The place where Li Xia sent Wang Xian off was Baqiao outside the east city of Chang'an.
Baqiao is one of the eight scenic spots in Guanzhong, and the scenery is naturally good. There are five miles of embankments built and thousands of willows planted.
It is also known as the "End of Love Bridge" because farewells in Chang'an often end here. As the saying goes, "There has always been only love that is difficult to end. Why is it called the Bridge of End of Love? Since then, it has been renamed the Broken Willow. Let it leave and regret one by one."
Baqiao Yanliu, the feeling of parting, is of course very charming, but it is not necessary for Li Xia.
He has no such friendship with Wang Xin.
Wang Xun is just an ordinary subordinate. It is only because what he has to do is important that he needs to see it off in person.
On the contrary, Li Zhaocheng also came specially to see him off, which made Li Xia a little puzzled.
"I didn't know you had such a good relationship with Wang Xun."
Li Zhaocheng shook his head and said: "I am not familiar with Wang Xun."
"Who are you sending this to?"
"Taoist Yu."
"Any idea where they're going?"
"I don't know, he probably doesn't want us to worry, or he wants to keep his whereabouts secret. He only told us that he was going on a patrol with a big shot. But the biggest shot is you. He can't deceive me. I'll come over and have a look."
Li Xia originally thought that it was Wang Xun who told others about the itinerary and was keeping things secret. After asking, he found out that it was just like this, so that was fine. He didn't bother to ask about anything else.
It was still muggy in Chang'an in early August, so he asked people to buy some watermelons from the roadside, shared them with a group of guards under the willow trees in Baqiao, and then rode back to the city.
"The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon." Li Zhaocheng walked side by side, "Will you come home for Mid-Autumn Festival dinner?"
"It's not convenient to bring a big family here." Li Xia refused casually and said, "You can bring Grandpa to the house."
Nowadays, others call Li Yong "Tai Gong Li", and Li Xia also calls him this way.
In fact, Li Yong and Li Zhaocheng were also from a large family, but Li Zhaocheng didn't feel there was any inconvenience and nodded happily.
After talking about family matters, Li Xia naturally changed his tone to a more businesslike one and said, "I have an errand to tell you."
"good."
Li Zhaocheng and Li Yong do not currently have official official positions.
Where are their identities? If Li Xia can succeed, the Grand Duke and the eldest son will not lose the title of royal relatives; if they cannot succeed, they will be treated as traitors and the nine clans will be executed together.
Although Li Yong had no official position, his duties were similar to those of deputy prime minister. To be specific, he participated in political affairs, did not sit in court, did not know seals, and discussed government affairs.
Before today, Li Zhaocheng was like a scholar in Zhongshu. He did not sit in the hall, only took orders and did things. He was always busy and at leisure.
If necessary, of course he can also take a specific official position...
"I'm going to issue banknotes and build Guanzhong Water Conservancy. These two things involve huge profits. It's hard to guarantee that no one will enrich their own pockets. You come to build a yamen and call it the 'Incorruptible Visiting Department'. It's similar to supervising the censor and supervising whether there are officials in it."
Up and down his hands."
Li Zhaocheng is capable, but depending on who he compares with, he is the best among ordinary people. Compared with terrifying geniuses like Lu Xiufu, Xi Jihu, and Qin Jiushao, he seems a bit mediocre.
Li Xia and Lu Xiufu also talked about this matter, and Lu Xiufu immediately agreed and made a plan when he got back, so that he could explain the whole matter to Li Xia.
Li Zhaocheng needs Li Xia to explain it carefully.
"You and Lu Xiufu will work together to handle this matter. He will handle the specific matters, and you will be the chief officer. This is intended to show that no matter who dares to reach out, the inspector has the right to deal with it. In addition, the Public Opinion Department and the Survey Institute can
Cooperate with your investigation, review records, and supervise each other at the same time..."
If we make an analogy, the institution Li Xia wants is somewhat similar to the Yushitai of the Song Dynasty.
