The First Yamen of the Great Song Dynasty

In fact, none of the old foxes in the imperial court knew what the problem was, but everyone knew that it couldn't be changed, but they were all eating in the imperial court's pot.

Zhao Ji asked Cai Jing again, but Cai Jing couldn't think of any way at this time.

So far, all the taxes that can be collected have been collected, and there are also a lot of overseas trade led by the state, making money every year.

There are a lot of open sources, but in the final analysis, it still costs a lot.

Many people think that it is still necessary to reduce expenditure, but the reduction cannot be reduced from oneself, such as reducing salary and the like.

Diligence and thrift must start with the emperor, and the ins and outs of the words begin to go down. If there is no accident, a few more words can turn the topic to the emperor's extravagance and waste.

Gao Ming thought to himself, if Zhao Ji could cut his own body, the sun would come out from the west.

As an artist with a high IQ, he didn't know what, and the minister told him?

My heart is clear, but I just don't listen.

It is said that you can never wake up a person who pretends to be asleep.

Zhao Ji is not only pretending to be asleep, but also pretending to be in a coma.

On the other side, Zhao Ji was keenly aware of the danger, and he knew what this man was going to say later. It must be to tell him not to build palaces, not to delay pleasure, etc. It seems loyal, but in fact it is picking faults and making trouble for him. nonsense.

He immediately said: "I know everything, I'm here today, you all think of a way when you go back, and once you think of a way, tell me."

Zhao Ji broke up with the courtiers, and was even a little wronged. He asked everyone to find a way to raise money, and it was also for the long-term stability of the country. This time, it was not for his own spending, so why did it come down to him again?

It was dangerous just now, if he hadn't reacted quickly and retreated immediately, he would have to listen to those old tunes again.

-

Because repairing the northern defense is of great importance, Gao Ming and his father will inevitably continue to discuss when they return home.

Gao Qiu said: "The city wall must be repaired, and the tax increase must also be repaired. Otherwise, what's the point of returning those cities? The officials must also think so, so if they don't get money, this matter will be ignored." It's not over."

Gao Ming half-jokingly said: "The government can solve many problems by taking out the good things in his own garden."

No matter how backward the Jurchens are, they are very bloody in strengthening the army, and tighten their belts to engage in military affairs.

It is said that after A Guda died in history, his younger brother Wanyan Sheng came to the throne.

Because after a long hard life, he couldn't wait to embezzle money from the treasury and set up banquets to reward himself as soon as he came to the throne.

The dignified emperor did not steal the treasury for the purpose of building a palace or buying rare treasures, but for a banquet.

Really shabby and tearful.

This matter was known by Wanyan Zonghan and other ministers. According to the regulations of Aguda back then, whoever embezzled the treasury would be punished twenty boards.

So Wanyan Zonghan and other princes and ministers dragged Wanyan Cheng off the throne and beat him twenty times.

Wanyan Sheng was probably the first emperor who was actually beaten by a minister for using the treasury to serve wine.

There is no one before, and there will be no one after.

It can be seen from this that the status gap between the king and ministers of the Jin Kingdom is not very big, and there is still the ancient tradition of the Jurchen tribe.

In addition, the Kingdom of Jin was very frugal in order to fight the war, and even the emperor did not have a good life.

This is probably the reason why the Jin army actually created the heavy cavalry Iron Buddha, which was armed to the teeth, in the hands of Wushu.

Iron Buddha is extremely expensive, how did it come about?

Eighty percent of it was saved by deducting money between teeth.

The Kingdom of Jin did not have such a huge bureaucratic army system as the Song Dynasty. After occupying the Liao Kingdom, all the money was spent wisely.

Of course, it was also because Jin Guo had a hard life before, and later the world was settled, and the rate of corruption was extremely fast.

Gao Qiu smiled and shook his head, "Do you think it's possible?"

"That's what I mean." Gao Ming said, "If you levy taxes on the common people, then you can exempt them. If you want to levy taxes, you have to levy those rich people." Levy, can you still enlist them?"

