In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

On the afternoon of September 2nd, Zhao Jun went to the palace.

He had been in Song Dynasty for half a year and his eyes had been recovering for three months. He had already realized many things.

The improvement of productivity inevitably requires changes in production relations.

So change is imperative.

From a macro perspective, there has always been only one force that hindered his reform and advancement, and that was the entire scholar-bureaucrat class.

The subsequent Qingli New Deal and Wang Anshi's Reform were brought down by this class.

King Lu Yijian was once the leader of this class at this stage, so he tried every means to introduce him to this class.

But that doesn't mean they are enemies.

Because Sanxiang Sanshen and Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan know Zhao Jun's identity, they have been bound together from another angle.

Zhao Zhen will not allow them to leak Zhao Jun's affairs. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, they must stabilize their rights and interests. Therefore, the current Three Phases and Three References will definitely not be arbitrarily dismissed as they were in history.

In other words, because of Zhao Jun's existence, their position has become more stable.

Unless Zhao Zhen has murderous intentions and wants to kill all the insiders. Otherwise, as long as Zhao Zhen is still the soft-hearted and soft-hearted official, their position in the phase will be as stable as Mount Tai.

This is why they only dare to play small tricks behind his back, but don't dare to really fall out with Zhao Jun.

It's just that these people are representatives of the old forces after all. If he wants to make a difference, he must not be led by their noses. Therefore, Zhao Jun took another way to poach the imperial power from Zhao Zhen.

He came here today just to continue with CPU Zhao Zhen.

At this moment, in the Guanjia Hall of the Houyuan, there are mountains of gold and silver, all kinds of rare treasures, and valuable calligraphy and paintings. The most eye-catching thing is a painting, which is contained in a golden nanmu box and placed in the most conspicuous position. .

Zhao Zhen glanced at these things casually. Zhao Jun kept looking at his face and found that his expression was relatively calm, neither too happy nor too angry.

It seems that the emperor has seen all kinds of precious things, but these may not be able to catch his eyes.

But Zhao Jun said: "These things were found from the homes of those officials in Kaifeng Prefecture. The cash alone is more than one million yuan, not counting land deeds, land deeds, gold, silver, jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings, etc., all kinds of property add up." , I’m afraid it’s no less than four to five million dollars.”

"They are so rich?"

Now Zhao Zhen was shocked. He had grown up in a deep palace and had never seen any money. Therefore, with so many gold and silver jewelry on the table, he had no idea about money and did not know how much these things were worth.

But explaining it in detail surprised him.

Because the national treasury does not have much money now, and the internal funds are only more than one million yuan. Now that the war in the northwest is approaching, in order to hoard food and grass, all the money is misappropriated from Jiaozipu.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Jun stole the property of some corrupt officials in Kaifeng Prefecture and was able to make out four to five million yuan. This was so spectacular to him.

"normal."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Because these people are not only the protectors of underground evil forces such as Wuyoudong and Guifanlou, but they also do business themselves. The Song Dynasty only prohibited officials from doing business themselves. They could let their relatives do it for them. This is only tracing their personal property, not the large number of shares they own.”

Zhao Zhen became interested, pointed to the things on the table and said, "Dasun, how much is this place worth?"

"More than eight hundred thousand guan."

Zhao Jun glanced at Yan Liben's painting and said, "But this painting is not included in it. It should be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Yan Liben was already extremely famous in the Tang Dynasty and was known as the "Apotheosis of Painting". His paintings were very expensive in the Song Dynasty. For example, "Pictures of Emperors of All Dynasties" remained a famous palace painting in the Southern Song Dynasty.

His paintings were the most popular objects for copying in the Song Dynasty. Later, a large number of Yan Liben's original paintings were destroyed in history, and those that survive in later generations are basically Song Dynasty copy copies.

Therefore, Yan Liben's original paintings were not only extremely valuable in later generations, they were also very valuable in the Song Dynasty. Once word spread, I don't know how many people wanted to spend all their money to acquire them.

When Zhao Zhen heard the value, he was dumbfounded and said: "Is this more than one million yuan?"

"more than."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "I plan to organize an official sale and auction off all their land deeds, land deeds and other properties. I think there will be more than two million yuan left."

Zhao Zhen suddenly said sourly: "Dasun, I congratulate you, you will be very rich soon."

"Where is it?"

Zhao Jun waved his hand and said: "Without the support of my ancestors like you, brother, how could I, my descendants, have taken down so many corrupt officials and confiscated so much wealth? These things were prepared for our ancestors first. Go spend it and use it to support the war in the northwest and maintain our old Zhao family!"

"Are these all for me?"

Zhao Zhen was even more shocked.

