In the blink of an eye, it was already mid-April when spring and summer intersect. Kaifeng Prefecture was once again shrouded in a drizzle that lasted for several days.

The drizzle was so irritating that it was annoying. The air was filled with a faint moisture, which made people feel a sense of shady. Lu Benzhi walked out of the back door of the Taifu Temple Palace with an umbrella early in the morning, and did not bring his followers. He walked quickly along a deep alley with a winding path. He walked very quickly, turning his head from time to time, and dense beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his facial features were twisted, looking very nervous.

Because today he is going to take bribes if he has never done anything in the past!

For Lu Benzhi, who has been studying the books of sages since childhood and is determined to be a famous official like his father Lu Jiawen and Wang Anshi, the most amazing prime minister in history, the officials who embezzled and accepted bribes should be the most hateful person in the world.

The corruption of the Song Dynasty, the various setbacks encountered by the vigorous reform movement, and the ambitions that my father had been unable to extend over the years, are all due to corruption!

If all the officials of the Song Dynasty were obedient and abide by the law, how could the great country be ruined? How could the Western thieves cause disaster for decades? How could the Liao Kingdom occupy Yanyun for more than a hundred years? How could the new policy advocated by Wang Jinggong be so premature and failure?

Therefore, in Lu Benzhi's past fantasy, he would become a Qingtian honest official who severely punished the unscrupulous business; he would become an iron-bone censor who was not afraid of the powerful and made corrupt officials frightened; he would become a famous reform official like his father...

But ideals are always shattered by complete reality! He, Lu Benzhi, is going to take bribes now! And no one forces him to take bribes with a knife, but he reaches out to ask for money himself!

Because he already felt that his father might soon be involved in the demolition of the Zhoubei Military Camp. Although the four clerks who were forced to act as minions were spared all these days to find the small vendors who lived in the Zhoubei Military Camp, they did force more than a dozen or twenty households to move with tears. However, most of the people living in the Zhoubei Military Camp still refused to move, without any wavering. Not everyone in the Zhoubei Military Camp was doing small business in the Chengbei Chamber.

There are many people who are working as coolies, some are idle people in the local area, some are working as bodyguards, and some are fighting against each other... In short, as long as they are not business by themselves, the municipal tax peace case cannot control others.

These people are like iron nails, stuck there tightly, and they can't even pull them out. They are simply nail houses!

Moreover, in April, another situation appeared that Lu Jiawen, who had never dreamed of Lu Benzhi and his son, had never dreamed of, the construction team of the store house construction office wanted to go to the Zhoubei Military Camp to demolish several houses that residents had moved away, but met a fully armed guard outside the Zhoubei Military Camp where no one had guarded for many years!

People don’t let you go in and demolish the house, and they are very confident! How can idle people come to demolish the house in the military camp? Is there an order from the Palace Front Office? If not, you will get as far as you can!

If you don't get out, the spear and military crossbow of the imperial guards will be called up.

This scared the people in the store and house construction center. Dozens of people were asked to resign within a day... Even if there was an official position, people would not dare to continue.

This is a fatal death!

Afterwards, Lu Jia went to the palace commander Cao Song to argue. Cao Song did not buy it at all, and even turned the blame, saying that the Taifu Temple Minister forced the demolition of the military camp and wanted to pull Lu Jiawen to go to the imperial court to sue. In the end, Jiang Zhiqi, the head of the Privy Council, came to smooth things over, but the smooth things over, Jiang Zhiqi did not ask Cao Song to order the demolition to the northern military camp of the state. Instead, he criticized Lu Jiawen (Jiang Zhiqi was a Jinshi in the Renzong Dynasty and a veteran in the officialdom), saying that he was not organized in his work and knew that he was doing things recklessly!

After this incident, Lu Benzhi finally made up his mind to make some money in order to make a living after his father stepped down, and to be a corrupt official!

Not to mention, this corrupt official felt that it was much easier than being a capable minister in Qingtian who was not afraid of the powerful and eager to reform.

He told Yu Wen about the meaning of asking for money, which was the city tax officer. Yu Wen Dao immediately found a carbonifer merchant from Taiyuan (the legendary coal boss) named Xia Yutian. He had two carboniferous mines on Zezhou on Hedong Road and Xiangzhou on Hebei West Road. Every year, he transported millions of kilograms of carboniferous to Kaifeng Prefecture, and bought a large amount of tea from Kaifeng Prefecture and sold silk to Hedong.

The carbide sale in Kaifeng Prefecture is also controlled by a carbide farm under the jurisdiction of the Taifu Temple Minister... Therefore, it is of course impossible to curry favor with the yamen who can go to the Taifu Temple Minister.

Today, Lu Benzhi is going to see this "coal boss" at Xiefanglou...

...

When Lu Benzhi was stepping into the abyss of corruption and bribery, his father Lu Jiawen was attending Chongzheng Palace.

