Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Liu Yu was old after all, especially after years of disasters and the conquest of Xixia, and the busy affairs made his body a little bit unable to bear it.

After the conquest of Xixia ended, he began to resign, and it was delayed until autumn.

Now that the national disaster has eased, Liu Yu and Zhao Quan have both retired, and two cabinet ministers have left at once.

The new list of cabinet members is as follows: Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Zhang Tong, Fang Mengqing, Meng Zhao, Chen Dong, Liang Yi.

Only Fang Mengqing is not an "old man" who has followed the dragon, and it seems a bit abrupt to be in the cabinet.

At that time, Zhu Ming personally led his troops to garrison Xiangyang, and Fang Mengqing was the only Song minister who actively trained troops to "suppress Zhu thieves." Who knew that when Li Bao led his army to Huainan, Song Huizong, who was on the way to escape, commanded blindly, and destroyed most of Fang Mengqing's hard-trained army, and continued to flee south without caring about the front-line soldiers.

In a rage, Fang Mengqing betrayed the Song Dynasty and joined the thieves.

As a result, Li Bao rushed to the capital and threw all the captured officers and soldiers to him. Fang Mengqing led these miscellaneous troops and actually captured half of the Huainan area, and thus rose to prominence in the new Ming Dynasty.

This is outrageous!

With the change of the cabinet, Qin Hui was also promoted.

His rank remained unchanged, but he was transferred from the Minister of Works to the Minister of Revenue, and was also given the titles of "special advancement" and "Prince's Guardian".

Mainly because of the large-scale infrastructure construction in recent years, Qin Hui, as the Minister of Works, has accumulated too many large and small political achievements. Even the Yellow River control project, although Qin Hui did not get involved much, he also had a share of the credit.

"Teacher, this is Zhao Kai's masterpiece "Old Crow Picture"." A middle-aged official presented the scroll.

Qin Hui unfolded it and looked at it for a long time, nodded and praised: "Crazy Zhao's painting skills are becoming more and more exquisite and bizarre."

The middle-aged official was Yang Yuan, from Suzhou.

When Qin Hui was the principal of the Imperial College in the former Song Dynasty, Yang Yuan happened to be a student of the Imperial College at that time. At that time, the two had no friendship to speak of, but as Qin Hui rose in the Ming Dynasty, Yang Yuan came to him as a student to curry favor with him.

To be honest, Qin Hui looked down on this guy because Yang Yuan had no ability and even his official documents were written in a cryptic way.

But Yang Yuan was so good at flattering that he flattered Qin Hui to the extreme!

In history, Qin Hui was just tired of this person and sent him to be a local official, but Yang Yuan scared himself to death.

Not only was he incompetent, but he was also as timid as a mouse.

Qin Hui put down Zhao Kai's "Old Crow", sat upright on the chair and asked: "Tell me, what's the matter?"

Yang Yuan sighed and said: "I dare not hide it from my teacher. I returned to Beijing after the mourning period. I went to the Ministry of Personnel yesterday to report. The Ministry of Personnel said that my previous political achievements were not good, and I must stay in Beijing and wait for a vacancy. I wonder if my teacher can help me."

Qin Hui said with a smile: "I am the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, how can I manage the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel? You are really useless. At least you passed the former Song Taixue exam, how can you not even be a small official in the state?"

"It's the subordinates in the yamen who are disobedient and can't be commanded because of the complicated connections." Yang Yuan complained.

Qin Hui sneered: "He was controlled by his subordinates. He is so incompetent!"

Yang Yuan took out ten Ming Dynasty treasure notes again: "I heard that there are many vacancies in Ningxia and Shaanxi during the destruction of Xia. I hope that my teacher will show mercy. I don't expect much. A remote state judge is enough. I don't ask for anything else, just don't wait for vacancies and waste time."

Qin Hui glanced at the treasure notes, which were a full five thousand strings of cash. He thought that the Yang family was indeed a wealthy businessman. A remote state judge was given so much.

The Ming Dynasty was not the former Song Dynasty. Corruption was strictly investigated.

Officials would definitely be greedy, but they were all greedy in secret.

How much money could a state judge in a remote and poor area have? Unless he was greedy to death, it would be difficult to make a profit after serving a full term.

Under normal circumstances, Qin Hui would not accept this money.

