Zheng Lang didn't get home, so he let Xiao Huangmen intercept him halfway. First take Zheng Lang to Zhongshu to work, this is a matter of formalities. Several officials from the Eastern Mansion wanted to come up and talk, and asked Xiao Huangmen to bring them to the Inner Palace. At least for three years, there will be no official taste.

The problem is too serious.

Zhao Ji personally greeted Dongxiaomen and said respectfully: "Gong Zheng, I finally look forward to you." ”

Don't doubt that the first few emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Ji and his son are not counted, several emperors can be said to be a good emperor, if you score, Zhao Kuangyin can score ninety, Zhao Kuangyi and Song Zhenzong, Song Renzong can all play eighty points, that is, Zhezong and Zhao Shu can also play seventy points. But because of Zheng Lang's involvement, Zhao Shu may only be able to play forty points now.

If you analyze it again, defeat under the entire feudal system is not just the strange family law of the Song Dynasty.

The problem was revealed, and Zhao Ji was restless during this time.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, have you forgotten what the minister said?"

"Gong Zheng, what?" Zhao Ji didn't quite understand.

"Your Majesty wants to combine movement and stillness......" With a small yellow door on the side, Zheng Lang said vaguely. I said it when I was in Yunzhou before, and I said it again when I was in Yonghouling.

What is said, even if you are an emperor, you must also protect your body, not be too obsessed with women, exercise appropriately, keep a reasonable diet, and relax your mind, so that you can live a long life. How important longevity is, you can see how many emperors transitioned.

Zhao Zhen is good, there is a Liu E, Zhao Shu was not prepared, and he did very poorly after taking the position. Zhao Shu in history also did a very poor job when he took the throne, and two years later, he gradually made some achievements, but he died soon. Zhao Ji hurriedly ascended to the throne and hurriedly reformed, but nothing was accomplished. He became seriously ill and died. Once again, the wheel of history has returned to the era of Song Zhezong. Otherwise, it would not be Zhao Ji's turn to ascend the throne.

One of the best forms. It is the transition between Song Taizong and Song Zhenzong.

When Song Zhenzong ascended the throne. has been cultivated for more than ten years, and Song Taizong has been polishing it for decades, even Zhao Zhen has trembled for more than ten years under Liu E's whip. So when they are in power, the country can quickly get back on track.

In the middle, the emperor must live a long life.

As a private point of view, Zhao Zhen has a long life, and it is possible that Zhao Shu's father and son are sad. But it is very beneficial to the country.

Therefore, in Yonghouling, Zheng Lang deliberately faded for this.

Gao Tao stretched out his snow-white little hand and clapped his hands behind the curtain, saying loyally.

At that time, he said to Zhao Zhen that Gao Taotao would be unhappy, and at this time, he said to his son, didn't Gao Taotao like it?

This mentality is particularly important, the mentality of longevity is mostly good, and Zhao Ji is advised not to be anxious.

Zhao Ji smiled bitterly: "Gong Zheng, can I not be in a hurry?" ”

"It's okay, it's hard in the first three years. After three years, His Majesty can probably be at ease. As he spoke, he entered the inner hall with Zhao Ji.

Let's talk about how to change. Zheng Lang said: "You can summon Sima Guang in." ”

I know about it, but the real situation, Zheng Lang still doesn't know, he wants to see Sima Guang's thick report.

Sima Guang brought it in.

I took the report from the Chinese book as well.

This report has been largely obscured in the past, but now it is almost public. Of course, Wang Anshi in history is far inferior to the current Zheng Lang, and there is no comparison between the two phases. Zheng Lang can persecute the people of the whole country in the newspaper, if you want to live a good life, you must be prepared and cooperate with me, even if you are temporarily hurt by losses. Does Wang Anshi dare to say it in history? Even if it is said, not many people may believe it.

That is the impetus for reform.

Because it must be the teacher who presides over the reform, Sima Guang's report is very detailed.

Zheng Lang picked it up and flipped through it, and Zhao Ji said carefully: "Gong Zheng, the problem is serious." ”

"Your Majesty, since you have lost so much, of course it is serious." Zheng Lang replied calmly.

