April of the eighth year of Xianding in the Song Dynasty.
Lin'an is still the prosperous Lin'an, even though the world situation has been turned upside down. The scenery of the West Lake is at its best when the lake is full of wind and smoke, and the scenery is new to the eye.
Two middle-aged men dressed as scribes walked through the alley of Dawazi from Fengyu Gate, stepped on the stone road, and walked to a small courtyard.
There was no plaque hanging in front of the courtyard door. There was only a young man in Tsing Yi standing there waiting. When he saw the two Dong scribes coming, he trotted forward to greet them.
"Xiangong Liu, Xianggong Huang, please invite me. Alang asked me to wait here for you two."
Liu Fu and Huang Yong looked at each other, nodded, straightened their clothes, and followed the young man towards the courtyard. The courtyard was not big, and there was only a wall photo inside the gate. When you walked around inside, the house was very elegantly built.
, you can see the owner’s pattern here at a glance.
"Two gentlemen, please wait a moment." The young man in Tsing Yi complained and hurried to pass the news.
Liu Fu nodded, turned to look at a couplet on a pillar not far away, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he read it in a low voice.
"Good and evil in the world are divided into long and short. Good is green pines and evil is flowers." "I only saw a severe frost coming one day, and saw the green pines but not the flowers."
When Huang Yong heard this, he also looked over, smiled slightly, and said thoughtfully, "It doesn't look like a couple. If you call it a poem, it would be too plain."
"That's why he can write like this in his current situation..." "Hahaha."
A burst of laughter came, and Chen Yizhong turned around from the corridor. Sheng arrived before anyone arrived. He strode to Liu Fu first and greeted him warmly. "Brother Sheng, I haven't seen you for many years!"
Liu Fu looked Chen Yizhong up and down and said with emotion: "Yu Quan has changed so much. He has an extraordinary temperament and awe-inspiring official power. He is such a Chen Shangshu."
Chen Yizhong smiled and waved. At the same time, he did not ignore Huang Yong. He naturally reached out and patted Huang Yong on the back. "Qizhi, you have finally returned to the court. Go, go in and say, I came here today to ask for good tea."
Liu Fu originally wanted to talk about Chen Yizhong's couple, but he was cordially invited to the inner hall. When he looked up, he saw the words "Residence for Good People" written on the plaque.
Because it was an old friend meeting, Chen Yizhong seemed very happy. He served tea and snacks and talked about interesting things from his previous days at Taixue.
Later on, I couldn't help but talk about the time we went to the palace to submit a letter.
It talked about Huang Yong's chance encounter with Tang Bohu, and Liu Fu's poem when he was sent out of the city.
The most memorable things in a person's life are often only a few, and it is inevitable that they will be mentioned repeatedly in tea conversations with old friends. "In order to deal with Ding Daquan, we almost ruined our life's future, and the cockroach shook the tree." Chen Yizhong sighed with emotion, and said: "In the end
, Ding Daquan was squashed to death like an ant. This is power. But back then, my thinking was too simple."
Liu Fu pondered for a moment and said: "Ding Daquan's fate is clear and justice is eternal." "Really?" Chen Yizhong disagreed.
"Yu Quan, do you really think that it would be of no use to me to wait for him to submit the letter to Fu Que?" "What else?"
"We made a big fuss to show off the bad behavior of the Ding Party, so everyone knew that Ding Daquan was a female official! She was not squashed to death like an ant, but was punished by public opinion. Chen Yizhong laughed.
Today, he has reached a high position, is experienced and knowledgeable, and has insight into the world. Looking at the older Liu Fu, his eyes are like an elder looking at a childish child.
"Yu Quan thinks it's ridiculous?" Liu Fu asked back, "A loyal person will be remembered for eternity, and a female cheater will be remembered for eternity. Right and wrong are just in the human heart, and good and evil will be rewarded in the end. Do you think it's ridiculous?"
"I think Brother Shengbo is right!"
Chen Yizhong raised his voice, raised his hand, pointed to the couplet outside, and said: "Good is green pines, evil is flowers, I feel it. I have never forgotten right and wrong, right and wrong, right and wrong."
