Fan Ning remembered very well that Wang Anshi's Qingmiao Law and Baojia Law angered Empress Dowager Cao, who was already considering removing Wang Anshi's phase.

Zhao Ji nodded, "I have already shown it to the Imperial Grandmother yesterday, and she agreed to expand the plan to strengthen the official school, as for the reduction of redundant officials, the Imperial Grandmother asked me to listen to the opinions of the ministers, especially Fan Xianggong." ”

"Listen to me?"

Fanning smiled bitterly, didn't he roast himself on the fire?

But the Son of Heaven is waiting for himself to make a statement! Fan Ning thought for a while and said: "To be honest, Wechen has always disapproved of Wang Xianggong's fierce and fierce method of changing the law, and if he cuts it off, it doesn't matter what the consequences will be, he plans Wechen has reservations. ”

"Then does Fan Xianggong have his own plan?" Zhao Ji hurriedly asked again.

"Wechen has thought about it, and it may not be mature."

"Xianggong might as well talk about it, and let me also open up my thinking."

Fan Ning pondered for a long time and said: "Wang Xianggong's report is divided into three parts, and Wei Chen will talk about his own ideas about his plan. ”

"Fan Xianggong, please speak, I will listen."

"First of all, Wang Xianggong proposed to expand the official school, and sent a large number of idle officials to the state and county official schools to teach, I don't agree with this, the state and county official schools have always been the territory of Taixue graduates, this is actually an expansion of contradictions, the Jinshi are unwilling, and the students are not happy, in fact, Weichen got a revelation from the Baojia Law, the imperial court can set up town mayors or township heads in each township, and then the rules, all county officials must be promoted from the township, without going through the township, not allowed to enter the county government."

Zhao Ji was puzzled, "Fan Xianggong pointed out the drawbacks of the Baoya incident before, how can he support the township officials now?" ”

"Your Majesty, the nature of these two is completely different, the Baoya is a privately appointed official, and the township mayor is an official appointed by the imperial court or the state government, so the biggest advantage is that the management of the imperial court extends to the township, and now each township has elders, and large and small disputes are managed by the squire, out of the control of the imperial court, after adding a layer of town mayor and township head, it will be managed by the township head, and the squire assists."

Fan Ning's idea really opened his mind, so that Zhao Ji didn't get used to it for a while, he quickly wrote down Fan Ning's idea, and said with a smile: "I need to think about it, Fan Xianggong, please continue." ”

"The second point mentioned by Wang Xianggong is to reduce and revoke virtual officials, which includes the festival envoy, the defense envoy, the assassin history, the Taishou, the regimental training envoy, don't drive, etc., but also includes the expenses of various virtual officials, this is the big head of the reduction of redundant officials, a knife down, the court's expenditure on the Lu is reduced by at least forty percent, I agree with the direction of Wang Xianggong, but I don't agree with the means, a knife cut down is too simple and rude, Weichen knows very well, these virtual officials may not be rare this bit of Lu, but they want honor, we have to think of a compromise way, strip away the expenses, But to preserve their honor. ”

Fanning walked a few steps and said: "Your Majesty, you can reform the title, restore the Tang Jue, and set up five titles under the king, such as duke, marquis, earl, son, and male, and give them a fief for each rank, but this fief is overseas land, such as the land in the Southern Continent and the Middle Continent, while revoking the virtual officials, the title is given, and the title can be hereditary, and then they will be compensated with overseas land, so that the voice of resistance will be much smaller." ”

Zhao Ji hurriedly took notes on Fan Ning's thoughts, and he secretly sighed that although Fan Ning was younger than Wang Anshi, his methods were mature and spicy, but he was far superior to Wang Anshi, and Wang Anshi's scholarly spirit was still a little too heavy.

"Fan Xianggong, please continue!"

Fan Ning said unhurriedly: "Wang Xianggong's third point is to restore the system of three provinces and six ministries, which involves a lot of problems, not a simple merger, the key is how to reconcile interests, if the interests cannot be reconciled, then in the end it will only be more and more reformed, the bigger the institution." ”

"So what to do?"

"The method is also simple, Your Majesty set the tone, it must be changed, and then there will be an open discussion, including a public discussion in the newspaper, and the discussion will last a few months, Weichen thinks, the plan should gradually become clear, everyone has a consensus, and then the resistance to reform is basically gone."

