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

Yantiesi's behavior was very wrong, but Zhao Jun did not attack them immediately, but gave them another chance.

If he was a murderous founding emperor, or if he rebelled successfully and gained power over the Song Dynasty, then in such a situation, he could naturally act arbitrarily and remove him at will, or even kill at will.

But now that he didn't like the Song Dynasty, he finally ushered in a compromise between the emperor and some scholar-bureaucrats, and was willing to make concessions, so naturally he had to give them a little favor.

In fact, the main reason is that the current situation is different. The founding emperor has a very strong authority. Even if the scholar-official class is killed, the entire scholar-official class can only crawl at his feet.

Now in the early and middle dynasties, the power structure is gradually fixed, and many unspoken rules have been born. It is not easy to break these unspoken rules forcibly, and it may attract the opposition of the entire bureaucratic class.

Although Zhao Jun is not afraid of such a situation, many things must be done on the surface. It would be too ruthless to not give the other party any chance.

This is not very beneficial to a person in power who wants to reform. It will make the lower-level people feel afraid, thus affecting the advancement of reform.

So clear distinction between rewards and punishments is very important.

You must establish an image of an absolutely fair superior, and you can be forgiven if you make a mistake the first time.

But if you are given a chance for the second or even third time, and it remains the same, then you will have a reason to take action, and it will be hard for others to say anything.

To put it simply, you must pay attention to what you say, otherwise you will not be able to convince the public.

After the order was issued, everything was sent back to the Salt and Iron Division. Zhao Jun didn't pay attention. Instead, he ordered people to go to the Duzhi Division, which was in charge of Xia Song, and ordered Xia Song to hand over the data of the Duzhi Division before tomorrow.

At noon, Zhao Jun, who had been busy all morning, left the Constitutional Yuan, went all the way to the Privy Council, and entered the hall. Officials at all levels along the way saluted him when they saw him.

He nodded slightly and walked towards Wang Deyong, the Deputy Privy Envoy. Wang Deyong was a little more respectful, cupped his hands and said, "I've seen the Imperial Academy before!"

"Deputy Ambassador Wang."

General Zhao Jun, who was born as a soldier and served as a privy envoy with military merit like Di Qing, still had great respect for him. He bowed his hand and returned the salute. He looked around and saw no one around, so he said casually: "Xi Xia is provocative all the year round. There may be wars. You Be prepared."

Wang Deyong was stunned at that time and quickly asked: "Zhiyuan, are you planning to send me to the northwest?"

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Let me tell you the truth. There is a lot of noise about Zhao Yuanhao's founding of the country. He himself has informed me of the Song Dynasty many times. This is something that the Song Dynasty cannot tolerate. Once the war starts, it will be Please leave it to the old general."

Wang Deyong was overjoyed and had an excited expression on his face. He just kept clasping his fists and was so excited that he could not speak.

In fact, many people in the Song Dynasty knew that there might be a war in the northwest over the past few years.

As mentioned before, Li Yuanhao made a lot of preparations before the founding of the People's Republic of China, such as notifying the Song Dynasty many times that he wanted to found the People's Republic of China.

He also attacked the surrounding Uyghurs, Tubos, and Qiang, and married into the Liao Kingdom. He also established political and military systems based on the Song Dynasty, created Xixia writing, clothing, rituals and music, promoted Xingzhou to Xingqing Prefecture, established the capital, and so on.

They even continued to provoke, plunder, clear grass and valleys, and send undercover agents on the northwest border of the Song Dynasty to test the Song Dynasty's bottom line step by step and find out the Song Dynasty's attitude.

Under such circumstances, there were voices within the Song Dynasty court that wanted to send troops to Xixia. However, Zhao Zhen and other scholar-bureaucrats were more timid. Until Li Yuanhao discovered that the Song Dynasty was a paper tiger and decided to formally establish the country, they only verbally condemned it. .

