Chapter 183 You can’t do it! (Coming!)

Zhang Fangping was looking at the door. Although Zhang Heng was working at his desk, he was still alert. The next moment he looked up and saw him.

Zhang Heng was very surprised and said: "Why is Prime Minister Ji here? Do you have anything to do when you come to the Imperial Academy?"

Zhang Heng quickly stood up and walked out.

Zhang Fangping saw that Zhang Heng's official uniform, which came to greet him, was a little lenient, and suddenly he felt a little sad. The country's fate was so bad that young people also suffered because of it.

"Come here to talk to Jia Xiang about something. I thought I haven't seen you for a long time, so I came here to see you."

Zhang Heng was very happy when he heard this: "The prime minister is very interested. I originally wanted to see you in the next few days."

Zhang Fangping's sentimentality disappeared immediately, and what appeared in his heart was vigilance: "Oh, hehe, Ju Zheng has his heart, hehehe."

Zhang Heng looked at Zhang Fangping with some surprise, thinking that he looked pretty good just now, but why did he suddenly become perfunctory?

But Zhang Fangping seemed to have remembered something: "Ah, I still have something to do, so I'll leave first."

After saying that, he ignored Zhang Heng and turned around to leave. Zhang Heng quickly shouted: "Ji Xiang, Ji Xiang..."

Zhang Fangping, however, quickened his pace and ran away as if he had seen a ghost.

Ran away?

Zhang Heng: "..."

Zhang Fangping ran away, and Zhang Heng sat back and continued to deal with various government affairs.

During this period, his main job was famine relief, but the daily work in the household was also very complicated.

Households are responsible for financial reserves, household registration, water transportation, salaries, loans, land tribute and various transportation matters.

This is not Kaifeng Mansion. Kaifeng Mansion is only responsible for matters within Kaifeng Mansion, but Hufang is in charge of the 15th Road, 254 prefectures, and 1,234 counties of the Song Dynasty!

There are more than a few hundred notes handed in from the local government every day. If they are not processed for a few days, they will pile up like a mountain.

Every morning, a large number of papers were delivered that had already been reviewed by the hall's rear officials. Just to deliver these papers, four or five people were required to carry them. In addition, most of the papers that were sent out by the political hall every day were also delivered.

It has to be issued through the household, and Zhang Heng also has to go through the destination most of the time.

Therefore, just these daily matters make it difficult for Zhang Heng to escape. And his main task is to rescue famines. It is understandable that he is so busy every day.

He has indeed reduced his income recently. Now he wakes up in the dark every day, rushes to the household and starts working. At noon, he asks his subordinates to go to the public kitchen to get a meal and come back. After eating, he takes a nap for twenty minutes, and then gets up to continue processing.

I finished my work, and then continued working from the afternoon until about midnight in the evening, before dragging my tired body home.

Among them, it would be much more tiring if he was needed to prepare for inquiries during public meetings in the political hall, and then when he needed to receive magistrates or transfer envoys who had returned from various places.

Of course, Zhang Heng can choose to entrust these affairs to his subordinates to handle, just like many other officials, they are not involved in worldly affairs, and they can even participate in poetry and cultural gatherings, etc., which is very chic.

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But Zhang Heng was unwilling.

Sitting in the Zhongshu household room where everyone picks up points, every note that goes out from here will affect the people of the area.

Although the subordinate officials are experts in handling these matters, Zhang Heng is afraid that they have selfish motives. As long as they flick their hands, many people will benefit and many people will lose their interests, so Zhang Heng does not dare, he

His conscience would not allow him to do this.

Therefore, although Zhang Heng will let his subordinates handle the matter first, he will do the final check himself and will never let others handle it.

When it was noon, Zhang Heng put down his pen, stretched, said something to the subordinate staff who was about to go get food, and then went to the political affairs hall.

Jia Changchao was also about to go to eat. When he saw Zhang Heng coming, he smiled and said, "Why, you are addicted to eating and you come here to eat again?"

Zhang Heng said confidently: "What does it mean to eat for free? I came to see Xianggong Jia to discuss something. I want to have a working meal. What's wrong!"

Jia Changchao laughed: "Let's eat and chat!"

The master and apprentice went to the kitchen of Zhengshitang and chatted while eating.

While Zhang Heng was eating the luxurious prime minister's food with relish, he was criticizing the Song Dynasty for its extravagance.

However, this is not the case in the Song Dynasty. In fact, the prime minister's diet was inherited from the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, some people felt that the prime minister's diet was too extravagant and it was best to reform it and make it more frugal.

For example, during the reign of Li Zhi, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, someone once proposed to reduce food expenses because they felt that the food expenses of the imperial prime ministers were huge and there was too much waste.

However, this suggestion was opposed by Zhang Wenguan, who always had a serious and majestic character. He believed:

"The emperor attaches great importance to ministerial affairs and treats talented people. If we do not hold these positions, we should beg ourselves to avoid being worthy. We should not reduce the public meal in order to gain reputation."

The general idea is that the prime minister's food setting is very reasonable, and the food standards cannot be lowered casually. In this position, you must eat; if you don't eat, you will resign. Otherwise, it is just pretentious.

Even so, he did not enjoy the blessing of prime minister's food, because every time he prepared to eat prime minister's food, he would suffer from unbearable abdominal pain. There were many delicacies on the table, but he could only drink "porridge with pulp and water".

During the reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, the prime minister wanted to save money again, so he made plans for working meals.

It was unanimously opposed by the ministers, and the reason was the same. If you can take on a big responsibility, it is natural to enjoy a generous salary;

If you are not competent, you should resign yourself and do not reduce the quality of the food.

From Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty to Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, over the past 100 years, there have been many discussions around work meals, and the final result is that work meals have become more and more popular.

In the Song Dynasty, it was even more popular, so although Zhang Heng was not used to it, he did not speak on the matter. He even ate more than others, so he would not imitate Zhang Wenguan and pretend to have a stomachache and not eat the prime minister's food.

Therefore, Zhang Heng is not someone who picks up the bowl to eat and puts down the bowl to scold his mother.

He is much more pure. When he picks up the bowl, he not only eats, but also curses... Oh, he doesn't have time to talk, so he can only curse first.

Jia Changchao watched Zhang Heng devouring his meal and couldn't help but joked: "You are a wild boar who cannot eat fine chaff. But you are like eating braised noodles at a temple fair. You can't taste it slowly?"

Zhang Heng wiped his lips and said with a smile: "These are just daily meals for me."

Jia Changchao was speechless. He remembered that Zhang Heng had hundreds of millions of dollars in his pocket. It was normal to eat better than this for every meal. However, he still couldn't help but advise: "Don't live too extravagantly."

, think about the people..."

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "According to the principles of economics, rich people like me should not only not be frugal, but also have to consume desperately. Only by spending money can more people benefit."

Jia Changchao recalled Zhang Heng's lessons at the Jingyan, and it seemed that this was what happened. He was a little puzzled and said: "Since you have money to spend, why is the prime minister's food considered extravagant?"

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "The imperial court pays for the prime minister's food expenses. This involves imperial expenses, which is different from personal consumption. It is not the same thing.

There are too many details to explain. In short, the imperial court is rich, but for the imperial court, there are countless places to spend money. Spending on disaster relief is a serious matter, but spending on feeding officials is secondary.

of.

But for an individual, if he has hundreds of thousands of dollars, he will not be able to spend it in his lifetime, so as long as he is willing to spend money, he can spend it however he wants."

Jia Changchao nodded: "So, when you and Sansi ask for money, you want it to death. Do you think that there is no need to spend money elsewhere?"

Zhang Heng let out a laugh and said: "I just asked why Zhang Jixiang went to where I was today? He came to complain to you about his feelings. Well...it's strange, why didn't he scold me when he saw me?"

Jia Chang looked at the reduced Zhang Heng, put a few pieces of meat into Zhang Heng's bowl, and then said: "It's probably difficult for the Third Division to come up with it. If you ask them to come up with 10 million guan, it's probably impossible."

.”

Zhang Heng stuffed a large piece of meat into his mouth, puffed out his mouth and said: "If you ask for a high price, you can pay me back on the spot. If I don't ask for a higher price, he will definitely give you less, so I just ask for a higher price."

Jia Changchao said helplessly: "You can't just empty out the family fortune of the Third Division."

Zhang Heng chuckled: "Zhang Jixiang said that the Third Division only had 10 million yuan, right? He was lying!

Although I spend a lot of money at the beginning of the year, how many people don’t know about it? How can I know?

At the beginning of the year, the three companies received 60 million guan, and the expenditure at the beginning of the year was about 20 million guan, and now we still have about 40 million guan."

Jia Changchao smiled helplessly: "It's impossible to give you 10 million guan. All the officials in the Cao Department are waiting for the rice to be cooked. If you want to leave 10 million guan, no one else will do it."

Zhang Heng snorted twice and said: "Not only do we have to get money from the Third Division, none of them can escape, but they all have to support more or less famine relief. With the situation this year, if we don't rescue the famine, we will wait to send troops to suppress the uprising.

Then there will be wars all over the country, and more money will be spent, and even the vitality of the country will be destroyed!"

Jia Changchao let out a long sigh: "Oh God, if God is kind and rains quickly at this time, a batch of crops can be replenished, and there may be no famine!"

Zhang Heng curled his lips and said: "We can't just rely on God. How can we have a good harvest every year? It's better to find a way to solve this situation."

Jia Changchao shook his head and said: "Isn't it the same in agriculture? Doesn't everyone have to depend on the weather to make a living?"

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "Having said that, the Song Dynasty is a large area, but there is room for maneuver. As long as the court pays enough attention, even if there is a famine, it will not cause too much damage."

Jia Changchao suddenly became interested: "Tell me about it."

Zhang Heng nodded and said: "This is what I am doing now.

First of all, although it has not rained much in most parts of the country this year, the severity varies. The northern part of Beijing is the most serious. I have positioned it as the hardest hit area. These places will be the first to receive relief;

Secondly, there are mildly affected areas, such as Sichuan, Shu, Beijing, and Jianghuai. There are many water systems. Although it does not rain, water conservancy projects can alleviate most of the drought. Although it is still necessary to reduce production by 40 to 50%, there are still 40 to 50% of the drought.

With a good harvest, it is possible to make a living;

In the areas south of the Yangtze River, the pressure will be much less. The water systems in these places are connected and spring plowing will basically not be affected. Especially in the Jinghu and Hulu areas, there are abundant water sources. However, because the water sources are too abundant, many places cannot be developed.

come out.

After classifying them, the famine relief work will have focus.

Recently, I have been supervising local governments to conduct thorough inspections of Changping warehouses, count the total amount of grain stored in Changping warehouses across the country, and then reallocate it.

The transshipment envoys must be mobilized to transport the grain from Changpingcang south of the Yangtze River northward, first into the northern region of Beijing, and to leave enough food for the people in various prefectures and counties to survive the disaster years.

Secondly, the remaining grain will be transported to Sichuan, Sichuan, Western Beijing, and Jianghuai areas to prepare for the serious consequences of excessive grain production reduction.
To be continued...