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In April of the sixth year of Xining, the Great Song Dynasty was festive on the surface. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

First, Zhao Zhao, the king of Qin, returned to the royal family, and then the southwest Longfan Zhuyi came to pay tribute, and then the Liao State sent Yelu Ning and others to celebrate the same day. Within a few days, Yang Gui of Banzhou sent his son Guangzhen to pay tribute.

On the surface, it is all a happy event, if it weren't for Zhao Zhao, Zhao Ji, who is so happy and loves face, will definitely be happy in his heart. Siyi surrendered and came to pay tribute, which was a very face-saving thing for an emperor.

But fortunately, with these tributes, Zhao Ji's heart was somewhat soothed, and some of his face was restored. Recently, the prestige of King Qin is too high, even surpassing that of himself as an emperor.

Zhao Ji thought about it and deliberately made the tribute very grand. The grand celebration is only one aspect, and there are rich rewards for all vassals, which makes the Great Song Dynasty rich and strong, and his own emperor also has a lot of face. hoped to use this to enhance his prestige as emperor and overshadow Zhao Zhao, the king of Qin.

The progress is not bad, Zhao Ji is somewhat intoxicated, and his skyrocketing vanity has been comforted to a certain extent. As for whether there is an element of self-deception, even he himself may not be clear.

It's just that Zhao Ji hasn't been happy for a few days, and the third envoy has come to the door.

"Your Majesty, in the past two years, because of the floods and droughts, the people have failed to harvest, and the taxes of the imperial court are not very sufficient...... The construction of the Yellow River embankment, the dredging of the canal, the northwest and southwest are fighting, and the military expenditure is very large......"

Listening to the three envoys' inexplicable complaints, Zhao Ji couldn't help frowning and asked, "What do you want to say?" ”

"Your Majesty, this year's autumn grain has not yet come down, and it is the time when the green and yellow are not harvested." The third envoy said: "Recently, there have been many ceremonies in the imperial court. The king of Qin went to Yong'an to pay homage. His Majesty sent 3,000 men with him. There are a lot of etiquette configurations...... The southwestern vassal is a tribute, and His Majesty's reward is much more than in previous years...... Now...... The state treasury is gradually struggling to make ends meet. In the future, especially before the autumn harvest, the imperial court will need to be more frugal......"

In a word, the three envoys are here to cry poor!

At the same time, he tactfully rebukes or exhorts him not to be extravagant and wasteful, specifically aimed at his many recent celebrations.

Zhao Ji was so depressed that he finally held some celebrations. Have fun. The third envoy told himself that the treasury was tight and there was no money, wasn't this a disappointment?

There were still a few tribes in the south who were going to pay tribute, and he had already planned to be as grand and grand as ever. The money in front has already been spent, and there is no need for the three envoys to mobilize the people to advise. Now, the goal is to start cutting yourself.

Just cut which part?

Zhao Zhao is too noisy, and it stands to reason that he should be more frugal. But I put it forward to be grand. Zhao Zhao and Cao Tong both said that as long as they are sincere. It doesn't have to be grand. Bisheng used some grand ceremony as an excuse to prevaricate, wanting to prevent Zhao Zhao from leaving Beijing.

As a result, he couldn't stop it, and he still threw in so much money, and he also wanted to create momentum for Zhao Zhao, but now that he thinks about it, he is a pig brain!

The grand and grand of the Ling Alley, it is Zhao Zhao who gets the benefit, and he is thankless to spend money and effort! Zhao Ji couldn't cry or laugh, I didn't know what I thought at the beginning. Under the tactful persuasion of the three envoys, they had no choice but to reduce their expenditures and cancel the tributary celebrations.

The third envoy left, not satisfied, but at least relieved. But Zhao Ji's heart was even more uncomfortable, and he became more and more uncomfortable.

made him lose face, missed a prestige enhancement, and more of a good opportunity to satisfy his vanity, and his heart was inevitably unhappy. At the same time, he also regretted his previous mistakes, which really cheapened Zhao Zhao.

Soon, Zhao Ji realized another problem - money!

The three envoys began to cry poor, and the Great Song Treasury had no money?

This is a very unexpected situation. In recent times, Zhao Ji's energy has been mainly attracted by the war in the northwest and Yongzhou, and then there was the Zhao Zhao incident, so much so that he ignored the financial problems. He was surprised to learn that finances were tight.

If you think about it, it's not the fault of the three envoys. After all, one year of floods and one year of droughts, in ancient societies based on agricultural production, disasters had a great impact on the social economy and national finances.

In addition, the northwest and southwest are at war with three countries at the same time, and the military expenditure is huge, and it is not surprising that the money is spent like water. It's just that according to the tax situation in previous years, it seems to be supportable. Since the beginning of the reform, Da Song's financial revenue has been on an upward trend, how can it not make ends meet this year?

With a skeptical mentality, Zhao Ji checked the accounts of the third division and found a fact that surprised him. Last year's tax revenue did not increase at all as expected, but was barely the same as the previous year, and it was not bad that there was no decline.

How so?

Zhao Ji did not expect that with the implementation of the Qingmiao Law, under the condition that the government forced the people to borrow Qingmiao money at high interest, more and more people could not support it, and the so-called bankruptcy of yeoman farmers appeared in the history books. Homesteaders were the basis for the feudal dynasty to pay taxes, and if they went bankrupt, it was almost inevitable that their tax revenues would fall.