"Zheng Gong has the demeanor of Kou Xiang Xie An," Zhao Wei was also looking at Zheng Lang's face, if Zheng Lang's color changed, he would not have enough confidence in his heart, but Zheng Lang's face was calm, and a small part of his hanging heart fell. It's only a small half. Zheng Lang opened the second and third pages and spread them out on the table.

These two pages are about redundancy.

Where the money went, Sima Guang had to find out the reason. Redundancy is an important one, and it must be found carefully. actually found the era of Song Zhenzong. When Song Zhenzong was talking to the immortals, why didn't the country's finances deteriorate much?

Officials are a problem, and during the Xiangfu period, there were only 9,785 civil and military officials in the country. Around the time of the emperor's reign, there were more than 17,300 officials inside and outside the country. At that time, Zhang Fangping also played a game for this, and there were only 890,000 old soldiers in the three dynasties, and the volunteer and brave soldiers of his township army were not counted here. After Qingli mobilized troops, Zhulu increased the forbidden army by more than 420,000 people. Of course, at that time, Zheng Lang had already started to disarm. This figure refers to the highest number of armies during the Qingli Song and Xia Wars. He also said that there were more than 4,000 envoys in the court, and there were more than 6,500 now. There are more than 40 officials at or above the provincial level (excluding Taiwan admonitions, which refer to the real bigwigs of decision-making bodies), and there are more than 60 today. At the time of Jing Yu, there were less than 2,000 officials in Beijing, and now there are 2,800.

At that time, Zhang Fangping only wrote a proposal for a fold, and did not conduct a census of national officials. Zheng Lang presided over the state affairs and had relatively little contact with officials, but he began to control it. The further reduction of Pang's nationality once kept the number of officials under control at about 15,000.

Subsequently, under Pang's nationality, the number of officials began to increase again. This is not only Han Qi's fault, but also Chen Zhizhong, Wen Yanbo, Fu Bi and Han Qi are all at fault. When Pang Ji became the second time, the number of officials was cut down, and the world was turbulent, and it was not easy to cut more than 17,000 officials to less than 16,000.

It is precisely because of these measures that Hegong was able to succeed before Zhao Zhen's death.

"Mellow is a good official," Zhao said, but there was not much joy, even the good official was also dead, and the following problems were more serious. After Pang Ji left the court, the number of officials could not be controlled. In the early years of Zhiping, there were more than 3,000 officials in Beijing and 24,000 officials nationwide. In the last years of the reign of the People's Republic of China, that is, in the spring of this year, there were more than 25,000 officials in the whole country and 4,000 in Beijing.

It was not easy for the Song Dynasty to raise an official, and on average, he had to use 2,000 yuan a year, not including various rewards and additional income such as job fields. 10,000 officials have been added, and more than 10 million dollars are gone.

Thick reports, each one is a big problem, but this problem is the biggest headache.

Not only the official errand officer. There are also many officers. When Zhang Fangping wrote that note. said that the three members of the country were one of them, that is, a bad post, and the three substantive officials were watching with their eyes open. At that time, it was written a bit exaggeratedly, but now it is really one of the three. And even much more.

Not only the officials, but also many minor officials below, because of the exemption law, these officials have also been converted into state civil servants. It was good then. However, due to the destruction of the exemption law, it has become one of the serious ills at this time. Just one official, tens of millions of dollars will be used more.

"Han Gong mistook the first emperor," Zhao Ji stood up and paced around.

He is a person with a conscience, if Han Qi hadn't gone too far and had two dynasties to take care of his life, why didn't he use it in history?

This mess sucks.

Sima Guang said worriedly: "Gong Zheng, I am very careful when this malpractice is eliminated. Qingli's new deal is raging in the world, and Pang Gong is resentful in the world......"

"The celebration is not about cutting redundant staff, but mostly about excluding dissidents. Because the world is turbulent. Pang Gong is resentful in the world, but he does it alone. Not all the doctors cooperated. Zheng Lang immediately retorted. He thought for a while, and then said: "In fact, it is not that there is no precedent to learn from, Xianping's four-year move can be used for reference." ”

I remember that in my previous life, someone ranked the faint monarchs of all dynasties and generations, and actually ranked Song Zhenzong among the four faint monarchs. At first, Zheng Lang didn't understand, but he really believed it, why didn't he use Kou Zhun, why did he have an alliance with the Yuanyuan, why did he get close to the immortals. It's the faint king.

