After Li Chengru arrived at the Zhao Mansion, he found that another core member of the "Zhao Party", Gu Quan, the left deputy censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, also came to the Zhao Mansion and was talking to Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen overthrew Lu Yuanan this time, and Gu Quan had done a great job, and the main task of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was to find trouble, so after overthrowing Lu Yuanan, Gu Quan had made a contribution, and now he has been promoted to the rank of Zuo Deputy Capital Censor.
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After sitting down and seeing Gu Quan present, Li Chengru hesitated, wondering whether he should report the progress of the mission to Zhao Junchen at this time.
After all, the mission assigned by Zhao Junchen was full of conspiracy and it seemed that it should be kept as secret as possible.
Seeing Li Chengru's performance, Zhao Junchen smiled and said: "Gu Yushi will also be involved in the next plan, so Li Shangshu doesn't have to worry, just tell him what he has to say... There are things about Caoyun Yamen and Haicao.
All the benefits were told to Song Huancheng? How was his reaction?"
Li Chengru nodded and said: "We have already informed Song Huancheng, and Song Huancheng was extremely angry and heartbroken."
Zhao Junchen sighed: "This Song Huancheng is actually a person who serves the country with his heart!"
But the next moment, Zhao Junchen had a smile on his face and continued: "So, we have to help him plead for the people."
After saying that, Zhao Junchen turned to look at Gu Quan and asked, "How are you preparing over there?"
Gu Quan nodded and replied: "The official just used some tricks, and some of the Qingliu from the Metropolitan Procuratorate made an impromptu decision to make an appointment to visit Song Huancheng this evening...
This matter is not difficult. Ever since Song Huancheng's popularity among the people has increased, people in the Qingliu community have been rushing to make friends with Song Huancheng...
Hey, as the saying goes, 'gentlemen are a group of people but not a party'. In the eyes of the Qingliu people, if they can establish friendship with Song Huancheng, it means that they are as incorruptible as Song Huancheng, and they will have the capital to further enhance their reputation. Naturally, they are a
Make it happen.”
Zhao Junchen nodded lightly and said leisurely: "In this way, the subsequent development of things will be obvious... After Song Huancheng discovered the alarming food consumption of the Caoyun Yamen this year, he must have been worried and frowning, but he did not
Any solution... And once the Qingliu people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate choose this time to visit Song Huancheng together, Song Huancheng will most likely inform them of the matter, and then..."
Gu Quan continued with a smile: "Then, given the nature of the Qingliu in the Metropolitan Procuratorate who always watch the excitement and don't take it too seriously, at this time, they will definitely be happy to see Xun Xin, and then they will submit memorials to the court one after another, while impeaching the canal transport
The yamen are greedy and wasteful, and they will once again bring up the matter of converting the river channel into a sea canal!
This time, the Qingliu people were completely convinced. In addition, during this period of time, private food prices have hit new highs, so the Qingliu people's proposal will definitely gain a lot of support... By that time, everyone in the 'Zhou Party' will naturally be in a hurry.
, I’m so worried that I can no longer care about retaliating against our ‘Zhao Party’!”
Zhao Junchen nodded with a smile and added: "Not only can he not retaliate against us, but he will also ask for help from us and take the initiative to make friends with us! After all, the two major yamen, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Industry, have the right to speak in this dispute between the river channel and the sea.
Most importantly, if the 'Zhou Party' wants to settle this controversy as soon as possible, it must win our support."
Hearing this, Li Chengru on the side had roughly guessed the truth of Zhao Junchen's plan.
It turns out that Song Huancheng was just an introduction, and using Song Huancheng to encourage the Qingliu to restart the court's dispute between the river channel and the sea canal was the key! In Zhao Junchen's eyes, those Qingliu were just pawns, and the real goal was to use this river channel and the sea canal.
The struggle forced the "Zhou Party" to give in!
And Zhao Junchen himself has been hiding behind the scenes from beginning to end. He seems to have nothing to do with it, but he can reap the benefits!
Thinking of this, Li Chengru couldn't help but admire Zhao Junchen's methods even more!
However, Li Chengru also came from a clean background. Although he has joined Zhao Junchen now, he still retains some normal values. He couldn't help but ask: "Zhao Gechen, after seeing the statistics from the Hubu Yamen, I was also shocked.
The astonishing cost of water transportation...
If we change the river channel into a sea canal and change the river transport to sea transport, we can really reduce the losses by 70 to 80%. Why has our Ministry of Household Affairs never implemented this? Next, if we can successfully encourage the Qingliu people to charge into battle, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works will also wait for the opportunity.
If you express your support, it may not be impossible! Once it succeeds, wouldn't it be a great blessing for the country and the people?
