Volume 5 Chapter 32 Report

"If I suspected Lord Li, why would I need someone to investigate?" 
As Zhao Jiu instinctively choked up, not only Li Gang fell silent, but several other close ministers also fell silent... It was nothing else, it was just a matter of time. 
Not to mention the two parties involved and many close officials who had personally experienced that period , even the old Dangxiang man Ren Baozhong knew that when Emperor Zhao had just ascended the throne, Li Gang was the court's reliance and the national banner. If they wanted to fight against the Jin, unite the people and re-establish a court, only this Prime Minister Li could do it. 
At that time, Li Xianggong looked at Zhao Guanjia, who could only sit in silence under the Buddha statue. 
So, later on, this official tied Han Shizhong with a belt on the Huai River, bought Zhang Jun for half a duck, and killed Liu Guangshi by the way. He controlled the troops for a while, and used fishing tactics to create the illusion of resisting the advance of the Jin army. He was considered to have grasped some power... But he cheated immediately after the war, leaving Li Xianggong in Yangzhou, and took advantage of the situation to turn to Nanyang... Although this move was said to be necessary to resist the Jin army, it was not too obvious that he intended to use it to get rid of Li Xianggong's control and personally seize the initiative in the court. 
However, even so, Li Xianggong still had to be changed to Li Gongxiang, and the Queen Mother, Consort Xian, and the heir to the throne had to be handed over to the other party as a tacit agreement. Then, the power of the southeastern government had to be entrusted to him in order to stabilize the situation. 
This situation continued until the victory of Yanling, when Emperor Zhao recovered the old capital, gained the recognition of Zong Zezong's governor and the political and military heritage of the Dongjing Governor's Office, and acquired unprecedented political prestige. This completely changed the host and guest and reversed the situation between the monarch and his subjects. 
In fact, in the eyes of some political animals, the military rebellion in the southeast and the matter of the royal heir may not be a bad thing. Otherwise, according to the personalities of this monarch and his minister, they might cause some traditional feudal political drama. 
By then, it won't be beautiful. 
As time goes by, at the present time, Li Gang's wings have been completely cut off both inside and outside, and even his own brother does not want to do any intermediary work for his elder brother. However, Emperor Zhao enjoys power and wealth behind Yaoshan. Of course, Li Gang, an old minister who is out of place and an old powerful minister, seems even more out of place. 
In this situation, according to everyone's understanding and tacit political rules, anyone could come and talk about old things, no matter if it was the child abuse, the military turmoil in the southeast and the issue of the royal heir, or the previous resistance to the court's major policies. As long as Emperor Zhao wanted, he could end Li Boxi's political life in a dignified manner - the so-called promotion to the Mingdao Palace and settlement in Nanjing would be the solution. 
After experiencing so much, Li Gang obviously thought the same. 
However, these people had misjudged. The time traveler Zhao Jiu had his own special views on Li Gang. Even what he said just now was just a retort made when they met, and he just found a way to choke back. 
In fact, if there is one person in this world who knows that Li Gang will never be treated in the same way by Emperor Zhao, that person is definitely Zhao Jiu himself. 
"I crossed the river and went to Taiping Prefecture first. First, I haven't seen Lord Li for many years. I miss him so much... I should come and see him..." Zhao Jiu thought for a while and finally chose to be honest. "Second, I want to use Lord Li's place to avoid the limelight and figure out the situation in the south before I can act..." 
"What will the government do? And to whom?" Li Gang remained silent, but his guard remained unchanged. "Forgive me for speaking frankly, but since Lu Yihao introduced the Yuechun Coin and the Jingzhi Coin, the people of Jiangnan have been exhausted..." 
"Who do you mean by 'people'?" Zhao Jiufu finally suppressed his emotions, but he was still a little angry. "Is it the poor people who farm and weave with their own hands, or the wealthy merchants and landlords who easily throw away thousands of strings of cash? Or is it the temples and monasteries that can collect 700 to 800 dan of rent every year?" 
Li Gang was silent for a moment again, and then he asked stubbornly: "Why do you think I am speaking to those people? When and where have I ever spoken to these people?" 
This time it was Zhao Jiu's turn to get stuck. 
The king and his minister, one was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, young and vigorous, with authority at the top of his lungs; the other was about fifty years old, knowing that he was weak but still showing no sign of losing his momentum. As a result, they fell into a long period of silent staring at each other on the bank of the Yangtze River, north of Dangtu City, the capital of Taiping Prefecture, and south of Caishiji. 
The close ministers and officials of Taiping Prefecture who were accompanying him all buried their heads in the deepest place. 
There is no need to say much about the emperor's authority, and no one dared to provoke someone like Li Gang who had been a prime minister before the emperor's clear signal... The atmosphere gradually became awkward and solemn. 
After a long pause, Emperor Zhao actually chose to give in. He sighed slightly, spoke more slowly, and then faced each other seriously on the south bank of the Yangtze River: "Mr. Li, I came south to do something, not to fight with you. Even if you have grievances, you should behave like a minister and let me enter the city first." 
Li Gang probably felt a little depressed, so he bowed and made way, then shook his head and said, "I am a government official guarding the land, how can I stop the emperor from entering the state capital?" 
Zhao Jiu was increasingly speechless, so he immediately got on his horse, holding the account book with his hands behind his back, and rode into the city. 
After entering the city, the emperor and his ministers had another quarrel. Naturally, there was no harmonious atmosphere like that in Yangzhou. Both sides were perfunctory for a moment and then immediately dispersed. Li Gang returned to his own home, and because Emperor Zhao came in a hurry, he could only stay in the provincial government temporarily. 
