Chapter 464 It’s Time to Take Back the Western Region

In the afternoon, after having dinner with Zhao Zhen in the palace, Zhao Jun went to Li Di's residence with many prime ministers.

Unlike Lu Yijian, although Li Di was also a veteran of two dynasties, his relationship with Zhao Zhen was very ordinary.

Because when Zhao Zhen ascended the throne, Lu Yijian happened to be the prime minister, and he stood very firmly on Zhao Zhen's side.

Under Liu E's intimidation, Lu Yijian argued many times to protect Zhao Zhen, making Zhao Zhen full of gratitude to Lu Yijian.

Although Li Di had the same position as Lu Yijian on this matter, they both opposed Liu E's involvement in politics and hoped that Zhao Zhen would take charge.

However, because he offended Ding Wei in his early years, he was kicked out of the court and wandered around. It was not until the Tiansheng period that Ding Wei collapsed, Liu E died of illness, and Zhao Zhen took charge before returning to the court.

It can be said that when Zhao Zhen was in the most difficult time, Lu Yijian was by his side, and Li Di had no chance to express himself in front of Zhao Zhen.

Because of this, Li Di's relationship with Zhao Zhen was not as deep as that of Lu Yijian. As a result, Lu Yijian later fought with Li Di for power, and Li Di was kicked out of the court by Lu Yijian and continued to be governor of many places.

If Zhao Jun hadn't come out of nowhere and needed helpers to check and balance Lu Yijian's summoning him to the capital, I'm afraid Li Di would still have failed to return to the peak of power and died in depression, just like in history.

However, compared to the average relationship between Li Di and Zhao Zhen, he has a very good relationship with Zhao Jun. After all, he is the first prime minister to fully support him, and he is also his teammate, so the relationship is naturally extraordinary.

It was early in the evening, the setting sun was shining, people were passing through the streets of the outer city, and the clanking of bicycles could be heard from time to time.

Nowadays, bicycles are not sold to the outside world, but are only supplied to special departments, such as those who need to convey news, or some internal staff. The moment a bicycle passes by, it will arouse the envy of others.

The door to Li Di's house was deserted, not because people left and the tea was cold, but because Li Di had also been ill for a while, and everyone who was supposed to come to visit had already visited, and the only ones left were those who came to eat at the funeral.

When Zhao Jun and others came over, the door suddenly became crowded. The servants of the Li family hurriedly came over to arrange a parking place for the carriage, and the streets became somewhat congested.

The main thing is that the prime ministers have honor guards and escorts. Zhao Jun alone has dozens of people in front and back. With so many prime ministers added up, the team of hundreds of people is naturally huge.

After getting off the car, Zhao Jun raised his head, and the first thing he saw was the telephone pole in front of Li Di's house. Naturally, not all of Bianliang can use electricity at present. It is currently mainly used for lighting various government offices, dignitaries and commercial areas.

Ordinary people still use candles, oil lamps or even no lighting at home.

To a certain extent, this also reflects a certain absurdity - that is, the upper world and the lower world seem to be two worlds, with a pure sense of separation.

However, Zhao Jun knows that only maintaining this status quo for a long time without any change is called separation, and the upper class oppresses the lower class.

But if it is only for a short period of time, it will be popularized by the public in the future. This is called a stopgap measure.

Just like in the early days of the founding of our country, both industry and energy were given priority to various government agencies and the military. We must first ensure the operation of national institutions before industry can be spread to the people.

Li Di's son Li Jianzhi, who currently serves as the Minister of Commerce, came out to greet him with his son Li Xiaoji. Both father and son looked very bad, but they managed to cheer up and say hello to everyone.

Zhao Jun nodded and then followed them into the mansion.

A ginkgo tree is full of life in the yard outside Li Di's bedroom. A few leaves have fallen on the bluestone paved ground. There are clusters of flowers beside it, and the fragrance is fragrant.

However, when you get close to the bedroom, you can smell a strong medicinal fragrance, which makes everyone feel a little hazy.

Entering the room, the first thing that caught his eye was the old man lying on the bed. Li Di's face was as thin as a bone. The old man who was slightly wealthy two or three years ago was now tortured by the disease.

Zhao Jun felt sad for a moment, so he stepped forward and called out: "Mr. Xiuxi."

Li Xiaoji squatted beside the bed and said softly: "Ah Weng, the magistrate is here to see you."

Li Di opened his eyes with difficulty. His eyes were slightly cloudy. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

Zhao Jun walked to his bed and held Li Di's hand. The old man's Adam's apple moved, but he couldn't speak after all, so he could only put Zhao Jun's hand on Li Xiaoji's and patted it gently.

