I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 75: Zhao Zicheng Appears in Jiangnan
After reaching an agreement with Wei Xian, Zhao Zicheng finally filled the last gap in his plan and ensured a smooth channel for submitting petitions.

Without Wei Xian's supervisory functions and channels for submitting memorials as a backup, Zhao Zi said that no matter how well he planned or how beautifully he wrote the impeachment memorial,

If the emperor didn't see it and it was intercepted by the treacherous villains, then all the efforts would be in vain.

After returning from Wei Xian, Zhao Zicheng finally got his full attention and finished writing the memorial "Requesting the Abolition of the Jiangnan Yingfeng Bureau" in just a few days.

The article is not flowery, but it is definitely powerful.

Moreover, Zhao Zicheng also made some clever arrangements to make the article look not like a mere fierce attack, but rather meaningful and reasonable.

In the article, Zhao Zi claimed to have taken advantage of his status as the "inventor of cement" and started from the time when he was in power in Gusu County last year, presided over the winter corvee in the county, and promoted the use of cement for dike construction in the four counties of Suzhou through the coordination of Wei Xian, the magistrate of Suzhou.

It emphasized that "cement has been proven to be able to greatly save manpower and financial resources when used in dike construction, and it is convenient for the people." It is also of reliable quality, and the dikes built can stand the test. By extension, cement can also be used to build the riverbanks of the canal for the court in the future.

Zhao Zicheng analyzes in his article that it's currently unclear whether concrete can be used to build houses or seawalls. This is because building houses requires higher structural strength, while dams must account for the immense pressure caused by water level fluctuations. Concrete buildings must undergo long-term testing and proven to withstand the pressure before they can be used on a large scale, ensuring they are worthy of the people. Of course, Zhao Zicheng's original text wasn't written in such plain language; it was somewhat embellished.

After briefly introducing these technological prospects, proving himself to be a responsible person rather than a reckless one, Zhao Zicheng immediately changed the subject and said, "In view of the wonderful effects of cement, I would like to formally present this secret recipe to the court without keeping it to myself, in the hope of benefiting the world. At the same time, I implore Your Majesty to use cement to build the rockery instead of requisitioning huge rocks and rare trees when building the Genyue Mountain.

Bianjing is located in a plain, with no rocky mountains or strange rocks around it. Since the construction of Genyue, in order to build rockery, the Huashi Gang has been used to obtain Lingbi stones from Lianghuai and Taihu stones from Jiangnan, which cost a huge amount of money.

Jiangnan is in ruins, its people in dire straits. Huaibei and Huaibei are pressing hard, and rebel intentions are already brewing. I implore Your Majesty to prioritize the safety of the nation over the luxury of a stately palace. Abolish the Yingfeng Bureau and halt the Flower and Stone Gang, and the world will be blessed.

If you still persist in your wrongdoing, I am afraid that the people of Jiangnan and Lianghuai will be in turmoil, and changes will happen overnight, and it will be too late to regret."

Zhao Zi said that to sum up this memorial, not only did it impeach Zhu Jie, but it also clearly stated the reasons for the impeachment, which was enough to convince the people of the world and avoid the stereotype that "this person is just an arrogant minor official."

There are so many madmen in the world, and pure madmen cannot win enough respect from the people and the literati.

You're just a seventh-rank magistrate, a petty official. How could you possibly have the right to comment on such a major event as abolishing the Flower and Stone Gang? Even if you criticize him fiercely, it's just like Hai Rui appeared a few hundred years earlier.

With a person like Hai Rui, you could gain a reputation, but no one would trust him to accomplish anything significant. If the country were ever in danger, no one would support a pure troll who only wanted to destroy the country, and such a reputation would be meaningless to Zhao Zicheng.

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng cleverly gave the reason in the article: I am not criticizing this matter as a small-time official, but because "I am the inventor of cement". After the emperor abolished the Hua Shi Gang, I found an alternative technical solution for building a rockery for Gen Yue, so I came to criticize this matter.

Then he is not a pure troll who "destroys without building", but a doer who believes in "I can do it and I can really do it". He has found a complete set of solutions in advance and then made meaningful requests. The feeling he gives people is completely different.

……

Zhao Zicheng's carefully designed petition was finally successfully completed and submitted one day at the end of May.

The memorial could not be expedited because what he was talking about was not some urgent military situation that had already occurred, so it took more than half a month to arrive in Bian Jing until mid-June.

After arriving in Bian Jing, Zhao Zicheng's request was indeed withheld by Cai Jing's party at the first moment and was never presented to the emperor.

Zhao Ji, now a county magistrate, didn't really care about official business. How could a mere county magistrate submit a memorial and have it be seen by the emperor himself? Was such a petty official worthy of the emperor's attention?

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng's memorial was immediately rejected by the Secretariat, which was controlled by Cai Jing, through normal and legal procedures. They believed that his words were absurd, exceeded his authority, and were extremely disrespectful, and he should be reprimanded or even punished!

Zhu Zhen was an important member of Cai Jing's party. A considerable portion of the money Zhu Zhen made every year was used to honor Cai Jing and Liang Shicheng. How could Cai Jing tolerate the direct abolition of the Yingfeng Bureau and the cessation of the Hua Shi Gang?

"This is ridiculous! A mere seventh-rank county magistrate, a young man who has only been in office for half a year, dares to make irresponsible remarks about world affairs, and even speaks so arrogantly. The world has really changed!"

Early in the morning of June 20th, inside Cai's mansion, Cai Jing saw for the first time this "strange article" presented by his subordinates. He was so angry that he laughed out loud. He coughed up phlegm and cursed with contempt.

