I studied in modern times

Chapter 597: The War in the Northwest (2)

Guimao (18th) in the eighth month of the first year of Yuanyou.

Zhao Xu stood in front of the gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, watching the vehicles loaded with copper coins one after another, and loading the coins one by one into them.

At this moment, Zhao Xu's heart was burning with immense pride.

"This is the country I have conquered!"

Each cart of copper coins represents a victory.

However, there was an endless stream of carriages and horses carrying copper coins.

Even if all the mules and horses in Taipu Temple were mobilized, it would not be possible to deliver all the copper coins to the pile sealing warehouse in one day.

This is already the fourth day that Kaifeng Mansion has transferred copper coins to Fengzhuang Treasury!
Moreover, it will take another two days to complete the shipment!
no way! The amount of money is an astonishing 1.45 million yuan!

A total of 2.5 million coins is taken. Taking the Yuanfeng Tongbao Xiaoping coins as each weighing grams, their total weight is nearly tons.

According to the average copper content of Yuanfeng Tongbao, which is 70%, after melting these copper coins, nearly two thousand tons of copper material can be obtained.

Not long ago, Wai Lang, a member of the Jin Ministry, reported that all the money supervisors in the Song Dynasty had only minted more than 2,787,000 coins in the first eight months.

In other words, this amount of money has reached nearly half of the amount of money produced by the money supervisors of all prefectures and counties in the entire Song Dynasty this year.

However, this money is only the disaster relief funds donated by more than 170 imperial temples in and around Bianjing to the Huainan states "voluntarily" in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha and "out of compassion".

All I can say is that the great monks are really rich!

Moreover, the rich ones are a little too much.

On average, nearly 10,000 yuan was donated for each temple built by the imperial edict!
The wealth of temples in the Song Dynasty shocked the government and the public, as well as the two palaces.

"No wonder the three martial arts sects all like to destroy Buddha..."

In the market, similar whispers inevitably appeared.

At the same time, the amount of incense in major temples began to decline for a short period of time - mainly because many people did not want to go to incense.

The monk is much richer than them!
Although everyone knew this in the past.

But when the great monks took out so much money at once, and it was in cash-all in copper coins.

There is no time to fool people with things like cloth and spices that need to be sold to be cashed out.

This really opened the eyes of the people of Bianjing.

"The abbots and heads of the temples still understand Buddhism!" Looking at the carts of copper coins being sent to the pile sealing warehouse, Zhao Xu rubbed his hands and gave his evaluation.

"Tell the ancestral department, Kaifeng Mansion, the abbots of various temples, and the chiefs. Since you have understood the compassion of the Buddha and the Zen intention of my Buddha to save all living beings, you must be an eminent monk."

But he completely forgot that just a few days ago, he was instructing Kaifeng Mansion, Dali Temple and the ancestral hall to beat and kill the great monks.

They even followed the template of Juezhao Temple and threw several great monks into prison. At the same time, they selected several new great monks from among the people and made these people the new abbots and new heads of the imperial temples.

These newly-appointed hosts and first-in-commands were not distressed at all, and they cooperated unconditionally as soon as they came on board.

The great monks finally bowed their heads and admitted defeat.

Not only did he obediently collect enough money, he also obediently followed Zhao Xu's order to move the treasury out of the temple and came to Bianjing City.

The aftermath affected Kaifeng Mansion and even temples in Luoyang.

Therefore, the great monks in these places quickly expressed their willingness to cooperate and only asked for favor from the court.

Naturally, Zhao Xu would not kill them all and stop there.

You can't. All the abbots and chiefs of imperial temples in the world are guilty of committing crimes and breaking the precepts.

The attendants and ministers on the left and right all bowed: "Wei."

To Zhao Xu, he was completely in awe.

no way!
During the late emperor's reign, in order to increase revenue, he sent Wu Juhou to Jingdong, Wang Zijing to Fujian, and Jian Zhoufu and his son to stay in Jiangxi.

The ground in these places is almost smoldering.

It only increases annual income by millions.

And this official does not bother the people, does not increase taxes, and does not harm the scholar-bureaucrats.

Then Zhang Heng, the minister of household affairs, reported that the annual income of the Song Dynasty this year may be close to the figure in the seventh year of Yuanfeng.

Even if it cannot be achieved, it can at least achieve about 90% of Yuanfeng's seven-year level.

Shocking!

