Deng Su raised his head from the mountain of documents, his eyes covered with blood.

"Mr. Deng, Hebei is urging food and pay again, but... the Ministry of War is indeed out of food."

Liu Duan said with a sinister face, standing next to him, Kou Min, the Minister of Revenue, Liu Heming, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Zhang Ying, the Minister of Works, etc., Wang Wuguan, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Cheng Ziyou, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Wang Mengde, and other ministers, who would sit around Deng Su like stars arched the moon. Since Deng Su became prime minister, he has not shaken the position of ministers such as Shangshu. However, before he knew it, his close and trusted accomplices had ascended to the high positions of ministers and other departments. After dealing with Cao Gu's rebellion with thunder, Cao

In order to protect Cao Gu, the family cut off the grain transportation without authorization and threatened the court. Later, with the mediation of Lu Yunsun, the generals of the governor of the magistrate, Deng Su exempted Cao Gu from his death penalty, but imprisoned him in Ezhou. In addition, he vigorously promoted Wang Gui and other generals of the firearm camp stationed in Ezhou, which also consolidated the status of Ezhou a lot. However, due to the Cao family's rebellion, the war in Hebei was delayed, and the wish of the Song Dynasty to recover Youzhou in this winter was dashed. The object of affairs was raging, and the court was under great pressure.

"Has the Hebei coupon from Yangzhou Zhengxintang been issued in Yangzhou?"

"Not yet," said Kou Minzhong, the Minister of Revenue. "The market in Yangzhou suddenly plummeted, and merchants were only willing to sell, but not buy."

"Ah, it was all caused by the Guanxi court's forced detainment of our merchant ships in the southwest sea." He paused, and without waiting for Deng Su to ask, he reported with a calm face, "The states and counties also insisted on refusing to increase taxes. The Northern Expedition was delayed for a long time, and the daily food and salary was 100,000 yuan. Xuezheng of the Ministry of Rites had complaints..." Kou Minzhong shook his head and sighed, "The grain and grass warehouse in Bianliang is almost empty, and the grain ships are still waiting in Yangzhou. My official also asked Lu to join the political party to go to Xuezheng, who was in Huainan and Huainbei. If there was food and grass in the prefectures and county treasury, he would borrow some of them first, but he was scolded by Lu. "Lu Yunsun, as the political affairs officer and the Minister of Rites, was much higher in the Qingliu than Deng Su and others. As a result, the Ministry of Rites did not persuade the prefectures and counties, Kou Minsun was scolded by Lu Yunsun.

"This incident originated from the fact that the Xia State forced the conquest of our civil ships, which was like a robbery, which was intolerable!" Liu Duan, the Minister of War, said angrily, "Most of the Navy's Navy in the Southwest Sea are my great citizens of the Song Dynasty, but obeyed the orders of the Xia State court and forced the conquest of our civil ships in the Song Dynasty, which was like a rebellion. Zhao Xingde, the Chief Governor of the Navy, had ulterior motives and could not be punished." Liu Duan slapped the table, and Zhang Mulan, the doctor of the rank of the Fangsi standing next to him, said gloomy, "It was the critical time of the Northern Expedition, and Xia State suddenly used such a move."

"Yes, now I want to join forces with Xia Kingdom to establish this navy, which is like a tiger's skin."

Kou Minzhong sighed casually, which made Deng Su feel even worse. He didn't agree with it in his heart and complained deeply.

No wonder this person went to persuade Lu Yunsun, but was scolded by Lu Yunsun. When Song and Xia jointly established the navy, one was forced by the situation of rampant pirates in the Great Food, and the other was threatening by Xia. In the middle, it also involved returning half of Xiangyang, releasing Zhao Xingde and releasing the mountain and other bargaining. Now that time has changed, a minister of Kou Minzhong came to empty talks not only did not help, but also corresponded to the call for the abolition of the navy in Xuezheng. Regardless of whether most of the officers and soldiers of the Southwest Sea Navy were Song people, if the Song State really sacked the navy, it would inevitably be taken over by Xia State. And judging by the great food, the pirates were the harshest of the coastal prefectures and counties, if the navy fell into the hands of Guanxi, the situation would be extremely bad.

"There are strong enemies outside, the generals domineering, and the internal constraints. This situation is really difficult."

"There is no need to blame the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue for tight food and food."

Liu Duan stood up and said to Deng Su and the ministers: "The Tokyo Left-behind Office has been unable to enter since the recovery of Hezhong Prefecture."

"The military strategy is full of military tactics. If you eat one stone, when I am twenty stones. After the Liao army retreated to Youzhou, we originally planned to let the generals of the Northern Expedition collect some military supplies on the spot because of the food from the enemy. However, they did not expect that the army's rations were taken out for relief. They kept reporting victory in the front, but the burden of transportation was not reduced, but it became heavier. Alas! The outside world was full of fierce discussions, saying that Yue Fei and Zhang Xian and others were willing to imitate Zhao Xingde and deliberately support themselves in Hebei, so they deliberately delayed the war. If the court indulged in, they would be afraid that they would not lose the end in the future. Now the two generals in the north have Hedong, Zhao Xingde's old subordinates occupied Hebei, and the Yue family and the three northern towns, all of them have tens of thousands of troops, and Cao, Han and Liu stationed in the army. The situation was so bad that it was comparable to the separatist period in the late Tang Dynasty."

