Unable to live for their own wickedness, the rest of the soldiers left the scene with the one who had fallen to the ground. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoCai Jing ordered the rest of the people to step down, leaving only the shogunate to accompany him. Then he walked into the ancestral hall surrounded by the people, burned incense and worshipped, and left the Xue Gong ancestral hall with Shen Kuo next to the king.

The people behind him talked about it, and the people who just said that Cai Jing was flamboyant also changed their words, with such a prefect who knows his mistakes and admits mistakes and is close to the people, there is hope for Jucheng to govern during his tenure.

Cai Jing invited Wang Bi and Shen Kuo to his mansion, the soldiers of the prefect's mansion were heavily guarded, and the decoration inside was also very elegant, and it took a lot of thought to see the decoration of the mansion. Wang Bei knew that the official to the Tianfu Mansion was arranged by the imperial court, but the home furnishings were brought by the officials themselves, and it can be seen from the furniture ornaments in the mansion that Cai Jing has gained a lot over the years.

After the three of them sat down at the banquet in the hall, Cai Jing respectfully toasted to the king: "Lord Wang, Chief Shu didn't know that the prince was here, so this cup was for the prince." ”

Wang Bi raised his glass: "Yuan Chang, I still want to pay tribute to you for this cup of wine, today you have given me enough face, and now you are a magistrate, what about me?" If you return to the court, it's impossible to say if it's the prince. ”

Cai Jing hurriedly said humbly: "What are you talking about?" Today, I don't mean to give you face, and there are indeed things I did wrong, which is ashamed compared to Xue Gong's integrity. Besides, my glass of wine is not because you are a prince, but because of your kindness back then. ”

This was just right, Shen Kuo said with a smile: "Even if you meet again after a long absence, don't say some polite words." Let's take care of our official position today, regardless of grade, just as an old reunion and have a good drink or two. Hey, I'm not going to be easy all the way down, come and come, drink. ”

Wang Bi also had mixed feelings in his heart, and this is probably what the world means when things are unpredictable. "I've been gone for fourteen years, if I didn't happen to stay near Yancheng today, and come to Xue Gong Ancestral Hall to worship, I'm afraid I won't be able to see Yuan Chang again. However, there is one thing that I am a little strange, when will the prefect be able to lead troops? ”

Not to mention the Song Dynasty, in modern times, the prefect is equivalent to the provincial governor, and the governor will call the public security department to cooperate at most when he goes out, and he has not seen the armed police or the army mobilized. Compared with the Song Dynasty, it would not be strange if the prefect followed the officials, but it was a bit novel to follow the soldiers.

Cai Jing hurriedly explained: "The prince doesn't know, Xining has implemented a lot of new laws in the past ten years, but there are many opponents. Even the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager put a lot of pressure on the emperor, and since the resignation of the prime minister, many new laws have been abolished. In recent years, the old and new laws have alternated, and the implementation of the law in various localities has been very chaotic. Take the art of war: the garrisons of each road are divided into several units, and each position will have a deputy general, who is responsible for training the army. My team of soldiers was escorted by the imperial court when I was on an envoy to the Liao Kingdom, but when I returned to the court, the establishment changed again. At this time, the conscription law had not been abolished, and the state and county governments paid for their own employment of people. No one wants to pay more silver taels, but they don't meet the retirement regulations. So I've been carrying it, and besides, I offended a lot of people in the past few years, and I just paid for it as peace of mind. ”

Wang Jian listened with a big head, but he finally understood that these soldiers were hired by Cai Jing himself: "You kid is very bold, aren't you afraid of being impeached if you hire soldiers yourself." ”

"Impeach me for what? Just these ten or twenty soldiers will impeach me for supporting the army and respecting myself? Whoever impeaches me will let whoever settles the ownership of these soldiers, what am I afraid of?! At most, it is to demote and lose office. Anyway, the new law was abandoned halfway, and this official didn't think it was interesting to do it or not. ”

Cai Jing said, he picked up the cup and drank it all, and it seemed that he was extremely depressed with wine.

