Seeing Liu Zimin trotting all the way in front of him, lowering his head and not daring to look at him, Zhao Junchen's eyes became even colder, and he wished he could raise his whip on the spot and slap Liu Zimin hard on the head.
Just beat him to death to relieve his anger!
But after staring coldly for a moment, Zhao Junchen suddenly turned over and dismounted, raised his hand and patted Liu Zimin's shoulder, forced a smile, and praised in a pleased tone: "Zimin, what have you done during this time?"
That’s right! After returning to the capital, I will personally ask your Majesty for your merits!”
As Zhao Junchen finished speaking, no one could believe their ears.
What do you mean? Zhao Junchen actually publicly praised Liu Zimin for doing a good job? What did he do well? Was it because he was fooled by all forces in Xingzhou? Or was it because he forced the people of Xingzhou to rebel?
It’s a complete lie with open eyes!
Just when Liu Zimin looked up at Zhao Cabinet in disbelief, a civil servant suddenly stood up and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, Lu Wensheng, the magistrate of Xingzhou, has met Zhao Cabinet Minister! But your Majesty did not dare to agree with your Cabinet Minister's statement! Your Majesty thinks that
, Liu Tongzhi ignored public opinion and pushed for cruel policies. Now he has been accused by thousands of people. It can be said that he has committed a heinous crime, but how can he be regarded as a good job?
Zhao Gechen, you may not understand the situation when you first arrived in Xingzhou. Ever since Liu Zimin became the magistrate of Xingzhou, he has been responsible for implementing the new agricultural policy. However, he went too far and ignored the reality. He actually forced the local people to rebel, causing
A large-scale civil riot broke out. Eighty-nine thousand people joined the riot. Tens of thousands of people were displaced. Thousands of refugees even poured into the center of the capital. The impact was extremely bad!
It was not until half a month ago that the civil unrest finally came to an end after General Zhang personally led the army to suppress it! However, the subsequent impact still continues to this day, and the people's sentiment is still not stable, and it has also delayed Xingzhou's farming and sowing this year.
, Zhao Gechen, after you entered Xingzhou, you should have seen the messy scene along the way, how shocking it was! And all of this is Liu Zimin's responsibility!"
As Lu Wensheng took the lead in opposing, several local officials in Xingzhou also emboldened themselves and expressed the same attitude, placing the blame for the civil unrest in Xingzhou entirely on Liu Zimin, and at the same time hinting at Zhao Junchen
The agricultural reform is a bad and cruel policy!
At the same time, Zhang Su also nodded and said coldly: "Xingzhou is only more than a hundred miles away from the capital. It can barely be regarded as the emperor's feet. However, a civil unrest of this scale broke out, embarrassing the emperor, so there must be someone
Take responsibility!"
Zhao Junchen turned his head and glanced at Lu Wensheng, with a hint of coldness flashing through his eyes again.
*
To a certain extent, Liu Zimin's use of radical means to forcefully promote agricultural reforms in Xingzhou was also due to Zhao Junchen's personal instruction.
The Ming Dynasty was short of land and grain, but after all, it had a vast territory and no shortage of land. It owned a large amount of wasteland and mountains. It also actively encouraged people to cultivate new fields, promising that farmers would be exempted from the grain tax of 50% after cultivating new fields.
For ten years.
However, cultivating new fields has never been an easy task. Not only is the reclamation process extremely laborious, but the new fields must also be extremely barren at the beginning, and they will definitely be unable to make ends meet. It requires continuous farming for many years before the soil quality can be gradually improved.
Therefore, even though the Chinese people have always been good at enduring hardship and hard work, most of the time they would rather work as farm laborers or long-term laborers for the landlords' families than take the initiative to cultivate new fields.
However, the situation in Xingzhou is an exception. Because the Jin gentry in the territory is powerful and accustomed to breaking bones and extracting marrow, many farmers cannot bear the oppression. They have no choice but to give it a try and choose some barren mountainous areas to open up wasteland and cultivate new fields to find a way for themselves.
.
As a result, large areas of barren fields and mountain fields appeared in Xingzhou, which were very suitable for implementing Zhao Junchen's new agricultural reform policy.
In addition, Xingzhou is not far from the capital. Once the agricultural reform policy in Xingzhou produces better results, it can quickly have an impact in the center of the capital, which will help Zhao Junchen further implement and deepen his agricultural reform policy.
service reform plan.
It was out of this consideration that Zhao Junchen arranged for Liu Zimin to be a co-president of Xingzhou and put him in charge of implementing the new agricultural policy in Xingzhou. He also repeatedly stressed the importance of this matter to Liu Zimin. Of course, Liu Zimin
He is a despicable villain, but he also has one good thing, that is, he is obedient. In order to please Zhao Junchen, he will always actively carry out any instructions of Zhao Junchen to the letter.
When making such an arrangement, even though he knew Liu Zimin was inexperienced, Zhao Junchen felt at ease for a time. The reason was Lu Wensheng, the magistrate of Xingzhou.
Lu Wensheng was once a crony of the former chief minister Shen Changmao. Since Shen Changmao fell from power, he has lost his backing, and his character has become more low-key and weak. When doing things, he always does not seek merit, but seeks no fault. It can be said that
It's all stable.
Zhao Junchen once believed that Lu Wensheng and Liu Zimin were a perfect match - with Lu Wensheng's weak character, he naturally did not dare to restrain Liu Zimin from implementing the new agricultural reform policy, and Lu Wensheng's steady style could also help Liu Zimin
Check for leaks and make up for them, and guard against subtle changes.
In order to further win over Lu Wensheng's cooperation, Zhao Junchen even sent someone to greet him, and once intended to call him as a friend.
