After the interview, Shao Shude was about to leave. When he saw the historian packing his things, he suddenly became interested and asked, "Can I have a look at what the historian recorded?"
Cui Zhaowei glanced at him in surprise. This warrior actually wanted to see the record?
"No." The historian said simply.
Shao Shude didn't feel dissatisfied and asked again: "What is that recorded?"
"The vassal minister Shao Shude despised the prime minister and treated him as a puppet," the historian replied.
The conversation made the three people in the room feel a little uncomfortable.
But the historian has this power. If it were replaced by Taizong's prestige, the historian might be able to beautify it a little, but the nature of the whole thing cannot be changed, and it still has to be recorded.
Of course, historians do not record everything. They usually write about important events. When a vassal minister enters the palace to meet the emperor, he will usually record it, especially in today's situation. It is still very likely that later dynasties will compile history and it will be included in the "Book of Tang"
of.
"That's all, asking about this is asking for trouble." Shao Shude laughed.
Even if he establishes a new dynasty in the future, he will not bother to beautify it. It will be as it should be, no need to whitewash it.
He doesn't want to be a saint, nor does he want to be portrayed as a perfect person in the history books. People must have shortcomings. The advantages are me, and the shortcomings are also me, so I have to accept them.
After leaving Zhaoyang Hall, the soldiers evacuated one by one.
Cui Zhaowei was thoughtful, and the saint had complicated emotions.
The historian wrote that he could not interfere, but Shao Shude did not do anything to him. It can be seen that he did not want to do anything rash, at least for the time being.
Cui Zhaowei looked around and said in a low voice: "Don't worry, saint. Yesterday, I won over a person. He is Ximen's fake son. His name is Ximen Zhao. He was born in Cai Cai and lived in Guanzhong. He is very brave and is highly valued by Ximen.
.In the future, there may not be an opportunity to kill Zhongguan."
The saint nodded slightly.
Although the risk of this matter is not small, there is no other way now, right?
Shao Shude went directly to a large house in Xingdaofang. This was recommended by the Zhongguan of his temporary residence in Chang'an, and it must be of high quality.
In the middle of Chang'an City, Xingdao, Kaihua, Wuben and Chongyi Four Squares can be said to be high-quality prime areas. They are roughly located on both sides of Anshangmenwai Street in the Imperial City. The Fourth Square is adjacent to the Imperial City to the north, Zhuquemen Street to the west, and Qixiamen to the east.
On the south side of the main street are Anrenfang and Changshengfang.
Most of the people who live in these four houses are officials. Many of the houses are owned by the imperial court, which are awarded to important ministers from time to time, or allocated to the prime minister to live in (which will be taken back after the prime minister is dismissed).
Of course, there are also private purchases, usually by ancestors who have been important ministers and generals. But if the descendants decline, generally speaking, they cannot keep it. When the new rich take a fancy to it, they will ask to buy it, and it is difficult for you to refuse.
Xingdaofang is about 500 meters long from north to south and slightly wider from east to west, about 500 to 600 meters.
Shao Shude lives in a mansion compound that almost occupies the same area as Xingdaofang.
In this dynasty, the first owner of this house was the Empress Xiao of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, who gave the house to her in the fourth year of Zhenguan.
After Empress Xiao died, the house was vacant for a while, and was later given to Princess Taiping. In the first year of Kaiyuan, Princess Taiping died, and the house was given to Song Guogong Li Lingwen. After Li Lingwen was demoted, the house was taken back, sometimes vacant, sometimes temporary It was assigned to a certain prime minister to live in, and it happened to be vacant at this time.
Shao Shude moved into the house surrounded by a large group of soldiers. At this time, there was already a guest waiting.
It's not Mrs. Pei of Hedong County. General Lu Ming is placed in a village somewhere in Bashang. Shao Shude doesn't know where he is, so he doesn't bother to ask. He has more important things now.
"Master is finally here." Shao Shude bowed and said with a smile.
Theoretically speaking, Marshal Shao is also the prime minister, but after all, he is only in name. Du Rangneng is the real person, and the due etiquette is indispensable.
"The King of Lingwu County has a lot of troops, so he didn't send any soldiers to invite him. It's a courtesy. If I don't come, wouldn't I be very ignorant?" Du Rangneng said coldly.
Shao Shude laughed, sat down, and said: "I don't do riddles either. I dare to ask Prime Minister Du, if Zhu Quanzhong wants to seize the benefits of salt and iron, aren't the Third Division anxious?"
