When Zhao Xu saw Zeng Bu, he smiled.

Zhao Xu still has a good impression of Zeng Bu.

Compared to Wang Anshi, Zeng Bu is good at communicating and does things quite smoothly. It is probably because he has experienced it under Ouyang Bian's men, so he has a good job of doing things.

Compared to Lu Huiqing, Zeng Bu also seems much better at commanding. Although his ability may not be very outstanding, his obedience is quite rare.

There is another name that Zhao Xu has never wanted to think of, which is Ouyang Bian.

To be honest, in fact, Zhao Xu believed that Ouyang Bian was the real unparalleled national warrior, but he knew in his heart that he could not control Ouyang Bian.

Although Ouyang Bian has always shown a cooperating attitude, Zhao Xu admitted that he could not see through Ouyang Bian.

Ouyang Bian's talent is better than everyone in this era. Although Zhao Xu claims to be smart, he has never had inferiority in front of Ouyang Bian.

So when he cleared Han Qi out of the court, Zhao Xu thought he could not control Ouyang Bian, so he chose to send Ouyang Bian to Yongxing Jun Road.

However, Ouyang Bian's sudden death was something he could not have imagined.

While he was sad, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Of course, only he knows these thoughts.

When the court discussed the posthumous title given to Ouyang Bian, Lu Huiqing and others proposed to give Ouyang Bian Wen Zhong's posthumous title, but Zeng Bu disagreed and believed that Ouyang Bian was not worth it, but Zhao Xu agreed, so he only gave him a second-class posthumous title.

This is because of his psychological reasons.

"See Your Majesty!"

Zeng Bu bowed deeply and waited for Zhao Xu to help him straighten his waist.

Zhao Xu was quite happy with Zeng Bu's extraordinary etiquette. Although the rest of the priests were considered respectful, they would not be so charming.

"Your Majesty is in high spirits today, but what are the happy events?" Zeng Bu said sincerely.

In recent years, Zhao Xu has been in poor health and laughed at him: "Where is there, it's just that the autumn scenery is pleasant."

Zeng Bu smiled sincerely and said, "Your Majesty reversed the declining trend since the Five Dynasties and restored the official system to the prosperous Tang Dynasty. With Your Majesty's wise guidance and the official system on the right track, it is only a matter of time before the Song Dynasty restores the legacy of the prosperous Tang Dynasty."

Although Zhao Xu knew that Zeng Bu's words were a bit exaggerated, he was still quite happy. The two chatted for a while, and Zhao Xu asked Zeng Bu for advice.

"Zi Xuan, the war has stopped a little in the past two years. Now that the Yellow River is flooding, and after such a struggle, the national treasury is scarce. What are your best solutions?"

Zeng Bu nodded: "I have learned that the treasury is empty. The 40 counties in the Yellow River Flood Area not only have no land taxes to collect, but also spent a lot of money during the rescue, and the court even exempted taxes for two years.

Although there should be taxes to collect this year, the expenditures in recent years have become increasingly large. Tax alone is probably difficult to support. We have to re-open our wealth.”

Zhao Xu couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The five-way attack on Xia failed, but the army still had to continue to maintain. Although the trade between Song and Xia is in full swing, Xixia has made great moves in the past two years and has been constantly preparing for war. Apart from revenge on the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xu could not think of any other ideas in Xixia.

According to Wang Menge's secret letter and other spies, Xixia released a powerful prime minister named Ouyang Jun, who controlled the Xixia regime. Xixia has now reached the point where she only knows the prime minister but not the king.

According to spy reports, this powerful minister was ambitious and not only controlled the Central Army, but also accepted the 12 Army Divisions under his command. Now Ouyang Jun's court can command the entire country's army with his arms.

This is a very bad sign.

The system of the entire Xixia military force in the system is based on the tribal system. Although there is a legal relationship between the tribe and the court, the tribe has a high autonomy.

The so-called battle of the country before the Western Xia court was actually just the joint efforts of the Xiangqing Army, the Central Army and several military departments of Bian Jing.

Because the command of other tribes and military departments is not very active, especially when war is in a tight position, the tribe's ability to withstand it must be considered.

But now Xixia controls hundreds of thousands of troops across the country. According to spy reports, the powerful prime minister Ouyang Jun slaughtered the Dangxiang nobles and implemented a land revolution to form a COFCO Group. Each farm and ranch is under the direct governance of COFCO Group. All the tribes of the past have become history.

This is a country with more war potential.

This is Zhao Xu's own judgment and the Western Army's judgment.

Zhao Xu was still trusted by the commander of the Western Army. In the past two years, Zhong Xian has been constantly requesting military expansion and other matters. Although there were many oppositions from the court, Zhao Xu still paid a lot of money and grain under pressure. Of course, the establishment was not given, but the money and grain could not be reduced.

This is a big overhead.

The so-called official system reform saved 20,000 yuan, but in fact, it was 20,000 yuan less when paying the salary.

In fact, during this reform period, it cost more than one million yuan to create new official uniforms, official seals, office location adjustments, various documents modifications, etc.!

This is just the central government. If you want to promote it to the local area, the cost will be at least tens of millions of yuan!

To be honest, the finances of the Song Dynasty are like a big sieve now. If you put them on, you will lose all the money. As for the current income, you will still have a deficit every year. This year's autumn harvest is counted and then you will calculate the amount you should pay. As soon as you pass, you will lose all of them.

Zhao Xu's headache was largely due to the miserable defeat of the Five Ways of Xia, but worrying about not having money every night was also one of the reasons.

It’s not easy to be a family.

"What are your strategies for improving finances?"

Zhao Xu asked in great anticipation.

Zeng Bu said: "In fact, the imperial court's market rules were a very good method in the past few years. It's a pity that some people destroyed it, which is a pity."

Zhao Xu was surprised and couldn't help but look at Zeng Bu.

In fact, from the beginning, why he valued Zeng Bu was actually because Zeng Bu always inadvertently exposed his dissatisfaction with Ouyang Bian. It just so happened that Zhao Xu himself was quite guarded against Ouyang Bian, so he abandoned Lu Huiqing and others and focused on promoting Zeng Bu.

When I gave Ouyang Bian a posthumous title, Zeng Bu had a very unhappy relationship with Lu Huiqing, Su Shi and others. It is said that even Zeng Gong was quite dissatisfied with Zeng Bu. At that time, Zhao Xu thought it was still very good, because if all Ouyang Bian were used, he would not feel at ease.

After that, Zeng Bu suppressed Jiayou a lot in the same year in the second year, which was also something Zhao Xu himself liked to see.

To be honest, Jiayou's second-year list is now quite powerful, and there is also a so-called central bank official who has occupied half of the officialdom of the Song Dynasty.

Why Zhao Xu was exiled to Ouyang Bian before was actually because he discovered this and was afraid that he would not lose his tribute, so he simply sent Ouyang Bian to the place.
Chapter completed!