Fan Ning sighed slightly, "Your Majesty has actually found a check and balance strategy, but he just didn't realize it."

Zhao Xu was excited and immediately turned around and bowed with his fists and said, "Please teach me!"

Fan Ning smiled and waved his hand, "I dare not accept the courtesy of Your Majesty. In fact, isn't the court meeting a good way to check and balance!"

Zhao Xuruo thoughtfully: "What the prime minister means is to use the court to check and balance the prime minister's power?"

Fanning nodded, "Your Majesty just need to change your mind, it is like a jar of strong soybean wine. If the owner keeps pouring water into the jar, will this jar of soybean wine still be strong?"

Zhao Xu couldn't help laughing. This metaphor is good. Letting all officials debate military and national affairs at the court meeting will just dilute the power of the prime minister?

"Your Majesty, let the minister's power be made public and transparent, so that every minister has the opportunity to participate in the formulation of military and national affairs. Although it dilutes power, the minister thinks it is a good thing."

After pausing, Fan Ning continued: "A step back, the proposal power of the court meeting is in the hands of Your Majesty. This is the key. What should the court meeting discusses every day and is decided by Your Majesty. Isn't this the manifestation of the power of the monarch? Once the debate between Zhizheng Hall and all officials is at a deadlock, the final decision of His Majesty will be required. What can Zhizheng Hall pass the resolution?"

Zhao Xuru suddenly opened his mind and patted his forehead and said, "It's because I've considered the problem easily. Thanks to my husband to solve the problem!"

Seeing that he had said almost everything, Fan Ning smiled and said, "I am going to Yangzhou tomorrow. The Han people in Liao Kingdom are going to the Southern Continent. I am going to take a look. I may come back in ten days."

Zhao Xu suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "In a few days, the draft official system reform will be officially released. Can you please give me some advice?"

Fan Ning said lightly: "Does Your Majesty want to listen to the truth?"

"Of course I'm listening to the truth!"

Fanning said bluntly: "Just four words to tell the truth, it will definitely fail!"

Zhao Xu was stunned, "Why did my husband say that?"

Fanning shook his head, "Your Majesty forgot, why can you succeed in changing your title to Void Official? It can be unanimously supported by everyone. What is the key to success here?"

"You mean interest?"

Fanning nodded, "It's the interest. I believe that the draft Wang Xianggong was not called an official reform, but a draft of criminal investigation. How many people will be involved in this? If His Majesty finally finds that all ministers are guilty, they should be severely punished. What should we do then?"

"But if I don't clean it up, I'm so angry!"

Fan Ning sighed and said earnestly: "Your Majesty, there will be no fish when the water is clear. Your Majesty wants to clean the fish tank. Yes, but you can't kill all the fish in the end. Your Majesty, we implemented the reform of the wing army in Yingtian Prefecture to clean up the generals' corruption of military salaries. How did we succeed in the end? Didn't we just kill a few big fish and release the other small fish? We forgot what Your Majesty did personally back then?"

"What should I do according to my husband's wishes?"

"It's very simple. Any contract signed by the court will be admitted. If there is a real unfair contract to be investigated, if necessary, arrest one or two greedy officials and punish them severely and make a gesture. In this way, the resistance to reform will be small. After the official system reform is successful, it will take another ten years to investigate one by one, and then let them spit out the stolen goods that are swallowed into their stomachs."

Zhao Xu quickly recorded with a pen, and finally nodded and said, "I know what to do?"

Fan Ning smiled again and said, "Wang Chen can also give a suggestion or a way of thinking about the redundant officials' handling."

Zhao Xu quickly picked up his pen and said, "Please tell me, please!"

"Last time, I said that I should use time to slowly eliminate the bloated bureaucrats, but later I thought about it again. It is not realistic to have too long. Perhaps we can change our thinking and make a fuss about the structure of the official system. Some officials will have to increase their quotas, while others will have to reduce their quotas.

Specifically, it is necessary to increase the number of officials in the Five Principles of Jiu Temples. They do specific things, and increasing the number of people can be done more in detail, while reducing the number of officials in the Secretariat, the bachelor's degree in the Pavilion, etc.

It's like a person exercising his body. The fat on his stomach and butt should be reduced, but the muscles and bones on his arms and legs should be increased. In the end, the weight of the person does not decrease, but his body becomes very strong. What does His Majesty think?"