He, a "busy-nine", rarely asked questions from Chongzheng Hall, but today he is still busy, because several low-level censors from the new party camp, including Zhang Kegong, the Censor's Office, recently submitted a letter to impeach Wu Haogu to take bribes, sell official positions, shelter Hidden Fields and interfere with Cangzhou local administration.

In short, the crime is very high, and the evidence is solid. The Cangzhou magistrate Lu Yihao and Cangzhou judicial military officer Ji Yi jointly submitted a memorial to expose Wu Haogu's crimes!

Now Wu Haogu is probably out of the way...

Zhao Ji sat behind the imperial case, frowned deeply. Of course, he had read the memorials that impeached and exposed Wu Haogu, and he also knew that the problem mentioned existed. Because Wu Haogu had already secretly asked him for the matter of "for land to knights".

Zhao Ji adopted the method of "authorization and permission" because he knew it was impossible to pass the Zhongshumen's edict to agree that this behavior that seemed like selling official positions was not selling official positions. The knights who were in front of the palace were a kind of feudal military service. Zhao Ji gave land (the money for buying land), and the knights sent people to provide horses and equipment to serve in Kaifeng Prefecture. These knights were strictly speaking Zhao Ji's vassals.

Therefore, Wu Haogu’s “selling knights” cannot be viewed with bureaucratic thinking.

The emergence of bureaucrats should be fair, the imperial examinations should be taken, and everyone should be equal before the test papers, so that they can convince the public.

However, the emergence of vassals does not require conquering the public at all. This is a transaction between vessals and vassals, just like the Zhe Family Generals and the Yang Family Chiefs and the Yang Family. There is no need to take the exam at all. As long as the Zhao Family and the Zhe Family are satisfied, the Yang Family is satisfied. Or, both parties need it, that's all!

But the problem is that by the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were no more "feudal ideas" in China. Some were bureaucratic thinking and were the official! So everyone was extremely upset when they saw Wu Haogu selling knights.

"Have you seen the array map sent by Murong Wangyou?"

Zhao Ji was still thinking about how to excuse Wu Haogu, so he first mentioned the "Infantry and Cavalry Formation Map" that Murong Wangyou just sent. This set of formation maps lists three series according to the different types of troops, namely "Gulls, Shields, Long Guns, Crossbows, Formation", "Knife, Shield, Long Guns, Crossbows, Formation" and "Instrument, Vehicle, Crossbows, Guns, Shields, Formation".

These three series are not only three array diagrams, but three sets of dozen array diagrams each, listing various changes, which look very complicated.

However, no matter how complex the formation map is, it is only used to command a group of infantry and cannot be used for large wars. In the eyes of the priests of the East and West Mansions, it is really not of great value.

"Your Majesty," An Tao, the official in the Privy Council, reported, "I have seen the formation map. The battle techniques listed in these three formation maps are all the generals and the team members need to master them. Perhaps the front class in the hall can be practiced directly according to the practice."

The head of the Privy Council, Jiang Zhiqi, also reported: "Your Majesty, I also think that the maps in Murong Bing Academy are all the ways of martial artists. I and other civil officials learn not from these hundred people or thousands of enemies."

"Oh." Zhao Ji nodded, a little disappointed. He originally thought Murong Wangyou was a very powerful military strategist, but he didn't expect that he could only have a hundred people and an enemy of thousands.

"Then let's collect the formation map in the editorial department of the Privy Council." Zhao Ji paused, "As for Murong Wangyou... After all, he is a man who returns to the north and needs preferential treatment. Why not let him train the knights in front of the palace and then hold the palace to hold the palace."

Let Murong Wangyou help train the imperial knights and it was also a suggestion from Wu Haogu that secretly entered the text. It was not because the knights had poor riding skills, but because Murong Wangyou's Military Academy wanted to use his spare time to promote the grass field rotation method, and also help the enfeoffed knights to settle their homes in Beicangzhou.

The ministers had no objection to such an arrangement. Murong Wangyou was just an outsider to the officialdom of the Northern Song Dynasty, a small episode. The late emperor Zhao Xu and the then prime minister Zhang Dun looked down on him, so he asked him to do something. Fortunately, this person was quite tactful and had a low sense of existence. Now he was promoted to the palace and enjoying wealth and honor for the rest of his life.

As for the Yanyun Han tycoon who came from the same place as him, it would be better to come to the Song Dynasty’s officialdom less to cause trouble in the future!

"Zhao Qing." Zhao Ji called the name of the Chief Censor Zhao Tingzhi at this time.

"I'm here!"

Zhao Tingzhi immediately stood up.

"Now, many censors have reported to impeach Wu Haogu who I sent to Cangzhou to do business. What do you think?"

"Wu Haogu sells official positions and titles, and the evidence is conclusive." Zhao Tingzhi said coldly, "He should be handed over to the Si Lun's crime."

Zhao Ji asked: "Does Zhao Qing think the Knight in front of the Imperial Palace are officials?"

Zhao Tingzhi thought about it and shook his head, "It's not an official, the knight in front of the imperial court has no official status, he should be an imperial guard soldier... But it is also a crime to give private gifts when recruiting the imperial guards."
Chapter completed!