This also led Li Yuanhao to feel that the Song Dynasty was weak and could be bullied. Not long after the founding of the country, he launched three battles and defeated the Song Dynasty in succession, establishing his authority in the first battle of the Xixia Empire. He then defeated the Liao Kingdom, and the Three Kingdoms began.

So many people know that the battle with Li Yuanhao is inevitable.

Wang Deyong naturally knew this, so historically he asked Zhao Zhen to go to the northwest to guard the border and guard against Xixia.

It is a pity that in the Song Dynasty, whether the emperor or the scholar-bureaucrats, the defense against warriors was much more severe than the defense against Xixia and Liao Dynasty, so they did not agree to Wang Deyong's request at all.

In the end, the old man died of regret, full of grievance just like Di Qing.

Now that Di Qing has not grown up, although Fan Zhongyan has been appointed as the coach of the Northwest War, there must be a general under the coach, and Wang Deyong is obviously a good general.

Although he tried to make as few promises to others as possible before the matter was decided, he was different from Zhao Zhen. How could he abandon a general?

So since I happened to see the old man today, I would like to mention to him by the way that it is also for Wang De to study the situation in the northwest as soon as possible and find an opportunity to defeat the enemy in the battle with Xixia.

Seeing that the old man was speechless with excitement, Zhao Jun looked around and saw that there was still no one around, so he whispered to him: "The deputy envoy can go to Fan Zhongyan. I plan to let Fan Zhongyan take charge of the northwest next year. You go and partner up. The two of you should first figure out the situation in the northwest before making any calculations."

"Yes, yes, thank you, Zhiyuan."

Wang Deyong's face beamed with excitement. He was like a clay sculpture in the Privy Council. The literati disliked him for being vulgar and were unwilling to deal with him. Now that the newly appointed President of the Constitutional Yuan actually appreciates him so much, he was deeply moved.

The main reason is that the military men of the Song Dynasty were too frustrated. There was Wang Deyong in the front, Di Qing and Yue Fei in the back. The old man fought for his whole life in the first half of his life, and he could have taken over in the second half of his life. However, the emperor and the literati were afraid of his high prestige in the army and did not dare to let him go to the front line. This is really regrettable.

Now that his long-cherished wish seems to have been fulfilled, the old man is naturally excited.

Zhao Jun also reminded: "Don't tell others about this. Zhao Yuanhao has spies in Bianliang. Just know it. Even if you go to find Fan Zhongyan, just tell him that I sent you. He will naturally know and tell you something."

"Yes, yes."

Wang Deyong nodded repeatedly.

"Well."

Zhao Jun bowed and said: "I have some other things to do. The rest is up to the deputy envoy."

"See you back."

The old man's attitude became more respectful.

Although he actually knew in his heart that Zhao Jun's promise might not be fulfilled.

After all, if he was really sent to the northwest, the scholars who were afraid of him in the court would definitely not miss the opportunity, and the impeachment would probably increase day by day.

Just like in the past two years, some people actually said that he had a rebellious look because of his strange appearance, and impeached him for the possibility of rebellion.

He was not surprised by the outrageous and bizarre things that the scholars did to suppress the military.

But having hope is always better than being in despair all year round.

Zhao Jun and Wang Deyong parted ways, walked through the front yard of the Privy Council, and went all the way to the court of Li Zi, the co-director of the Privy Council.

Unlike the chief officials of the Political Affairs Hall and the Political System Council, who all worked in the same hall, they were prime ministers who needed to discuss and hold meetings together, so there was no separate courtyard.

But the Privy Council had greater symbolic significance, no military power, and its main affairs were mainly military logistics, so the chief officials were relatively free.

Otherwise, Li Zi, a co-director of the Privy Council in charge of military affairs, would not have been sent to reform the tea law.

When Zhao Jun stepped into Li Zi's official residence, he was chatting with an official.

Seeing Zhao Jun coming in, the two of them stood up and said, "Minister."

"Yes."

Zhao Jun said, "Prime Minister Li, I came to see you for something."

"You go first."

Li Zi waved his hand, signaling the official to leave first.

