Wei Yingwu asked people to temporarily send the incense burner back to the official office, and he himself rushed directly to Wei's mansion, Wei Yingwu was really annoyed in his heart, and actually forced Pan Liao to use this method to return the bribe, and the head of the family was really embarrassed and lost at home.

The head of the family, Wei Lian, is Wei Yingwu's cousin, but Wei Yingwu has his own mansion, and he usually doesn't have much contact, and only when there are festivals or sacrifices can everyone get together.

Not long after, Wei Yingwu came to Wei Lian's mansion, heard that Wei Yingwu came to find him, Wei Lian didn't want to answer, he was really a little dissatisfied with this cousin, the cousin came back and actually served as the third grade Jing Zhaoyin, if he was appointed to the real position, but he could only serve as the assassin from the fourth grade Shangzhou, Wei Lian couldn't afford to lose this face, so he accepted the position of senior minister.

Senior ministers are actually advisers, they have no real power, and they have no decision-making power, but they only consult when the superior thinks of you, and he can't accept a person like Wei Lian who is hungry for power, he just can't help it.

Wei Jian never felt that he was incompetent, he had already served as the secretary of the Criminal Department in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and he was the head of the Wei family who was famous all over the world, why couldn't he hang the title of governor and enter and leave the counselor's building?

In the end, he threw his responsibility for not being reused to two people, one was Du You, Du You occupied the quota of the Guanzhong family that originally belonged to the Wei family in the counselor's building, and the other was Wei Yingwu, His Royal Highness the King of Jin could not appoint two Wei family people as high-ranking officials at the same time, and this cousin hindered his career.

Hearing that his cousin was looking for him in an emergency, Wei Jian reluctantly came to the reception hall, he had a cold attitude and didn't even want to serve tea, so he asked directly: "What's the matter with me?" ”

Wei Yingwu felt his brother's coldness, and he couldn't help but be dissatisfied in his heart: "I have a purple gold and green jade incense burner there, it's the eldest brother's!" ”

Wei Lian was stunned, wasn't this incense burner given to Pan Liao last night? How is it in Wei Yingwu?

He didn't figure it out for a moment, so he asked, "Why is the incense burner where is you?" ”

Wei Yingwu couldn't hold back the anger in his heart, and he said coldly: "Pan Mansion came to find me, saying that someone lost an incense burner in front of their mansion, and hoped that I would help find the lost owner, I recognized that the incense burner belonged to the eldest brother, you send someone to retrieve it!" ”

The loss of the thief is not good, Wei Yingwu took into account the face of the eldest brother, and tried to blur this matter as much as possible, so that everyone knew it.

Wei Lian's old face turned red, he really couldn't hold his face, and said angrily: "It's really inexplicable, what does the incense burner in Panfu have to do with me?" Whatever you want, whatever you want! ”

He got up and brushed his sleeves away, Wei Yingwu shook his head secretly, no wonder King Jin looked down on him, the pattern was too small, and he actually used bribery to compete for the position of Xiangguo, which was really disgraceful.

He didn't want to think about it, Pan Liao already had that status, and he would still be greedy for a little bribe? Even relatives and friends won't want it, let alone people who have never known each other, they don't know what the eldest brother thinks.

Wei Yingwu returned to the official office, and then sent someone to send the incense burner to Wei's mansion, and the matter was over.

Unexpectedly, the entourage dragged back a pile of incense burner fragments, Wei Yingwu was stunned, and hurriedly asked, "What's the matter?" ”

The retinue shook his head, "I don't know what's going on, the head of the Wei family ordered the incense burner to be smashed and thrown out of the mansion, and the lowly didn't know what to do, so I had to drag it back." ”

Wei Yingwu sighed for a while, and the relationship between himself and the head of the family was stiff.

.........

In the official room, Guo Song met with Wen Ji, who came back from the Southern Tang Dynasty, Wen Ji was the Southern Tang Dynasty household servant and envoy, nominally in charge of financial power, but in fact, the financial power was in the hands of the eunuchs, and even the household servants who could not even afford the officials could only be in name only.

"The biggest advantage of the eunuch party is that they have mastered the army and the imperial history platform, plus they also have a secret surveillance agency, Zuoyintai, the hundred officials will be impeached if they are slightly dissatisfied, and Nan Ya can only swallow his anger, either leave, or just keep his head down."

Guo Song smiled and asked, "But I heard that Zhang Yansheng and Song Chaofeng reached a compromise, and Nanya's life should be a little better!" ”

Wen Ji smiled bitterly, "That's a little bit of interest in exchange for selling the last dignity, the five phases of the political affairs hall, three of which are recommended by the eunuch party, and the voting system is implemented for major military and political affairs, in fact, the eunuch party controls the political affairs hall, and the southern and northern yas are controlled by the eunuch party." ”

"I heard that Song Chaofeng retreated behind the scenes, why did he push Ju Wenzhen out?"

