Chapter 248: General of the Cavalry
The next morning, Zhao Yulin's official ship set off again and headed directly to Chengdu.
At this time, the Chengdu government office was in the midst of an uproar.
After the express courier of the Chengdu Imperial City Office received the imperial edict from Lin'an requiring the transfer of taxes, the government officials and the important figures among the people soon learned about it. Everyone began to discuss whether or not to transport the silver to the newly rebuilt small court.
Hua Yue, the imperial censor of the previous dynasty, and an eunuch close to the emperor evaded the blockade of the Mongolian army and arrived in Chengdu after untold hardships. They presented the emperor's edict rewarding Zhao Yulin and marrying the princess to him, confirming that the rumors were true.
At the last minute, the emperor appointed Zhao Yulin as the King of Han and General of the Cavalry, and dedicated him to the Northern Expedition. He also appointed the exiled imperial daughter Zhao Feiyan as the Sovereign of Nanzheng and married her to Zhao Yulin.
Damn, is the emperor crazy?
Zhao Yulin was given so many supreme honors in one breath. Was he asked to ride a rocket into space to see whether there was Chang'e in the Moon Palace?
After the news came out, the government office, the academy, and even the entire upper class of Chengdu were discussing it. Some people thought that Zhao Yulin's withholding of taxes and not sending them to Lin'an was a rebellion and he wanted to establish his own kingdom. Others thought that Zhao Yulin was already the King of Han and had the princess as his wife, so why couldn't he be the king?
Some people even think that Zhao Yulin also has the surname Zhao. Lin'an can just find someone else named Zhao Du to be the emperor, so why can't Zhao Yulin become the emperor?
In short, people were talking and discussing about it in the streets and alleys, and the whole place was buzzing.
This made the Sichuan-Shaanxi governor and Chengdu prefect Ding Gong very anxious, and the protagonist Zhao Yulin had to come forward to resolve the problem.
As soon as he stepped onto the dock at the south gate of Chengdu, Dongmei went up to him to report the current situation and excitedly told him that the imperial edict was true and that the young master was about to become the King of Han.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said, "The King of Han was so excited. Is this all you can achieve?"
Dongmei said with a smile that the young master was going to marry the princess, which was a great blessing.
He pulled Xiao Yan over and said, "The princess is right beside me, watching her every day. What's so special about that? Let's go."
The group filed in and went straight to the post house.
When Xiao Yan learned that her father had announced her marriage to Zhao Yulin in the form of an imperial edict, she was extremely surprised and insisted on dressing him up before allowing him to go to the government office.
Zhao Yulin kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose and told her not to tell anyone else and wait until her husband could defeat them.
They walked into the government office hand in hand, and immediately someone shouted, "Commander Zhao has arrived, the King of Han has arrived."
Zhao Yulin smiled at Xiao Yan, shook his head and went directly to the back hall of Ding Gong. The round table inside was already full of people, with only one seat left next to Ding Gong.
He asked for another chair to be brought over as there were two of them.
Ding Gong waved his hand, and someone immediately brought a chair for Xiao Yan to sit down. After he had his tea, Ding Gong said that there were many things to do in Chengdu, and everyone was waiting for him.
Zhao Yulin looked at Lao Cao on the left of Lord Ding and said with a smile, "What big issue is there that can't be decided? Why do we have to wait for him to discuss it?"
Lao Cao said with an unhappy look on his face that it was not a matter of transferring taxes. It had been made clear before that the taxes in Sichuan and Shaanxi were needed to finance the military expenditures of the Shenwei Army, and now someone was holding the imperial edict from Lin'an to demand transfer.
The transport envoy Liu Qingyin spoke immediately and told Zhao Yulin clearly that it was he who proposed it.
He believed that since Lin'an had restored the imperial system, Chengdu should obey the imperial edicts it received. Was it planning a rebellion?
Everyone immediately fell silent and dared not speak.
In this society where civil servants are in power, the feudal etiquette system under the rule of Confucianism is very strong, and everyone is afraid of being accused of regicide, usurping the throne, and plotting rebellion.
Cao Youwen was already glaring at the transport envoy in a very unfriendly manner.
Damn, it seems like I have to reason with them.
Zhao Yulin took a sip of tea and then slowly said, "Don't accuse people casually. The matter has not been clarified yet. But the Prime Minister of Lin'an was captured by the Northern Barbarians. Who can prove that he escaped on his own and was not a spy released by the Northern Barbarians to harm the people?"
The transport officer immediately asked him how he could prove that Shi Xiang was a spy? He could not slander someone casually, as Shi Xiang was still the prime minister.
At this time, the imperial censor Hua Yue, who was sitting next to Lao Cao, spoke.
He said that the northern barbarians were chasing the emperor closely at the time, and all the important officials were together, and almost no one escaped. If he had not received the emperor's order and set out to Shu in the west earlier, he would most likely have become a prisoner.
The people of Jiangdong were all rumoring that Shi Xiang had walked out of the Northern Barbarian Army's camp, and their suspicion that he was a spy was not groundless.
Because of the news brought by Hua Yue, the transport envoy felt it was unreasonable to continue arguing whether the historical minister was clean, so he said that now that the court has been rebuilt in Lin'an and there is a new emperor, we should transport taxes eastward according to the regulations to meet urgent needs.
Haha, this guy is definitely a die-hard supporter of Prime Minister Shi. He knows that Prime Minister Shi in Lin'an is so poor that he must find a way to escort the money eastward.
However, Zhao Yulin was determined not to give this person a chance. He turned to the secretary's position at the back, picked up a pen and wrote a handwritten order, then began to lecture: Speaking of urgent needs, the most needed thing right now is to allocate military funds for the Shenwei Army. Sichuan and Shaanxi have not done their own things well, so why discuss other things?