You know, last year, the eighth year of Yuanfeng, when the official came to power, he abolished the horse protection law on Jingdong Road, and even directly asked Kumamoto to sell all the country's horses to horse protection households on Jingdong Road at low prices.

At the same time, an edict was issued to stop the policy of discussing salt and iron on Jingdong Road, and to investigate Wang Zijing in Fujian and Jian Zhoufu in Jiangxi to bring order out of chaos and restore normal order in the area.

Then he dismissed Shi Yifa and bought the embankment department.

At the same time, the Young Crops Law was reformed and the Exemption from Service Law was revised.

The income of the imperial court fell in the eighth year of Yuanfeng, so it was almost five million less.

This is already a miracle.

But this year, it is accelerating to catch up with Yuanfeng's seven-year annual income level.

Moreover, this was achieved after last year’s drought, floods in Hebei, and this year’s drought in Huainan.

The government and the public were stunned.

The relevant parties gave detailed explanations.

First of all, copper mines all over the world, because of the government's favor, the policy of reducing the mining tax by one cent for the copper obtained through the copper method.

Therefore, the production enthusiasm of copper mine owners around the world has greatly increased, and copper mine output has skyrocketed.

In the first six months of this year, the output of copper mines in the world has exceeded that of Yuanfeng in the entire seven years!

Zhang Heng also told the court the reason why copper mine production increased so much.

One is: in the past, copper mine owners tried every means to hide their copper output to make profits due to mining taxes. Now, these hidden outputs have appeared on the legal market through the Gall Copper Law.

The second is: the comprehensive promotion and application of the gall copper method has given copper mines in various places a new method of copper smelting.

Third, many once-depleted copper mines can be produced again because of the gall copper method.

The fourth is: Because of the encouragement from the imperial court and appropriate policies, copper mine owners are more willing to invest and have more motivation to expand production.

In short, there are a lot of things, and the central idea is just four words: official sage!

The increase in copper mine production has also caused the amount of money minted by Tianxia Qianjian in the first eight months of this year to exceed the level in the seven years of Yuanfeng.

From this alone, the increased income has reached millions.

In addition, Fujian Road, Liangzhe Road and Jingdong Road.

This year’s business taxes have all increased sharply!

Just along Jingdong Road, the estimated increase in commercial taxes is hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The increased commercial tax levels of Fujian Road and Liangzhe Road far exceed those of Jingdong Road.

Especially for Fujian Road, with the arrival of Cai Que, he began to preside over the construction of the Quanzhou Shipping Department.

Under the promotion of this prime minister, the port project of the Quanzhou Shipping Department was rapidly promoted, and various preferential policies were implemented, attracting a large number of overseas merchants.

Before the Shibo Company even opened its doors, it had already made more than 100,000 yuan through commercial taxes!

On the Liangzhe Road side, the Shipping Department of Mingzhou City reported that because of the smooth sea route and the increased enthusiasm of "Hu merchants" to pay taxes.

Therefore, the commercial tax revenue of Mingzhou Shipping Company this year will be twice that of last year.

However, today's Song Dynasty, because of the Song-Liao Jiaozi trade treaty, through the Jiaozi change of annual coins, the annual expenditure of 200,000 taels of silver and 300,000 pieces of silk was saved.

He even made hundreds of thousands of dollars (exchange fees and commercial taxes) through the Song and Liao Jiaozi trade.

In addition, the southern expedition to Jiaozhi forced Jiaozhi to pay millions of shi of rice as annual tribute and buy Jiaozhi rice at a parity price of 1 million shi.

The annual tribute of Jiaozhi was one million dan of rice, which was worth more than one and a half million dan according to the price of rice in Bian Jing at one and a half dan.

In short, according to the Ministry of Revenue.

Today's economy in the Song Dynasty is not a small good, but a great one!

However, Zhang Heng did not tell the truth.

He only told part of the truth - income has indeed increased.

However, expenses also skyrocketed!

Apart from other things, the increased income from Fujian Road was directly used for the construction of Quanzhou Port and the construction of the shipyard.

The same goes for Mingzhou.

In order to encourage private shipyards in Minnesota and the enthusiasm of private ship owners to go to sea.

Chen Mu not only invested all the money from Mingzhou Shipping Company.

They also withheld more than half of the tax revenue from the Liangzhe Road that should have been sent to Bianjing.

At the same time, there was a severe drought in Huainan, and Song Yongchen brought more than two million strings to the disaster relief.

He also directly intercepted one million shi of grain that was supposed to go to Beijing in Zhenzhou.

In addition, Yuanyou's military reward order is a big money maker.