What's more, we all know that the water transport yamen is the money bag of the "Zhou Party". If we can change the river channel into a sea canal, we can also take the opportunity to severely damage the "Zhou Party"! At that time, the "Zhou Party" will definitely
If we gradually weaken irreversibly, we can become a powerful family, and maybe even the position of chief minister of the cabinet can be taken by Zhao Cabinet, which is a good thing for both public and private affairs!"
Hearing what Li Chengru said, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but be a little surprised.
It was not that Zhao Junchen was surprised by Li Chengru's concept, but Zhao Junchen never expected that Li Chengru, who had been the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs for several months, would believe in so-called "statistics."
For a while, Zhao Junchen once again showed his habit of "becoming a teacher" and decided to teach Li Chengru a lesson.
Although Li Chengru is nearly thirty years older than Zhao Junchen.
"Li Shangshu, you are now in charge of the Department of Accounts, and you have to deal with accounts, data, and various statistics every day, so there is one thing you must understand, and that is - any set of statistical data you see is
It cannot be completely believed!
In fact, any statistics in this world and the standard methods used in making statistics are far more important than the final numbers! If statistical standards are ignored, any statistical data is meaningless! In fact, most statistics
Numbers seem rigorous and unquestionable, but in fact they are just a tool used by different forces to emphasize their views and promote public opinion.
Take this incident as an example. According to statistics from the Hubu Yamen, the cost of the river channel is three to five times that of Caoliang and Caoyin, while the cost of the river channel is only about 80%. It can be said that there is a huge difference, which naturally emphasizes the disadvantages of the river channel.
Advantages of Haicao...
But if you pay careful attention to the statistical standards of these figures, you will find that when the Ministry of Revenue counts the cost of river channels, it adds all the costs that can be added, but when it counts the cost of sea canals, it ignores the crucial
The three items are the expansion of coastal seaports, the construction and maintenance of ocean-going giant ships, and the cost of naval escort to drive away pirates!
If these three items are included, then the cost of Haicao will more than double, reaching about 60% of that of Hetong, and the initial investment will be much larger. However, if such statistics are used, the advantage of Haicao will be
It is no longer so obvious! Therefore, in order to enhance the persuasiveness of converting the river channel into a sea canal, I deliberately ignored these three costs, and finally the statistics you see appeared!
You see, this is the importance of statistical standards. As long as you change the statistical standards, you can get any statistics you want to see! Therefore, statistics are not important, what really matters is the statistical method!"
Seeing Li Chengru's expression of sudden enlightenment, Zhao Junchen thought for a moment and continued: "When Li Shangshu was in charge of the Hubu Yamen, he not only often saw some statistics, but also often received official documents from various places. I had previously
When I was in charge of the household department, I gained some insights, so I took this opportunity to exchange ideas with Li Shangshu.
Most of the official documents received by the Ministry of Household Affairs are the contents of the central and local yamen reaching out for money. When these yamen ask for money from the Ministry of Household Affairs, they use only two tactics. One is to complain about poverty, and the other is to complain about poverty.
Following the precedent, these two tricks can easily lead people into the ditch.
Let’s talk about complaining about poverty first. Most of the contents of these official documents emphasize how poor our yamen is. There are too many places to use money and it is no longer sustainable. After you read these official documents, you will not be able to help but be affected by these contents.
influence, and then they will think that the Hubu Yamen should allocate more money to them...
In response to this move, I suggest that Li Shangshu change the way he reviews official documents in the future. Instead of reading the beginning first and then the end in order, he should instead read the end first and then the beginning. Take a look at the conclusion and signature of the official document first, and then
If you look at the specific content that supports the conclusion, you can often get a completely different judgment, which is often a more accurate judgment!
Besides following precedents, this tactic is also very common. For example, after the Ministry of Revenue allocates money to Wuchang Prefecture to build water conservancy dams, surrounding prefectures and counties will often follow suit and use the excuse of building water conservancy dams to ask for money from the Ministry of Revenue.
The reason is also very good. Wuchang Prefecture has seen many benefits after building water conservancy, which is of great benefit to the country and the people, so they also want to serve the country and the people, and also want to build water conservancy to promote...
But most of the time, the view that 'you can succeed as long as you follow the example as much as possible' completely ignores the differences in different regions and at different times. It is simply a fallacy, just like those statistics, which are only used to support and emphasize.
Just an opinion!
The topography and environment of Wuchang Prefecture will definitely lead to floods if the construction of water conservancy dams is ignored. But how can the topography and environment of other prefectures and counties be exactly the same as Wuchang Prefecture? How can the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development give them relief because of the precedent of Wuchang Prefecture?