The king and his ministers met again, but had nothing to say to each other. Recalling the day of their separation on the Huai River, the two compared themselves to Zhaolie and Wu Hou, which was simply incomprehensible. 
"I've heard that Lord Li has a straightforward temper, but I didn't expect him to be so aggressive? How can the emperor tolerate this?" 
Since Emperor Zhao was under the jurisdiction of the prefecture, it was still early, so he naturally had to go and read those investigation reports. It was fine for others, but several close ministers who had crossed the river in advance and written investigation reports could not leave. They could only stay in the side courtyard of the prefecture, chatting with each other, waiting to be summoned for questioning... The one who spoke at this time was the new secretary, Zong Ying, who was accompanying the emperor for the first time. 
"Little Sheren thinks too much." 
Ren Baozhong knew that this newly joined minister was born with good fortune, but his talent was ordinary, and his father was dead after all, so he wanted to win him over, so he immediately responded. "This has nothing to do with temper, but with position... No matter what, Li Xianggong was driven out of the position of prime minister, so it is normal for him to be angry. As for the emperor, he also knows this, so why would he keep arguing with him? Believe it or not, as long as the emperor allows Li Xianggong to resume his position as prime minister immediately, the emperor and the minister will immediately...will have a happy marriage." 
Zong Ying said "oh" and suddenly understood something, not sure whether he really understood it or just pretended to understand it. 
Besides, according to reason and character setting, although there were only a few people in the side yard, only the old Dangxiang dog Ren Baozhong could say such a powerful statement... In fact, since Ren Baozhong said this, not to mention the others, Mei Li and Yu Yunwen, two good friends from the same class, looked at each other, and they both understood it in their hearts and suppressed some thoughts. 
There was no other reason. Ren Baozhong was a powerful official in Western Xia in the past. After one defeat, he was idle for decades. Once the government invaded Hengshan, he surrendered directly. I guess he was putting himself in the other's shoes. 
Of course, it's impossible to say this to someone's face. 
However, Mei Li and Yu Yunwen were two young men who were not easy to talk to, but someone did not care. One of them spoke up immediately and showed no mercy at all. It was the Hanlin scholar Lu Benzhong: 
"Ren Sheren, don't judge others by yourself! Even if a person like Li Xianggong cares about the gains and losses of the position of prime minister, he won't go to such an extent..." 
"Please give me some advice, Master." Ren Baozhong bowed and responded without any anger. 
The others knew that although Lü Benzhong was just a scholar from the imperial court, he was good at writing poems and running a good tabloid, but his politics were a mess...but everyone also knew that he had a good father...so when he opened his mouth, not only Ren Baozhong, but the others also pricked up their ears with some seriousness. 
"You only know one side of the story, but not the other. For a person like Li Xianggong, the success or failure of his position is superficial, and the evaluation of his political career is fundamental." As expected, Lü Benzhong looked around and spoke eloquently. "In fact, the emperor and Li Xianggong had such a quarrel just now. Although they spoke little, they had already directly mentioned the key point, which is financial strategy... Financial strategy is the real reason why Hangzhou Xianggong Lü (Lü Yihao) replaced Li Xianggong, and it is also the real reason why the emperor asked us to investigate this time. It is also related to Li Xianggong's reputation after his death... It would be strange if he is not angry." 
"What do you mean?" Ren Baozhong urged. 
"What can I say?" Lü Benzhong shook his head with his hands behind his back, as if he was sighing. "When the emperor ascended the throne, Li Xianggong was in office. He built the court and cleaned up the situation. His contribution was great. But at that time, the country collapsed. There was no money or soldiers. Everything had to go through the finances. Li Xianggong's financial strategy is hard to describe. Whether he was in Nanjing or in the southeast, he only had two financial methods. One was called thrift, which made the court save money. This was speechless. The other was to let the rich people in the states and counties donate voluntarily to fill the gaps..." 
Everyone was stunned for a moment. 
Ren Baozhong was stunned, almost unbelievable: "Since ancient times, to make people pay, either the government has set laws and regulations to force them to pay, or like the government did in Yangzhou, they have been tempted with other things. Li Xianggong is also a Xianggong, why do you think that you can rely on donations from rich families to help the country get through the difficulties?" 
"This is the real reason why Li Xianggong left." 
Lü Benzhong shook his head more and more in response: "At a time when the world was falling apart, he had integrity, so he was able to stand out from the crowd, but when it came to doing practical things, he showed his inadequacy... In the battle of Taiyuan that day, Li Yanxian and Li Jiedu impeached him for not knowing how to fight. Today, the verdict has been made, so I won't say more; and at that time, the court and even the government were disappointed in him. First, he implemented such a ridiculous financial strategy in Nanjing, which was obviously not feasible; second, he still had no idea what to do after arriving in the southeast, and it was the then Prime Minister Lü (Lü Yihao) who stood up to clean up the salt and wine policies in the southeast and suggested collecting the Jingzhi money and the Liyuechun money... It just so happened that Li and Lü were incompatible in the southeast that day, so of course the court had to make a choice!" 
"No wonder Lord Li just now said that Lord Lu's establishment of Jingzhi Money and Yuechun Money were not good. No wonder he said that he had no intention of protecting the rich, but he actually had his reasons for all that." Zong Ying seemed to be thinking about something. 