In fact, Zhao Jun had brought everything to the palace, and he had a vague feeling that he was here to give him things.

But at first, because he didn't know the specific value of these things, he only looked at the jewelry, gold and silver utensils and the like, and thought it was only three to four hundred thousand yuan, so Zhao Zhen didn't take it too seriously.

Little did he know that there were a large number of antiques and valuable calligraphy and paintings inside. If Song Huizong came here, he would definitely recognize the value of these calligraphy and paintings.

But Zhao Zhen was not very interested in calligraphy and painting, so he felt that giving him three to four hundred thousand yuan would be better than nothing in terms of filling the national treasury and internal funds.

But if Zhao Jun gives more than one million guan as a gift, and later auctions off the real estate of those corrupt officials, and can get more than 2 million guan for him, then it will naturally be another matter.

This may add up to more than 3 million yuan, which is close to one-tenth of the current annual fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty. It can be described as a huge sum of money.

"nature."

Zhao Jun said: "I only need more than one million yuan in cash for the development of the Imperial City Division."

"That's great, he is indeed the eldest grandson of the Zhao family!"

Zhao Zhen became happy.

Now that the national treasury is empty, the annual fiscal deficit is as high as two to three million, and the war in the northwest is approaching, this money can be said to solve an urgent need.

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Brother, do you still remember what I said about how the Ming Dynasty perished? Although the taxes in the Song Dynasty could be collected, I don't know how many corrupt officials were fattened in the process. They obviously received high salaries, But he is still not satisfied and wants to reach out to the people. The reason is that my brother is too indulgent to these people."

"Forehead"

Zhao Zhen smiled awkwardly. It was indeed an indisputable fact that he protected those people.

Zhao Jun said: "There are some things I want to say to my brother."

Zhao Zhen was looking at a huge pearl on the table and played with it a few times. When he heard Zhao Jun's words, he stood up and said, "Let's talk as we go."

"good."

Zhao Jun nodded.

The two people walked out of Guanjia Hall.

It is already September, and the several acres of fields outside Guanjia Hall have been harvested long ago, and now they are planted with late rice.

Rice seedlings are floating in the autumn wind, and frogs are jumping between the fields from time to time.

There are towering trees outside the field, with dense branches and leaves that tremble slightly and make a whistling sound.

The two of them walked along the edge of the field toward the east garden, stepping on the green grass. Zhao Jun looked at the field and said, "Brother, do you know what a corrupt official is?"

Zhao Zhen asked: "What is it?"

Zhao Jun pointed to the weeds on the edge of the field and said: "Corrupt officials are like weeds in the field. If they are ignored, they will harm the crops in the field. Only by cleaning up regularly can we maintain political clarity."

"Well, why don't I understand this?"

Zhao Zhen sighed.

Zhao Jun said: "Corrupt officials are very harmful. It does not mean that anyone who embezzles state public funds is a corrupt official. It is a corrupt official who is not greedy enough and takes uncontrolled extortion from all the people."

"Officials need ability, not greed. There were rebellions everywhere in the Song Dynasty, poor governance in various places, and corrupt officials everywhere, which is an important reason."

"I am not saying that we cannot tolerate these corrupt officials. If the Song Dynasty was prosperous and powerful, with an annual fiscal revenue of 4 billion yuan or even 2 billion yuan, these corrupt officials might not end up having their families confiscated, their families exterminated, and their heads cut off in half. The most severe punishment is severe punishment or dismissal.”

"Because the cake of the Song Dynasty is big enough, corrupt officials will not shake the foundation of the country. Every year, those who bully the people are eliminated, and those who deserve to be caught are caught and sentenced, so that the people can trust the government, improve the credibility of the court, and there will be no grievances. ”

"But at this stage, the Song Dynasty's plate is only so big. If these corrupt officials are allowed to run rampant and suck the blood of the people and the court, then only the people and the court will be damaged, and eventually the country will be destroyed."

"Maybe bro, you will think that just improving productivity will be enough."

"Don't forget the production relations that I have always emphasized before. The current production relations do not have a strong central government that can coordinate everything, but everything has to go through civilian officials."

"Civil officials are in control of everything, so any government decree will be exploited layer by layer. Maybe you allocate funds to build a building, and finally build a dilapidated wooden house for you."

"The simplest example is that the first industrial revolution had nothing to do with oil and electricity, but simply coal and iron. Although China is large, the distribution of coal and iron is not evenly distributed. If we want to develop the industrial revolution in the future, we must build canals. Connecting coal and iron ore.”

