Pei Gonggui

On the opposite side, Zhang Ling stopped talking, and all the officials in the palace also looked at Pei Jun.

In the hall, Jiang Zhan's beautiful eyes moved lightly, and he leaned forward slightly: "What's Pei Qing's advice?"

Pei Jun said with a slight smile: "Reporting to the emperor, this remonstrance is actually related to Mr. Zhang's salt-iron reform."

As he said that, he said to Zhang Ling, who was at the bottom of the cabinet: "I would like to ask Mr. Zhang first. Taking the salt industry as an example, how should the imperial court achieve 'strictness' and 'control'?"

This question was thrown directly to Zhang Ling, and it was a direct challenge to Zhang Ling.Hearing this, Jiang Yue, who was in the prince's party, couldn't help but frowned and looked at Pei Jun, while the officials in the hall looked at each other, saying that Pei Jun was going to confront Zhang Ling again, so they hurriedly turned back to look at Zhang Ling, but saw Zhang Ridge is still turbulent:

"That is to strictly control, and naturally follow the law."

Pei Jun asked again: "What about the detailed rules?"

This question was obviously meant to be asked by Zhang Ling later, but when Pei Jun raised it, he disrupted the steps, and couldn't help but look up at Pei Jun for a moment, and from the corner of his eye, he glanced at the officials from various ministries who were silently looking at him in the hall, and caught a glimpse. The young emperor Jiang Zhan, who was waiting for his answer intently on the throne, took a deep breath before reluctantly answering Pei Jun and explaining to everyone present:

"The new law will divide the three to ten stove households in various places into one "jia", and the five to seven "jia" into one "bao". Private cooking, mixing is strictly prohibited, and private sale is strictly prohibited when it is trafficked. This method will be distributed to all states and counties, and taught to every salt station and salt household, and it will be used by all people in the world."

When the officials heard the words, they immediately discussed the system of Baojia and Shiwu. In the midst of the commotion, Pei Jun asked calmly, "Then who is in charge of teaching and learning?"

Zhang Lingping asked flatly: "Master Pei is the minister of the Ministry of Rites. Could it be that he doesn't know that there are ceremonial officials who specialize in teaching and studying national laws in the nine mansions and twelve provinces?"

Pei Jun smiled and said: "Of course I know. But the ceremonial staff from all over the country under the Ministry of Rites can only explain the law to the people clearly, and who will control how the people are doing? Is the censor inspecting it? But Mr. Zhang's plan In fact, the local salt households have been compared with the village households, and the salt fields are more like village farms, bringing together soldiers and civilians. Although they can supervise each other and protect the fields for self-defense in peace, they can also have force when they gather together, and the world There are hundreds of people in Yantian, if soldiers and civilians gather to riot, how will the court respond? If the censor not only supervises the officials of the state government, but also supervises the soldiers and civilians in Yantian, how can it be balanced?"

As soon as these two questions came out, the monarchs and ministers in the palace finally understood what Pei Jun was talking about.Opposite him, on the first seat of the cabinet, Cai Yan, who was originally closing his eyes and resting his mind, suddenly opened his eyes when he heard the words, his eyes looked like eagles for a moment, and locked Pei Jun tightly, but when he was about to speak, Jiang Zhan on the throne preempted him:

"What do you think Pei Qing should do?"

Pei Jun and Cai Yan looked at each other calmly, and at this moment they only smiled slightly, and held the wat with both hands to worship: "My lord, there is also a special department for the iron smelting of the Ministry of War, and there is also a separate department for the soldiers and civilians under the Ministry of War. In charge, Zechen thought that in order to ensure that all villages and households under the jurisdiction of the Jiufu Twelve Roads know, practice and abide by the law, Master Zhang's new policies and regulations will be implemented, and the local salt people will not gather to riot Therefore, the imperial court should also set up an official road dedicated to the salt industry, just like the iron industry and garrisoning fields. For this reason, the minister advised: set up a salt inspection department in Beijing, and then allocate several people from the government road patrols to specialize in the salt industry. It can be used as a salt patrol. This will not only urge the soldiers and the people to self-supervise, but also communicate with the imperial court, using the officials as their mouths and eyes, close to the people's livelihood and spread public opinion on behalf of the imperial court, so that the salt industry can be supervised more closely."

