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

"Your Majesty, please see the Imperial Academy."

After Wang Shougui came in, he saluted Zhao Jun respectfully.

The room was still very cool, and the gentle summer wind blew, making Zhao Jun feel in a pretty good mood.

He sat on the chair, smiled and said to Wang Shougui: "Without courtesy, sit down."

"Xie Zhiyuan."

Wang Shougui sat on the chair next to him.

Zhao Jun looked up and down and said, "Wang Shougui, I haven't seen you for a long time. I almost didn't recognize you."

Wang Shougui also smiled and said: "Thanks to the Zhiyuan's concern, the last time we met was in Bianliang. My brother and I went to the Zhiyuan's residence to congratulate the Zhiyuan for getting a daughter."

"That'll be five years."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "It seems that you have done well, and you are now a supervisor of Youyan Road."

"It's all about the trust of the officials and the love of the magistrates."

Wang Shougui said respectfully.

"You, like your brother, know how to pick up some nice things to say to me and the officials."

Zhao Jun smiled, and then asked: "Do you know why I called you in first?"

Wang Shougui said honestly: "I don't know what I am doing."

"This is because of your brother's relationship. I regard you as one of my own, and I still trust you."

Zhao Jun said: "Secondly, I also know your job. Now that you have taken up a local position, I need to know more about Youyan's current situation."

Historically, the father of Wang Shao, the deputy privy envoy who conquered Xixia during the Song Shenzong period, was named Wang Shougui, but that Wang Shougui and this Wang Shougui were not the same person.

From the name of Wang Shougui, you will know that he is Wang Shouzhong's younger brother, and like Wang Shouzhong, he is also a eunuch.

During the Ming Dynasty, there was a fire in the palace. The eunuch Wang Shougui was just a small Huangmen. After discovering the fire, he rushed to Zhao Zhen's palace, broke the iron lock, and rescued Zhao Zhen with a wet quilt.

Wang Shougui made a contribution to the rescue, and was trusted and appreciated by Zhao Zhen. He was gradually promoted from Xiaohuangmen to the head of the inner palace and the Xuanqing envoy. He also participated in the management of floods in the Bianhe River.

Zhao Jun knew that the Wang brothers were cautious people. After all, they were eunuchs in the palace. If they were not careful, they would have died long ago.

So after arriving in Youyan, he was the first to summon Wang Shougui and ask him to find out about the current local situation in Youyan.

Wang Shougui said cautiously: "When asked by the magistrate, Xiaguan naturally told me everything he knew. It's just that Xiaguan was transferred at the beginning of this year and has only been in office for two or three months. The place is still not very clear."

"Well, I also know that as a local supervisor, you mainly supervise the army. Local matters are not within your jurisdiction. It is normal to not understand them."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "But Cui Yi is the pacifier and is in charge of the military. You have a direct relationship with him. Now there is a censor impeaching him for corruption and perverting the law. As the chief military officer of Youyan Road, he has great influence and needs to be cautious. . It’s impossible to say what the censor said. Although the censor has provided some evidence, you still have to be careful, so I come to you first to ask, what do you think about Cui Yi? "

Wang Shougui thought for a while and said seriously: "Returning to the Zhiyuan, to be honest, after Xiaguan arrived in Youzhou, he didn't hear Cui Shuaisi's reputation. Maybe he hid it well, but Liu Hao, the observer, once said something about Xiaguan "

"Oh? What kind of insinuating method?"

Zhao Jun frowned.

"I didn't say it clearly. I just asked the official in a joking way during the banquet. He had just arrived in Youyan. He had not bought any property yet and had no servants to serve him. If he needed his help to buy some real estate and buy some servants."

Wang Shougui said: "The magistrate also knows that this official is a eunuch and has no need for these extraneous things. Your Majesty's reward is generous, so he declined it politely."

"Observer?"

Zhao Jun frowned and said: "The observation envoy was one of the three envoys in the Tang Dynasty. Now it has been changed to a false one. He has set up an observation case for the pacification department, which can be regarded as an assistant officer to pacify the envoy. This method of insinuation is also a common gift-giving test in the officialdom. Once accepted, If you do, you will give money and treasure later.”

As he spoke, he nodded slightly and said: "No matter what happens to Cui Yi, there is probably something wrong with Liu Hao. However, I can detain Cui Yi first because the whistleblower has certain solid evidence. This Liu Hao is just what you said about him. The insinuations against you are all vague and there is no substantial evidence, but they cannot be arrested directly. Forget it, go back first, get my warrant, and ask all the generals and generals in the army to stay in the government office. No one is allowed to enter without my order. Camp, no troops are allowed to move."

