Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 197 I want to kill people to establish my authority!
In the Song Dynasty, grain transport was divided into four routes and transported to the capital Bianliang.

The millet from the Huai and Bian rivers flows from the south of the Yangtze River into the Huai River and then into the capital via the Bian River.

The millet from Shaanxi flows into the Yellow River near Sanmenxia, ​​and enters the Bian River to reach Beijing.

The millet from Shaanxi and Cai was transferred from Huimin River to Cai River, and then into the Bian River to reach Beijing.

The millet from Jingdong flows from the Qi and Lu areas into the Wuzhang River and reaches Jing.

The above four rivers are collectively called the Four Canals for Grain Transport, among which the millet from the Huai and Bian rivers in the six southeastern routes is the most important.

However, the Cai River not only transported grain provided by Chen, Ying, Xu, Cai, Guang, Shou and other states, but also went south along the Cai River from Kaifeng to Ying, and from Ying to Huai, and could reach the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

From Kaifeng to the southwest through Ying River, Sha River and other rivers, it can connect with Dengzhou, Xiangyang Prefecture and other places. It is another important north-south waterway after the Bian Canal.

So you can imagine how important this river is.

Moreover, this time was just before the rainy season, and the major transport fleets were rushing to deliver grain to Bianliang before the rainy season. Otherwise, during the rainy season, the river water would surge, and it would be dangerous.

At this critical moment, the Huimin River was directly blocked.

My goodness, Bianjing’s main artery was directly blocked.

The previous fight among thousands of people was just a small matter in the eyes of the emperor and his ministers in Bianliang, but the blockade of the canal immediately became a major event.

Food is the foundation of people's livelihood. If food cannot be brought into Bianliang before the rainy season, then something serious will happen.

For a time, the imperial court looked at the matter with awe, and even Zhao Xu couldn't help but find Li Qingchen to inquire about it.

Li Qingchen vowed: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. Give me a few days and a few hundred imperial guards, and I will restore Huimin River to the state it was when Bao Xiaosu first governed it.

Given the condition of the Huimin River, even if the people of Caicun did not block it, it would be difficult for the ships to pass through. Once I dredge the river, it will only take one or two days for all the grain ships to enter the city!"

Zhao Xu's face didn't look very good, but he nodded and said, "How does Li Qing plan to deal with this matter?"

Upon hearing this, Li Qingchen immediately became murderous and said, "The people of Cai Village are all unruly people. They first occupied the river for their own benefit, blocked the river, and caused the city of Bianjing to be flooded several times.

I came to clean up the mess, but they still resisted. Not only did they kill and injure many civilians, they even dared to gang up on the mob to fight against the court, and even dared to do things like blocking the grain supply route!
Your Majesty, I think I must kill people to establish my authority. Anyone who dares to block the river should be beheaded to deter the people on both sides of the river. Otherwise, anyone will dare to threaten the court in the future. This trend must not be allowed to continue!"

Zhao Xu felt a headache when he heard this. This was not a remote county. Cai Village was right on the bank of Huimin River. It was no exaggeration to say that it was next to the emperor.

If such a massacre of civilians happened under the feet of the emperor, the whole world would be shocked when the news spread.

Although he did not expect to become a king as famous for his benevolence and righteousness as Renzong, he also did not want to be considered a tyrannical monarch.

Moreover, although many of Zhao Xu's concubines gave birth to children in recent years, most of them died young. Sometimes Zhao Xu couldn't help but wonder if God was punishing him because the new laws harmed the people.

After having this idea, Zhao Xu didn't want to kill the people in his heart, even though these people were somewhat barbaric and unreasonable.

Zhao Xu rubbed his temples and said tiredly, "Li Qing, please wait for me to think about it. Anyway, there is no rush in one or two days. I will reply to you tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

Li Qingchen knew that Zhao Xu had some concerns, so he did not try to persuade him much. Anyway, the outcome would be clear tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Humph, you unruly people, wait until I get permission from the government, and then wait and see how I will deal with you!

After Li Qingchen left, Zhao Xu shook his head. He felt that he was becoming less and less energetic recently.

Thinking of the complicated scene outside the city and the war with Western Xia, Zhao Xu felt very depressed.

Last year, that is, the fourth year of Yuanfeng, Queen Mother Liang of Western Xia imprisoned Emperor Huizong of Xia Bingchang, causing domestic political turmoil.

Zhao Xu had been preparing for this war for nearly a decade since the Xining year. As Western Xia was experiencing internal turmoil, he believed that the opportunity to capture Western Xia had come and took advantage of it to launch a five-pronged war against Xia.

Zhao Xu deployed Li Xian's troops from Xihe Road, Zhong Yan's troops from Fuyan Road, Gao Zunyu's troops from Huanqing Road, Liu Changzuo's troops from Jingyuan Road, and Wang Zhongzheng's troops from Hedong Road, intending to capture the two states of Xing and Ling in Western Xia in one fell swoop.

The five armies were powerful and the whole country was full of expectations.

Not only that, Zhao Xu also gave up a lot of benefits and asked Tubo to send troops to cross the Yellow River to capture Liangzhou in order to tie down the right wing of Western Xia.

The five armies attacked Xia and were initially unstoppable. Through a series of indirect siege strategies, they successively captured Mizhizhai, Shizhou, Xiazhou, Yinzhou and other places in Western Xia.

But soon, due to a lack of food supplies and heavy snow, the troops' non-combat casualties reached more than two-thirds.

