As the registrar of the Ministry of Works, Fan Yu's greatest opportunity to show his face appeared in Hanyuan Palace Hall. Following that, he was like a small stone thrown into the ocean. Before the waves could splash much, he was submerged in the tide. As for how much of an impact it had, it had nothing to do with him.
Xiao Bei left the morning court in satisfaction. She did not participate in any of the court affairs. She wanted to return to Savant's Restaurant as soon as possible and find her brother and sister for help. In the court, she had always addressed her father as Minister Zhang.
To her, there was nothing more terrifying than this in the world. The sky was falling. She had to conduct a public relations crisis after the morning court ended. The situation was very grim.
The morning court in Hanyuan Palace Hall continued as usual. Zhang Zhong was not in the mood to think about how to deal with his daughter. He wanted to let more people agree with his proposal to change the Ministry of Works.
When Li Longji finished dealing with the several memorials presented, the first to speak was Zhang Zhong. He held a piece of paper in his hand and read them out one by one. In the end, he requested for the country's finance to allocate funds.
"Four million strings of strings of cash?" Li Longji was shocked by Zhang Zhong's words. The country's financial income had increased in the past two years. Compared to the past, it could be said to be a world of difference. However, to take out four million strings of cash at once for one of the six ministries seemed to be a little too much.
Zhang Zhong also knew that he had opened his mouth too wide. He quickly explained, "Your Majesty, the four million strings of cash that I mentioned is a one-time solution. In the future, Your Majesty does not need to take out a single copper coin for the Ministry of Works to be self-reliant. In two years, we will definitely be able to recover the money invested."
"Your Majesty, I feel that this cannot be done." Just as Zhang Zhong finished speaking, Zhang Shuo jumped out and directly objected.
All the officials focused their gazes on Zhang Zhong. They wanted to see if the Prime Minister would emerge victorious in his first official confrontation with Zhang Zhong.
Zhang Shuo felt very helpless. He should not have been the first to object. Instead, it should have been one of his subordinates. He had already used his body language to send the signal.
Usually, his subordinates would know what to do as long as they saw his signal. However, it was strange today. His subordinates seemed to have bad eyesight and were in a daze. No one stood up to speak.
Gao Lishi also saw this situation. He was very clear in his heart. As the saying goes, one should be softhearted after taking advantage of others. Which one of the people who could appear in the morning court had not received benefits from the Zhang Family and Wang Family?
If you don't believe me, you can go house by house and see which house doesn't have furniture with the Zhang Family's and Wang Family's logos worth a few thousand strings of coins.
Today was the first time that Zhang Zhong had attended a court meeting. If anyone dared to cause trouble at this crucial moment, they could forget about counting on the Zhang Family and Wang Family to continue giving them benefits in the future.
Coupled with Xiao Bao and Cuckoo's vengeful personalities, there was bound to be an outcome.
Just as Gao Lishi had guessed, the people belonging to Zhang Xiaobao's faction did indeed have such thoughts. They could refuse the things given by the Zhang and Wang families, but they did not dare to offend Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan.
Did they not see what happened to Fan Yu just now? The Emperor did not even have the mood to investigate further. He directly sentenced Fan Yu to be exiled to Lingnan. Everyone who was not sent to Lu Zhou yearned for Fan Yu. This could be considered as sparing Fan Yu's life. Otherwise, when the locals heard that Fan Yu had offended Provincial Governor Zhang, the consequences were self-evident.
Li Longji did not say anything. He was waiting for Zhang Shuo to say something. He could not just object because he wanted to. He needed a reason.
After Zhang Shuo finished his objection, he was actually waiting for his people to stand out and agree with him. In the end, all he got was silence.
Suppressing the anger in his heart, he continued, "Your Majesty, four million strings of coins is not a small amount. Now that the four barbarians have submitted, our court should reward them with money and resources to win the hearts of the people. Tubo and the Tujue are not stable yet. In my opinion, we should first provide two million strings of coins and resources to support the two barbarians and let them feel our imperial grace. Also, there are many Martial Manors in the northern part of Hebei Province. If we don't appease them, I'm afraid the people will not be able to live and will change."