"So you took refuge in Jia Sidao's family?" Huang Yong mocked slightly.
Chen Yizhong's eyes were intense and he said with sincerity: "What I'm telling you is the way to do things." "What do you want to do? Be a powerful minister? Be rich and powerful?"
Faced with the question from his old friend, Chen Yizhong did not hesitate and uttered two words: "Save the country."
Liu Fu and Huang Yong were both touched but remained silent.
Chen Yizhong said: "Brother Sheng Bo, when we just entered Imperial College, you cried.
The blood letter said, "Today, not even ten people in the fifty or sixty states are safe, and those who have been defeated one after another, where is the blessing?" Frankly speaking, the country is in decline. You and I both know that this Song Dynasty is not a peaceful and prosperous age where they can continue to sing and dance like this."
"So you help Jia Sidao gain power?" Huang Yong asked again.
"I said, this is just a way of doing things. At least now I can actually do things instead of just talking."
Speaking of excitement, Chen Yizhong stood up and said: "Today, if we are still exiles sent out, with our lips parted, no matter how much we talk about right and wrong, what is the use of serving the country? Come on, if you are dissatisfied with the government,
What will it do to the country if we just dismiss the officials and let the female cadres take over? Empty talk and loyalty and deeds will not save the Song Dynasty. We will treat it as real work!"
Liu Fu and Huang Yong looked at each other again. They noticed four key words in Chen Yizhong's words.
--Female cadres are in power. Who are the female cadres?
Now that there is no Ding Daquan, there is only Jia Sidao. Looking at the couplet in Chen Yizhong's home, it has another meaning. I only saw a severe frost one day, and saw the green pine but not the flowers. Who is the green pine? Who is the green pine?
Is it a flower?
In today's meeting with old friends, the enthusiasm and sincerity shown by Chen Yizhong from the moment he walked in until now may be just to highlight these four words.
"Yu Quan, what are you going to do?" Huang Yong asked, his tone different from just now.
"I plan to reinstate you as officials." Chen Yizhong said, "Brother Sheng Bo, if you are willing, how about you be appointed as the supervisory censor? I'll think of reinstating you as the editor of the Privy Council, okay?"
There was a sense of ordinaryness in his words, as if being appointed an official was a trivial matter. Liu Fu and Huang Yong couldn't help but be moved. They didn't expect that Chen Yizhong's power had reached such a level. They thought that Jia Dang and his family should not be in the court.
Now that they were alone, the two agreed. Not long after, Chen Yizhong sent his two old friends off.
An ordinary gathering ended like this, as if nothing happened. Perhaps a new round of party strife in the Song Dynasty was brewing.
Chen Yizhong turned around and returned to his house, muttering silently: "I just have to wait for the severe frost to arrive one day."
Later, another boy came over.
"Alang, Mr. Pingzhang asked you to come over." "I understand."
Chen Yizhong took his time and picked up a list of officials he wanted to resurrect, and took a sedan chair to Geling Villa.~~
Geling Villa.
There were always officials and staff coming in and out at the gate. For example, Jia Sidao moved all the Song Dynasty halls to his home. Chen Yizhong, familiar with the road, went straight to the side hall and waited for a while, then saw Weng Yinglong coming. "Ms. Chen is here, please wait a moment."
After sitting for a while, Ping Zhanggong received a messenger temporarily." "Thank you, Mr. Weng, there is news coming back from the north?" "How did you know?"
"I heard that Li Ni and the Mongolian chieftain went to war in the north?"
"I've heard about it, but I don't know exactly how far the war has gone." Weng Yinglong said: "In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to find out the news from the north."
What he was talking about was that Kublai Khan set up the Eagle Control Military Intelligence Department, but dug out a lot of details about the Song Dynasty. Chen Yizhong also knew about this and sighed when he heard this.
"Han Shizhong defeated the puppet Qi soldiers and horses with death; Yue Fei used counterintuitive tactics to dethrone the puppet emperor Qi with the help of Wanyan Zongbi; Liu Qi achieved a great victory in Shunchang by spreading false information. I, the Song Dynasty, was good at using time, but now I am not as good as the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty
With Li Ni, it's a pity.