As he spoke, he didn't wait for Cai Yan to open his mouth, and continued to speak eloquently: "In recent years, there has been a famine in the northwest, floods in the south, and the crops in the two places have not been harvested. They have been mostly supplemented by taxes from the salt fields in the East China Sea, but the salt merchants authorized by the imperial court , already had the obligation to raise donations for the famine, this time they reported the money to the disaster area, and they also had to pay the imperial court tax. In order not to lose money, the salt merchants had no choice but to raise the price of salt. The price of salt market has risen sharply, and official salt is so expensive that the common people can't afford it, so they have to buy private salt. The Department of Zhaosi seized more than 3000 taels of illegal salt. In recent years, the Ministry of Criminal Justice has also investigated more illegal salt crimes, and many murders, frauds, and cases of people eating poisonous salt in the market have also occurred because of this. From this, we can imagine that If the imperial court just ignores the salt industry, there will be no market for official salt and private salt will flourish, and once it becomes an unhealthy trend, in the long run, it will be difficult for official salt to survive, and it will be difficult to collect official taxes."

Speaking of this, he finally sighed in regret, and said to Cai Yan, who was the head of the cabinet: "Grand Master Cai, my lords in the cabinet, isn't this still hurting the foundation of our dynasty? Isn't it worthwhile?"

In fact, this strategy of arresting the salt department, in Pei Jun's previous life, was originally the way of making money that Cai Yan first thought of in order to obtain huge profits for the thousands of minions under Cai's command, and most of them used the reasons Pei Jun said.Once this policy is implemented, all local inspectors will become targets of bribery and filial piety by salt merchants and salt households. On weekdays, inspectors can also exploit and deduct profits from transshipment at will, and then hand them over to the Department of Anti-salt. After that, they can be called Cai Earn a lot of money.With this tens of millions of money nourished for ten or eight years, the Cai family will be able to grow branches and roots all over the place. If there is no coercion, what road will they not pave for the officials?

But in this life, not only was this strategy first proposed by Pei Jun, but after he proposed it, Pei Jun, who had robbed someone of his wealth, actually asked Cai Yan's opinion innocently, obviously thinking that his words were not enough to shake The cabinet also knew that it could not get the cabinet vote by itself, so they wanted Cai Yan to say a few more words to guarantee him a guarantee.This means that Cai Yan has already arranged the votes for this matter, and he will never give it up easily. If the case is passed in the cabinet, it will be based on Cai Yan's arrangement. You don't need to spend effort, the remonstrance can be passed. After passing, the leading manager is naturally the proposer Pei Jun. If Cai Yan wants to get in, it will be more difficult than going to heaven.

Now, speaking for Pei Jun, the Cai family worked for Pei Jun, and if they didn't speak for Pei Jun, the countless favors that the Cai family gave in private would be wasted, and even the wages would not be recovered—how could they not do that? nest fire?

Cai Yan has been in the officialdom for [-] years, his face is like an ancient tree, his heart is like a rock, and it is extremely difficult to show emotion in ordinary official affairs, but now that Pei Jun finished speaking, the corners of his tightly pursed lips pulled down a little. , it took a while before slowly responding:

"...Master Pei is still far-sighted."

As he spoke, he tapped the knuckles of his thumb on the armrest, tapped again, coughed loudly, cleared his throat, and made a quick decision in just a few breaths:

"On the one hand, the imperial court wants to make legislation, but on the other hand, it should also take precautions to prevent troubles from below... It is indeed the same reason. Thinking about it... to raise some inspections and supervision, the imperial court will only spend 4000 taels of silver a year, at most. It's just a matter of distributing some grain to the local area. Compared with the loss of millions of taels in the salt industry, it is really a drop in the bucket. If, as Mr. Pei said, you can spend thousands of taels and save millions of taels of consumption, then the old minister Think, this is a good deal for the imperial court and for the country.”

In this way, it was the position of the Taishi who added two touches of magic to Pei Jun's remonstrance, causing several veteran ministers in the cabinet to exchange glances, and the officials below also nodded in agreement.

