gnovel 0021 [The high-ranking officials have considered many things]
0021 [The high-ranking officials have considered many things]
West Garden.
This remaining royal garden of the Southern Han Dynasty has now become the place where the Guangdong Military Commissioner conducts his work, enjoys leisure activities, and receives guests.
Yu Jing's private staff usually lived in the Xiyuan Guest House.
Thanks to Yu Shanyuan and Yang Shu, Xu Lai was also arranged to rest at the West Garden Inn.
"You may wander around here, but you must not leave the area around the inn," the staff member, Mr. Chu, instructed.
The West Garden is very large, containing many small areas with different functions and scenery. The areas are not separated by walls, but are naturally distinguished by trees, rockeries, flowers, and ponds.
Yu Shanyuan and Yang Shu were visiting for the first time, and they invited each other to take a walk and enjoy the scenery in the guesthouse garden.
But then Xu Lai lifted his shirt and pulled out four books one after another. He had actually hidden the set of "Commentary on the Analects" on his person.
Yang Shu asked in surprise, "Why did you bring the book, my dear brother?"
Xu Lai explained, "I was afraid such a valuable item would get lost if I left it in the passenger cabin of the ship."
Yu Shanyuan and Yang Shu were both amused and exasperated.
"My two brothers, go and enjoy the scenery. I'll stay here and read," Xu said.
Yang Shu exclaimed, "My dear brother is truly studious! Even when you arrive at the West Garden of the Military Governor's Office, you manage to resist the urge to go and enjoy yourself."
Yu Shanyuan was also full of admiration.
This is the West Garden of the Military Commandery, a royal garden from the Southern Han Dynasty. Ordinary people simply cannot enter.
How could Xu Lai, this unsophisticated mountain village boy, be able to concentrate on reading in the West Garden without any distractions? If Yu Shanyuan were in Xu Lai's shoes, he felt he couldn't do it.
Xu Lai thought to himself: The royal gardens of the Southern Han Dynasty are nothing compared to the Forbidden City we've been inside.
Of course, Xu Lai was reading every minute, but he actually had other plans in mind.
He seemed to have overdone it in front of Yu Jing, which left a bad impression.
Since it's beyond repair, let's just try harder!
There were writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones in the inn. When Yang Shu and Yu Shanyuan went to enjoy the scenery, Xu Lai immediately laid out paper, ground ink, and wrote something.
He wanted to write down all his different understandings of the Analects on a piece of paper and find an opportunity to present it to Yu Jing.
I read and wrote at the same time, sometimes crossing out what I wrote.
The interpretations in the Analects with Commentary differ from those of later generations in many places. However, Xu Lai did not reject them all, because he actually preferred some of the annotations in this book.
For example, the first sentence of the Analects is: "To learn and at due times to practice what one has learned."
A great Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty explained it as "studying on time".
When to press?
First, the timing. Different age groups learn different things, and the learning should be appropriate for the characteristics of that age group.
Second, mid-year. Each of the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—offers its own suitable period for learning.
Third, during the day. First, memorize and recite, then think about and study, and reflect on it in your mind during rest and play.
Simply put, it means developing a scientific and detailed learning plan based on the student's specific situation, taking into account different times, states, and environments, and then strictly implementing it.
Xu Lai thought this explanation made perfect sense and there was absolutely no need to "correct" it.
After reading and writing, Xu Lai got a little tired and went to the pavilion to rest.
Feeling the gentle breeze and listening to the birdsong, he felt a wonderful sensation.
Just over a month ago, he was busy writing his graduation thesis.
A few days ago, he worked on an empty stomach as a conscript, hoping only to return to his mountain village alive.
At this very moment, he was sitting in the royal garden of the Southern Han Dynasty, carefree and passing the time amidst the beautiful scenery.
……
West Garden, Yunpi Studio.
Yu Jing was lighting the stove and brewing tea, seemingly enjoying himself immensely.
Actually, he was already fed up with it all; Guangdong was a complete mess.
Let's start by talking about the three major government offices at the circuit level:
The Military and Pacification Commission (or Commander's Office) was in charge of the military and political affairs of a region.
The Transport Commissioner's Office (or Canal Commissioner's Office) was in charge of the finances of a route and also had supervisory power.
The Chief Justice (or Censor) was in charge of all judicial and criminal matters in a region and also had supervisory powers.
These three institutions could check and balance each other, but then this damn outrageous Li Shizhong suddenly appeared.
