Finance Minister Li Ziyi heard Zhao Qian's request to see him, but did not immediately agree. He was preparing for the national financial conference at this time, and he really didn't have time to talk to the prince about things. It's just that there is a lot of difference between not wanting to see and not seeing, and in the end, Li Ziyi reluctantly invited Zhao Qian in.

After Zhao Qian entered the door, he made a request, "Please ask Minister Li to recommend a person who knows the provincial finances of Europa to help me explain something." ”

"That's it?" Li Ziyi asked.

"Yes."

Li Ziyi's heart relaxed, the prince was quite upright, not here to point fingers. After thinking about it, he said, "You go and ask Director Qu of the Ministry of Finance who is in charge of personnel." I can't remember for a moment who is in charge of this. ”

"Minister Li, please put on a warrant." Zhao Qian responded.

A few minutes later, looking at the back of the crown prince Zhao Qian, Li Ziyi breathed a sigh of relief, now the prince is interning between various departments, and at this time it is the turn of the Ministry of Finance in charge of Li Ziyi, although the prince does not exceed the system, but he still hopes that the prince does not come to the best. With regret in his heart, Li Ziyi picked up the document again and started his own work. After the officials reappointed the prime ministers, the Ministry of Finance was under the leadership of the two prime ministers, which was more troublesome than when they were directly under the leadership of the officials.

Director Qu read Li Ziyi's warrant, and finally smiled at the end: "I don't know why the prince wants to ask this question?" ”

"I want to find out." Zhao Qian responded.

Seeing that he couldn't ask anything, Director Qu recommended Director Xu Hongda to Zhao Qian, "Director Xu knows more about this aspect. ”

"No special staff?" Zhao Qian was very strange.

"Nope."

"Why?"

"The finances over there don't depend on the imperial court, they use the banknotes that are common within the Quadripartite Alliance. The imperial court did not set the exchange ratio for bills and banknotes. ”

"Why?" Zhao Qian was even more surprised.

Director Qu also showed a little surprised expression after hearing this, but he still explained: "If there is a ratio between the banknotes of the Quartet Alliance and the banknotes of the Great Song Dynasty, wouldn't it be possible to print money freely over there?" ”

Zhao Qian's face flushed, he didn't expect this basic finance to be far away. It is the power of the imperial court to issue banknotes, and no one has the right to touch it. On the way to see Director Xu Hongda, Zhao Qian has been thinking about this issue. Taking this into account, the situation about Europa is unrecognizable. The province of Europa was nominally a local government of the Great Song Dynasty, but in fact it was completely different. It has independent armed and financial powers, and can independently issue local currency, which is not much different from that of a feudal town. Among the similar units in the entire Great Song Dynasty, the various colonies managed by the Li Domain were similar.

Director Xu's statement confirmed Zhao Qian's view, the territory controlled by the province of Europa is relatively barren land in the whole of Europa, and the four large islands in the Mediterranean Sea have a Mediterranean climate and lack stable water sources. Central and southern Greece are mountainous and inhospitable, and the people living on these lands alone are very poor, and the province of Europa is now able to dominate the entire Mediterranean without relying on local agricultural output.

"Prince, Europa Province now relies on the military equipment provided by the Great Song Dynasty, a relatively stable shipping route in the Black Sea, an eastern Mediterranean island provided by the Four-Nation Alliance, and the money industry engaged in by Europa. I've also heard that some people are very unhappy with Europa Province, and this criticism seems to miss the point. ”

"What do you think is the problem?" Zhao Qian asked seriously, he benefited the most from Director Xu, so he naturally paid more attention to Director Xu's views.

"It's not my right thing to say." Director Xu replied humbly.

Looking at Director Xu's eager look, Zhao Qian smiled and said: "To be bold, the official family said that there is no right to speak without investigation, and Director Xu is in charge of these, so he is naturally closest to the specific situation." ”

It can be seen that Director Xu took a moment to make a decision, and then got up and closed the office door. Only then did he lower his voice and said, "Prince, I think it is good to just manage the money bank in charge of Europa Province at the moment, and not let them mess around by themselves." I even think that the province of Europa is only afraid that it wants to manage the money bank internally, but it is not able to manage it well. Now there are two kinds of people in the Great Song Dynasty, one is the imperial court's money, those people have stable jobs, and there is a retirement system. Although everyone sees money, everyone lives comfortably, wants to make money, and also takes into account the court system. Isn't it stupid to go back to China and enjoy happiness after a lot of fishing in Europa. ”

When Zhao Qian heard this, his first reaction was to be very angry, but he actually remembered his cousin in his mind. After his cousin returned to China, he brought a rich gift to meet Zhao Qian's wife, and Zhao Qian's wife was also invited. When his wife Xiao Meimei came back, she also showed off to Zhao Qian the forty big pearls she got. Those pearls are more than one centimeter in diameter, and according to the standards of the Great Song Dynasty, they are no longer pearls, but pearls.

