"Officials, big and small, all keep their duties, and the questions of Qian, Valley, and soldiers will not go to the temple." [Book of the Prime Minister]
"In recent years, Sanfu's harvest has been poor, the common people are not plentiful, and the court is short of food and grass. If a large army is suddenly formed, it may bring a burden to the people. Besides..." The new minister Youcheng Zhao Jian raised his head and looked at the emperor, and said bluntly: "Sanfu We already have General Fenwu and others, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, who can completely protect the safety of the pass. Now that the Qiang rebellion is gradually over, the Dong thieves are dead, and only new troops have been added. The ministers are stupid and have not seen what is necessary."
The emperor reached out and fiddled with the slips on the table, and sneered: "So, you are here to reject the imperial edict? Is this what everyone at the Chancellery thinks so?"
Wang Yun could not clearly prevent the emperor from reducing the imperial army, so he thought of this method and planned to use money and food to curb the expansion of the emperor's military power.
This was also Wang Bin's initial concern when the emperor issued an edict to expand the army. He did not expect that Wang Yun did not explicitly reject the emperor's idea of training a new army from the beginning. Instead, he took advantage of the nearly 10,000 new soldiers to join the army and thousands of old and weak to be dismissed. When food, grass, weapons and other pensions all required huge expenses, Zhao Jian, the minister Youcheng who was in charge of money, grain, finance, treasury and other matters, was suddenly blocked on the grounds that the treasury was not overflowing.
You must know that at this critical moment, if the emperor and Wang Bin cannot provide the soldiers with pensions and rewards, then the soldiers will inevitably cause trouble. By then, the emperor's prestige will plummet, and Wang Yun will calmly step in to clean up the situation. One will go down and the other will go up. What else can the emperor use to compete with Wang Yun?
Zhao Jian was an old official of Wang Yun and the nephew of the great scholar Zhao Qi. He was initially demoted to the rank of Pingling Order by Dong Zhuo because of his strength. Now that Wang Yun had gained power, in order to place close followers at the Chancellery and show favor to the prestigious Yilang Zhao Qi, he He promoted Zhao Jian back to the chancellery and made him the right prime minister with financial power.
Wang Yun's intention of appointing Zhao Jian as Minister Youcheng was very clear, especially after Wang Yun turned a blind eye to the emperor's massive rectification of the imperial army, Zhao Jian understood it even more.
When Zhao Jian received the emperor's imperial edict at the minister's desk and asked for an edict to be allocated to the Shaofu and Da Sinong for the Northern Army, Zhao Jian refused to draft the edict. After a dispute with the minister Sun Rui, Pushe Yang Zan and others, Zhao Jian Under Wang Yun's suggestion, he dared to come to the court to argue with the imperial edict drafted by the emperor.
"Your Majesty, Situ Gong was entrusted with the imperial edict to record the affairs of the ministers and take charge of the affairs of the court. He has repeatedly said at the minister's desk that the state is not sufficient, and he often laments about the affairs of Qiangu. The important ministers of the imperial court are like this. How can your majesty, in order to rectify the army, ignore the suffering of the people?"
"Are you calling me a militaristic and foolish king?" Zhao Jian was a die-hard loyalist to Wang Yun, and the emperor was not polite to him; "The Northern Army only had ten thousand people, how much money could it spend on food from the court? Last month Huangfu Song was in Yiwu. When the Dong family was exterminated, they seized 20,000 to 30,000 jins of gold, 80,000 to 90,000 jins of silver, pearls, jade, brocade, and mountains of oddities and miscellaneous items. Not to mention that Dong Zhuo built a shed and accumulated grain for thirty years. He once said "If you succeed in conquering the world, you will not be able to keep it until you die." You have made all this money and food without seeing it. I don't know whether it was used for other purposes or went into someone's private pocket!"
