Chapter 351 Something Big Happened

After coming out of the Ruisi Palace, Zhao Jun prepared to return to the Political System Institute.

Not to handle government affairs, but at this point in time, it was time to go to the Chongzheng Palace, to sort out the topics to be discussed today and elaborate on them at the meeting.

In fact, at this time, there is basically not much to say at the regular meetings of the Chongzheng Palace.

After all, it has been almost eleven years, and everything that should be said has been said.

Including strategic planning for future development, popularization of mathematics, physics and chemistry, and even the sarcasm towards Zhao Zhen and Lu Yijian, there is nothing to talk about.

As for the jokes of the Song Dynasty, at his position, no matter how much he hated the Song Dynasty, it has slowly dissipated.

He has scolded and beaten, and it has long become a thing of the past. It is impossible that when Zhao Zhen and others corrected themselves in time and were willing to support him in promoting reforms, he would often make sarcastic remarks and insults.

That is not very realistic.

So now what everyone can talk about when they get together is almost the current development of the Song Dynasty and the extended prediction of future policies.

Even these are secondary. The main thing is that everyone can have time to get together every day.

Because everyone knows that with the death of Wang Sui and Sheng Du, Lü Yijian and Wang Zeng's health is getting worse and worse. It is probably only a year or two at most, or even shorter. Even if they don't die of illness, they should retire.

At this time, all the party disputes and hatreds are basically gone. The time together is getting less and less, and there is always a trace of nostalgia.

Entering the courtyard, only Lü Yijian, Fan Zhongyan, Yan Shu, Zhang Shixun, and Li Di are in the room.

Wang Zeng recently took sick leave again. It was a disease that could not be cured by anti-inflammatory drugs. The meaning of the imperial physician was that if he rested well, he might be able to fight until next year, but if he worked hard again...

Lü Yijian was just holding on.

Jiang Tang, Jia Changchao, Cai Qi, and Song Shou each had other things to do, and it was estimated that they would not be back until later. Some went to meetings in various departments, some went to get documents for today's meeting, and some simply went to the toilet.

Zhao Jun greeted several people in the room, and then returned to his desk to sort out the documents he was going to report to Zhao Zhen today. When everyone arrived, he was ready to go to the back garden.

Song Shou, who had gone to the toilet, came back first and also went back to his desk to sort out the documents. Next was Cai Qi, who went to the Ministry of Rites to get the documents. It was already June, and the autumn examination would be held in August. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Education were now working on this year's imperial examination.

At this time, Fan Zhen, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, came to the Constitutional Court and handed over a batch of documents to Li Di.

Li Di was also the Minister of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice was the Ministry of Justice, responsible for making laws, but at the same time, it was nominally the highest department in legal affairs.

Therefore, all kinds of death penalty judgments across the country had to be reviewed by Li Di. If there were any problems or the case was unclear or unconfirmed, the Dali Temple and the Procuratorate would return it for retrial.

I think today's documents are probably about approving the latest batch of death penalty lists.

Li Di took the document and glanced at it, then smiled and said to Zhao Jun: "Hanlong, guess what this batch is?"

"What could it be? Is there any result from Xia Song?"

Zhao Jun asked back.

Since it is a document from the Ministry of Justice, it is probably a document to verify the death penalty.

And the only case that Li Di could ask him about was basically no other case except this one.

"You can't hide anything."

Li Di joked and handed him the document and said: "After more than two months of investigation, Xia Ziqiao has drawn up the first batch of names with solid evidence, which is more than 500 people."

Zhao Jun took it and looked at it carefully for a while, nodded slightly and said: "Xia Ziqiao is still reliable and acts vigorously."

There are more than 10,000 people who rebelled against the superiors, but Zhao Jun asked to act according to the law, punish the big ones and let go of the small ones, punish those landlords who did evil, and let go of those landlords who did not do much evil and were still conscientious.

This workload must be huge, and we have to check one by one.

Xia Song personally took charge of the case and visited and investigated everywhere in Liangzhe Road. Through the evidence collected and the suspicion of inciting riots, the landlords alone were punished for multiple crimes. About 80 people were executed.

The other 400 people were followers of the crime. Some of them had murder cases, some relied on the power of the landlords to bully the villagers, and some set fires, looted and injured people during the Hangzhou riots. They were severely punished.

These are the first batch of prisoners reported for death penalty review, and there will definitely be a second and third batch.

In addition, the rest were imprisoned, exiled, caned, and had their property confiscated. The lightest punishment was a fine. More than 10,000 people who caused the riots will receive the punishment they deserve.

