The five ministers have already taken their seats, and today they will discuss a proposal put forward by Zhao Chu, the secretary of the Zongzheng Temple, who proposed to restore the imperial merchant system or allow the clan to do business directly.

Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, it has been a topic of frequent discussion in the court, when the ban is sometimes relaxed, and when the imperial court's finances are tight, in order to reduce the burden on the imperial court, it will acquiesce to the clan and royal family to do business in the name of agents.

When social conflicts intensified, the clan and royal families would be forbidden to do business to prevent them from competing with the people for profit, but today's discussion of this issue is in the context of the decline of imperial power, in order to further reduce the imperial expenditure.

The five ministers all have a tacit understanding, they all belong to the civil official group, represent the most powerful force in the Great Song Dynasty, and their interests are the same as Li Yanqing's in terms of suppressing imperial power.

On the scene, they will praise Ming Jun and remember the forgiveness of the first emperor, but if they really let Zhao Gou come back to life, they may not be willing.

In the final analysis, their own interests are the most important, maintaining the power of the prime minister and suppressing the imperial power, this is the guarantee of their interests, so what is the real purpose of discussing today to allow the clan to do business, they know it well, give the clan a way out, and let the clan be secular in the world.

Fan Zhixu said to everyone: "I personally do not object to the clan doing business, now the royal family's expenses are just to maintain the life of the palace concubines, in fact, after a group of palace maids and eunuchs were released from the palace at the beginning of the year, the number of palace people in the palace is less than 600 people, but even so, the expenses of the clan will be 1.5 million taels of silver every year."

Although this expenditure can be borne by the imperial court, some expenses are not actually needed, such as the clan, of the 1.5 million taels of silver, the real expenditure on the palace is only 500,000 taels, and the other million taels are subsidized to the princes and emperors, at present, a total of 64 princes and emperors receive subsidies, on average, each person receives 7,000 taels of silver per year, but do they really live on these 7,000 taels of silver? In fact, the annual income of their own estate is far more than that, so I think that the annual subsidy of one million taels of silver is actually a mere formality. ”

Fan Zhixu's implication is to cancel the annual subsidy of one million taels of silver.

Zheng Wangzhi: "I agree in principle to cancel the subsidy of the clan, but it cannot be one-size-fits-all, for the juvenile clan, the subsidy should still be retained, and when they become adults, they will be given a certain amount of land and property, and the subsidy can be cancelled." ”

Gao Shen said: "The scope of this minor is too wide, as far as I know, almost every prince has children in his family, do they also have to give subsidies?" If the clan gives a fortune when they reach adulthood, should their children and grandchildren always have this privilege? ”

"Gao Xianggong misunderstood what I meant."

Zheng Wangzhi hurriedly explained: "The underage royal family I am talking about is limited to the children of the first emperor, the prince gives a property, the emperor gives a dowry, and then it ends, as for their children, this is what we discussed today." ”

Everyone nodded, and everyone had no objection to continuing to subsidize the underage prince and emperor.

Li Gang on the side said with a smile: "We are sitting here today, in fact, we are setting some rules, and the underage prince and emperor will continue to subsidize, yes!" But how much is the monthly subsidy? In the future, when they become adults or get married, how much will they be given in one lump sum? These criteria need to be set. ”

Cao Yan also added: "In fact, it has long been a public fact that the prince is in business, and you may not know that the proprietor of Jingyuan Restaurant by the West Lake is King Jing Zhao Qi, in addition, King Jing also owns two manors in Changzhou, covering an area of 3,000 hectares, and receives an annual tenant income of at least 200,000 yuan, plus the income of his restaurant and other industries, the annual income is not less than 500,000 yuan."

There is also Zhao Kai, the king of Yun, who died of illness in Yanshan Mansion, and the property he left to his son is also very considerable, and his annual income is not less than hundreds of thousands, I will not list the others one by one, but I am sure that almost every prince has a considerable industry, or business, or a grange, and more of both. ”

Everyone was silent, and everyone realized that since the prince's business already existed de facto, it would undoubtedly cause strong dissatisfaction among the royal family to cancel their subsidies by passing a resolution now.

At this time, Fan Zhixu said slowly: "The regent's meaning is to exchange power for profit, with the recovery of the Central Plains and Hebei, if the royal family wants to get back their former land and real estate, they must have prerequisites, give up the title, and return the property to them." ”

This is the real purpose of Fan Zhixu's convening of this meeting, to cut the knight.

..........

After a morning of deliberation, the five prime ministers finally worked out a framework for a program, and some principles were determined, such as the abolition of privileges, the exchange of fame for profit, and so on.