The official bowed to Li Zi and Zhao Jun respectively, and then left.

After he left, Li Zi covered his mouth and coughed twice, saying, "Minister, please sit down, come."

The servant came in outside.

"Make tea."

He ordered, and coughed twice again.

In fact, Zhao Jun heard the cough just before entering the door. Seeing Li Zi's pale face, he couldn't help but frowned and said, "Prime Minister Li, how are you?"

"It's an old problem. The emperor asked the imperial physician to see it. It's caused by long-term overwork. I'm afraid he won't live for two years."

Li Zi sighed.

He has been feeling unwell recently, and occasionally even coughs up blood. The doctor has seen him and he has been taking medicine, but it doesn't get better.

Zhao Jun thought for a moment and asked, "Are there any symptoms?"

"Coughing often."

Li Zi covered his mouth and said, "The imperial physician said it was a lung disease."

"Is that so."

Zhao Jun called his attendant and asked him to send a message to the Imperial City Department and bring two amoxicillin pills.

Amoxicillin is not a panacea. If Li Zi had cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, or other non-bacterial infections, there would be no way to treat it.

However, if it was just a lung infection, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, typhoid fever, respiratory tract infection, etc., there would still be hope.

The main reason was that he only brought common medicines, not even aspirin, so there was naturally no way to treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

While people were getting the medicine, Zhao Jun sat on the chair next to Li Zi.

This was Li Zi's official residence, and he couldn't steal the show.

After he sat down, Li Zi asked, "What did the magistrate want to see me about?"

"It's about the tea law and some opinions on the monopoly."

Zhao Jun said, "Now tea and salt are all government-run, but the government is corrupt, and the tea and salt produced are of low quality. People are more willing to buy from private tea and salt merchants, which is extremely unfavorable to the government."

"Yeah."

Li Zi coughed twice again, and then said, "I have discussed this matter with the government, intending to reform the unfavorable situation of government-run tea, and even found a big tea merchant to become a merchant shareholder with him and conspire to cooperate. But my health is getting worse day by day."

The big tea merchant he mentioned was Tian Chang. Originally, Zhao Jun didn't need to say anything about the reform of the government-run tea, and there was already a voice in the court.

For example, Ouyang Xiu wrote a letter last year to talk about the harm of government-run monopoly. Later, after the efforts of some court officials, Zhao Zhen ordered the reform of the government, so he asked Ouyang Xiu to write the "Edict on Trade Tea Law" to lift the tea monopoly and implement trade with an official decree.

Unfortunately, the "Trade Tea Law Edict" harmed the interests of a large number of wealthy merchants, who colluded with some officials to fiercely oppose it. In the end, there were more and more voices of opposition inside and outside the court, and even Ouyang Xiu and Liu Chang, who drafted the Trade Tea Law Edict, submitted memorials separately, proposing that trade has one benefit and five harms, so that the Trade Tea Law was abolished by the court.

As the prime minister of the tea law reform, Li Zi naturally knew the harm of monopoly and wanted to reform it. Unfortunately, his health was not very good. He had agreed with Tian Chang that he would build a state-owned enterprise with him in the future, but because of his poor health, he had not carried out it, which was a pity.

Seeing that he was in poor health, Zhao Jun said with concern: "Prime Minister Li should pay more attention to his health. I have asked someone to bring the medicine. Prime Minister Li will try it later. This medicine has a miraculous effect on some diseases. One or two pills are estimated to be able to cure it, but if it is other diseases, it will not work."

"Hehe."

Li Zi smiled and said, "I am almost 50 years old, and I can take life and death lightly. As long as I can serve the court, it doesn't matter if this old bone dies."

"The body is the capital of the revolution. If Li Xiang wants to make more contributions to the court, he should pay more attention to his body."

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said, "In this way, Li Xiang will not have to attend the morning court every day, nor will he have to come to the Privy Council to report. I will ask the emperor to let Li Xiang rest at home temporarily. If the medicine is useful, I will send someone to deliver the medicine."