This will not only show the court's determination to distribute the land tax, but also show the court's attitude of doing things according to the law and governing the country according to the law to the world, so that they will not be executed without considering their crimes, which will cause public criticism.

Although it is difficult to change people's impressions through one thing, because it often takes many years of hard work to establish a good image, and it only takes one wrong judgment to destroy a good image.

But no matter what, some things must be done. Otherwise, if the people do not believe in the justice of the court, then who can they trust when they encounter problems?

"It seems that the turmoil in Liangzhe Road will be calmed down before the end of this year. The landlords in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the most troublesome, followed by the nobles in Sichuan and Shu."

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "This killing the chicken to scare the monkey has come out, and I believe that the landlords in the world should be more obedient. The determination to distribute the land tax and conscript labor must be implemented unswervingly. This is the national policy of a strong country and must not be changed."

Then he said to the crowd: "I heard that the wealthy families in Sichuan and Sichuan still maintain the original slavery system? Not only do they beat and scold their tenants and local guests at will, but they even interfere in their family's weddings and funerals? Does this continue? , Where is the majesty of the imperial court, where is the law?”

I'm coming.

At first, they beheaded the landlords in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and then they started to attack the wealthy families in Sichuan and Sichuan.

Everyone looked at each other, but there were no people from Shu here, and they had nothing to do with the Sichuan-Sichuan noble family, so naturally it didn't matter.

Fan Zhongyan said: "I have also heard about this matter. The main reason is that there are many places in Brazil and Badong. Those places are surrounded by mountains, the roads are difficult to travel, and the court's laws are not in place, so there is no way."

"Well"

Zhao Jun thought about it, the road was indeed a big problem.

Brazil and Badong are the area from Dazhou, Sichuan to Wushan in later generations. They are located on the west and east sides of Bashan. They are typically more mountains and less land. Transportation was a big problem in later generations, let alone ancient times.

The local people were isolated from the rest of the world and controlled by local wealthy families. Their status was comparable to that of serfs. It was extremely difficult for the court to liberate them.

"Then let's put this matter aside for now and talk about it later."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "You can't make a decision at once and embarrass the local government."

No one said anything else.

After a while, Jia Changchao also came back from the Ministry of Industry. When he entered, he smiled at Zhao Jun and said, "Hanlong, I went to see the cement factory at noon. How was it?"

"It's okay. With the steam engine, the output and efficiency have improved."

Zhao Jun responded with a smile: "Director Liu is still worried that the output has increased so much and no one is interested in cement. Once the court stops giving them orders, the factory may also close down."

"Hehehehe."

Everyone laughed. As people who are aware of future generations, they naturally know that the current situation is only temporary. Once it is actually built, the demand for the cement plant will probably be a hundred times more than it is now.

By then, I'm afraid the state-owned cement factory will have to be soft-hearted in accepting orders, and the factory's vision is still a bit narrow.

At this time, Yan Shu suddenly thought of a question and said to him: "Hanlong, if you open up the steam engine trade and allow private merchants to buy it, will it be used by the Liao people?"

"Will not."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "Anyone who can afford a steam engine now is not the top richest man in the Song Dynasty. These steam engines are all available. If they dare to resell them to the Liao Kingdom, they may not be addicted to confiscating their homes and exterminating their families."

He said with a smile and said: "And you don't know what technical barriers are. Let's not talk about how difficult this thing is technically for people who don't know it. We are the only ones who have rubber. Even if they can find a way to do it To get a steam engine and break through technical barriers, there are no raw materials.”

Zhao Jun is not worried about the introduction of steam engines into the people. In fact, he must promote the introduction of steam engines into the people.

Because only in this way can the subjective initiative of private business be brought into play, private businessmen can set up a large number of factories, and funds can flow into power scientific research.

Otherwise, the steam engine will be monopolized by the state simply because of the promotion of state-owned enterprises.

The shortcoming of state-owned enterprises is this. Once they become a monopoly, they will become rigid and unwilling to make progress. In the end, they will completely fall into the kind of conservative path dependence that is unwilling to develop.

Therefore, we need the catfish of private enterprises to promote the development of science and technology.

As for whether Liao will take the opportunity to find a way to obtain a steam engine for research and development, Zhao Jun has naturally considered this long ago.

The first is the problem of raw materials. The Liao Kingdom has no technology and raw materials.

The second is the steam engine itself.