The dynasty implemented a system of group prime ministers, and generally there were 2-4 prime ministers at the same time. Previously, Zhang, Kong, and Du were in office at the same time. Zhang Jun was first demoted to the governor of Lianzhou, and then demoted to Lu Shi of Xiuzhou to join the army. Only two were left, so he The promotion of Xu Yanruo was done by Tong Zhongshu's subordinate Ping Zhangshi.
Now that Kong Wei has been demoted, Xu Yanruo has left Guangzhou, and Cui Zhaowei has become the new prime minister, it is estimated that there will be another one mentioned later. Of the three prime ministers, no one can escape, and they will all be sentenced to three divisions to make money!
The concurrent salt and iron envoy requested by Prime Minister Zhu Quanzhong was established during the Anshi Rebellion. The first salt and iron envoy was Wu Qi. The main purpose was to solve the financial difficulties of the central government, that is, to transfer the salt profits from 14 salt-producing areas such as Hangzhou to In the form of money and grain, they were transported to Chang'an. To this end, thirteen patrols were set up along the Huaibei and other transshipment routes.
During the Dali period, the salt profit alone amounted to more than 6 million yuan, which was an important pillar of the central government's finances.
On this transshipment route, Yangzhou is the transshipment node, and the two Zhejiang territories of Runzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shengzhou are sources of wealth. Yangzhou is now occupied by Sun Ru, and Jiangnan has also changed hands repeatedly between Sun Ru, Qian Liu, and Yang Xingmi , the transportation of money and grain was greatly affected, but it was not interrupted.
Qian Liu, Yang Xingmi, and Shao Shude said in front of the emperor that they were not loyal ministers, which was true, but they were at least the ones offered as tribute, and they seemed to be somewhat loyal, or loyal temporarily, but not necessarily in the future.
After the Jiangnan wealth was rerouted, it had to pass through the territories of Shi Pu and Zhu Quanzhong.
Zhu Quanzhong petitioned to serve as the salt and iron envoy. The court was very vigilant. Although there was not much money left, it was hundreds of thousands of mins a year, but it was still an important supplement to the court's finances. How could he let it go lightly?
Furthermore, Zhu Quanzhong petitioned the imperial court to move Shi Pu to another place a while ago, but the prime ministers ignored it.
Now the imperial court is gradually becoming wary of Zhu Quanzhong. Coupled with what Shao Shude said in front of the saint, it is estimated that Quan Youdao is more wary of Zhu Quanzhong's attack on Shi Pu, fearing that he will cut off his way to the south of the Yangtze River. The court lost a large amount of income.
But they lacked the means to restrain Zhu Quanzhong, which was a problem.
"The words of Prince Lingwu touched a sore point." Du Rangneng let out a long sigh and said, "How can the imperial court control Quan Zhong in this situation?"
"Quan Zhong is so ambitious, why doesn't the imperial court call in all the Taoist soldiers to attack him?" Shao Shude knew that it was impossible for the imperial court to issue an edict to attack Quanzhong now. After all, money and food were still being transported, so he was just "warming up" first and letting him
The court knew it could do this.
Du Rangneng smiled bitterly when he heard this and said: "The Bian army number is 300,000. Although there are many false claims, there are still 150,000. They are all elite soldiers who have fought in hundreds of battles. How can we fight against them?"
"If there is an edict from the imperial court and someone is willing to send troops to fight against it, all he needs to do is use the two towns of Weibei, Huazhou, and Shaanxi and Guo." Shao Shude said sincerely.
Du Rangneng looked calm and said: "With the ability of Prince Lingwu, there should be no problem in allowing Weibei and Huazhou to use the road. But in the middle of the river, will the Wang family and his son from Shaanxi and Guo be willing to use the road?"
If he refuses to use the road, will he send troops to conquer? Du Rangneng knows very well the virtues of warriors.
Shao Shude smiled again and said nothing more. Anyway, he was just giving a vaccination.
Zhu Quanzhong wished he could fight every day, and with so many soldiers, his finances would definitely be difficult. The previous attack on Shipu and wanton plundering could only solve a temporary emergency, not a long-term solution.
Moreover, even if Wuning Town was captured by him, he would not be able to provide much goods in a short period of time. Because Zhu Quanzhong adopted a high-intensity and destructive attack method, the people in several states could not farm. In addition, Shi Pu was also unlucky.
Floods occurred every year, and people starved to death in large numbers and fled. It would probably take many years to clean up such a mess, although Zhu Quanzhong probably would not have to recruit troops and tax him until he was fully recovered.
Financial stress is a difficult problem faced by every vassal and even the imperial court in the world.
It was inevitable that Zhu Quanzhong would get involved in the court's money and food, sooner or later.