Shen Kuo said: "It's one thing for you to offend a lot of people, I heard that you have made a lot of money over the years, and your family is very big, and someone should protect you." Shen Kuo has always spoken directly, and there is some sarcasm in his words, but because of the presence of the king, it seems to be very tactful.

Cai Jingzhi was not obscure at all: "Hey, Brother Shen, you are really right." In the first few years, those water conservancy projects, where to dig ditches and repair canals, where to build dams and bridges, they were all subsidized by the imperial court. ”

Wang was quietly drinking with vegetables, and at the same time looked at Cai Jing with a smile: "You dare to accept this money?" ”

"This money, you have to collect it! Of course, the principle of receiving and receiving, if it does not meet the regulations, even if it gives me gold and silver, I will not ask for it. But where it meets the regulations, it must be collected. Some of them were collected by the local government and some who contracted the project. If you don't take anything at all, they will think that you are not in line with him, which is good, and if they think you are too little, they will give more. But the money and wool come out of the sheep, and they give more silver, so they will cut corners. Therefore, if they receive it appropriately, let them do it steadfastly, and they can do things well. ”

When the king heard this, he scolded: "You bastard, you have accepted bribes and gifts? If the bribe giver builds a dam and cuts corners, it will be a hurtful thing, and you are not afraid of retribution, you should also think about the black gauze hat on your head and the head under it! ”

Cai Jing was stunned for a moment and then smiled: "Hehe, only when you talk like this can you look like a prince." Come, drink, I tell you, if that is the case, I will return their silver taels, and tell them that I cannot afford to do so. And guess what? If you can pass everything, the money will be collected steadily, and you can get by up and down. If you give money for everything, you will have to be sold sooner or later. This is my experience over the years, and I have tried and tested! ”

Shen Kuo pointed at Cai Jing and said, "You are a moth!" Moths of the imperial court! ”

Cai Jing drank a few glasses of wine, and when he saw this relative next to the king again, he was somewhat open-mouthed, and he replied: "Hey? Brother Shen, this is not right, before the new law, the people were trapped by the flood, and now there is a good way to solve it, it is better than those who take the imperial court's disaster relief funds but do nothing. I'm only taking what I should take, and besides, the court law changes every three days, who knows what will happen in the future? From the Song Dynasty to the present, the only thing that has remained the same is not to kill the scholars. As long as people don't die, the rest depends on the fate of providence. Don't talk about others, just talk about the prince, how big the family property was back then, how honest and heartfelt it was, so what? As soon as a person dies, everything is given to the imperial court. Lord, am I right! ”

"I'm all dead, and you're still asking me what I'm doing!" The king returned angrily.

"Okay, don't talk about the prince, just say Brother Shen, you, have changed the sacrifice for so many years, changed this and that. Save more than 200,000 taels of silver to the imperial court every year, so what? What have you fallen into but your fortune? Yes, a bunch of enemies, you just wait for you to go back to the capital this time and helplessly watch those people fall into the ground, so I said, only what falls in your hands is the most real. ”

Shen Kuo snorted and drank a glass of stuffy wine, what Cai Jing said was not unreasonable, but he also knew that Cai Jing was saying crooked reasoning, but he didn't know where to refute it.

Wang Fang knows that it is useless to say Cai Jing now, he has his way to go in the past few years, it is difficult to say whether it is right or wrong, and some things are indeed involuntary in the rivers and lakes. "Forget it, it's useless to say this, no matter what you do, just be worthy of your conscience."