"Nowadays, traitors are being crowned, and the court has a lot of troubles and wastes waiting to be done. Palaces and city walls have to spend money to repair everywhere, not to mention persuading refugees to return to their hometowns for farming. All of this will cost tens of thousands. Wang Situ is even more worried about the future of Xiliang If something unexpected happens, I will just keep this money as a precaution. Your Majesty, please keep in mind your ministers' desire to protect the country and don't be deceived by sycophants!" Zhao Jian knew that he and others were acting upright, but in the face of the threats in the emperor's words, He said without fear.
Zhao Jian and Wang Yun had similar interests. They were both upright characters, neither humble nor arrogant. Zhao Jian was also resourceful and could quote poems and books. Even if the emperor threatened him, Zhao Jian would not let go.
Unable to gain favor, the emperor stopped talking and continued to pass oral instructions to the Chancellor to draft an imperial edict, which was naturally rejected by Wang Yun.
Just as a result, different opinions arose within the Chancellery, and the two factions were at war with each other. Even Wang Yun did not expect that the emperor would have so many supporters.
After the matter fermented, the emperor planned to start the next step of the plan.
On this day, the emperor rode up to Linyuan to watch the Northern Army's concentrated training. After strengthening his prestige, he summoned the chief minister and the young master.
After the chief minister, Zhou Zhong, and the young master, Tian Fen, boarded the vehicle sent by the emperor, they heard the driver of the carriage gently wave his whip, and the vehicle started to move forward.
Not long after the car started driving, Tian Fen smiled bitterly at Zhou Zhong and said, "It seems there is no way to avoid this trouble."
Although the two of them were ranked among the ninth ministers, in this era of centrifugal force and weak central government, the country's most popular tax and savings department had become useless. The emperor summoned them this time, simply intending to circumvent the situation and persist in this matter.
Wang Yun immediately issued an edict to them. He thought that the great gods were fighting and the fairies were watching the show, but unexpectedly, this trouble came at a moment's notice and even caused innocent monsters to suffer.
Zhou Zhong shook his head. In the game between the emperor and Wang Yun, he obviously thought more deeply than Tian Fen: "Wang Situ was neither early nor late, but he made people oppose him when the Northern Army was in urgent need of money and food. He just wanted to give His Majesty a look.
Just look at it, it can be seen that the rumors in the government and the public that your Majesty and Situ are at odds with each other are true."
Tian Fen came from a wealthy family in Hebei and had close contacts with the Yuan family. He was a natural ally of Wang Yun and felt obliged to support Wang Yun: "Wang Situ is very devoted to the country. Guanzhong has suffered repeated wars. It is the time to cherish the power of the people. But now.
Your Majesty is training your troops vigorously. If you look around the world, there are no rebels near or traitors far away. Doesn’t Great Sinong still know who your Majesty is training your troops for right now?"
"So what if you know? Your Majesty has repeatedly asked the Chancellor to draw up edicts. Although Wang Situ, Zhao Youcheng and others have sternly rejected them several times, they are actually stern but heartbroken. Everyone knows that Your Majesty is bound to win. The reason why he made this fuss is
Aren't the two sides trying to see what they are really up to? Since there are not many people following His Majesty in the Shangshutai, starting from the imperial edict of Sun Shangshu, they are still powerful enemies that Situ cannot be underestimated." Zhou Zhong said slowly.
Tian Fen said quickly, "Your Majesty summoned us this time just to force us to submit. But the money and food must not be allocated easily. Military training is not something that happens overnight. Once allocated, it will definitely be an extra expense in the future."
Expenses. When Emperor Xiaoling organized and trained the Xiyuan Army, it was a waste of money. All the soldiers he trained were used by Dong thieves to cause chaos, which was of no benefit to the country. At that time, the court officials did not know how to dissuade this, but now it is our turn, but we cannot
Be silent!"
Zhou Zhong really wants to remain silent. He is from Lujiang, Yangzhou. Although he belongs to Guandong geographically, he does not have deep contacts with the wealthy families in Yingchuan, Runan, Hebei and other places. Although he seems to be dependent on Wang Yun at present, he has no influence.
He is temporarily relying on his power to gain a foothold. In fact, like former general Zhao Qian, he is a relatively neutral faction.