Gao Qiu waved his hands again and again, "Don't make up your mind on Fu Gentleman."

Gao Ming said in his heart, no matter if he never made a decision from them, one thing is particularly bad, that is, the money is in the hands of those rich and wealthy businessmen, they hoard the money and would rather hoard it than spend it, money is meaningless if it does not flow, It is equivalent to the money hidden by them and disappeared directly. "

But this is something that can't be helped. People don't want to spend the money they earn, and no one can do anything about it.

Gao Ming curled his lips, "If you don't think about getting money from the richest people, then you have to go to sea, and continue to expand the scale of sea trade."

"Now silk and porcelain are shipped out, spices and ivory are shipped back, and the Shibo Department collects taxes, and the money that should be collected is earned. It is difficult to expand the scale in a short time."

Gao Ming hugged his shoulders and thought, yes, it is not so easy to make a big cake. Now that the silk and porcelain business has matured, it is necessary to find new growth points for foreign trade.

Hmm... new growth points... well, it's not that easy to find.

-

After dark, without any preparation, Hua Rong came back suddenly. This was the happiest thing that happened to Gao Ming in the past few days.

Why not Huarong, the two rolled together quickly, and after making out for a while, they chatted about family affairs and court affairs.

Huarong is proceeding step by step and has not encountered any difficulties.

In other words, even if you encounter difficulties, you have experience in coping with them.

When it came to raising money to repair the fortifications, Hua Rong sighed leisurely: "I guess we can only embezzle other funds in the end. After all, if those passes are not repaired, there is no point in recovering them. It is best to build the Great Wall again." .”

"That's a huge sum of money. Why don't you ask the officials to learn from Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, and act like a monk, and ask the ministers to collect money to redeem him, maybe you can get money out of it." Gao Ming rubbed his chin, pretending to be serious nonsense.

Hua Rong smiled and said: "If he is willing to become a monk, everyone will be very happy. Who will go to redeem him, I wish he would not come back."

Gao Ming suppressed his laughter, and poked Hua Rong's shoulder, "You dare to say that about officials, I'm going to inform you."

Hua Rong smiled and embraced him, "You are mine, be careful that you will be implicated as well."

Gao Ming laughed and said, "Who said I belong to you? Did I sell it to you?"

Hua Rong picked Gao Ming's chin, "Then I'll tattoo your name on me tomorrow, will it count as a certificate?"

Gao Ming quickly shook his head, "Don't!" Because he had seen many cases of couples writing each other's name on themselves and breaking up quickly, he always felt that there was some magical curse, and he still wanted to live with Hua Rong.

"why?"

"I...I don't like tattoos."

"Really?" The picture of Gao Mingshu Shi Jin's tattoo once again appeared in Huarong's mind. Although it was an old thing, it has been proved that Shi Jin is not a threat, but the bad feeling at the beginning left a deep impression on him. I still don't forget.

"Writing on others is good, but writing on you is not good." Gao Ming said with a smile: "Anyway, we are not allowed to write. Every time we meet you in the future, we will check to see if you have written anything on your body!"

Hua Rong immediately untied his belt, "Come on, check it now."

How could Gao Ming be polite, he also removed his own clothes and checked each other.

……

After waking up, the sky was bright, and I got tired of Huarong again, seeing that it was getting late, "Are you leaving?"

Hua Rong sighed, "Yes."

Gao Mingming knew the result, but after hearing it, he still felt uncomfortable, hugged him and said, "No, you go."

"I'm leaving, and you are busy with business." Huarong joked: "The country still needs you, and it's not good for me to always occupy you."

"I don't have anything to be busy with recently." Gao Ming said: "Everyone has to find a way to make money, and I don't have to use my brain alone."

As soon as the words were finished, a servant knocked on the door and said, "Song Jiang is back, Song Jiang is back, Song Jiang is back."

The people outside the door shouted repeatedly.

