Chapter 170: The eve of the Martial Arts

Ouyang smiled and said, "I'm afraid this is not something that the prince or the minister knows. After the war in the northwest, the emperor intended to set up a military office in the Privy Council."

"Military Affairs Office?"

"Yes. It's mainly a strategic issue. For example, it was used to consume Xixia at that time, and exhausted the national strength of the Xixia people. But this trick didn't work for the Liao people. So how should we deal with the Liao people? The prince looked at the people in the Privy Council either had never been on the battlefield. Those who had been on the battlefield were not familiar with the Hebei region, but those who were familiar with Hebei region had no strategic vision and often wanted to win." Ouyang said: "The emperor said that this war was about planning. It was like building a house.

You have to decide how big the house to build, how high the pillars should be, how big the beams should be, where the living room is, etc. If you take a step by step, you will get the pillars first, but the pillars will be squeezed into the living room. The living room can only move backwards, and there is a beam behind it. It is really difficult to deal with this way. Looking at the past wars, this road goes out here and that road goes out there, and several roads are in unison, but are there any goals in these roads? Should you see an enemy kill one, or see a city occupy one."

Tong Guan nodded: "It's reasonable, the emperor is wise. If we look at the battle between the northwest and the Western Xia, I feel that there are still many luck. If we have plans from the beginning, we don't have to defend Tianhuang County. Guasha and the two states have weak defenses and can occupy these two places. The Xixia army will come to rescue them and let them attack for a long distance. Of course, the emperor's decision to occupy Tianhuang County is not a trick."

Ouyang bowed and said, "I was going to have a prince in charge in the court. I'm afraid that the seven states will be won. It can completely drive the Xixia people to a desolate place in the north."

Tong Guanbing said politely: "Mr. Ou raised his compliment."

Ouyang sighed and said, "It's a pity that the emperor has never found a suitable person to form this military office. The emperor said that the military office is related to the fate of the Song Dynasty, and there are only three people in the world who can lead here. The first one is General Han Shizhong, but in order to open up the Silk Road, the court has to maintain this path. General Han cannot separate himself. Besides, the northwest is rough and he dare not change generals easily. The second one is the old general in Zhong Shizhong, but unfortunately the old general is old and cannot see the thick line map clearly. And the third one is... Prince, you."

"I?"

"Yes, the prince is at a time when he is careful. During the Zhenghe period, the prince was in charge of the general and sent troops to Xixia in all directions. He knew the various military routes very well. He also knew very well about the terrain of the north. He also had a thorough understanding of the temperament of the Liao people, and with the prestige in the army, he would not be the second choice."

"The Military Affairs Office is quite interesting." Tong Guan nodded. This is a department that is planning. What is he a eunuch greedy for? Money? Women? It is not, but naturally a right. According to Ouyang's description, the military affairs office's rights can lead the three armies. It is impossible to go wherever he goes. Of course, it is not as good as being the local emperor in the Western Army. However, Tong Guan also understands what Ouyang said before. It seems that even if he wants to go back to the Western Army, he may not be able to do it. Tong Guan said: "Tong has been favored by the emperor for decades, and Tong will naturally go wherever the emperor said."

"I heard that the prince is loyal for a long time. The prince admires him. The prince toasts the prince with tea instead of wine."

"Slowly, it's boring to drink tea." Tong Guan greeted: "Come on, prepare a banquet. I want to drink some hot drinks with Lord Ou."

It's rare to be confused, but this is what it means. Knowing that the court wants to attack him, it's not a bad thing to pretend to be confused and grateful. Besides, it's called "first politeness" now. If you don't agree or whatever, you can only be the next soldiers. Besides, according to Ouyang's meaning, not only will the king not withdraw, but even the official will not be surrendered. The only thing is that he is really sent to nothing.

Ouyang’s restaurant is not as good as Tong Guan, and he was knocked down before noon. Tong Guan smiled when he saw this and asked Zhang San and Li Si to help Ouyang back to rest. As soon as he left Tong’s house, Ouyang woke up: “Md, fortunately pretending to be dead early. This guy is not ordinary to drink.”

Zhang San smiled and said, "The soldier is a trick. The lord won Tong Guan's game in this ordinary bar."

