After Zhao Si once again reiterated the confidentiality regulations, he asked everyone to disperse, leaving only Zhang Dun and Xu Jiang.
When there were only three of them in the Chongzheng Hall, Zhao Si said straight to the point.
"Zhang Gong, Xu Gong, and I will go on an expedition for at least half a year, and at most a year and a half, and we will be back. During this period, the first task of the two of you is to support the war on the front line of exterminating Xia. The second is to stabilize the domestic situation."
Zhao Si narrowed his eyes slightly, like a cat seeing a mouse.
"I know that during my expedition, there will definitely be monsters and monsters from all walks of life. Zhang Gong, Xu Gong, just hold on tight. Now everyone has seen the benefits of the New Deal and has more or less got it. So it has become
The general trend, and those who continue to go against the trend are just clowns and cannot become the general trend."
Zhang Dun and General Xu were shocked and responded quickly: "I understand."
"Mr. Zhang, now the implementation of the New Deal has reached a critical moment. There are three important things. One is to continue the tax reform. Measure the land and determine the land tax base; break down the tax types for industrial and commercial production, transactions, etc.; reform salt, tea, wine, and sugar.
Specializing in production under license, different tax systems apply, and business is liberalized..."
"The second is to continue to speed up the construction of straight roads and dredge river transportation; expand the production of steel smelting, cotton, silk, machinery, etc.; speed up the construction and launching of new sea ships, expand overseas commerce, and at the same time establish a navy to combat piracy and smuggling, focusing on supporting the westward
, sea route exploration to the east and southeast..."
"The third is to improve the local government system. The focus is to improve the functions of county-level government agencies so that they can assume administrative responsibilities such as people's livelihood, social security, justice, taxation, etc. Try to establish township-level government agencies and start to implement corresponding
Responsibilities..."
"Prime Minister Zhang, I believe in your determination and ability to implement the New Deal. But we cannot imitate Wang Wencheng, a stubborn Prime Minister, and go all the way. Many New Deal measures have good intentions, but when they are actually implemented at the local level, they fail.
Various unexpected problems will arise. So feedback and timely adjustments are very important..."
After talking about national affairs, Zhao Si said a few words about military construction.
"Xu Gong, the battle to extinguish Xia in the northwest has been rehearsed many times by various ministries. It is commanded by the frontline headquarters and coordinated by the military advisory and other three offices. The key for you here is to keep an eye on the north. I will give you an explanation.
If the most critical situation arises, even if Hedong and Hebei are destroyed, we must persist until the three armies of the northwest have destroyed Xixia."
"Similarly, I have already told Wang Zhen, Wei Baoqing, Xu Chengzhi and Guo Cheng. The Liao army is moving south in a big way, and the main force of our army is not here. We try not to engage in a decisive battle with them in the open field. We will use Jinyang, Zhending, and the three strong cities in Hejian
To prevent
The imperial center formed three major defensive areas to hinder the Liao army's march southward and delay time. This is the reason why I transferred the two best generals, Wang Zhen and Guo Cheng, to Hedong and Hebei."
"In the past three years, half of their time and energy has been spent on building and strengthening city defenses. The difference in strength is too far, and we have to recognize it. So there is no way to just swallow their anger and cower. Wait until we solve Xixia
, the main force is transferred back, and we will settle the accounts with Beiliao."
...
After talking for more than an hour, Zhao Si finally let Zhang Dun and General Xu leave the imperial city.
After leaving Donghua Gate, General Xu got on Zhang Dun's carriage again. The highest civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty gathered together to exchange their opinions.
"Xiang Zhang, the officials personally lead the troops to go on an expedition. I feel very uneasy."
"Alas - you and I both know the temper of the official family, and it is impossible to persuade them to do anything that has been decided." Zhang Dun also just sighed, unable to do anything.
"The military is dangerous and unpredictable. This is one of the things I'm worried about. Secondly, once the official family leaves Beijing, I'm worried that many people will be unable to restrain themselves and jump out. But once there is an overturn, how can you and I report to the official?
Family explanation?"
