Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 569 News from the North
Everyone was silent, and everyone could hear that Fan Ning was clearly tailoring his clothes to suit the individual's needs. Those dignitaries desperately pushed the imperial court to purchase land through private means, because they wanted to own an autonomous land that was not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, so that they could stand on their own as kings.

"What's the attitude of the Son of Heaven?" Han Qi asked.

"The Son of Heaven agrees in principle. Self-government is allowed, but statehood cannot be established, and no arrogance is allowed. There is a small number of self-defense soldiers, but the number is strictly limited. In addition, those who buy autonomous land must be hostage to the court."

Fu Bi pondered for a while and said, "As for the matter of the autonomous region, I suggest that the Zhizheng Hall discuss it with the Queen Mother and the Emperor in detail before making a decision. The matter is of great importance and should not be hasty."

Everyone agreed with Fu Bi's suggestion.

At this time, Wen Yanbo said with a smile: "I would like to invite the envoy to come over today. I mainly want to talk about the affairs of Baozhou. We all agree on the name of the state, but we still want to hear the envoy's opinion on how to operate it."

Although the development of overseas states and counties is in charge of the Overseas Economic Strategy Office, once the state capital is fully completed, it will be handed over to the imperial court. Kunzhou and Danzhou have been handed over to Zhizhengtang. In addition, the development of overseas countries also requires the cooperation of the imperial court, mainly Immigrants need to be recruited by the court.

Of course, Fan Ning knew what these guys were looking for to talk to him about, and it would be too late if there was no profit, so he probably wanted to ask Baozhou if there was any placer gold or silver.

Fan Ning walked into the lobby and sat down, and said to all the ministers: "Baozhou's natural conditions are similar to those of Luzon. Luzon Island mainly has dipterocarp and wood cotton trees, while Baozhou mainly has rubber trees. Everyone I saw the carriage I dedicated to the emperor. The wheels are made of rubber. The agricultural products are mainly rice, which is also a land rich in rice. In addition, Baozhou’s minerals are mainly tin ore and iron ore. There seems to be no gold and silver, but Baozhou has It is the best transit point for trade with the West, and its location is ten times better than that of Xingang, so I decided to build Xinquangang there.”

"Building a trading port in Baozhou, what about the new port?" Fu Bi asked.

"Let Xingang be transformed into a local government. The big island where Boni Kingdom is located has a radius of thousands of miles, but the territory occupied by Boni Kingdom is very small, at most only [-]% of the big island. We can gradually develop this big island into the Song Dynasty. A state capital."

"Let's take it step by step! How many immigrants does Baozhou need?" Han Qi asked again.

"Like Luzon Island, [-] households are needed in the first phase, and another [-] Japanese laborers are needed."

Han Qi didn't talk about immigrants like the day before yesterday. In the past few years, the people of the Song Dynasty seemed to have suddenly opened up, and they no longer rejected immigrants from overseas. Now it is not difficult to find immigrants, as long as the government posts a notice , [-] households are easily recruited.

The conditions proposed by Fan Ning are fully acceptable to Zhizhengtang.

In fact, Han Qi and the other prime ministers are concerned that overseas expansion is getting bigger and bigger. It is obviously a bit unrealistic to rely on only one overseas economic and strategy government to manage it. They took over Kunzhou and did as well, which gave the court great confidence.

Now their eyes are on Ryukyu and Luzon. These two are becoming more and more important, especially Luzon. Gold, pig iron, frosting sugar, cotton, spices, rice, and wood are simply a cornucopia. Zhizheng The Tang wants to expand its business and relocate more people, but the premise is to take the Luzon Mansion from the Overseas Economics Mansion.

Han Qi winked at the other ministers, then slowly smiled at Fan Ning: "In addition to arranging the development of Baozhou, I also want to talk to the envoy about the situation of Luzon Mansion today."

Fan Ning and Zhizhengtang finally reached a compromise. Fan Ning agreed that Zhizhengtang would take over the Ryukyu and Luzon prefectures. His first condition was that officials who served as county officials overseas could be transferred to Beijing officials after their terms of office expired. , This is actually Kunzhou's welfare, which was later abolished, and Fan Ning asked Zhizhengtang to restore this system again.

The second condition is to ask Zhizhengtang to cancel his assessment. His term of office is still two years away. He really has no time to take care of Ryukyu and Luzon. Hand over Baozhou to Zhizhengtang.