In Cai Yanshang's calm eyes, Pei Jun smiled at him from afar, as if to thank him.This caused Cai Yan's complexion to become more and more serious, although he didn't show happiness or anger, he didn't look away.

Pei Jun lowered the wat board, and stood back to his original position with his sleeves folded. At this moment, he glanced at Jiang Yue who was seated in the prince's seat, and saw that the teacup in Jiang Yue's hand had been placed on the table on his right. At this moment, he looked at his expression See also Su Mu, with dark eyebrows furrowed and handsome eyes suspicious, after a while, he shook his head and looked away.

As the meeting continued, Zhang Ling went on to talk about the terms of the New Deal.Cai Yang, who was beside Cai Yan, asked the old father anxiously, "Father, how could we ask Pei Jun to speak first about the anti-salt department that our family discussed early? Even the words are the same!"

Cai Yan groaned lightly, indicating that he heard it, and after listening to Zhang Ling's words for a while, he lowered his eyes again and said: "Official affairs, if you go a step slower, you will be slower. I can't blame others for being faster than us."

Naturally, he didn't know that Pei Jun was reincarnated, and after thinking about it now, he could only come up with a definite guess: "Perhaps there is Mrs. Pei's eyes at home. He is warning us not to touch his sister." He asked softly, "Didn't the student who left the Tang family go to his house?"

Cai Yangyilin: "...Father said that the student knew about it, so he reported it to him?"

Cai Yan was noncommittal, still half-closed his eyes, and said slowly: "A dog has been raised for three years, and the owner can often smell the smell of wine and meat at home, but how can the owner know what it smells? Even if the student didn't know about this matter, it's hard to guarantee that he doesn't know about it, and if the student really reported this matter to Pei, then what's the matter, he can't sue?"

At this time, the political affairs in the hall were almost discussed, so Jiang Zhan summoned nine members of the cabinet to disperse the court because of the case of arresting the salt secretary, and immediately drove into the inner court to draft a ticket.The officials shouted long live and knelt down on the ground, and the supervisor of ceremonies shouted "Back to the court and the affairs are over", and there was a sound of rustling cloths from the officials getting up, and the chaotic footsteps accompanied by three or two.

In such a commotion, Cai Yan opened his eyes, looked at Pei Jun, who was coming out of the hall with the six groups, and said to Cai Yang in a low voice: "To cut the grass, you need to remove the roots, and the dust to remove the traces - this student is, that student So is Pei Yan. As a father, I often teach you that if you make a mistake in the court, it is useless to make up for it. You must pull out all the people implicated in this mistake, so as not to burn yourself... Cough cough, look If Pei Yan is not eliminated right now, her younger brother will bite him. If the Tang family student is not eliminated, in the future..."

"The son will take care of the student immediately." Cai Yang said hastily.

Cai Yan coughed at this time, so he was too lazy to talk to him, and only nodded slightly, then got up.

He followed the eunuchs who came to invite people into the palace and walked towards the Zhongqing Hall. When he turned the corner of the corridor, he looked at the south gate of the Qinghe Hall, and sighed at the back of Pei Jun who was talking and laughing outside the door:

"Pei Bing raised a good son, but unfortunately, he was born at the wrong time..."

After speaking, he shook his head with a click of his tongue, supported by Cai Yang, and then continued to walk slowly into the palace.

Pei Jun bid farewell to the people from the six tribes, and waited at the stone steps outside the Hall of Qinghe, until he saw Jiang Yue's figure mixed with a row of princes slowly coming out of the hall door, he smiled lightly.

The officials passed by him in twos and threes, and said goodbye to him. He greeted them one by one, and saw that Jiang Yue had already said goodbye to all the royal relatives. At this time, he walked up to him in three steps with his hands behind his back, and asked him right away:

"What's going on with the Anti-Salt Division?"

Pei Jun walked out with him, and said in a leisurely manner: "Didn't you talk about it, my lord, this minister is for my home country—"

"It's impossible for you to help Zhang Ling." Jiang Yue interrupted him succinctly, and stopped a step, "I'm afraid that Qian Sheng will bring down the Tang family now, and when the Tang family falls, Jingmen Water Transport will return to Jingzhao, why? It is Jingzhao’s decision to transport and distribute salt, which is why you came up with the idea of ​​the salt industry. Since ancient times, salt, iron, rice and noodles have been the arms of the country. Holding salt means holding half of the court’s hand—Pei Jun, you What do you want to do?"

