Chapter 362: Northern Tour

After Cui He's death, he was extremely grieved, he died at eighty-three, which can be regarded as a long life, and the Ministry of Rites specially organized a funeral for him, and during the whole process, his family was in addition to preparing the coffin, almost all things were done on his behalf.

On the day of the funeral, the Son of Heaven even went to the mourning hall to pay respects, although this was somewhat unruly, but no one objected. Cui has been with this person for more than ten years, whether it is with the Son of Heaven or his colleagues, he gets along very well, and in the entire court, there is no one who is willing to slander him, which is also an outlier.

The death of Cui Heju made Zhao and Ju once again consider the age of the courtiers. Zhen Dexiu and Wei Liaoweng are both over sixty years old, and if they were placed in the time and space he traveled over, both of them would have passed away. However, in this era, because of the great progress in health care, and because the two were not persecuted and belittled, and Zhao and Ju forcibly required them to maintain their health care, so the two were in good health. However, Zhao Youju is still a little worried in his heart, in case there is any accident, the prime minister of the DPRK and China really doesn't know who to use.

Then there is Yelu Chucai, Zhao and Ju remember that in the original history, he should have died of depression in 1244, that is, four years later. Therefore, he specially called to inquire about the physical condition of Zhen Dexiu and Yelu Chucai, and at the same time sent palace maids from the palace who were good at health care to the official office of the two to supervise the living of the two.

The fourteenth year of Yanhuang is not an auspicious year for the Great Song Dynasty, at the end of February, Cui died of illness, in the scorching heat of June, the biological mother of the Son of Heaven Rong Wang Concubine Quan's family died, in the same month, the Son of Heaven fell seriously ill and dropped out of the dynasty for nearly half a month. In autumn, the autumn grain harvest in Shaoxing, Lin'an and Yanzhou was lost, and the autumn grain in the two Zhejiang roads was less than seventy percent of the normal year. At the end of September, a locust plague broke out in Jiankang Province, and the locusts swept through Jiankang and then quickly spread to the already affected Liangzhejiang and Liangjiang. In December, the Liuqiu earthquake caused heavy losses in Tamsui City, with more than 10,000 casualties and countless property losses.

This can be said to be the most difficult year since Zhao and Ju pro-government, the death of the elder caused a great blow to his spirit, he carried it strongly, and the disaster of the country made the treasury quickly empty, fortunately, from the ninth year of Yanhuang, the Great Song Dynasty established a national strategic reserve system, and stored millions of stone grain in Lin'an, so the grain harvest and locust plague did not cause the tragedy of starvation.

These successive disasters caused the people to begin to whisper, that is, whether the Son of Heaven's official reform policy was blamed on heaven, so that disasters would send disasters from heaven as a warning.

Such rumors are inevitable, especially for those who have been frustrated in the bureaucratic reform, and they talk about it with relish, but Zhao Youju has no time to pay attention to it. It's always like this in this world, there are always people doing practical things, and there are people spreading irresponsible rumors lightly.

In the first month of the spring of the fifteenth year of Yanhuang, Bianliang.

Zhi Xuyang smiled and watched the children walk in a neat line to the school, since the imperial court increased investment in education, compulsory education free of tuition and miscellaneous fees has spread throughout the Great Song Dynasty, and free nutrition is provided early, which is the envy of many adults: a child in the primary school can have one fruit or preserved fruit every day, two poultry eggs and meat once a week. This subsidy does not mean that the child's family can be exempted from partial support for the child, on the contrary, if the child comes to the school on an empty stomach to wait for this nutritious meal, the parents will inevitably be prosecuted by the government, and the first offender will be questioned at home, and the second offender will be paraded in the street. The imperial court spent a huge amount of money on the education and nutrition of children, which naturally led to the development of the corresponding industry, taking this nutritious meal as an example, it made the fruit planting on a large scale, and the livestock breeding industry was prosperous, which led to the development of feed agriculture.

Fortunately, there are now farms and estates overseas in the Great Song Dynasty, which provide cheaper and cheaper grain for the Great Song Dynasty, and this makes it unprofitable to simply grow grain in the local area, so the local government has added another function to guide the peasants to mix cash crops with grain crops and courtyard economy.

As the administrative center of the Great Song Dynasty in the Central Plains, Bianliang has developed very rapidly over the years, and because Zhen Dexiu has the experience of Chuzhou, he has brought a group of young officials who can go down to the countryside, although the time is not long, but it has vaguely restored the prosperity of the Xuanhe period. The number of people and goods entering and leaving the Bianliang railway station has almost doubled every year, so that the railway station has to be expanded every three years or so.