"Don't worry, Mr. Xiuxi, Bo Shi is very talented and I won't let you down in the future."

Zhao Jun comforted him.

"Thanks."

Li Di struggled to spit out two words.

In fact, he was basically on his deathbed a few days ago.

Even all the funeral preparation tools are available at home. To survive until now, I really just rely on various expensive medicines to survive and still have that breath.

Li Xiaoji was the person he worried about the most. Ever since he had a premonition that there was no cure, Li Di had been waiting for his grandson to come back.

Now that the wait has finally come, all that's left is to ask Zhao Jun to take care of him, so as not to make Li Xiaoji's official career difficult and the future road bumpy.

At this point, Zhao Jun can give Li Di a promise.

First of all, Li Xiaoji is indeed talented. He passed the Jinshi examination at a young age, and started as a county magistrate, serving as county magistrate, general magistrate, and state magistrate. He is only in his thirties this year and has rich experience in officialdom.

Secondly, I specially brought it with me on this trip, isn’t it just for training?

It may not be interesting to be the successor of the Supreme Court, but there will be no problem in joining the Constituent Council as Zhao Jun's right-hand man.

So as long as everything goes well, and Li Xiaoji doesn't die in the middle of his career due to some accidents, or suddenly gets possessed by evil spirits and does something illegal while in office, it should be no problem for him to enter the Political System Council and become a prime minister in the future.

Zhao Jun made a promise to Li Di, and Li Di's face became much calmer, and he forced a smile. After that, Zhao Jun exchanged a few words with him, and the other prime ministers also came forward to visit him.

After about two quarters of an hour, Zhao Jun walked out of the room with a gloomy face.

Xia Song stood aside and said: "Prime Minister, everyone has a destiny, and the time for Fugu Gong has come to an end. There is nothing we can do about it. Please accept my condolences."

"Yeah."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "I have seen too many such things, but Fugu Gong... Alas."

He sighed as he said that.

It's not that the Political System Council lacks a capable person and he is sad.

But Li Di still remembers the joy of dealing with Lu Yijian with him. In the blink of an eye, things have changed, which makes people feel a little sad.

Now he has the final say in the Constitutional Court, so logically he doesn't need subordinates like Li Di and Xia Song.

But no matter what, they are all people who have come to him, just like a gang leader, his loyal younger brother died, and he always feels a little uncomfortable.

"Okay, it's getting late, let's go back first."

Fan Zhongyan patted Zhao Jun's shoulder. It was already evening, the sun was setting, crows were circling, and clouds were hanging in the sky.

Zhao Jun knew what he meant and said, "Well, let's go."

Then he went out.

It was already time to get off work, and many prime ministers went home, but Fan Zhongyan's carriage kept following Zhao Jun's carriage.

First, their homes were all in the west of the city, and second, Fan Zhongyan wanted to discuss the new policy with Zhao Jun.

Soon the carriage stopped at the gate of Xinqingtai Street outside Xinxihuamen, which was originally the intersection of Qishengyuan Street and Xihuamen Street.

Originally, Zhao Jun's home should be in the market where Xijiaolou Street and Xihuamen Street meet. Now the entire Xijiaolou Street is included in the scope of the imperial palace, and the street naturally has to be moved westward for several hundred meters.

The new house is spacious and grand, covering an area of ​​two or three acres, with houses in a row. Zhao Zhen specially used money from the inner treasury to help Zhao Jun buy it. From the land to the construction of the new house, it was all contracted by royal craftsmen.

Fan Zhongyan looked at the mansion with envy. He had been here several times before, but he was envious every time he came.

It's not that someone gave Zhao Jun a house.

But I envy Zhao Jun for choosing a good location when he bought the house, so that he can make money while lying at home.

After all, the housing prices in the inner city are soaring, and the prices near the imperial city are rising every day. It is said that Zhao Zhen only spent more than 300,000 guan when he bought it a few years ago, and now it has appreciated to 500,000 guan.

Is there still the law of the king?

Is there still justice?

The two entered the house. At this time, Zhao Tan and Zhao Qingyun had finished school. Seeing their father coming back, they happily ran to the door and said, "Father."

"Well, be good. I'll chat with Uncle Fan for a while. You go do your homework first."

Zhao Jun touched the heads of the brother and sister, looked up and saw Cao Miaoxin, smiled and said, "Miaomiao, take the children to do their homework."

"Okay."

Cao Miaoxin glared at the brother and sister, and the two little guys immediately left like eggplants hit by frost.

Zhao Jun is responsible for external affairs, and Cao Miaoxin is responsible for internal affairs. Cao Miaoxin is in charge of all aspects of family education. After all, strictly speaking, the family education management of the Cao family is indeed good, and Zhao Jun sometimes has no say.