"It may not be that he has doubts, but he doesn't want to doubt this matter. Since I'm drunk, no matter whether I pretend or not, I just think I'm drunk. Tong Guan is not bad at being a good person, and it can be seen from this point of view. If you change to you, you won't let others leave without drinking."

"It's true. I drank a few years ago. Wang Wu used the excuse of his wife being alone at home and some child was sick. Finally, he was anxious and said that the house was on fire, but we refused to let him go. Later, Wang Wu suffered a lot and was kneeled on the floor by his wife for three days. Think about it, we pretended to be stupid at that time. Since he didn't want to say that he was afraid of his wife, we would just treat him as the excuse of it. This way, both sides could step down."

"So, I didn't win this game, he didn't lose." Ouyang still said with a little heaviness: "This Tong Guan is also a talent. The emperor also understands. He wants to help the people below find the right position. He still drank too much, and his stamina is really strong." After saying this, Ouyang vomited it out by the wind.

The horse came far away, Dawen's clothing dismounted and said, "Your Majesty, please invite Lord Ou."

Ouyang smiled: "Look at me like this, can you still go to see the emperor? Who are you? Take out your ID card and take a look?"

Zhang San hurriedly said, "Sir, my lord really can't see the emperor like this. It's better to talk about it after sobering up."

“Okay.”

When Li Si saw the inner guard leaving, he said, "The adults still lose to Tong Guan, they are going to be the ones who are trying to get a stubborn drink."

"I guess he guessed that the adults would pretend to be drunk early in the morning, but he turned out to be really drunk. I guess he was still proud now." Zhang San said: "Raise it and go."

...

Zhao Yu smiled and looked at Ouyang who was rubbing his temples: "Drunk?"

"Yes, a headache, I want to vomit." Ouyang hates this feeling the most. This is only when he drinks it and hurts his body.

"How is it?"

"According to Weichen, Tong Guan should be fine. Otherwise, he wouldn't play this trick with Weichen at the wine table." Ouyang started to pretend to be drunk as soon as he was on the top of his head, but he didn't expect that the old wine was used. He was very polite and said that the years were not enough, please take more. As a result, the more he drank, the more he felt. Damn Tong Guan was kind enough to open the window to let him breathe a little more. Don't he know that people who drink too much cannot breathe a breathe the most?

Zhao Yu nodded with satisfaction: "The more I feel that I can't live without you. Do you really want to go to court?"

"Wei is a local official now, and your Majesty will not care too much about it. Once you go to court, what you say will be misunderstood is Your Majesty's intention. Either you agree with it or attack it in groups. If you have the qualifications of Cai Xiang, of course it doesn't matter. But we seem to be too early."

"It makes sense." Zhao Yu agreed that many officials were fine when they were invaded by the DPRK. However, after entering the DPRK, interpersonal relationships and political opinions would always change a lot. It is good for Ouyang to be like this. No one is difficult for a county magistrate, and he doesn't have to date any ministers. Yang Ping is close, so he just wants to greet him if he has something to do.

"Your Majesty is wise. This good official also needs a good environment to achieve results. For example, Lord Zongze once said that when he was sent to a poor county as a magistrate, the quality of the yamen runners was low and no one could read. The chief clerk was a drunkard, and there was no one in his hands. Although a county was not big, it was absolutely small. In addition to the county town, there were villages, so he had no choice but to do it himself." Ouyang said: "Weichen thinks that improving the quality of the grassroots yamen runners is the most important thing. After all, these people are dealing directly with the people. And Your Majesty also knows that since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there have been hundreds of mobs. If the people below can do things well, weichen thought that this would not happen."

Zhao Yu asked: "What do you think?"

"The first is to increase the salary of the yamen runners. Now, some places have only seven stagnant wages for work and food a year. If they are to take their families, they can't live without a living, so they can only collude with officials or bully the market. However, in a vicious cycle, businessmen dare not come here in this environment, so they will become poorer and poorer. Your Majesty sees that the few prefectures and counties that are still alive in the Song Dynasty, all of them are privately increasing the treatment of the yamen runners, either directly or extra subsidies."