When the officials in the court heard Zhang Shuo's words, some of them agreed in their hearts. However, they only agreed in their hearts and did not show it on their faces.
Li Longji still did not say anything. He looked at Zhang Zhong and waited for Zhang Zhong to refute.
Those who knew Li Longji understood at this moment that the Emperor did not seem to agree with Zhang Shuo's words. However, they did not know the specific reason.
They did not know, but Gao Lishi knew very well that the Emperor's thoughts were no longer the same as before. Ever since he knew that there were more powerful people far away in the sea, he no longer cared about the things around him.
This was especially true after seeing the spectacular scene of cannons firing at Mount Hua. Why would he care about the troubles around him? He would beat up whoever refused to comply until they submitted. Not to mention two million strings of coins, he would not even give them 20,000 strings of coins.
Zhang Zhong was also observing the reactions of the officials to see who was on his side and who was on his opposite side. He was quite satisfied with the current result.
It was like this when he was in Luoyang. When he proposed something, no one objected. Even if they had different opinions, they would privately discuss it with him.
Zhang Zhong also knew that the current Great Tang was not afraid of war. His military factory in Lu Zhou was constantly producing weapons, and its strength was far above the surrounding countries.
However, Zhang Zhong could not say it out loud. He chose another point. "Your Majesty, this subject agrees with Lord Zhang's idea of helping the Tufan and the Turkic Khaganate. However, it is better to teach people to fish than to give them a fish. What the Ministry of Works needs to do is to research all kinds of good tools. According to this subject's plan, there will be more good tools in a year's time. At that time, we will give them to the people in other parts of the dynasty to use.
"Your Majesty, what will we do when the Ministry of Works develops the tools in a year's time? How will the people live this year? "
Zhang Shuo continued to object.
"If Great Tang does not give out the tools this year, will the people in other places not be able to live? Naturally, they will live as they have in the past year. "
At this moment, the person who stood up to speak was Li Linfu, a person Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan wanted to scheme against.
At this moment, Li Linfu did not know that someone wanted to deal with him, and he did not know that the reason was because they thought that he would one day stand on that position.
He felt that he should help Zhang Zhong. Recently, his family's life had been much better, and it was all because of the benefits given by the Zhang Family and the Wang Family. In addition, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were still young, and their futures were limitless. He had to choose a side as soon as possible.
Zhang Shuo turned his head and glanced at Li Linfu, remembering him. He turned back and continued, "Your Majesty, it is different now. The four barbarians have just submitted. If we do not give them benefits, this subject is afraid that they will be resentful and start a rebellion."
"Your Majesty, this subject thinks that Minister Zhang's Ministry of Works plan is feasible, in my opinion …" Another person stood up to support Zhang Zhong.
Zhang Shuo kept refuting, waiting for people to stand up to support Zhang Zhong one after another. When Zhang Shuo saw that his people were still indifferent, he was finally discouraged.
After the morning court session ended, Zhang Zhong happily returned to the Ministry of Works to do some work. He received 4 million strings of coins, but not all at once. According to his plan, it was divided into three phases. The first phase only required 800,000 strings of coins, and he received 1 million strings of coins. After the second phase, he could go to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for more money.
Zhang Shuo's face was gloomy. He had failed in the confrontation in the court. It was not that he had not failed before, but this time was different. The previous failure was the Emperor's final decision, but today's failure was the pressure of the court officials. No one on his side said anything. Was it because they were scared by Fan Yushi?
What worried him the most was the Emperor's attitude. Although he did not favor any side today, it was still a kind of bias, especially his attitude towards dealing with Fan Yushi before the court session. Zhang Xiaobei had nine children and caught a registrar of the Ministry of Works. Did he really not ask clearly before convicting him?
*****
What happened in the morning court quickly spread to Zhang Xiaobao's ears. Hearing that his father had suppressed Zhang Shuo in the first confrontation, Zhang Xiaobao did not plan to stay in the capital any longer.
