Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 45 The Effects of the New Deal (Special thanks to book friend Fengzi_L for his 2 monthly tickets! Thank you twice!)
The next day, in the early morning of June 3rd, the first year of Kaixi, after Chai Zongxun woke up and was sitting in the palace having breakfast, Tang Qi walked into the palace and saluted:

"Your Majesty, last night my servants were waiting outside the Duanli Hall all night, and heard loud shouting in the hall.

This morning, the servant went into the palace to watch and saw Mrs. Xunyang crying endlessly. General Li sat beside her and comforted her. "

Chai Zongxun said happily:
"That's no problem!
After I report to my mother, I will be able to marry Li Shoujie in a few days. "

After Chai Zongxun finished his breakfast, he immediately left the Qingshou Hall and went to the Baoci Hall.

After listening to Chai Zongxun's story, Queen Mother Fu felt amused:

"I tried to persuade my sister many times, but she didn't listen. It was the emperor who forced her to submit.

The emperor also worked hard to save his aunt. This Li Shoujie is the son of a loyal minister, and he is respectful to our imperial family, so there is nothing wrong with him. "

Empress Dowager Fu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, you are so young that you can come up with such an idea.

Now that the matter has come to this, your aunt will let nature take its course after crying for a few days. At that time, the queen mother will grant her a marriage and order her to remarry Li Shouchie. "

Chai Zongxun nodded, thinking:

"If my mother knew about Zhao Thief poisoning my father, I'm afraid she would have killed my aunt and Zhao Thief together."

The mother and son drove together to the Chui Gong Hall outside the palace to attend court.

More than a hundred civil and military ministers were waiting respectfully in the palace.

After the ceremony, the Second Prime Minister Li Tao came out and said:
"To the Queen Mother, to Your Majesty, the "New Night Market Deal" has been under construction for nearly 5 months and has now entered the final stage of completion.

According to statistics from various ministries of the imperial court, the goals of His Majesty’s New Deal have been achieved in our territory of Great Zhou:
Each state capital has two "night markets" and each county has one "night market". There are more than 2,600 "night markets" nationwide with more than 100,000 shops and stalls.

The nationwide "night market" that is now completed and open for business can already bring His Majesty more than 5 million taels of silver in tax revenue to the treasury every month. After it is fully put into use, it will increase the treasury tax revenue by six million taels of silver per month. "

Because Emperor Chai Zongxun relied on Li Tao as a confidant, and with Chai Zongxun entrusting him with important responsibilities, Li Tao gradually replaced Wei Renpu, the Minister of Household Affairs and the Third Prime Minister, in charge of the court's finances.

Chai Zongxun nodded, thinking:

"Financial revenue has finally increased a lot. Including the old court taxes, the monthly tax revenue is more than 8 million taels, and we are no longer unable to make ends meet after our reform.

But now my expenses have increased a lot:

For example, the salaries of the civil servants and the Forbidden Army, the production and R&D support of the arsenal, and the supply of food for the "Dragon Army" and "Dragon Guard" armies and all the orphans.

Including the expenses of the original court officials and all members of the royal family and attendants, etc., the total amount of silver used is more than 5 million taels per month.

Calculated in this way, the monthly balance is only more than two million taels.

It seems that in the future, when my "Dragon Army" becomes stronger, we will continue to promote reforms in depth across the country. "

Chai Zongxun looked at Han Tongtong, who was at the head of the generals’ queue:

"Han Dianqiang, in the past few months, I have ordered you to dispatch imperial troops to various state capitals to inspect and ensure the safety and operation of "night markets" in various places. How is the situation?"

Han Tong saluted as he left the class and said:

"Reporting to your Majesty, since your Majesty's order, I have sent sergeants from the Forbidden Army Palace to inspect various places in rotation more than a hundred times. The results of more than 80 state capitals under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court have been excellent. It can be said that the local night markets are under the supervision of the tax supervisor. , no one dares to go to cause trouble or damage.