But now, Zhao Junchen already knew that the reason why the situation in Xingzhou was rapidly eroding was largely due to Lu Wensheng's secret manipulation.
According to the information provided by Wu Sangui, Lu Wensheng had actually secretly defected to the "Zhou Party"!
It was because of Lu Wensheng's secret assistance and matchmaking that the "Zhou Party" forces quickly connected the gentry from all over Xingzhou, constantly adding fuel to the flames, adding layers of pressure, and manipulating public opinion, which led to the civil unrest in Xingzhou!
As a result, Zhao Junchen originally hated this person very much, but after seeing Lu Wensheng taking the lead to refute him, the anger in his heart became even stronger.
*
After Lu Wensheng noticed the cold look in Zhao Junchen's eyes, he couldn't help but feel frightened secretly. He lowered his head and did not dare to look at each other, but still insisted on repeating: "In short, the official insists that Liu Tong knows that he ignores public opinion and imposes cruel policies. Now,
It has been pointed out by thousands of people, and it can be said that it is a heinous crime. It must be held accountable, and I hope that the cabinet ministers will learn from it!"
Zhao Junchen snorted coldly: "Disregarding public opinion? Pushing a cruel policy? What Wanfu is referring to? A heinous crime? In fact, I am very aware of everything that happened in Xingzhou, but I cannot agree with Lu Zhizhou's behavior at all.
evaluate!
The reason why this cabinet praises Liu Zimin for his good work is because he is a pure minister! Even if he is not understood by the people, even if he bears the infamy, he still unswervingly and firmly implements the imperial decree! This is not a
What is a pure minister? Since he is a pure minister, he deserves to be praised by the court!"
[Currently used, it is the most complete and best-used app for listening to books. It integrates 4 major speech synthesis engines and over 100 sounds. It is also a source-changing artifact and source-changing app that supports offline reading]
The so-called "politics" is actually the art of language expression.
Same content, different expressions, but completely different effects!
A general who has been defeated repeatedly is naturally incompetent and should be punished by military law. However, a general who has been defeated repeatedly is loyal, courageous and determined, and will become a model for the entire army!
And now, Zhao Junchen also demonstrates the art of language.
"Disregarding public opinion" and "not being understood by the people" have the same meaning, "being accused by thousands of people" and "bearing the infamy" have the same meaning, "forcibly promoting cruel policies" and "unswervingly and firmly implementing the imperial decree" also have the same meaning.
mean.
But the final evaluation was from "a heinous crime" to "a pure minister"!
In fact, Zhao Junchen also hated Liu Zimin so much that he wanted to whip him to death with a riding crop on the spot, but things like politics are so helpless sometimes.
Liu Zimin is now at the forefront of the storm. If Zhao Junchen gives up protecting Liu Zimin, political opponents in the DPRK and China will find more reasons to criticize the new agricultural reform policy!
Therefore, no matter how big a mistake Liu Zimin made, as long as his mistake was caused by the implementation of the new agricultural reform policy, Zhao Junchen must protect him with all his strength! There is no room for concession!
On the other side, after hearing Zhao Junchen's confusion of right and wrong, all the civil and military officials were stunned.
Liu Zimin was even more shocked, and tears burst into his eyes.
Yes, you're right! What's wrong with pursuing the imperial policy by any means? How could the imperial policy go wrong?
What is wrong is that the people are ignorant! What is wrong is that colleagues and subordinates do not cooperate! What is wrong is that senior officials such as Zhang Su and Lu Wensheng did not give themselves greater support!
However, before Liu Zimin could express his gratitude to Zhao Junchen for his understanding, Zhao Junchen spoke again.
Zhao Junchen not only wanted to publicly protect Liu Zimin, but also wanted to fight back with all his strength and force Lu Wensheng to death!
Therefore, Zhao Junchen's voice became more serious and said: "Lu Zhizhou also said that Liu Zimin would be held accountable! Ha, in my opinion, others may be qualified to accuse Liu Zimin of making mistakes, but you are the only one who does not
!Because you are the one who really should be held accountable! You just said that as a fellow magistrate of Xingzhou, Liu Zimin’s duty is to implement the new agricultural reform policy in Xingzhou, and he is indeed
You have performed your duties! But what about you? As the magistrate of Xingzhou, what responsibilities do you have?"
Under Zhao Junchen's merciless and fierce scolding, Lu Wensheng's face gradually turned pale, and he felt that he had done something wrong and should not have been involved in the party struggle between the "Zhao Party" and the "Zhou Party" from the beginning.
In the midst of strife!
But now, it was too late to regret, so Lu Wensheng had no choice but to go all the way to defend himself.
Zhao Junchen did not give him a chance to speak, and immediately asked and answered: "Your responsibility is to protect the environment and the people! It is to maintain stability in the place! It is the herdsman on behalf of the emperor! I would like to ask you, is the situation in Xingzhou stable now?
?Are the people peaceful? Is the order stable? So, is Liu Zimin responsible for the civil unrest in Xingzhou? Or is it your Lu Wensheng's responsibility? "
Zhao Junchen did not expect Lu Wensheng's answer, and then turned to look at the person who could really decide the situation in Xingzhou, that is, Zhang Su, the general of Ji Town, and asked: "General Zhang, do you also think that, like
Should officials like Liu Zimin, who implement the court's policies to the letter and faithfully fulfill His Majesty's will, be held accountable? Does that mean that in the future, as long as the people cannot agree and understand them, officials will not
Should the imperial court’s policies be implemented and not necessarily fulfill His Majesty’s will?”
When asking Zhang Su, Zhao Junchen's tone softened greatly.
But Zhao Junchen's inquiry immediately put Zhang Su into a dilemma.