Chapter 440: New Rules
Xie Lingyun kept refusing, but Zhao Yulin still asked Zhen Debin to escort him out.
As soon as Zhao Yulin sat down, the transport envoy came in and questioned him how he could spend money at will. Every penny spent from the treasury needed to be discussed with him and the three judges of the government office, and only with unanimous agreement could the money be spent.
The commander-in-chief spent five thousand strings of cash at one time.
Haha, this guy performs his duties very conscientiously.
Zhao Yulin explained: This is the full authority granted to him by the court to handle the public expenses of Liangzhe, and he has already written it clearly on the expense list.
The transport envoy still insisted that the court had regulations, and every penny spent from the treasury had to be discussed by everyone and signed by everyone before it could take effect. That would be enough for today, but in the future, it would be better to bring all of Lord Zhao's expenses to the table and have everyone agree before spending them.
Zhao Yulin was used to spending his own money, so he was a little uncomfortable with being controlled by the transport envoy. He first praised the transport envoy and then said that this was a confidential state matter and must be kept secret and not spread.
The transport officer agreed with his mouth but looked down upon him with his eyes. He felt that Zhao Yulin was no different from those corrupt officials who took the money and still asked him to keep the secret in a high-sounding manner. As soon as he left the house, he threw what Zhao Yulin said into the spittoon.
This guy went back to the office and showed off to his colleagues, telling them that he had caught the commander-in-chief with evidence of embezzlement and that he had just subdued the commander-in-chief. The commander, who was known as a murderer, still obeyed his teachings.
After drinking two sips of tea in the study, Zhao Yulin felt that he should first teach the people in charge of transportation, transport and the magistrate a lesson. It has been more than half a year since the return of Jiankang Prefecture to the New Song Dynasty, but it is still the same as the previous dynasty, with almost no changes. How can this be allowed?
Chengdu, Meng Gong and Yu Jie have arrived.
Zhao Feiyan invited Cao Youwen, Qiao Xingjian, Li Zhongmian and Ding Gong to hold a grand welcoming banquet for them. Meng Gong was amazed at the peaceful and prosperous Chengdu and even said that they should have come to see it a long time ago.
Lao Cao laughed and said that it was time for him to go to Jiangdong to have a good look. The gentlemen took turns to toast him and happily drank with Meng Gong and Yu Jie until they got drunk.
When they woke up, they both basked in the sun in their cozy homes.
Meng Gong was grateful to the king Zhao Feiyan for his thoughtfulness. The Central Court had already selected a mansion for them. The dead branches and leaves of the flowers and trees were all cleaned up, and there was no lack of furniture in the house. The maids and guards were all arranged. The young lady smiled and said that the general slept very well last night. I wiped his body and he didn't move.
Old Meng was delighted and pulled the petite woman into his arms.
In the afternoon, the Central Council held a meeting, and Zhao Feiyan announced the division of labor. Deputy Director Meng led the Ministry of Justice and was responsible for supervising the national inspection team; Yu Gong took office as the Minister of Water Resources of the new Song Dynasty, responsible for the construction of rivers, lakes and sea facilities, flood prevention and drought relief. The Ministry of Transportation allocated one million strings of money for the establishment of the Ministry of Water Resources and the recent spring irrigation and spring flood relief.
The two of them immediately had something to do.
Zhao Feiyan told them with a smile that Lord Cao would be traveling east to inspect the counties along the Yangtze River in the near future, and if there were any urgent matters that needed to be handled, they could ask Lord Cao to supervise their handling.
Meng Gong and Yu Jie were immediately surprised.
Logically, since Cao is already the emperor, he should travel around and have fun. But Xin Song has no such concept. The officials present at the meeting are all busy looking through documents. Cao Youwen really needs to prepare homework and ask him to do the questions.
This is the new state system of the New Song Dynasty. Although Lao Cao has been the ruler of the country, he has never regarded himself as an emperor. He takes the initiative to go on inspections. Any urgent matters that need to be handled by the Central Council must be completed by this senior official who has left the palace.
Then they began to discuss the topic. When the two senior officials from Jiangdong saw the neatly bound manuscripts on the table and looked around the entire conference hall, their eyes lit up and they felt refreshed.
Yu Jie was sitting in the back row with the ministers of various ministries. He saw that the position of the king Zhao Feiyan sitting in the front was no different from that of the deputy director of the Central Council, except that he was sitting in the center of the podium, with several deputy directors sitting right on his left and right.
When he first entered the door, Meng Gong didn't know where to stand.
He had heard that the court of the New Song Dynasty held meetings by sitting together and talking. When he actually entered the conference room, he still felt uncomfortable. He looked around for the place to report, thinking that it was still the same as the previous dynasty, with the civil and military classes sitting separately to listen to the announcement.
Fan Zhong happily led him over to sit down, and he found that he was actually sitting in the same row with the king. The chairs were all the same, with no difference in height or size. The excitement in his heart could not be expressed in words.
Seeing that everyone had already read the agenda, Zhao Feiyan asked the first question: Jiankang Prefecture requests to set up Jiangdong Academy to recruit and educate the children of Jiangdong . What do you think?
Yu Jie and Meng Gong immediately spoke out in support.
My Lord, Zhao Yulin reported that he would build a Jiangdong Academy that could accommodate a thousand people, and all their food, clothing and other expenses would be paid for by the court. That’s great.
Meng Gong had long heard that the Caotang Academy in Chengdu was funded by the imperial court, but he did not expect it to be true. Moreover, Zhao Yulin wanted to build an academy as soon as he arrived in Jiankang, which showed that he cared about the education in Jiangdong and regarded Jiangdong as Chengdu.
