I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 66 I am also a young marquis

After receiving Zhao Zicheng's order, Yang Zhi quickly completed the formalities and, in accordance with the court's legal procedures, turned his troops into "employed by the local area to replace local corvée to build government projects."

The imperial court still had to pay the military salaries, which did not mean that the army would be supported by Zhao Zicheng from then on. Zhao Zicheng only used the money raised in Gusu County to subsidize the army's allowances and food expenses for their extra labor.

This is similar to the planned economy era in later generations, when the military was often asked to support local construction, and local governments also provided subsidies to the military. However, these subsidies were by no means equivalent to military pay; they could only be considered extra income, and the military was legally supported by the imperial court.

Then, Yang Zhi began recruiting to expand the army and fill the vacancies. After recruiting, he also initially trained the soldiers in discipline, and did not need to start working immediately. For the first half month, there were no accidents, so no one questioned it.

This is easy to understand, because everything Yang Zhi did was in accordance with the court regulations, and Zhao Zicheng did not violate any regulations, so naturally no one would intervene at first.

Zhao Zicheng also took advantage of this half month to return to his hometown in Xiuzhou to meet his parents and take a look at his business that he had been running in Xiuzhou for more than half a year.

His father, Zhao Linghua, had been appointed as the magistrate of Jiaxing by his distant cousin, the emperor, and was promoted to the seventh rank. He was also granted the title of founding marquis by his father, Zhao Shijiang (Zhao Zi called him his grandfather).

Because the imperial emissary who was delivering the imperial edict traveled faster than Zhao Zicheng, who took two and a half months to return and was delayed for a long time in Xuzhou. However, the imperial emissary who was delivering the imperial edict only took a month to travel from Bianjing to Xiuzhou.

When Zhao Zicheng returned, his father had been in office for a month and a half and was almost familiar with the work of the county magistrate.

His father is now a real marquis, and Zhao Zicheng can finally call him "Little Marquis".

However, seeing his son return, Zhao Linghua's attitude was still very kind. He knew in his heart that his promotion was all due to his son's achievements in Tokyo. Although he didn't know the inside story, his son's ability was absolutely unquestionable.

The brief communication between father and son was very harmonious.

Zhao Zicheng first mentioned his experience in Suzhou, saying that there was a wealthy family in Suzhou who was willing to give out tens of thousands of strings of wealth to support him. It was the Murong family who had helped his family half a year ago, and they hoped to make an engagement.

Zhao Ling felt a little regretful at first. As a member of the imperial clan, he already held a certain official position, so marrying into a more affluent family was within his reach. Furthermore, his son was still so young, having become a county magistrate before the age of eighteen, and possibly a county magistrate by the time he turned eighteen. If he were to live in another place, such a future would surely be sought after.

But on the other hand, he also thought that as a member of the royal family, he certainly could not have too close a relationship with important officials, as that would easily arouse jealousy. In this case, if the woman was rich but not noble, and had a good family education, that would be the best outcome.

After Zhao Ling calmed down for a moment, he did not directly object, but only reminded his son: "If you think it is appropriate, your father will not object, but I hope you will think clearly about two points.

First of all, during the reign of Emperor Renzong, Empress Dowager Liu actually said that it was best for the royal family and even the clan to marry a wife from a noble family of poor status.

This is because if the emperor marries into a powerful official, it is easy for the emperor's relatives to interfere in politics. If the emperor marries into a royal family, it is easy for them to form a clique.

However, if one chooses a family of nouveau riche, although they have no roots or connections in the court and only have money, it is not easy for them to form relatives or factions, but they will neglect family education.

Therefore, only those families that have fallen on hard times and were once wealthy have children who have good family education and will not do anything wrong, but who currently have no support in the court and will not form cliques.

I don't know the Murong family well, so think about these words carefully. If it works, then you can make your own judgment."

Zhao Zi said that he didn't expect his father to be so knowledgeable. He started by citing the famous saying of the empress dowager before this dynasty to make his point, and what he said did make some sense.

After Zhao Zicheng put himself in the shoes of the Murong family, he found that they were somewhat similar. They were also a declining family, but they still had money and good family education. It seemed that there was nothing wrong with a son of the royal family marrying into such a family.

"In that case, I will return to the Murong family." Zhao Zicheng said respectfully.

Zhao Ling said: "Don't worry, you are also a county magistrate. You should know the laws and regulations of the court. As a local official, you cannot take the women of your subordinates as concubines. If you marry a wife, it will also be a violation.

You are still young, and although you are not the local chief official, it is better to be safe for the time being. When you are no longer an official in Gusu and are transferred to another place, it will not be too late to make a clear choice and avoid giving people a chance to talk about you. "

Zhao Zicheng was startled and quickly agreed.

After discussing his marriage intention with his parents, Zhao Zicheng went to look at his family business, which was the duck down workshop he had set up in his hometown more than half a year ago.

After more than half a year of development, the factory has expanded to a certain scale, and the sources of duck down raw materials purchased have covered several counties in Xiuzhou.

His nephew, Zhao Boqi, who was in charge of the business, gave a detailed report on the situation, stating that the company was now making hundreds of guan (approximately 100 guan) in net profit each month and producing thousands of duck down quilts. Over the past six months, the Murong family had been meticulously managing the business, ensuring no shortage of sales channels. Some of the goods were even sold to Zhenjiang, where they were distributed by the Liang family, a local general of the Xiang army.

