Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 550 Second revision of "Da Zhou Criminal Code" (Special thanks to book friend 2021...0300 for the monthly ticket!)

Samuel held a grand banquet in the palace that day to entertain Xue Ying and other envoys from the Great Zhou Dynasty. Three days later, the two sides signed the "Zhou Bao Treaty of Friendship and Commerce", later known as the "Zhou Bao Sofia Treaty".

After the treaty was signed, Xue Ying wanted to leave and return home, but he was entertained by the Bulgarian King Samuel for several days and was kept in Beijing and refused to let him leave.

On second thought, Xue Ying understood that Samuel was not confident about the promise of the Great Zhou, so to reassure him, he stayed in Sofia for a while. He immediately sent the Dragon Guards back to Bian Jing to report to Emperor Chai Zongxun, and at the same time ordered the provinces adjacent to Kievan Rus, Khwarezm and Bulgaria to open trading posts on the border between the two countries as soon as possible, and encouraged merchants from all over the Great Zhou to come to the border trading posts to trade with Bulgaria.

When Xue Ying left Bian Jing, he was following the order of Emperor Chai Zongxun and had prepared two plans for peace or war with Bulgaria. At this moment, he carried all the imperial edicts with him.

After receiving the imperial edict, the governors of various border states sent officials to select the site for trade with Bulgaria within a few days and hired laborers to build a market.

Merchants in the Central and West Asian regions of the Great Zhou Dynasty were the first to learn that their country was going to open a trading post with Bulgaria to conduct mutual trade, with a tariff of only 20%, so they flocked to the region. In just over a month, more than 100,000 merchants had arrived in more than 20 border states, preparing to open businesses in the trading post to trade with Bulgaria.

Half a month later, Samuel received news that the Great Zhou had started building trading posts in more than 20 border states between the two countries.

Seeing that the Great Zhou had invested huge amounts of real money in building so many large-scale trading houses, Samuil was finally completely relieved. He ordered the generals who had captured the seven eastern states of the Eastern Roman Empire to return the territories to the Eastern Roman Empire and withdraw their troops back home.

After letting Xue Ying and others stay in the capital city of Sofia for another half a month, Samuel prepared hundreds of rare treasures and hundreds of beautiful women aged 16 to 18 from more than 50 ethnic groups in his country, and entrusted them to the Great Zhou envoy Xue Ying to take back to Bian Jing and present them to the Great Zhou Emperor Chai Zongxun.

In late July of the 45th year of Kaixi, the Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II had received news from envoys to the Great Zhou.

Upon learning that Emperor Chai Zongxun of Zhou had agreed to mediate the war between Bulgaria and Eastern Rome, Basil II was greatly relieved and immediately ordered the army on the eastern front to suspend the military operations to retake the seven eastern states and await the results of the Great Zhou's mediation.

By the end of August, news came back that the Bulgarian army had evacuated the seven occupied states in the east. Basil II was overjoyed and immediately ordered the army on the eastern front to rush to take over the seven states.

In order to thank Emperor Chai Zongxun of Zhou for his mediation and helping the Eastern Roman Empire resolve the powerful enemy Bulgaria on the eastern front, Basil II issued an edict: collect 200 rare treasures and 200 beauties from 100 ethnic groups from all over the country, and send envoys to Bianliang, the capital of Zhou, in October of the 45th year of Kaixi to thank Emperor Chai Zongxun of Zhou for his kindness.

After the Bulgarian troops withdrew, Basil II was able to transfer heavy troops from the eastern front to the western front, concentrating on first resolving the invasion of the Green Caliphate, and finally pacifying the rebellious military nobles in the country.

After more than ten years of friendly alliance with the Great Zhou, the financial strength of the Eastern Roman Empire increased greatly, and 70% of the soldiers in the army were equipped with the Divine Arm Bow. Now that they no longer had to fight on three fronts, the Eastern Roman army immediately gained the upper hand against the green-clad Arab army, which mainly used swords, bows and arrows and had less than 30% of its soldiers equipped with the Divine Arm Bow.

