Chapter 302: Hanging Red Lanterns
This was truly a timely help. Meng Gong's eyes quickly became moist when he saw the boxes of glittering coins.
He said he was worried about how to pay his brothers for the New Year. It was really like a war between gods and mortals. The chaos in Lin'an had cost him all his military pay.
Not only that, some time ago, the Prime Minister and the false emperor Zhao Bing were fighting for power in Lin'an City, destroying the city, but now the two families have reconciled. Zhao Bing even sent him an edict, asking him to transfer taxes to support the court.
Cao Youwen could already imagine the current situation in Jiangdong.
He proposed to Meng Gong that they join the new Song Kingdom. Meng Gong had heard of Zhao Yulin's republic, but unlike Lao Cao, he did not drink and drink tea with Zhao Yulin every day, and had been influenced by Zhao Yulin and became a loyal believer in the republic.
This man is still hesitating.
Cao had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, and proposed that the Shenwei Army should advance eastward to Mujiachuan, control Changsha, and gain access to the Lingnan waterway, and asked Meng Gong for his support.
Mujiachuan is the Xiang River, or the Xiang River. This name was first called out by Lao Cao.
Old Meng readily agreed to this matter.
Because his troops were all fighting against the Mongols in Jiangbei, and Jiangnan was just collecting money from afar, without a large-scale garrison. He only hoped that the Shenwei Army would do more for the people after entering Jiangnan. Because he was short of money, he just kept collecting taxes in Jiangnan, and owed the people too much.
Lao Cao told him not to worry, the Shenwei Army was born for the people and would definitely work for the people. The Yulin brothers said that the first thing to do was to repair the Lingqu Canal and connect the Lishui River and the Xiangshui River to facilitate trade.
Meng Gong was surprised. This was something that would cost a lot of real money to accomplish. He readily agreed because he wanted to see how capable the new Song Kingdom in Sichuan was and whether it could govern the Jinghu South Road well.
After Lao Cao reached an agreement on the business with Meng Gong, he immediately returned. When passing through Kuizhou, he asked his brother Cao Youliang to lead the troops to attack immediately. After entering Changsha, they went south to join hands with Cao Youwan's team and realize Zhao Yulin's plan to control the Lingqu Golden Waterway.
Lingqu is the Lingqu Canal, an artificial canal built by the Qin Dynasty in order to conquer Lingnan. It connects the Li River in Lingnan and the Xiang River in Lingbei.
Lishui is the Lijiang River, and Xiangshui is the Xiangjiang River. The Shenwei Army stationed in Changsha is equivalent to controlling the Xiangjiang River. Then they will go south along the Xiangshui River, cross the Lingqu Canal, and enter the Lijiang River to reach Jingjiang Prefecture on Guangnan West Road. If they continue to go south, they can enter the sea and do maritime trade with Daiyue Kingdom, making a lot of money.
In Chengdu, Zhao Yulin was busy all morning, had a simple lunch and went to the government office with the women to discuss matters. On the street, people were still cleaning up the garbage, and craftsmen were hanging up big red lanterns.
Ma Linger told him that Lord Ding had gone to her to withdraw 20,000 strings of cash to decorate the streets. The old man smiled and said that he would establish a country this year and the princess would get married, so he would be extravagant for once and decorate Chengdu well.
Zhao Yulin secretly laughed. The old man was really generous for his marriage.
Haha, it really is true that Lord Ding is going to hold a meeting today. When they arrived at the government office, they saw that the entrance was crowded with horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts, and officials were walking into the government office in an endless stream.
He walked in and saw Ding Gong, Li Gong, Zhao Yanna, Fan Zhong and others were all there.
The old man laughed and said that there was nothing else to do today except to make arrangements for the New Year. Everyone walked happily towards the meeting room, and after they sat down, the hall quickly became quiet.
This time, Lord Ding didn't let him speak, so the old man took out a stack of manuscripts from his sleeve and started speaking.