The most precious of these are the two Night Pearls, which glow softly in the dark. Zhao Qian, who is a man in science and engineering, immediately remembered the public classes of the Department of Water Conservancy and the Department of Geology. There are several lessons about fluorescent ores. If the pearl oyster is maintained in an environment with a relatively strong fluorescent ore composition during pearl cultivation, night pearls can be born.

Although he understood this principle, Zhao Qian still had to thank his cousin. When the two were chatting, Cousin Qin talked about his state of mind overseas, every time he felt the inconvenience of life, and felt the poverty and vulgarity of the local literature and entertainment of the Wa Kingdom, he wanted to return to the Great Song Dynasty immediately. This mood swing is probably divided by the pearl harvest. When he saw the plate of pearls, Cousin Qin even forgot about returning to the Great Song Dynasty.

His cousin's mentality is exactly the same as that of the people in Europa. Thinking of this, Zhao Qian suddenly had a funny feeling. He didn't expect that he could resonate with corrupt officials.

When Xu Hongda saw the prince's anger, he could fully understand why Zhao Qian was in such a mood. Unexpectedly, the prince's expression quickly became gentle, and finally showed a smile. Then I heard Zhao Qian answer calmly: "That means that the outstanding money bank personnel in China are unwilling to go to work in Europa Province?" ”

Xu Hongda was stunned. He didn't think about such a solution, and he fell into deep thought. Looking at Xu Hongda, Zhao Qian also felt that this person's ability was probably like this. I saw the problem, but I didn't think about the solution. But as soon as the disappointment came out, Zhao Qian also felt that he was too dependent on others. Xu Hongda is only in charge of finance, and there is no reason to think about the affairs of Europa Province. This is the dependency mentality that Daddy talked about.

While waiting in silence, Zhao Qian adjusted his mentality. I don't expect Xu Hongda to come up with an effective solution, but to see what kind of solution Xu Hongda can come up with.

On the morning meeting of the third day, Zhao Qian arrived five minutes early. His position is at the bottom, and the main position is, of course, the Zhao Guanjia. When it was the turn of the Minister of Civil Affairs to speak, he told the story of the province of Europa. Zhao Qian looked at the leaders of the court of the Great Song Dynasty, the left prime minister Wen Tianxiang was thoughtful, and the right prime minister was surprised. The Minister of Foreign Affairs looked calm, while the Minister of Politics looked gloomy. The other people were just a little curious, it was not that they had not reported and exposed illegal and criminal cases at the morning meeting, and everyone had long been used to it. Only the Minister of Finance looked at Zhao Qian, probably remembering that Zhao Qian had paid attention to this matter before.

The morning meeting is to tell about the major events that happened, not to make a decision, everyone is silent, according to the system to record, after which it is the turn of the next speaker. So things went, and it was the foreign minister's turn to give a briefing. Lu Baifeng talked about the recent civil strife in the Wa Kingdom, and in addition to the three assassinations in succession by the Kamakura shogunate, there were also assassinations in other places. It is said that the Hojo family is ready to make a move.

After saying this, the Minister of Commerce took over, "Official, trade with the Japanese has been independent of the Ministry of Commerce?" Should the arms trade be monopolized by military factories? ”

One sentence beat the two departments, and the eyes of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the General Staff fell on the face of the Minister of Commerce.

Zhao Jiaren replied decisively: "That's right, at this stage, in order to avoid trade beyond the scope of control, I don't want more departments to get involved. Multiple departments are involved, and for the benefit of the department, there will be price cutting competition and oversupply. ”

The Minister of Commerce responded: "Official, then set up a committee to coordinate this matter." The Ministry of Commerce does not want to interfere in the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the military, we just hope that it will be better...... Contribute to trade. ”

The deputy chief of staff of the General Staff responded: "Don't you let go of this little profit?" ”

"Da Song's fleet completed its sixth circumnavigation last year, and we already have a pretty good idea of which countries are on this earth. If you take the Wa Kingdom as a passing grade, most of the planet will fail. The Great Song Dynasty's foreign trade will reach its peak in the next few years. Not to mention the size of a fly, I can see the size of a mosquito in my eyes. ”

There was laughter in the room. Most officials felt that the commerce secretary was too good at fooling around. Zhao Qian also felt that this statement was alarmist, looked at his father, and found that his father was not smiling.

