After three days of rising pork prices, the West Lake Political Consultation Conference officially began.

And because Hangzhou was known as Wulin in ancient times, and today is Emperor Jianyan, this conference had already been nicknamed the Jianyan Wulin Conference during the three-day Dongpo meat price increase trend.

But no matter what name it was called, it didn't stop the West Lake being crowded with people for a while, and the scholars and people were so enthusiastic that the Zhao Guan family, who created the terracotta tombs, were a little shocked.

In fact, the reason for this phenomenon is so simple that it is self-evident. That is, although there are many top scholar-officials in the south, these are only the personal achievements of these scholar-officials, but it does not mean that the south as a whole has been in a political depression since ancient times.

It is naturally at a political disadvantage.

Similarly, there is Shu, and the two Huaihe Rivers separated by a river have a much higher political status.

This situation has been obvious since the founding of the Song Dynasty. At that time, the conquered south was a region that the rulers naturally distrusted. After Jingkang, Emperor Jianyan initiated the trend of asking political questions and ceded imperial power in a large scale.

The real power of the prime ministers and the six ministries and nine ministers has been greatly increased, the political status of the members of the public cabinet and the secret cabinet has gradually been established, and the study and administration of the Taixue has become an important matter of the country. However, the south is still far away from the capital and has nothing to do with these things. This has resulted in

A strong sense of political alienation and political hunger.

At the same time, after experiencing the Jingkang Incident, both rivers were lost, and the Central Plains, Guanxi, and Jingdong were all damaged. The importance of the South in the country has increased significantly in disguise, and the country still needs the Northern Expedition, which requires the South even more.

Financial and material support.

In this case, conflicts naturally arise.

And this contradiction is also the basic background for the southern scholar-bureaucrats to gradually merge with the frustrated Taoist and unemployed officials... According to everyone's understanding, the Zhao Guan family went south this time to resolve this contradiction.

The so-called Political Consultative Conference, from the current point of view, is undoubtedly a good way to resolve conflicts modeled on the example of Taixue Wenzheng. At least the form is correct. The opposition is also a minority, and everyone’s original intention is still the same.

The imperial court and your majesty, shake up Jiangnan and unite the establishment faction, and the situation will be good.

In other words, it may be because of the Indian summer in Jiangnan in October. After a light rain in early winter, instead of cooling down, the climate felt somewhat warm. At this time, as the conference was officially held, the enthusiasm of everyone on the West Lake inevitably became more intense.

On the first day, many petitions were submitted collectively, and this kind of collective petition was interestingly divided by region. Usually it was an old and famous person from a state or county who took the lead, and the format of the petition was also full of literary talent.

Articles, but if you look closely at the content, most of them are clichés or even similar things.

The first one must be that Zhao Guan's family should be close to virtuous ministers and stay away from villains. The next step must be to be virtuous, to be frugal and not to be extravagant, to open up the world, to be kind to the people, and to be respectful to brothers and sisters...

Of course, this is very correct advice, but whenever Zhao Guan's family seriously asks them who is a good minister and who is a villain, they often behave in a mess... at least more than half of them are stage frightened. After handing in the documents in person

He was shaky in front of Zhao Guan's family and the three princes, and stuttered when he opened his mouth. Even the decent people who could maintain their posture and answer questions mostly became indifferent after talking to a few ministers with better reputations.

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Are you kidding me?

Although the South has grievances against several rulers in power because of the tax increase, they really don't dare to ask them to say who is a villain in front of Lu Yihao. Lu Xianggong does not have the title of overnight enemy. The people of the southeast

Much more impressive than the hub!

Is it enough to just criticize the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister from a distance?

It’s not okay to talk about Shangshu! Didn’t you see that the minister who talked about Shangshu was directly killed by Zhao Guan’s family?

It's better not to say anything.

As for advocating frugality and abandoning extravagance, Zhao Guan's family asked carefully, and they hesitated. They probably thought that the official's digging fish ponds in Tokyo was too unbelievable. They had never seen it before, so it might not be true, but it would really be like this in person.

It's embarrassing to talk about it.

As for the red robes worn by officials, which are also half-worn, it is even more difficult to say.

Talking about leniency, benevolence and forgiveness, Zhao Guan asked them what specific changes in the previous "Xing Tong" were not in place? They didn't even know that as early as Yaoshan, in order to appease the people, the "Xing Tong" had been overhauled from the perspective of forgiveness.

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There are many others like this. If you really read the article, it is probably very well written. But if you really ask about the details, you will often not be able to say a few decent words.

