Chapter 263: Sealing the Zhuangku
“Jiefu, you have to remember that when it comes to the people, the simpler, the better. Because most of the people are illiterate and the policies are too complicated, and local officials want to deceive them. Common people, it’s too easy.
The purpose of Gu’s idea of dividing land into acres is to make the tax system simpler and clearer, which is somewhat contrary to what you said about dividing land into acres. "Zhao Xing said.
Why does Zhao Xing always feel that Wang Anshi is a bit too idealistic?
It is because Wang Anshi’s reform policy is good no matter how you look at it.
However, most of the results when implemented are strategies that are harmful to the people.
Some people may say that this is because the officials of the Song Dynasty were corrupt, and Wang Anshi cannot be blamed.
But don’t you blame Wang Anshi?
Zhao Xing feels that he should be blamed.
First of all, this is a set of false propositions. The main reason for implementing any new law is that the original law has too many drawbacks, and new laws need to be used to solve these drawbacks.
And where do the disadvantages of the new law come from?
After all, it’s still the officials.
Before implementing the new law, it is necessary to consider whether there are loopholes to be exploited in the new law and what disadvantages there are.
But Wang Anshi didn't think about this, or he was too confident in his new method.
But Wang Anshi's starting point was not wrong, which is why Zhao Xing used Wang Anshi.
However, he positioned Wang Anshi as an executor rather than the maker of reforms.
But most of the capable literati in ancient times had a common problem.
If you don’t follow their wishes, you won’t serve them.
Da Youan is able to defeat the powerful and make me unhappy.
In history, Wang Anshi wrote several times for reform, but it was not adopted and he resigned directly.
The same goes for Sima Guang. Emperor Shenzong insisted on reform, so he resigned directly and started his book.
The literati of the Great Song Dynasty almost lost the Six Arts of the Gentleman, but the arrogance of the literati was stronger than that of other dynasties.
Wang Anshi looked thoughtful when he heard this. At this time, he was not the same person who later presided over the reform, and he was not so stubborn.
The important thing is that Zhao Xing is not against the reform, so when he hears what Zhao Xing says, he will think about it instead of resisting it.
Zhao Xing paused and continued: "Since ancient times, there have been so many dynasties with many wise kings and capable ministers, but how can there be policies that remain unchanged? Don't think about formulating a once-and-for-all policy, just formulate As long as it is in line with the current situation, the policies of the current system may be useful, but in a few decades, new disadvantages will arise. Go back and think about what I said today. I have high hopes for you and hope you will not disappoint me. .”
"Yes, I understand." Wang Anshi stood up and saluted: "I leave!"
"Go." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
Watching Wang Anshi leave, Zhao Xing shook his head slightly.
I hope Wang Anshi’s thinking can change.
Otherwise he would have no choice but to abandon it.
.........
At the end of November, Sheng Wei and his son returned to Bianjing. Zhao Xing hosted a banquet in honor of the father and son, and also sent someone to invite Shulan over for a meeting.
Shulan is nine months pregnant and is due to give birth around the year before.
After not seeing her father and brother for a long time, Shulan was so excited that she shocked Zhao Xing.
Secretly cursing himself for his mistake, if Shulan had any accident due to excitement, his father would probably have to skin him.
After all, Shulan is the only one of Zhao Xing's concubines who is pregnant, and the others have not yet reacted. The official family is very concerned about this grandson, and will send people to bring supplements every month. Even if there is an imperial doctor in the East Palace, they will still come every other day. After a while, a royal doctor was sent to check the pulse and check the situation.
Zhao Xing comforted Shulan for a while, and finally calmed down Shulan.
I didn’t dare to let her stay any longer, so I had someone send her back.
After Shulan left, Zhao Xing also breathed a sigh of relief and started chatting with Sheng Wei and his son.
Sheng Wei was responsible for repairing the city. Due to the harassment by the Liao Kingdom, he was not able to complete the repairs of all the northern border cities. Except for the two important cities of Xiongzhou City and Bazhou City, only a few small cities were repaired. .
But now it's so cold in the north that water turns into ice, so there's no need to worry.
Furthermore, the Liao Kingdom has internal problems and will not send troops to the Song Dynasty in a short time.
In fact, Zhao Xing took over the task of repairing the city to prepare for the future attack on Xixia.
The Liao Kingdom was happy that the Song Dynasty and Xixia were at war, and they would definitely sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and tigers at the beginning.
Xi Xia had the upper hand, and Liao would let it go. After all, Xi Xia's strength was not enough to annex the Song Dynasty.
But if the Song Dynasty had the upper hand, the Liao Kingdom would definitely send troops to force the Song Dynasty to retreat.
The Liao Kingdom would not allow the Song Dynasty to annex Xixia.
If troops are to be launched against Xixia in the future, the north must be able to defend Xixia.
During this period, Zhao Xing was also thinking about his father’s previous proposal.
He previously felt that building the Great Wall to connect the northern border cities would make the civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty feel that there was a barrier in the north, and lose the desire to regain the sixteen states of Yanyun.
After thinking about it carefully, he felt that he was somewhat idealistic.
First of all, when he looked at the problem, he always looked at the Liao Kingdom and Xixia separately.