"Of course, Jingzhi money and Yuechun money are not good." The third prime minister Fan Zongyin couldn't help but join in the conversation. "But if Prime Minister Lu hadn't hastily collected 6 million Jingzhi money in the southeast and brought it to Tokyo, how could there be no chaos after the troops were withdrawn from Heyin? And if Yuechun money hadn't been set as a regular practice later, causing the southeast to increase taxes by 3 million, and Jingxiang to increase taxes by 3 million shi, how could the Western Army be gathered and then win the battle at Yaoshan?! So looking back, no matter what, Prime Minister Lu was better than Prime Minister Li... The dispute between Lu and Li was decided on this tax, and Prime Minister Li will never get over this matter in his lifetime." 
Ren Baozhong was impressed for a moment, and Zong Ying felt that the two scholars Fan and Lu were unfathomable, worthy of being the internal officials. Even the others who kept silent, such as Yang Yizhong, Yu Yunwen, and Mei Li, were all in awe for a moment, thinking that one should look at a scholar with new eyes after three days of absence... These three scholars had been secretly visiting Jiangnan for almost a month, and they had indeed been reborn. 
But as for Mr. Lu, I don’t know if it was the same words that Prime Minister Lu said before leaving Beijing. 
However, just when the scenery in the side yard was unique, suddenly, a person walked out of the next yard quickly, came to the side yard, waved the book in his hand and asked directly: 
"Fan Zongyin! Is this the investigation you did?!" 
Scholar Sanzhao was horrified, and the other close ministers were also startled. They saw Emperor Zhao, who had changed into casual clothes, walk up to Scholar Fan and point at the document in his hand with unabated anger, causing Liu Yan and several young officers behind him to hurriedly follow: 
"I gave you a month to investigate a county town. I even drew a table and selected the options. What did you write? Approximately, rumored, heard... A town with a commercial tax of only 3,000 guan a year, but you don't even know who the richest family in the town is?! How did you investigate in this month?" 
Even though he knew that the emperor's anger was probably caused by Li Gang, Li Xianggong, Fan Zongyin was still flustered in the face of the emperor's wrath. He quickly bowed and said, "Let the emperor know that I asked someone after arriving in Ningguo County..." 
"Of course you asked someone. Who did you ask? Why did you ask like this?" 
"Of course it's the local scholars..." 
Zhao Jiu was so angry that he laughed instead. However, he smiled and opened the document in his hand. He turned to a place, pinched out a piece of paper, and asked again: 
"Let's not talk about the family property for now. You can't ask about it. I want to ask you why there is a note at the back of this document, saying that someone in Xuancheng is lawless and harassing the people... Did I ask you to go to Xuancheng?" 
"I am ashamed. It was the scholars in Xuancheng who heard that I was in Ningguo and ran to tell them..." Fan Zongyin heaved a sigh of relief and quickly explained. 
"So, I asked you to go on a private visit, but you couldn't help but reveal your identity as an internal official?" Zhao Jiu couldn't help laughing more and was obviously extremely angry. 
Fan Zongyin was completely speechless. 
Zhao Jiu turned his head and looked around. The smile and anger on his face disappeared for a moment, but he had no expression on his face. He asked coldly: "Who else has exposed their identity?" 
The others looked at each other, and then Lu Benzhong, who had just been in the limelight, stepped forward carefully and bowed. 
Zhao Jiu was not surprised at all. He just turned around and looked at Liu Yan who had chased after him: "Bring Mr. Lu's report on Gucheng Town..." 
Liu Yan did not dare to delay, and hurried back, then hurried out again to present Lu Benzhong's report. 
Zhao Jiu opened it and saw that the first few landlords and fields were clear, but when he turned to the other pages and saw one of the items, he felt a surge of anger rushing to his head... He held it back for a long time, and then gritted his teeth: 
"Lü Benzhong!" 
"I'm here." Lu Ben was terrified, and the others also shuddered. 
Among them, Zong Ying was experiencing this kind of thing for the first time, and he almost lost his composure and made a gesture of apologizing, but Ren Baozhong was quick to grab him. 
"Let me ask you, how many bridges and ferries are there under the jurisdiction of Gucheng Town on the shore of Gucheng Lake?" Of course, Zhao Jiu didn't pay attention to the little movements over there, but just asked Lu Benzhong in front of him seriously. 
"Four ferry crossings, four bridges." Lu Benzhong blurted out. "I counted them myself." 
"Then why didn't you write clearly, four ferry crossings and four bridges?" Zhao Jiu felt like he was holding back a breath, almost suffocating him to death. "Why didn't you write 'seven or eight small bridges crossing at an angle'?" 
Lu Benzhong didn't dare to speak at all. 
"There's more." Zhao Jiu laughed out of anger again. "Why is it written below, 'I walked out in the autumn wind on a moonlit night, and came to the small bridge by Gucheng Lake. I climbed the bridge and looked out. The light and shadows in the lake were flowing. Although it was not as good as the moonlit night under the Twenty-Four Bridges, it was also a different feeling'... You went to count the bridges, but you still thought about the moonlit night under the Twenty-Four Bridges in Yangzhou. Who do you want to play the flute for you?" 
Not only Lu Benzhong, the entire side yard was quiet with only the sound of the autumn wind shaking the trees. 
"Forget it!" Zhao Jiu was so angry that he didn't bother to argue. "I have thought about this situation before, but if everyone else is as romantic as these two inner guards, I will have wasted a month of my time in vain!" 