In Guangxi, the military commissioner Xiao Gu, the transport commissioner Song Xian, and the prefect of Yongzhou, Xiao Zhu, conspired to train troops to attack Jiaozhi, claiming that they did not need funding from the imperial court. To raise funds, Xiao Zhu even went so far as to illegally open gold mines.
Just then, a barbarian chieftain rebelled in Yongzhou. Li Shizhong, the judicial commissioner of Guangdong and Guangxi, seized the opportunity to impeach the three men, resulting in their demotion and transfer.
Taking advantage of the situation, he dismissed 500 cavalrymen from Yongzhou and also disbanded the local troops trained by Xiao Zhu in Yongzhou, turning the nascent military equipment of Guangxi into a complete mess. The saved military funds were then used by Li Shizhong to develop people's livelihoods, with various projects proceeding at a rapid pace.
Due to his outstanding achievements in water conservancy projects, Li Shizhong held positions in three major government departments: acting Guangxi Military Commissioner, Guangxi Transport Commissioner, and concurrently Guangdong and Guangxi Judicial Commissioner.
Li Shizhong served as an official in Guangxi for many years and could not possibly take care of things in Guangdong, but he happened to be the head of the Guangdong Provincial Judicial Commission.
Two years ago, the imperial court abolished the position of Military Judicial Commissioner (a deputy commissioner of justice appointed by a military officer). Therefore, the current Guangdong Judicial Commission is headed by a secret agent (Li Shizhong's special confidential secretary).
That confidential secretary, though not holding a high-ranking position, was nonetheless untouchable.
Because he was recommended by Li Shizhong and had full authority to represent Li Shizhong as the judicial commissioner of Guangdong. Impeaching this person would be tantamount to offending Li Shizhong!
As the highest-ranking military and political official in Guangdong, Yu Jing cannot directly intervene in specific cases. According to convention, this time the confidential secretary will have to be asked to investigate.
But that person was involved in too many things, and Yu Jing was really worried.
Yu Jing picked up a pen and wrote down a string of names, then circled them.
"My lord, Cai, the tax collector, has arrived."
"Please let him in."
Cai Kang strode in with great enthusiasm, and Yu Jing stood up to greet him with clasped hands.
The two sat facing each other in the courtyard, tea tasting and chatting.
Yu Jing casually asked, "Regarding the salt transport in Guangdong, how many officials does Zizhi plan to investigate and punish?"
"As long as they don't cause trouble, I don't want to investigate any of them," Cai Kang said, also feeling extremely troubled. "To smuggle private salt into the official salt, from the salt field supervisors and salt-making officials to the head of the salt fields, the salt producers, the salt merchants, and then to the salt transport officials and escort officials... there are very few who are clean. And this is only the lower level; it's even more difficult to touch the higher-level officials."
One was a military commissioner, and the other a transport commissioner; both were sent to Guangdong to clear landmines.
Yu Jing has been in office for less than a year.
Tsai Ing-wen has only been in office for two months.
Yu Jing stirred the tea whisk without saying anything more, seemingly focused on the tea competition.
Cai Kang stated, "Therefore, I plan to reform the Guangdong Salt Transport system to reduce smuggling of salt and lower the transportation costs of official salt. During the reform, anyone who dares to cause trouble will be used as a sacrificial lamb!"
Yu Jing expressed his full cooperation and then began to talk about the matter of Qingyuan County.
After recounting the events, Yu Jing said, "That's the whole story of how the Maritime Trade Service was robbed."
Cai Kang put down the tea whisk: "This is a good opportunity to make an example of someone."
Yu Jing said, "They're just a few patrol officers; their deaths are nothing to regret. The real challenge is how to wipe out the salt bandits. Your brother's situation is dangerous; I'm afraid someone in the court might sabotage things."
The officials in the imperial court were not fools; they certainly knew that the key to eliminating bandits lay in thoroughly reforming the salt administration system in Jiangxi.
But the interests involved are too deeply intertwined, making change impossible.
This matter involved four regions: Jiangxi, Huaidong, Guangdong, and Fujian. The court and local officials argued back and forth for more than half a year.
Just last month, the imperial court completely rejected the proposal to transport salt from Guangdong and Fujian to southern Jiangxi for sale.
In the southern Jiangxi region, only Huai salt can still be sold at high prices!
Cai Ting (Cai Kang's younger brother), who was in charge of the actual work, knew that if the salt laws remained unchanged, it would be difficult to eliminate salt thieves, so he chose a way to skirt the law.