Speaking of Yushitai, the Yushituan officials in the Tang Dynasty were divided into Taiguan and Yuangguan. Taiguan monitored officials, and Yuangguan advised the emperor. By the Song Dynasty, Taiyuan was merged and could only supervise officials and could no longer manage the emperor.
In order to stabilize the emperor and provoke fights among his officials, it was also stipulated that supervisory officials must be removed from office and fined if they were not impeached for a hundred days.
This was also one of the factors that led to the increasingly fierce internal fighting in the Song Dynasty. The so-called "political disorder in the court will lead to destruction".
Nowadays, Li Xia has also set up supervision, and is very cautious about this. The reason why it is temporarily called the "Integrity Investigation Department" is because he hopes to reduce mutual impeachment and infighting, and first focus on the word "Integrity".
"I understand. I will contact Junshi and draft the charter and report it to you."
"Well, as soon as possible. At times like this, we can't rely on people to be conscious. We need to improve the supervision system first."
"Perhaps the Integrity Investigation Department was established and not a single corrupt official was found."
"That's impossible." Li Xia had no such naive illusion at all, and said: "Strict supervision is the protection of officials. Too much trust will give them a chance to reach out, and that will harm them."
"yes."
Li Zhaocheng was a little afraid of Li Xia's seriousness.
He was only twenty-five years old. Although he tried hard to be calm as an elder brother, he felt in his heart that Li Xia was his elder brother and king.
…
The two of them entered Chang'an City all the way and arrived at the official residence area. Li Xia returned to the Prince of Qin's Mansion.
Li Zhaocheng stopped by to talk to Jiang Di about Yu Dechen.
"I went to see him off. He didn't lie to us. He just told the little Taoist priest not to worry."
"Is it true?" Jiang Di asked, "Who does the King of Qin send on patrol? Even you don't know?"
Her desk was piled with paperwork and she looked very busy.
"Confidential." Li Zhaocheng responded casually. Just as he was about to leave, he remembered something and said, "Are you working with Qin Daogu now?"
"No." Jiang Di put down his pen, waved his hand, and whispered: "He is my subordinate."
"Can it be controlled?"
"What do you think? Of course not, I have a headache."
"I heard of his name when I was in Jiaxing when I was young. At that time, he was writing "Nine Chapters of the Book of Numbers" in Huzhou and was summoned by the officials."
"Me too. I just followed my father to Xuzhou and heard about his name." Jiang Di put his hand on his forehead and said, "When he recruited volunteers to fight against the Mongols at his Tongchuan Road Mansion, even my father had to hold court to meet him.
Tell me how I got this job."
"Let me give you an idea. What you mean is that he is greedy for money and extravagance, and uses power for personal gain. But he has always been a staunch fighter. He has written books and passed down the world, fought against the barbarians, and has made great contributions to the country. If he can change his ways this time, he will still be able to win.
You have to give him another chance."
"If you say this, it will be even more difficult for me."
"I'm gone, I'm still busy."
Li Zhaocheng left the lobby and took a look at the public room next door. He couldn't help but think to himself that if an integrity envoy was really set up, this would be one of the officials who should pay special attention to.
He turned around and motioned to Jiang Di with his eyes.
Jiang Diwei was a little confused, so he put down his pen again, stood up and took a look at Qin Jiushao's apartment. He saw Qin Jiushao just sitting there making tea and drinking tea, waving his feather fan lightly, leisurely and contented.
This made Jiang Di feel helpless. Not long ago, she took a stack of household registrations from various states and counties for him to count the population. She didn't know whether she had finished the work or was just lazy. She was hesitating about what to do when she heard Qin Jiushao ask: "Mr. Jiang
Do you have any instructions?"
"Ahem...when can Duke Qin give me this year's population file of Lintao Prefecture?"
"This is it."
Qin Jiushao pointed at the table and took a sip of tea calmly. After a while, he remembered to hand the file to Jiang Di, and quickly sat down again.