At the end of the morning meeting, Zhao Qian participated in the working meeting attended by the prime ministers. The Minister of Civil Affairs asked directly what to do with the province of Europa. Both the prime ministers on the left and right felt the need to remove corrupt officials from their posts and investigate them, which made the Minister of Civil Affairs very dissatisfied. He argued: "According to the investigation, many officials are involved, and there are all kinds of prevarications. The province of Europa almost became a feudal town. If you want to keep their tails from falling, it's better to rotate them regularly and thoroughly! ”

Zhao Qian struggled to hold back and didn't speak, but his mood was agitated, and he couldn't help but look in other directions to soothe his mood. Such a move naturally attracted the attention of others, and Wen Tianxiang said: "I don't know what the prince thinks? ”

When he turned his head to look at his father, he saw that his father was thoughtful, and Zhao Qian didn't dare to say anything. After a while, I heard my father say, "Zhao Qian, have you paid attention to this matter?" ”

The Minister of Civil Affairs who went to complain to Zhao Qian did not speak, and when Zhao Qian's mind turned, he responded: "I have indeed paid attention." ”

"Have you studied the matter?"

"Did some research."

"What are the results of your research?" Zhao Jiaren finally decided to let his son speak.

"The situation in the province of Europa is the situation of the feudal town. The original purpose of establishing feudal towns was not to cause them to rebel, but to enable each feudal town to make more efficient use of its resources to defend the imperial court. Whether the feudal town is a term for social organization or a synonym for rebellion, I think it is better to distinguish it first. After Zhao Qian finished speaking, he couldn't help but look at the Minister of Civil Affairs, but at the two prime ministers.

The right prime minister is a science and engineering man, and he couldn't help but nod after listening. Zuo Prime Minister Wen Tianxiang was unmoved, and looked at Zhao Qian calmly. Zhao Qian continued: "If the province of Europa wants to rebel, it is unlikely that they will be completely removed from their posts and return to China, if an order is issued, they will return to China obediently, or they will be terrified because of what they have done, and they will be severely punished after returning to China, at most they will say that they have done something wrong and committed a crime, but they cannot be regarded as careerists or traitors." Because they follow the rules. ”

Zhao Jiaren didn't want his son to get into unnecessary trouble, so he ordered: "This problem will be talked about later, how do you think the financial problems of Europa Province can be solved?" ”

"It's hard for people to see themselves, and there are three possibilities in Europa, the first of which is that they think very highly of themselves and think they can avoid financial scrutiny, so they cheat. If this is the case, it would be good to remove the criminals from their posts and investigate them. Another possibility is that they underestimate themselves, do not see the power that Europa Province can have, and do not have a good bank bill operation, so they blindly issue more local bills to fill the hole. The third possibility is that some people overestimate themselves and some underestimate themselves, so they are entangled together, some people do bad things with bad intentions, and some people do bad things with good intentions. This requires a specific investigation. ”

After Zhao Qian finished speaking, Zhao Jiaren sneered, "Ha, if there is an excellent team, of course any policy system can be implemented." Now that there is no good team, what you say is the same as what you didn't say. The moment is to solve the problem, not to let you rely on a mouth here to be a bag of blue sky. ”

is prepared, and Zhao Qian is also aggrieved in his heart. But he held it up and replied in a steady voice: "Official, I think that the province of Europa should first judge itself by underestimating itself, and send competent money bank personnel to the province of Europa to improve and improve the system of the europa bank. Raise the bottom line above the level, and then there are those who come up, naturally they are bad people. ”

Zhao Jiaren did not answer his son's answer, but looked at the prime minister left and right. Seeing that both of them were calculating, they turned to the Minister of Civil Affairs again. The Minister of Civil Affairs looked like he wanted to speak and stopped, and it could be seen that he opposed Zhao Qian's opinion, but he did not have the courage to oppose the prince for the time being. Zhao Jiaren himself felt that although Zhao Qian's point of view was still a little sweet, there was merit in trying to resolve the contradiction through progress, and at this stage, he did not see any signs of the rebellion of the province of Europa. So he turned his gaze back to the two prime ministers.

Li Ping, the right prime minister, spoke, "Official, can you take a two-pronged approach to improve the level of money in Europa Province and punish criminals?" ”

"No." Zuo Prime Minister Wen Tianxiang objected, "If this is the case, it is telling the provincial officials of Europa that you are guilty." Improving the management level of the money bank is easy for these people to think that they are guilty of meritorious service. ”

"Won't you dispose of them?" Li Ping felt unacceptable.

"It's not that it doesn't work, it's a basic position. Acknowledging the merits of the provinces of Europa and dealing with criminals in the process of improving their capabilities. It is not the same thing as finding the provinces of Europa guilty and basing their improvement on the assumption that they are backward elements. After Wen Tianxiang finished speaking to the right prime minister, he turned to Zhao Jiaren, "Official, the minister thinks that what the prince said is correct. ”

"Hmm." Zhao Jiaren nodded, he very much agreed with the basic position suggested by Wen Tianxiang.