However, even for such a document, Zhao Guanjia just smiled at most, and then asked two Hanlin bachelors who looked wealthy at first sight to come forward, accept the document in a dignified and formal manner, and at the same time, they would personally avoid the table and give it to the other party.

The purpose of the seat is to prepare the leader for consultation during the subsequent political consultation process.

In addition, if the article is particularly well written, or the response is decent, usually you also need to ask if you have a distinguished family background? If not, then naturally someone with the same family background as a Jinshi will be given on the spot. If the recommended person is

Opposition figures in Jiangnan also send out "Red Heart Riders" to recruit, and invite the other party to come and play live.

Let us say that at the beginning, Lu Yihao, the three ministers who accompanied him, were very dissatisfied with this kind of thing. He felt that this kind of link was meaningless. Although Li Gang did not object, he did not object only because he was politically powerful.

It came from Taisheng Fugu, so it was difficult to object directly. In fact, he looked down upon these middle-aged scholar-bureaucrats who had long since decayed, and thought it would be better to directly call some young people and well-known scholars to ask.

But soon, as this kind of petition with more formalism than substantive content became a trend, Li and Lu immediately realized the true meaning of Zhao Guan's actions - the meaning actually lies in the political question itself.

These scholar-bureaucrats below are not a conspiracy group. You can tell by the way they form groups to submit letters. They are still organized according to regions, because these days they can't cross the geographical limit if they want to join forces. Most of the documents they send are mixed and muddy. They are obviously from China.

And the nonsense of the comprehensive position within the region... In addition, they are all Confucian scholar-bureaucrats, and it is unlikely that those taxes will cause any immediate economic pressure, so where do they come from so much resentment?

At this time, Zhao Guan's family came to Hangzhou, showed an attitude towards them, and gave them certain political treatment, which in itself could achieve the purpose of winning over and alleviating the antagonistic atmosphere.

Therefore, even this kind of obviously formalistic political inquiry has still achieved unprecedented success... Many people have never seen the emperor in their lives, and they have not been able to pass the imperial examination. This time they can represent a state, an army, and lead a group of people.

When a child from his hometown meets Zhao Guan's family and puts forward his opinions face to face, even if his words are unreasonable, he is still accepted from a formal point of view and treated with courtesy. This is probably the pinnacle of his life.

And since he has reached the peak of his life on the shoulders of Zhao Guanjia, the emperor, he will naturally change his position and become a standard establishment faction. Turn around and anyone who says that the Guanjia is not good in front of him must be refuted angrily.

If you say that any of the court's strategies is not working, you must also explain the difficulties of the court with sincerity and defend the general strategy of the court.

On the second day, even local states and counties that had no similar preparations at the beginning gathered in a hurry, recommended celebrities, and wrote documents overnight to implement this strategy on behalf of the local government... to complete this very meaningful thing.

In this way, for two days in a row, Zhao Guanjia and the three husbands almost visited the "proposal group" of Liangzhe Road, most of Jiangnan East Road, Fujian Road, and a small part of Lianghuai Road, which satisfied the vanity of quite a few scholar-bureaucrats.

, and the voice of singing praises and virtues in Hangzhou gradually became more obvious.

It seemed that a united conference would end victoriously.

However, that's it.

Starting from the afternoon of the second day, some decent petitions began to appear one after another, and many people who really wanted to discuss practical issues also showed up.

For example, the former Jiangyin scribes Su Bai and Li Tao led a group of young scholars from Changzhou to write a memorial alone and wrote more than a dozen items, all of which were specific measures.

Among them, it is suggested to gather the southeast sea ships, land the "one hundred thousand soldiers of the imperial camp" from Cangzhou, and directly capture Yanyun. This is of course a typical scholar's opinion... If the one hundred thousand soldiers of the imperial camp are really sent to that place, that is

With the fate of losing logistics and being surrounded and annihilated, it is impossible to leapfrog so far with leapfrog tactics, not to mention that the southeast direction is already very exhausted, and any forced conquest of ships will turn the merchants into pirates.

However, regarding the establishment of local government offices in various places, the method of spreading it from level to level, such as the Sanshe method, to widen the voice, coincides with the terms discussed with the governors before Zhao Jiu came.

Therefore, the Zhao Guan family immediately granted the two of them the title of Secretary Lang and the title of Secretary Lang, and asked them to unite with the leaders of the local scholar-bureaucrats who were "prepared for consultation" to start from the southeast to plan the matter.

This incident further ignited the enthusiasm of West Lakeside.