At this time, it will not be thought like this. The Song Dynasty was the most peaceful and least dangerous Chenguang was not in the time of Renzong, and he could not even rule his own emperor, but the rule of Xianping. Under the care of Li Xin and Lu Mengzheng, the Northern Song Dynasty finally entered an era of prosperity.

One of the moves, Minister Chen Pengnian's letter suggested five important ways to pass through the world, one of which was to save redundant personnel, Song Zhenzong adopted, in the fourth year of Xianping to carry out large-scale layoffs, a one-time reduction of redundant officials and redundant officials in the country to 195,000, in May of the following year was still insufficient, to further reduce the redundant officials in Hebei. The best thing is that although this redundancy caused a commotion, it was not big.

They all thought that Song Zhenzong was a mediocre king, and they were negligent together, and Zhao Ji shouted: "Bring the record of Zhenzong." ”

The eunuch went down to get the record of Song Zhenzong.

Suddenly, a young woman turned out from behind the screen, and said slowly, "Gong Zheng, thank you." ”

Sima Guang wanted to escape, but there was no him, but Gao Tao.

In the Song Dynasty, everything had to have a story, that is, a precedent, so that it could be regarded as a legal principle. The Qingli New Deal's kind of dismissal that excludes different styles of layoffs will definitely not work, and officials are not convinced. Pang's tragic and force-turning style layoffs are not good.

If we can achieve the level of reduction in Xianping for four years, the state cost will drop a lot. In particular, in the past, officials were only sent and used little, but now they have become hired. If you cut it down and become a taxpayer, one in and one out, even a small official can save dozens of dollars.

Zheng Lang thought of the Song Zhenzong Dynasty that people didn't pay attention to, at least it proved that he had a heart. Gao Taotao also didn't want his son to inherit a rotten country. I was excited to hear it, and I actually turned out from behind the screen. Zhao Ji saw that Sima Guang was going to escape, and pushed his mother back.

Zheng Lang is not very opposed, now Zhao Ji is too tender, think about it, how difficult it is for a nineteen-year-old child to preside over this country. Gao Tao is behind the scenes, which may not be without benefits.

On this day, it was dark again, and Zheng Lang and Sima Guang left the inner hall.

The next day, Zhao Ji excitedly summoned all the important ministers to the Vertical Arch Hall to discuss the matter. He personally presided over it.

Redundant officials have the most headache, but when Zheng Lang came back this time, the first thing he encountered was redundant officials and redundant politics. The opportunity is rare, once the black hole is getting smaller and smaller, it is absolutely impossible to solve the redundant officials. Then it was handed over to Zhao Ji to preside. One is to hide behind the scenes and prolong the political lifespan, and the other is that Fu Bi said, you can't talk about money, and if you talk about money as the emperor, the officials below will find a way to fish the people and take more finance as their political achievement, so the country will be even more chaotic. At the beginning, it was redundant politics and redundant officials that were solved, and it was a system problem, not about money, so it was handed over to Zhao Ji to preside over to correct the impression of the officials below, and not let the officials do what they liked, and the people were prey.

Zhao Ji said: "In the past few years, my father was often seriously ill and had to hand over government affairs to the two governments, so there were some bad drawbacks and the current crisis. One of the most important is that the words are not smooth. ”

Lu Zhi said: "The words are not smooth, but the Zhongshu wants to do whatever he wants, and the treacherous and evil are in power, so please demote Ouyang Xiu to other states, so as not to harm the court again." ”

Shao Kang stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the five phases are degraded. Let's go back to the past. It violates the holy name of the first emperor. Although the country is in crisis, we should do our best to solve the country's shortcomings, and we cannot repeatedly pursue the fault of peacemaking. ”

Besides, Ouyang Xiu is at fault. But sooner or later, it will climb to Zhao Shu.

Zheng Lang was valued by Gao Taotao's mother and son, and Zheng Lang said a passage in Yonghouling: "Your Majesty, the two dynasties have changed, and the ministers are in charge." If Your Majesty stabilizes the court, you will use some old people from the East Palace, such as Wang Tao, Han Wei, Chen Jian, Sun Gu, Sun Sigong, Shao Kang, etc., although these people have no high vision, they can guarantee their loyalty to Your Majesty. ”

Among the several people, there are few capable people.