Zhixuyang is now the person in charge of the Bianliang railway station, which can be regarded as a reward for helping Wu Wenying in the Jingxi mine disaster. Watching these children walk into the school, he will recall the situation when he fled thousands of miles to Xuzhou, think of the big duck egg that made his mouth water, and think of the little girl who was willing to save her companions with her own body.

I heard that she was also married - the man was a soldier and served in the Guard.

Zhi Xuyang let out a faint sigh and spit out something called regret. He hasn't married yet, and after seeing a woman like Liuniang, he looks at the delicate little ladies around him, these flower-like girls are all excellent, but he just doesn't like it.

"Sir, there's still an hour, the telegram has just arrived, and you will be here in an hour!"

He was in the midst of a loss of a relationship when his deputy, a sturdy young man of twenty years old, came up to him and saluted.

"How's the inspection going along the way?"

"We have inspected more than ten times in the past three days in our jurisdiction, and there is no difference!" The deputy replied, his face flushed strangely with excitement.

"Well, that's a big deal." Zhi Xuyang rubbed his hands and followed his deputy back to the station. In less than ten minutes, he was standing on the platform of the station, holding his head high, waiting for the upcoming train.

At this time, there was a guard on the platform every hundred paces, and they stood straight with their backs to the rails. These guards were originally the Xiang Army and the Forbidden Army, but after ten years of rectification, they now surpass the original Forbidden Army in terms of appearance and combat strength.

"Zhixuyang, how are you doing?"

It was Zhen Dexiu who asked Zhixu Yang so condescendingly, more than ten years have passed in a blink of an eye, Zhen Dexiu is no longer middle-aged, and now his temples are pale, and his body is slightly rickety, only his eyes are still keen. After his tenure in Bianliang, also known as mayor, for a few years, Bianliang went from a lifeless and dilapidated city to a thriving city today, with an economic impact that expanded to several surrounding provinces, thanks to which Zhen Dexiu was indispensable.

"After the report was left, it was inspected 12 times in three days, and every inch of rail was carefully inspected, and there will be absolutely no problems on the railway." Zhixu Yang replied.

Zhen Dexiu nodded, feeling a little troubled and lost.

"How's the city going?" He turned his head again and asked Xie Yue beside him.

"It's been checked, the ground has been swept, and there is no garbage on the road." Xie Yue said with a smile: "It is a smart move not to let the children come to pick up, I heard that in Xuzhou, the children stopped classes and braved the rain to pick up, and as a result, they were scolded and immediately dismissed from the two officials in charge of the school!" ”

"The children shouldn't have been allowed to pick them up, the weather is bad, the children's main business is to study, as for the mundane things that are sent to these adults, where do you have to work them?" Zhen Dexiu snorted dissatisfiedly: "The one who came up with this idea is really vulgar, and he doesn't even want the dough for the sake of slapping the horse!" ”

Xie Yue's face was slightly red, Zhen Dexiu was not scolding him, but he was also a little ashamed, because if it weren't for Zhen Dexiu's resolute opposition, he would have wanted to get hundreds of innocent children under the age of twelve to greet him.

"Anren, I'm still a little worried...... You send someone to check the road again, nothing else, it's just a little dirty or something, it's just a loss of face, there is only one, people along the street must be reliable, safety is the first! Zhen Dexiu said again.

"Yes!"

Seeing Xie Yue take the order and leave, Zhen Dexiu felt a little relieved.

Half an hour later, the train whistle sounded for a long time, and then a shiny train appeared in front of everyone. Unlike the rest of the vans, which all have more than ten carriages, this one only pulls six carriages at the front, so it is faster and more stable. After the train stopped, the first to disembark from the train was a group of guards, who ignored the guards that were already everywhere and occupied the various points of the station one by one. After that, the third carriage of the car opened, and a man of nearly forty years old appeared in front of the door.

He looked around vigilantly, then came down and stood aside, behind him, Zhao Youju showed a smiling face.

"Zhenqing, long time no see!" As soon as he saw Zhen Dexiu, Zhao Heju immediately stretched out his hand and helped him up, who wanted to bow down: "I have already issued an edict, unless the court is above, the courtiers don't need to kneel down when they see me, have you forgotten?" ”

"The minister hasn't visited His Majesty for a long time, but now he has seen the face of the sky, and he forgets it for a while, and I ask Your Majesty to forgive me!" Zhen Deok so said respectfully.

Xie Yue twitched his mouth quietly on the side, Zhengong naturally looked down on those mediocre talents who used children to pat their ass, and he would not fall behind when he patted his own ass.

Zhao Heju took Zhendexiu's arm, looked him up and down, and saw that he was in good spirits, so he smiled and said, "Zhenqing, I am very relieved to see that you are still in good health...... You have to take good care of your body for me and for the Great Song Dynasty, this is my holy decree, and you must not disobey it! ”

"Yes, the minister's weight is heavy, and I am terrified!"

