Seeing that Yang Congyi was paying attention to it and was determined to write to the emperor, Lord Meng no longer dissuaded him.

As a general judgment in the military state, it is normal to write to the emperor, because the general judgment is the eyes and ears of the emperor to send the locality, and it must be a dereliction of duty if he can't bring back any news in the local area all the year round.

Master Meng's final advice to Yang Congyi is that things can be said, but to be small, don't involve too wide, don't affect everyone's interests, there are many things that the imperial court restricts and prohibits foreign shipments, just choose one or two, don't try to catch them all.

Yang Congyi naturally understands this truth, the formulation and revision of any decree is related to interests, throughout the ages, so many changes have ended in failure, is it because the interests of too many people have been moved, and what he wants to do at this time will not affect the interests of many people, but he only put forward a suggestion in the book, whether it will be implemented or not, and in the end it depends on the meaning of the emperor and the court.

In the next few days, Yang Congyi wrote the draft and revised it again and again, every word and every word, and considered it many times, until he couldn't find the slightest problem himself, so he took the draft to see Lord Meng, and asked Lord Meng to correct it.

After all, Master Meng has been an official for decades, and he is very experienced in writing, and he is also a Jinshi, and his writing is excellent, so he quickly revised Yang Congyi's draft.

After the change, the words and sentences are more concise, and the words and sentences involving relevant stakeholders are simplified, and they are not clear as much as possible.

Yang Congyi looked at the revised draft, and always felt that he was a little out of his mind, but he couldn't say what was wrong.

Master Meng saw his doubts, so he told him that if any decree wants to be adopted and implemented by the imperial court, it is necessary to raise fewer problems and more solutions, otherwise some people in the imperial court will focus on the problem and blame each other, and in the end, no matter how good the decree is, it will hinder each other and cannot be implemented.

As soon as he woke up with a word, Yang Congyi suddenly realized that there were few officials in the world who really wanted to do things, if they were given a reason to quarrel, after a few quarrels, they didn't have to change anything, they didn't have to do anything, wouldn't they all be happy?

After thanking Lord Meng, Yang Congyi rushed back to the Yamen, burned incense and bathed, copied the draft, and wrote to the emperor.

Diligent Palace.

Zhao Gou sat in front of the table, took up the pen and carefully read the open documents, and finally wrote a few words of criticism.

After reading a document in circles, Zhao, who was a little tired, closed the document and put it aside.

An attendant who was serving beside him hurriedly stepped forward to take the pen in Zhao Gou's hand, put it down gently, and then said: "Official, rest when you are tired, it's not too early." ”

Zhao Gou leaned back in the chair, without words, there were too many paperwork every day, and he was indeed a little tired.

"You can read these documents first, if there is nothing important, ignore them, and tell me the important ones."

"Yes, official."

The chamberlains who can follow the emperor are not people who are not proficient in pen and ink, even if they don't know when they enter the palace, as long as they have a flexible mind and are willing to learn, they will always have the opportunity to know some words in the palace for decades.

After the waiter passed, he put down the things in his hand, picked up a document that had not yet been approved, opened it and read it carefully, and then said: "Huangzhou said that there is little rain in spring and summer this year, and the drought is more serious, so please reduce or reduce taxes from the imperial court." ”

Zhao Gou didn't say a word after hearing this, and closed his eyes to recuperate.

The chamberlain then put down the paperwork and picked up another one.

After reading it, he said: "Ganzhou said that the rainy season this year is very long, and the waterlogging is very serious, so I asked the imperial court to reduce taxes." ”

Zhao Gou still didn't say a word and was unmoved.

The chamberlain hurriedly put down the paperwork, picked up another one, and after reading it, said: "Chaozhou said that the counties under its jurisdiction have suffered many storms this year, with torrential winds and rains, countless crops have been damaged, and the harvest of each county is expected to be less than four or five tenths of previous years. ”

Zhao Gou closed his eyes and said nothing, as if he was asleep.

The chamberlain put down the Chaozhou paperwork, picked up another one, and said after reading it: "Haozhou said that the people of the counties under its jurisdiction listened to the rumors from the north and fled seriously, the fields were barren, ten rooms and nine empty, no one farmed, and they could not collect taxes. ”

Zhao Gou frowned, but did not open his eyes or speak.

The chamberlain picked up a letter and read it carefully, and then said: "Xinghuajun said that the smugglers of contraband items go to sea, the profits are huge, and the ban is endless, and a large amount of wealth is obtained by the smugglers, which is unfavorable to the imperial court, and it is recommended that the imperial court appropriately let go of some items, allow foreign trade, collect high taxes, and replenish the treasury, and at the same time can also set up another division, and the imperial court will specialize in these lucrative items, and the benefits will be collected by the imperial court......."

Seeing that Zhao Gou opened his eyes, the waiter hurriedly handed over the documents in his hand before he finished speaking.

Zhao Gou took it in his hand and looked at it carefully several times from front to back before reluctantly closing the paperwork.

"Is there any news about the fleet that went to sea the year before last?"

