In late November, Chen Qing issued several appointments: Zhang Chunxiao was appointed as the salt and iron transport envoy on the Sichuan Road, Shangguan Wu was appointed as the governor of Jinzhou, Zhang Jian was appointed as the governor of Yuanzhou, Zheng Yinian was appointed as the general magistrate of Longde Prefecture, and Song Ru was appointed as the general magistrate of Longde Prefecture.
Knowing the affairs of Zezhou, in addition, Zhu Sui, who was a member of the army of Chen Qing's former reporter office, was promoted from the judge of Sichuan Zhuanfu to the deputy governor of Hedong Road Shangshu Xingtai Division and also the envoy in charge of sentencing.
Except for Zhu Sui, who was promoted normally, among these appointments, the others were all former high-ranking officials of the Puppet Qi State. For a time, public opinion in the officialdom was boiling, and everyone believed that the prince should not re-appoint high-ranking officials of the Puppet Qi State.
That morning, Zhou Kuan, who had just returned from Qingzhou to resettle the victims, came to Chen Qing's official office angrily. Unlike Zhang Miao, who was shrewd and smooth, Zhou Kuan had a fiery personality, hated evil as much as he hated evil, and could not rub his eyes with any sand.
In the past, Zhou Kuan was in charge of financial and tax transfer, and every year he sent a large number of officials to audit the accounts, which made the local officials complain and wail. Now he is in charge of the Department of Personnel, and he is even more selfless, wielding his sword to cut off all kinds of favoritism.
, was called Zhou Tiebei by the officials below, and won the respect and trust of Chen Qing.
Since Zhou Kuan is the Superintendent of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he is naturally very concerned about the recent appointments. When he found out that almost all of the appointments were high-ranking officials from the pseudo-Qi State, his lungs almost exploded with anger.
According to Chen Qing and the power division of the Internal Affairs Hall, Chen Qing had the power to appoint officials above the prefecture level and important counties. Therefore, Chen Qing exercised his authority in this appointment, and it was not the turn of the Department of Civil Affairs to interfere. However, Zhou
No matter what, he came to Chen Qing angrily.
Zhou Kuan banged the table and said angrily: "The prince told Jinshi to have the integrity of scholars, to be powerful but not to bend, to be rich and not to be lascivious. Back then, the prince also praised Zhang Miao and I's national integrity many times, and would rather die than serve a foreign race.
,Are these just words?"
Chen Qingpei smiled and said, "Don't be angry, Governor Zhou, just calm down and let's talk slowly."
Zhou Kuan said sadly: "I'm not angry, I feel worthless for those officials in Lin'an who are sitting on the bench. He is unwilling to be loyal to the Jin State and tried every means to escape back to the Song Dynasty, but he was not reused and did not even have the opportunity to serve the country.
, I can only sit on the bench, but here is a good thing, officials of the puppet Qi State are actually given important positions, which is so embarrassing."
"That's right! The loyal ministers are sitting on the bench, but the high-ranking officials of the pseudo-Qi State are reused. What's the problem?" Chen Qing asked with a half-smile.
"They deserve it!"
Zhou Kuan said bitterly: "If you don't do good things for Sichuan, Shaanxi and Jin officials, they insist on flattering the imperial court."
"It's because they believe in their bones that we are separatist warlords and are illegitimate, so they are unwilling to come here to serve!" Chen Qing pointed out the problem pointedly.
"That's because they are stupid. We continue to regain lost territory from the Jin Kingdom and restore the Han Dynasty. We do light corvee and low taxes so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment. We rectify the government and make the officialdom clear. We strictly control military discipline to increase the morale of the army and increase its combat effectiveness.
Powerful, if this is not legal, then the Lin'an court can be destroyed."
Speaking of this, Zhou Kuan suddenly woke up and said to Chen Qing dissatisfied: "You have led me astray. These are not the reasons for you to pretend to be a senior official of Qi."
Chen Qingyu said earnestly: "The Puppet Qi Kingdom is not the Jin Kingdom after all, it is still a dynasty of the Han people."
"etc!"
Zhou Kuan shouted: "Don't try to fool me. What is the difference between the Puppet Qi State and the Jin State? It is just a puppet of the Jin State."
"It is a puppet of the Jin State and a vassal of the Jin State, but it is indeed not the Jin State, it is just illegal. Strictly speaking, Zhang Bangchang was the emperor for a few months. The ministers in Lin'an all knelt down to worship him. Zhang Bangchang also
It's illegal, why do those ministers still have to be re-employed now? But no one said they were traitors? Qin Hui also served as Wan Yanchang's aide, isn't he now the prime minister of the Song Dynasty?"
"This" Zhou Kuan was speechless for a moment.
Chen Qing said again with sincerity: "The prodigal son will not exchange for gold when he returns home. If Zhang Chunxiao and others are willing to serve the Jin State, the Jin State will still reuse them. They will live a good life and have the same high position and authority, but they would rather be repatriated than serve for the Jin State."