Hua Rong couldn't bear to hear it, "Just say it once!"

"It was my order. I think Song Jiang Bacheng will be back in the next few days. I was afraid of missing the report. I told them to tell them three times in the morning when they got the news."

Hua Rong looked at Gao Ming with a smile, "Just now I said it's nothing, so this matter just came to me."

"So, there are some things that cannot be said." Gao Ming sat up and smiled at Hua Rong, "Will you follow me to see Song Jiang?"

Hua Rong has no interest in Song Jiang, "I don't have any extra time to spend on him."

"Then I'll go by myself?" Gao Ming thought it would be all right to ask Song Jiang to wait for a while, and got tired of Hua Rong for a while before they got up one after another.

Hua Rong tidied up his clothes and left first, while Gao Ming stayed on the meeting bed again before getting up to see Song Jiang.

"Xiao Ke Song Jiang pays homage to Master Gao." Song Jiang bowed respectfully as soon as they met, "Congratulations to Master Gao Ping Yan for his meritorious service, and he is honored as a king." After finishing speaking, he presented a box with both hands, "This is Xiao Ke brought back from the Kingdom of Jin A little special product, please accept it with a smile, Mr. Gao."

Gao Ming asked someone to take it with a smile, and after putting it on the table, he lifted it up and took a look, and saw a big ginseng plant inside, which he probably got from the Kingdom of Jin.

"You have a heart." Gao Ming waved his hand, told Song Jiang not to be too polite, and told him to sit down.

Song Jiang was cautious, so he only sat on one side of the chair in front of Gao Ming to show respect, "Xiao Ke has already brought all the people from the Kingdom of Jin to the vicinity of Bianliang. Master Shi is taking care of them now, so Xiao Ke will come to Taiwei's mansion first to report. .”

Gao Ming lowered his head to drink his tea, "Who is here?"

In fact, he had already received a letter from Shi Qian to report, but the length of the letter was limited, and he didn't say it so clearly. He still wanted to ask Song Jiang.

"There are two princes of the Kingdom of Jin, the sixth prince Wanyan Zongjun, the eighth prince Wanyan Zongqiang, and the clan Wanyan Xiyin..."

After Wanyan Xiyin, Song Jiang reported the names of seven people surnamed Wanyan, but these people were basically not important.

The most important thing is the two princes, plus Wanyan Xiyin, who came to learn cultural knowledge and wanted to create Jurchen characters.

Wanyan Zongqiang was familiar with Wanyan Xi Yin Gaoming, but Wanyan Zongjun was relatively unfamiliar.

Gao Ming asked again: "Is the journey going smoothly?"

Song Jiang looked embarrassed. He really wanted to say that everything went well, so that the court would not think he was incompetent, but the real situation made it impossible for him to tell lies, "It was fine before, but we just crossed the sea and set foot on the Song Dynasty As for the land, I heard that the negotiations between Song and Liao were successful, and the Liao Kingdom returned the city to the east of Taihang Mountain.

The Jin people became dissatisfied when they heard the news. They felt that since Da Song called them here, they should have a closer relationship with Jin. "

"and then?"

"Of course they were clamoring to go back, and then they moved on under Xiao Ke's persuasion." Song Jiang said cautiously, "So...if they see Mr. Gao later, they may ask about the Liao-Song alliance."

Song Jiang also reminded Gao Ming, don't let the Jin people suddenly attack and tell Gao Ming to be unprepared.

"What else did they say? For example, is there any dissatisfaction?"

"That's not the case. Along the way, they still have a lot of love for things in the Central Plains."

"Okay, I know everything. Take me to see them." Gao Ming put down the teacup, got up and said.

Song Jiang led the way in front, all the way out of the mansion, went straight to the outside of the city, to meet the Jin people.

It was already afternoon when Gao Ming and the others arrived at the posthouse where Jin Guoren was staying.

As the sun went down, it shone into the eyes of the Wanyan family men, making the slightly dissatisfied eyes even more impactful.