"yes."

Wang Shougui agreed. He was the supervisor of the army and had no military power, but Zhao Jun's order was a ban.

Now, if the Song Dynasty's army has less than 5,000 troops, generals can mobilize troops privately, but if there are more than 5,000 troops, the court must send someone to serve as the chief general.

At present, the general of Youyan Road is nominally the pacifier Cui Yi, but he cannot mobilize all the troops. Only when the enemy suddenly attacks and the court does not send commanders of the level of Fan Zhongyan or Zhang Kang, he can mobilize some troops. The horse defends.

Therefore, after Cui Yi is controlled, the entire Youyan Road army will be controlled, and Zhao Jun will be able to do whatever he wants on Youyan Road without any scruples.

Then Zhao Jun wrote down the order and asked Wang Shougui to go out and summon the generals to implement it.

After Wang Shougui took the warrant and went out, Zhao Jun asked Jiang Dalang to call Tang Jie in - this time he was the informant.

After a while, Tang Jie walked in, cupped his hands to Zhao Jun and said, "Zhiyuan."

"Um."

Zhao Jun looked up and down the censor, who had just turned 40 years old. Seeing that his eyes were firm and his face was upright, he nodded slightly and said: "Censor Tang, please sit down."

"Xie Zhiyuan."

Tang Jie sat on the chair next to him.

Zhao Jun asked: "The court has handed over the confession and account book you submitted to me. Do you know that there are other people involved in the case besides Cui Yi? Especially the generals."

This is the top priority. If the generals at the border are involved, it means that corruption has begun to occur in the army again. It is okay on a small scale, but it is uncomfortable on a large scale.

Although the Liao Kingdom basically has no ability to go south again, the army is the cornerstone of national strength. Zhao Jun has only been rectifying the army for a few years and there is another major corruption case. Doesn't it mean that the governance has gone wrong, leading to the rapid corruption of the army?

Tang Jie replied: "As far as I know, it may involve Liu Hao, the governor of Danzhou, Wu Wei, the military commander of Beiping Prefecture, Lu Ji, the manager of the treasury of Beiping Prefecture, and several trusted subordinates of Cui Yi."

"It seems that there are not many people involved."

Zhao Jun breathed a sigh of relief and said: "At least only one military commander of Danzhou is involved in the army."

Think so.

Cui Yi was transferred here at the beginning of last year, and he has only worked for a year and a half, and he is not the only one in charge of Youyan Road.

The rest of the transport envoys, the Changping envoys, the judicial department, and the censor department are all at the same level as him.

First, he cannot interfere in local government affairs, criminal law, storage, and supervision.

Second, his status is only higher than that of Yang Ting, Wang Si, Zhou Hang, and Tang Jie in name, but in fact, there is no superior-subordinate relationship between the two parties, and he cannot command them.

It would be strange if Cui Yi led to the corruption of officials in the entire Youyan Road as soon as he came.

Zhao Jun is only worried that since Cui Yi is the military chief of Youyan Road, he is afraid that he will lead many military generals astray and cause the army to quickly degenerate and corrupt.

At that time, the army will be purged on a large scale, and the unrest in the army will cause unrest in the country.

"This is just what I have investigated. There may be some that I have not investigated. To be honest, the court will arrest Cui Yi as soon as it enters Youyan Road."

Tang Jie hesitated.

Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Why, do you think I'm too reckless and afraid of alerting them and causing them to destroy the evidence in a panic?"

"Yes."

Tang Jie nodded.

Zhao Jun said, "This is because you and I are considering different issues. Have you ever thought about what would happen if I went to Youyan to conduct a secret investigation and Cui Yi and others found out? What if they were desperate and joined forces with some of their followers in the army to plot a rebellion?"

"This"

Tang Jie was speechless for a moment, and then realized that he had thought too simply about the problem.

After all, Cui Yi was the chief officer of the army. Although he could only control part of the army in Youyan Road, he was involved in corruption, which was likely to be corruption within his authority, and he might have colluded with some generals.

If Zhao Jun did not take the initiative to capture Cui Yi, and then immediately order the army to behave themselves and deprive the generals of their military power, once something went wrong, the consequences might be disastrous.

