The seventh day of the first month of the seventh year of Dayou.

At the beginning of the time, a trace of fish-belly-colored morning light appeared in the eastern sky, and the morning drum on the upper floor of Luoyang City roared, and the sound shook for hundreds of miles, and it also woke up Luoyang City, the Great Qi Jingshi, from its deep sleep.

Today is the period when the civil and military officials of the Great Qi Imperial Court have completed the seven-day annual leave and returned to the official office, the drums are beating, the south of the Luoyang Palace is the gate of heaven has been rumbling and opening, countless carriages and horses are shaking the wind lamps on the carriage and phosphorus rumbling in, and soon gathered on the carriage and horse field in the west of the palace road, the civil and military officials have dismounted and dismounted, and under the guidance of the inner servant, they went to the main hall to participate in the court.

Today is the first day of the New Year, and it is still in the middle of the New Year, and the civil and military officials who went to the court should have been harmonious and full of joy, even if there are many contradictions and sharp antagonisms, the reformers and conservatives will not make a big fight on this day, thus stirring up contradictions.

However, what was unexpected was that several impeachment letters from Hedong disturbed the rare calm of the imperial court.

The content of several impeachment letters is very simple: all of them impeached Zhenwu Army Governor Zhezhao and Tongzhou, the envoy of Hedong Road, for conspiring to borrow debts on Hedong Road to harm the people, thus arousing great indignation among the people.

After listening to the imperial history, the first person who felt confused was Shangshu Ling Wang Anshi.

Finally stabilized his mind, he hurriedly asked: "Can you know from the imperial history, how many silver taels did Zhe Zhao and Tongzhou borrow from the people?" ”

The impeachment of the imperial historian replied in a straight manner: "According to incomplete statistics, the Zhenwu Army borrowed a total of 2.4 million taels from the people, and Hedong Road borrowed 600,000 taels from the Luofu, adding up to 3 million taels. ”

When the words fell, all the ministers were surprised, and Chen Hong, the son of heaven sitting on the dragon chair, and the Empress Dowager Xie, who was hiding behind the curtain to listen to the government, couldn't help but gasp.

You must know that since the founding of the Great Qi Dynasty, the best year was the fifth year of Dayou, that is, the year before last, after the imperial treasury removed the necessary expenses, the net income was 55 million taels, of course, this is not all silver, but there are grain, cloth, silk and jade and other things in it.

However, I didn't expect that in Guanghe East Road, with the help of Showa and Tongzhou, they actually borrowed three million taels of silver from the people in less than ten days, which really shocked all the ministers.

The shock in Wang Anshi's heart was not at all lighter than that of his colleagues, and there were also a little beads of sweat on his forehead.

He knew that Tongzhou and Zhe Zhao were going to borrow money from the people, but according to his original guess, Zhe Zhao and Tong Zhou were at most looking for a few big businessmen and borrowing tens of thousands of taels of silver for emergencies.

But Wang Anshi never dreamed that the movements of Zhe Zhao and others would be so big, and the borrowers included all the people in Hedong Province, as long as it was silver and gold, there was nothing they didn't dare to borrow.

And they borrowed three million taels as soon as they borrowed, who gave them such courage to act so arbitrarily!

If the debt is not repaid by then, who will fill this bottomless pit? Who should carry this pot?

Moreover, Hedong Road already borders Western Xia and Liao, so what if it provokes a popular uprising and attracts the covetous invasion of enemy countries?

Thinking of this, Wang Anshi's heart was cold, and he secretly regretted that he didn't seriously think about the debt mentioned by the two of them in the book a few days ago, which caused such a catastrophe.

The three envoys are the highest financial yamen of the imperial court, in charge of salt and iron, household departments, and degree expenditures, and the highest official is called the prime minister, and is also one of the prime ministers.

Han Qi, the prime minister of the dynasty, is a rare financial talent, who has managed the finances of Daqi in an orderly manner for more than ten years, and has won the trust of the Empress Dowager Xie and today's officials.