The plan was made by his father himself, and the matters in the court were also settled by his father himself. He did not need others to continue watching. When it was time to leave, he would leave. He was ready to go back and wait for the people he sent out to bring back good news.
When he knew that his brother had decided to leave, Xiaobei was relieved. It seemed that he could leave today and did not need to worry about his father coming back to find trouble.
After the excitement, Xiaobei was a little reluctant. Leaving the capital meant parting with his parents. His brother had said that he had to stay in Jili Province for at least a year before he had the opportunity to be an official in the capital. He had to continue waiting for the family reunion.
In the afternoon, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan bid farewell to the elders in their family and led the huge group to Jili Province.
This time, they did not take the waterway. The Yellow River was already frozen, and Zhang Xiaobao did not plan to spend so much money to blast open the river. The losses outweighed the gains, so he chose to take the land route along the river. Now, there were wide roads on both sides of the Yellow River, and there were countless merchants and pedestrians coming and going.
The wheels of the carriage made creaking noises as it moved on the snow that was scattered with sand. After two days of continuous travel, Xiao Bei was finally unwilling to follow the large group of people and slowly move about. He suggested that he should go ahead first. Zhang Xiaobao naturally wouldn't object and let the children do as they please.
As soon as he left the group, Xiaobei was like a runaway wild horse. He organized an impromptu meeting with the other eight people.
The main content of the meeting was to continue to carry forward the style of the Children's Protection Team that was not afraid of hardship and fatigue. They had to deeply understand the main spirit of the Children's Protection Team, and better reflect the intelligence of the Imperial Censorate. They had to live up to the Emperor's trust and live up to the people of the world.
In the meeting, group member Zhang Xiaobei was the first to speak. He praised the previous operation and felt that the Children's Protection Team was an outstanding group. They were a strong group that would not be defeated in the face of any difficulties.
However, they also found a problem in the previous operation. That was, group member Zhang Xiaohai did not check the accounts early enough, resulting in insufficient evidence in the Hanyuan Palace. Zhang Xiaohai deeply recognized his own shortcomings and did not make any excuses. He wrote a self-criticism, and the content was that X and Y intersected on the same line ….
At the same time, he also criticized the members of the Wang Xiaoyuan Regiment for not being good at their job, for not properly listing out the crimes that Fan Yu had committed in the imperial court. The member of the Wang Xiaoyuan Regiment softly admitted his mistake. He said, 'Cold against summer, day against year. Cufu against swing. Dan Shan against clear water, light rain against Tan Yan. "
Finally, group member Zhang Xiaobei gave a concluding speech. She had new expectations for the future of the Children's Protection Team. She pointed out that the members of the Children's Protection Team must continue to unite around a group member who could find a place for the Children's Protection Team. The name of the Children's Protection Team must not be shaken until they grow up. They must broaden their horizons and walk out of the world.
The meeting ended in a warm and peaceful atmosphere.
This was a great meeting. It was a meeting that connected the past and opened the way for the future. This meeting established the foundation for the Children's Protection Team to be able to overcome all kinds of difficulties in the future.
Half a month later, Xiaobei and the others arrived at Zhuah County and waited there. It was unknown whether they should cross the river and take the land route or try to take the sea route. The frozen sea showed signs of thawing.
A few years ago, it was recorded in the booklet that Zhuah County was a Shangxian County. It had a large population, rich products, and convenient transportation.
Xiaobei planned to rest here for a few days and train a hundred guards at the same time. However, when the group entered the borders of Zhuah County, Xiaobei and the others, who already knew that it was a Shangxian County, were still shocked by how prosperous Zhuah County was.
In front of them was a wide road that could allow six carriages to pass at the same time. Countless sheds were built in the fields on both sides of the road, covered with straw. As it was close to evening, wisps of smoke rose from the sheds, and countless people were busy working.
Further ahead, there was a murmuring river or floating ice. There was a stone bridge connecting the shore. Outside the bridge, the water was channeled into a canal and slowly poured into a pond. As the sun set, the water sparkled. Small boats were propped up on the canal, making clanging sounds. Everyone worked together and shouted non-stop. When the net in the pond was raised, fat fish struggled and jumped.