If you want to pretend to be a loyal minister, it will be difficult to pretend that the real problem of money and food cannot be solved.
"The King of Lingwu County came to see me, don't think it's just to talk about this." The soldiers brought the tea, Du Rangneng reached out to take it, took two sips intoxicatedly, and sighed: "Sichuan Mengding tea, more than 10 years old
Never seen again."
"I will send fifty catties to Prime Minister Du later," Shao Shude ordered.
"As commanded."
"Prime Minister Du also knows that Shuofang, the land of Thirteen Prefectures in Hexi, is half inhabited by Qiang and Hu, and is in urgent need of enlightenment. This man..."
"Hewei Xiao Gong, aren't you recruiting people for you?"
"It's not enough! Longyou Town only has a rough appearance now, but it's still not enough, let alone Hexi and Shuofang?"
"There are many students in Beijing Middle School, why doesn't Prince Lingwu recruit them on his own?"
"We have to rely on the prestige of the prime minister. In the Ministry of Rites, Du Xiangren is familiar with him. How does a certain warrior know those noble court officials?"
The Ministry of Rites presides over scientific examinations, and the appeal of its chief officer is too great. Students from Beijing, you can't use force to kidnap people, right? You have to be willing.
"In addition, there are many senior officials in the Sansi Yamen who are familiar with financial planning, and someone also wants to recruit them." Shao Shude said again.
Du Rangneng remained calm, as if he was thinking.
To be honest, the two things Shao Shude requested made him feel a little better.
Especially the first one, to educate the Tibetan people, teach them Chinese customs, and transform the barbarians into summer, really scratched the itch of a traditional scholar-official like him.
When he went to Liquan to stop the Jingyuan rebels, Du Rangneng said to Liu Chonglu, "The prime minister's job is to stabilize the people internally and pacify the barbarians externally."
Regardless of other dynasties, in the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister did need to do this. According to the rules set by Emperor Taizong, the Tibetan people were also the people of the Tang Dynasty, and the prime minister had the responsibility to educate them.
In order to educate the Tibetan people, it was necessary to open prefecture and county schools. He vaguely heard that the prince of Lingwu County had invested a lot of money in prefecture and county Confucian studies. If this money was used to raise the army, it would not be a problem to obtain thousands of elite soldiers.
For a warrior, he would rather raise three thousand soldiers less than educate the world. This is indeed extraordinary.
It is not that other vassals did not invest money in education, but they often did it temporarily and then disappeared. This is not the same as the long-term investment in classics in various states and counties in Shuofang Town.
In troubled times, there is such a warrior!
He was a little confused about the second thing.
"Isn't Prince Lingwu doing business?" Du Ronneng said with a smile: "The old officials in the yamen are really good at settling accounts, but they can only settle accounts."
"What I want is someone who can settle accounts!" Shao Shude said happily: "How can the Sansi Yamen need so many people now? How many grains of Guandong rice come from Weiqiao Granary and Heyun Yuan in a year? What do you do with so many people?
!”
Du Rangneng's face was a bit confused. Isn't this just saying that the imperial court was extremely poor?
But he didn't intend to argue with the warrior holding the knife handle.
"What does Prince Lingwu want so many people to do?" Du Rangneng couldn't help his curiosity and asked.
"Next year, a certain person will open an expo in the four towns of Shuofang, Hexi, Weibei, and Xingning. He will also build a government office called a 'liquidation office.' That's all. It's useless to talk about this. If a certain person only knows one sentence, can Prime Minister Du help me?
"
Du Rangneng made a quick calculation in his mind and asked: "What are the benefits of the imperial court?"
"What benefits does the court want?" Shao Shude asked back: "If you want to defeat Zhu Quanzhong, I am willing to send troops."
Du Rangneng was not led into the ditch by Shao Shude, but stared at him with stern eyes and said: "Actually, what is the Prince of Lingwu doing to help Bei Si? What they can give you is just these houses, dead things are all
How can it compare with the great achievements of Zhongxing Tang Dynasty?"
"Officials of the Northern Division, apart from fighting for power, what else can they do?" Du Rangneng finally caught Shao Shude's weakness, so he launched a fierce attack, only to hear him say: "The only thing the Prince of Lingwu wants is Nan
The government can help. Why not help the saint, kill all the eunuchs, and wipe out the evil atmosphere?"
These people are so persistent! Shao Shude marveled, I'm afraid that you officials may have no idea and bring down the court, unless I do something reckless now.
"How? Whether it succeeds or fails, you will decide with your own words." Du Rangneng continued to lobby.