On July 5, the 45th year of Kaixi, 300,000 beautiful women who had been preliminarily selected by government offices across the country were escorted to Bianliang by officials.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs arranged all these beauties in the new "Chuxiu Palace" after the expansion of the imperial palace.

"Chuxiu Palace" is a palace complex with dozens of halls and thousands of side rooms.

These beauties will live here in the next few months as they go through an extremely strict seven-step selection process in the Imperial Household Department. It is estimated that around 2,000 of the most beautiful ones will eventually enter the eighth step, "selection of concubines."

Chai Zongxun received Xue Ying's memorial in the Bianjing Palace on November 12, the 45th year of Kaixi.

Seeing that Bulgaria had listened to the teachings and agreed to withdraw its troops from the Eastern Roman Empire on the condition that the two countries would open border markets and conduct comprehensive trade, Chai Zongxun was relieved:

"After all, the Eastern Roman Empire is the successor of the Roman Empire, and it is also the most prosperous country in Europe. If we keep the Eastern Roman Empire, we can stabilize Europe and Central and West Asia.

The many territories I have conquered still require more time to develop people's livelihood and consolidate my rule, and it will take at least dozens or even hundreds of years to completely assimilate these places with my Chinese civilization.

If the land area is too large, it is not a good thing either. The productivity cannot keep up, and the various places have sparse connections with our Great Zhou, then it will be very easy for them to become independent.

In recent years, we should focus on developing the economy and improving people’s livelihood and productivity.”

The next day, November 13th, morning court session.

The chief eunuch Tang Qi first read out the news from Bulgaria to all the ministers.

Upon hearing that Bulgaria was afraid of the power of the Great Zhou and had agreed to withdraw its troops from the Eastern Roman Empire, all the ministers sang praises to Emperor Chai Zongxun.

The Prime Minister and Minister of Personnel Kou Zhun came out of the class and said:

"Your Majesty, Holy Ming!
The Eastern Roman Empire had to be saved, but it would be best if our Great Zhou could refrain from invading Bulgaria and make the two countries stop fighting.

The Eastern Roman Empire is very powerful and has the largest population in Europe and West Asia. Your Majesty, leaving Bulgaria behind will check and balance the Eastern Roman Empire and prevent it from unifying Europe and becoming more powerful. This will bring a hundred benefits to our Great Zhou without any harm. "

Chai Zongxun thought that Central and Western Europe were still barbaric areas at that time. If he destroyed Bulgaria, the Eastern Roman Empire would lose its old enemy and become too powerful. It would probably unify Europe and revive the glory of the Roman Empire, which would become a strong rival of his Great Zhou Empire.

Chai Zongxun nodded slightly and said:

"The Bulgarians are not as brutal and aggressive as the Kievan Rus. Since they are willing to obey my orders, I don't have to destroy them.

After the two countries open up to trade, it will be beneficial to our country's economy and people's livelihood, and cultural exchanges will also be beneficial."

Chai Zongxun paused and said:
“I have heard that the Eastern Roman Empire has the Theodosian Code, which has very detailed regulations on various types of laws, so that all kinds of events in life have laws to follow. It is worthy of reference for our Great Zhou.

I have thought about this several times in the past few months. Our Great Zhou is now experiencing a thriving industry and commerce, and the imperial court has also established a "Ministry of Commerce" to specifically manage industrial and commercial affairs.

However, from a legal perspective, although our country's legal code, "The Criminal Code of the Great Zhou Dynasty", also has many laws and regulations that regulate commercial behavior, with the tremendous development of industry and commerce in the decades since I ascended the throne, it is obviously not detailed enough and is not sufficient for daily business life.

The last time I revised "The Criminal Code of the Great Zhou" was in the twelfth year of Kaixi, when I ordered Taifu Wang to organize a team to revise it. Now, more than thirty years have passed.

I intend to select suitable ministers and organize manpower to supplement and complete the laws related to industry and commerce in the "Great Zhou Criminal Code."

(End of this chapter)