So Tang Jie wanted to take action against Cui Yi, which would scare his subordinates. If the evidence was destroyed, it would be difficult to arrest him.

But Zhao Jun wanted to maintain stability.

Regardless of whether it would alert the enemy, he would control the people and stabilize the army.

This is because the positions are different, and the issues considered are also different.

"It is my fault for not considering it carefully."

Tang Jie stood up and bowed his hands to admit his mistake, saying: "Please punish me."

"What is there to punish for such a small matter?"

Zhao Jun smiled and then said: "But this matter involves a senior official after all. The pacification envoy is a road-level official. Under normal circumstances, you report to the court, and the court should send officials from the Censorate to investigate. Now the Constitutional Court has handed the problem to me, but I don't have so much time and energy to take care of this matter, so I will not participate in the subsequent investigation. At that time, I will let someone take the lead, and you and Wang Si can assist in the investigation. I just want the result, do you understand?"

"Yes."

Tang Jie agreed.

"Go."

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

The Political System Institute probably saw that Zhao Jun happened to be in Youzhou, so they were too lazy to send anyone over and let Zhao Jun handle it.

After all, Zhao Jun did not come alone. In addition to the entourage guards, there were also capable assistants such as Yang Gao, Yang Cha, and Wang Anshi. They were originally from Xingming and Yushi officials, so investigating such a case was a piece of cake.

After Tang Jie left, Zhao Jun asked someone to call Yang Gao and Yang Cha. They were both assistant ministers of the first-level institutions, and their ranks were both third-rank. They were definitely qualified to investigate the fourth-rank road-level officials.

After arranging the tasks, they began to summon Yang Ting, Wang Si, Zhou Hang, Wei Guan and others.

Several people entered the hall a little nervously. Although they had no evil intentions, Zhao Jun's majesty still made them feel scared.

This hall of speech was too exaggerated.

A road appeasement envoy directly controlled the detention. How could the prime ministers in the past have this ability?

"Your subordinates, please see the Zhiyuan."

After the four people came in, they saluted Zhao Jun first.

Zhao Jun nodded slightly, pressed his hands down and said, "Well, sit down, no need to be polite."

Everyone sat down.

Then Zhao Jun said, "This is my second tour of the country. I am following the order of the government to investigate the people's sentiments and find out the gaps. Do you know why the first stop is Youyan?"

"Uh"

Everyone looked at each other, and Yang Ting said, "Because the people of Youzhou are newly annexed and the people's hearts are unstable?"

"That's right."

Zhao Jun nodded approvingly and said, "The Central Plains has lost Youyan for a hundred years, and the people's hearts have long been scattered. Although the Han people in Youyan may not be loyal to the Liao people now, they are still wary of our Song Dynasty."

"Yes."

Yang Tian sighed: "It seems that Youzhou has returned, but many people are against us. For this reason, the court has to use some surrendered local families to help us maintain order."

Zhao Jun asked: "How are the children of these aristocratic families arranged now? How do they usually help the court run the functions of local officials?"

Wei Guan replied: "Back in the magistrate's court, most of them hold deputy positions in local county governments, such as county magistrates, state officials, judges, regiment training, defense, etc. They assist county and state governments, help gather people, and cultivate fields and water canals."

"How's the effect?"

"It's not ideal. Many of them are violators. They are flattering on the surface, but secretly inciting the people not to cooperate with the government. If Fan Xiang had not captured many Liao people, Nvzhi, Mongolian, and Bohai captives at the beginning and used them as laborers, I am afraid that the ghosts would have The infrastructure construction of Yan Road will not go very smoothly. ”

"Not expected."

Zhao Jun nodded slightly.

Now regarding the situation in Youzhou, the Song Dynasty let the local aristocratic families and the Song Dynasty government co-govern.

Among them, the main local official positions were dispatched by the Song Dynasty court, such as the chief officials of roads, states, and counties, and then to the assistant officers or middle and lower-level officials at the state and county level for members of local aristocratic families.

For example, the Liu family, the Liu Liufu family, who was the first to surrender anyway, received good treatment.

The six brothers of the Liu family, except Liu Yide who died young, Liu Sangu, who defected to the Song Dynasty, and Liu Liufu, who served as prime minister in the Liao Kingdom, were all transferred to the mainland officials of the Song Dynasty. The remaining Liu Erxuan, Liu Siduan, and Liu Wuchang served locally. .

Moreover, their descendants were also promoted to middle and lower-level officials.