Wen Ji said with a smile: "Song Chaofeng's retreat to the background has something to do with the internal strife of the eunuch party, the three Xiangguo quotas of the Southern Ya, Song Chaofeng, Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming each got one, and the fifth Shouliang, Zhang Shang and Jiao Hope had no gains, and the three were dissatisfied, so they joined forces to force Song Chaofeng to withdraw from the position of the privy envoy of the Northern Ya, Song Chaofeng took retreat as an advance, resigned from the privy envoy on the grounds of advanced age, and asked the Queen Mother to seal Ju Wenzhen as the privy envoy, and got the support of Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming, and the fifth Shouliang and the three of them suffered a dumb loss and had to admit it. ”

"How is Ju Wenzhen compared to Song Chaofeng?" Guo Song asked with a smile.

"This person's means are a little more clever than Song Chaofeng, the first thing he did when he took the throne was to add money to the hundreds of officials of the Southern Ya, and at the same time confiscate the houses of the Guan Long family, fugitive officials and merchants who moved north, and distribute them to the middle and low-level Southern Ya officials, which appeased the Nanya officials very well and stabilized the boiling situation, of course, Ju Wenzhen is just Song Chaofeng's puppet, and these measures have been approved by Song Chaofeng."

Guo Song nodded and asked: "Envoy Wen has been back for more than half a month, and he has been understanding the people's situation in Chang'an and Guanzhong, and I feel that there are still some deficiencies in the government?" ”

Wen Ji groaned and said: "Since His Royal Highness asked me, then I will tell the truth, I feel that some officials in Chang'an have been a little lax, or have begun to indulge in arrogance. ”

Guo Song was stunned and asked solemnly: "How do you say this?" ”

"I know that His Royal Highness advocates diligence and thrift, promotes cotton and linen, and opposes silk brocade, but in the colorful boat parade on Xi'anmen Street every evening, half of them are singers and dancers showing their colorful clothes, all of which are silk and satin, and even Su embroidered Shu brocade is not uncommon, it is indeed beautiful under the light, and it is overwhelming, but what kind of hint does this give to the people of Chang'an? In this extravagant atmosphere, will everyone still love the simplicity of cotton and linen?

Also, His Royal Highness treats merchants favorably, gives them too many benefits, not only improves their status, but also has various tax exemptions, which I can understand, business and trade can bring prosperity to the market, and it is okay to treat merchants well, but what did they pay for the Jin Kingdom? The soldiers went to war, the people ploughed and weaved, and paid their taxes, but what about the merchants? As long as they make money, are they willing to send their children to war?

Your Royal Highness, in the past, the imperial court restricted businessmen, not completely to exploit businessmen, but most businessmen were unscrupulous, and most businessmen only had their own interests in their eyes, and never considered the interests of the country. ”

Guo Song's face was feverish for a while, although the color boat parade was made by Zhang Lei, but it was completely in accordance with his intentions, and the fashion show behind him was also his idea, but he forgot that advocating simplicity was his consistent purpose.

Guo Song smiled bitterly and said: "Thank you for Wen Envoy's kind words and warning, the color boat has indeed done something wrong in some aspects, and I will correct it in time, but in the matter of the merchant, I need to explain it to Wen Envoyjun." ”

Wen Ji didn't expect Guo Song to listen to persuasion so humbly, he was really a little moved in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Your Highness is too modest, I would like to listen to Your Highness's high opinions!" ”

Guo Song groaned and said: "Treating businessmen favorably is actually a strategy, although the status of businessmen is low, but in fact, three points of the world's wealth is in their hands, Zhu Zhu and the eunuchs regard businessmen as fat sheep, do everything possible to exploit and cut their wool, this is an opportunity for us, I deliberately created an atmosphere of favoring businessmen, and attracted businessmen from Chengdu, Luoyang, and Yangzhou to Chang'an, and their wealth also followed."

They came to Chang'an to buy a house to live, there was no land in the city, I made rules, canceled the curfew, did not close the city gate at night, Chang'an developed rapidly outside the city, these months, the imperial court alone sold the land outside the city to earn more than one million, all kinds of shops opened, everywhere was recruiting labor, poor people also had income.

In addition, Zhu Zhu and I signed a transit agreement, and a large number of goods were continuously transported from Jiangnan Jianghuai to Guanzhong, and Guanzhong also prospered from this, which was actually sucking the wealth of Zhu Zhu and Southern Tang, but through merchants, it was relatively hidden, and they did not realize it yet. ”

Guo Song's wealth theory made Wen Ji nod again and again, he had to admit that Guo Song was thinking more long-term than himself, he was considering the problem from the perspective of the whole world, and in comparison, he was still a little narrow-minded.

Wen Ji thought for a while and said, "If a large amount of silver money pours into Chang'an, will it cause prices to soar, thus affecting the lives of the people?" ”

Guo Song nodded, "It will definitely affect, but I have already taken into account that there are four basic materials that are firmly controlled by the government, wheat, salt, coarse cloth and cattle, plus a large number of cheap official rental houses, in fact, in terms of clothing, food, housing and transportation, except for the line, I have no control, the other three are controlled, and no amount of money can affect the basic survival of the poor."

However, if you want to live more spacious, eat more hearty, dress more colorfully, and travel more comfortably, then the price will definitely be high. ”

Wen Ji sighed slightly, "Your Highness's governance is both effective and reluctant, courageous, responsible, and long-term, which is the blessing of the world!" ”

(End of chapter)