He had already checked that when Chengdu sent 40 million strings of money to the imperial court, the imperial court allocated about 25 million strings of money to the Sichuan-Shaanxi garrison. At that time, the Sichuan-Shaanxi garrison was about 350,000, right?
Zhao Yulin turned to look at Lao Cao. Cao Youwen recalled briefly and nodded immediately.
When he saw Lao Cao nod, he immediately said that the military situation was urgent and there was no time to waste, and Ding Gong would definitely have no objection. Feihu, find a brother to pass the order and order the treasury to immediately transfer 30 million strings of silver for military use. Anyone who dares to stop it will be killed without mercy.
Before everyone could react, Zhao Yulin's guards said "guarantee to complete the mission" and ran out to pass on the message .
After Mr. Ding came to his senses, he immediately told him not to worry. He had just mentioned 25 million strings of cash, so how come it had increased by another 5 million?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that a total of 50 million strings of silver and money needed to be transported. The Shenwei Army currently had more than 400,000 soldiers. General Cao knew very well that 30 million was definitely not a lot.
You all are here, how about we calculate it in detail?
Mr. Ding knew that this account was not going to work out. Once he calculated it, he would definitely have to pay more money. He immediately said, "Forget it," and followed his brother's wishes.
Zhao Yulin thanked Mr. Ding with a smile and invited him for tea.
Liu Qingyin was furious. He glared at Zhao Yulin and asked what he was doing. What did he think of him as a transport officer?
Zhao Yulin tapped the table gently and said that this was the decision of the Administration Office, and it was discussed together with everyone.
Hua Yue asked Liu Qingyin in return, why are you all discussing matters at the same table, why are you so contemptuous of the Deputy Envoy of the Military Affairs Office, Commander Zhao, when the emperor has conferred the title of King of Han on him?
The transport officer immediately turned off half of his anger and said patiently: Lin'an is in urgent need of silver now. Liu would like to ask the commander, when will the silver be transported?
Zhao Yulin said that everyone was very clear in their minds. It was difficult to tell whether the small court in Lin'an was real or fake, and its status had yet to be determined. Why should Sichuan and Shu be in a hurry to recognize it and export tax silver?
This is the hard-earned money of the soldiers and civilians in Sichuan and Shaanxi, and we still need to eat.
He discussed this with Cao Youwen in person and allocated 5 million out of the 30 million strings of money that had just been transferred to send to General Meng in Huangzhou. Everyone knew that the Jingzhou army relied on the imperial military pay for its survival. Now that there was no pay, the army still had to guard the border.
When Lao Cao saw that he was willing to spit out some of the money he had already eaten, he was of course happy and immediately nodded in agreement.
He went on to say: It is true that everyone believes that a country cannot be without a ruler for a day, but we cannot just find anyone to be the emperor. Lin'an has just established a small court and they have been granting official titles and making promises. It is rumored that salt merchants have been granted county officials in our Shu area. Isn't it obvious that this is misleading the country and harming the people?
If there were no government, would we not do anything?
If there are no officials, will we not guard the border?
All of these things are essential and must be done well.
We can't control what the people in Lin'an want to do, so let them do whatever they want. We must have a guiding star, work hard, and prepare for war. The Mongolian army is still eyeing us covetously.
The transport envoy saw that everyone began to nod and whisper to each other, and knew that Zhao Yulin had convinced everyone. He was not giving up yet and proposed to transport the remaining 20 million strings of tax silver to Lin'an. His reasoning was that the Great Song Dynasty had to have a master, and most of the officials in the small court were old ministers of the previous dynasty.
Everyone started discussing again, and some people began to nod their heads, believing that the country needed to be unified, and that letting the small court issue edicts to all directions to jointly resist the northern barbarians was also a good option.
Damn, this shit-stirring stick is so stinky.
Zhao Yulin discovered that due to the disturbance caused by the Transport Envoy, the previously silent Chief Justices and Inspectors began to whisper to each other, and only the Chief Grain and Grain Envoy remained calm and motionless.
It was Mag's fault that he was annoyed and suddenly felt murderous.
Zhao Yulin whispered to Xiao Yan beside him, and the girl immediately got up and went out. After a while, she brought Dongmei and Xu Zhiyuan, the general manager of the Chengdu Imperial City Administration, in.
Zhao Yulin asked casually: The expenses of the Imperial City Administration are allocated by Lin'an, right?
Xu Zhiyuan immediately answered in front of everyone, "Yes, Commander."
Zhao Yulin was very satisfied with what he heard. His answer showed that this person recognized Zhao Yulin's identity.
He continued to ask: Lin'an suffered a disaster, the emperor was humiliated, and all of you are saddened. In the future, when there is no court, how can the people in the imperial city perform their duties without funds?
Will he secretly defect to the Northern Barbarians?
Will you take the Northern Barbarians' money and do things for them?
Xu Zhiyuan immediately knelt down and said that as a citizen of the Song Dynasty, he would be a ghost of the Song Dynasty after his death and would never betray his country.
Zhao Yulin stepped forward to help him up, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Join the Shenwei Army, everyone can eat from the same pot and work together to fight against the Northern Barbarians."
He didn't care whether Xu Zhiyuan agreed or not. He turned around and sat down and said that everyone should stop calling them "Northern Barbarians" from now on. That is the Great Mongol Empire. We must learn to respect our opponents in order to better defeat them. The Mongolian army has been beating us .
These people were fooled by him and had forgotten that they were still discussing the matter of transporting silver. It was as if they were back to last year, ten years ago, or a hundred years ago, when the scenes of the northern ethnic groups coming south again and again to bully the Song people were still vivid in their minds.
Zhao Yulin nodded at the inspector Jiang Ligang and said, "Go ahead. Let's check together how much silver the transport envoy has at home."