"Overturn? What overturn? What kind of overturn can happen?" Zhang Dun asked disdainfully, "Empress Dowager Xiang has passed away, and the remaining Empress Dowager Zhu is the official mother. How can it shake the foundation of the country? Since the first year of Tianqi, Dunyu Mountain
When the chaos broke out, the officials took the opportunity to clean up the local aristocratic families and the forces in the DPRK. As he said, the rest are clowns, who can make trouble?"
General Xu glared at him and said, "Zihou, you are so stupid! Once the war in the northwest reaches a stalemate, and the Northern Liao Dynasty takes advantage of the opportunity to move southward, in times of crisis, is there any guarantee that someone will not take the opportunity to cause trouble?"
Zhang Dun's triangular eyes also glared, "So what? Do you think the officials don't have the worst plan? Zeng Baohua and Pan Yi are deployed inside and outside Kaifeng Mansion and Gyeonggi respectively. In addition to guarding safety, they may also protect the people at the most critical moment.
With the queen mother, concubines, civil and military ministers, etc., they retreated to Xi'an."
"You are still a member of the Privy Council. How come you have forgotten the saying that officials often say: 'People survive and land loses, but people and land survive'? Officials are very determined and tenacious. They prepare for the worst in everything and work hard for the best. I'm afraid in his heart,
We have already prepared for the worst, even if those traitors succeed for a while. The officials will lead the main army and march eastward. At worst, another Song Dynasty will be launched."
When Xu Jiang heard this, he couldn't help but sigh.
Guan Jia is really such a person, and he really must be able to make such a determination.
Immediately, General Xu also realized the meaning of Zhang Dun's words: "Mr. Zhang, do you think this move by the officials is to lure the snake out of the hole? To fish out some people who have been hidden in the deepest place after several trials and tribulations?"
Zhang Dun did not admit or deny it, but just reminded him: "In addition, the officials may have another purpose. They want to see the three provinces and one court, the center of the Song Dynasty military state that he personally formulated, before he leaves the capital.
During the days, can we control the situation and maintain the normal operation of state affairs?"
General Xu's expression changed slightly, "Are you saying that the government should delegate power?"
"Yes, delegate power. The officials told me at the beginning that all state affairs should be entrusted to the three provinces and one Yuan, and he would only be responsible for strategy and supervision."
"Is this appropriate?"
"Is it appropriate?" Zhang Dun was noncommittal, "When the officials discussed the new official system with me before, they once said that there is no perfect official system in this world, only the most suitable one. And the two most critical points are to allow smooth feedback.
channels and timely error correction capabilities.”
Xu Jiang knows that the feedback channel is mentioned in various ways in the study meeting. The ability to correct errors is a bit novel and interesting.
"Zhang Xiang, what does this error correction ability mean?"
"Chongyuan, why did the Xining Reform fall short? In addition to the bias in the feedback information, the more important thing is that there is no ability to correct errors. First of all, Wang Xianggong himself is stubborn. Under various obstructions, he regarded error correction as a compromise, so a
The road went dark. Secondly, Emperor Shenzong later personally stepped down and promoted the new law. How could the emperor... be wrong? So the last chance to correct the error was gone."
General Xu understood this, "So the officials learned their lesson and delegated power to the three provinces and one hospital. Once there was feedback on what was wrong with the new policy, they reprimanded a certain department of the three provinces and one hospital, and adjustments were made naturally."
"Isn't that just like this? The New Deal is a new word. It is taking a road that has not been taken by predecessors. It can only ensure that the direction is correct, but every step taken may be wrong. It may go astray and not be corrected in time.
Come here, if you make one mistake after another, all your hard work will be in vain."
After listening to Zhang Dun's words, Xu Jiang was speechless for a long time. In the end, he could only express a thousand words into a few short sentences.
"Since the official came to the throne, I couldn't understand it at first, but later I thought I understood it, but soon I found that I still didn't understand it. I have to mention something tonight, and I seem to understand it a little bit more. But one thing is for sure,
The official family is really taking a road that has never been taken before."
Zhang Dun nodded in admiration.
"Yes. If this road is taken well, our Song Dynasty will be revived and shine on China forever." This chapter has been completed!