Pei Jun didn't answer, just raised his hand and pulled his sleeve, leading him to continue walking outside: "There are many eyes and ears in the palace, let's talk as we go, get out quickly."

Jiang Yue walked out with him, seeing that he was still unwilling to speak out what he thought, so he changed the question in a low voice: "Pei Jun, you told me at the banquet years ago that if the New Deal is like the division of the world, then you have to give it a try." This is enough. I know it must be angry words, nonsense, and lies to fool me, but the situation now is completely different from the past, and the current situation is no longer favorable to you, and today is even more besieged on all sides. Now, what do you think of the New Deal?"

Pei Jun walked out of the hall of Qinghe with him, and turned into the corridor in front of the Nangong Gate. He still didn't answer the question, but asked him softly and seriously:

"Jiang Yue, there are internal and external evils in this world, but there is only a false appearance-I know it, and you must know it too. If I tell you clearly that the New Deal will be a failure within five years, what will you do if you know the result? Look at it? If you knew that in seven or eight years, the soldiers stationed in Yantian would be overwhelmed by the tax pressure and rise up, the heroes of the state capital would divide the army, and the court would be in vain for a while, and even the world might be overthrown, what would you do now?"

Jiang Yue looked at him solemnly: "What will happen to you?"

Pei Jun smiled: "I just want to save my life, and now I'm just getting some money to save my life."

Jiang Yue frowned: "Just want to save your life? What about your previous ambition? What about your strategy for all people?"

When Pei Jun heard the word "ambition", he slowed down a little, sighed softly, and suddenly, as if the dark clouds were turning bright, he was relieved: "I don't have any ambitions at all."

Jiang Yue stopped in front of him with a cold face: "Then you are in the middle of the court and hold an important position in the government, don't you have any other wishes?"

Pei Jun stood still helplessly, looked at him, smiled calmly without thinking, "Why not? I still have to save Pei Yan."

Jiang Yue asked again: "What else?"

Pei Jun thought for a while: "Well, I probably want to raise Xuan'er."

"What about yourself?" Jiang Yue couldn't help raising his voice, and subconsciously moved half a step closer to him, "Pei Jun, now you just don't help that person, don't you have anything you want if it's not for him? ?”

Pei Jun looked at Jiang Yue with bright eyes, and the expression in his eyes was locked on the unparalleled handsome face in front of him because of his words. This time he thought about it for a longer time, and then said in a low voice:

"There are, but that's probably not what I say."

The rising sun of the spring day sprinkled the imperial city, and in the sunlight, he once again raised his hand to hold Jiang Yue, and then walked out side by side with Jiang Yue with his hands behind his back.They walked silently through the clumps of cypress trees in front of Yuanchen Gate, and finally walked under the extremely radiant sun. Their shoulders and backs were exposed to the sun, and because they were wrapped in layers of heavy clothes and clothes, they felt uneasy. It's hot.

Jiang Yue asked Pei Jun again before leaving the palace: "Are you going to let the world be led by the nose by this new policy, and it's okay to go to the ruins of life?"

"Then what should I do? What can I do?" Pei Jun asked quietly.

Jiang Yue decided to say: "Turn the tide."

Pei Jun stopped, looked back at him, frowned and smiled: "Just me?"

But Jiang Yue actually nodded: "You have six votes, and now my people can also vote with you. We can fight against Qingliu and Cai's."

However, Pei Jun shook his head: "Zhang Ling is the head of legal studies in the world. He is in charge of the Yushitai, and his disciples are all over the department. In the future, no matter what, there will be intersections with Pei Yan's case. Before I rescue Pei Yan, I can't move for the time being." He. I didn’t go to his house yesterday as an uninvited guest, but today he can follow Mrs. Cai’s urging to transfer the Pei Yan case out of public trial—seeing that Qingliu has seen the blood of the enemy, he behaves just like a villain. The extra knives are not too many, and I don't know if the knife is going to be stabbed on me, my sister, or even Xuan'er... and even if we don't talk about the Zhang family, it is the emperor One day I find out that I have a different heart, and I actually work with you, and I may join the Cai family to strangle me at any time. Then Yan Yuliang, Fang Mingjue, Cui Yu, and even my servants will not be able to escape, and you will also be implicated. "

"What if we take away the Cai family first?" Jiang Yue discussed with him in a deep voice.