"Ping Zhanggong also said this."
The two sat for a while, and then Gui Hepu came over and took them to the lobby. There were many officials waiting in the lobby.
After a while, everyone was here, and Jia Sidao turned around slowly.
At first glance, he has not changed much. He is still the same oily-haired and pink-faced man, dressed noble and with a cool demeanor.
But if you look closely, you can see that the wrinkles on his face are already very deep, especially the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. No matter how much powder you apply, they can't cover it up. "I've seen Mr. Ping Zhang."
"You all have something to say." Jia Sidao smiled faintly and said, "Let's talk about the important state affairs of the Song Dynasty first." He said this deliberately, as if he wanted to see which state affairs they thought was more important.
Immediately, someone stood up and said: "Mr. Ping Zhang, I think it is necessary to postpone the implementation of the public land law." "Mr. Zeng, do you think this is the most important state matter at the moment?"
"Yes, food is the most important thing for the people, and the land is the foundation of the country. Why is it not important? The public land law was originally a good law and a good intention, but at the hands of local officials, it has become a bad practice that harms the people!"
The speaker was Zeng Yuanzi, the current Minister of Household Affairs.
Zeng Yuanzi was an upright man. He was not considered a member of Jia Party, but he was valued by Jia Sidao because of his talents. Unexpectedly, today he would touch Jia Sidao's inverse scale.
"Since I took office in the Ministry of Household Affairs, I discovered that the imperial household registration books were in disarray. As a result, some gentry and gentry colluded with local officials to conceal land, resulting in insufficient repurchase of public land. The local officials exaggerated the number of acres of land for the common people and forced the common people to sell more land. The common people did not do this.
How can we sell so many fields as public fields? There are also officials who, for the sake of political performance, strive to report the number of fields they have purchased. All fields rented out for six to seven dou are reported as fields rented for one stone. When the rent is collected, there is a loss in the original amount and the amount is required.
The original landowner took over, forcing the people to go bankrupt!"
Jia Sidao has heard these words too many times.
Because he could see that Zeng Yuanzi said this not because of his own interests, Jia Sidao did not get angry.
"Reforms naturally have pains. And what you are talking about is the long-term disadvantages of official governance. How about the disasters of the public land law? You only saw that some people lost their homes because of the public land law, but you did not see that there were harvests from the public fields, the income was reduced, and the court and more people
The people benefited."
"Ping Zhang Gong..." "That's enough!"
Chen Yizhong looked around and saw that Zeng Yuanzi was about to offend Jia Sidao, so he stood up and said, "Mr. Ping Zhang, the reason why Mr. Zeng cares about this matter is because more and more refugees have gone to Jiangling recently."
Everyone knows what "going to Gangneung" means.
Since the Song Dynasty negotiated peace with Li Xia, Li Xia has stationed troops and appointed officials in Jiangling to attract people from the Song Dynasty. In these years when people are leaving their hometowns, no one is willing to leave their hometown unless they really can't survive. This
Jia Sidao couldn't find an excuse and said, "Then come up with a charter to prevent the refugees from going west." Zeng Yuanzi's eyes widened, his beard twitched, and he stepped forward to persuade him again.
Chen Yizhong pulled him, gave him a quick look, then saluted Jia Sidao and said, "Yes, I and Zeng Xianggong have come up with their proposals and submitted them to Ping Zhanggong."
Jia Sidao lazily nodded and said, "Who knows what the most important state affairs are right now?" Weng Yinglong looked back at everyone and sighed, "The two countries are pressing for this year's money again." Chen Yizhong's eyes moved.
Thoughtful.
He had noticed that Jia Sidao mentioned this matter because he no longer wanted to pay annual coins to those two countries. At least, he had to stop one first. Sure enough.
Jia Sidao waved his hand and said: "Tell them the new news from the north." Liao Yingzhong responded and said: "Information about the war between Li Ni and Kublai Khan has come back..."