"Places like Pingdingshan in Henan are rich in coal mines and there are few iron mines nearby. You have to dig rivers to transport mineral resources and concentrate them in a certain city for industrial upgrading, thereby driving the industrial situation of the entire Song Dynasty."

"What if the officials below don't manage things well?"

"It costs money to build rivers, to open up mines, and to transport mineral resources. Such a large amount of money has to go through the hands of local officials. Even if they are not greedy for the central government's money, you still have to attract businessmen from various places to carry out capital operations. to promote industrial development.”

"Those officials who take advantage of others will have serious consequences on the local economy and national affairs. Maybe if a national policy continues, it will become a policy that harms the people, just like Wang Anshi's reform."

"So officials cannot fail to supervise, and officials cannot fail to rectify their governance."

"Lu Yijian and others have become a conservative interest group. Even if they know what the Song Dynasty will become in the future, what does it have to do with them? They are not the emperor, and the country of the Song Dynasty is not theirs. The disaster will be the disaster, and the next one will be harmed. The dynasty continues to serve as an official.”

"But the Song Dynasty belongs to you, brother. If you don't support me, if this continues, there will still be serious land annexation, uprisings and rebellions will continue everywhere, various policies will not be implemented, the Song Dynasty will continue to face internal and external troubles, and the humiliation of Jingkang will not be far away. "

At the end of the speech, Zhao Jun's tone was already quite stern, and he did not forget to apply eye drops to Lu Yijian and others in front of Zhao Zhen, which was touching.

Isn't the shame of Jingkang what Zhao Zhen is most worried about?

He kept irritating him with this matter and alienated him from the civil service group.

As long as Zhao Zhen trusts him in the future instead of those civil servant groups, the future road will be much smoother.

It's not like now, when everything is blocked, and you have to worry about Lu Yijian and others trying to persuade Zhao Zhen to cause trouble for you.

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen was really thoughtful, his face was as dark as water, and he nodded seriously and said: "I know, your grandson has done a good job these days, and I am fully supporting you behind the scenes."

"Brother, you know how to govern the Song Dynasty."

Zhao Jun gave a thumbs up, and then said: "There is a problem. Starting from the late emperor, he has been extremely tolerant of corrupt officials, and even issued an edict saying that as long as those corrupt officials report their crimes themselves, they will not be investigated. This is a bit excessive. Come on, when did being a corrupt official feel proud?"

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said, "Dasun came today, does he want me to take back these edicts?"

"Exactly."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Not only must the edict be withdrawn, but a new decree must be issued. Those who report their crimes can be dealt with lightly. But they must be imprisoned. Those who do not plead guilty will have their homes confiscated and their families destroyed. We must not tolerate it."

Zhao Zhen said in astonishment: "Is this grandson going too far? If this edict is issued, the whole court will be shocked, and they will surely gather together to write a letter."

In order to wrest the power of arrest and trial from the scholar-bureaucrats and hand it over to the Imperial City Division, Zhao Zhen had already been bombarded once by the officials.

That is to say, Zhao Zhen was driven crazy by Zhao Jun, telling him that the imperial power must be strengthened and that the power of arrest and trial could not be taken away by officials. Only then did he resist the pressure and remain tough without changing.

After all, any emperor would never refuse to strengthen his imperial power.

Even if Zhao Zhen is Renzong, he will still strengthen the imperial power and stabilize his own country.

But it is another matter to order an investigation of corrupt officials across the country and no longer give them preferential treatment.

Because it is normal for the emperor to strengthen his imperial power.

But ordering severe punishment for corrupt officials is not strengthening the imperial power, but strengthening supervision of officials.

This will definitely anger all the corrupt officials in the world. If the entire class of scholar-bureaucrats becomes uproar by then, it will be a threat to their own imperial power. So if Zhao Zhen can still withstand the former, then the latter is more Difficult to handle.

Even if no one would admit that they were corrupt officials, there were always plenty of excuses for scholar-officials to deceive the emperor into treating corrupt officials leniently.

For example, "the ancestors taught not to kill scholar-officials", "treat scholar-officials preferentially", "not to kill corrupt officials is to give officials a bottom line and prevent them from jumping over the wall", "Although corrupt officials have no morals, we still have to give scholar-officials a chance" and so on.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen felt that this matter was more difficult to handle.

But Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "In any dynasty, it is immoral to tolerate corrupt officials. Bureaucracy has always been an extremely bad guy. It is not only hateful to the people, but also exploits, squeezes, arrogant, and... Mediocrity is also hateful. This is not only for the sake of the people of the world, but also for the sake of the country. Brother, sometimes you have to make a decision, I believe you can do it!

"Forehead"

Zhao Zhen looked at Zhao Jun's encouragement and was at a loss for words.