Although the prime minister's family in the Liao Dynasty became an ordinary family after the Song Dynasty, and currently only Liu Liufu and Liu Sangu serve as mid-level and upper-level officials, it is considered to be able to continue family politics after another day. Not bad.

What's more, officials sent by the Song Dynasty could not directly intervene in local governance. They needed to co-govern with them to implement the decree.

Therefore, to a certain extent, these aristocratic families are of low rank but high power.

So how can we keep the power in our hands?

Two ways.

The first is to climb to the center of the Song Dynasty as soon as possible and climb to a higher position to continue the family's influence.

But this is obviously not a goal that can be achieved in a short time.

As an official who surrendered to an enemy country, even if they have been high-ranking officials before, the high-ranking officials in the Song Dynasty are just like a carrot. How could you be suddenly asked to take the position?

Either you start as a middle-level official, or you are given a high-ranking official position that is false. Otherwise, it is definitely unrealistic to maintain your own power.

The second is to use the power and influence they once had over the Han people in Youyan to make the Song Dynasty court realize their importance and continue to rely on them to govern Youyan.

If all the Han people in Youyan were obedient and the officials sent by the Song Dynasty could easily control them, then these children of aristocratic families would naturally lose their use value and would soon be politically marginalized.

Therefore, in order to maintain the power in their hands, they will inevitably choose to cooperate with the imperial court on the surface, but secretly hinder them.

"Youyan's situation is quite special. Just like the Jin Dynasty, scholar-bureaucrats and Liao people rule the world together. Their aristocratic families have great influence and appeal in the local area."

Zhao Jun looked around at the crowd and said: "The Han people in Youyan are also worried that the court will be unfavorable to them, so they instinctively trust those aristocratic families. But Youyan has been a Han country since ancient times, so how can the court allow two voices to appear in the place?"

"Isn't it possible that Zhiyuan wants to eradicate the Youyan family?"

Yang Tian and the other four people were shocked. Zhou Han was the first to say in alarm: "It is absolutely forbidden to do this in the Imperial Academy. This will cause panic among the people and may lead to a civil uprising."

"This is a last resort."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Using brute force is certainly effective. Kill them all. Even if there is a civil uprising, kill them all. After a few decades, let the matter pass and slowly subside. You Yan will naturally integrate back to his homeland, but not It won’t be like this as a last resort.”

"That"

Everyone was puzzled, and Wang Si asked: "What is the plan of Zhiyuan?"

Zhao Jun muttered: "This matter still needs to be slowed down, but it is not that difficult to do. It can be divided into parts."

He said with a smile: "Those who are willing to cooperate can help, and those who are not willing can do it easily. Our Song Dynasty is short of officials now. They are helpful to the court in regaining Yanyun. It is reasonable and reasonable for the court to grant them official positions. Just transfer them all." "

The aristocratic family can control the local area through influence, which is the prestige they have accumulated in the local area for hundreds of years. If they were moved away, this reputation would suddenly become meaningless.

Just like the Qing Dynasty's large-scale civil war, local chieftains were removed from their posts and sent to other places for resettlement, leaving ethnic minorities without their backbone.

Now this situation can also apply.

In the beginning, the imperial court needed these aristocratic families to appease local people.

Now that two or three years have passed and people's hearts have slowly stabilized, then they can use various excuses to transfer local aristocratic families away to weaken their influence, and then the aristocratic families can be transferred back to official positions, and governance will naturally go smoothly.

"Chiyuan Hideaki!"

"What a great idea!"

"Our administration has been repeatedly hampered by local aristocratic families. It would be much easier if we sent them away."

When everyone heard this, they suddenly became excited.

This divide and rule is originally a traditional craft of the Han people. The most typical example is the Southern Xiongnu. Later, the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Eastern Turks and retained the Tuli Khan part.

So Zhao Jun understood as soon as he heard them. He had even thought about this problem before, but they just didn't have the power to do so.

Now the court finally intends to take action against the local noble families, which naturally makes them feel happy.

After all, as local officials, they are essentially frontier officials. Although there is a court above them, the court will not control them every day.

Now they have to co-govern with local noble families, and they must feel uncomfortable.

"Well, but I'm new to Youyan and I don't know much about the local area. You should sort out all the local conditions, including the noble family information. I will inspect in Zhuozhou first and hand it over when I arrive in Beiping Prefecture."

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison, with high morale.