"The Cai family is easy to take?" Pei Jun glanced at him, sighed and smiled, "You also know that the century-old Cai family is deeply rooted, with party members all over the universe, and minions tied to the workshop. If they are to die, Relying on literary struggles alone will not work for another ten years. If we really want to defeat Cai, we have to learn from the late emperor. We need to find an old man who is not afraid of death like my father, and take the emperor's order to lead the army to suppress it. It is good to destroy it. If the Cai family is taken away, I am the only one left among the courtiers who is not Qingliu. In the eyes of the emperor, is it not eye-catching? If the emperor wants to connect with the Zhang family to destroy me, Then it will be an endless brawl, never ending death..."

Jiang Yue's pace gradually stopped, as if he could hear the crux of Pei Jun's two fates, he frowned thoughtfully for a moment.

Pei Jun tilted his head to look at him, and said softly, "Jiang Yue, you know what I'm going to say."

He held up four fingers and counted them one by one: "The four parties in the court—I, you, Cai, and Zhang," and then he raised his thumb again, "The emperor is on top of his head." Go up, "If the sky above the head remains unchanged, then no matter how hard the people below fight, they will not be able to change half of the country's fate. They are just struggling to share food and power. Whoever the sky wants to die will die, and all people in the world will die." What is bitter is still bitter, and what is sad is still sad.”

At this time, the two had already walked outside Yuanchen Gate, and the voices of people from the busy city in the distance soon surrounded them.Pei Jun waved to his bearer who was squatting on the corner of the street, sighed softly, and looked back at Jiang Yue frankly: "So, if you want to change the fate of the country, what matters is not what will happen to me, but what will happen to you; If you want to ask what the two of us are now, what matters is not what I think, but what you think."

"Jiang Yue, you are a man with the emperor's mandate, and you are worthy of the heavy responsibility of the world. The one who can turn the tide right now is not me, but you. I know that you probably have benevolence in your heart, and you have no intention of raising troops to kill. Either you have no intention of fighting in the same room, or you have no intention of taking over the country and becoming emperor at all, but if this is the case, the fate of the country will be changed. If we two live in harmony, you will not be happy. And if you are willing to fight this one, for the country If you change your fate, after the achievement, the country will be safe and peaceful, and I will become your subject, so how can you talk about the future between you and me?"

Hearing the words, Jiang Yue's eyes were filled with pain, and he frowned and asked Pei Jun, "Is this what you thought all night? Do you think we won't have a future?"

Pei Jun immediately shook his head, laughed softly as if reproachfully, and said to him without any embarrassment: "That's not true. I've been thinking about you all night."

Jiang Yue was startled when he heard the words, his eyebrows relaxed suddenly, and he didn't know how to respond for a while.

Pei Jun was most happy to see him flustered by someone abruptly, and the smile on his face deepened at this moment, as if he couldn't hold back some words, he whispered:

"I know I shouldn't get close to you at all. But Jiang Yue, you are too kind, I can't help it. I don't want you to be emperor, but if you want, I don't want to stop you."

As he spoke, he saw that the sedan chair had stopped three or five steps away, so he raised his hand and pinched Jiang Yue's fingers secretly under the wide sleeves, and winked at him: "Okay, I have to go and see Pei Yan. Recently The Ministry of Rituals is going to make preparations for grading papers and posting rankings. If I get busy, I won’t be able to go to Jingzhao. I’m afraid it won’t be easy to see you. When you’ve made up your mind, just write to me. Let’s find a place to eat and we’ll talk later. .”

Jiang Yue looked down at the sleeves covering the hands of the two of them, and nodded suddenly.Seeing this, Pei Jun laughed again, let go of his fingers, turned around and got on the sedan chair, and did not forget to raise the curtain to wave at him:

"Prince Jin, I'll wait for you."