Serving the country shows that their conscience is still intact and they are unwilling to make the same mistake again and again, which shows that they still clearly distinguish between the Han people and the Jurchens in their hearts.
Shangguan Wu killed the people who persuaded him to surrender several times. Although he was nominally a minister of the Puppet Qi, he never served the Puppet Qi. The others were the same. They all had the Han people in their hearts. This is why I used them. Although they are not
Loyal to the Song Dynasty, but loyal to the Han people.
If the Han people from the Jin Kingdom, such as Gao Qing Yi and Han Qi Xian, come to surrender to me, will I use them because they are Han people? I will only kill them with one knife and use their heads as a warning to the world!"
Zhou Kuan nodded, "I understand. The reason why the princes have always used fake Qi ministers, from Zhang Xiao to Jiang Yanxian to Guan Shigu, is because the princes are only loyal to the Han people, not the Song Dynasty."
"You are right, I only have Han people in my heart. If we say the Song Dynasty is orthodox, then what does the Tang Dynasty mean? If we say the Tang Dynasty is orthodox, then what does the Han Dynasty mean? It's just that there are outstanding people in the Jiangshan Dynasty, and they have been leading the way for hundreds of years. Who can expel them?
Tartars want to unify the world, and whoever can win the hearts of the people will be orthodox. To put it bluntly, if Liu Yu destroyed the Song Dynasty and drove the Jurchens back to Liaodong to unify the world, who would dare to say that Liu Yu was unorthodox?"
Zhou Kuan said bitterly: "Liu Yu is such a bastard. He governs the Central Plains and makes people angry, and the people's families are destroyed. It's best for such a person to die as soon as possible. Who is willing to be loyal to him? There will never be any ifs for the prince and the puppet Qi.
."
"Liu Yu was brought down by taxes and officialdom. At first, they did quite well. They made light of the Central Plains and reduced taxes. They moved people from northern Shaanxi to fill the Guanzhong and restored the Guanzhong economy. But within a year, their finances were in decline.
Unable to support the huge military expenditure, Liu Yucai began to implement the "Tithe Law" and implemented heavy taxes. Later, he implemented six taxes and one tax. In addition, a large number of corrupt officials filled the bottom and exploited the people. Liu Yucai lost his heart.
I can’t laugh at Liu Yu. If I didn’t have Sichuan as a financial and tax backing, and if I didn’t have Xixia’s huge war profits, I wouldn’t be much better than Liu Yu.”
Zhou Kuan was no longer angry and understood Chen Qing's principles. Although Zhang Xiaochun and others betrayed the Song Dynasty, they did not betray the Han people. When he was loyal to Chen Qing, didn't he also recognize this? But now he couldn't see through it.
.
Zhou Kuan sighed and said, "I have one last question."
Chen Qing nodded, "Please tell me, Duke Zhou!"
Zhou Kuan frowned slightly and said: "Since the prince does not recognize the Song Dynasty as the orthodoxy, why should he welcome the late emperor back and use the late emperor to prove his legitimacy?"
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "I cherish the country of the Han family. This is the Tao and the principle. To welcome the late emperor back is just a technique and a strategy. One side is Dao and principle, and the other side is technique and strategy. Does Duke Zhou understand?"
Zhou Kuan understood clearly in his heart and said slowly: "I am a staunch follower on the road of the prince!"
Just entered December, a heavy snow swept across the north, turning the northern land into a snow-capped world. The Yellow River and large and small rivers were frozen. Everyone seemed to be frozen by the cold weather. On the streets in the city and on the official roads outside the city.
Everything became deserted.
This morning, the soldiers at the top of Lanzhou City were patrolling as usual. After the fall of Xixia, the threat to Lanzhou was almost eliminated. There were only two thousand defenders left. They mainly maintained the security of Lanzhou area. The Hexi Corridor was still an accident.
There will be horse bandits going south, and every arrival of horse bandits will bring serious disasters to the people.
"There are people on the ice of the Yellow River!" a soldier shouted, pointing to the Yellow River in the distance.
"What's all this fuss about, it must be a caravan!" The other soldiers also saw it, and it seemed to be a team.
Not long after, the team arrived at the city. It was a camel caravan with more than 300 camels. But it was not a caravan, but an army of Uighurs, and many soldiers had died on the camels.
The soldiers guarding the city were shocked and immediately ran to report. Not long after, Lanzhou's military commander Liu Zan hurried out of the city with his soldiers.
After lifting the soldiers off the camels, most of them were dead and their bodies were stiff from the cold. Dozens of them were still alive, but their breath was weak and they were about to die.
"Hurry and carry them into the city!"
Liu Zan shouted, and suddenly, a Uighur general grabbed his sleeve and gasped hard: "The yellow-headed Uighur has perished, save my little master!"
He pointed at a young man in the team, but without taking a breath, he closed his eyes and died.
