After the scattered dynasty, Zhao Bing left Xie Fangde, the Minister of Personnel, to ask about Zhang Song's affairs. The reason why the matter was delayed for a long time was mainly because the emperor had inquired about the matter at that time. He believed that it would be severely punished as a warning to others, so the ministers did not dare to deal with it without authorization. Zhang Song's faults were just mishandled, which caused serious consequences, at most, dismissal and demoted, and appointed separately.

"Shangshu Xie, this matter has been delayed for some time, and I will take out a charter as soon as possible." Zhao Bing thought that because of his few words, Zhang Song was idle in Beijing for nearly two years, and he felt a little guilty.

"Your Majesty, I will urge the Ministry to make a resolution and submit it to your Majesty for approval!" Xie Fangde nodded.

"Well, how to place it?" Zhao Bing nodded and asked again.

"A criminal official like Zhang Song will be arranged to perform his duties in Yuanzhou County after being demoted, or to do a free position under the prefecture, and will not be reused!" Xie Fangde replied.

"I remember Zhang Song is still a bit capable. Isn't it wrong to waste his time just because of this matter?" Zhao Bing frowned. He actually knew that officials like Zhang Song, especially those who were personally dealt with by the emperor, would be merciful if they were not removed from their official clothes. It is difficult to be valued, and there is no hope of promotion.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Song is indeed talented, but there was no precedent for serving as a local prefecture, and it was difficult to be valued if he stayed in Beijing. After all, no one knew what he would cause, and most of them were unemployed!" Xie Fangde understood that the emperor felt that talent was rare, but no one would give a good face to the criminal official named by the emperor. And he had already said it very tactfully. No matter which yamen he worked in, he would be excluded and suppressed by his colleagues.

"Well, since this is the case, your Ministry of Personnel came up with a decision as soon as possible!" Zhao Bing also knew the unspoken rules of the officialdom. No one was willing to take risks, and they also liked to use their subordinates who were stable. This time his memorial caused a small storm in the court, and it was even more difficult to gain the trust of the chief official, so he fell into decline.

"I obey the order!" Xie Fangde breathed a sigh of relief. He was also worried that the little emperor would ask him a problem, so he quickly bowed and said he would leave.

With the emperor's personal advice, the matter was solved quickly. Two days later, the memorial for Zhang Song's dereliction of duty as the governor of Haozhou and causing civil unrest was presented to Zhao Bing's desk. The delay of nearly two years was solved, which made him helpless. No matter which dynasty there was this problem, the leader cared about the smallest things, and it was a big deal, so it would be done quickly.

Zhao Bing read the memorial submitted by the Ministry of Personnel. Zhang Song's charges basically continued the original conclusion, and there was no new charge. According to the law, he was dismissed from the fifth rank to the sixth rank, and demoted him from a remote lower-rank county on Ganzhou Road as chief clerk. Generally, the Ministry of Personnel will not make any modifications after reporting to the Secretariat of the Central Secretariat, and it will not even require the first official to review it, and it will be sent back to the Ministry of Personnel for execution.

Now, it is precisely because of Zhao Bing's concern that the Secretariat proposed the approval and submitted it to the imperial case. He took the pen and thought about it and put it down, put the memorial aside for a while, and ordered him to go to the palace for an interview, and then make a decision...

"Your Majesty, Zhang Song has been waiting outside the hall for a long time!" Chen Shishi saw that His Majesty had just finished reviewing the official documents before he came forward to report.

"Well, let him come in!" Zhao Bing rubbed his face and took a sip of the tea ceremony.

"Your Majesty, why don't you let him see you again?" Chen Shishi asked when he saw the emperor's face was exhausted.

"This matter has been delayed for too long, there is no need!" Zhao Bing shook his head and said.

"The criminal officer Zhang Song pays homage to Your Majesty!" Zhang Song entered the hall and bowed loudly.

"I have been exempted from courtesy. The punishment from the Ministry of Personnel has been reported to you. I have been demoted to the first rank and went to Xiaxian County, Ganzhou to work. I have objections." Zhao Bing raised his hand and said. He met Zhang Song one time, and his appearance was already unclear. When he saw him again today, he gradually became clear. After carefully looking at him for more than a year, he seemed to have changed a lot. Obviously, this kind of life was not easy and he had to bear huge psychological pressure.

"I have no objection to the criminal official who has been entrusted by the court and punished properly!" Zhang Song replied.

"Well, I have adopted the letter to express my plan to eliminate locusts. I have adopted it and issued an order to implement it. This move is beneficial to the country and the people. You have made contributions. I can exempt you from your crime and re-appoint it. What are your requirements?" Zhao Bing said.

"This is my duty, and I dare not take credit!" Zhang Song bowed again, hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, I still have plans to relieve disasters and famines, so I will submit it to Your Majesty for the emperor to read it!"

"Oh, why don't you submit it to me in person through the Advancement Office?" Zhao Bing asked in confusion.

"Report to Your Majesty, I have submitted memorials several times, but the officials thought it was nonsense and rejected them all. I had to take advantage of the opportunity of facing the saint today to make suggestions!" Zhang Songyan said.