This is no problem, after all, the two countries are not the same force. But he ignored a very critical issue. Xixia and Liao were bordering each other.
If the Great Wall is not built in the north and a barrier is built artificially, when troops are sent to Xixia in the future, it doesn’t matter whether the north can hold it.
Even if they defended it, the Song Dynasty successfully destroyed Xixia, but the number of places bordering the Song Dynasty and Liao Kingdom increased.
The annexation of Xixia will definitely take time to digest. The border area will become larger and the defensive area will also increase.
There is a barrier in the north, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, so it still needs to be built.
"Sheng Wei, if we build the Great Wall to connect the northern border cities, how long will it take? How much will it cost?" Zhao Xing asked.
Sheng Wei was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect Zhao Xing to have such an idea.
The border defense line facing the Liao Kingdom in the north is hundreds of miles long. If the Great Wall is built to connect them, it will be a huge project.
But this was not his business. After hearing the words, he pondered for a while and said: "If there are sufficient preparations, enough manpower, and cement, it will only take about half a year. Including the preliminary preparations, It will take about two or three years, but this will require a large number of people. As for the cost, it will take some time for me to calculate it roughly. If you still hire people, it will cost at least tens of millions. Silver. "
The preliminary preparations he was talking about were collecting stones and burning cement.
After all, it is a plain, and there is no place nearby to mine stones, so they need to be transported from far away.
However, there are disadvantages and advantages. Plains are convenient for transportation and construction.
As long as enough materials are prepared, it can be built simultaneously among all the cities on the border.
The premise is that a large number of civilians need to be warned.
This is also what Sheng Wei said, as long as there are enough materials and manpower, the construction can be completed in half a year.
This time is only the construction time and does not include the preliminary preparation time.
Zhao Xing frowned slightly when he heard this. The expenses were too high. Even if he had saved some money over the years, it would not be enough.
Although you can save a lot of money through sign corvee, it is too harmful to the people, and the real cost is still a lot.
So why did my father have the confidence to propose building the Great Wall in the north to connect the cities and become a barrier?
Even with the presence of cement, costs can be reduced.
But my father is not so naive as to think that cement will not cost much.
The imperial court couldn't even squeeze out the money to repair the border cities, so how could it have the money to build the Great Wall?
Seal the warehouse!
Zhao Xing suddenly thought of a possibility.
The Fengzhuang Treasury was established by Emperor Taizu and was regarded as the royal inner treasury.
But the money included is the imperial court's annual surplus.
When Emperor Taizu was in power, he established a sealing pile warehouse and transferred all the annual balance of the treasury to the sealing pile warehouse for sealing.
The original intention was to use it to redeem the money from the Liao Kingdom, or to conquer the sixteen states of Yanyun by force.
Although wars were frequent at that time, there were not so many accumulated disadvantages. The Song Dynasty destroyed many separatist forces and gained a lot of money.
During his reign, Emperor Taizu accumulated a huge amount of wealth in the Fengzhuang Treasury.
However, later emperors often misappropriated money from the sealing warehouse. The Song Dynasty was unable to make ends meet in these years, but it was able to persevere. The sealing of the warehouse was indispensable.
Zhao Xing always thought that the money for sealing the pile warehouse was almost spent. Now it seems that there should be a lot of money for sealing the pile warehouse, otherwise his father would not have thought about building the Great Wall.
As for whether it is true, we still have to test it out to know.
"You should do the math first. Just because I said this, I don't really want to cultivate. Be sure not to spread the word." Zhao Xing said.
"I understand and will never reveal anything!" Sheng Wei quickly promised.
Zhao Xing asked Sheng Changsong about the placement of the war horses.
In recent years, Zhao Xing also arranged for people to build a racecourse in the north. Most of the horses traded this time were placed at that racecourse.
Those who couldn't be accommodated were sent to the court's racecourse, because Zhao Xing often provided war horses to the court's racecourse before. Although there were more horses this time, when those racecourses were scattered, there were not many.
The officials at the racecourse didn't pay attention and did not report it. My father didn't know about it yet.
"Your Highness, those beauties from the Liao Kingdom have been temporarily placed in Zhuangzi outside the city. I don't know what to do with them?" Sheng Changsong asked.
Not to mention Sheng Changsong, he almost forgot about the beauty from Liao Kingdom who was traded.
Zhao Xing asked with great interest: "What do those Liao beauties look like?"
"I heard that there are some who are very beautiful, but I have never seen them." Sheng Changsong said.
The so-called beauty was just a match, and Sheng Changsong was worried that Zhao Xing would take a fancy to her. When she arrived, he arranged for someone to take care of her, but he didn't even see her.
Hearing this, Zhao Xing pondered for a while and said, "Find someone to teach you, and then open a brothel."
He originally thought about rewarding these women to his men, but after thinking about it carefully, he gave up. This idea.
Who knows if there is any special arrangement by Yelu Zhongyuan? Giving rewards to his subordinates can easily lead to problems.
Zhao Xing didn't even dare to stay by his side.
We can't keep these people in vain. We might as well open a brothel and let these women receive customers.
Zhao Xingke, no matter what kind of war it is, it has nothing to do with women. The Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty have been at war for many years, and they can be regarded as blood feuds.
(End of this chapter)