Chapter 357 Leaving a Piece of Land
The Minister of Revenue immediately said no, the purchasing power of small change had declined, especially when the court wanted to buy good things from Sichuan, such as perfume and soap used in the palace, and when the grain was abundant, people would only accept new currency and silver coins, not small change, and the price of silver was falling.
It's so confusing. What is silver, new coins, and small change? It's like a tongue twister that has caused all kinds of troubles.
Zhao Bing was annoyed and told the Ministry of Revenue to handle it themselves. He just wanted to have money to spend.
He asked Shi's son Jiangbei about the report that the Northern Barbarians were going to invade again, and how the peace talks with the Northern Barbarian envoys were going.
Shi's son told him that the Mongol Empire had too big an appetite and demanded that the country be governed across the Yangtze River, otherwise there would be war.
Zhao Bing was furious, and he cursed the northern barbarians for being too greedy. In the past, they only wanted two or three cities, but now they wanted a large piece of land. This was like asking for his life.
Some officials advised Zhao Bing to be patient, saying that if he could be patient, the situation would be peaceful, and if he could take a step back, the world would be vast. We are weak now and cannot defeat the northern barbarians. If we have no good plan, it is better to negotiate peace. It should be feasible to ask the northern barbarians to symbolically leave us a piece of land in Jiangbei.
Zhao Bing cursed: Coward, get out of here.
He said that he had been enduring ever since he entered Lin'an, and even after becoming emperor he was still enduring like a turtle.
Isn't that enough patience?
He asked Shi's son to negotiate with the Mongol Empire, to save Jiankang Prefecture and let Yujie stay to guard it, and to let the Northern Barbarians station troops in other places in exchange for peace.
Before Shi's son could nod in response, some old ministers in the hall burst into tears and shouted that this was not allowed and that the emperor should revoke the imperial edict.
One after another, the old ministers knelt down and kowtowed, denouncing the Northern Barbarians as greedy and hungry wolves. They said that once land was ceded, their fierce army would drink from the Yangtze River and would come south to rob at any time, and Lin'an Prefecture would never have peace.
The quarrel continued in the small court
In Jiangbei, Meng Gong and Yu Jie were discussing matters in Hefei.
Yu Jie was drinking and making a scene, saying that the Lin'an court was a bunch of drunkards, they couldn't send out soldiers, they gave them money, and now the common people don't want military notes, but they are still printing them and giving them to them, forcing the soldiers to pick up swords and rob the common people.
Meng Gong also felt that the situation was very dangerous. The Song army lacked food and clothing, and many people could not hold on. The generals who were greedy for enjoyment led their troops to mutiny and join the Mongolian army. After eating and drinking their fill, they turned into Han soldiers and served as guides for the Mongolian army. They did not spare any effort in fighting with their compatriots.
While the two were still discussing this, a lieutenant sent an urgent secret report: the Mongolian army had gathered 100,000 soldiers and thousands of large ships in Huai'an, and was showing signs of marching southward in large numbers.
Yu Jie angrily said that these were really habitual robbers. They didn't rob enough last year, so they came again this year. A few days ago, they openly clamored and ordered me to retreat to Jiangnan.
Before they could decide on the fate of the two, a secret letter from the son of Shi, the prime minister in Lin'an, arrived. Yu Jie opened it in front of Meng Gong and read it. The gist of it was that the Mongolian army was powerful, the south of the Yangtze River was extremely weak, and there was no money or food to support the war. The court negotiated peace with the northern barbarians and asked Yu Jie to retreat to Jiankang Prefecture to garrison along the river and avoid fighting.
Yu Jie was furious, and handed the letter to Meng Gong, saying angrily, "What's going on? Aren't they waiting for him to be driven down the Yangtze River by the northern barbarians and have his country destroyed?"
Oh my God, alas!
This young and patriotic general who was determined to fight against the Mongols was so angry that he screamed and spit out blood.
