The end of the new year is approaching, and the winter is getting colder. Just when the court was in a state of desperation for the snow problem, a melody was like a big stone thrown into water, causing a lot of ripples.
This memorandum is called "On the Use of Integrity and Honesty", and it is the first memorandum of Shen Hexuan's two years in office. The article unceremoniously pointed out that the national treasury is in short supply, because the expenses are too extravagant, the rewards are not generous, the clans are numerous, the official positions are redundant, and the army is not good. foot.
This memorandum criticizes the disadvantages of the times and speaks frankly. Apart from praising Emperor Zhaowu's political achievements at the beginning, the words are extremely sharp, and every word is true. It is really shocking for a young Hanlin to have such a vision and insight. endlessly.
When Yan Sikong heard the news, his mood was very complicated.
On the one hand, Shen Hexuan did listen to his advice, and did not raise sea taxes inappropriately. When he was writing the book, he was afraid that he could not have imagined, or didn't care at all, what this melody would bring to him.
Now the government and the opposition, there are officials with corpses everywhere, how can they be ignorant of current affairs, but no one is willing to pierce that layer of window paper, because whoever pierce will have to pay the price.
The state treasury has reached the point where it is not enough for disaster relief, someone should stand up and say this, it is not so much that Shen Hexuan chose to stand up, it is better to say that Yan Zilian made him stand up. Because he was not an official of the upper court, he had to go through the Hanlin Academy. Shen Hexuan's memorial was delivered to the imperial court because of Yan Zilian's tacit consent.
This memorandum will make Shen Hexuan famous, and maybe it will really help the emperor implement one or two clean governance, but it will certainly offend a large number of people, or they will be blamed instead.
Yan Zilian did not dissuade the vigorous young students, was it because he admired his honesty, or did he want to use him to inspire the New Deal? No matter what, it made Yan Sikong a little bit embarrassed.
Naturally, Long Yan was displeased by the mention of the royal family’s excessive spending, and at the same time, it was also criticized by some ministers, especially the royal family members, who believed that Shen Hexuan was talking about the Tao and talking about wars on paper, which seemed to be a long speech but actually meant nothing , it was suspected of misleading the king, and some people even demanded that Shen Hexuan be severely punished on the spot.
Of course, Yan Zilian's faction also came out to judge Shen Hexuan at the right time, thinking that he was sincere and what he said had merit, so there were endless arguments that day.
Shen Hexuan was soft-spoken, and this melody was destined to be buried, but it played a very important role—reducing the matter of reducing the clan's expenses to Emperor Zhaowu again.
In the history books of later generations, most believe that Shen Hexuan's memorandum was a major turning point in Dasheng's national fortune, which laid the groundwork for the turbulent and magnificent chaos and survival in the Central Plains.
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More than ten days later, Emperor Zhaowu issued an imperial decree to remove all the annual gifts given to the clan's relatives for disaster relief. After that, except for the prince's children, the clan's relatives will no longer reward the annual gifts.
In fact, there is a precedent in history where the New Year’s ceremony was postponed due to the tightness of the national treasury, but since then it has been completely abolished, which is the first time in more than two hundred years. , It is to give others a handle and ask for blame.
At the same time, Emperor Zhaowu made a decree to keep everything simple in welcoming the Spring Festival this year to show that it was not aimed at the clan, but everyone knew in their hearts that the New Year's gift is the thinnest part of the clan's rewards, and this decree is probably just a beginning.
Sure enough, a few days later, there was another imperial decree to investigate the case of a family member in Jinan prefecture for bullying and occupying fields. The person was not taken to the capital, and he was directly interrogated in the local area.
In the past, it was nothing to occupy a few fields of the common people. This move was nothing more than killing chickens and monkeys.
The year has not yet passed, and people in the ruling and opposition parties are panicking.
Yan Sikong sees these things one by one, and the closer to the end of the year, the more focused he is on it, because every year at this time, he needs to go to hell and come back, and then see this world more thoroughly .
Because, Yuanmao's death day is coming.
Ali had already prepared the sacrificial things for him, carefully placed them in the basket, and when it was completely dark, he stood at the door, quietly waiting for Yan Sikong.
Yan Sikong was dressed in plain black, covered his head with a hood, carried the basket in his hands, and said in a deep voice, "Let's go."
There were few pedestrians on the cold street, and the two of them walked all the way without being noticed. They turned into the winding and messy alleys, and finally stopped in front of a small house.
Ali took out the key, opened the lock, and the two walked in.
The house had been unoccupied for an unknown period of time, and it was extremely dilapidated. The solitary light in Ali's hand seemed a bit strange in this deserted house overgrown with weeds.
Ali stepped forward first, opened the lock of the main house with the key, and Yan Sikong walked in.
The inside of the house is quite different from the outside. Although the room is full of dust, the objects are all neat and tidy, and they are worth a lot of money. There is a huge altar in the center, which is made of golden nanmu. In the center of the altar It is an all-gold altar, in which a white jade Guanyin statue inlaid with luminous gemstones stands, and even the incense burner under it is made of thick copper.
On the altar, there are three spiritual tablets enshrined, which are the biological parents of Yuan Mao and Yan Sikong.
That year when Yuan Shaoxu drove him out of the house, he went back secretly, and besides handing over the pawned dagger that Feng Ye had given him to Yuan Weiling, he also took away his parents' spirit card. After wandering for several years, they were the only ones who were always by his side and comforted them. After he settled down in Beijing, he secretly built a spiritual altar for them here.
Ali lit a candle, cleaned up a bit, and placed the things in the basket in front of the mat, then quietly retreated and closed the door.
Yan Sikong knelt in front of the cattail mat, first kowtowed two or three times, and when he raised his head, tears were streaming down his face.
"Father, mother, Konger has come to see you..."
In the days of wandering, no matter how much suffering and suffering, even if his life was hanging by a thread several times, he gritted his teeth and survived. He will never die if he does not take revenge. He was sent to hell one by one to comfort the spirit of his parents and adoptive father in heaven.
He lit incense, poured wine, and talked about the recent events in a calm tone, as if his relatives were still there, listening lovingly, and only here could he dare to confide in his heart and express a bit of depression in his heart.
Before he knew it, he drank all the wine in his stomach.
He can drink very well, but every year, when he kneels in front of his parents' coffins, he will definitely get drunk, not because the wine is so strong, if a person has a reason to drink, any wine is the same.
After staying here for a full two hours, he had already slumped to the ground before he was helped up by Ali. Looking at Yan Sikong's drunken face, Ali had heartache in his eyes. Good clothes, helped out the door.
It was already late at night and the carriage could not be called, so Ali put Yan Sikong on his back and walked home step by step.
Fortunately, Yan's Mansion is not far from here, but when he got home, Ali was already out of breath and his legs were weak.
When he got close to the door, Ali found a tall man standing at the door, wrapped in a cloak, trembling slightly in the cold wind.
Taking a closer look, it turned out to be Feng Ye.
Feng Ye also saw them, he was taken aback for a moment, and then ran over in panic: "What's wrong with Sikong!"
Ali gestured with one hand, but Feng Ye couldn't understand at all, he hugged Yan Sikong from Ali's back, and at the same time, he smelled of alcohol, he felt a little relieved, but also deeply frowned. Frowning, he said displeasedly: "Where did you go? How did he drink like this?"