Take the reward from the imperial army in Beijing to encourage the Western Army.

Of course the soldiers of the Western Army would howl.

But once a war breaks out and the rewards are spent, there will be a lot of blood.

As for cheating?

No one dares to do it.

Because the last Zhao Guan family who cheated on the army ended up drifting in the Gaoliang River with a donkey cart.

Even if Zhao Xu had never studied abroad in modern times, he would not dare to forget this lesson.

Because once this happens, next time, the soldiers of the Western Army may not be willing to draw their bows until they see a reward for shooting an arrow.

All workers are like this.

If the boss doesn’t deliver on his promise the first time, don’t expect them to believe him the next time.

So……

“We still have to make money!”

Zhao Xu sighed in his heart.

no way!
When the cannon fires, thousands of taels of gold are lost; when the army moves, billions of trillions are wasted.

As a result, the copper coins in front of me didn't look like that much.

Even, it can only be considered as a drop in the bucket.

A mere 1.45 million yuan is not enough to cover the military salary of Huanqing Road for one year.

Not to mention the rewards of beheading and taking prisoners.

so……

Zhao Xu rubbed his hands and looked in the direction of Xihe and then in the direction of Guangxi.

If you want to make money, you still have to open source.

Now, only cotton and cane sugar can fill the financial gap that the Song Dynasty is waiting for.

"Official...official..."

Zhao Xu was daydreaming when Meng Qingqing's voice appeared behind him.

"What's the matter?" Zhao Xu turned around and looked at Meng Qingqing.

"Ci Sheng of the Two Palaces, please ask the officials to move to Chongzheng Hall."

"Ok?"

"The governors of the capital are quarreling." Meng Qingqing lowered her voice and told Zhao Xu.

"Ah?" Zhao Xu was surprised. This was a rare thing.

Because the current Song Dynasty Hall generally maintains a relative balance.

The forces of the old party and the new party check and balance each other.

The two prime ministers are also mature, prudent and honorable.

Therefore, even if there are conflicts, they will communicate in private through transactions and compromises.

There will be no quarrels in the court or even in the palace.

"What's going on?" Zhao Xu asked.

Meng Qingqing said: "When I went back to report to the officials, there was a minister on Xihe Road who wrote to the court to guard against the fall." "The princes of the capital were quarreling over this."

"The two merciful saints couldn't decide, so they invited the officials to come to the palace."

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "I understand."

He had actually known about this for a long time.

A few days ago, the traveling supervisors in Xizhou and Lanzhou had reported to him the matter of Zhao Xida's revelation of the Baojia household on Xihe Road.

"Let's go!" Zhao Xu ordered to the left and right: "Show up at Chongzheng Hall."

……

"The official is promoted to the palace."

Accompanied by the sound of the net whip tearing the air.

Zhao Xu appeared in front of the ministers from the corridor behind the Chongzheng Palace.

The ministers all bowed their hands and said, "I respectfully welcome the official to ascend to the palace."

"Sun Chen sends his regards to the great mother and queen mother." Zhao Xu reached the curtain and knelt down respectfully to kowtow.

"Officials, no need to be polite."

"My son, get up quickly."

Zhao Xu stood up, sat between the two palaces, and then looked at the ministers in the palace.

It was found that among the prime ministers present today, the only ones in the East Palace were Lu Gongzhu and Li Chang, and the other ones were Li Qingchen and An Tao from the Privy Council.

There are also Lu Dafang, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Shen Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of War.

Obviously, this was a temporary emergency meeting.

It should be the result of Lu Gongzhu taking advantage of the power of the prime minister and forcing the appointment through the Department of Communications.

This is the tradition of the Song Dynasty.

The power of the prime minister is not only reflected in discussing matters in the capital hall and requesting orders.

It’s also reflected in meeting arrangements – they can decide, who participates in which meeting, when?
They use procedures openly to exclude people they don't like from the proceedings.

Therefore, there were few examples of independent prime ministers in the Song Dynasty.

Because it requires more than two prime ministers to check and balance each other, so as to prevent the prime minister from becoming too powerful to control.

"Mother-in-law, queen mother, I heard that the husband-in-law seems to be having a dispute over some external affairs?"

The two palaces then introduced the situation to Zhao Xu in a low voice.

Very simple thing.

Lu Gongzhu roped in his student Li Chang and Lu Dafang, the Minister of War, and launched an attack on the Privy Council.

