Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 562

Within two days, Empress Dowager Cao received Fan Ning for the second time, but this time it was in the side hall of Ziwei Palace. Emperor Zhao Xu attended the interview at the same time, and the academicians Zhang Yao and Niu Xiang also participated in the audience.

The Empress Dowager Cao is still sitting behind the curtain, and the emperor Zhao Xu is sitting in front. He is already this year. For him, it must be the same as Renzong, and it will be a waste of time.

Seeing the ceremony, Fan Ning said in a calm and unhurried manner: "This time I came north for three things, the first is to report on the current situation in Nanyang, the second is to report the inspection results of my minister's eastward trip, and the third is for the future of Nanyang. express their views on the development of

At this moment, Empress Dowager Cao asked in a soft voice, "Have all the officials and gentlemen gone to court?"

Zhao Xu hurriedly leaned forward and said, "Report to Grandmother, they are all here today."

"Then invite them to come here together, and let's take a closer look!"

Zhao Xu ordered his servants to invite all the gentlemen, and said to Fan Ning: "Fan Jinglue, please wait a moment!"

Fan Ning understood that Empress Dowager Cao wanted to abolish the joint discussion system of the Overseas Economic and Strategy Office and the Zhizheng Hall, but he didn't care. Everyone participated in the discussion of affairs together, which instead allowed him to more fully elaborate on the proposal of the overseas enfeoffment system.

He bowed and saluted and said: "Wei Chen brought two special carriages from Quanzhou, which are very different. I would like to invite His Majesty, the Queen Mother and the Prime Ministers to visit together. Otherwise, they will be sent to the hall. There are no horses yet. Inside the Xuande Building."

Zhao Xu looked back at the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother Cao nodded, "Yes!"

Zhao Xu immediately sent guards to bring the two carriages, and after a while, the two carriages were delivered to the outside of the hall first, and the seven ministers Han Qi, Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, Han Jiang, Zhang Fangping, Wu Chong, and Cai Xiang also just arrived , pointing around the carriage.

At this time, Fan Ning walked out of the hall and greeted everyone. Soon, the sedan chairs of Emperor Zhao Xu and Empress Dowager Cao also came from the other side, and everyone saluted the Empress Dowager and the emperor together.

Zhao Xu was very interested. He stepped out of the sedan chair and looked at the wheels carefully. He also found that the wheels were different.

Fan Ning went forward to report to Empress Dowager Cao: "I would like to report to Empress Dowager that there is a kind of gum in Nanyang, which looks like elephant skin, so it is called elephant gum. It is very elastic, and some companies use it to make car tires and put them on carriage wheels. , it is very light and fast to walk, and there is no more bumps, making the carriage very comfortable."

Empress Dowager Cao smiled slightly, "Officials can give it a try!"

Zhao Xu was in a bit of a dilemma, "I want to report to the emperor's grandmother that there is no harness yet, so it's better to let someone harness the horse first, and the emperor and grandson will ride after the discussion is over."

"Okay, let's discuss things first!"

Everyone returned to the main hall to sit down, and the seven ministers also gave them seats. The Empress Dowager Cao said slowly: "Emissary Fan Jinglue had written a report on his duties before, and he reported on the battle with the Three Buddhas and Qi Kingdom, as well as the recent situation of Xingang and Luzon Mansions. , this report has been approved by Aijia and forwarded to Zhizhengtang, does Zhizhengtang have any different opinions?"

Han Qi got up and said, "This report has also been discussed within the Zhizheng Hall, and basically approves various measures of the overseas economic and strategic government. Our only worry is to attack the Buddha. Do we have morality?"

Fan Ning cursed inwardly, the Zhizheng Hall had not politely accepted the 230 million taels of gold and treasures transported back to the Song Dynasty from the Three Buddhas, but now he was concerned about whether the war was moral or not, and those who had the ability should not accept the gold.

Although dissatisfied in his heart, Fan Ning still smiled and said: "I would like to report to all my lords, the Three Buddha Qi military sent sailors to pretend to be pirates to attack Xingang trade. They attacked first, and a warship was captured by them. Thousands of soldiers witnessed it with their own eyes. We rescued the patrol team, but were attacked by hundreds of their warships.