But just when everyone was about to continue speaking enthusiastically, another decree came out that night. The officials had summoned the scholar-bureaucrats for two consecutive days. The other merchants, monks, Taoists, and farmers and workers in the market had never had the opportunity to meet. Therefore, on the third day and the fourth day,

On the fifth day, the officials will suspend the audience of scholar-bureaucrats and summon those people instead...On the fifth day, they will resume political consultation.

This decree is so grand that it is difficult to object to it.

However, the retired Xu Jingheng and Mr. Xu expressed some worries at this time... He was afraid that only one more day would be left for the scholar-bureaucrats, and two days of free time. Coupled with the friendly attitude of Zhao Guan's family, it is likely that some real people would be disgraced.

The dissatisfied scholar-officials took the opportunity to complete the final step of the series and make real big news on the last day.

Of course Xianggong Xu's worries are not unreasonable, but Li, Lu, and the Zhao family don't seem to care at all, so there is nothing that can be done.

Putting aside Xu Xianggong's worries for the moment, let's just say that in the next two days, it will be the turn of monks, merchants, and ordinary people to participate in this martial arts conference, and their participation methods are completely different from those of scholar-bureaucrats... Most of the monks, merchants, and merchants will participate in this martial arts conference.

People who come to spend money to seek royal protection are the so-called precedents in Yangzhou... and Zhao Guan's family is also happy to sell their official positions and make clear transactions.

The five southeastern Zen monasteries, the Fujian maritime merchants, or those who run kilns at home or do silk transshipment. It doesn’t matter whether you are talking about huatou chan or closed-mouth chan. It doesn’t matter whether you want to go to Nanyang or the East. As long as you give money, everything will be fine.

discuss.

By the way, these wealthy businessmen and monks who came to speak also became "available for consultation" figures, preparing to be incorporated into the local government system and become glorious institutional officials.

As for the ordinary people who came to have an audience, to be honest, the number was extremely rare compared to those scholar-bureaucrats, wealthy businessmen, and monks, and more of them came to complain to the emperor... Who divorced whom, who divorced whom

During the fight for property, some people felt that someone in their family had been unfairly wronged, and some people even came to report where the Vegetarian Demon Cult was!

In this regard, it would be easier for Zhao Guan's family to deal with it and transfer everything to Yousi... that is, the legendary relevant department.

There was only one whistleblower from the Vegetable-eating Demon Cult. Because he was entrenched in Xiaoshan across the Qiantang River, no one dared to neglect him. Liu Yan, the commander of the imperial class, personally led the imperial army to ride five hundred horses, crossed the river overnight, and rode lightly in Xiaoshan.

But early on the next morning, the leader of the Vegetable-eating Demon Cult and dozens of other people were brought back to Hangzhou.

This day is the last day of October and the last day of the Jianyan Martial Arts Conference.

Everyone knows that today will be uneventful...not because of the vegetable-eating demon sect, but because, as Xu Jingheng was worried about before, with the free time in the past two days and being familiar with the operation of the conference,

Moreover, the Zhao Guan family finally showed a "mighty king's attitude", but these scholar-bureaucrats finally mustered up the courage to complete the final connection that transcended regions and focused on political stance.

And these connections were semi-public at all. Those celebrities from the south of the Yangtze River gathered in restaurants, cited scriptures, and jointly recommended whoever wrote on behalf of someone else. Yang Yizhong didn't need to go check it out. They themselves shouted so loudly that even the carp under the West Lake knew about it.

Sure enough, in the morning, not long after, Zhao Guan's family quickly received an interesting petition.

"amnesty?"

On the south bank of the West Lake, in the open space at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain, Zhao Guan's family, dressed in a half-worn red robe, sat with his back to the mountain and the lake. As a serving prime minister, Lu Yihao sat directly on the left side of the table to accompany him. Then Li Gang and Xu Jingheng took the lead on the left and right.

Hundreds of scholar-bureaucrats, wealthy businessmen, monks and Taoists who were "prepared for consultation" were lined up on the left and right, rowing down the slightly undulating mountain... In addition, there were several close ministers behind the officials, and hundreds of imperial ministers.

Full of armor, lined up like a forest, standing solemnly on the outside... They are clearly distinguished and look quite imposing.

"Exactly the amnesty."

Even though he was well prepared, when he came to this occasion in person, the middle-aged scholar couldn't help but become a little nervous. Recalling that he had ridiculed those scholars who were speechless in front of the emperor in the restaurant, he was even more nervous.

He looked a little embarrassed and ashamed... Of course, this person was brave after all. He slowed down a little, stood firm, and gave his suggestion. "The official, Bai Shen thought, Jingkang has passed seven years.
To be continued...