Meng Gong hurried forward to support him, called his personal guards to bring tea for rinsing his mouth, and advised Yu Jie not to worry, because there is Cao Gong's New Song Kingdom in the west, and the Shenwei Army is strong in men and horses, we can ask General Cao and Commander Zhao for help.
In the Chengdu government office, all the officials of the Central Court of the New Song Dynasty were celebrating the promotion of Cao Cao to the throne.
Zhao Yulin knew that Lao Cao was not feeling well, so he supervised him and made him eat until he was slightly tipsy and then stopped.
After the banquet, he sent Lao Cao back, and Cao Youwen asked him to stay for more tea and chat. He just happened to report to Lao Cao that he wanted to transfer Shunzhidi from Guizhou back to Chengdu to work.
Lao Cao said that she should have been brought back long ago. No matter how hard-working Zhidi was, her brother couldn't just abandon her in the mountains and ignore her.
Zhao Yulin nodded with a smile and said that since the Taijiantang was just being built, would it be okay to let Zhidi be the director of the public affairs office for Mr. Ding?
Lao Cao said she could do anything, but Zhidi is so outstanding, isn't it a bit unfair to arrange her to serve Mr. Ding?
He said there was no injustice at all, Mr. Ding was the former king and a great writer of the time, and Zhidi was just learning how to govern a country from the old man, so how could she feel wronged.
Seeing that he had made up his mind, Lao Cao smiled and agreed, but he still wanted to promote someone else, and that was to make Madam Ma Ling the powerful Minister of Transport.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said thank you to the king.
The two of them picked up their teacups and drank tea, laughing.
He told Cao that if we were to talk about the world's extraordinary talents, this year Guangnan East Road would produce a judicial officer named Song Ci, who was proficient in law, good at judging cases, and daring to act. At present, our Dali Temple in Chengdu was in need of such a great talent.
Lao Cao was very surprised and said that it was not easy. We have Shunfeng Company and they can send people from Guangnan East Road to recruit people.
He said: Let’s give it a try.
Three days later, the Central Council discussed state affairs again. Lao Cao proposed to transfer Shunzhidi back to Chengdu to serve as the director of the Public Affairs Office of the Censorate, and to appoint Ma Ling as the Minister of Transportation.
Zhao Yulin proposed that Tuwapengcuo, the Grand Administrator of Kangning Prefecture, be appointed as the Pacifier of Guizhou Road. He said that Tuwapengcuo had made great contributions to the Shenwei Army's advance into Tubo, and had governed Baoning Prefecture and Kangning Prefecture for many years, and was qualified for the post of Pacifier of Guizhou Road.
Everyone had no objection and passed it unanimously.
Wang Rong proposed to swap places with Shun Zhidi and go to Taijiantang to serve Mr. Ding.
Zhao Yulin disagreed. He said that Wang Rong was sorting out the affairs of the Central Council. Cao Gong had just taken the throne and was not familiar with the situation yet. If he left, it would be undermining Cao Gong's reputation.
Wang Rong immediately shut up nervously.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. We don't want a new emperor and new ministers."
Lao Cao also said with a smile: Yes, yes, yes.
This is called the competent person taking the position, don't think about those messy things. He looked at Zhao Yulin and said that our New Song Dynasty emphasizes the appointment of people based on merit and seeking truth from facts, right?
This made Zhao Yulin feel at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
He told everyone that Lord Ding had resigned and Lady Cao was in charge, and everyone had some thoughts. Right now was a time to recruit people, and the court was bound to have some shortcomings. They had to believe that Lord Cao and he were both open-minded and dedicated to the public.
He believed that young officials should have the opportunity to work at the road and state levels to accumulate experience in governing the country so that they could do a better job in the court in the future.
Everyone began to nod and discuss.
Lao Cao told Mr. Fan that the Ministry of Personnel should establish a rule that in the future, all promoted officials at all levels must have experience working at the grassroots level for at least two years. What do you think?
Lao Cao looked around and then looked at Zhao Yulin.
