Prime Minister

Chapter 1237: Strong Prime Minister

Chapter 1237: Strong Prime Minister

In the Jiying Hall, Zhang Yue and the emperor had a tug of war with each other.

Those in power all have their own ways of judging people, and one of them is to ask them what they think of others.

In this world, when you evaluate yourself, it is usually not yourself, because there are few people who know themselves; when others evaluate you, it is not yourself either, because it is not easy to know people; but when you evaluate others, it is often yourself.

What kind of person you are is often determined by how others evaluate others, especially those who have conflicts with you.

Zhang Dun was a man of high character, and even more arrogant after becoming prime minister. He always wore Taoist robes when meeting officials in his private residence, which made the officials very dissatisfied with him. He treated officials in the same way. If a word he said did not suit his taste, he would yell at them and never show them any mercy.

It is certainly no problem for him to be an official, as he can be quite efficient, but it is not good to be a prime minister, as his personality can easily offend people and he cannot unite the majority of people in the officialdom.

Zhang Dun has a clear distinction between love and hate, and is full of charm, which is the standard configuration of the male protagonist in online novels. However, his suppression of Yuanyou officials in history was indeed excessive.

As a leader, the ability to unite people is very important. People above you don't like to see you suppress others wantonly and destroy the unity of the court.

The official thought that what Zhang Yue said was correct.

Zhang Yue and Feng Jing argued fiercely in the court, but in private, Zhang Yue was very respectful to Feng Jing. Sometimes, the two of them argued so much in the court that they became "red and warm". After the court, Zhang Yue would take the initiative to find Feng Jing and apologize, saying that Mr. Feng had really offended him today and his words were really impulsive.

Feng Jing would also say, you and I are purely for national affairs.

The government knew about this, and so did the people in the court.

It was the same with Feng Jing and Wang Anshi. It was Feng Jing who took the initiative to lower his status. When Wang Anshi fell ill, Feng Jing visited him several times.

Zhang Yue was also able to appoint officials who were not in line with his own ideas, such as Lu Huiqing, Sun Lu, Fan Yu, etc. The officials knew all of this.

The emperor said, "Let Zhang Dun be the governor of Dingzhou and concurrently the pacification commissioner of Dingzhou Road!"

Dingzhou Road is one of the four pacification routes in Hebei, and it is also the front line facing the Liao Kingdom. According to Zhang Yue, Zhang Dun can be competent for the task of pacification, but cannot be the prime minister, and he does listen to his words.

There is always discussion and negotiation between the ruler and his subjects.

In history, the officials became increasingly stubborn and self-willed in the middle and late Yuanfeng period. Even the two prime ministers, Wang Gui and Cai Que, fined them copper coins for minor mistakes. Every time they were punished, they went to the palace gate to apologize.

It was extremely shameful for the prime minister to receive a fine and go to the palace to apologize.

When Wang Anshi was a minor official, he refused to do so, but Wang Gui and Cai Que did.

But it is also reasonable. In the fifth year of Yuanfeng, Wang Gui and Cai Que did not allow Sima Guang and others to return to the court in order to consolidate their positions, and finally launched the Battle of Yongle City. It is reasonable for the emperor to hate them for this.

On the contrary, Zhang Yue won victories in Lanzhou and Liangzhou.

Regardless of whether the phase is as stable as Mount Tai, people generally tend to become tolerant when things are going well, and allow others to offend them a little.

When faced with adversity, people become suspicious and sensitive, and get angry over the slightest thing.

This is not just true for humans, it is also true for any organization or country.

But Zhang Yue was still unhappy. You knew I didn’t like Zhang Dun, but you still dared to mention it to me. I must teach the emperor a lesson.

Getting angry at the emperor also requires skill and discretion.

Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, I have been sitting here for years without doing anything. I have always wanted to leave and avoid the path of wise men..."

The official felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. What does it mean to be in office and do nothing?

Zhang Yue is just a figurehead, not to mention the military victories and territorial expansion.

From salt notes, beji cloth, and Jiaoyin, which one was not strongly advocated by Zhang Yue and promoted in the territory of the Song Dynasty? It's just that everyone is used to his convenience in business, which is not so obvious compared to his obvious achievements in military affairs.

After the amendment of the exemption law, everyone from top to bottom praised it and many old party officials changed their views. They no longer criticized the new law.