But Yang Yuan's situation was special. This guy had enough qualifications to be an official, and he was stuck in the Ministry of Personnel after the mourning period was over. Even if Qin Hui did not take action, it is estimated that he would be able to get the position normally after waiting for a year or two.

It is easy to do favors, and the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel will give face.

What's more, Yang Yuan secretly gave his niece to Qin Hui as a concubine.

Qin Hui put away the treasure banknotes and told him: "After taking office, be more restrained."

Yang Yuan said: "Disciple, save it."

In terms of corruption, Qin Hui was still very confident in Yang Yuan.

How could a cowardly guy dare to be corrupt in the face of the court that strictly investigates corruption?

Let's put it this way, in the past ten years, Yang Yuan has not even recovered the capital through corruption from the many bribes he gave to Qin Hui.

His family is not short of money, and he wants to climb up, he is definitely an official fanatic.

Even when Yang Yuan was able to enter the Imperial College, he was also a self-funded student. Then he bribed Wang Fu's followers and successfully passed the Imperial College exam and got a Jinshi degree. Then he continued to give money and stayed in the Imperial College as a minor official in the school.

He spent all his time with money, but he hadn't even become a state judge for nearly 20 years.

After a few more instructions, Qin Hui sent Yang Yuan away.

As his position became more powerful, Qin Hui became more and more daring. He used to keep all the money he got in a small house he bought secretly, but now he put it directly in the official residence of the Shangshu.

He also bought land and built a mansion in his hometown of Jiangning, waiting to live there after retirement.

He also sent people back to his ancestral home to repair the ancestral tomb and his father's tomb. Anyway, the emperor was far away and nothing could happen.

After putting away the treasure banknotes, Qin Hui watched "Old Crow" again.

He liked Zhao Kai's paintings very much. There was an evil nature in the weirdness and a kind of unorthodox beauty.

Qin Hui spread out paper and ground ink and began to imitate the painting method, but he felt something was wrong and could never paint the flavor of Zhao Kai.

"It's a pity that this person is from the former Song Dynasty royal family, otherwise I would have to invite him for advice." Qin Hui felt very sorry for this.

The next day, Qin Hui called a confidant and asked him to handle the matter.

It's a trivial matter, and Qin Hui doesn't need to come forward or even pay. Just send your cronies to invite the doctor from the Literary and Selection Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to have a meal and listen to some music.

With Yang Yuan's own official qualifications, he can already go to the vacant state judge normally. He just hopes that the officials will not deliberately get stuck.

This kind of thing is not illegal!

Of course, the premise is that the court does not strictly investigate, and once it is strictly investigated, it can be put online.

…

Yang Yuan stayed in the capital and waited, but there was no news after waiting and waiting.

Although the doctor from the Literary and Selection Department of the Ministry of Personnel promised to help, there was indeed no real shortage for a while.

It was not until early winter that the magistrate of Xuan Prefecture was not acclimated to the climate and the climate. He couldn't afford it and asked for leave to recuperate. Yang Yuan was actually replaced as the magistrate of Xuan Prefecture.

Although he didn't know where Xuanzhou was, Yang Yuan was still extremely excited.

He only wanted to be a state judge, but he actually became a state magistrate!

This guy happily ran to the official department to go through the formalities and check Xuanzhou's information. Then he was a little dumbfounded.

Xuanzhou is Zhongwei City. The reason why Zhu Ming changed this name is from Zuanjuan County in the Han Dynasty.

There are only two counties in this state, one is Yingli County adjacent to Guozhou City, and the other is Mingsha County south of Qingtongxia. In both counties, only the areas along the Yellow River are relatively "rich"; the rest are mountainous areas, deserts and grasslands without counties.

No wonder he can be allowed to supplement Zhizhou. This poor place is too small, poor and remote.

It is said that he is a magistrate, but his rank is actually similar to that of a normal magistrate.

Yang Yuanlai pretended to be ill in Luoyang and refused to leave. Qin Hui sent someone to scold him, so he had to set off before it started to snow.

Before he arrived in Lanzhou, the road was blocked by heavy snow. It was not until the snow melted in spring that he continued on his way to his appointment.

Outside Xuanzhou City.

Li Xian, the former governor of the state, asked for a leave because he couldn't afford it. He waited until the snow melted and left by boat, then looked back at the state city with a sneer.

Sooner or later something will happen here, the state judge and the commander are too greedy!

