When he said this, everyone looked at each other, but they also felt that what he said was reasonable. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the prime minister and the privy council have always checked and balanced each other, and no minister has held both political power and military power.

Li Gangqi was naturally believed by everyone, so when the emperor issued an edict, no one wrote against it.

And Li Gang himself is very powerful.

Pingzhang military and state affairs, the power should be better than the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, or even more. If a careerist gets the position, who will check and balance?

Seeing everyone in a daze, Li Gang strengthened his determination to resign. At that moment, after greeting everyone for a while, a small official stepped forward and guided the Li family to settle down.

Zhang Jun and the others were going to go to his mansion to discuss the battle plan with him, but Li Gang repeatedly excused himself and only said: "Some of you who will be ranked as the chief assistant, and there are also those who are in charge of the privy council, and you have gathered in my mansion to discuss military affairs, which is against the system. It's better to wait to see Your Majesty and say it in front of Your Majesty. ”

He was so cautious, but he had to act this way because he had suffered too much before.

Everyone knew his intentions, so they could only watch him get into the carriage with a slight trembling and leave slowly.

Zhao Ding was originally a Zhongcheng in the imperial history, and after Li Gang was reprimanded, he faintly became the representative of the main battle faction of Zhao Gou's subordinate ministers. It's just that Zhao Gou reused Wang and Huang, and rejected Zhao Ding a lot, and after the defeat of Yangzhou, the emperor had already ordered him to sign the Privy Council, and after Li Gang left, he asked Zhang Jun: "Your Majesty is back to Chang'an, I don't know how to deal with Guan Fang?" You and I are privy secrets, and the three pro-armies in front of the palace do not report to us, what kind of system is this? ”

Zhang Jun spread his hands and smiled bitterly, and only said: "This is Your Majesty's holy will, what can I do?" ”

Zhao Ding was slightly angry, and said: "Your Majesty's actions are not in line with the system, and the minister should fight on the basis of reason, how can he shirk the holy will and ignore it?" ”

Zhang Jun was robbed of his white, and felt that the other party didn't understand his hard work of taoguang and obscurity in order to gain the emperor's trust, and only knew how to accuse indiscriminately, so he brushed his sleeves and said angrily: "The emperor is back anyway, Zhao Gong is so strong, Zhao Gong will tell His Majesty Chen tonight." ”

As ministers, the two of them talked like this in the street, similar to a quarrel, and the soldiers on guard around them all gathered around, and they were dumbfounded.

Xie Liang and others knew about the joints, and when the two were in Yangzhou, they often quarreled because of disagreements. Both of them are resolute and upright, extremely confident characters, Zhang Jun refused to be the prime minister in the court, insisted on leaving the central government, passing through Sichuan and Shaanxi, and also did not want to argue with Zhao Ding in the court.

At that moment, everyone stepped forward and persuaded the two of them to leave, and they all said: "The system is a major matter, and we are among the ministers, so we naturally have to fight for Your Majesty, and the two of you don't have to be like this." ”

It's just that these two people are stubborn and have seen their temperament, where can they persuade them to come over, Zhao Ding only said: "Since Zhang Gong said so, then His Majesty summoned me tonight, and naturally let Zhang Gong see how I act." ”

Zhang Jun snorted coldly, didn't speak, just arched his hand to others, and left.

As a result, the atmosphere was very embarrassing, and everyone had to comfort Zhao Ding a few more words, and then left.

Zhao Huan had returned to Chang'an the day before yesterday, but he had never entered the city, only Zhao Ding and other ministers knew that he was stationed near the left side of Baqiao, not far from Chang'an City. Because the emperor had already greeted him, after Li Gang arrived in Chang'an, he met with his ministers.

Baqiao, more than ten miles away from Chang'an. In the Tang Dynasty, someone in Chang'an City left the capital, that is, to send people here, when the spring breeze blows, the catkins are flying, folding willows and singing, for friends to make a strong line, extremely elegant.

Zhao Huan stopped at Baqiao, the address of the imperial camp was originally a post station, he himself lived in the house, and the thousands of royal soldiers accompanying him were around the post station, camping and guarding.

Originally, he was also in a hurry to come back and summon Li Gang and others, and asked these famous ministers of later generations about the strategy of war defense, the strategy of improving politics, improving economic conditions, promoting farming, and reforming the military system.

It's just that after Sichuan and Shaanxi's entourage, the hard work along the way did not completely dispel the doubts in his heart.

Li Gang, Zhao Ding, and even Zhang Jun are all famous ministers in history books, and their abilities are not bad. But the famous ministers of the Song Dynasty, are there fewer? Why couldn't I measure the land near Tokyo during the Shinshu period?