In the next two years, he did not intend to aim at gaining wealth, but to consolidate and strengthen the Song Dynasty's control over Nanyang, and to initially establish a civilian route to sea colonization.

Zhizhengtang also agreed to Fanning's two conditions. They officially renamed Xingang as Sizhou, and then built two state capitals, Baozhou and Sizhou.

In the afternoon, Han Jiang invited Fan Ning to Zhulou for tea.

Han Jiang filled a cup of tea for Fan Ning: "There is something I want to tell you in advance. The Zhizheng Hall and the Empress Dowager Cao have reached a consensus. Only in charge of the army, no longer participating in politics, subordinate to the Privy Council, and then set up the Overseas Propaganda Department to be in charge of overseas state capitals."

Fan Ning picked up the teacup and said with a faint smile: "The Zhizheng Hall feels that I am now integrating the military and the government, and I am not under the jurisdiction of the court. Do I have too much power?"

Han Jiang shook her head, "It's not aimed at you, but at the position of overseas strategic envoy. You are a special case. In fact, it is to restore your previous state. Didn't Di Qing in the past only care about the army?"

Fan Ning also knew that Zhizhengtang’s request was also reasonable. How could the state capital of the Song Dynasty break away from Zhizhengtang’s jurisdiction? He was indeed just a special case in a special era. It is not surprising that Zhizhengtang wanted to restore it to its original state.

"I have no objection, I just want my subordinates to be settled."

Han Jiang said with a smile: "The last time you recommended the staff, the Ministry of Officials has already approved it. Gongsun Xuance and Zhang Bo were awarded the eighth rank, and Chen Zhen was awarded the eighth rank. They are all county magistrates. The Zhizheng Hall is quite interesting to you, right?" !"

Fan Ning was overjoyed, the three of them were directly appointed as Beijing officials, starting from the county magistrate, which saved them a lot of detours.

Han Jiang smiled again: "It's all because of your meritorious service in grabbing money over the years, and everyone understands it in their hearts!"

"Then what about me, what's my own good?" Fanning asked with raised eyebrows.

Han Jiang smiled and said, "Mr. Fan has already called out, do you still need to ask?"

In fact, Fan Ning's qualifications are gradually enough. His biggest weakness before was his lack of qualifications, but he has been an official for nearly 15 years, and he has also held various local official positions. In fact, Fan Ning was young because he was a boy Jinshi, and he had made great contributions to the community, so not many people doubted that he was appointed as a councilor to know political affairs.

At this time, Fan Ning remembered something again, and asked again: "How have Liao and Xixia been in the past two years?"

"Toss it!"

Han Jiang sneered and said: "At the beginning of the year, Xixia asked to raise the old coin to the level of Liao. Song refused, and Xixia provoked on the frontier. They also sent someone to send the letter of credence, which actually read "The Emperor of Xixia to the Emperor of the Song Dynasty". , preparing for war along the border of Yan'an."

"What about the Liao Kingdom?" Fan Ning asked again.

"The Liao Kingdom has not provoked on the frontier, but has been strongly urging us to abandon Kunzhou. The Liao Kingdom believes that our strategy of conquering Kunzhou threatens the security of their rear. The two sides have been negotiating for a year, and we only promise to abandon Jingzhou. But Kunzhou will never give up, and at most agree to reduce the Kunzhou garrison."

Speaking of this, Han Jiang smiled slyly, "Thanks to you taking down the Dewa country in Japan, although we have reduced the garrison in Kunzhou, the army can be transferred to Akita City."

"The Liao Kingdom should use the negotiation as a cover to prepare for war in secret. The Song Dynasty must be vigilant."

Han Jiang nodded, "Actually, we are also preparing for war. We specially reserved 500 million taels of gold shipped from Nanyang as military expenses for preparing for war, increasing armaments, building city walls, developing new types of firearms, improving military treatment, and strengthening military training. In addition, a total of 20 war horses have been sent from Kunzhou, and [-] cavalry have been trained. If war breaks out, with the national strength of the Song Dynasty, they will not be afraid."

Fan Ning nodded, "That's right. Whether it's dealing with Xixia or Liao Kingdom, the best way is to fight a battle of national power and use national power to deal with it. As long as you persist for two or three years, the opponent will not be able to hold on."

"When do you plan to go back?" Han Jiang asked again.

"Let's go in a few days! Finish some trivial matters, and then return to Quanzhou."

(End of this chapter)