Especially when Wanyan Zongqiang saw Gao Ming, he said angrily, "What's going on with you and the Liao Kingdom?"

When Gao Ming heard it, he thought that your Chinese was much better. It seems that you must have practiced more since I left.

Wanyan Xiyin was proficient in Sinology, and later referred to Chinese to create the Jurchen script, which can be called Jurchen Cangjie.

But now he has not invented the Jurchen script, and he is planning to come here to learn the experience, and he does not want to fall out with Gao Ming. After hearing the movement in the Liao and Song Dynasties on the road, some of them wanted to return to Jin Kingdom directly, and he was the main force to persuade everyone. Stay and move on.

At that time, he advised everyone to come, at least to go around the capital of Song State, and ask Gao Ming face to face.

So, seeing Gao Ming at this moment, these impatient Jurchens all questioned him.

Gao Ming was already prepared, smiling and raising his hands to signal everyone to be quiet, "Be quiet and don't be impatient, please sit down and talk."

Wanyan Zong said strongly: "My brother saved you, is this how you repay us? I heard that you were made king because of the Liao Kingdom's affairs!"

He practiced this sentence for a long time and said it very smoothly.

Even he himself was surprised that he said it in one breath.

Sure enough, when he entered Song Dynasty, everyone around him spoke Chinese, and he improved very fast.

Gao Ming thought to himself, you still have the face to mention the matter of "setting up a trick to save me".

He put on a wry smile, "But when I was in the Kingdom of Jin, I only promised not to form an alliance with the Liao Kingdom to attack the Kingdom of Jin. The fact is the same. Our Song Kingdom is still neutral, and we did not agree to jointly send troops to the Kingdom of Jin."

"Send troops together?" Wanyan Zongqiang and Wanyan Xiyin said in unison.

A joint attack sounds dangerous.

Gao Ming sighed first, then waved to them, "Take a step to talk."

The three of them walked out a few steps, avoiding the others.

Gao Ming said sincerely: "At the beginning, the Liao Kingdom made the condition of ceding the state capital west of the Taihang Mountains and headed by Yunzhou, and asked us to agree to send troops from the sea to attack the Jin Kingdom, and attack the Jin Kingdom from east to west. Otherwise, Yunzhou would not be able to talk about it. We Song Guo didn't want to be an enemy of Jin Guo, so he didn't agree to this condition, and watched Yunzhou fly away."

After finishing speaking, he sighed to express his regret.

Wanyan Zongqiang listened to the general idea, but Wanyan Xiyin understood, "Is that so?"

Gao Ming explained earnestly: "The emperor of your country once told me personally that the Jurchen is no more than ten thousand, and more than ten thousand is invincible. Now you have tens of thousands of soldiers, and you have beaten the Liao country to the ground. Therefore, The Liao Kingdom wanted to exchange terms with us. On the condition of the sixteen prefectures of Youyun, they asked us to send troops across the sea to attack your country. I think your country has warmly entertained me, and the friendship between the two countries is long. How can we agree to such a condition? He kept persuading His Royal Highness King Yun who was in charge of the negotiation at that time, and told him to agree to only half of the conditions and remain neutral. You also know how much our country wants to take back Youzhou and Yunzhou and other places. Now it is not easy Don't look at me as a king, but because I didn't take back the whole territory, I'm just a county king."

He acted very aggrieved, with an appearance of "It's all to protect you, our Song Dynasty didn't take back Yunzhou, and I didn't make a prince".

In short, Jin Guo, think about it carefully, are we sorry for you, or are you sorry for us?

Wanyan Zongqiang used Jurchen dialect to communicate with Wanyan Xiyin for a while, digesting all the information Gao Ming just said.

Half-believing and dubious: "Really?"

