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

Zhao Jun and Wang Anshi had a long talk, and not only Wang Anshi gained a lot, but he also did so.

Because after the ideological education, Zhao Jun asked Wang Anshi if he had found any malpractices in the local area and how the state was governed.

Although Wang Anshi was only the governor of a place, the situation in Shezhou did not represent the whole country.

But some things are universal.

For example, the problem of corrupt officials and evil forces, which are often talked about.

There is a saying that goes well.

When you find a cockroach at home, it means that there may be a cockroach nest at home, or even more than one.

Things like fighting corruption and eliminating evil cannot wait until the house is full of cockroaches.

So Zhao Jun is always paying attention.

Wang Anshi reported to Zhao Jun one by one truthfully.

Thanks to Zhao Jun's attention to supervision, with the coordinated supervision of the Imperial City Department, the Censorate, and higher-level departments, the problems of official corruption and abuse of power have improved a lot.

In addition, the imperial court divided the power of local officials and subdivided their duties, so that it is rare to see county magistrates who ruin their families and prefectural governors who wipe out their families.

Although the corruption of various officials has been greatly reduced, grassroots clerks are still a big problem.

The term of office of officials is only three years. After the first year, they must understand the situation of the entire county and the state, and conduct in-depth investigations to find out what is happening in the local area.

The second year begins to implement policies.

When the policy is halfway implemented, they have to pack up and leave in the third year.

This leads to the fact that county and state officials still need to rely on grassroots clerks, making the power of grassroots clerks still very large.

Even if the imperial court pays them wages and opens civil service examinations to give them room for advancement, only a few can pass the exams. Most clerks cannot pass the exams at all, and are not even qualified to take the civil service exams.

Therefore, after the new policy of civil service reform was slightly calmed down at the beginning, grassroots clerks have relapsed in recent years, oppressing the people and accepting bribes.

Especially the county yamen runners, now all under the jurisdiction of the police department, there are many cases of grassroots yamen runners being arrogant and rude, demanding protection fees from vendors, beating and bullying the people.

Wang Anshi found that such a situation was common in all counties in Shezhou, and severely punished many grassroots officials for this, but it could not be completely eliminated.

Zhao Jun felt very constructive when he heard Wang Anshi's words.

In fact, in recent years, there have been some officials who wrote to the court, expressing their hope that the court could change the term of office.

It's just that Zhao Jun used to prevent officials from corruption and abuse of power too strictly, and kept making a fuss about term of office, supervision, and power, which instead restricted the officials' hands and feet too much.

Now that I think about it, I really need to consider and deliberate about loosening the ropes for officials, untying them, and allowing them to display their talents.

However, the improvement of the specific plan still needs to wait until Zhao Jun's grassroots research is finished.

At that time, problems and phenomena from all over the country will be collected, analyzed and studied in a unified manner, and targeted plans will be summarized, so that a new round of new policies can be implemented.

In early March, it was late spring, and the air was full of spring. According to the solar calendar, it was already April, with flowers blooming and the temperature was suitable.

In the midst of the prosperous scene in Bianliang, Zhao Jun's trip was officially put on the agenda.

Compared with the last time when he brought more than a thousand troops and could mobilize the world's wing troops at any time, this time the movement was much smaller, with only more than 300 people.

However, the combat effectiveness was very different.

Because these more than 300 people were fully armed, all of them were the latest type of needle rifles, and pistols were also on their waists.

Because these were the latest weapons and equipment developed last year, even the imperial guards had not been eliminated and replaced on a large scale, so the combat effectiveness of these 300 people was comparable to one or two thousand musketeers without artillery.

As for the cold weapon enemy, it would be useless even if 10,000 people came.

In the early morning of March 6, Zhao Jun went to the palace to say goodbye to Zhao Zhen.

Although he said goodbye once at the meeting in Chongzheng Hall yesterday, Zhao Zhen was still a little worried.

There are only two points in the farewell: one is to go early and come back early, and the other is to pay attention to safety.

Zhao Zhen is now 39 years old and almost 40 years old. She keeps talking like a middle-aged woman, which makes Zhao Jun feel a little annoyed at first, but he still listens patiently to the end, and then leaves with the excuse that it is getting late.

When he returned home later, his wife had packed the clothes to take with her, and when she loaded them on the carriage, she kept talking like Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Jun realized something.

In a trance, he remembered his mother's nagging when he went north to study, and then remembered Zhao Zhen's words, so he couldn't help but fall silent, and there was only touch in his heart.

The gambling books disappeared and the tea fragrance was poured, which was just normal at the time.

When he was 35 years old, he understood why they kept talking.

Only those who really care about you and love you will be so tireless and worry about your safety.

Zhao Zhen, the ancestor of the side branch, cares about him more than his own ancestors.

"Husband, go early and come back early."

Outside the newly built Qingtai Street, at the Zhao family mansion, Cao Miaoxin and her children sent Zhao Jun to the door.

There were a large number of carriages and horses waiting outside.

Jiang Dalang, Huang Sanlang and other personal bodyguards stood on the side of the carriage.