Fanning's metaphor is very vivid and easy to understand. Zhao Xu put down his pen and nodded and smiled: "It seems that the official reforms need to be postponed for a few more months."

Before dawn the next day, Fan Ning said goodbye to his wife and children and took a boat to Yangzhou for business. He was on a steam passenger ship of 3,000 stone, and his brother-in-law Zhu Qi was on the same boat. His affairs in the court were already done, so he went to Yangzhou to prepare to go to Beidao.

The ship sailed out of Bianliang and walked south along the Bian River. The steam engine made a loud and loud sound on the river surface. At this time, a steam engine boat also sailed from the opposite side, pulling a long flat sand boat behind it, full of cargo.

There are many ships in the Bian River, but there are not many steam engine ships. For example, the steam engine passenger ships that Fanning rides, which are only used by official ships, and private ships are more luxurious. There is only one situation in the folk steam engine ships, which is the first ship of the tug fleet opposite, which drags a long list of flat sand ships. Although the money to pull fiber is similar to that of fuel consumption, it is fast and beneficial to merchants.

"Brother, there are basically steam boats on the Beidao side, and you can't see ordinary human ships. However, Da Song did the other way around. I didn't see a steam boat when I came."

Fanning stood on the deck and looked at the fleet passing by in front of him, and smiled and said, "Of course there are reasons here. There are only four workshops that can build steam engines in the Song Dynasty. One was moved to the North Island. The other three were all official workshops. They had to do their best to meet the needs of the army. They did not accept orders from private parties. For example, the old steam engine ship opposite was originally made by our factory. You can tell by looking at the volume of the steam engine."

Zhu Qi scratched his head and smiled, "I thought coke was expensive, so I couldn't bear to use it, so I refused to use the steam engine."

Fan Ning laughed and said, "Only long-distance shipping is so luxurious when using coke. Inland shipping is directly made of carbonite, and it can be replenished at any time along the coast. Like the big ship just now, don't you pay attention to the smoke it emits? It is not even useful for carbonite, just use chopping wood."

"This time I came to Dasong, I basically lost my sense of belonging. I felt that this place was no longer my home. Now I am so eager to return to Beidao as soon as possible."

Fanning nodded. He could understand Zhu Qi's mood. His wife and children were pregnant, so of course he was in a hurry to rush back.

"Have everything done in the court done this time?" Fan Ning asked with a smile.

"It went smoothly. The military weapon supervisor received 500,000 kilograms of fine steel and granted us 1.6 million kilograms of ordinary pig iron as the money. This time I went to Yangzhou, I could pick up the goods directly in the Yangzhou official warehouse."

"What else have you done besides replacing pig iron?"

Zhu Qi smiled and said, "A group of artists have also been recruited, including about a hundred people, including puppet show, performing zaju dramas, making money, playing movies, dancing, acrobatics, storytelling, etc. Beidao lacks these. Several counties in Beidao usually organize Cuju competitions, archery competitions, and horse riding competitions, but they still lack some entertainment. This time, recruiting this group of artists should be very popular."

Fan Ning said happily: "This is the truth. Children like puppet shows and movies. Try to rehearse some exciting and interesting stories. Perform regularly in special greenhouses. Artists have good income and enrich the lives of children. There are many book shops in Yangzhou. You can buy more gods and monsters to go back. Leisure and entertainment are very important to ordinary people. This is what it means to live and work in peace and contentment."

"I remember that when I went back this time, I was going to run a newspaper. My aunt provided us with a movable type printing machine and two skilled typewriters."

"I want to run a newspaper, is there any paper?" Fan Ning asked with a smile.

"Yes! There is a small private paper shop in Yuecheng County. The paper produced is of high quality. Although the quantity is not large, it is enough for us to use it."

At this time, Fanning suddenly remembered something and asked, "What happened later when I stayed in North Island last year? You didn't tell me."

Zhu Qi slapped his forehead hard and cursed: "I really deserve to die. I forgot the important things I gave to me by my third uncle. I planted all four things, including sunflowers, peanuts, tobacco leaves and potato eggs. I was in the ice warehouse on the Yangzhou boat, but I forgot to bring them when I entered Beijing."
Chapter completed!