"Of course, because we couldn't reach an agreement, we went to Youzhou twice. The agreement signed later was that Song State remained neutral in exchange for Youzhou. And Yunzhou in the west, because we refused to send troops to assist Liao State, did not It's in our hands." Gao Ming sighed helplessly, "I didn't expect that we have done so much, and you have misunderstood it. It is really difficult for us in Song Dynasty."

Surrounded by wolves, tigers and leopards, it was too difficult.

Wanyan Zongqiang and Wanyan Xiyin exchanged glances, their expressions became much more relaxed.

Wanyan Xiyin showed a convinced smile and said: "Before I didn't know the situation, I thought you were on good terms with the Liao Kingdom and abandoned the friendship with the Jin Kingdom, as long as you don't have it. Our Majesty can also feel relieved. How offended you were just now. The place, Mr. Gao Haihan."

In any case, it is good that Song State did not fall to Liao State.

Gao Ming shook his head with a gentle smile, "It's okay, the communication between the two countries is not smooth, and misunderstandings will inevitably occur. You are here this time, get to know Da Song well and get to know each other better. Take a good rest tonight, and I will lead you into Bianliang City tomorrow."

The three walked back, everyone saw the peaceful expression on their faces, and knew that they had spoken.

The Jurchens surrounded Wanyan Zongqiang and Wanyan Xiyin asking this and that.

But Gao Ming keenly noticed a person, who was a few years older than Wanyan Zongqiang, and he was watching coldly from the sidelines with an uncomfortable expression, and did not go up to ask.

Gao Ming took a look, hehe, this person obviously doesn't get along with other people, so he walked up and greeted this person with a smile, "Excuse me, are you His Highness the Sixth Prince Zong Juan?"

Wanyan Zongjun nodded with a cold face.

Gao Ming hurriedly pretended to be happy, "So it's really His Royal Highness Wanyan Zongjun, the first son of the Great Jin Kingdom?" After finishing speaking, he quickly asked his attendants to hand over a delicate box, opened it himself, and showed the other party what was inside, "This golden box The knife is a small gift I prepared for you."

This golden dagger was smelted from the raw gold that Wanyan Aguda gave Gao Ming when he left the Kingdom of Jin.

Onyx sword soldiers, pure gold blade scabbard.

Using the world's advanced technology, skilled craftsmen use cutting-edge technology to carefully carve the unicorn pattern. The workmanship is very exquisite and has great collection value.

Don't reach out and hit someone with a smiling face, let alone one who gives gifts with a smiling face.

Wanyan Zongjun's impression of Gao Ming improved a lot in a distant foreign country, especially when he saw that there was only one golden knife, and there was no role for Zong Qiang, so he couldn't help but smile, "Give it to me of?"

Gao Ming laughed and said, "Your Highness, please accept it."

Wanyan Zongjun was not polite, picked up the golden knife, pulled out the blade, looked at the sunset, a golden light shone brightly, "Good knife!" He called Zong Qiang and Wanyan Xiyin to come and have a look, "You guys also come and have a look. "

Who is not greedy for good things, Wan Yan Zongqiang and the others walked over, and after exchanging a few words, they couldn't help but look at Gao Ming, as if they were saying, just a hand?

Wanyan Zongqiang was particularly disappointed. He and his sixth brother Zongjun should be equal. They are both sons of their father, Emperor Aguda. Why should they only give gifts to Zongjun?

Besides, he and Gao Ming have known each other for a long time, so how could he be left behind?

The Jurchens are good at this, they write on their faces whether they are happy or not, Gao Ming can see Wanyan Zongqiang's depression at a glance, so he is very happy.

You were united when you were in the Kingdom of Jin, but don’t even think about uniting in the Song Dynasty, let’s start fighting!

Wanyan Xiyin saw Zong Qiang's resentment, pulled Gao Ming aside, and said, "Why is there no Eighth Prince?"

Gao Ming pretended to be stupefied, "Ah? This, the most expensive gift, is only given to noble people. I heard that the sixth prince, His Highness Zong Jun, is the son of the empress of your country. He should have a detached status. I The sons of the Great Song Dynasty are honorable, and those who have a son will be the sons of the sons, and those who have no sons will be the elders. The sixth prince is now both the son of the son and the elder brother of the eighth prince, so according to my Great Song law, he should be treated preferentially."

