Queen Fu sat beside the bed and whispered about the memorial she was dealing with today.
"The Confucius family in Qufu sent a letter to apply for exemption from land tax. This move was approved by the three prime ministers. But I feel that the most holy teacher has taught without distinction and passed down culture to the world. He is a role model for all generations and deserves the respect of the world. The court can
When building a temple to worship Saint Confucius, you can arrange for the descendants of the Confucius family to serve as officials in the temple and often offer incense. This is the respect that Saint Confucius deserves. But there are hundreds of descendants of Saint Confucius, and everyone owns a large area of land. What achievements can be inherited by Confucius?
Holy blessing?”
"I rejected the Kong family's proposal. The Kong family in Qufu will pay rent and taxes as common people, and will not be granted any privileges."
"There is also a severe drought in Huainan this year. Many reclaimed wastelands have poor harvests, and they are not even enough to repay the seedling loans. The people in Jianghuai are miserable and do not know how to repay the loans."
Jianghuai has always been a land of plenty and plenty of fish and rice. After the Great Zhou Dynasty took over Jianghuai, it organized people to reclaim wasteland and restore people's livelihood.
Last year there was a great harvest in the Jianghuai River, and the imperial court received a large amount of grain and grass for the Northern Expedition.
Guo Rong was so happy that he ordered Jianghuai officials to continue organizing people to reclaim wasteland.
Unexpectedly, the weather this year has been abnormal. There has been no rain for many months in the Jianghuai River and the water level has dropped sharply. Most fields cannot be irrigated in time, resulting in poor harvests.
Ordinary people rarely cultivate seedlings and rice seeds. Most of them are specially cultivated by special personnel. The people either buy or rent from the government and return them in grain during the autumn harvest.
Conscience lending authorized by the imperial court.
No matter how conscientious a loan is, it must be borrowed and repaid. Now the people in the Jianghuai River are affected by the drought and cannot repay the court loan, and they are in panic.
Jianghuai officials reported the situation to the court.
Empress Fu said softly: "During spring plowing, Tai Shi Ling noticed that the weather in the Jianghuai River was strange. Some officials said that they were borrowing seedlings and rice seeds from the people at this time, fearing that the people would not be able to repay them. I remember that your Majesty said at that time, 'I am the emperor, and the people of the world are like my sons.
"How can it be that the son hangs upside down and the father is not generous?" Therefore, regardless of gains and losses, he distributes rice seedlings and rice seeds to the people."
"I have a heart for His Majesty's benevolent government and boldly made the decision to exempt Jianghuai from the land tax this year..."
…
Empress Fu spoke word by word, detailing the government affairs she was handling today.
As I talked, tears flowed down unconsciously.
Empress Fu was extremely smart. She knew that her husband was afraid of the intimidation of his father, Fu Yanqing, and never interfered with government affairs. She also knew that he had a bad temper. Whenever he was angry, she always calmly persuaded him to prevent him from committing violence against the generals and affecting the morale of the army.
This time, I had no choice but to hold the power of the world.
Facing the intrigues in the temple, facing the situation where the prime minister's power is too great and the imperial power is gradually declining.
Queen Fu was also a little exhausted mentally and physically.
But she couldn't fall. Her husband and her six-year-old son had to hold on.
Empress Fu didn't dare to slack off in front of others, but in front of her husband, she couldn't help but shed tears.
"Don't cry, don't cry!"
Empress Fu raised her head in shock and looked at her husband who was barely trying to smile on the bed. She was so stunned that she couldn't make any sound.
Guo Rong smiled weakly and said: "Don't say anything, I just want to see how many clowns there are in this temple."
His condition was getting worse and worse, and six days ago he had a splitting headache and fell unconscious.
Thanks to the rejuvenation of the imperial doctor, Guo Rong was saved from the brink of life and death with a golden needle. Even so, Guo Rong was in a coma for three days and three nights, relying solely on nasogastric feeding to survive.
On the fourth day, I gradually regained consciousness, but I still couldn't move my hands or speak. It was as if my soul was still there but my body was not my own.
Queen Fu would tell Guo Rong in detail what happened in the temple every night. That day happened to be the time when the Council proposed to appoint Li Fang as the governor of Jizhou.
It was also the biggest conflict between the imperial power held by Queen Fu and the power of the government headed by Fan Zhi when Guo Rong was unable to manage politics.
Empress Fu felt that the old system should be followed and the military minister should be appointed as the governor.
However, Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, and Wei Renpu all thought that the situation in Jizhou was special, and it would be easier to manage the people who had been ruled by the Khitan for many years by using a civil servant as the governor.
Queen Fu holds imperial power, but has no deterrent power. When it comes to eloquence, she is no match for Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, and Wei Renpu.
In the end, Queen Fu compromised.
When Guo Rong heard Queen Fu talk about this matter, he vaguely felt that the situation was beyond his expectation.
The purpose of giving Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, and Wei Renpu the power to mobilize troops was to check and balance the military ministers and achieve a civil-military balance.
It’s not to set up obstacles or influence the imperial power...
Before he died, Prime Minister Quan headed by Fan Zhi began to provoke the imperial power?
In fact, all of this is closely related to Luo Youdu.
Historically, Fan Zhi and Zhao Kuangyin had a secret conspiracy early on, but they both let go of their courage to benefit themselves, and still waited patiently for Guo Rong's death.
It's different now. Fan Zhi originally planned to wait until Guo Rong died before starting to suppress Luo Youdu.
But Luo Youdu was too fast. He captured Jizhou in just five days and prepared to return to the imperial court. Queen Fu's ability was far beyond Fan Zhi's expectation.
Fan Zhi knew deep down in his heart that once the talented Empress Fu was supported by Luo Youdu, he would lose most of his right to speak as prime minister. Not to mention compared with the imperial power, even Luo Youdu could not compare...
Fan Zhi served as prime minister for many years, and his prestige was not half that of Luo Youdu at present.
Faced with the pressure from Luo Youdu to return to the court, Fan Zhi made plans to seize power by himself.
Guo Rong got the general idea while he was conscious but out of control of his body.
One day later, Guo Rong found that he could control his fingers.
At the foot of Youzhou City, Guo Rong pretended to be in a coma and got a lot of things that he didn't know about when he was awake.
This time the old trick was repeated.
Fan Zhi received strong support from Zhao Kuangyin, and his ambitions and courage became stronger and his actions became more aggressive.
Guo Rong smelled something abnormal. Based on his understanding of Fan Zhi, he was afraid that he had received strong support.
But he didn't know who the strong support was.
"When will Youdu come back?"
Empress Fu said: "We have already passed Weizhou. It can take two days at a faster time or three days at a later time."
"Okay!" Guo Rong said weakly: "Tomorrow you will summon Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, Wei Renpu, Zhao Kuangyin, and Han Tong to discuss the matter together. Let Fan Zhi draw up the welcome regulations and regain Youyan's hometown in a small way.
His achievements must be received with a grand ceremony, and all the important civil and military ministers of the fifth rank and above in the court must go out of the city to welcome him. See who is in favor and who is against it!"
When he said these words, he almost exhausted all his strength and did not recover for a long time.
Queen Fu was in a hurry.
After several cups of tea, Guo Rong finally said: "Thank you for your hard work, Queen. In your name, I'll get some porridge. I'm a little hungry."
Queen Fu hurriedly wiped away her tears and strode out of the palace.
The eunuch on duty was taking a nap against the pillar. When he saw Queen Fu coming out of the palace, he immediately bowed: "Saint!"
Empress Fu saw that it was Zhang Dejun, her confidant, and said, "Servant Zhang, go get a bowl of porridge. I'm hungry."