After saying this, the official was about to turn back to continue looking, but when he reached the side courtyard gate, he frowned and looked back: "Lü Benzhong, since your identity has been exposed, and you have been 'going out at night with autumn wind' all day, who are these biggest landlords in front of you, how much land do they have, how much tax do they pay, and even how many shops they own and what they do, and how can you be so precise... Who are you asking?" 
"I was asking about the monks." Lu Benzhong quickly explained. "There is a Mingquan Temple on the shore of Gucheng Lake... I only revealed my identity to the monks in the temple and asked them to help me investigate." 
Zhao Jiu's expression eased a little... This is actually a method, and even a very good method. Monks have a great advantage in conducting local investigations. No wonder, apart from these messy words, Lu Benzhong did a good job in investigating many places. 
However, just as Emperor Zhao was about to nod and turn around, he remembered something and asked seriously, "What about the Mingquan Temple itself? How much land does it have? Has it participated in local commerce? How many monks does it have? How many monk rooms are there?" 
Lu Benzhong opened his mouth to speak, but had no words to say. 
In such a small place like Jiangnan, Emperor Zhao just looked up and sighed when he saw the situation, but finally turned around and went back, leaving the whole courtyard in uneasiness. 
Of course, their anxiety was actually unnecessary. Just as Emperor Zhao would not really let Li Gang suffer a bad end, it was impossible for the emperor to really punish these close ministers for this matter. 
After all, Zhao Jiu knew very well that it was nonsense to expect these people to produce a "Xunwu Investigation" these days. As for those people in the side yard, including Yang Yizhong and Ren Baozhong, none of them could talk to the farmers in person. They could ask scholars, monks, and Taoists, and it would be good enough to do so. 
Zhao Jiu himself was mentally prepared. 
Besides, Zhao Jiu had no right to punish these people for this. Apart from anything else, he had spent the entire month in Yangzhou enjoying himself, eating, drinking and having fun. When had he ever done any investigation himself? 
It's nothing more than showing off one's official power, assigning tasks to others, and then making a form and forcing them to fill it out...Throughout history, these are the only means that have been used by those who do not behave properly as superiors. 
To be more specific, as an emperor, Zhao Jiu had no way of going to Bai Longyufu to investigate the truth personally. If he couldn't trust these people, then there was no one else he could trust. 
As for the anger he had just felt, it was essentially due to his anger at Li Gang, and these reports were actually not that absurd... Many things and many problems could be seen between the words. 
Moreover, as an ordinary college student who had gone through nine years of compulsory education, Zhao Jiu knew the root of the problem from the beginning. So, rather than looking for the problem based on the report, it would be better to look for corresponding evidence in the report: 
What Fan Zongyin mentioned was the widespread custom of infanticide not only in Fujian but throughout the southeast; 
As mentioned by Lü Benzhong, obscene sacrifices were rampant near rivers and lakes, and the vegetable-eating demon cult was resurrected in some places; 
Mei Li mentioned the universal integration of wealthy merchants and landlords, and temples and landlords; 
As Yu Yunwen mentioned, the customs of cremation and water burial are common in the countryside; 
As Yang Yizhong mentioned, from the literati to the common people, there was strong dissatisfaction with the ruling officials of Lu Yihao, Zhao Ding, and Zhang Jun. 
As Zong Ying mentioned, some rural people abandoned their homes and moved into the city; 
Of course, everyone cannot help but mention the common existence of super-large landlords who collect rent of more than 500 shi in towns and villages in the southeast, and the problem that the common people in the southeast are indeed burdened with extremely heavy burdens. 
For three consecutive days, Zhao Jiu stayed in the provincial government courtyard. He neither attended any banquets nor tried to reconcile with Li Gang. He just kept studying the report and summoned, questioned, and discussed with relevant ministers. 
And three days later, Zhao Jiu finally erased those superficial things and ultimately brought the problem down to the core issue of taxation in the southeast... Of course, not only had Zhao Jiu seen the answer in history books a long time ago, but all social problems would eventually be attributed to this basic issue. 
Really everything, infanticide, rampant obscene worship, the intrusion of vegetable-eating cults, the prevalence of landlords, the popularity of water burials and cremations, in the end, it all comes down to the issue of land, population and taxation. 
Therefore, three days later, after reading the reports, Emperor Zhao threw them aside completely and listed a few words in his summary notes: 
First, the rent-labor system; 
Second, the two tax systems; 
Third, there is no restriction on mergers; 
The fourth is field skin and field bones; 
The fifth is the money for the body; 
The sixth is labor. 
Among them, the meaning of the rent and labor system is very simple. Rent refers to the rent for land, and labor refers to the fact that when the common people need to perform labor service, they can fulfill their labor service obligations by paying silk and satin. 
This is China's basic taxation system for the lower classes that has been widely implemented since the Tang Dynasty. It certainly has many problems, but its progressive significance is unquestionable... Especially the "yong", which allows the people to avoid basic corvee labor by paying silk and satin, so that they can produce with peace of mind without worrying about delaying the busy farming season, and their enthusiasm for production is greatly improved. 
Therefore, no matter how many problems the rent-and-labor system had, they could not offset his enthusiasm. 
Next was the Two-Tax System, which was also a reform achievement of the Tang Dynasty and also a good policy. 
When it comes to the Two Tax Law, we need to understand a concept first, that is, in the feudal era, the common people of any country had no ability to resist the government. Every time those yamen runners came to contact with the common people, they would cause great damage... Even if they came to promote good governance, they would cause disaster every time they came into contact with them. 