The two of them were over, Zhao and Ju looked at the platform of Bianliang Station, he saw Xie Yue, and said, "Huh": "Is this Xie Qing!" ”

The last time Xie Yue saw Zhao and Ju, it was more than ten years ago when Zhao and Ju were just in power, and in a blink of an eye, he went from a young man with a beautiful appearance to a middle-aged man who had passed the age of not being confused, and when he saw that the Son of Heaven recognized himself, he couldn't help but be excited: "Sixteen years have not been able to see Your Majesty, the minister is really guilty, Your Majesty can still recognize the minister after a long time, it is really a great luck for the minister!" ”

"Although I haven't seen you in sixteen years, I have heard a lot from you in the past few years." Zhao Heju held his arm with one hand and pulled Zhen Dexiu with the other: "Come on, the two of you will lead me to walk, there is a train on the way, and I also have to be active." ”

In addition to Zhen Dexiu and Xie Yue, Zhao and Ju also greeted the rest of the people waiting at the station one by one, and when they saw Zhi Xuyang, they also talked to him about Zhao Ziyue's situation.

"Zhenqing, let's report to me here about Bianliang's achievements in the past few years." Out of the station, not far away, Zhao and Ju said.

Zhen Dexiu was a little strange, why was the Son of Heaven so urgent, he looked around, in addition to the Son of Heaven's attendant, the Dragon Twelve, who never left the Son of Heaven's side, there were two other people who attracted his attention. One is a young man with a pencil and paper and is constantly recording something, and the other is a man with a camera ready to take a picture of them. They should be the chief writers of the accompanying newspapers, and the Son of Heaven obviously did not want to avoid these people, which meant that the Son of Heaven had important views to express to the world.

He has been up and down in officialdom for many years, although he has always ensured his upright nature, it does not mean that he will not think about the darkness behind the surface brilliance. Recently, he also knew that because of the successive disasters, the Son of Heaven seemed to have encountered resistance in implementing the reform of the official system, and the opposition forces that had been divided by the Son of Heaven had a faint tendency to form an alliance again, and the voices of criticism of the reform of the official system in the newspapers gradually increased.

"In the past few years, the minister has done eight practical things...... thinking quickly in his mind, Zhen Dexiu did not delay the report, he summarized what he had done since Ren Bianliang stayed, a total of eight major events, which he had prepared for a long time. Zhao Heju listened very carefully, and the main pen of the accompanying driver remembered it very quickly on paper, and it looked like he had been specially practiced.

The eight major events of Zhendexiu are not limited to Bianliang City, but also include the surrounding areas centered on Bianliang, simply put, it is nothing more than smooth traffic, education and promotion, encouraging industry and commerce, and rewarding the four parts of life and raising, but it is not easy to do these four parts of things well. He spoke in detail, and before he knew it, he spoke for more than two hours, and the place where he spoke was changed from the street to the rest room vacated by the station.

After he finished speaking, Zhao Heju said with relief: "Zhenqing has a heart, this Bianliang has changed before and after, almost earth-shaking, if it weren't for the efforts of Qing and others, it would never have been possible." ”

"I listened to Qingzhi's report and felt that two of them were very good. One is that Zhenqing and Bianliang officials have the courage to do things, boldly innovate, dare to break those outdated rules and regulations, boldly explore, and have the courage to dare to act. The second is that Zhu Qing is very tenacious in his work, not to defeat with small setbacks, and to persevere. ”

"Since the beginning of my pro-government in the Great Song Dynasty, the imperial court's finances have increased from less than 100 million guan to more than 900 million guan today, and it is possible to exceed one billion this year, with a population of 250 million, and the territory is incalculable. If you think that it is okay to look like this now, it is the laziness of being rich and peaceful, and it is not enough for my Great Song Dynasty! ”

"The strategy of innovation is not the end, on the contrary, it is only the starting point, and the development to this day, the reform of the official system is imperative, and the gentleman of Tianxingjian is constantly striving for self-improvement, people must be like this, and a country must be like this!"

Hearing the words of the Son of Heaven, Zhen Dexiu's heart was bright, sure enough, the Son of Heaven's northern tour was not impulsive, it must have been those scholars in the south who began to restrain the hands and feet of the Son of Heaven, deliberately delaying the pace of official reform and even the entire innovation, the Son of Heaven's northern tour to Xuzhou and Bianliang was to take advantage of the rapid progress of innovation in the north in recent years, and give those people a slap in the face.

This made Zhen Dexiu smile bitterly in his heart, the Son of Heaven's move pushed himself to the cusp of confrontation with those conservative forces.

Note 1: The natural disasters in the 14th year of Yanhuang are basically historical facts, only the Liuqiu earthquake, and the records in the historical books are unknown.