To The Land of Nevernight

In the 30th year of Kaiping, on February [-]th, Emperor Zhao Fu of the Great Song Dynasty was furious in the court hall, and directly dismissed Qin Si, the right servant of the household department, and Zhao Jing, the minister of the government.These two are officials in charge of Duzhisi, and they were dismissed at the same time at home, waiting to be released, and Duzhisi lost its backbone.

In the court hall, Zhao Fu unceremoniously reprimanded the left minister Ji Wengji and the right minister Wang Quan.And the two officials he dismissed, one is an official of the Royal Party and the other is a backbone of the Disciplinary Party, which also greatly dampened the spirit of the two parties.

The next day, Zhao Fu summoned several confidants in the Chui Gong Hall.

Seven or eight court officials stood in the Chuigong Hall, waiting for Zhao Fu to speak.

Zhao Fudao: "I originally thought that reopening the Duzhi Division was a good thing and a convenient thing. But now someone tells me that my Duzhi Division is rotten from the root. Say a word for him, and even watched his body being eaten by wild wolves! He was a county magistrate, and later became an official of Duzhisi. He died because of Duzhisi. Who will tell me who he is? How did you die?"

In the vertical arch hall, there is no sound.

Jiangnan Guangling Mansion, also known as Yangzhou in later generations.The death of the county magistrate of a county below Yangzhou, and the death of a low-ranking official of the seventh rank, should not have caused such a sensation.But he is not only a small sesame official, he is also an official ordered by the court, and he is closely related to Du Zhisi, who is now on the cusp of the crisis.

It is reasonable for Zhao Fu to have an attack because of this.He wanted to be a wise king, how could he tolerate such a thing happening right under his nose?

Geng Shaoyun, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishments, said: "We should send people to the south of the Yangtze River to share the worries of the Holy One, find out the truth, and return the deceased to innocence."

Zhao Fu: "Who are you sending?"

Geng Shaoyun thought for a moment and said a few names.He sent Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Punishment over, and installed several officials from Dali Temple.Such a team is reasonable and reasonable. Generally, when such things happen, they will be supervised by the Ministry of Criminal Affairs and Dali Temple at the same time. They can also supervise each other when investigating the truth.

Zuo Xiang Ji Wengji took a step forward and said: "This matter is related to the Department of Duzhi, we should send another official from the household department."

Wang Quan glanced at Ji Wengji and remained silent.

At this moment, Wang Qin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Hubu, took a step forward and said, "Liu Si, the doctor of the Jinbu of the Ministry of Hubu, is very likely to go."

In this way, the imperial envoy sent to Jiangnan was decided like this.

After a few days, these officials all received orders from their superiors, and when they packed up their things and prepared to go to the south of the Yangtze River, Zhao Fu stood on the tall building on Dengxiantai, overlooking the entire city of Shengjing.At night, it was windy upstairs, the chief eunuch Ji Fu was holding a sable fur cloak, and carefully draped it over Zhao Fu's shoulders.

"Official, don't catch a cold."

Looking at the pitch-black imperial city from a distance, Zhao Fu frowned and said, "Do you think something is missing?"

Ji Fu looked at Shengjing shrouded in moonlight, rolled his eyes, and asked, "Does the official think that something is missing?"

"A few of them went to Guangling Mansion, plus one Liu Siji. It would be appropriate to send another one there." Zhao Fu thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Where did Tang Jing go?"

Ji Fu cursed inwardly, Zhao Fu, the emperor, has gone too far, looking at the dark city of Shengjing, thinking about things that are thousands of miles away!How did he know that what Zhao Fu was talking about was about the imperial envoy in the south of the Yangtze River? He thought that what he said was missing, that Shengjing City was missing something!Others are companions like companions to tigers, and he, Ji Fu, has suffered bad luck. This is companions like companions to the king of hell!

Ji Fu squeezed out a smile: "Since Your Majesty misses Master Tang, why don't you call Master Tang to the Chui Gong Hall tomorrow?"

Zhao Fu nodded.

On the second day, Zhao Fuzhen sent someone to look for Tang Shen in Qinzheng Hall, but when the eunuch he sent came back, he actually told him: "If you go back to the Holy Majesty, Master Tang is in Shengjing Gongyuan, and is the assistant examiner for this examination."

Zhao Fu was taken aback.

After a while, he said to Ji Fu who was beside him: "Isn't Tang Jing the one who won the Tanhua three years ago, and now he's an assistant examiner?"

Zhao Fu sent someone to inquire about the situation, and only then did he know that Xu Wei sent Tang Shen to the examination room.But how could such a thing be hidden from the emperor?After asking his subordinates to find out the facts, Zhao Fu knew that Tang Shen was transferred away by Zhou Jinzhou, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy.