When the higher-ups come to collect taxes and grain, won’t they extort money? Won’t they kill a chicken to entertain you? Won’t they be attracted by your beautiful daughter? Won’t the local scoundrels who have connections with the government take the opportunity to annex your few acres of prime vegetable garden? 
The Two-Tax System, to put it simply, is to unify the calculation of all taxes, and collect them only once in summer and autumn each year. This greatly reduces the degree to which the common people are harassed by officials, and also allows them to allocate production materials on an annual basis without having to worry about it every day and every month. 
So, of course it is good governance. 
As for Zhao Jiu's own use of temples and merchants to replace the government to implement the Qingmiao loan, it was essentially a similar idea... No matter how good the method is, if it is implemented by powerful officials and the government, it will quickly become a bad policy. This is no surprise in the feudal era... Although monks and wealthy merchants can also ruin the situation, they are still much better than the feudal government. 
Even according to Taira Kiyomori in the Akashin Team, Japan had a similar system hundreds of years ago, which was to lend money to the common people when there was a shortage of money... What was the result? The result was that the nobles took the opportunity to force the common people to collect the loans, and then used the interest to plunder and annex large areas. As a result, the Japanese-style land grant system was destroyed, the manor economy completely emerged, and the samurai class was born. 
So, if the rent-and-labor system and the Two-Tax System are basic good policies that have stood the test of time and must be upheld, the remaining four points are the real problems. 
The third point needs no further explanation... The Song Dynasty allowed mergers and acquisitions to take place at the discretion of the government, and the mergers were legal and in compliance with regulations. 
The fourth point, namely the issue of farmland skin and farmland bones, was a vicious resistance measure taken by the large landowners in order to evade the tax after the imperial court announced last year that it would impose additional taxes on land. 
To put it simply, the landlords actually annexed the land of the surrounding people and collected rent, but in order to pay less taxes, they used contracts to nominally keep the land with the people, thus transferring the court taxes that they should have borne to the tenant farmers. 
The fifth article, needless to say, is the population tax. No matter how much land your family has, as long as you have adult people, you have to pay this thing. 
Sixth, it is another disguised population tax... Under the rent-and-labor system, of course, most of the military service can be eliminated, but the military service itself is converted into taxes such as silk and satin. In other words, labor service still exists, but it is changed into taxes. 
And what was the basis for labor service? Again, the number of people. 
What's more, in addition to traditional labor, there are always other types of labor that require people to do...such as the infamous Yaqianlizheng system in the Song Dynasty. 
The yaqian was designed to look after public property, but in reality, which public property was not emptied by officials? Therefore, the yaqian service became a robbery that forced the people to replenish the official property. 
The Li Zheng is similar to... In order to facilitate tax collection, a household is designated as the Li Zheng to perform a job similar to that of a tax farmer. 
However, wealthy families who become tax farmers can take the opportunity to rob, but ordinary people who do this job dare not collect taxes from the truly powerful families, not to mention that there are poor people who really cannot afford to pay the taxes. As a result, the common people who serve as village heads have to use their own property to pay the taxes... which is basically equivalent to open robbery. 
In short, after going around in circles, it is inevitable that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, but the richer the rich, the more powerful they become, and the less likely they are to be exploited. On the contrary, the poor get poorer, and their burden does not get lighter at all. 
For example, when it comes to infanticide, the logic is very simple. A family has limited land and property, but as long as the children grow up, they will have to bear the corresponding population tax and labor tax (silk)... The result is that the poor cannot afford to raise children, and dare not raise children, so when there are too many children, they will drown. 
This was especially true in Fujian Road, where there were many people and little land. Infanticide had become a basic custom there. Hu Yin was almost drowned because of this. In the wealthy Liangzhe Road and Jiangnan East Road, although there were fewer cases, similar incidents were still common. 
This is where things come together. Infanticide is not a bad custom, and Fujianese are not born to bear a bad reputation. It is a problem of population-land contradiction and taxation. The same goes for cremation and water burial, which are to save land for farming. Obscene worship and vegetable-eating cults are still the same. It is the result of the grassroots losing confidence in the government and the government's failure to govern the grassroots. 
This has been China's problem since ancient times...the grassroots farmers bear everything, but no one takes them seriously. 
This was the reason why the Song Dynasty was so prosperous that it lasted for more than a hundred years. It was also a question that Zhao Jiu had considered for a long time before his trip to the southeast... He was mentally prepared when he came here, and he just asked his close ministers to do the investigation, and he would have a deeper understanding after his own analysis. 
Just like that, two days later, Emperor Zhao, who had never set foot out of Taiping Prefecture, erased the six words and rewrote them into two simple words: 
One is merger; 
The second is Ding Fu. 
This is connected to the textbooks I learned in those years. 
Soon after writing these two words, Zhao Jiu hesitated for only a moment before tearing them off. Then he wrote down the two words that had been lingering in his mind before he came to the notebook: 
One is that in prosperous times, the population will increase, and taxes will never be increased; 
Second, the tax rate will be distributed according to the land area. 
Two words, two pieces of paper, and Emperor Zhao was once again caught in a dilemma. 
However, just when the official was hesitating, Li Gang finally asked for an audience. After crossing the river, the official stood up the literati in the southeast, but stayed in his provincial capital for six or seven days without saying a word. At the same time, more and more literati, including those from Lianghuai, Jiangdong, and Fujian, had already gradually gathered in Liangzhe, and he could not bear the pressure from all sides. 
Therefore, we would like to ask Emperor Zhao to travel east to Liangzhe to fulfill his promise regarding the "political symposium". 