Li Xian was delayed by something on the road and took office a month late last year. After only a few days as an official in Xuanzhou, he felt something was wrong and his money and food accounts were completely inconsistent.

The state magistrate and the commander invited him to drink. Li Xian asked very vaguely, but the other party directly stated the matter.

The commander Pu Quan had no scruples and said with a smile: "I joined the army in Bazhou and served as a soldier under Privy Li (Li Bao). Before the Emperor became emperor, I was already Privy Li's personal soldier. Several I know both the prince and the prince. Who are these people? They are all remnants of Xixia. It would be better to starve them to death! Especially those grazing tribes, even if they all rebel, I can defeat them with these five hundred soldiers. Then we can still make meritorious deeds.”

Li Xian was dumbfounded when he heard this. He deliberately deducted relief food, deliberately deprived the people of food, forced the Xixia farmers and herdsmen to rebel, and then made meritorious deeds to suppress the rebellion!

This operation is really cool. If you don't do it well, you will have to mess it up.

After eating and drinking, Li Xian quietly went to the state judge Yan Shunqing and said: "Pan Yan, aren't you afraid of losing your head in this kind of thing?"

Yan Shunqing said: "When I took office, this account was no longer right. There were five hundred soldiers named Pu stationed here, and he was a personal soldier of Privy Li. Can I still report him to the court? Commander Pu said That's right, they are all remnants of Xixia. If they rebel, they will be killed. When the time comes, we civil servants will also be able to contribute to the fight against the rebellion."

Li Xian fell seriously ill that night and remained ill for two full months. He could not handle any government affairs and could only entrust the state magistrate with full power.

He felt that it would be difficult for him to recover in a short time, so he wrote to the Ningxia Governor's Mansion, claiming that he was not acclimatized to the climate and asked to return to his hometown to recuperate.

He waited until it started snowing before being approved by the court, so he could only continue to recuperate and hope that the snow would melt.

He really couldn't afford to offend Li Bao's personal soldiers, and he didn't want to cause a conflict with the army, so he simply stayed away.

The old governor Li Xian left, and the new governor Yang Yuan came.

When he arrived at the bank of the Yellow River, Yang Yuan was very surprised to find that this place was not as poor as he thought.

Yang Yuan's journey was very hard, and he took half a month's rest before handling government affairs.

It was not until the second month after taking office that Yang Yuan finally discovered that there was something wrong with the accounts.

Well, the account is actually correct, but the amount of money and food in the warehouse is wrong!

Yang Yuan quickly found the state judge Yan Shunqing, and Yan Shunqing brought the commander Pu Quan.

The two of them still said the same thing.

Yang Yuan asked: "If the court investigates, how will you settle the account? Not only did you deduct the disaster relief food, but you also embezzled most of the other funds!"

Pu Quan said with a smile: "Those tribes are rebelling. If we lead troops to suppress them, won't we be able to settle the accounts? Just leave everything to the rebels."

"This...is this too courageous?" Yang Yuan was frightened.

Pu Quan said: "In the past, when we stationed troops in Shaanxi, we didn't dare to do this. But now we are the hometown of Xixia, and there are remnants of Xixia outside, not our Han family. What are we afraid of a group of barbarians?"

Yang Yuan asked: "There are only 500 troops stationed in Xuanzhou. What will happen if those Dangxiang tribes come to attack us?"

Pu Quan said: "We, the Ming Dynasty officers and men, can each weigh one against a hundred. Five hundred garrison troops are more than enough to quell the rebellion."

"Really?" Yang Yuan didn't believe it.

Pu Quan smiled and said: "How can you, a turbaned man, know anything about military affairs?"

Yang Yuan thought about the previous achievements of the Ming army, and subconsciously nodded in belief.

Yan Shunqing took the opportunity and said: "The prefect is the chief official of this land, why don't we do this business together? Not only can we make money, but we can also share the credit of suppressing the rebellion."

Yang Yuan's family is very rich in business, so he doesn't really care how much he can embezzle.

But the phrase "can share the credit for suppressing the rebellion" made Yang Yuan's eyes light up. He had been an official for nearly twenty years, and what he lacked was political achievements and merits. He had to seize this opportunity quickly.

A bunch of Xixia remnants, a bunch of Dangxiang barbarians, just kill them, can the court still blame them?

Yang Yuan drank a glass of white wine to boost his courage, slammed the table and said: "I'll follow you!"