In other words, in accordance with the imperial decree, the sale of salt from Guangdong and Fujian to southern Jiangxi was prohibited. However, if any civilians were found smuggling salt, as long as the group consisted of fewer than five people, the smuggled salt weighed less than twenty catties, and they were not carrying weapons, they would only be taxed and not arrested.
To put it bluntly, the plan was to use various means, such as military suppression, surrendering weapons and forgiving past offenses, optimizing the official salt transportation system, and reducing salt prices as much as possible, to break down large armed smuggling salt gangs into smaller, unarmed gangs.
If this policy is maintained for two or three years, large-scale salt smuggling gangs will cease to exist, while smaller gangs will have to honestly pay taxes to the government.
The problem is that Cai Ting's actions actually defied the imperial court's orders.
He actually levied taxes on smuggled salt!
So, is this smuggled salt or government-owned salt?
Although it was supposed to be official salt, the imperial court did not recognize it.
If it's considered smuggled salt, the government still collects taxes on it.
Tsai Ting is facing a barrage of impeachments!
Yu Jing said, "The timing of this robbery of the maritime trade vessels is perfect. I plan to write to Lord Han (Han Qi) and Ou Jiu (Ouyang Xiu) to use the pretext of protecting the maritime trade vessels to suppress the impeachment against your brother."
"This matter depends on Brother An Dao." Cai Kang understood that this was an exchange of benefits.
Yu Jing helped Cai Kang reform the salt transport system in Guangdong and helped his brother Cai Ting withstand impeachments from court officials.
Cai Kang also wanted to help Yu Jing clean up the officialdom in Guangdong.
The theft of the imperial convoy provided an opportunity. Li Shizhong, who was supposed to be in charge of the matter, was serving as an official in Guangxi and couldn't come over for a while. Cai Kang, who also had supervisory powers, was able to use the joint investigation by the Transport Commissioner and the Censorate as a pretext to seize control of Li Shizhong's confidential secretary.
"You want to investigate Zhao Zhongxiang too?" Cai Kang glanced at the paper covered with names.
Yu Jing shook his head and smiled bitterly: "This person is a member of the imperial clan, so we can only impeach him by submitting a memorial. Even if he has committed a crime, he will eventually have to be handed over to the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs for trial."
Zhao Zhongxiang was the prefectural judge of Guangzhou and concurrently the deputy commissioner of the Guangzhou Maritime Trade Office.
This guy made a fortune in the two years he was in office, and he even openly sold the quotas for successful candidates in the imperial examinations—the candidate who was beaten up by Yang Shu bought his quota from Zhao Zhongxiang.
Cai Kang then asked, "Is Zheng Boliang going to handle this? He was recommended by Li Shizhong."
Zheng Boliang was that confidential secretary.
During the Qingli Reforms, Li Shizhong had only passed the imperial examination a few years earlier and had no political conflicts with Yu Jing and others.
Moreover, Li Shizhong was promoted by Pang Ji, who had close personal relationships with Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, Yu Jing, and others.
With this relationship in place, Yu Jing and Li Shizhong got along quite well, and the two even traveled together and wrote poems.
Yu Jing said, "I've given him face and mentioned it in letters several times, but I haven't been too explicit. Since Li Shizhong is pretending to be deaf and dumb, then I have nothing to worry about."
Cai Kang thought for a moment: "How about asking Wang Yuanbi to intervene? Although he is a eunuch, he is considered an upright person."
Yu Jing finally smiled: "Then Zizhi will have to go and invite him."
Wang Yuanbi was a eunuch whose job was to serve as a horse-riding servant.
He was sent by the emperor and was not subject to the control of any local officials. On the contrary, he could supervise and impeach officials. To put it bluntly, he was the emperor's eyes and ears in Guangdong.
Why was Cai able to persuade this eunuch to come?
Because Zhao Shu, who was made a prince more than two months ago, had a "teacher-friend" relationship with Cai Kang!
Emperor Renzong of Song was terminally ill, and Zhao Shu would soon become emperor. As a eunuch, Wang Yuanbi naturally had to curry favor with Cai Kang in advance.
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(Note: The titles "Tixingshi" and "Tixingfushi" are colloquial; their official titles were "Tidian Xingyu Gongshi" (civil official) and "Tong Tidian Xingyu Gongshi" (military official). In the fifth year of the Jiayou reign, the court officially abolished the military title of Tixingshi.)