Liu Changzuo's troops in Jingyuan Road fought bravely and took advantage of the victory to advance directly to the city of Lingzhou. However, Gao Zunyu lacked an overall grasp of the battle situation and blindly ordered Liu Changzuo to attack the city directly in the absence of siege equipment and insufficient logistics. The Song army stationed troops under the fortified city and failed to capture it after 18 days of siege.

The Western Xia army released water from the Yellow River canal to flood the Song army's camp and cut off their supply of food and money. Many Song soldiers died of freezing, drowning, and hunger.

In desperation, Zhao Xu could only order his troops to return.

In this battle, the Song army occupied Yin, Shi, Xia, You and some military points on the north side of Hengshan, making Xixia afraid to cultivate more than 200 miles along the border of Hengshan. But for Zhao Xu, this was a great defeat!

He had prepared for more than ten years, put in all his efforts, and carried out reforms despite countless people's opposition, all in order to take back Western Xia and then look north to the Liao Dynasty. However, all these years of hard work ended up with such an outcome. How could he not be depressed?

This is also because he had a serious illness last year.

Starting this year, he began to build Yongle City in Yongle River, preparing to use Yongle City as a springboard to directly attack the Western Xia capital Xingqing Prefecture. However, there were many obstacles in the construction of Yongle City, which gave him a lot of trouble.

Now even in the city of Bianjing there was this terrible incident of people blocking the canal, which made him, who was already mentally exhausted, feel even more tired.

Sun Sigong sent Li Qingchen away, and when he came back and saw Zhao Xu rubbing his temple, he knew that this matter was giving the emperor a headache.

Sun Sigong thought for a moment and said, "Sir, I have something to say but I don't know if I should say it or not."

Zhao Xu glanced at Sun Sigong and said, "What's the matter? Do I have to beg you to tell me?"

Sun Sigong said quickly, "I dare not, but I am afraid that the emperor will be impatient to listen. What I want to say is that if the emperor thinks this matter is difficult to handle, why don't you ask Mr. Su? Mr. Su has a different opinion on this matter."

Zhao Xu frowned upon hearing this and said, "If he had used his method at the beginning, the situation wouldn't have turned into what it is today. But the situation has already deteriorated to this point, what else can he do?"

Sun Sigong smiled and said, "Since things have come to this, why not ask before resorting to drastic measures?"

Zhao Xu thought for a moment and said, "Okay, call him over. I haven't seen him for a while. So, what has he been doing recently?"

Sun Sigong quickly said, "He has been implementing new laws in the Southern Court recently."

Zhao Xu immediately became interested when he heard this and asked, "What new laws can the Southern Court come up with?"

Sun Sigong smiled and said, "Mr. Su has put all the power related to the purchase of goods in the Southern Court into the Warehouse Department, and set up a cost reduction and efficiency improvement team in the Tongpan Hall to be responsible for this matter. This team also has the responsibility to review the account books of each hall."

Zhao Xu's interest immediately waned after hearing this, and he said, "What kind of new law is this? The Cangcao should have been like this originally, and the Tongpan Hall also has the authority and responsibility to review the account books. There is no need to set up a cost-cutting and efficiency-enhancing team.

Although it can be considered as a measure to curb corruption in the Southern Court, it is really not something new. "

Sun Sigong laughed and said, "I am exaggerating a bit, but the emperor will never guess what great things he has done."

Zhao Xu hummed.

Su Sigong said: "After the cost reduction and efficiency improvement team completed the correction of the internal responsibilities of the Southern Court, they went to rectify the store and building affairs. No one from top to bottom was spared and all were sent to the Dali Temple."

Zhao Xu frowned and asked, "Is it because of corruption again?"

Sun Sigong nodded, his expression somewhat solemn, and said: "The store and building service has more than 20,000 public housing units, and can collect rents of up to 300,000 guan per year, but before, the store and building service only had a surplus of more than 10,000 guan per year to hand over to the Southern Court."

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "I know. Isn't it because of the subsidy from the court?"

Sun Sigong smiled bitterly and said: "The subsidy is not a direct reduction of this part of the rent, but it is paid directly by the three departments to the store and building services, and this part is only a few tens of thousands of strings of cash each year.

After the cost reduction and efficiency improvement team's rectification, the store's accounts are now clear. After deducting various costs, it is estimated that at least 150,000 strings of cash can be handed over to the Southern Court every year."

Zhao Xu was greatly surprised and asked, "There are so many?"

Sun Sigong nodded and said, "You don't know how much property the Southern Court seized from the clerks in charge of store management."

Zhao Xu gritted his teeth and said, "Speak!"

Sun Sigong said: "Up to 300,000 strings of cash, and up to 500,000 strings of real estate, shops and other fixed assets!"

"Bang!" Zhao Xu threw the jade pendant on the table to the floor, gritting his teeth and saying, "Just a few clerks, can they embezzle so much money?

I, the concubines and I in the palace are always frugal, but we only save a few tens of thousands of strings of cash every year. How could these people embezzle so much?!"

Sun Sigong was also speechless.

Zhao Xu gnashed his teeth and said, "Tell the Dali Temple that those who deserve it should be chopped to pieces or killed, and they should be severely punished!"

Sun Sigong nodded quickly and said, "Does the emperor have any other instructions? If not, I will ask Master Su to come over."

Zhao Xu waved his hand and said, "Go ahead. I will ask him about some matters myself."

Sun Sigong left as if he had been pardoned. Even if he was someone close to the emperor, he didn't dare to stay with him for long in the face of such an angry emperor.

Zhao Xu looked at Sun Sigong who was fleeing in panic, his face showing even more fatigue. He whispered, "I am carrying out reforms, and you say that I am competing with the people for profit. But when you were competing with the people for profit and were greedy, you never thought about this!"

(End of this chapter)