Everyone supported running an education system. Moreover, Zhao Yulin considered academies such as universities to be the highest institutions of learning in the New Song Dynasty, so he would definitely support it, and it was quickly passed unanimously.
Then they discussed personnel matters. Zhao Feiyan said that when Fan Gong came back, Commander Zhao had proposed to promote Jingzhou Transport Commissioner Li Difu to be the governor of Jiankang Prefecture.
Later, Duke Cao proposed that Commander Zhao take over temporarily, because a large area of Jiangdong had just been recovered and the armies of Jinghu and Jiangdong needed training, and they had to ask the Fire Phoenix from Fujian to take action, because the Fire Phoenix was the chief inspector of military discipline of the Shenwei Army.
Therefore, she discussed with Mr. Fan and planned to promote Li Difu to Fujian to serve as the prefect of Fuzhou and the pacification commissioner of Fujian Road. What do you think?
Yu Jie was already very surprised at this time. How could the ruler of a country make a decision and then seek the opinions of all the officials and ask the ministers whether they agreed or not?
It’s better for everyone to sit together and speak freely.
However, the fact is that Hua Yue of the Censorate has already spoken. He believes that although Li Difu is older and has been working in Jingzhou for a long time, this is a promotion. It would be better to make him the acting magistrate of Fuzhou. How about trying him for a year and then removing the word "acting" from his title?
Finally, everyone unanimously agreed to promote Li Difu to Fujian to be in charge, and to serve on a one-year probationary basis before being appointed as a permanent official.
When Zhao Feiyan saw that the topic had been discussed, she asked all irrelevant people to leave and invited Lord Cao to come in.
After Lao Cao sat down, he said that the Minister of War, Lord Miao, was away in charge of military affairs. He made a statement to everyone on behalf of Lord Miao: The Shenwei Army was about to launch a war against the rebels in Hongzhou.
The gentlemen immediately quieted down.
Lao Cao looked at Meng Gong and Yu Jie and said: Brother Meng should know that the bandits in Hongzhou are relying on the strong city walls and are determined to follow Lin'an Prefecture to fight against the New Song Dynasty court.
It would have been fine if they could have lived in peace, but their ambitions continued to grow, and they even sent out naval fleets to openly intercept ships on the river, search them, and levy taxes.
If this continues, they will certainly block the river channel, cut off the livelihood of our New Song and the transportation of food and supplies for the Shenwei Army. This is like a poisonous thorn stuck in our New Song, which must be pulled out.
Commander Zhao believed that Lin'an Prefecture had actually obstructed the Shenwei Army's South China Sea Fleet's ships from cruising in Hangzhou Bay, and had also used tricks to support the rebellion of the bandits in Hongzhou, dreaming of an independent little kingdom. They must be woken up.
It’s just right, let’s use Hongzhou to test the knife.
He said: Hongzhou belongs to the western route of Jiangnan. Taking Hongzhou can intimidate the old people in Liangzhe and make them swallow their anger, and they will not be able to find any excuse to stir up trouble.
Everyone turned their eyes to Meng Gong.
In the past, the Jinghu Army controlled the western part of Jiangnan, and Hongzhou was considered to be the sphere of influence of the Jinghu Army.
Yu Jie was not in a position to interrupt.
All the gentlemen were waiting quietly for General Meng to speak.
After drinking a cup of tea, Meng Gong expressed his support straightforwardly. He said that the militia entrenched in Hongzhou City had nothing to do with him. These bandits dreamed of separatist Hongzhou and relying on the unique geographical advantages to collect donations and taxes, which was obviously a wrong calculation.
He believed that the Shenwei Army had already recovered Jiangdong, and the Shenwei Army's navy must ensure the smooth flow of the Yangtze River waterway. Anyone who dared to violate the laws of the New Song Dynasty and cause chaos must be eliminated.
Old Cao was happy, and everyone agreed to use military force to attack Hongzhou.
Finally, Zhao Feiyan said that military affairs have always been regarded as top secrets, and they are rarely discussed on the table. It is the first time that the matter of sending troops to Hongzhou has been put on the table. You must keep it strictly confidential...
Zhao Feiyan convened all the officials in Chengdu to discuss matters, and Zhao Yulin was also discussing matters in the government office in Jiankang.
After receiving a warning from the Fortune Teller, he felt that he should bring his deputies and subordinates together for a good talk and establish new rules.
As a result, all the judges of Jiankang Prefecture and various "envoys" were invited to sit in the conference room.
As soon as these officials entered the meeting room, they were stunned. There was a large round table in the middle with nameplates for each person on the table. The original arrangement of coffee tables and cushions where the prefect sat high above the officials in the court and sat in two rows on the left and right were gone.
When Zhao Yulin saw these people standing there stupidly, he laughed and asked, "What are you doing standing there?"
Please take your seats quickly, I have something to say.
Everyone walked over and sat down steadily, looking at him in confusion, as if asking: Is this a banquet? Why haven't the dishes been served yet?
Zhao Yulin smiled and recounted the lesson learned by the Transport Envoy the day before, praising him for strictly abiding by the laws and regulations and for daring to point out the mistakes made by his colleagues and superiors, which was very good.
The gentlemen were even more puzzled. Was the sun rising from the west?
Is there a King of Han who would slap himself in the face like this? Zhao Qi'er is a devil who would kill the imperial envoy if he did something wrong?
However, this group of people immediately heard the word "but".
He said: However, Jiankang Prefecture has been unified and has accepted the orders of the Central Court of the New Song Dynasty. The past rules should be reformed and revised. The laws of the New Song Dynasty should be followed, and the currency of the New Song Dynasty should be used. Everything should be done in accordance with the rules of the New Song Dynasty.
Everyone's faces changed immediately, and they watched nervously to see what other tricks he had up his sleeve.