"That old bastard Zhou Jin is not someone who does such trivial things. This matter must be Fu Xiru's idea. How about you Fu Xiru, your student has only been an official for three years, and you can't wait to let him do such a big thing , promote him?" Zhao Fu said so, but laughed.

Fu Wei watered the flowers and played with the birds at home all day long, as if he didn't care about world affairs.Now that the back door was suddenly opened for the students, and Tang Shen was "gilded" into the exam room, Zhao Fu felt more at ease.

"You, Fu Wei, are not really selfish!"

Since Tang Shen was in the Shengjing Gongyuan and couldn't come out, Zhao Fu gave up his idea of ​​throwing him to the south of the Yangtze River.

Tang Shen was standing upstairs in Mingyuan, unaware that he was almost thrown into the sea of ​​swords and flames by the emperor again.

On February [-]th, all three trials were over.

Candidates for Juren left the Tribute Academy one after another, but the examiners hadn't started grading papers yet.In the first three days, thousands of scholars copied the examination papers, affixed their names and sent them to the main room where the examination papers were approved.Tang Shen and others began to review the examination papers again.It was not until the end of February that more than 1 examination papers were reviewed.

Shen Yun, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, pointed out the top three candidates in this examination, and the examiners really let go of their responsibilities.

And at this moment, a storm sweeping through the entire Shengjing officially unfolded in front of these examiners.

The imperial envoys to the south of the Yangtze River had already left, and several officials of the Duzhi Division were also dismissed by the emperor, and they were temporarily detained in their own mansion, waiting to be released.Tang Shen heard about these things, and when he returned home, he went to Shangshu's mansion and met Wang Qin.

When Tang Shen came, Wang Qin was having dinner.

Seeing him, Wang Qin said, "One more pair of bowls and chopsticks."

Butler: "Yes."

Tang Shen sat down.

In fact, Tang Shen didn't eat dinner, but he had many problems in his mind at the moment, and he didn't have the heart to eat these things.He looked at the table full of dishes without moving a chopstick.

Wang Qin glanced at him, smiled softly, and said in a gentle voice, "Since you don't move your chopsticks, you must have no favorite dishes. Come here and ask the kitchen to make another dish of lion's head with crab powder, a dish of boiled dried shredded rice with chicken sauce, and a dish of Wensi tofu." .” He looked at Tang Shen, “Do you like my little brother?”

Tang Shen was speechless.

Crab powder lion head, chicken sauce boiled dry shreds, Wensi tofu...

All three are famous Guangling dishes!

Well, Wang Zifeng already knew his purpose for coming.

Tang Shen picked up the chopsticks depressedly and finished eating quickly.After eating, the two washed their hands with tea and went to the study.

Wang Qin flicked his sleeves to make tea, and said, "If you have anything you want to say, Junior Brother, just say it directly."

Tang Shen regained his composure and said, "Brother already knew about Guangling?"

The first question made Wang Zifeng laugh.He looked into Tang Shen's eyes, feeling a little hurt: "In your heart, I'm the kind of person who uses all means to achieve his goals?"

Tang Shen was stunned, and he immediately explained: "Senior brother misunderstood, I am not saying that the death of the Jiangdu county magistrate is related to the senior brother, but I want to ask when the senior brother knew about it."

Naturally, Wang Qin knew that Tang Shen didn't doubt him, but looking at Tang Shen's anxious and concerned eyes, he couldn't help but curl his lips and gave an answer: "The twenty-ninth day of last month."

The twenty-ninth day of the first lunar month!

That is to say, Jiangdu County Prime Minister of Guangling Mansion died in the first ten days of the first lunar month, and Wang Qin knew about it half a month later.But the emperor received the news after more than a month.

Sure enough, all of this was in Wang's party's plan!

Knowing this answer, many things that Tang Shen suspected before came to conclusions.He said: "I have guessed a long time ago that Wang Xianggong proposed to reform the 23 taxation regulations. On the surface, it is to reform the tax system. It’s just that Zuo Xiang will not allow it to develop, so he reopened the Duzhi Division and decided to intervene.”

Wang Qin poured a cup of tea, took a sip leisurely, and looked at Tang Shen quietly: "Continue."

"Prime Minister Zuo wants a piece of the pie, Prime Minister Wang naturally refuses. But Prime Minister Zuo is in charge of the court after all, and it is not easy to bypass him when doing such a thing, so last year, senior brother publicly agreed with Prime Minister Zuo's suggestion in the court hall, and reconsidered. Opening the Department of Branches has divided the power of the Ministry of Accounts. If you act cautiously and fearlessly, it will be difficult to be caught; if you can't bear it and move ahead of time, you will accidentally expose the gap. The left side reopens the Duzhi Division, it is true that the power of the household department is divided, but it is also sharp and has a chance to be caught."