Zhao Jiu, who had not made up his mind, knew that he could not delay any longer. He sighed, put the two pieces of paper together, and set off eastward, but ordered Li Gang to accompany him. 
On the second day of October, the imperial carriage arrived in Jinling and gathered Liu Qi's troops. 
On the eighth day of October, the imperial carriage arrived in Suzhou, and the whole city of Suzhou welcomed it. Emperor Zhao immediately issued an official decree here, that he would summon the scholars and officials from the southeast to discuss politics in the vicinity of Hangzhou at the end of this month. Moreover, in addition to the incumbent and retired officials with ranks and benefits, and students and scholars, no matter whether they were monks or laymen, businessmen or common people, no matter whether they were from Lianghuai, Liangzhe, Liangjiang, or Fujian, as long as they had something to say, they could speak before the emperor regardless of whether it was written or oral... After the clear decree was passed, the southeast was finally in an uproar again. Scholars and people from all over the place rushed to report it, and gathered in Suzhou and Hangzhou. By the time Emperor Zhao's ceremonial procession left Suzhou, there were no less than hundreds of scholars from the southeast riding donkeys and carriages accompanying him. 
On October 15th, due to the unexpected rain, the imperial carriage arrived in Hangzhou a little later. Then Emperor Zhao met with Prime Minister Lu Yihao for a secret talk. In the next few days, the scholars who gathered had filled the city of Hangzhou and the area inside and outside, and there were no less than a thousand of them. 
On October 19, the final decree was officially announced. Emperor Zhao, Prime Minister Lu, and two scholars Fan and Lu will hold a corresponding symposium on the bank of West Lake starting on October 25. For five consecutive days, the emperor, the prime minister, and the internal affairs ministers will work on the spot. If there is an agreement, an edict will be issued on the spot to make it a decree. 
For a time, the southeast was boiling three times. 
On October 22, with the arrival of Xu Jingheng, the Prime Minister, Emperor Zhao finally remembered something and took the three prime ministers Lu, Li and Xu to visit the Supreme Yuansheng Emperor in the Dongxiao Palace... It is said that the two brothers were very friendly and respectful to each other when they met. The scene was extremely warm, and the two emperors and the three prime ministers even had a meal of Dongpo pork together in the Dongxiao Palace. 
As a result, in the next three days, the price of Dongpo pork in Hangzhou city doubled.
After three days of pork price increases, the West Lake Political Affairs Conference officially began.
Because Hangzhou was called Wulin in ancient times and the current emperor was the Emperor of Jianyan, this conference had already earned a nickname, the Jianyan Wulin Conference, during the three-day-long Dongpo Pork price increase trend.
But no matter what it was called, the West Lake was crowded with people. The scholars and common people were so enthusiastic that even Emperor Zhao, who was the initiator, was a little surprised.
In fact, the reason for this phenomenon is so simple that it is self-evident. Although there are many top scholars in the southern region, these are only the personal achievements of these scholars. It does not prevent the south as a whole from being in a political low point since ancient times. The southern group is naturally at a political disadvantage in terms of geography.
Similar to this is Shu, and the two Huai regions separated by a river have a much higher political status.
This situation was very obvious from the establishment of the Song Dynasty. At that time, the conquered South was a region that the rulers naturally distrusted. After the Jingkang period, Emperor Jianyan started the trend of asking questions about politics, and largely ceded the imperial power. The real power of the prime minister and the six ministries and nine officials increased greatly, and the political status of the members of the public cabinet and the secret cabinet gradually stood up. Asking questions about politics at the Imperial Academy had also become a national priority. However, the South was still far away from the capital and could not be involved in these things, which gave rise to a strong sense of political alienation and political hunger.
At the same time, after the Jingkang Incident, the two rivers were lost, the Central Plains, Guanxi, and Jingdong were all damaged, and the importance of the South within the country was greatly increased in disguise. Moreover, the country also needed to march north, which required even more financial and material support from the South.
In this situation, contradictions naturally arise.
And this contradiction is also the basic background for the southern scholar-official group to gradually merge with the frustrated Taoists and unemployed officials... According to everyone's understanding, Emperor Zhao went south this time to resolve this contradiction.
The so-called Political Consultative Conference, as far as we can see now, is undoubtedly a good way to resolve conflicts, modeled after the example of the Imperial College's political consultation. At least the form is correct. The opposition is also a minority, and everyone is still loyal to the court and His Majesty. If we shake up Jiangnan and unite the establishment, the situation will still be very good.
By the way, maybe because of the warm October in the south of the Yangtze River, the temperature did not drop after a light rain in early winter, but it felt somewhat warm. At this time, with the formal opening of the conference, the enthusiasm of everyone on the banks of the West Lake was inevitably even higher.
On the first day, many people submitted petitions collectively. Interestingly, these collective petitions were divided by region, usually led by old and famous scholars in a state or county. The petitions were all in the form of brilliant writings, but if you look closely at the content, most of them are clichés or even similar things.
The first rule is that the Emperor Zhao must be close to virtuous officials and stay away from villains. The next rule is that he must be virtuous and tolerant, must advocate frugality and avoid extravagance, must open up channels for people to express their opinions, must treat the people well, and must be friendly and respectful to his brothers...
These were of course all very correct suggestions, but whenever Emperor Zhao asked them seriously in person who were the virtuous ministers and who were the villains, they often behaved terribly... At least half of them were stage fright. After handing in the documents in person, they became shaky in front of Emperor Zhao and the three ministers, and stuttered as soon as they opened their mouths. Even the other half of the decent people who were able to maintain their posture and answer questions often became evasive after mentioning a few ministers with better reputations.