More and more land was being annexed by large and wealthy families. Although there is a Fangtian Equal Tax Law, its implementation is not thorough, and the corresponding taxes have not been supplemented. As a result, there was a decline in tax revenue, and in the past two years, the Great Song Dynasty spent too much money, and the originally abundant treasury began to gradually run short.

However, Zhao Ji did not know the situation, he had always been convinced that the law change could enrich the country and strengthen the army, and never thought that the law change would have an adverse impact on the Great Song Dynasty. The last time the displaced people starved to death was caused by the drought, and it was really impossible to remove Wang Anshi. Since it is right to change the law, but the taxes that have risen in the previous two years have fallen, then ......

There seems to be a reasonable explanation, the person who presided over the reform of the law was not effective, which led to the fact that the effect of the change was not as good as in previous years. Under the guidance of someone with a heart, Zhao Ji was even more sure of this.

Specifically, Lu Huiqing, who is now the governor of the government, is not as good as Wang Anshi.

Zhao Ji has an understanding that Lu Huiqing is a good person, he is quite neat in his work, and he is also very good at catering to the emperor's thoughts. Now is the time to use it, especially when he has a deep hatred with Zhao Zhao, the two are incompatible, and he himself has some ability and tricks, which is a sharp weapon against Zhao Zhao.

But there is a fact that has to be admitted that Lu Huiqing's presiding over the new law is far inferior to Wang Anshi. Over the past year, the New Party's status and voice in the DPRK and China have greatly declined, and the effectiveness of the reform of the law has also declined. It fully shows that in terms of presiding over the government affairs of law change, Lu Huiqing is indeed inferior to Wang Anshi.

To deal with Zhao Zhao now, it is necessary to concentrate the core forces around us, and the New Party is an important part of it. However, as a leader, Lu Huiqing, neither prestige nor ability, can completely unite and strengthen the new party. The only one who can do this may be Wang Anshi.

Zhao Ji couldn't help but think about it, maybe it was time for Wang Anshi to come back.

I heard that when he left Bianjing and returned to Jiangning, he wrote a poem, which has a sentence: The spring breeze and the south bank of the Green River, when will the bright moon shine on me?

It can be seen that he is still ambitious and wants to come back. He has the ability and prestige to unite the forces of the new party and become his right-hand man. At the same time, he and Zhao Zhao are not on good terms, and they are also available talents in dealing with King Qin.

He was dismissed at the beginning, but because of the drought, and now, a year later, everything has passed, and it is possible to reactivate.

It's already April, and the spring breeze has long greened the south bank of the river. Zhao Ji was thinking about it, maybe it was time for Mingyue to return to Bianjing with Wang Anshi!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lu Huiqing has been very depressed these days, and Lin Zhao has inexplicably become Zhao Zhao, and now he has become the king of Qin.

The impact of this incident on him was very great, and it was really uncomfortable.

He is willing to associate the black dragon with his son, arouse the suspicion of Emperor Zhao Ji, and then he can be put to death. Unexpectedly, Zhao Zhao suddenly had the identity of an imperial uncle.

For a while, even Zhao Ji couldn't help it. The most important thing is that Zhao Zhao is not afraid of Zhao Ji at all, he is very ambitious, and he has a great posture to replace him.

All his efforts and arrangements were in vain, and his revenge was once again in vain. The black dragon not only did not endanger Zhao Zhao, but helped him do publicity. So much so that many people secretly rumored that when the prince of Qin was born, the black dragon rose from the palace of the king of Qin, doesn't it mean that the prince of Qin is the true son of the dragon?

In this way, the people respected and loved King Qin more, and Zhao Zhao's prestige was higher.

Lu Huiqing called this a depressed, but soon realized that maybe this was not entirely a bad thing.

It is rumored that the prince of Qin is a true dragon, if this sentence is transmitted to the ears of today's official Zhao Xuan, what will be the result? Lu Huiqing knows very well that Zhao Ji is a person, and he will definitely not tolerate it.

Zhao Zhao disclosed his identity, suspicion was meaningless, and Zhao Zhao was more definitely jealous and angry now. He will definitely do everything possible to get rid of Zhao Zhao, this is his chance.

Otherwise, even if he is a governor and a deputy prime minister, he can't be at the same level as King Qin, so how can he talk about revenge? Alas! Lu Huiqing was almost desperate, maybe this was fate, and chased after him, but he never caught up with Zhao Zhao, and the gap between them became bigger and bigger, until today he couldn't catch up at all.

It is impossible to take revenge by yourself, only with the help of Zhao Ji's hands. Now it's not just about revenge, it's about self-preservation. Just imagine, if Zhao Zhao is on the throne, will he still have a way to live?

Of course, it can only be with the help of Zhao Ji, and the method still has to be thought of by yourself. Only in this way can we gain the trust of the emperor and have merit at all.

After pondering and meditating at home for a few days, Lu Huiqing finally had a little eyebrows. Zhao Zhao may not be able to do it there, but it is okay to find another way and start from somewhere else!

Hum! When Lu Huiqing was in high spirits, his family came to report: "Prince Wang Yuanze is here." ”

Wang Yan is here?

Lu Huiqing frowned, since Wang Anshi stepped down, he tried hard to downplay his influence in the New Party, and naturally he was also very distant from his son Wang Yan. Even if they were seemingly close brothers in the past, in front of interests, they are not worth mentioning at all.

Lu Huiqing waved his hand, and he didn't see it! (To be continued.) )