He thought that was enough. All new officials started from the grassroots. If a local official was promoted step by step and still didn't know what to do when he came to the court, he would definitely be an idiot.
After the meeting, Lao Cao asked him to discuss military affairs with Ma Ling and Miao Gui.
Miao Gui said that we are still actively preparing for war, and the Mongolian army might attack Jiangdong.
The military report showed that the Mongolian army had indeed marched eastwards this year as Brother Yuling had predicted, and the commander-in-chief Hubili appeared directly in Suzhou, which was an open attempt to put pressure on Lin'an, with the intention of taking over Jiangbei without bloodshed.
Lao Cao said that Yang Xingyun and his men suffered heavy losses in a great battle last year, and they have also transferred some troops to Guanzhong. They are currently undergoing training and it is not appropriate to start a war. What should we do?
Miao Gui believed that the Shenwei Army still had to guard against sneak attacks by the enemy, so it was indeed not advisable for them to advance eastward.
Zhao Yulin asked General Meng to send some military equipment and supplies, and to move a batch of our catapults, crossbows and telescopes to Luzhou to support them.
Lao Cao agreed and said confidently that our navy had no military duties for the time being, so he would send the navy from Zhejiang and Sichuan to transport military equipment and supplies to Luzhou to assist Meng Gong in the battle.
Zhao Yulin nodded in agreement and asked Miao Gui to go east along the river. He left Lizhou and conducted inspections on both ends, supervising the battle and checking military affairs, giving the Mongolian army the appearance that the New Song Kingdom was actively preparing for war, thus restraining the Mongolian army from moving southward to Jiangdong.
Lao Cao said that he would be away from Chengdu for at least a year or two, and there were many things to do in the court, so how could he do it without his brother?
Everyone disagreed.
Zhao Yulin said that he had not been in the army for a while, so it was a good opportunity for him to go and take a look. Besides, at the moment, only Lao Cao, Miao Gui and he could attract the enemy's attention in the New Song Kingdom.
The gentlemen knew that what he said made sense, so they had no choice but to agree.
Zhao Yulin said that as long as the court sticks to the previous strategy and continues to move forward, he believes that the days of our new Song Dynasty will get better and better, and you all need not worry.
The next day, Zhao Yulin set out by water. After resting for a day in Langzhou, he continued on his journey. Half a month had passed when he arrived at Xingyuan Prefecture.
The appeasement envoy Gao Jia accepted it with great joy and invited him to Huoshui Fish Restaurant for a welcome dinner.
Zhao Yulin was delighted to see the newly built cities along the Han River. It had only been a short time and Hanzhong had changed so much that even he, an old resident of Nanzheng, didn't know the way around.
Gao Jiale asked cheerfully: Are you criticizing Nanzheng for not setting up road signs clearly enough? But they are all in accordance with my brother's earlier request, and signs are hung at the intersections and street entrances.
Zhao Yulin saw that he was amused and laughed. He had seen all of this. On the wider roads, there were tall memorial archways with the names of the roads clearly written on them.
After returning to the government office, the two went to the back hall to have tea. He asked Gao Jia if he had ever thought about returning to Chengdu to work.
The old man said that returning to Chengdu would mean serving as an official in the court, but he had never really thought about it.
Zhao Yulin laughed and said, "It doesn't matter whether it's the imperial court or not. You can work for the people wherever you are. The new Song Dynasty is stable and everyone has made contributions. Going back to Chengdu to work will avoid a lot of suspicion."
After drinking a cup of tea, Gao Jia said seriously that it was true. In a blink of an eye, he had worked in Hanzhong for more than ten years and it was time to change jobs.
During these years of working in Hanzhong, I have become familiar with everyone, both above and below me. When I find someone being lazy and doing something wrong, I sometimes cannot bring myself to scold and punish him.
Zhao Yulin said that this is why officials who have served for a certain number of years have to be transferred to other places. By changing people and looking at problems from a different perspective, perhaps new ways can be found to deal with these difficult problems.