As for the more than 30 state capitals under the jurisdiction of various regions, local powerful men often sent servants to prevent people from going to the "night market".

The imperial army sent by the minister has driven away powerful people many times. Although they dare not openly confront our imperial army, as soon as the imperial army leaves, they will come out to cause trouble again, which is a very headache. "

Chai Zongxun thought:
"It seems that after several months of operating night markets, these powerful soldiers from all over the world have discovered the wealth effect of night markets and have begun to lose their patience."

Chai Zongxun said:

"The Jiedushi in these places will allow them to be arrogant for a while longer.

Han Aiqing has done a good job, just keep it up. "

Thinking that Han Tong, who was loyal to him, could not do these tasks that could easily offend local forces, Chai Zongxun looked at Zhang Yongde, who was second in the military general queue, and said:

"Zhang Aiqing, after this batch of sergeants from the Palace Front Division return to the capital at the end of June, Zhang Aiqing will send the Guards and Military Division to inspect the night markets throughout my country in the second half of the year."

Zhang Yongde saluted as he left the class and said:

"The minister obeys the order!"

In the next few days, Chai Zongxun took time out to inspect the "Longxiang Army" and "Longxiang Guard" barracks every day, and became increasingly familiar with the soldiers.

Sometimes I also go to the arsenal to inspect the production conditions and the living conditions of the orphans.

After severely punishing a few officers who beat and scolded sergeants and eunuchs and craftsmen who abused orphans, discipline in the military camps and arsenals was greatly improved. For a time, the little emperor's reputation for wisdom, strength, benevolence and righteousness spread throughout the two armies and arsenals.

On July 25th of the first year of Kaixi, this year's summer grain from various places in the Great Zhou Dynasty had been collected.

After several days of statistics by the imperial court, a total of more than 9 million kilograms of rice and wheat were collected in this summer grain, of which about 6 million kilograms were produced in the fertile fields newly reclaimed by the people after the promotion of the new water conservancy policy.

During the food requisition period in July, Chai Zongxun ordered Prime Minister Fan Zhi to personally lead a team of more than a thousand officials to inspect the various prefectures directly under the central government to strictly prevent local corruption and reselling of food and robbery of people's food. This ensured the smooth progress of summer grain collection and collection work.

The summer grain of the Jiedu Prefectures in various places was still handed over to the Jiedushi Envoys of various places for collection, because the current water conservancy projects planned by the imperial officials were far from being included in the schedule of building the Jiedu Prefectures and prefectures.

In these state capitals that have built water conservancy facilities, due to the vigorous reclamation of wasteland, the local people have handed over 30% of the harvest to the court. Basically, they can leave hundreds of kilograms of food for their own families per mu of land. Families with more than ten acres of land, There was a harvest of thousands of kilograms of grain.

If the autumn rice harvest is included, this is twice as much food.

Therefore, under the new water conservancy policy implemented in the first year of Kaixi, the people of thirty state capitals in the Zhou Dynasty that had completed water conservancy facilities were immediately transformed from being hungry to having enough food and clothing!

Many people of the Zhou Dynasty, who were previously in rags and rags, were extremely grateful for the benevolent government of Empress Dowager Fu and the young emperor Chai Zongxun. After leaving enough food at home, they transported hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of excess food to the town markets for sale. I bought coarse cloth and made new clothes for my family, and bought some chickens, ducks, and piglets to take home and feed them. Life was getting better day by day, and it also greatly promoted the development of the commodity economy in Dazhou.

The second phase of the water conservancy project currently planned and under construction by the Ministry of Industry has been completed in early July. This is another thirty state capitals.

The water conservancy facilities in these state capitals will play a huge role in the autumn grain planting and reclamation of wasteland starting at the end of July.

When local people heard about the completion of the first phase of water conservancy and the bumper harvests in the thirty prefectures near Bianjing, they had a strong desire to reclaim wasteland and improve their families' lives. According to statistics, the average newly reclaimed wasteland per household reached more than ten acres.

(End of this chapter)