He asked the Privy Council why they didn't ask the capital hall for instructions, and with his consent, they directly approved Zhao Xi of Xihe Road, allowing Zhao Xi to send Baojia households to carry out "anti-autumn".

Therefore, he suspected that the two new party ministers in the Privy Council were deliberately indulging Xihe Bian Shuai to provoke Bian Pan and destroy the hard-won peace between Song and Xia.

The Privy Council, of course, dare not say - we are following the emperor's edict.

So, I started doing Tai Chi.

Li Qingchen and An Tao both insisted that the ancestral system was controlled by the Xifu.

All mobilization and dispatch of troops and horses in the world are under the authority of the Privy Council.

The governor of the East Prefecture cannot overstep his authority.

Therefore, they do not need to be responsible to Dongfu.

As the saying goes - when is it your turn to be in charge of the professional affairs of our West Government?

Besides, haven’t we already filed it?

As for Bianpan?

Zhao Xi from Xihe Road made it clear - this is a frontier fortress warning to prevent Western bandits from invading.

At the same time, this was also the decree of the late emperor - in the seventh year of Yuanfeng, the late emperor once issued an edict to Hedong, Shaanxi and other roads to prevent Western bandits from invading.

Therefore, as long as Zhao Xi's army does not cross the border, it is a reasonable movement.

For its part, the Privy Council just followed the story.

So what's the story you ask?
The story of Taizong and Zhenmiao!
This was how Cao Wei and Qin Han used to guard the border.

It cannot be said that the story of Taizong and Zhenmiao is no longer a story!

then……

Naturally, there was a quarrel.

After hearing this, Zhao Xu chuckled, looked towards the palace, and said, "I know what your Prime Minister is worried about!"

"Sima Fa said: Although the country is big, if it is fond of war, it will perish; although the country is safe, if it forgets to fight, it will be in danger!"

"I deeply agree!"

"Commander Xihe, since it is just to prevent the Western bandits from invading, there is no need to discuss it further."

"Let the people in Zhongshushe draw up the edict, pass it on to Zhao Xi, and severely reprimand him. Zhao Xi can only guard the border and not cause trouble without permission."

"Of course, if the Western thieves come, we will fight back severely!"

Lu Gongzhu stood up and bowed again, saying: "Your Majesty is wise, but I am worried that the border ministers are provoking for no reason and causing trouble, and there are even those who cross the border to rob and kill people."

This is not unfounded.

Because the Song Dynasty border army did have this problem.

In the past, similar things happened often.

Deliberately provoking trouble, deliberately creating conflicts, provoking the Xixia people to attack, and then reporting back to the court - the Western Thieves Kou Bian.

"Then let me add this: Those who are good at causing trouble will not be rewarded even if they have merit!"

Mr. Lu wanted to say something more.

Zhao Xu had already waved his hand: "Okay, Right Chancellor!"

"Soldiers are deadly weapons, and saints have no choice but to do so. I know it."

"As long as the Western bandits don't invade, I will never send troops to the northwest."

He naturally knew what Mr. Lu was afraid of?
Wasn't it him, the emperor, who instigated Xihe's generals to stir up trouble on Xihe Road with the help of the Privy Council and the Office of Public Information, and through internal edicts?

To be honest, this is an injustice to Zhao Xu.

This year, the cotton in Xihe has not been picked yet!

How could he take action at this time? He would have to wait until next year or the year after that.

After hearing this, Mr. Lu bowed his head deeply: "Your Majesty is wise!"

The officials have already given their assurances, and if he continues to pester him, he will become annoying.

Moreover, Lu Gongzhu knew that this official always kept his word.

At least, the promises made in public and in front of the ministers will be fulfilled.

So, he believed it.

"That's right!" Zhao Xu said at this time: "Right Prime Minister, a few days ago the Cishengs of the Two Palaces sent a batch of memorials to Funing Hall for my review."

"I feel that one of the memorials is very problematic and I have already given instructions."

"However, I still feel that it is not comprehensive enough. After much thought, I would like to ask your right minister to take it to the capital hall so that the ministers can discuss this memorial together."

With that said, Zhao Xu took out a copy of the memorial he had always carried with him from his arms.

Feng Jing took it respectfully and sent it to the hall.

Mr. Lu bowed his head again and respectfully took the memorial handed to him.

"I will obey your will."

But he did not choose to open it immediately, but held it respectfully in his hands.

The decree was very clear, asking him to go to the capital hall, summon all the governors to discuss it together, and then come up with a result.

