Capital City, Imperial Palace, Chui Gong Hall.

Zhao Xu looked at the memorial that had just been delivered to his hand, his face livid.

Zhang Dun, Zeng Bu, and Cai Bian stood in the palace. The atmosphere was very dull, and no one spoke first.

"Bang! This is my good minister!"

Zhao Xu finally slammed the memorial on the table, then slapped the table and said angrily.

Zhang Dun and the other three were all startled. They looked at each other but said nothing because they had expected Zhao Xu to get angry before they came.

"Almost all of the dozens of officials in Qingzhou were involved in the corruption of disaster relief food. Together with other cases, the entire Qingzhou officialdom was wiped out. Now Ning Fu has taken over Qingzhou City with the help of the army, and even the Qingzhou garrison has

If there is a problem, they are so brave!"

Zhao Xu roared angrily again.

Although Zhao Xu has been in power for several years, this is the first time he has encountered such a bad case. All officials in Qingzhou have been arrested for committing crimes. If this spreads out, it will be a big joke. The Song Dynasty court

His face will also be lost.

"The officials should calm down. He Lu and others committed a heinous crime. Fortunately, they were discovered by Qing Pingbo and Tong Du. Now that they have been arrested, the most important thing is to send someone to take over Qingzhou to influence the subsequent disaster relief!"

Zhang Dun finally stepped forward to persuade him.

"What about this case? How should they handle it? Why are they so bold and ignore the court's laws?"

Zhao Xu still asked angrily.

In fact, it’s not surprising that Zhao Xu was so angry. When the disaster relief grain was embezzled, he suspected that there was something wrong with Qingzhou’s officialdom. After all, so much grain, half of it disappeared silently as soon as it was delivered to Qingzhou. It was definitely not just one or two officials.

It can be done unless there is collusion between top and bottom.

Now that Ning Fu and Tong Guan have found out the facts of the case, things are indeed as Zhao Xu guessed.

You must know that the reason why Zhao Xu sent Tong Guan to investigate the case instead of letting Dali Temple or the censor intervene was mainly because he did not trust these officials. After all, the Qingzhou officialdom can collude, who can guarantee that the officials in the capital will not collude with them?

Qingzhou is not a small place, and it is not too far from the capital, but even so, He Lu and others dared to deceive the superiors and subordinates, and controlled the entire Qingzhou officialdom.

Therefore, Zhao Xu is almost certain that there must be a deeper background behind He Lu and others.

But this case can no longer be investigated, because if it continues, some people in the court may be involved, and it may not be able to end.

This was also one of the reasons why Zhao Xu was angry. After all, he did not expect that the ministers he trusted would be so heartless in private, which made Zhao Xu feel the feeling of being betrayed.

"this……"

Zhang Dun didn't know how to answer at this time. He could understand Zhao Xu's anger and knew what Zhao Xu was angry about, but as the head of a hundred officials, his status was very sensitive, so it was not easy to persuade him.

This made Zhang Dun suddenly miss Ning Fu very much. If Ning Fu were here, he could help him persuade Zhao Xu.

"I have informed the officials that I believe that the first culprit, He Lu and others, must be severely punished. As for the other officials involved, they will all be handed over to Dali Temple for trial, and everything will be dealt with according to the law!"

Cai Bian finally stepped forward and said.

He also saw that Zhang Dun was in trouble, so he came to the rescue for him.

"What's important? Then, the imperial court spends so much money on raising officials every year, but they are still not satisfied. And there is only one Qingzhou in the world. Are there other state capitals? Have I been kept in the dark by them?

"

Zhao Xu issued a series of questions.

Dealing with He Lu and others was just a trivial matter, and he never thought of being lenient with Qingzhou officials, but how to prevent similar things from happening again was the key.

"If the officials are worried, they can order the Yushitai to strengthen supervision and appoint inspectors to inspect the place on behalf of the emperor. As long as similar things are discovered, the imperial court will never tolerate it!"

Zeng Bu also stepped forward and suggested.

"Are these useful? Even the governor of Qingzhou is colluding with them. The people of the Imperial City Department have also been bribed. Several officials are sent to inspect the place. Who can guarantee that they will not be bribed?"

Zhao Xu asked angrily.

This case in Qingzhou had a great impact on Zhao Xu, and even made him suspicious of the entire civil service group.

You must know that the Song Dynasty relied on civil servants to control military affairs. It can be said that the emperor relied on the civil servants to govern the world. But now this group of civil servants disappointed him so much. It was not even as reassuring as the eunuch Tong Guan who made Zhao Xu feel at ease.

"What the official means is..."

Zhang Dun also noticed at this time that Zhao Xu seemed to have already planned it, and even his anger just now seemed a bit deliberate.

"I have thought about it and decided to set up the position of Zhaoxuan Envoy in the local area, which will be held by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and is responsible for supervising local officials!"

Zhao Xu finally showed his fangs.

"Not for officials!"

Unexpectedly, Zhang Dun and Zeng Bu's expressions changed, and they all stepped forward to stop them.

The so-called Zhaoxuan envoys are actually positions held by eunuchs, but they have been abolished long ago. Now Zhao Xu has re-established Zhaoxuan envoys and asked them to supervise local officials, which will inevitably greatly increase the power of the eunuchs.

You must know that for civil servants, there have always been three major enemies, one is military generals, the other is relatives, and the third is eunuchs.

The military generals had long been abandoned by the Song Dynasty, and their relatives were also greatly restricted. They even integrated into the civil servants early, and they did not pose any threat to the civil servants.

The eunuchs were different. Although at the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, eunuchs were prohibited from intervening in government affairs. Even the eunuchs' ranks were independent and not mixed with the court officials, in order to prevent eunuchs from interfering in government affairs.

However, since Shenzong came to power, eunuchs have begun to be reused. Not only are eunuchs serving as military supervisors in the army, but eunuchs are also stationed to supervise local finances.

These eunuchs were not subject to local control and only obeyed the emperor's orders. They could also report directly to the palace. Many of them even had a background in the Imperial City and became the emperor's local eyes and ears.

In fact, Shenzong's intention for doing this was very clear, that is, he wanted to use the eunuchs to contain the civil servant group. After all, the civil servants were in charge alone, which would also threaten the power of the emperor.

The civil service group had long been wary of this situation, so after Shenzong died and Sima Guang came to power, he began to vigorously restrict the power of eunuchs. Even now that Zhang Dun is in power, the restrictions on eunuchs have not been relaxed.

Even during Zhang Dun's reform, he deliberately took back the power from some eunuchs to prevent them from becoming powerful.

But now Zhao Xu actually wants to station eunuchs in local areas and has the power to supervise officials.
Chapter completed!