He originally wanted to talk to Li Zi about the reform of tea, salt and grain, but now seeing Li Zi's body, he remembered that he died of illness not long after in history, so he temporarily extinguished his thoughts.

After all, the other party is so sick, and it is too unkind to discuss state affairs with others.

No matter what you do, health is the first priority. No matter how much money you make or how well you do things, as long as you are alive, there is hope.

Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Li Zi was not as moved as Wang Deyong. He knew his own body and that he might not live for many years. He was more open-minded and said, "Thank you for your concern, the Minister. The reform of the tea law was originally proposed by the Minister. If the Minister wants to promote it, I can introduce the tea merchant on his behalf."

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Li Xiang will rest at home these days. You can think about the malpractices of tea law, salt law, grain and other monopoly in your spare time. Now the government is rigid and unchangeable, so that various systems harm the interests of the court and the people. I hope to change this situation. I need a capable assistant like Li Xiang."

"I am very happy to be appreciated by the Minister."

Li Zi said a polite remark. He was neither flattering nor disgusted with the Minister of the Political System who suddenly appeared.

The main reason was that many of the things Zhao Jun had proposed before were to his liking.

The tea law and the Jiaozi shop were all tinkered with by Zhao Jun, especially the joint operation with private tea merchants. He felt that the official system had many problems and had always wanted to do it.

Now with Zhao Jun's support, he is much better.

The two chatted for a while, and at this time, the people from the Imperial City Ice Well Service brought the medicine.

Now Zhao Jun's medicine is stored in the ice cave, and one less pill is used. Originally, Zhao Zhen wanted to give Li Zi medicine, but since no one knew what disease Li Zi had, he didn't dare to use the medicine indiscriminately.

Although Zhao Jun is not a doctor, he has become a doctor after long-term illness. He feels that Li Zi's symptoms may be similar to typhoid lung disease, so he will try it first. What if it works?

Li Zi was surprised to see that the two pills had unique shapes and he didn't know what the shell was made of, but it was as thin as a cicada's wing.

Zhao Jun took the medicine and said, "This medicine can treat common lung diseases. Li Xiang has never taken this kind of medicine before, so he should not have drug resistance. Take one pill today and another one tomorrow. If it works quickly and well, but there are still symptoms, take another pill the day after tomorrow."

"Thank you, magistrate."

Li Zi did not refuse. He was really uncomfortable coughing every day, and it was better to have medicine than not.

He immediately took one pill with tea.

I don’t know if it was a psychological effect or if it was effective quickly, but his face actually flushed a little, and he stopped coughing, which surprised him.

Seeing that Li Zi had taken the medicine, Zhao Jun didn’t bother him much, hoping that he would get better soon.

At present, the entire scholar-official class is quite hostile to him. There are very few people like Li Zi who are outstanding in ability and not hostile to him. He doesn’t want no one to help him in the future when he reforms.

He didn’t bother him any more and said goodbye and left.

This chapter was not inspired by my feelings. I was originally going to write it to save Li Zi’s life, and then I was going to reform the tea, salt, iron and grain systems, and I just happened to catch up.

I don’t know Mr. July, but I am full of sadness and regret for his death.

Because writing online articles is like this, I feel the same way when I suffer from diseases of all sizes.

The protagonist in the book carries so many medicines and is so familiar with them. I experienced it myself. Before writing online articles, I was in good health. After writing online articles, I got all kinds of diseases.

After all, I sit in front of the computer every day, I don’t exercise and I don’t dare to go to the hospital. I have to write every day, 360 days a year, and I’m afraid of interruption. It’s unbearable for anyone to exchange my body and youth for money.

The weather has changed again recently. I have been dizzy these two days. I am not in a good condition. The index finger of my right hand is also very painful. I can only say that I hope everyone will pay attention to their health, rest more when they should, and go to the hospital if they feel uncomfortable. As for those of us who write online articles, there is really nothing we can do. I hope God will bless us and have fewer diseases.

I wish you all good health, don’t work too hard, and all the best.