"Ask a quick advance," Kou Minzhong asked, "Didn't the Ministry of War urge you?"

"Why didn't urge?" Liu Duan spread his hands and said helplessly, "Three urges and four requests, and Gong Deng's orders were all set up several times, but the Tokyo Left-behind Office was motionless. Not only Yue Fei, Cao Liangshi, who was in charge of Bianliang, did not think about the court, and he spoke in unison with Yue Fei, who was commanding the army, saying that the weather was cold and the river was dry, which was the most beneficial for the Liao cavalry to run, and the army was running on an expedition. Hebei was hungry and there were food everywhere, so he focused on using troops, intending to drag it until the spring warmth, and then send troops to recover Youzhou. However, he did not know that the world's wealth had been provided to Bianliang, the Ministry of War and

The Ministry of Revenue, the entire court is under pressure for them. I am not afraid of anything else, but I am afraid that the pressure will be more and the war will be delayed for a while. Not only the Ministry of Revenue, but the entire court will be crushed. Did money and grain become a result? Not to mention the increase in taxes, even the showdowns from the past to prefectures and counties have caused great dissatisfaction." He sighed. Cao Di's rebellion and the progress of the Northern Expedition was slow. It was two consecutive things, but it combined severely hit the reputation of the court. Liu Duan was the Minister of War who was promoted after Deng Sudeng's position as the minister, so he was naturally worried.

"So," he shook his head and sighed, "If you really want to fight against foreign countries, do you have to settle your home first?"

"Master Liu is careful." Kou Minzhong said in a deep voice. He looked at his colleagues on both sides and shook his head secretly.

These people were all ministers who were simply selected by Deng Su after he took office. They also prospered with Deng Suyi, and suffered losses. Outsiders called him the "small court". However, Kou Minzhong, the Minister of Revenue, was elected by Xuezheng alone, and he intended to check and balance the power. Although Deng Su respected Kou Minzhong more, Kou Minzhong felt a little uncomfortable occasionally in this "small court".

"The general is outside, and the king will not accept the order. If he wants to force the remote control, it is called the chaos of the army leading the victory."

Kou Minzhong said in a deep voice, his attitude seemed completely different from that of several ministers and doctors.

Deng Su looked up at him, then looked at the others, pondered for a moment, and said decisively: "Since that's the case, the Ministry of Revenue will discuss with the Yangzhou Zhengxintang. In order to raise food and money, is there a way to mortgage Hebei's fields as a deposit and issue another 30 million Hebei coupons. The Ministry of War also discussed with the Tokyo Left-behind Department to ask the Commander Yue to advance quickly," he sighed and said in a deep voice, "The Northern Expedition is to resist foreign countries. Speaking of the matter of distinguishing the students of various prefectures and counties,

Di Baoshi and the Ministry of Rites are going to promote it vigorously at the moment." Deng Su glanced at Kou Minzhong, not caring that he was not considered "his own person". He said another sentence, "The scholars and officials in the world elected students, the governors of the state, and the ministers of the state, and the ministers and the emperors elected prime ministers, and the so-called scholars and officials and the emperors ruled the world together, and fell to the roots. One is the clear discussion and the other is the backbone of these two, the school students in the county, and if they grasp the roots, everything will be solved."

"The lower official understands." Cheng Ziyou, the deputy director of the Ministry of Rites, and Wang Mengde, the deputy director of the Ministry of Rites, said in unison.

Kou Min-Lin turned his gaze out the window. The Ministry of Rites identified students from the rank of the rank of the Song Dynasty, second only to the Northern Expedition. In the Ministry of Rites, the influence of the various prefectures and county schools even exceeded that of the Northern Expedition. Deng Su tried to control the provincial and county schools in various places by identifying students from the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the rank of the court, but this action involved too many people and interests, and the struggle for power and profits within the states and counties was even more intertwined. Kou Min-Zhong himself did not agree with this, and as his minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he himself did not want to get involved in the whirlpool.

The veranda outside the window was covered with lanterns, shaking in the north as several branches of cold plums shook and shook the white snow on the plum blossoms. When Kou Minzhong and others passed by the Prime Minister's Mansion to discuss matters, the sky began to snow. At some point, the streets in the courtyard were covered with snow. Looking at it, the world was white. The snow was extremely cold, and there were few pedestrians in the streets and alleys of Ezhou. The vendors also collected the stalls early. A sedan covered with thick felt blankets hurriedly passed by. The sedan chairman stopped the sedan outside the walls of a deep courtyard. This was the second important person in the Song Dynasty. He was the governor of political affairs and the Minister of Rites, Lu Yunsun, the Lu Xianggong in Ezhou.

The follower handed the famous post to the door, and soon a servant came out and led the guest into the small door on the east side.

There were already five or six people gathered in the study room in the backyard of Lu Mansion. These were all good literati and scholars who traveled with Lu Xiang. This time they made an appointment to come together, but they didn't know that they were chanting poems, but they had a different embrace. Outside was heavy snow, but the study room was warm as spring, and the charcoal fire in the copper stove was burning red. A middle-aged gentry sighed while wiping sweat: "Grandpa Lu, it was a good thing for the imperial court to recover Hebei, but promised the fields of Hebei to the army.
Chapter completed!