Are you kidding?
Although the South has grievances against several prime ministers in power because of the tax increase, they really dare not ask them to say who the villain is in front of Lu Yihao. Prime Minister Lu does not have the reputation of holding grudges overnight, and the people in the southeast are much more impressed by him than the central government!
Is it enough to just criticize the Prime Minister and the Chancellor from a distance?
It's not okay to say Shangshu! Didn't you see that the minister who said Shangshu was killed by Emperor Zhao?
It’s better not to say it.
As for advocating frugality and avoiding extravagance, Emperor Zhao asked them in detail, but they also hesitated. They probably thought that the emperor's digging of a fish pond in Tokyo was too unbelievable. They had never seen it, so it might not be true. But if they really said it in person, it would be embarrassing.
As for the bright red robe worn by the official, it was also half-worn, so it was even harder to say anything.
Talking about leniency and mercy, Emperor Zhao asked them again where the previous revision of the Criminal Code was inadequate. They didn't even know that as early as after Yaoshan, in order to appease the people, the Criminal Code had been revised towards the angle of leniency.
The same is true for many others. If you really read the article, you will find that it is probably very well written. But if you really ask about the details, you will often find that there are not many decent words to say.
However, even for such a document, Emperor Zhao would just smile, and then let two Hanlin scholars who looked wealthy and noble come forward to accept the document in a dignified and polite manner. At the same time, he would personally step aside and give the other party a seat, meaning that the leader would be available for consultation during the subsequent political process.
In addition, if the article is written particularly well, or the answer is decent, generally they will be asked whether they have a family background. If not, then they will naturally be granted a Tongjinshi status on the spot. If the recommended person is an opposition figure in Jiangnan, they will also send out "Red Heart Riders" to recruit him and invite him to come to the scene to play and answer.
Now, at the beginning, among the three accompanying prime ministers, Lu Yihao was very dissatisfied with this matter. He felt that this link was meaningless. Although Li Gang did not object, he did not object only because his political rise came from the students' kneeling in front of the palace, so it was not easy to oppose directly. In fact, he looked down on these middle-aged and already decayed literati and thought it would be better to directly summon some young people and well-known scholars to ask.
But soon, as this kind of petition that emphasized formalism over substance became a trend, Li and Lu immediately realized the true significance of Emperor Zhao's actions - the significance actually lay in the questioning of politics itself.
These literati below are not some conspiracy group. Judging from the way they submit petitions in groups, they are organized according to regions, because these days they cannot cross the geographical restriction even if they want to connect with each other. The documents they submit are mostly conciliatory and obviously contain nonsense that neutralizes the comprehensive position within the region... In addition, they are all Confucian literati, and it is unlikely that they really have any personal economic pressure because of those taxes. So where do all the resentment come from?
At this time, Emperor Zhao came to Hangzhou, showed them an attitude, and gave them certain political treatment, which in itself could achieve the purpose of winning them over and easing the atmosphere of confrontation.
Therefore, even this obviously formalistic political inquiry still achieved unprecedented success... Many people have never seen the emperor in their entire lives, and have never passed the imperial examination. This time, they were able to represent a state or an army, lead a group of hometown children to meet Emperor Zhao, and put forward their opinions in person. Even if they could not express themselves clearly, they were still accepted from a formal perspective and received courtesy. This was probably the pinnacle of their lives.
And since he had reached the pinnacle of his life by riding on the shoulders of Emperor Zhao, he naturally had to change his stance and become a standard establishment figure. If anyone spoke ill of the emperor in front of him, he would refute them angrily. If anyone said that a strategy of the court was not good, he would also earnestly point out the court's difficulties and make general excuses for the court.
By the next day, even the local states and counties that had not made similar preparations at the beginning had hastily gathered together, nominated famous people, and wrote documents overnight to implement this strategy on behalf of the local governments... in order to accomplish this very meaningful task.
In this way, for two consecutive days, Emperor Zhao and the three ministers met almost all the "proposal groups" from Liangzhe Road, most of Jiangnan East Road, Fujian Road, and a small part of Lianghuai Road, which satisfied the vanity of quite a number of scholars and officials, and also made the voices of praise in Hangzhou city gradually more obvious.
It seemed as though a united conference would end successfully.
But that's all.
Starting from the afternoon of the second day, some decent petitions began to appear, and many people who really wanted to discuss practical issues also showed up.
For example, the two Jiangyin literati Su Bai and Li Tao brought a group of young scholars from Changzhou to submit a separate memorial, listing more than a dozen things, all of which were specific measures.
Among them, the suggestion to gather ships in the southeast, land the "100,000 troops of the Imperial Camp" in Cangzhou and go straight to Yanyun is, of course, a typical scholar's view... If the 100,000 troops of the Imperial Camp were really sent to that place, they would lose their logistics and be surrounded and annihilated. The leapfrog tactic could not jump so far, not to mention that the southeast direction was already very exhausted. If they forced the ships to requisition, the merchants might be forced to become pirates.
However, the idea of setting up local public offices in various places and passing it down layer by layer like the Three-She Law to open up channels for communication coincided with the terms that Zhao Jiu had discussed with the ministers before he came.
Therefore, Emperor Zhao granted them both the same Jinshi degree and the title of Secretary Lang, and asked them to unite with the local scholar-official leaders "for consultation" and start from the southeast to plan this matter.