Further ahead, there were no catchers in the pond. They were dressed in leather and went back and forth into the water. They plucked lotus roots and threw them to the shore. There were children carrying school bags and picking them up. They piled up into a mountain and laughed non-stop.
"Aiya, who's the county magistrate of Zhuah County? He's quite capable. The road is wide enough and flat enough. There should be a kang in the shed with chives planted inside. This place draws water to raise fish and plants lotus roots. The combination is quite reasonable. If you work harder, you can catch up to half of brother and sister. "
Xiaobei praised when she saw this scene. She commanded the group to continue forward. Zhuah County had piqued her interest. She wanted to see what would happen after they entered the county.
The group increased their speed. When the sky turned dark, they arrived outside Zhuah County. What they saw was actually a city wall that was about one zhang tall.
"It's really not easy. I see a light over there. Let's go around it." Xiaobei ordered again.
After the group went around the place, everyone could clearly see that there were many houses here. They were placed next to each other, and the light was from small flames spurting out from pipes.
Xiaobei and the others recognized that this was the effect of burning marsh gas. It seemed that the marsh gas here was used quite well.
When they wanted to take another step forward, the group was stopped by someone. Standing outside the fence, they could faintly hear the grunting of pigs and the crowing of chickens coming from inside.
Xiaobei nodded. This should be a planned breeding area. She asked someone to explain to the other party. Then, she turned around and entered the city through the city gate.
The lanterns of the shops on both sides of the streets flickered. With the help of the light, they could see that there was a canal built with cement on each side of the road. It should be used to drain water. In between the canal and the shops, there was also a sidewalk built with cement bricks.
The shortest shop was two stories tall. Every time they reached an intersection, there would be a few three-story buildings standing there.
In other places, there would be very few pedestrians at night. However, there was actually an endless stream of people coming and going here. They would either go to the nearby shops to eat or gather in a spacious area to hum a tune.
A group of children walked past in a row, reciting the Analects of Confucius. They went straight to a stall that was set up outside. Each of them took out a few new coins and threw them into the money box before starting to eat.
The smell of pepper oil wafted over. Xiaobei sniffed and rubbed his stomach. "I'm hungry. Let's go and eat. It's my treat."
When they walked to the front, they saw that there were a few metal boxes on the stall. Each box was filled with different food. There were tofu, tofu skin, dried tofu, dried tofu, fish balls, crab balls, shrimp balls, bean sprouts, cabbage, sausages, and so on. There were many types of food.
Xiaobei and the others were no stranger to such things. At first, it was their older brother who made them for them. Later, it was spread to various places.
"Line up in ten rows." Xiaobei took out a piece of paper from her bag and shouted to the 100 guards.
Whoosh! Ten rows stood out in an instant. Everyone in the lead had a corresponding metal box in front of them. Then, they picked up a string of notes and passed them to the back.
Xiaobei slapped the notes into the money box and said to the stall owner, "Put the money here. Later, count the sticks and count them as meat. In the future, remember to use different sticks to distinguish between meat and vegetables. Otherwise, when there are many people, you won't be able to do anything if you keep staring at others."
After speaking to the stall owner, Xiaobei started to eat. The price of meat was double that of vegetables. She didn't have the time to care about this.
The stall owner was stunned. He took out the note from the box and was shocked. It was a 500 dollar note. He looked at Xiaobei and the others and knew that he had met the children of a rich family. He smiled and continued to put food into the metal box.
Xiaobei, who was eating freely, didn't care if the food was hygienic or not. After all, it was fine after it was boiled in boiling water.
When she was half full, Xiaobei remembered something very important. She looked up and asked the stall owner, "Who is the county magistrate of this county?"
"It's County Magistrate Yan." The stall owner didn't want to tell a child, but he felt that her status was different, so he said it.
"Oh." Xiaobei nodded and asked, "Did he embezzle money?"
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