After they surrendered, we did not slaughter any of their soldiers, nor did we take the opportunity to rob people’s wealth or insult women. It can be said that Qiu did not commit any crimes. All our income came from their treasury. moral concerns. "

Empress Dowager Cao was also a little dissatisfied. She had already approved Fan Ning's report, so why did the Zhizheng Hall still discuss and ask questions? What's the point of her approval?
She asked again: "Emissary Fan Jinglue has already explained, does Mr. Han still have any questions?"

"In the Sanfo Qi War, the ministers have no doubts, but in the Luzon Mansion and Baozhou, the Zhizhengtang has more ideas."

"Han Xianggong, please tell me!"

"We have read the plan of Fan Jinglue. Luzon has been developed very successfully. We also have a deep understanding in the capital. Luzon's frosting sugar, cotton and grain have entered thousands of households. The gold transported from Luzon has greatly improved the court's finances. Luzon The grain transported by the Song Dynasty also reduced the price of grain in the capital to [-] yuan per bucket of rice. In the future, large-scale planting of corn will make grain cheaper. These are good signs of the prosperity of the Song Dynasty. No one can deny the contribution of overseas development, but in In terms of immigration, we think it is too hasty, after all, immigration is a century-old project and needs to be done slowly.”

Fan Ning asked puzzledly: "What is the reason that gave Zhizhengtang the idea of ​​slowing down immigration?"

Han Qi sighed and said, "Over the past few years, there have been too many immigrants and laborers, resulting in barren land in many places in the countryside. This phenomenon is especially serious in Hebei Road and Shaanxi Road. Especially, grain prices have dropped so fast that valleys have appeared. The situation of low prices hurting farmers has affected farmers' enthusiasm for farming."

Fan Ning said: "Achieving a large-scale increase in grain production is a good thing that all dynasties have hoped for. If you are worried about low grain prices hurting farmers, there are two ways to do it. One is for the court to subsidize grain farmers, and the second is to improve grain-growing technology. Allowing a person to grow more food, instead of thinking of cutting back, there will be famine."

In fact, Han Qi's statement has also caused fierce disagreements within Zhizhengtang. At least Fu Bi is firmly opposed to cheap grains hurting farmers. The good things that all dynasties have been looking forward to, we can't waste food because of choking. I have always advocated the abolition of corvee and reducing the burden on farmers. This will have a positive impact on population growth and the development of the Song Dynasty. It becomes paid corvee, the court provides food, or the common people pay money to be exempted from labor.”

Han Qi frowned and said, "Fu Xianggong, the abolition of corvee has nothing to do with the low price of the grain and the harm to the peasants. Now is not the time to discuss corvee."

"It doesn't matter. With the abolition of corvee, men will spend more time at home, women's chances of getting pregnant will increase greatly, and the population will increase. With the increase in population, food will not be cheaper."

Everyone laughed. In fact, Fan Ning also admitted that Fu Bi was right. Population increase is the key to balancing food prices. He stood up and said, "Fu Xianggong has grasped the key point. Population increase is the purpose of food increase. There is no occupying the city." With the introduction of rice, the population of the Great Song Dynasty will not increase so rapidly, if the population of the Great Song Dynasty increases to 5000 million, then [-] million will go overseas to farm, wouldn't that be the most understandable result?"

Han Qi nodded, "That's what I said just now. It takes time to immigrate slowly. Now the overseas immigration is too strong, and the impact on agriculture is too great."

Wen Yanbo sighed and said, "Why does Han Xianggong think that overseas immigration caused the agricultural depression, but he turned a blind eye to the absorption of the population by super-large workshops?"

Wen Yanbo just talked about the key point, how many overseas immigrants can there be?The key is the emergence of super-large workshops in the Song Dynasty, such as textiles, silk weaving, printing and dyeing, mining, smelting, shipbuilding, shipping, wine making, ceramics, tea making, oil extraction, etc., involving hundreds or thousands of people. The emergence of large-scale workshops has taken up a large number of young laborers. Young people who are willing to farm with their backs to the loess have gone to various big cities to find opportunities and increase their horizons.

In the past, the little lady could only work as a maid, but now she can work in a textile workshop and earn no less than her parents.

There was a moment of silence in the hall. These super-large workshops involve a lot of dignitaries, so it is not easy to touch them.

At this time, Empress Dowager Cao asked Fan Ning again, "Just now Fan Aiqing mentioned that agricultural technology can change the status quo, so we might as well continue our discussion on this aspect."

Fan Ning bowed and said: "Actually, we will talk about technical issues soon, so we will start with agricultural technology."

(End of this chapter)