Equal support? Therefore, whenever there is content in an official document that adheres to precedents, it must be carefully screened..."
Listening to Zhao Junchen's detailed teaching, Li Chengru's expression was full of enlightenment. Many of the difficulties he had encountered since he became the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue were easily solved by Zhao Junchen's words.
However, after listening to Zhao Junchen's words, Li Chengru thought for a moment, then brought the topic back to the dispute between the river channel and the sea canal, and asked: "What Zhao Junchen said is reasonable, but the official still feels that changing the river channel into a sea canal
It is necessary to do this. Although the initial investment is more, it can save about 40% of the cost in the future, which is also not a small amount. If it can save nearly 10 million dan in food consumption every year, it is equivalent to the entire year of Jiubian Army Town.
Military food is a good thing for the country and the people..."
Seeing that Li Chengru was still thinking about the dispute between the river channel and the sea canal, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but shake his head.
His previous long speech was actually just to change the subject and not want to continue talking about this matter.
Of course, Zhao Junchen clearly saw the various benefits of sea-to-cao transportation, and because of the shortage of grain in the national inventory, Zhao Junchen had always been worried about Zhongzhong, so naturally he also thought about the idea of grain transportation by water.
But... after Zhao Junchen thought for a long time, he finally gave up such an idea, although Zhao Junchen knew that once the Hai Cao project was implemented, the national treasury and private grain stocks would increase rapidly.
The reason is also very simple, that is, Zhao Junchen does not want to touch Zhou Shangjing's bottom line yet - of course, it can also be said that he "does not dare to touch Zhou Shangjing's bottom line" - Zhao Junchen cannot afford the price of a fight to the death with Zhou Shangjing.
In Zhao Junchen's view, the matter of changing the river channel into a sea canal must be implemented sooner or later, but the prerequisite is that Zhou Shangjing has left the temple. As long as Zhou Shangjing leaves the temple and no longer controls the behemoth "Zhou Party", Zhao Junchen dares to immediately ask
The "Zhou Party" declares war!
According to Zhao Junchen's estimation, by the time Zhou Shangjing left the temple, he was almost ready for the coastal seaports in Shandong and Nanzhili, as well as a sufficient number of ocean-going ships. By then, the implementation of the sea canal project would be a matter of course.
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However, as long as Zhou Shangjing remains in the position of chief minister of the cabinet, Zhao Junchen must continue to endure.
In short, Zhao Junchen was in awe of the old fox Zhou Shangjing.
This time, Zhao Junchen secretly restarted the dispute between the river channel and the sea canal in the imperial court. He also took advantage of the clear current in the court. He did not dare to come forward directly. The ultimate goal was to force the "Zhou Party" to make concessions, rather than actually implementing the sea canal.
Things.
Therefore, the essence of this matter is that Zhao Junchen gave up the overall interests for the sake of stabilizing his own power.
Precisely because of this, Zhao Junchen inevitably felt guilty - even though it was only a little bit - so he was unwilling to discuss the matter in depth.
At this time, seeing that Li Chengru was still entangled in the matter, Zhao Junchen's expression became cold because of this thought, and he said slowly: "The imperial court's dispute over the river channel and the sea canal has been going on for hundreds of years. The real foresight
Who among the wise people does not know the benefits of the sea canal? But it still cannot change the current situation of the river channel!
Just by looking at this, you can see how big the resistance is to the Haicao incident. Not only are millions of canal workers affected by their food and clothing, but also how many powerful people are secretly using the river to make profits? It's not just the 'Zhou Party'
, even His Majesty arranged a large number of royal palaces and guarding eunuchs along the canal!
So, why do I want to be the leader? Don’t you think you have enough enemies? Do you have to be enemies with everyone in the world? In this world, you always have to worry about how much you eat. Some things are simply not something we have the ability to change at the moment.
, otherwise you are overestimating your own capabilities and inviting disaster!”
Seeing that Zhao Junchen's face turned cold and he began to call himself "this pavilion" again, Li Chengru finally did not dare to continue to pester him and just shook his head and sighed.
If Song Huancheng were here at this time, he would definitely be extremely surprised when he heard Zhao Junchen's words.
Because what Zhao Junchen said was almost exactly the same as what He Wei said before.
It can only be said that although there are differences in status, vision, means, etc. between Zhao Junchen and He Wei, there is essentially no difference in some of their inner concepts.
*
While Zhao Junchen was talking to Li Chengru and Gu Quan, Song Huancheng had finished his official duties at the Hubu Yamen and returned to his home worriedly.
Then, with Song Huancheng's certain decision, a big drama is about to begin!