Wang Qin stared at Tang Shen with long eyes, which made Tang Shen's heart shudder.

"Brother, why do you look at me like this?"

Wang Qin: "It's been half a year since Du Zhi Division reopened. Junior brother has been paying attention?"

Tang Shen: "Yes."

"Why pay attention?"

Tang Shen thought for a while: "After all, I'm a member of the Royal Party, and I'm on the same boat as my senior brother. How can I not care about such a big matter. Besides, I have always believed in my senior brother. Last summer, I told my senior brother that after the appearance of the Shu land The phenomenon of paper tokens, brother will never put this matter aside, you must have thought of something and done something."

These words were full of trust, and even mixed with a trace of admiration and admiration that Tang Shen himself didn't realize.

He was praising Wang Qin without reservation.

This is not flattery or rainbow fart, but in his heart, he really thinks that Wang Qin has such great ability.

These words entered Wang Zifeng's heart, making the smile on his lips even brighter.

Tang Shen uttered all his conjectures during this period, and Wang Qin gave some affirmation in a vague way.Although he didn't fully explain the king's party's plan, Tang Shen felt that he was about to clear the clouds and see the truth behind it.

But when it comes to now, the most important thing is that Wang Qin didn't say anything.

Tang Shen asked: "Who killed that county magistrate...?"

Wang Qin opened the tea box where the tea leaves were stored, and twisted some tea leaves with his fingers.He divided the twisted tea leaves into three piles, the first pile was the largest, spread out in one piece, flat.Although the second pile is a little smaller, it is much taller than the previous pile.The third pile is the smallest in number, but they are crowded together and extremely high.

Pointing to the three piles of tea leaves, Wang Qin said, "Tea leaves are their people, and heights are their wealth. Junior brother thinks, can we return our image?"

Tang Shen immediately understood what Wang Qin meant, and he nodded.

"Since the first emperor, there has been a shortage of money in the Song Dynasty. There is a lack of bronze, silver, and gold, and there is a lack of materials that can be used to cast money. The Song Dynasty has a vast territory and abundant resources. Although commerce and trade are really prosperous and the requirements for the number of coins are extremely high, it is not enough. There is no mine for minting coins. But there is not enough, there is a shortage of money. Little brother, have you ever thought about why this is?"

How did Tang Shen understand!

"Why?"

"Because they hid too many things!" Wang Qin pointed his finger, as if he had hand-picked mountains and rivers, and ruthlessly pierced through the third pile of tea leaves, which fell all over the ground.

Wang Qin: "Take the Langya Wang family as an example. The family has been passed down for a hundred years and has a rich family background. Over the past hundred years, they have hidden too many coins. They hide them and don't use them. Rare things are valuable. This is one of the reasons for the money shortage. [-]. According to the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, one thousand Wen is one tael, and one tael of money can be exchanged for one tael of silver, and ten taels of silver is equal to one tael of gold. But this is the law, if you really exchange [-] Wen for one tael of gold , that can never be exchanged. You have to add another thousand coins before anyone is willing to exchange it! Gold is the most expensive, followed by silver, and the last is copper coins. The Wang family of Langya had a treasure house a hundred years ago. How much gold was hidden in it? , only the Patriarch of each generation knows!"

Only then did Tang Shen suddenly realize.

According to normal regulations, one thousand Wen could be exchanged for one tael of silver.But that's the rule.If someone else has silver, if he is not willing to exchange it with you, then you will not be able to exchange it!

Gold is the most valuable and difficult to depreciate; silver comes next.

Aristocratic families, famous and wealthy families have hidden too much money, and they don't use it, making the money more and more expensive!

Wang Qin changed the subject, and looked coldly at the third pile of tea leaves that had been scattered on the table: "The Jiangdu County Prime Minister died at the hands of whom, I don't know. But he must have died at the hands of these people. Paper tokens are exploiting the interests of this group of people, which is beneficial to the Song Dynasty, but it is absolutely disadvantageous to these people."

"So junior brother, do you now know why he died?"

Since ancient times, reform has always been a class struggle.

Tang Shen was clear in his heart, he let out a long sigh: "After Senior Brother clears up the doubts, I understand."

Wang Qin smiled: "As long as you want to use paper money, there will be such unresolvable disputes. Since Zuo Xiang is willing to reopen the Duzhi Division and take the lead, then let him go. Zuo Xiang is righteous, noble and selfless, Willing to fight against those aristocratic families who are extravagant and wasteful, and the bells and whistles are full of food, it really makes us admire and sigh, it is beyond our power!"

Tang Shen was almost amused by Wang Zifeng's words at first, but then he thought of it.

Wait, you, a son of the Langya Wang family, take the lead in rebelling against the family, and you still use the Langya Wang family as an example... Is this really all right? !