonishing, and only the peers know the suffering of the peers.

They all know how to play with their pens. After writing a few articles, the public opinion suddenly changed. The Eight Sage Kings changed from an ambitious clan trying to interfere in politics to a lonely hero who made silent contributions.

There is also a saying that has gradually come up, saying that the Eight Sage Kings are the emperor's biological father after all, and it seems that the emperor does not give face to the biological father, it seems, it seems, is it not good?

... At this time, the emperor is required to be filial to his father again.

Zhao Yiyi rolled his eyes.

Although he can ignore the Eight Sage King's memorials, but this kind of public opinion makes him quite troubled.

Anyway, is he the son of the Eighth Sage King? Even if the Eighth Sage King is sure that he dare not touch him, he has nothing to fear.

Zhao Yiyi wanted to forget about finding a marriage for Zhao Yunxi, and then let the Baxian King go home to hold the wedding, hold the couple for three years, and play with his grandchildren, so as not to meddle in the affairs of the court anymore.

He was flipping through the pictures of beauties sent by Zongzheng Temple—the temple thought that he was going to choose a concubine, and kindly sent a portrait of an unmarried military general from Bianliang.

Anyway, their old Zhao family likes to marry the daughter of a military general, so it's not wrong to find a general who is a tiger girl.

In the end, Liu En was whispering to a young eunuch in the corridor, and then he came back with a strange expression.

"Officials," he said, "Bao Zheng has returned to the capital."

Zhao Yiyi raised his head from the beauty picture: "Great! Tell him to take care of the group of censors under his command, don't write everything!"

Liu En shook his head: "It's a trivial matter. Official, do you know who he brought back?"

Zhao Yiyi said: "He went to get married, of course he brought his wife back."

Liu En smiled: "In addition to his new wife, he also brought back a woman. That person was also surnamed Li. Bao Zheng claimed that it was his wife's natal aunt, and he hired a sedan chair for this aunt alone, and even performed the ceremony. Congrats."

Zhao Yiyi's eyelids twitched.

Surnamed Li, aunt, very respectful...

He raised his head slowly: "Don't tell me, he found my mother?"