This incident further ignited the enthusiasm along the West Lake.
But just when everyone was about to continue speaking enthusiastically, another imperial decree came that night. The emperor had summoned the literati and officials for two consecutive days, and the rest of the merchants, monks, Taoists, and farmers and workers in the market had never had the opportunity to meet with the emperor. Therefore, on the third and fourth days, the emperor would suspend the audience with the literati and officials, and instead summon those people... and resume questioning on the fifth day.
This decree is so open and aboveboard that it is difficult to oppose it.
However, the retired Xu Jingheng expressed some concerns at this time... He was afraid that with only one more day left for the literati and two days of idle time, coupled with Emperor Zhao's friendly attitude, some of the literati who were truly resentful would probably take the opportunity to complete the last step of the chain and make real big news on the last day.
Of course, Mr. Xu’s worries are not unreasonable, but Mr. Li, Mr. Lu, and Mr. Zhao don’t seem to care at all, so there is nothing to be done.
Putting aside Mr. Xu's worries, let's just say that in the next two days, it will be the turn of monks, Taoists, merchants and ordinary people to participate in this martial arts conference. Their way of participation is completely different from that of the literati... Most monks, Taoists and merchants come to pay for royal protection, as the so-called precedent in Yangzhou... And Emperor Zhao is also happy to sell official positions and make deals openly.
Whether it's the five Zen temples in the southeast, the Fujian sea merchants, or the ones who own kilns or silk transport companies, no matter if you are practicing koan or silent Zen, no matter if you are going to Southeast Asia or want to go to Japan, as long as you give money, everything can be negotiated.
By the way, these wealthy merchants, monks and Taoists who came to speak also became "consultational" figures, ready to be incorporated into the local public cabinet system and become glorious system members.
As for the common people who came to see the emperor, to be honest, their number was extremely small compared to those scholars, wealthy businessmen, monks and Taoists, and most of them came to file complaints... who was divorcing whom, who was fighting for inheritance, who felt that someone in their family had been wronged, and some even came to report where the vegetable-eating cult was!
In this regard, it was even easier for Emperor Zhao to deal with it. He just transferred all of it to the relevant officials...that is, the legendary relevant departments.
The only thing was a report from the Vegetable Eating Demon Cult, because they were entrenched in Xiaoshan, opposite the Qiantang River. Therefore, no one dared to neglect it. The commander of the imperial guard, Liu Yan, personally led 500 loyal cavalrymen of the imperial guard, crossed the river overnight, and rushed to Xiaoshan. On the morning of the next day, they brought the leader of the Vegetable Eating Demon Cult and dozens of its core members back to Hangzhou.
This day is the last day of October and also the last day of the Jianyan Martial Arts Conference.
Everyone knows that today will not be peaceful... not because of the matter of the vegetable-eating demon cult, but because, as Xu Jingheng had worried before, with the free time of the previous two days, plus the fact that they were already familiar with the operation of the conference, and Emperor Zhao finally showed an "attitude of a wise ruler", these scholars and officials finally plucked up the courage to complete the final connection that transcended regions and was centered on political stance.
And these connections were actually semi-public. Those famous scholars in the south of the Yangtze River each occupied a restaurant, quoted scriptures, and jointly recommended who would write the letter on behalf of who else. There was no need for Yang Yi Zhong to investigate, they were so noisy that even the carp under the West Lake knew about it.
Sure enough, not long after that morning, Emperor Zhao received a very interesting letter.
"amnesty?"
On the open ground at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, on the south bank of West Lake, Emperor Zhao, wearing a half-worn red robe, sat with his back to the mountain and facing the lake. His envoy Lu Yihao, as an incumbent prime minister, sat directly on the left side of the desk. Then Li Gang and Xu Jingheng led the way on the left and right, with hundreds of scholars, wealthy businessmen, monks and Taoists "available for consultation" lined up on the left and right, and sat down along the slightly undulating mountain... In addition, there were several close ministers behind the emperor, and hundreds of imperial guards in full armor lined up like a forest, standing solemnly on the periphery... It was clearly divided and looked quite imposing.
"It is the amnesty."
Even though he had been prepared, the middle-aged scholar who was making suggestions could not help but feel a little nervous when he came to this occasion in person. He recalled that he had ridiculed those scholars who were speechless in front of the emperor in the restaurant before, and he felt embarrassed and ashamed... Of course, this man was a bold man after all. After a little pause, he stood firm and made his suggestion. "Your Majesty, I think that it has been seven years since the Jingkang Incident, and the past right and wrong merits and demerits have long been completely changed. At the time of the country's northern expedition, why not put benevolence and forgiveness first and grant amnesty to the world to show the integrity and justice?"
"Jing Kang's merits and demerits... But I have pardoned them before?" Zhao Jiu said in a daze. "The Central Plains bandits were all pardoned after they cultivated land for a year, and were given waste land in the Central Plains for resettlement... This was the matter that Prime Minister Xu Gong ruled."
Xu Jingheng nodded slightly, twirled his beard and frowned, causing the middle-aged scholar to panic for a moment, but soon, he gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, what I said is not referring to the rebel army in Jingkang!"
"Then they surrendered to the Jin people?" Zhao Jiu replied with a sigh. "I made an oath on Mount Bagong that I will never coexist with them... I will never pardon them!"
The man hesitated for a moment, but continued to bow and said: "Since the Jingkang period, not only those who surrendered to the Jin Dynasty have been convicted..."
Zhao Jiu asked seriously: "If that's the case, why don't you just tell me who they are?"