At this moment, next to Cai Jing was his youngest son Cai Tao, with whom he had a fairly good relationship. Upon seeing this, Cai Tao quickly agreed: "Father is right! The world is truly out of order nowadays, with dogs acting like humans. A mere seventh-rank magistrate dares to make such outrageous remarks to gain fame. It would be better to send this memorial to the emperor for his review, so that the emperor can be furious and punish him severely with justification." Cai Jing was already in his seventies, old and frail, and he had been dismissed from his position and reinstated several times.

Because Zhao Ji liked to play the game of factional balance, he supported many people to compete with Cai Jing over the years, but he could not do without Cai Jing's ability to make money, so the relationship between the monarch and his ministers was always twisted.

Under Zhao Ji's constant instigation and balancing, most of Cai Jing's sons had very tense relationships with him. It was not known whether they were really fighting for power between father and son, or whether they were deliberately acting for the emperor to reassure him.

In short, Cai Jing's two eldest sons, Cai You and Cai Huo, had a very bad relationship with their father, especially Cai You, who wanted to compete with his father for the position of prime minister. At present, only the fourth son, Cai Tao, was trusted by his father. Cai Jing, due to his old age and poor eyesight, always asked this youngest son to write for him when he needed to approve official documents.

After hearing Cai Tao's suggestion, Cai Jing rejected it outright, saying, "Stupid! Although Zhao Zicheng is a lowly official, he is a member of the imperial clan after all. I seem to have heard Shi Cheng mention him earlier this year, saying that he is quite ingenious. Last year in Genyue, I think he even saw Your Majesty in disguise touring the garden. Your Majesty had some good feelings for this distant nephew, probably because his age, experience, and interests are similar to those of Prince Yun."

Why report this to the emperor? He might get curious and ask further questions, which would only create complications. Just give him a direct reprimand and submit it to the Secretariat for approval."

Cai Tao didn't know these inside stories, nor did he expect that a mere seventh-rank county magistrate could be heard of by his father, a prime minister who was busy with all kinds of affairs. It seemed that this person had some luck. However, Cai Tao couldn't help but remind him:

"But if we don't let the emperor know and directly approve it from the Secretariat, we won't be able to impose too severe a punishment. After all, the other party is a member of the royal family..."

Cai Jing raised his eyebrows. "If it's not a serious matter, then forget it. Why must we continue to fight to the death? Let the Secretariat handle the case with caution, and at the same time send someone to Jiangnan to inform Zhu Jie. By then, no matter how Zhu Jie cleans up his mess, even if the government investigates in the future, it will take who knows when, and it will definitely not be linked to our Cai family."

Cai Jing, a cunning and treacherous man, had become increasingly timid as he aged, like a lion slaying a rabbit with all its might. Zhao Zicheng, who was so ignorant of his own limitations that he dared to block his path to wealth, would certainly face a reckoning, but he would never allow even a drop of blood to spill on him.

He even felt that while Zhu Zhen should continue to control the Yingfeng Bureau and plunder wealth, he also needed to be disciplined. How incompetent was this guy to allow Zhao Zicheng's memorial to be delivered to Tokyo? After so many years of operating in Jiangnan, had he become a mere decoration?
Wasn't it said that "all the people in Wuzhong Prefecture were commanded like slaves"? How could a slave have the nerve to turn against his master? And why hadn't they stopped him?

waste!

This was a way to give Zhu Jie a warning and make him pay more attention, and also to remind him to pay more tribute to the Cai family in the future.

After hearing this, Cai Tao suddenly realized that the old ones were the wisest. Why should the imperial court use public resources to severely punish such a memorial? Wouldn't it be better to let Zhu Zhen clean up his own mess? If Zhu Zhen really did go too far and was retaliated against in the future, it would be Zhu Zhen's own fault.

This time, the tip-off only needs to be given verbally, and no written evidence can be left behind to avoid giving Zhu Jie an advantage.

After figuring out these key points, Cai Tao immediately followed his father's instructions and handled the matter step by step.

As expected, Zhao Zicheng's first memorial did not even receive the emperor's attention, and it fell into oblivion, instead bringing him a blow.

The official punishment officially approved by the Secretariat was not severe. He was only reprimanded for exceeding his authority and other crimes. He would be fined if necessary and demoted if necessary, but he would not be exiled directly, nor would there be any punishment more severe than exile.

But it is hard to say how Zhu Zhen will deal with him in private.

However, Cai Jing and his followers were unaware that Zhao Zicheng had a backup plan. While submitting his petition, he also wrote to several friends in Tokyo, mainly his classmates at the Imperial Academy.

Especially Chen Dong, the big mouth and troll who had drunk before. Zhao Zi said that he wrote him a letter privately and asked his messenger to deliver it to Tokyo. He first laid out some small talk in the letter, and then casually mentioned that "he was going to do a big thing, impeaching Zhu Zhen and asking him to abolish the Flower and Stone Gang, regardless of his personal life and death."

In addition to Chen Dong, Zhao Zicheng also deliberately let several other people know about this matter. Once something happened to him, people all over the world would know the reason for his accident as soon as possible.

At the end of June, the document that Cai Jing and his party used to reprimand Zhao Zicheng through normal procedures and channels was issued normally from Tokyo, and was delivered to Suzhou at the end of mid-July.

The private information that the Cai family gave to Zhu Zhen was almost delivered to Suzhou at the same time.

At the same time, in Tokyo, Chen Dong and others also confirmed that Zhao Zicheng was really brave. He actually impeached Zhu Zhen and was retaliated for it.

"Brother Zhao is really brave! How dare you do something that everyone in the world wants to do but dares not do?" Chen Dong was shocked.

(End of this chapter)