Wang Anshi's reform ended in a fiasco, and finally ended up in a struggle between the old and new parties, which consumed the national strength of the Song Dynasty in vain.

Redundant personnel, redundant expenses, redundant soldiers, the heavy burden brought by these three redundancies, when it came to the death of the country at this time of mourning, there was no sign of improvement at all.

He had read many of the financial reports of the time, and the country's revenues hovered between 60 million and 80 million. The loss of Hedong, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and even Jiangnan, Hunan, and Hubei was also attacked by the Jin soldiers several times, and was very damaged, and the fiscal revenue not only did not decrease, but increased.

Ninety percent of these revenues were spent on government expenses, budget expenditures, and military expenditures, as well as on the improvement of public facilities, relief, science, education, culture, and medical care, and other fields that would require vigorous investment in later generations.

Since Song Zhenzong and below, the Song family has begun to accumulate poverty and weakness, and its finances have faced the crisis of bankruptcy several times. During the reign of Emperor Injong, the state became corrupt to the point where it was difficult to support.

Waste, corruption, hidden fields, and generous officials made the scholars and doctors of the Song Dynasty enjoy unprecedented top treatment, and the heavy taxes of the Song Dynasty also reached an unprecedented height.

The essence of the two-tax system is to live within the limits of the population. Every year, after the tax is collected, the government determines the amount of money needed for the next year, and then sets the tax amount.

The Song Dynasty's policy of the Yulishi doctor reduced the amount of arable land that could be taxed year by year, and huge taxes fell on tenants and small and medium-sized yeoman farmers.

The professional mercenary policy of the Song Dynasty made it necessary to bear all the expenses of more than one million professional soldiers, and such huge expenses could only be paid by greater squeezing.

What Zhao Huan saw everywhere in Sichuan and Shaanxi was that the peasants were overwhelmed, the small and medium-sized businessmen were pressed to the point of bankruptcy, and even the big businessmen who had obtained the monopoly of salt, tea and wine began to complain.

If it weren't for the fact that the industrial and commercial agriculture of the Song Dynasty had developed greatly compared with its predecessors, especially the prosperity of overseas trade, which brought it a huge trade surplus, so that the people under its rule could still accept such high taxes, and even under great pressure, they could still maintain relatively stable development.

At this time, a large amount of land in the north was robbed, and many places in the south were facing famine, and taxes did not decrease but increased, but it is no wonder that in the late Northern Song Dynasty and early Southern Song Dynasty, peasant uprisings occurred from time to time.

A large part of this is due to Dr. Euris's policies. A large number of officials are superficial, but they receive a high amount of money, and if Zhao Huan wants to reform the system, he must first attack the officials.

Under the current conditions, he could never do so.

Zhao Gou is waiting for him to make a mistake, Jin Guo is eyeing him, if there is an uproar in his hands at this time and he loses the support of the scholars, even if he is the emperor, how can he command the world.

These days, he tosses and turns, and it is difficult to sleep soundly.

The heart that was originally bent on returning to Chang'an and starting reform gradually cooled down. In his previous life, as an official who struggled to the top, he knew that at this time, the first step to start could only be a dirty power struggle, and only by getting absolute power in his hands could he reform as he wanted.

He sat in the tent, holding some pieces in his hand, but he couldn't stand it. In desperation, he took a few manuscripts of poetry from the people of the time and read them softly.

During the Song Dynasty, the printing industry was extremely developed, and literati officials compiled their manuscripts and poetry vocabulary into volumes, and immediately distributed them all over the world to gain fame.

But what he held in his hand was copied with a brush, and it was obviously just recently written, and it had not yet been printed in a book.

Just looking at the room, Xue Qiang whispered outside the window: "Official, Li Gang and others were ordered to come to see him, do you want to summon them now?" ”

Zhao Huan perked up and said with a smile: "I will personally go to greet you." ”

After that, he put on his shoes, held a candle in his hand, and when the attendant opened the door, he stepped out.

There was a fire in his room, and he didn't feel the cold, but as soon as he went out, he only felt the bitter cold, and he didn't feel that he shrank his body.

I saw an old man in a green robe walk out of the figure, knelt down and kowtowed to him, and said repeatedly: "How can the minister be so kind to Your Majesty, and open the door to greet him." ”

Zhao Huan knew that this was Li Gang, so he hurriedly handed the candle in his hand to others, stretched out his hand to help him up, and said with a smile: "After a few years, what can I do if I come out to greet him." ”

Li Gang had several ups and downs in the hands of Zhao Huan, and when Tokyo was besieged, he used to get along day and night, but he had never seen the emperor so close, and even his temperament and expression had changed greatly.

While thanking him repeatedly, he just thought: "People say that Your Majesty is different from before, how can it be as if he is a different person." ”