Zhao Ji sighed and said: "Listening to your words, it is better to read for ten years, I think it should be Fan Xianggong to implement all kinds of changes, Wang Xianggong has offended too many people, and many people oppose it, in fact, they are all against him, not against things, and in the end it always makes a mess." ”

Fan Ning smiled slightly: "Your Majesty, the ministers are very aware of the current drawbacks, and they are all willing to see the Great Song Dynasty become stronger, the key is interests, the ministers never agree with any reformers and conservatives, that will only tear apart the Great Song Dynasty, so that the imperial court will fall into serious internal friction, we should let everyone participate in the reform of the law, allow everyone to freely express their opinions and demands, seek common ground while reserving differences to the greatest extent, compensate for the loss of interests, and pay the price for the acquisition of benefits."

Just like the military law, if it weren't for His Majesty's adequate compensation for overseas interests, how could it have been implemented so smoothly? The common people have the benefit of being exempted from servitude, and then they have to bear the responsibility of training the militia, that is, there will be gains and losses, and there will be gains and losses. ”

Zhao Ji nodded, "Fan Xianggong lit a bright light for me, and I know how to go next." ”

Fan Ning said solemnly: "Next, Weichen wants to talk to His Majesty about the preparation for war in Western Xia, and Weichen needs sufficient conscription rights and transfer rights. ”

............

Preparing for the Western Xia has always been a secret of the Great Song Dynasty, and only the highest decision-making level knows that Fan Ning is still serving as the envoy of Xuanfu and Liaofu in Hebei, and he began to order the transfer of a large amount of grain and grass materials hoarded in Hebei from the waterway to the east of the river, and the command center was also transferred from Hejian Mansion to Taiyuan Mansion.

In the following days, the Song and Liao were busy with various transactions, and a large number of captive people returned to the Great Song Dynasty across Baigou, and the nobles, ministers and ordinary soldiers of the Liao State were also released back to Youzhou.

Yang Wenguang began to retreat from Yi County, 15,000 Song troops returned to Dingzhou with thousands of people, and the Son of Heaven Zhao Wei specially ordered to reward the three armies, and named Yang Wenguang as a general and the commander of the capital, and gave Changshan County the title of duke, a reward of 30,000 taels of silver, and his army was also richly rewarded.

In early May, Qiu Jing, an official who had set out from Taiyuan, arrived in Yulin County under the escort of a thousand cavalry, and officially took over Dongshengzhou from the Liao army.

On the 10th day of the fifth month, 10,000 Song troops left Juehua Island by boat and returned to Laizhou.

At this point, the various settlements between Song and Liao had been completed, and the two sides restrained their forces and carefully maintained the fragile balance between the two countries.

At the beginning of June, a huge fleet of 120,000 stone ships and 50,000 stone steam warships arrived at Hukou on the Yellow River.

Due to the large drop in the Hukou of the Yellow River, boats could not pass, so they could only use the way of rowing on dry land, walking more than 300 meters on land, bypassing Hukou, and continuing to sail into the Yellow River.

The so-called dryland rowing is to open up a channel several zhang wide on the bank of the Yellow River, which is covered with rolling logs, and dozens of healthy cattle pull the big boats to walk on the rolling logs.

The big boats are all empty, although they are huge, but they are still relatively easy to move, more than 40 oxen are pulling in front, hundreds of people are prying with wood on both sides, everyone shouts trumpets, and the big boats move on the rolling logs little by little.

After five days of walking, this huge project was finally successfully completed, 120,000 stone ships and 50,000 stone steam warships passed Hukou, 30,000 troops boarded at the Yellow River wharf in Yichuan County, and a large amount of grain and grass materials were also loaded here, and the fleet continued to sail north with soldiers and grain and grass and military supplies.

One hundred and twenty of the large ships were to be pulled by slender men, while the steam-engine ships had their own power.

The flotilla passed through the Qin-Jin Grand Canyon, and five days later, the flotilla arrived in Yulin County, Dongsheng Prefecture.

Yulin County of the Song Dynasty is not the Yulin of later generations, it is located in Tuoketuo of Inner Mongolia in later generations, which is exactly the place where the Yellow River turns on the right side of the zigzag, and then walks more than 200 miles west to enter the Hetao.

Not far from the east of Yulin County is a sparkling lake called Jinhebo, which has abundant water sources, convenient irrigation, mild climate, and fertile land, which is very suitable for growing wheat.

Dongshengzhou had been handed over from the Liao State to the Song Dynasty, but the Western Xia had not been notified, and the Western Xia did not know that the Song army had entered Yulin County a month earlier.

Yulin County is a medium-sized city with a population of only a few thousand, and with the nearby farmers and herders, the total population does not exceed 10,000.

Just a few days ago, 10,000 cavalry had arrived in Yulin County first, and a month ago, Han Jiang, the envoy of Shaanxi Road, received an edict from the Son of Heaven, asking him to quickly recruit 20,000 city-building craftsmen.

Fanning stepped down from a large boat in front of him and saw his old friend Han Jiang, who had been waiting for him for many days.