There are countless machines being sold now, and only the top merchants of the Song Dynasty are eligible to purchase them.

What's more, the steam engine weighs several tons. The only way is to ship it out to sea and send it to the Liao Kingdom. But let's not talk about whether it can be transported to the sea. Even if it goes to the sea, it is basically impossible to reach the Liao Kingdom with the power of the Song Dynasty at sea. .

So Zhao Jun is not worried about this at all.

"Hey, it's almost time. I'm going to Chongzheng Hall for a meeting soon. Why hasn't Jiang Tang come back yet?"

Fan Zhongyan couldn't help but wonder.

Jiang Tang was an upright man and most punctual. This was not his style.

But as soon as Fan Zhongyan finished speaking, Jiang Tang stepped in from outside the door and said very seriously: "Everyone, something big has happened."

"What's up?"

Everyone suddenly became alert.

Events that can be considered major in the Constitutional Yuan are either major cases like the riots between the landlords on the two Zhejiang Roads, or large-scale natural disasters across the country, or where there is a rebellion and uprising, and finally the Liao Kingdom and Xixia come to fight.

Jiang Tang solemnly said: "On my way here just now, I encountered an urgent official document from Jinzouyuan six hundred miles away. More than ten days ago, Li Yuanhao raided Qingtang. He was seriously injured and his life and death are uncertain."

"What?"

Everyone was shocked.

Yan Shu asked in surprise: "How did Li Yuanhao break through to Qingtang?"

Under normal circumstances, the best way to Qingtang is through Zhuolu City, but if you go south through Zhuolu City, there is Lanzhou in the east and Huangzhou in the west. It is impossible to reach Qingtang directly.

"They crossed Qishan Mountain. They suddenly appeared in the north of Qingtang. They were caught off guard and were defeated."

Jiang Tang said in a deep voice.

In an instant, everyone's brows frowned.

Qingtang has always been the strongest ally of the Song Dynasty, although Zhao Jun has always wanted to annex Qingtang and take advantage of the situation to regain the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and complete the territory of our country for future generations in his own lifetime.

Then in the next generation, the Chinese autumn leaves and crabapples will be unified.

But after all, it's not right now.

Because Qingtang stood firmly on the side of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty had no reason to attack its allies. In addition, with today's productivity and technological level, it is still difficult to complete the containment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Therefore, this matter can be postponed for many years, perhaps until Zhao Jun is old and the Lord of Qingtang is no longer Xi Siluo, but Ali Gu, the adopted son of his son Dong Xiang.

Aligu was a rebellious boy. He assassinated the biological son of his adoptive father Dong Fei, seized power in Qingtang, and then completely turned against the Song Dynasty and united with Xixia to attack the Song Dynasty.

At that time, Da Song will have reasons and excuses to deal with him.

Of course, it is not certain whether Xixia still existed at that time. There is a high probability that Xixia is gone.

But as long as Aligu dared to assassinate Dong Felt's own son and usurp the throne, the Song Dynasty would have reason to send troops. At that time, it did not recognize his status as the lord of Qingtang, and took advantage of the situation to accept Qingtang. This would not be considered betraying an ally.

Unexpectedly, Qingtang was almost destroyed at this time. Even Xisiluo was seriously injured, and he didn't know whether he was dead or alive.

"Hanlong, what do you think?"

Lu Yijian suddenly asked Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun understood what he meant, shook his head and said: "Now is not a good time to capture Qingtang, but the situation is like this, we can only go with the trend."

"you mean?"

"Look at the situation of Zunsiluo. If he is dead, avenge him. If he is not dead, treat him immediately. Take one step at a time. And look at the current situation in Qingtang. If Li Yuanhao has been completely destroyed Qingtang.”

"Oh, I see."

Lu Yijian nodded.

In fact, everyone understands what they mean.

Fan Zhongyan narrowed his eyes and said, "Is Li Yuanhao crazy? Aren't you afraid that he would suddenly send troops to Qingtang at this time?"

"Don't forget what I told you. They will only use weapons sooner. Unless the leaders of Liao and Xixia are fools, they will not be able to see that the gap between the Song Dynasty and them will become wider as time goes by. The bigger it gets.”

Zhao Jun stood up from behind the table and ignored today's other documents and said, "Let's go to the official's house first. I suspect that Li Yuanhao's sudden action this time is not as simple as it seems."

Everyone also realized the seriousness of the matter, so they all stood up and headed towards Chongzheng Hall.

Compared with reporting daily government affairs to officials, this matter is obviously much more important.