The official said: "Later generations said of Kong Ming, 'When Ge Gong was alive, no one thought he was extraordinary. After him, no one has ever seen anyone like him.'"

"Your hard work and contributions are no less than Kong Ming's in supporting the Han Dynasty. Why do you say this?"

Zhang Yue thought, Your Majesty, it's good that you know. Zhang Yue continued, "Your Majesty, I have two things to say. The market exchange law allowed the court to earn 9 million yuan in interest on 15 million yuan of capital, but the loss was 7.8 million yuan, causing tens of thousands of merchants to go bankrupt. This was a major malpractice of the Xining period, and it has not been abolished to this day."

"In addition, I want to impeach Wu Juhou."

"Wu Juhou has implemented iron rule in Jingdong. He is actually a corrupt official. His rampage to this day is closely related to your Majesty's indulgence in seeking wealth."

The emperor felt embarrassed because Wu Juhou was his favorite minister.

Wu Juhou performed well when Zhang Dun opened Meishan Mountain and distributed idle land to the newly attached Meishan mountain people, and was recommended by Zhang Dun. Opening Meishan Mountain was a highlight of Zhang Dun's career and also an achievement of the Xining New Deal. Although it was not as good as Zhang Yue's opening of Xihe River, it was also remarkable.

Wu Juhou was therefore promoted to the position of Palace Minister.

Later, when Wu Juhou was the local magistrate, he revised and upgraded the details of the service law and was promoted to the chief clerk of the Sinong Temple.

The emperor personally summoned Wu Juhou for an interview and gave him red clothes and silver fish.

Every time Wu Juhou was promoted, it was because of his contributions to the promotion of new laws.

In the third year of Yuanfeng, Wu Juhou was appointed as the magistrate of Jingdong Transportation, and carried out a pilot reform under the instruction of the government.

First of all, there is the Salt Law. The government bought salt directly from the salt farmers and then sold it to merchants to make a profit. To put it bluntly, the government lowered the purchase price of the salt farmers and then raised the price sold to the merchants to make a profit from the difference, which was called salt interest.

Wu Juhou earned 240,000 yuan in salt interest every year.

The government initially did not believe that Wu Juhou could earn so much money, but later on, when they saw that it was true, they began to believe it and even planned to implement a salt monopoly in Hebei as well. However, the plan was abandoned due to Zhang Yue's opposition.

Wu Juhou saw huge profits from the salt monopoly, and then ordered the government to monopolize the iron trade and the people's farm tools.

The farm tools they sold seemed to force farmers to buy one for every four people and two for every five people.

Wu Juhou also promoted the horse protection law by exempting people from taxes, which was also extremely disturbing to the people.

What Wu Juhou did in Jingdong caused great resentment among the people. Even Zhang Dun, Cai Dao and Shen Kuo, who were members of the New Party, criticized Wu Juhou's actions, saying that the people of Jingdong wanted to eat his flesh.

As Wu Juhou's sponsor, Zhang Dun could no longer stand it and said clearly, "The iron horses in Jingdong and the tea and salt in Fujian will be in trouble if they don't change one day."

Due to the great public outrage, Wu Juhou was historically honored as the first local official to be demoted by the New Party.

Wu Juhou was impeached but rose to high office because he was protected by the government. The reason for the protection was that Wu Juhou could make money.

In order to avenge the shame of the Battle of Yongle City, the emperors in history recruited more corrupt officials like Wu Juhou and Wang Zijing in the later period.

The so-called corrupt officials all had the same ideas as the Xining Reforms. They inherited the trend of expanding the court's finances, established state monopolies on salt, iron, tea, etc., and increased fiscal revenue.

In the process of monopoly, local governments have added layers of restrictions, and even expanded the scope of the original official monopoly from salt, iron, tea, etc. For example, under the market exchange law, if the vendors do not borrow money from the market exchange department, you cannot set up a stall in the capital, otherwise you will be kicked out.

The behavior of government-run censorship was extended to all walks of life. Although the Municipal Bureau of Exchange strongly denied this fact, the Municipal Bureau of Exchange used the amount of interest collected as a standard for rewarding and punishing officials and brokers and for their performance. Do you believe me when you say that the Municipal Bureau of Exchange did not do this?