"There is no definite news yet, and based on the last trip to the sea, they should be able to return to Guangzhou next month."

Zhao Gou nodded slightly, and said a few hellos, he seemed to see a boatload of gold treasures and rare and precious overseas goods.

"Keep watching."

Zhao Gou was admitted to the back of the chair again, closing his eyes and resting.

The waiter should be, and then picked it up, and said after reading it: "Qizhou said that the locust plague is serious this year, and there are locusts everywhere, not only the crops have been eaten, but even the leaves are almost finished. ”

Zhao Gou into the general, unmoved, play the document of tax reduction and exemption, I don't know how many will be every day, some military states even five days of an article, ten days of a book, the content of the content is similar, even worse, the original text is not moved, the same content is sent several times, what is said is either tax exemption or tax reduction, really gives him a headache.

Vertical arch hall, Zhao Gou convened the important ministers to discuss the matter.

"This year, all military state capitals are reporting disasters, floods in the south and drought in the north, either to tax exemption and tax reduction, or to the imperial court relief, what the specific situation is, you Aiqing knows it."

Zhao Gou glanced at the several important ministers in front of him, wanting to hear something different from them, after all, if the money and grain in the treasury could not come in and out, there would soon be a big problem.

Shi Cai, who signed the Privy Council and the governor of the Privy Council, replied: "Your Majesty, there are indeed some disasters this year, but as far as the ministers know, they are not serious, and officials in various places have always exaggerated the disaster situation. Every time the imperial court cuts taxes and exempts taxes, it is kind enough to reduce the burden on the people, and as a result, the people do not pay less taxes every year, but the local yamen does not need to hand over the taxes to the state treasury, and almost all of them go into the local officials' own money bags. The minister thought that he should order all walks of life to self-examine, and if he lied about the disaster, he would be punished severely, and in addition, the disaster situation of the military state capitals could be coordinated by all walks of life. ”

Zhao Gou was noncommittal, and asked Qin Hui instead: "What does Qin Aiqing think?" ”

Prime Minister Qin Hui replied slowly: "Back to the emperor, the minister thinks that the disasters in various places should be treated separately, and they cannot be generalized, the Great Song Dynasty has a vast territory, thousands of miles from north to south, east and west, and it is normal to flood in the south and drought in the north, or to flood in the north and drought in the south, and it is abnormal if there is no disaster." In recent years, there have been several military disasters, which one is not caused by the people suffering from disasters and crop production, and the imperial court has not reduced taxes in time. The minister thought that the imperial court could appropriately reduce or reduce taxes depending on whether the disaster was serious or not, and it would be best not to have an accident, but once the affected people made trouble, they did not know how much food would be spent and how much impact it would cause. ”

Regarding what Qin Hui said, Zhao Gou did not make an obvious statement, but asked Qin Xi again: "Qin Aiqing, what do you think?" ”

Qin Xi, the Privy Councillor and Governor of the Council, said: "Back to the emperor, it is difficult to distinguish the specific situation of the disaster in various places within a month or two, and it is impossible to send people to various places to investigate in time. The minister thought that he could reduce some taxes to show that the emperor's grace was mighty, and all the people in the world could live and work in peace and contentment. ”

"Qin Aiqing, this year, due to the disaster, you should discuss the tax reduction and exemption of the affected states and counties due to the disaster, and come up with a bill."

Qin Hui slowly raised his hand and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

Zhao Gou then said: "There is one more matter, you will discuss it together." Someone went to the imperial court and suggested that the foreign trade restrictions on some items should be relaxed and merchants should be allowed to trade with foreign countries, but the imperial court could collect 20% or 40% of the tax, and the imperial court could also set up another department to specialize in such lucrative items, so as to increase the tax revenue of the imperial court. What do you think? ”

Qin Hui said: "If it is stable today, the Great Song Dynasty and the neighbors have no sword soldiers, and there are indeed not too many items that need to be restricted from being exported, in the past, salt and iron grain were strictly ordered to be shipped to the north, but now these things are self-sufficient in the north, whether it is restricted or prohibited, it will not work for them." The minister agreed to the relaxation of restrictions and the collection of taxes. ”

Qin Xi said: "The minister also agrees. ”

Shi Cai saw that the Qin father and son agreed, even if they had reservations, it was not good to say it at this time, and he could see that the emperor needed money very much now, so he replied: "The minister also agrees with the relaxation of restrictions." ”

Zhao Gou said with a smile: "Okay, after you Aiqing go back, discuss with the ministries which items can be relaxed." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Soon after, the three of them left the Vertical Arch Hall and left the palace.

"Prime Minister Qin, do the emperor's two topics today have deep meaning?" Shi Cai asked softly.

"No, the treasury and the inner treasury are just short of money and food."

Qin Hui didn't think so, he had already seen the emperor's thoughts very clearly, as long as the Jin people didn't cross the Yangtze River, as long as they had money, as long as they were stable, it was enough, and he didn't bother to care about other things.

"I see, thank you Qin Xiang for clearing up your doubts."

Shi Cai secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he didn't use this to rectify the officialdom.