"I'm discussing whether you enter the court or not, I'll let you go around the yamen runners." Zhao Yu said: "I'm not afraid to tell you directly. These yamen runners are all cheap jobs. Even if you're Yangping's family, you're just doing it, others are doing it behind your back. I know why? Because there are different levels of people. Even if you, Ouyang, thinks so. Those who are illiterate don't even have the right to settle down. The government does not subsidize taxes and don't even enjoy the welfare of your government. Although you want to promote these two things, don't forget that you are giving people a share of the order. The same is true for the court. Do you know why the court restricts monks?"

Ouyang thought about it and said, "Honor, right?"

"No, because monks do not pay taxes and do not work. If there is no restriction, where will the Xiang army recruit? Who will cultivate the land? Who do you think will not be willing to get it without work?" Zhao Yu said: "As you said, the quality of the yamen runners is low, but if you use a high-quality person like you as a yamen runner, do you feel that you are wasting? Do you know that all industries are short of the high-quality people you mentioned? For example, Yangping, it is indeed good. But Yangping has contributed talents to the Song Dynasty? In the past three years, Wuyangping's imperial guards and Wuyangping's Xiang army have doubled their population every year. But you do not pay taxes and profits. Do you know why Yangping is so rich? It's not that you Ouyang is capable, but that Yangping is looting. You squeezed out how many industries you have in Tokyo and Shouzhou, and how many benefits you have put in your bag. Do you think I really can't understand?"

Ouyang said: "Your Majesty, I do not agree. I did instruct everyone to acquire industries. But your Majesty knows that in the past, each person produced one item a day, but now each person produces three items a day on average. The production cost is reduced, and the technology is improved. The quality and price are incomparable before. Of course, some people did go bankrupt and commit suicide. But without annexation and competition, society would not have made progress."

"I know, and I also know the contributions of Yangping in the Northwest War and the Yangping Business Association after the war. But the contributions of merchants are all for reward."

"..." Ouyang was silent for a while: "No profit can't get up early, this is not only about businessmen. Even if Yangping's yamen runners do not have that attractive salary, they will not be self-disciplined."

"When it comes to the point, it's just a word of profit." Zhao Yu sighed: "Businessmen pursue profits forever. And you are making all the people of the Song Dynasty start to pursue profits. Use profits to drive others. Do you think there will be people like Zong Ze and Li Gang in the court in the future?"

Ouyang knew that Zhao Yu was talking about the truth. Because of radical profit-seeking, his moral level will inevitably decline. On one side is the progress of society and on the other side, the decline of morality. Is it really inversely proportional? How does modern people’s indifference come from? Many news have said that because someone helped one person, he was wronged by that person. Why did he be wronged? Of course, the word “profit” is the word “profit”. When such things happen, the moral level of the whole nation declined. Not long ago, an aunt was hit by a car and a foreigner got off the car and asked for help, but the Chinese assistant who was in the same class stopped him. After getting off the car, the assistant took photos of the scene as evidence, he treated the aunt. In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang tried the case, and confronted the two sides, and being a thief would be guilty. Why? It is because there is an invisible force of morality that is restrained. In modern times, it is mostly legal constraints. Everyone understands the law and everyone plays the law.

Seeing that Ouyang did not speak, Zhao Yu said softly, "I know that you are still determined. The Yangping Business Association stipulates that even if you are annexing other people's industries, there are appropriate compensation standards. You can either invest in shares or buy out money. There is no such thing as colluding with the government and bullying the domineering. But have you ever thought that one day you are gone, and these businessmen still take these rules seriously? Chen Dong gave an example to say that, for example, Tokyo chicken is all produced by a family. Once this battle increases the price of chicken ten times and pursues huge profits, will the people buy it?"

Ouyang naturally knows the disadvantages of monopoly, but if he does not monopoly, he will not be able to quickly advance social progress. Ouyang said: "Your Majesty, I will draft commercial law in the near future and use this method to restrict your Majesty's concerns."

"Well, there are methods for tea, and salt." Zhao Yu said: "You still have to explain to merchants. After you write it, you have someone to send it over. I will take a look at it myself."

"Yes" Hedong in thirty years, Hexi in thirty years. Ouyang Xianxian Zhao Yu has become more and more experienced. He is becoming more and more logical in thinking about things. He has not made any progress at all, and is always relying on the practices of modern society or history. How could the rulers not know why there were so many mobs, but sometimes they were helpless. For example, the 800-mile water bore in Liangshan, and the court was unable to supply the food money for the Western Army because of Song Huizong's uncontrollably squandering, so they could only collect the water bore into public ownership.