Jiang Di was surprised: "The calculation was completed so quickly?"
Qin Jiushao smiled slightly and raised his hand to ask her to check. He leaned on the back of his chair, raised his head, gently stroked the long beard on his chin, and asked: "The inspection of salt and iron, expenditures, and tax items here is similar to that of the Third Division, but
Is it in charge of Duke Jingzhai?"
Jiang Di hadn't told Qin Jiushao about this yet, so she couldn't help but asked in surprise: "How did Duke Qin know about it?"
"Other than Duke Jingzhai, who else is qualified to be the prime minister of the King of Qin? Why don't you see Duke Jingzhai coming to the Yamen?"
"Mr. Jingzhai has his own other affairs. We just have to do our job well and make no mistakes."
"That's right. He should also be in charge of the issue of coupons, and has been busy issuing coupons recently, right?"
Jiang Di couldn't help but be surprised again.
Preparing to issue banknotes is not a secret, but currently only some relevant officials know about it. She doesn't understand how Qin Jiushao knows.
"It's not hard to guess that when I was in Jiangling Mansion, I had a fight with Duke Jingzhai on the issue of coupons." Qin Jiushao picked up the teacup again and drank slowly.
In Jiang Di's eyes, it seemed really unfathomable.
Qin Jiushao shook his head and sighed: "He is over seventy years old, right? He is still working so hard. It's too hard."
Jiang Di blinked and no longer watched him show off. He turned around and moved a large pile of files over, placed them on Qin Jiushao's desk, and said, "Then please be patient with Mr. Qin and report them to me immediately after you have finished the calculations."
This time, her tone was much tougher.
In her eyes, Qin Jiushao was not unintelligent. He was proficient in everything from planning to writing. She thought he would not be an official, but in fact he was very smart in officialdom, but his ambition was too obvious.
He revealed his intention to be promoted in just three sentences. He was really unpretentious and seemed eager for quick success, which inevitably made people look down upon him.
Jiang Di's awe for him became much less.
…
"No wonder this man has a bad official reputation and makes enemies everywhere. He is obsessed with fame and wealth, and he makes no secret of it."
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, I got together with friends again and when talking about Qin Jiushao, Jiang Di couldn't help but comment like this.
"When you put it this way, I think he is not a bad character, but a good character." Sun Deyu had a different view and said with a smile: "Others are greedy and secretly touch, sanctimonious, but he is greedy clearly.
, to look down on people and still say so directly, it can be said that... Taoism is natural."
Li Zhaocheng couldn't help but smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying: "Whether it's overt or covert, greed is just greed. It's useless to exploit the people's blood. I can't control him in Jiangnan, but if he dares to reach out in the future, he can only be brought to justice."
.”
Sun Deyu and Jiang Di laughed.
"The Honest Envoy has not yet taken office, but he already has great official authority."
Li Zhaocheng's expression became more solemn and he said: "I think we will have many interactions in official matters in the future. Let's agree in advance that private matters are private and public matters are public."
"What kind of intersection can there be?"
Jiang Di smiled and said: "You little Taoist priest is greedy for money. You supervised the construction of the canal in Guanzhong and the gunpowder that opened up the Xiaolongshan Mountain. If I find out that there are errors in the accounts, I will definitely report it to the Lian Envoy and get the money."
You go to jail."
"Yes, this dean of the Institute of Geosciences also requires our Integrity and Investigation Department to pay close attention to him.
"..."
While chatting and laughing in the small courtyard, Li Zhaocheng did not notice that his second wife had reported to Li Yong that he secretly cooked to entertain friends from time to time.
Li Yong stood by the window and listened for a while, then finally shook his head and walked away without saying anything.
Now he is finally a little more settled. The eldest son likes to cook, so it doesn’t matter if he cooks occasionally. Sichuan and Shaanxi are so big that they can’t tolerate this hobby.