Cai Jing gave a thumbs up: "It's still right what the prince said, I think I do things for the people, and I don't harm the people, as for the people who give me money, they may not be good." I'm also calling it the way of heaven! ”

"You're quite good at making excuses for yourself, in short, people in officialdom should do their own thing." Wang said lightly: "Now that you have arrived in Duncheng, what are you going to do in the future?" ”

Speaking of Duncheng, Cai Jing's expression became serious: "In this place, when Xue Gong was here, whether it was the law or the Qingmiao law, the implementation was very good. Commerce flourished, agriculture flourished. Moreover, the common people also respect these systems, there is no need to be forced to donate, and the materials are very circulating. More importantly, even if there is a natural or man-made disaster, the people can survive safely by relying on the government's assistance. In recent years, new laws have been repealed one after another, and the people are a little uncomfortable. Now there is no catastrophe, if there is any change, there will be no help that can be provided before, but I am afraid that the people will make trouble. ”

Shen Kuo looked at Cai Jing curiously: "Was the prince's new law really so good?" Then how can there be Zheng Xia's painting "Picture of Displaced People", in which the displaced people are either locked on their backs, or eat grass roots. At that time, the emperor questioned the new law, if it is like what the chief said, the people should live and work in peace and contentment, where will there be a saying of displaced people? ”

mentioned Zheng Xia Cai Jing was very angry: "This villain, at the beginning, was fortunately promoted by the prince, at that time, the imperial court promulgated the method of using the new examination law to elect talents, and those who passed the examination could be promoted to Beijing officials. Wang Anshi asked Zheng Xia to get used through this way. The prince wanted to use him, but this guy refused on the grounds that he was not familiar with the new law, so the prince did not reuse him, so he held a grudge and took advantage of the drought to draw a map of the displaced people and present it to the emperor, so that the emperor thought that it was caused by the new law, which was really shameful. With that, he placed his glass on the table and the wine was overflowing. The subordinates on the side hurriedly stepped forward to help Cai Jing wipe the table in front of him and change the wine glass.

Shen Kuo shook his head, and didn't seem to agree very much: "Whether it is Su Shi or Zheng Xia, there are differences with the prince, but it is better than Lu Huiqing, Shu Yan, and Li Ding, who are fighting for their own interests." ”

"Could it be that Brother Shen thinks that those who have differences are good people? If we and others support the prince, they can do it, can they be traitors? Cai Jing asked Shen Kuo angrily.

Seeing that the two people at the table were about to argue, Wang next coughed, and Cai Jing and Shen Kuo looked at Wang at the same time and waited for him to speak.

"People are different, the purpose of my father's change of law is to achieve a rich country and a strong army, that is, to crack down on the powerful and prevent annexation. However, due to the cunning and robbery of these corrupt officials and corrupt officials, all the new laws have gone to their own opposite. Because the enforcers of the new law always pass on the disaster to the small traders, hawkers and ordinary people, making the people's livelihood miserable. For example, the implementation of the green seedling law, when the green and yellow crops are scarce, to borrow grain and grain to cross the famine, this is good, but the general interest rate is as high as 20 percent, and in some areas it is as high as 50 percent, and even to the point where the people can not afford to pay the money. This is not a question of law, nor is it a question of whether there are disagreements, but a question of implementation. Zheng Xia did too much, but he didn't exclude him and didn't see the essence of the problem, you think about it: he had just taken office when he presented the exile map, and he was about thirty years old, and he didn't know anything about local affairs. The emperor is all blinded, let alone him? ”

Shen Kuo and Cai Jingjing were silent, and after a while, Shen Kuo said: "Now I understand better why the people of Duncheng are so grateful to Xue Gong, this is what it looks like to be an official." ”

Wang glanced at Cai Jing, and Cai Jing said: "I don't dare to compare with Xue Gong, I can only do not harm the people, as for what kind of legal system the court will be in the future, I can only take one step at a time." ”

"Out of breath!" The king scolded softly.

Cai Jing smiled, and seemed to be scolded by the king, which was both kind and honorable. The shogunate officer walked in from outside and whispered a few words in Cai Jing's ear, Cai Jing frowned and turned to Shen Kuo next to the king and asked, "Brother Shen, is there a person named Xu Xi in the army?" ”

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