Today, when he heard about the debt borrowing on Hedong Road, Han Qi was naturally furious, and he was also very indignant at such an act of disrupting the financial order.

As soon as this remark came out, it naturally won the support of many experienced and serious officials.

However, the situation is not one-sided.

Hearing the accusations of the ministers, the privy envoy Yang Wenguang couldn't help it.

Guy Zhezhao is his granddaughter, and Tongzhou is his descendant, Yang Wenguang naturally will not sit idly by, and immediately refute Han Qi's words on the grounds that Zhenwujun and Hedong Road are financially tight, and said that extraordinary methods should be used in extraordinary times, as long as the stability of Hedong Road can be maintained, it is not a big deal to borrow.

Hearing this, Xie Junhao, who was the deputy envoy of the Privy Council of the dynasty, who held the power of the forbidden army and was also the brother of Empress Dowager Xie's compatriots, suddenly snorted coldly, went out to support Han Qi's words, and sneered at Yang Wenguang.

The chief and deputy envoys of the Privy Council were already at odds with each other, and there were contradictions, so Yang Wenguang and Xie Junhao naturally quarreled in the hall, and Chen Hongda, the son of heaven, frowned.

Chen Xuan, the king of Qi, who had always been friends with Xie Junhao, also spoke out in support of Xie Junhao at this time, bluntly saying that the way of borrowing debts was improper, and the court should immediately stop it.

This His Royal Highness King Qi is the youngest son of Emperor Taizong and Empress Dowager Xie, quite loved by the two, if it were not for Emperor Taizong who died in his prime, King Qi was too young, maybe the successor to the unification is not the current official family but the King of Qi Chen Xuan.

Despite this, the King of Qi still has great influence in the court, and it is rumored that the Empress Dowager Xie once made an oath to the official family when the current official family ascended the throne, asking him to pass the throne to the King of Qi after the dragon returned to the sky, so the King of Qi has always been very powerful, and he has the power to be the Yin of Luoyang Mansion.

At this time, as soon as he expressed his attitude, it aroused a wave of condemnation of Zhe Zhao and Tongzhou.

Just when the court staff became noisy, it was Wang Anshi, the prime minister of Bingbi, who stopped the quarrel between the two sides.

He thought for a while, and said to Chen Hong, who was sitting on the dragon chair, and said: "Qiyu officials, the two of them borrowed money from the people, Weichen is aware, but I didn't expect them to make such a big move, on the one hand, borrowing money in the people's wanton debt is naturally a move to destroy the law of Daqi and the financial order, and the two of them should be punished, but on the other hand, in order to resist the Western Xia of the Liao State, the Zhenwu Army expanded the original establishment of 30,000 people to 50,000, and the extra 20,000 soldiers were paid for the army. The imperial court has never allocated a penny, and it is all up to Zhenwujun to find a way to do it himself, and the governor of Zhenwu is thinking about it, so as to borrow money from the people, and Weichen feels that it is reasonable and understandable. ”

Wang Anshi's words were reasonable, and he also took care of both sides, not only Chen Hong, the son of heaven, but even Han Qi, Yang Wenguang, Xie Junhao, and Chen Xuan, all nodded yes.

Wang Anshi continued: "Among the old ministers, when the wanton borrowing of Hedong Road should be stopped immediately, the imperial court will send powerful officials to Hedong Road to investigate the matter, and after the situation is clear, the imperial court will make a decision, which is the best policy." ”

is worthy of being the prime minister of Bingpen, and when he said it, everyone expressed his convincing and had no objections.

Even Sima Guang, who has always been good at raising the bar with Wang Anshi, was silent this time and agreed by default.

Chen Hong's head approved, and immediately decided to take the household department Shangshu Fubi as the imperial court's envoy, and rushed to Hedong Road to investigate the debt, and at the same time strictly ordered Zhezhao and Tongzhou not to borrow any more debts before the arrival of the envoy, and waited for the investigation.