But this capable person is few, and most of the courtiers are still mediocre courtiers. With these people, it is not necessary that they have much reform and new role, but to defend Zhao Ji's imperial power.

There is also a layer of obscure intentions, after Zheng Lang took the throne. Some ministers will inevitably be brought up. If there were no these old people in the East Palace, it would have caused some people to gossip. So well thought out. Looking back at Han Qi's reversal and Shunchang, how is Gao Taotao unhappy?

Among these people, some people are still in favor of Pu Yi, such as Sun Gu and Shao Kang. Zhao Yi faintly rejected Pu Yi, and said that the ministers would settle accounts after the autumn, and it was not easy to say Pu Yi, so he said that Shao Kang tried to build a curtain when Zhao Shu was critically ill, that is, to let the Empress Dowager Cao listen to the government. Shao Kang defended himself that he didn't, but he felt bad, when Wang Tao impeached Wu Kui, Shao Kang judged the festival, attacked Wu Kui's words upside down, lost his minister's body, and shook Han Qi. Therefore, this time I was able to enter Xifu.

Because of Zheng Lang's suggestion, Yanchen regained his vitality and stared at Shao Kang again, so Shao Kang took the opportunity to extend an olive branch to Ouyang Xiu. It is not surprising that politics is the darkest of things, and temples are even darker abysses, and it is quite normal for them to be at odds with each other.

Zhao Ji said: "The two secretaries don't quarrel, I brought the secretaries here today, it is for the country's business, not to listen to the arguments of the secretaries." ”

You can't argue, this quarrel is endless.

The two of them were silent, and Zhao Ji said again: "The poor way of speech is the reason for this." Therefore, I revived the Taiwan admonition. ”

Lu Dafang and the other ministers raised their teeth and said, "Your Majesty is also wise." ”

Some Yanchen wanted to cry when they thought about the sad Yanchen career a few years ago.

But they don't know that the revival of Yanchen is only part of this official restructuring.

Zheng Lang was thinking wildly, thinking of the various systems of later generations, what kind of constitutional system, parliamentary system or average system, could not be realized in the Song Dynasty at all. If it weren't for China, it wouldn't be possible to achieve a capitalist system, or a democratic system, but no matter who crosses it, it can't be realized, and even if this person is a king, if it is realized, the country will collapse immediately. It can be realized, at least under a very perfect system, and only after two or three hundred years of vigorous development of scientific and technological strength can it be truly realized. A lifetime is a fantasy.

After thinking about it over and over again, what was finally done was to improve and improve the feudal system. To hell with all the systems of later generations such as democracies.

What Zhao Ji wants to talk about today is part of the improvement.

The officials of the Song Dynasty had many problems, overlapping institutions, no fixed staff and no full-time personnel, and there were many idle institutions and officials who had nothing to do in name only, and second, they did not receive their posts. When Xining changed the law, Wang Anshi did not dare to move in the midst of opposition, as long as he restored the functions of various institutions, he was satisfied. Zhao Ji faintly recognized the problem, Yuanfeng three years, carried out the restructuring, this is the famous Yuanfeng restructuring. It is to save some money, but the administrative efficiency has not only not improved, it is still dragging on than in the past, and the actual money saved is far less than the waste caused by redundant government. This was an unsuccessful restructuring.

Zheng Lang did not adopt it, what to do by changing an official name, mainly to serve the government decree, make the government decree smooth, and improve the efficiency of work.

The first step of reform is directly aimed at redundant government.

But before talking about the restructuring, it is another thing to talk about, Zhao Ji continued: "Zhuqing doesn't need to praise me, talk about the right thing. If you want to speak smoothly, it is far from enough to restore the function of admonishment. Even if I fill it up and reach the peak of Qingli, there will only be more than 30 people. How do I hear the world, hear the world, and be my eyes and ears? ”

Fu Bihu looked at Zheng Lang suspiciously, and asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, do you want to restore the Supervision Department?" ”