At night, Fan Zhixuan looked at the courtyard outside the window and pondered for a long time, he knew better than anyone else that although today's proposal was proposed by Zhao Chu, the Qing of Zongzheng Temple, it was actually Li Yanqing's meaning.

The bill is nominally to allow the prince to do business, but in fact it is to eliminate the threat of the clan to the current system, Li Yanqing's good means!

At this juncture, the Central Plains is about to be recovered, and the royal family will inevitably propose to recover their Grange property, in this case, the clan will have to make a choice, either give up the prince on the head, or lose the Grange land.

At this time, Fan Zhixu's son Fan Lin said in a low voice: "Father, is this a disguised cutting of the domain?" ”

Fan Zhixu shook his head, "It's impossible to talk about cutting the domain, the clan itself is already powerless, it can only be said that Li Yanqing is preparing for the throne in the future." ”

Fan Lin was taken aback, "Will Li Yanqing be on top?" ”

Fan Zhixu smiled, "It doesn't make sense for him to take the throne, the key is his son, in a few decades, the people of the world will almost forget about the Zhao royal family, and Li Yanqing's son will take his place again, everyone also thinks it is logical, on the contrary, if an emperor of the Zhao family suddenly appears, everyone will not be used to it." ”

"Isn't there anyone in the DPRK who opposes it?"

Fan Zhixu sat down in his seat and said with a faint smile: "If Li Yanqing did this fifty years ago, it would definitely be a great disapproval of the world, no one will support him, and just spitting will drown him, but the shame of Jingkang, half of the Great Song Dynasty has fallen, whether it is ordinary people or scholars, the interests of tens of millions of people have been seriously damaged, and in everyone's hearts, the Zhao family has perished."

So Li Yanqing became the regent, except for the clan, the court and the local government did not have any objections at all, why? This is the main reason, everyone is very disappointed in the Zhao family. Of course, this has something to do with Li Yanqing's military power. ”

"Actually, there is another reason why my father didn't say it!" Fan Lin whispered.

Fan Zhixu was silent for a moment and said: "There are some things that you can't say, you can only hide them in your heart, even if you are my son, I can't say it, do you understand?" ”

Fan Lin nodded, "The child understands!" ”

"Go ahead! I still have a few things to think about. ”

"Farewell child!" Fan Lin bowed and retreated.

Fan Zhixu's eyes became complicated, and the real reason that he didn't say it was that Li Yanqing reached a compromise with the civilian clique, which was the foundation of Li Yanqing's ability to govern.

.........

In the night, a carriage slowly stopped in front of a mansion on Xiuwen Street, which is the mansion of King Zhao Qi, covering an area of about ten acres, belonging to the official residence, after Zhao Qi was released by the Jin soldiers, he has been living in seclusion here, very low-key.

After Zhao Ji's sons were taken away by the Jin soldiers, they were all sent to the bitter cold land of Huanglong Mansion, where they were allowed to build their own houses, lack of food and clothing, and suffered a lot, and many people died of illness there in several winters, such as Yun Wang Zhao Kai, Su Wang Zhao Shu, Qi Wang Zhao Mo, Xu Wang Zhao Di, etc., all of whom came back alive had a great change in personality and became extremely low-key.

Out of the car came an old man in a brocade robe, this person is also a clan, is the fourteenth son of Emperor Shenzong Zhao Si, was named the king of Yue, this morning, the draft of the decision of the Zhizheng Hall was handed over to Zongzheng Temple, let Zongzheng Temple to the princes to see, solicit opinions, and then it will be officially adopted and implemented.

Zhao Si came to King Jing Zhao Qi for this matter, this draft involves his vital interests, how can he not be in a hurry.

After a while, a family member led him to the study and sat down, footsteps sounded outside, and Zhao Qi walked in with a smile, "Uncle Huang is here, rare guest!" ”

"I don't have the heart to joke with you right now, sit down!"

Zhao Qi came in and sat down, a maid served them tea, Zhao Si waved his hand to let the maid retreat, he lowered his voice and said, "Have you read the resolution of the Zongmu Temple?" ”

"My nephew has already seen it!"

"Don't you think they're going too far? Before your father's bones were cold, they did something to the clan, and they actually wanted to cut off the clan subsidy, and a few thousand taels of silver would be counted, but they still wanted to remove the knight, is this world still Zhao and Song Jiangshan? ”

Zhao Qi took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Then what is Uncle Huang going to do?" Pull an army to rebel? ”

"Don't say such meaningless words, of course we can't rebel, but our interests have to be fought for by ourselves, we are a clan, how can we hand over the prince, we should unite and collectively resist this unreasonable decision of the imperial court."