Moreover, Zhao Boqi had already recruited over a hundred households to work for the Zhao family. Not only did the women of these families come to the workshop to help earn wages, but now, during the winter farming off-season, even the able-bodied men came to work. His father had been promoted to magistrate of the county, and as a member of the imperial clan, the magistrate's family's business naturally attracted more support. It wouldn't be long before Jiaxing County was completely under the control of the Zhao family.

After getting a general understanding of the situation here, Zhao Zicheng was no longer too worried about the situation in Jiaxing. When the visit was over and before leaving, Zhao Zicheng found an opportunity to ask his father about other local personnel situations.

I learned that the county magistrate and county lieutenant now all accepted my father's supervision and there was no friction. However, Jiaxing County was also an attached county, with the prefect and the assistant prefect above them. The current prefect was Song Zhaonian, the assistant prefect was Li Duanbi, and the commander-in-chief of the wing troops was Wang Ziwu.

Zhao Zicheng, the Tongpan (Tongpan) of the imperial court, had no recollection of them. However, both the prefectural governor Song Zhaonian and the commander-in-chief Wang Ziwu are prominently mentioned in the "Song History: Biography of Fang La." After Fang La captured Hangzhou and advanced eastward to attack Xiuzhou, these two men withstood the attack and defended Xiuzhou, a crucial moment in Fang La's decline. The imperial army then launched a counterattack, retaking Hangzhou a month later.

Later, Song Zhaonian and Wang Ziwu, one a civil official and the other a military officer, were promoted as role models by Zhao Ji because they stood up to this critical historical turning point.

Since this was the case, Zhao Zicheng reminded his father to try his best to maintain good relations with Song Zhizhou and Wang Duzhishi, and to cooperate wherever possible.

Zhao Ling was mature and steady, so he naturally would not resist his son's normal advice.

……

Zhao Zicheng returned to Xiuzhou and spent nearly ten days dealing with various matters. When he returned to Suzhou, the end of October had already come.

Yang Zhi's work of recruiting 500 soldiers to expand the army has been completed, and the military discipline training of the new recruits has also been initially implemented.

With the arrival of the winter dry season, soldiers will also have to start doing some work and gradually engage in high-intensity labor. The soldiers' food standards will also be raised to the highest level to ensure that the high-intensity physical exertion can be replenished.

However, it was at this time that some officials in Gusu County finally began to gossip to County Magistrate Li and mentioned the problems of County Magistrate Zhao.

"My Lord, County Magistrate Zhao, in accordance with imperial regulations, has temporarily hired Commander Yang's battalion to perform this winter's corvée labor for the county. More than half a month has passed, and Yang Zhi has filled his battalion of 500 men, but they don't really work. He even spends hours every day practicing formations and emphasizing military discipline. How can this be considered work for pay?

County Magistrate Zhao ignored all the questions and only paid the soldiers. "I've heard from the commanders of other camps in the prefecture that the food in Yang Zhi's camp has improved tremendously in the past two or three days. There's plenty of food, and even those soldiers who aren't full can get more. Since the founding of this dynasty, how could ordinary soldiers be treated this well? I hope the county magistrate will take a closer look."

When Magistrate Li heard this for the first time, he simply frowned. "Zhao Zicheng is also someone that Prime Minister Zhu values, and he's a colleague of ours. As long as he hasn't violated the laws of the court, it's better to keep out of trouble. And Yang Zhi is just filling the gaps in salary, so he's not overstaffed, right?"

"That's not true..."

County Magistrate Li: "Then was there any misuse or embezzlement of money and grain from other places?"

"No...it was all levied by County Magistrate Zhao, and the wealthy merchants voluntarily contributed."

Magistrate Li: "Then what's there to question? Let's wait and see."

"However, some of the other battalions of the state's wing army were already dissatisfied. They felt that County Magistrate Zhao had hired Yang Zhi's battalion to perform corvée labor, and the treatment was too generous.

When they learned about this, they also wanted to apply to earn some extra money, but County Magistrate Zhao didn't have enough money and food to recruit them all. The commanders of the other battalions all felt that County Magistrate Zhao should treat them equally, at most reducing expenses a little and hiring a few more battalions.

After hearing this reason, County Magistrate Li's expression became serious for the first time.

What is worrying is not the lack of wealth but the inequality. Zhao Zi did not expect that he would be targeted by other officers of the wing army when he said that he did not spend the money from the court's regular taxes and raised money for corvee labor from wealthy businessmen on his own.

After thinking it over, Magistrate Li ordered, "Well, let's not act rashly for now, but we can send a few people to check and see if Yang Zhi's battalion is doing their labor service properly and if there are any other mistakes or omissions.

Also, see if the wealthy households who were asked to donate have any complaints and whether they gave sincerely. Did only one or two wealthy households contribute, or was the contribution distributed more evenly? If it was only one or two wealthy households that contributed, see if Zhao Zicheng bent the law on their behalf.

Considering that both parties were from the Yingfeng Bureau, County Magistrate Li decided to use courtesy before force - at least County Magistrate Li thought that Zhao Zicheng was from the Yingfeng Bureau, although Zhao Zicheng himself never thought so.

If there are problems in both aspects, I, as the county chief, will intervene and investigate. But if there are no flaws in both raising money and spending money, then I can only let Zhao Zicheng do it.

How can we take seriously matters that the people don't report and the officials don't investigate?

(End of this chapter)