"Come on, I'll look back and see what you said again, but it has been rejected repeatedly!" Zhao Bing was a little curious. Before that, he issued an edict to seek strategies to eliminate locusts and disaster relief. Both officials and scholars in the court and in the opposition could submit memorials. In theory, the review was very relaxed, but his comments were rejected several times, which was obviously contrary to common sense, but it also aroused his interest, wanting to see what the official who was waiting for punishment had written.

"Yes!" Zhang Song took out a copy from his sleeve and held it in both hands. A small yellow door took it and presented it.

Zhao Bing immediately opened the memorial and read it, and saw that the core policies to save the famine were summarized into five items. The first three items were quite conventional, namely: the state opened a regular warehouse; distributed rice from a charity warehouse (the government forced the people to save grain); and persuaded large farmers with rice to sell grain. The last two items were completely opposite to the current practice of the court.

The fourth item is "there is a ban on curbing the plunder" - when encountering famine, all prefectures and counties "look around the wall" and prohibit local grain from leaving the country. He believes that this kind of local protectionism will only aggravate the disaster. The fifth item is "there is a ban on suppressing the price of prices" - when encountering the disaster, the government will come forward to suppress the food prices in the market, and even directly set very low food prices by the government. This kind of thing cannot be done.

In Zhao Bing's view, the "price suppression is prohibited" is a very ruthless act. Smoothing prices is a common strategy used in disaster relief in all dynasties to prevent merchants from being reluctant to sell, resulting in soaring prices and people have no money to buy grain, which aggravates the famine. However, he did the opposite and was rejected, but he explained it another way:

"Those who ruled over the years did not understand the meaning of legislation. They said that the people had no money, so they should set the price. If the officials did not know that the price of the price would be the guest, the rice would not come. If the price of the other place was surging and the price was only low, who would be willing to promote the sale? If the salesperson did not come, there would be no food in the territory. The people of the upper households would not dare to leave. The hungry people held their money in their hands, and the emperor had no place to buy the food all day long... If the salesperson did not come, the salesperson would be closed and died of hunger, and they would just rob. How could they not think about how to save it? But the prices were not only for boats and cars to gather together, but the upper households were afraid that they would strive to give the first place to pay the food, and the rice prices would be lower."

The general idea is: the former rulers did not understand and believed that the people had no money, so the government had to suppress the price of grain. However, they did not know that after the official set the price of grain, the price of grain elsewhere was high and the price of grain here was low, so merchants naturally did not want to transport the food outside. If foreign grains no longer came in, there would be food shortage in the country. The more food shortage in the country, the less wealthy households with savings at home dared to take out their own food in order to protect themselves.

As a result, the hungry people held money in their hands but could not find a place to buy food, and they either starved to death or robbed. On the contrary, if the grain prices were not suppressed and the grain outside continued to come in, and the wealthy households in the country dared to take the food to the market, the food prices would naturally drop.

It also said that during the visit, I discovered a strange phenomenon: during the famine, the rich households with surplus grain were unwilling to sell the grain to local people, but instead did business with "other people from other counties". The reason was still the suppression of rice prices.

Although the original intention of the policy is to "conserve the people" and want to help the lower-class people, it has caused the rice prices in the surrounding areas to be higher than those in the local area. Rich households with grain are unwilling to sell grain at a low price, and people ask rich households to buy grain at a higher price, and rich households are afraid of violating the policy and being reported. Therefore, in the end, only grain merchants from other places can buy grain from them, and local people are in a deeper famine. Dong Qi said that if we do not suppress the price of grain, considering freight, favors and other factors, rich households will naturally give priority to selling grain to local people.

In addition, the memorial also said: "Any rice seller will be circulated to avoid the low price, but it is not necessary to explain it. The price of rice is high and low, and it is considered to be the depth of the disaster: the price of the shallow disaster is high, and the price of the deep disaster is especially high. If it is limited to selling somewhere, it cannot be changed. If the price of rice along the way is more expensive than the place where it is reported, then the hunger and despair here will be even worse than that in the other place."

"Businessmen dare not sell without breaking the law. The poor are hungry and must buy forcibly. They are afraid that the risk of fighting for robbery will be born. In general, when rice prices are high, the price will be slightly reduced when they meet merchants. Here is a little reduced, and they will fight to other places. Let it go, and the circulation will be faster. If the price is high and they dare not sell, the price is reduced and they have to sell, the merchants will use their foundation to seek profits, and they must regard this as a fear of the way and wait and see."

The general idea is: It is natural for grain merchants to pursue profits. The high and low prices of rice are directly related to the depth of the disaster. The rice price in places with mild disasters is more expensive than usual, and the severe disasters are especially expensive. The more expensive rice price along the way of transporting rice often means that the disaster here is more serious, but the grain merchants have designated the place to sell rice by the government and dare not sell rice to them illegally.

These victims are hungry and must buy forcibly in order to survive, and conflicts of force will inevitably arise one after another. In fact, when rice prices are high, grain merchants will inevitably drop after rushing to come. If the grain prices here are lower, grain merchants will go to other places. The government does not forcefully designate locations and let them do it themselves, the effect will be better.
Chapter completed!