It was because of this incident that Zeng Bu was demoted from the capital by Lu Huiqing while he was still serving as the Minister of Three Departments, and no one dared to mention this matter again since then.

So if you want to abolish the Market Exchange Law now, it proves that Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing were wrong and Zeng Bu was right. It also proves that the government was wrong.

When Su Shi returned to Beijing from Jiangning to meet Zhang Yue, he said that although Wang Anshi wanted to amend the new laws when he was appointed prime minister for the second time, Lu Huiqing prevented him from doing so in order to consolidate his position.

But who is behind Lu Huiqing?

That’s the government!

Therefore, Wu Juhou dared to be so bold and acted like this under the eyes of the court, which was also because the government tacitly condoned and even secretly instructed him. Zhang Yue not only opposed the market exchange law, but also impeached Wu Juhou to criticize the government for messing around.

The emperor thought to himself, Wu Juhou was recommended by Zhang Dun, and you, Zhang Yue, are impeaching Zhang Dun, which means you are impeaching him. Isn't this out of selfish motives?

The emperor said, "When Mr. Zhang was in Xihe Road, the government also bought cotton from the people and asked the textile households to pay for it with the salt notes used. So you are also a corrupt official."

Zhang Yue said: "When the First Lord took over Sichuan and Shu, Zhuge Kongming made Shu brocade the government's business, bought Shu brocade from the people, sold it to merchants, and then issued Zhibai coins linked to Shu brocade. This minister's method is to imitate Kongming."

"Today, all salt in the world and bejibu must be purchased with salt notes. The two are similar in nature."

"I think that whether it is government-run or commercial, there is no right or wrong, but government-run businesses must get rid of the desire for profit and take the welfare of the people as the guideline for matters concerning people's livelihood."

"At the same time, there are good and bad businesses, and there are also high and low government businesses."

"If a business is not run well, the court will punish it with one word. But why are government-run businesses not punished? If we do not treat everyone equally, there will be endless harm. Wu Juhou has caused public resentment. He raised the price of salt in Jingdong and forced people to buy iron tools if they did not want to buy them. Your Majesty has repeatedly indulged him. If you ignore such officials, all officials in the world will follow his example in the future."

The emperor was scolded by Zhang Yue and finally said, "In this case, Wu Juhou should be dismissed from his post as Jingdong Transport Commissioner and appointed to another post."

Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, this is too light, you should demote the three officials!"

The emperor frowned when he heard Zhang Yue's words. It was he who instructed Wu Juhou to do so. Now that Zhang Yue demoted Wu Juhou, wasn't that a slap in his face?

The official said, "The court is spending money everywhere now. A rich country can only make the army strong. If we don't save up a few years' worth of money and fodder for the soldiers, how can we plan for major events? Border defense and filling the granaries all require money."

"I know what you said about Wu Juhou's defeat. But if the court does not use all the power of the people and exhaust all the money in this battle to eliminate the threat from the heart, otherwise the shame of our ancestors will never be avenged. The taxes of the people in all directions will never be reduced. Ministers like Lu Huiqing and Wu Juhou are also carrying the world's infamy and working for me."

Zhang Yue sneered in his heart, thinking that the emperor really knew everything and was deliberately indulging himself for money, right?

Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, the threat from Liao and Xia cannot be eliminated in a few years. Once it is forcibly suppressed, people's minds will change. How can this disaster be eliminated?"

"All the previous efforts have come to naught."

"If Wu Juhou is not removed, the people will be uneasy and the country will be at peace. I ask Your Majesty to make a firm decision and execute Ma Su, let alone someone who is not Ma Su!"

The emperor asked, "If this is the case, can you only demote Wu Juhou and keep the market law unchanged for now?"

Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, the market law can remain unchanged, but I recommend Wu Anchi to be the judge of the market office. I also ask Your Majesty to use Zeng Bu again!"

The more the official frowned, the more aggressive he seemed.

Zhang Yue said: "Zeng Bu does not have to return to the capital, but he should be promoted to the pacification envoy of Gaoyangguan Road, and he should be on the left and right of Zhang Dun to govern Hebei together!"

The emperor finally gave in to Zhang Yue and said, "Since you have repeatedly recommended Zeng Bu, I will do as you say."

However, the emperor and his ministers were busy deciding military and national affairs and the appointment of officials without giving any thought to the other prime minister, Wang Gui.