Fan Zhongyan followed Zhao Jun into the study. The servants at home brought a pot of tea. Smelling the fragrance of the tea, old Fan immediately said sourly: "The government is so good to you. Not only did they give you such a big house, they also gave you dragon and phoenix tea."

"If you want, take a pound back later."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Song people like to drink tea, but I don't drink much usually. It's not popular in our place. In our later generations, basically only the elderly and businessmen like it. Young people don't like to drink it."

Fan Zhongyan poured himself a cup and said with great sorrow: "This is all traditional culture. How can the new generation of young people just throw it away?"

"The times are developing and society is progressing."

Zhao Jun sat at the desk and looked at old Fan sitting opposite him and said: "Not only tea culture, but also liquor culture is slowly withdrawing from the stage of history among young people. This is the inevitability of social development."

"Okay."

Fan Zhongyan was too lazy to think so much.

Anyway, even if it is true, it will probably happen hundreds of years later. What does it have to do with him?

He took a sip and said, "The scope of this reform is a bit large, with measures in all aspects. Isn't it too hasty?"

"Although the scope is large, it doesn't mean that it will be released all at once. It can be done one by one."

Zhao Jun said, "From a realistic point of view, you can't get fat in one bite. But the Constitutional Council is doing long-term considerations and needs to start from all aspects, so it just concentrates on so many problems, and then improves them step by step."

"That's good."

Fan Zhongyan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I was really shocked to see these more than 100 reforms. If they are all released, I'm afraid there will be a big mess below."

"Have you read all the content?"

Zhao Jun asked.

"Not yet."

Fan Zhongyan said, "What do you think now? What is the current primary reform direction?"

"First, reform the term of office of officials."

Zhao Jun said: "In the past, the responsibilities of officials were actually very simple. There were only four responsibilities: one was to encourage farmers to grow mulberry trees, the other was to manage public security, the third was to resolve cases, and the fourth was to collect taxes. Therefore, it was not difficult to deal with these issues while in office. "

"But it's different now. In addition to these basic issues, we are also responsible for local education, economy, industry, infrastructure, publicity, industry and commerce, supervision, finance and many other developments."

"We need to attract investment, open factories based on the local environment and mineral resources, repair roads, build water conservancy facilities, reclaim fertile land to resettle people, etc."

He said: "And if a county magistrate has excellent local political performance and has a long-term plan, it may not be possible in a few years. I believe that if a county magistrate does a good job, he can bring huge changes to the county."

Fan Zhongyan frowned and said, "Will this lead to a local official being in power for a long time and holding great power, leading to corruption problems?"

"This is indeed a possible situation, but firstly, we cannot stop eating because of choking, and secondly, this requires increased supervision."

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "At least during the decades that I have been in power, I will let the Song Dynasty enter a period of rapid development, strictly supervise, kill every one I encounter, and try to prevent the emergence of corrupt officials. As for what will happen next, then It all depends on the successor I choose."

After that, he added: "Anyway, I will handle this matter well, and I will also have strict requirements on selecting a successor. You don't have to worry about this."

"That's fine."

Fan Zhongyan nodded.

In the final analysis, the successor still holds the position of abbot.

After many things are explained, everyone will understand the truth.

If the Song Dynasty wanted to survive for a long time, the improvement of productivity was the key, but weakening the imperial power was also an indispensable part.

Because Zhao Jun said, you can't guarantee that a wise king will be born from generation to generation. Once a weak king is born, it will be a disaster for the country.

Therefore, the government must select qualified leaders to prepare and plan for the country's future.

From Zhao Zhen's delegation of power over the years, everyone can actually see that Zhao Zhen has acquiesced in Zhao Jun's approach, and they even vaguely guessed it.

Maybe Zhao Jun will implement a constitutional monarchy in his later years.

In this case, it is very important for Zhao Jun to choose his successor. It can be said that the fate of the country in the future is likely to turn around here.

If the successor is chosen well, the Song Dynasty will be prosperous and prosperous. If the successor is not chosen well, things will take a turn for the worse and the future will be uncertain.

It's just that Zhao Jun has to shoulder the responsibility for this matter after all. Fan Zhongyan is 63 years old this year, and he really has nothing to do.

"We will discuss the reform step by step during this period and come up with a solution. We will try to carry out the first phase of pilots and measures in the second half of this year."

Zhao Jun said: "The top priority now is another matter."

"What's up?"

Fan Zhongyan put down his teacup and wondered.

Zhao Jun looked out the window, which was in the northwest direction, and said calmly: "It's time to get the Western Region back."