"It was inevitable to recover, but I also saw one more thing that made me see and hear all kinds of things in the country, the newspapers. To this day, people in all states have written to ask for newspapers, but the newspapers are only three-pointed, so I only see some of the situation in Gyeonggi and Zhejiang, and I still don't know about the other roads. I wanted to issue an edict to allow the ten prefectures of Guangzhou, Guizhou, Tanzhou, Yizhou, Jiangling, Jingzhaofu, Bingzhou, Zhenzongfu, Qingzhou, and Yangzhou to set up evening newspapers, so that the imperial court could listen to the voice of the people and fill in the gaps. However, there are two premises, it is not allowed to publicize the content of the ten heinous evils (rebellion, great rebellion, rebellion, surrender, evil rebellion, injustice, disrespect, unfilial piety, injustice, civil strife, ten evils), violators must be investigated and punished, and those who are not within the scope of the ten evils are encouraged to speak boldly and open the way for the imperial court. There are some useful strategies that the imperial court can not only adopt, but also promote this scholar into the official career to broaden the country's talents. ”

"This is a wonderful discussion," Lu Yu and Zhu Yanchen stood up again and said. In the most difficult time of the peace period, the three newspapers were of great help.

The other officials looked at Zheng Lang together, if this is the case, it will be more difficult to be an official in the future. Zheng Lang closed his eyes slightly, and did not know what to do, if newspapers were blooming everywhere, the effect would not only be to open up the way for the imperial court. Its significance is unimaginable.

Zhao Ji also said: "First, because it is a private newspaper, those who have the ability to run the newspaper are all local rich and tycoons. There are still many traitors among the businessmen, so there is also a premise that the people involved in the newspaper must be local good households. Those who are not good households are not allowed to participate, but if they enter the newspaper office, if there are those who participate in usury, those who are in the evil village, or those who have committed ten evils, they will be exempted. ”

It's still Zheng Lang's suggestion.

In the history of the Shenzong Dynasty, there are a few famous sayings, Wang Anshi said a sentence ahead of his time, no tax increase and the country is sufficient. Wen Yanbo said that in order to rule the world with scholars, not with the people. In the Song Dynasty, it was very confusing, Zheng Lang also said that the world is not the world of the people of the world, but the world of the elites of the world.

This is not a tragedy for China, even in so-called democracies. It is true, but it must be corrected, just like the system of the Song Dynasty, it is best to give some poor people a chance, then the social contradictions will be weakened.

When cultivating the mean for the second time, Zheng Lang threw out this view. The world is still the world of the people of the world, only the elite of the world occupies the main role, while exploiting the interests of the people at the bottom, we must also give them a way to live and give them a feeling of gratitude, the country will be stable, and the children and grandchildren will not disappear in the long river of history because of the rise and fall of the country again, like the five surnames and seven families of the Tang Dynasty.

The same is true for newspapers, if they sit back and watch the powerful join in, they only protect the interests and voices of the powerful. We cannot let the powerful preside over it, but let some conscientious elites preside over it, so that we can objectively put forward some voices and public opinion that represent the needs of the real people.

And, for the sake of reform! Once you do it, it will touch the interests of countless powerful people, and the more black-hearted interests will be touched, the more the newspaper will be able to publish the voices of some kind-hearted big families or scholars to compete with them for themselves.

For the time being, everyone has no rejection voices, unless they are like Han Qi, who wants to monopolize power, is afraid of gossip, and has no idea of monopolizing power, most of the people who are embarrassed are Zheng Lang himself, why should he fight for it?

There were some ministers whose eyes were jumping.

There was a look of approval in his eyes towards Zheng Lang.

If the whole country supervises, it will be more difficult to govern. Unless they are bold, they dare not make this proposal.

Everyone did not object, Zhao Ji said to Zheng Zheng: "Zheng Qing, draft edict." ”

A very upright official, he later let Wang Anshi go down. There is no controversy about this edict, and the embarrassment is that the two governments in the future have little to do with the interests of all parties involved in personnel changes, and Zheng Zheng quickly wrote the edict.

Issued out, Zhao Yan coughed, Zheng Lang nodded secretly, this time in Beijing, it is rare to see Zheng Lang's previous smile, and his attitude is still very gentle, but everyone feels a sense of solemnity in their hearts, and there is no reason to have a sense of fear.

Until now, Zheng Lang still hasn't said a word.

However, everyone's eyes often glanced at him, and saw him nodding and encouraging Zhao Ji, sitting upright one by one, knowing that he had to say the real thing. (To be continued.) )