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded, touched Zhao Tan and Zhao Qingyun's heads, and ordered: "Listen to your mother at home, okay?"

"I know, father."

The two of them agreed honestly, even though they were more afraid of their mother than their father.

"I'm leaving."

Zhao Jun said goodbye to Cao Miaoxin, then turned around and got on the carriage.

The mother and her two children stood at the door, watching the large army slowly leave, and did not go back until the carriage disappeared at the corner of the street.

The convoy went west along Xihuamen Street, out of the inner city, and then continued along Liangmen West Street, went out of Luochengmen, and arrived at the outer city.

Then it went north, bypassed the north city, and headed towards the north road.

The reason for taking a detour was that the north Xianfengmen Inner Street was too congested, and his home was also far from Xianfengmen.

In comparison, Luochengmen was much closer, and taking a long detour was not only faster, but also would not disturb people's travel.

Soon the convoy arrived at the road outside the north city gate.

At this moment, there was also a team outside Xianfengmen, but it was not a team in a hurry.

Since the opening of the canal from Huazhou to Bianliang, fewer people have taken the official road, and few people would walk on the sidewalk.

When the team over there saw Zhao Jun's convoy coming, they hurried forward.

Several officials dressed in blue and green, between the fifth and eighth ranks, came forward, and there were even two senior officials wearing light red robes that only the third and fourth ranks could wear.

They walked to Zhao Jun's carriage, and when Zhao Jun got off the carriage, they all bowed and saluted, saying: "Meet the governor."

"Yes."

Zhao Jun got off the carriage, looked around at everyone and said: "This inspection tour has been long and tiring, and I'm afraid you will have to work hard."

"It's not hard to plead for the people and serve the court."

"Even the governor is here in person, and we are accompanying him. It's our blessing, so how can it be hard?"

"This is the duty of a minister and an official."

Everyone said.

Zhao Jun looked at everyone and nodded with satisfaction.

This time, he planned to bring a lot of people with him and take the opportunity to cultivate talents.

It's not about cultivating his own power.

Because even if he didn't cultivate his own power, his power was everywhere in Bianliang.

In terms of military power, all the imperial guards of the Bianliang Imperial City Division were under his command, and he also had the power to dispatch all the imperial guards of Bianliang in an emergency.

All the prime ministers of the Political System Institute listened to his command, and the forces to which the prime ministers belonged also obeyed his orders.

For example, the Lu Party and the Wang Party were under his banner.

It can be said that unless Zhao Jun rebelled, those people would be split, but even if he rebelled, there would probably be a lot of people following him.

To put it bluntly, when Di Qing heard the news that Zhao Jun was going to rebel, he had to struggle again and again, whether to rebel with Zhao Jun or go to Beijing to serve Zhao Zhen.

Therefore, at this time, Zhao Jun was really above everyone else in name, and was almost on par with Zhao Zhen in reality. Sometimes even Zhao Zhen didn't dare to speak loudly to him.

So he didn't need to cultivate power.

What he needed was a group of talents who were easy to use and could provide him with constructive suggestions.

Most of the people he took out this time were future prime ministers. When Fan Zhongyan and others retired or died of old age and illness, there would always be someone to take over for them.

Among the many officials, in addition to Wang Anshi, there is Yang Cha, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who was promoted from the Guangnan West Road Transport Commissioner.

Yang Gao, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who was promoted from the Huainan West Road Shipping Commissioner.

There are also Zhao Yan, the Palace Attendant Censor, Chen Xiliang, the Right Patrol Censor, and Su Huan, the governor of Ezhou, and Li Xiaoji, the governor of Jiangzhou, who were temporarily transferred from the local areas.

At this moment, everyone stood in front of Zhao Jun one by one, serious and serious.

They were all promoted by Zhao Jun himself, because they passed the imperial examination and had different official positions at different times.

For example, Wang Anshi, Su Huan, and Li Xiaoji belonged to the same period. Wang Anshi and his group were in the first year of Kangding, and Li Xiaoji was in the first year of Qingli, one year apart.

Normally, it is impossible for ordinary Jinshi to become a prefect in eight or nine years. At most, they can only be in the position of Tongpan, but they are all the kind of Jinshi with extremely high rankings.

Often the higher the ranking of Jinshi, the faster the promotion speed will be if there is a backer. It takes three years to be a county magistrate, three years to be a judge, and three years to be a prefect. Now it is just the ninth year.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, many senior officials were promoted in this way, including Wang Anshi himself.

Yang Cha, Yang Gao, Zhao Yan, and Chen Xiliang were Jinshi from the Tiansheng year to the first year of Jingyou. They were not too old, but they were also the backbone of the officialdom, and their ranks were between the third and fifth ranks.

For example, Chen Xiliang had the longest seniority. Although he was only 35 years old, the same age as Zhao Jun, his rank was only the fifth-rank Right Patrol Censor. But he was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Tiansheng, passed the imperial examination at the age of 16, and has been in the officialdom for 19 years.

It's just that Chen Xiliang was too upright and was suppressed and could not be promoted. He worked as a county magistrate for 9 years. In history, he was a county magistrate of the seventh or eighth rank for 27 years.