……

After returning to the capital hall, Lu Gongzhu sent people to summon all the officials.

Then he slowly opened the memorial.

Obviously, this was a copy of the memorial that had been copied once.

He first looked at the person who wrote the letter.

The imperial court granted him a silver fish bag, directed him to Jixianyuan, went to protect the army, and raised Liang, an official official of the Hebei Road Prison.

"Fan Ziliang?"

"Fan Zongjie's son?"

Fan Zongjie was a minister in the Yingmiao era and the son-in-law of Chen Yaozuo, the prime minister of Renmiao.

Fan Ziliang is his eldest son, and his youngest son Fan Ziyi married Guo Kui's granddaughter.

As he continued to read, Lu Gongzhu's expression became extremely exciting.

Wait until Han Jiang led the governors to the meeting hall of the capital.

He had already read the yellow stickers on the memorial and the official instructions at the back.

"Uncle Hui, I heard that the government has an edict. Do you want me to discuss it and write a memorial?" Han Jiang smiled and led other officials to greet him, and then asked.

"It is true." Lu Gongzhu handed the memorial in his hand to Han Jiang: "Zuo Kui, let's take a look."

Han Jiang took it in his hand and read the yellow stickers outside the memorial and the official imperial approval behind the stickers. His old eyes became serious, and then he handed it to the others: "Everyone, please take a look..."

"Then, let's discuss it and come up with a strategy so that we can report it back to the official."

He didn't want to get involved in this matter.

Because, this is a bomb!

why?
Han Jiang did not read the content of Fan Ziliang's letter, but the outline of the yellow post made it very clear: when the imperial dynasty appoints Tibetan officials, they must control the land along the border and provide them with land, so that they can run their own businesses and have official qualifications. Although he is high, when he sees Han officials using the Qiqi salute (a kind of hand salute, which requires kneeling down, then placing the hands on the ground and leaning the head on the hands, which is a very humble posture), his duties are no more than inspections...nearly Many of the Tibetan officials were transferred to Han officials and sent to other places in the interior. In some cases, they were promoted to generals and lieutenants, and they were treated with courtesy when meeting Han officials...

To put it simply, this person wants to abolish the promotion path of the Tibetan officials, so that they can only be the frontier chiefs and leaders who are exploited and discriminated by others for the rest of their lives.

Han Jiang knew at a glance that this guy's letter was bringing bad things to the world.

But he couldn't object.

Because in the eyes of the Song Dynasty, which had the Liao Kingdom in the north, the Western Bandits in the west, and the An-Shi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, it was politically correct to suppress and discriminate against all people of Yi and Di barbarian origin.

Just like civil servants and officials, they will try their best to suppress the status of military officials.

Everyone knows that military officials cannot suppress too much.

However, the scholar-bureaucrats could not suppress their impulse to suppress the military ministers.

Always want to overwhelm Wu Chen!
When Han Qi killed Jiao Yong, what did he say when he begged Di Qing for mercy?

Only those who do the roll call outside Donghua Gate are considered heroes!

How can a military minister, a military minister who deserves death for a crime, be compared with a scholar-official and show mercy outside the law?
And Han Qi was already considered a prime minister among the scholar-bureaucrats who had a relatively good attitude toward military ministers.

When he still didn't think that military ministers could be compared with civil servants.

Good thing...

Han Jiang raised her lips slightly.

The words of the official imperial approval were beating in his mind: the first month of the Spring and Autumn Period, the great unification! Therefore, Confucius said to Fan Chi: He lives respectfully, is respectful in his work, and is loyal to others. Even though he is a barbarian, he should not be abandoned! Do you want me to abandon the four directions?
So, the official's intention is already clear.

How can this be discussed in the capital hall?
This is asking the governor of the capital to criticize this Fan Ziliang!

Considering that Han Jiang heard that just now in Chongzheng Hall, Lu Gongzhu and Xifu had a dispute over Xihe Road.

Han Jiang felt that this matter was particularly interesting!
"Uncle Lu Hui, Uncle Lu Hui..."

"Why can't you see clearly?"

Everyone knows that the current officials are more concerned about the situation on Xihe Road than anyone else.

Uncle Lu Hui decided to wade into this muddy water.

It's okay now!
Han Jiang sat down with a smile, and even planned to go to Lu Gong's palace to get some imperial tea to drink.

The taste of Beiyuan's imperial tea is indeed getting better and better.

Especially, when you eat the imperial tea made by Lu Gong, it tastes even better!
(End of this chapter)