Wanyan Xiyin shook his head again and again, "We are not like that, all princes have the right to inherit, and whoever lives to inherit the throne, whoever is the oldest, will inherit."

Of course Gao Ming knew that in the Kingdom of Jin, if Aguda died, he would pass the throne to his younger brother Wanyan Sheng.

When Wanyan Sheng is about to die, the throne will be passed on to the next generation of princes.

These princes, as long as they have not died in the war by then, they will choose the oldest one to inherit.

Don't be sad for the princes who are young and behind.

After all, you fight every day, maybe your brothers will die in the battle tomorrow.

Now that A Guda is alive, Wanyan Cheng is the crown prince.

Once Wanyan Sheng came to the throne, juniors like Zong Wang Zong Bi Zong Qiang would all automatically become princes.

This is why Guan Wushu was later called the Fourth Prince in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Because there is not one prince in the Kingdom of Jin, but a group of princes, and the remaining one will be the emperor.

Therefore, at this moment, Zong Juan is not higher than Zong Qiang.

But Gao Ming only gave Zong Jun an expensive gift, without Zong Qiang, it would be hard to justify.

Gao Ming pretended to be remorseful, "It's my fault. I didn't investigate the national conditions of the two countries. This is a customary gap. Oh, blame me."

Wanyan Xiyin knew that the son of the Song Kingdom was indeed of high status, so it made sense for Gao Ming to judge others by himself and infer the affairs of the Jin Kingdom from the customs of his own country, "Well, it is true that the two countries are different, so it can't be blamed. you."

Wanyan Zongqiang, like his brother Zongbi, has a strong personality, with Zongjun and without him, he feels unbalanced, especially in a foreign country, feeling that he is not taken seriously.

Gao Ming said repeatedly: "It won't happen in the future."

Wanyan Xiyin smiled wryly: "I'm not asking you for a gift, I really don't. Anyway, in the future, or don't have a gift, once there is a gift, it's best to double it."

"Understood." Gao Ming said, "Actually, I prepared new clothes for everyone, and I will be entering Bianliang City soon. It will be more convenient to see other people after changing clothes."

Although they are also wearing Central Plains clothes now, they are not luxurious after all.

Wanyan Xiyin understood that the high-ranking officials in the Central Plains had luxurious clothes, and thought that if the two princes were not dressed well, they would inevitably show timidity when they went to Tokyo to meet officials.

I thought that Gao Ming was quite careful, "Alright, I'm sorry to trouble you."

Gao Ming said: "I brought a lot of suits, and there are basically all sizes, you can choose it yourself." Then, he said to the followers at the door: "Move the box upstairs."

Wanyan Xiyin and the others saw two guards carrying a camphor wood box, and there were ten boxes in front, back, and back.

Wanyan's family, a total of ten people did not bring this much luggage, they couldn't help being a little surprised, and followed them up the stairs full of curiosity.

When I opened the box, I saw that there were all kinds of clothes inside, some obscene clothes on the inside, and robes on the outside. No matter what the style was, they all had one thing in common, that is, the fabrics were all silk and satin.

Before sending troops to attack the Liao Kingdom, Wanyan Zongqiang vaguely remembered that he wore animal skin clothes and fish skin clothes when he was a child. Where did he wear such good fabrics? Even now, they don’t have much money.

The clothes he wore in Da Song had been carefully selected, and they were completely incomparable with the clothes in front of him.

The fabric is water soft, mirror smooth and all satin.

Gao Ming stood at the door and said with a smile, "You can choose whatever you want to wear tomorrow, and the rest will be used as a change of clothes."

For a moment, he felt that his tone sounded like a domineering president.

Wanyan Zongqiang was obviously very satisfied, nodding at him frequently with a bright smile.