Even Zhao Yan, who passed the imperial examination four years later than him, is currently a fourth-rank imperial censor. It can be seen how difficult it is to get promoted after offending the powerful.

If it weren't for Zhao Jun's appreciation, I'm afraid I don't know how long he would be suppressed.

It can be said that the lowest level here is the governor of a place. With the level and qualifications of Yang Cha and Yang Gao, basically after this tour, they will be the ministers of a certain department.

It is also a safe thing to enter the Political System Council in the next term.

Zhao Yan and Chen Xiliang are almost the next term. Anyway, they are still relatively young, only in their thirties or forties, and there is plenty of time.

As for Liu Yong and Bao Zheng, Liu Yong is too old. It is estimated that he will be the limit to be a transport envoy or transferred to the central government to be a minister or minister of a certain department in the future, and it is unlikely that he will be admitted to the court.

Bao Zheng would have to sit in Kaifeng Prefecture and wait for the next re-election. He would just take advantage of the situation and include the Kaifeng Prefecture in the nomination list, and he would naturally be able to enter the Constitutional Yuan in the future.

Zhao Jun exchanged a few words with everyone, and when he saw that it was already late morning, he planned to set off.

At this moment, another motorcade slowly came through Xianfeng Gate.

The motorcade was carrying the signs of Fan Zhongyan and Yan Shu. Zhao Jun's escort did not stop them and went straight to the side.

Immediately after the two got off the carriage, Yan Shu complained: "Bianliang is too congested now. The main street in Xianfengmen alone was blocked for two quarters of an hour. I was thinking about meeting Hanlong on the way, but you didn't." Arrived first."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Uncle Lari, you have no experience in traffic jams. When I was in Beijing, I saw with my own eyes that the Third Ring Road could be jammed for a whole day, and walking was faster than driving."

"Then how did you get here?"

"It's very simple. Just take a detour. Coming out from Luocheng Gate is better than Xianfeng Gate."

"You're still smart."

Yan Shu gave a thumbs up.

Zhao Jun said: "Didn't I let you deliver it? Why are you here again? Did the officials give me any instructions?"

"It's time to send it off. Otherwise, if the magistrate leaves the capital and the officials don't send it off, and the prime minister doesn't send it off, wouldn't it be disrespectful?"

Yan Shu smiled.

Zhao Jun rolled his eyes and said, "I still want to leave Beijing in a low-key manner. You are making such a big fanfare, aren't you afraid of exposing my whereabouts?"

"Forget it, even if you leave Beijing in a low-key manner now, in a few days word will spread that you will not attend the morning court. Even if the newspapers dare not publicize it, the officials will soon know about it."

Fan Zhongyan said: "As the Supreme Court, countless people are watching your every word and deed. This kind of thing cannot be hidden."

"That's true."

Zhao Jun nodded.

The last time he left the capital, he was not exposed until Huainan. That was because officials around the world knew too little about him at that time and did not pay much attention to him.

It's different now. His reputation has spread far and wide, and everyone in the world knows it. With so many pairs of eyes staring at him every day, it's almost impossible to hide his traces.

It is impossible to say that even if he leaves Beijing in a low-key manner, the news has actually spread all over the world, and it is difficult for things like private visits in private to happen.

"You don't know how long this trip will take, so come back early."

Yan Shu added: "Now the court still has many things for you to deal with. For example, over in Nanyang, an urgent official document was delivered in the morning, saying that a lot of exploration there has been done, and it was found that many of them are primitive tribes that drink blood from raw materials. Ask us what to do.”

"What can you do? Immigrate, assimilate, and spread my Han thoughts. You all know how to deal with these things. Why do you have to wait for me?"

Zhao Jun said helplessly.

Fan Zhongyan smiled and said, "I need you to nod after all."

"Okay, I won't tell you any more. It's really getting late and we have to set off."

Zhao Jun turned his head and waved his hand.

"Well, then we'll send him off not far away. Let's go early and come back early."

"knew."

"Hanlong."

Fan Zhongyan said suddenly.

"Um?"

Zhao Jun was about to board the carriage, but when he heard what he said, he turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Kill less."

Fan Zhongyan said: "Sometimes I feel terrified when I see the people you kill in China."

"Hahahahaha."

Zhao Jun laughed and said, "It depends on what the other party has committed. Okay, let's go."

He waved his hand, gave them a cool look on his back, and boarded the carriage.

The motorcade drove slowly and entered the official road one after another.

Fan Zhongyan and Yan Shu both stood with their hands behind their backs and watched Zhao Jun leave.

Yan Shu sighed: "Do you think he will listen?"

"Hanlong is good at everything, but he hates evil too much."

Fan Zhongyan also sighed.

Even as a radical, he feels that conservatives are too radical.

"Okay, let the officials around the world have a headache."

Yan Shu brushed his sleeves and said, "If it really falls into Han Long's hands, they asked for it themselves."

"Well, let's go."

Fan Zhongyan nodded.

Zhao Jun treats corrupt officials without mercy, but he never kills innocent people indiscriminately.

At this point, he is still worthy of trust.