Of course, Zhao Yu also saw the benefits of commercial exhibitions, the national treasury was enriched, and the people were healthy. It was not without emperors who thought about establishing a navy before, but the cost was quite huge. After productivity increased, problems such as cost were reduced. But there were advantages and disadvantages. How to find a balance from it is what Zhao Yu, the ruler, wanted to know the most. Ouyang's commercial law could limit merchants to a certain extent, which is definitely a good thing for the theory of balance.

...

A few days later, Tong Guan submitted a letter to the court, saying that he was old and begged to resign from the position of Supervisor of the Western Army. After the court agreed, it issued an order to appoint Tong Guan as the Chief Secretary for the Military Affairs Office of the Privy Council, and was appointed as the second-rank official. At the same time, Hebei West Road and Hebei East Road were combined into Hebei Military Road. The three-horned horns can attack, retreat can defend, and guard the general military structure in the north that is facing each other is undergoing major transformation. All details are under the responsibility of Zhang Xuanming.

A few days later, the court and the Royal News promulgated the Song Dynasty Commercial Law at the same time, which imposed some restrictions on merchants. For example, some goods were prohibited from hoarding goods, and some goods were prohibited from buying and selling outside the county. Cross-county commercial cases were all subject to the Criminal Commercial Departments of each state, and the prefecture and county governments no longer interfered in such disputes. It also stipulated that once the price contrast of a certain commodity exceeded 20%, the Ministry of Revenue had the right to send people to inquire, such as there was no justification for price increase or price reduction, and the crime was discussed. In general, as if the centralization was strengthened, the court strengthened the surveillance and centralization of business, weakening the control of local officials over business. At the same time, the laws also protected the interests of some merchants. In general, the interests of merchants were not only not very sacrificed this time, but also had benefits. The sacrifice was the local interests and strengthened the central rights.

Yangping Business Association had regulations on people's livelihood products and prices also had regulations on price gouging. When merchants saw this rule, they knew that they would not interfere with their own operations. Moreover, once the local government made things difficult for merchants, they could go directly to the State Criminal Division to appeal, or even directly submit the paper to the Ministry of Revenue. Of course, this also weakened the influence of Yangping Business Association and the Southeast Business Association. However, the shareholders were confident because Ouyang had no intention of solving their big concern. Many people had already worried about the problem of excessive authority and excessive influence of the business association. Now that the law was issued, the court adopted a relatively mild approach. Although it had lost some rights, merchants were not politicians after all, and they were still interests.

The local officials who sacrificed the most were also very sensible. They began to invest in the industry. They did not embezzle, did not accept bribes, and only sought bonuses every month. They had little care and had money to take. The introduction of this commercial law was not without any benefit to them.

...

After half a month of martial arts, Ouyang returned to Yangping and looked at a sample silver note in his study. He shook his head while looking: "No, the cost of this silver note is high, but most of the ones we printed are hundreds of coins, which is very low in comparison. But the cost of counterfeiting is too low. Go back and tell Su Qian to ask the printing factory master to speed up the research. The silver note is used for circulation, and it must be recognized by ordinary people with some anti-counterfeiting knowledge. It will take two days to recognize this silver note."

"Yes" The person who came brought a model to say goodbye. No one liked to wear a large bag of copper to the street. The Jiaozi had a small face value and a small circulation volume, and copper coins were still the main means of circulation. Silver notes were originally the solution to this problem, but the technology was immature and it was easy to imitate it, so it could not be done. At least Ouyang could not imitate it, which was considered successful.

Bai Lian informed: "Sir, Wanyan Lan asked for a meeting."

"She came to Yangping? Still asking for a meeting?" Ouyang did not say he would see him, but read several royal briefs, which said that with the help of Yelu Dashi and a large number of rocket cars, the Liao people conquered three cities in a row last month. Now the war is approaching Huanglong Mansion. Both sides seem to have returned to the battle of Hubu Gangda. Of course, now the Jurchen military strength will no longer be 20,000, but 300,000. Ouyang probably guessed what it was. He put the briefing away and said, "Well... I'll ask the wife to tea later."
Chapter completed!