Zhao Yulin was surprised to find that Mr. Ding actually wrote in the vernacular Chinese he invented. He gave a long summary of the state affairs of the year and carefully arranged the responsibilities of the state ceremony and the wedding of Zhao Yulin and Zhao Feiyan.
This was really difficult for Zhao Yulin to explain. He saw Zhao Feiyan beside him also lowered her head in shame.
Finally, the old man announced that he would distribute New Year's red envelopes to all the officials present. The old man took out half of his salary to pack a big New Year's red envelope for each of his officials.
Zhao Yulin was happy, knowing that Mr. Ding had approved of his proposal of republican discussion and nation-building. With the support of these elders, his great cause of nation-building would surely succeed.
He stood up and took the lead in applauding Mr. Ding, and the others stood up one by one and applauded Mr. Ding.
The old man was overjoyed and loudly announced the adjournment of the meeting.
When he got back, Zhao Yulin's father, the old scholar and his mother were all there.
His mother asked happily what else he needed to prepare, but she didn't know.
Zhao Yulin pointed at Ma Ling and the others and said that they were all the same wives, no more, no less, all were prepared, so there was nothing to worry about.
After Yangjin carried the tea tray to serve tea to the two elderly people, she said that the etiquette officer from the Ministry of Rites was there, so Dad and Mom just sat there, and someone brought them big red gift packages.
Ma Linger immediately smiled and told the two old people enviously that all the expenses for her brother's wedding were paid from the government treasury and her family didn't spend a penny. They just cleaned the house and bought some furniture and appliances.
At this time, the old scholar spoke up and told Zhao Yulin that this was enough for him to be an official. He should get what he deserved and not take a penny more.
Zhao Yulin and his wives all said "Hmm, how could that be? Yes, yes, yes" in agreement. He asked Si Niang to lead the way and took his parents out for a walk.
The old man said he just wanted to meet Mr. Zhang.
His fourth wife laughed and said that she would go to the government school tomorrow to have a visit...
In Jiading Prefecture, Lu Youpeng was hosting the reception for the Li Shu delegation from Dai Viet. Old Lu would not let them visit the core industrial base of Cuiping Mountain. Taking Li Shu for a tour of Jiading's weapons workshop was enough to shock the Vietnamese envoys. They never imagined that there were such advanced tools and weapons in Shu of the Song Dynasty.
Gun|powder, they need it.
The Divine Arm Crossbow, they need it more.
They also need hand grenades and land mines, as well as sophisticated catapults and iron barrel cannons.
They want everything except money.
Old Lu was unhappy. He had no money and was still talking about Chuan Chuan.
Finally, the two countries reached an agreement, and the New Song Dynasty first transferred the technology of gunpowder. This is the mother of firearms. Without super strong gunpowder, any firearm is equivalent to a toy.
Lao Lu asked for 20,000 dan of grain from Yue State, and sent two craftsmen to Yue State to teach gunpowder technology. He asked the Great Yue State to ship rice by sea to Leizhou in Guangnan West Road for delivery. Because Guangnan West Road suffered a flood this year, grain production decreased, and the people were starving and cold, and they just needed food.
Then, when it came to other military equipment, Dai Viet became very stingy, buying only three of each item. Lu Youpeng knew that these people thought they were smart, and that they were buying samples to copy and produce them.
He did not bother to argue with Li Shu, and just paid three times the price in cash. Geng immediately sent the transaction briefing to the Chengdu Central Court.
Zhao Yulin returned to the study and smiled when he saw the briefing sent by Lao Lu from Jiading about Dai Viet's arms purchases. They could do whatever they wanted, as he knew the core technology.
He asked the maid to bring him a cup of good tea.
Before the tea was served to him, Chen Chen led Mr. Qiu in. He quickly ordered tea to be served. He blamed Mr. Qiu for not taking a rest after being busy all day and why he came to his house to suffer.
Mr. Qiu first congratulated him and then said: "He had been to Jiading and Xuzhou and came back. It was really amazing. Sichuan and Shu are a place of outstanding people and beautiful scenery. All kinds of livelihoods are prosperous. They are far ahead of Guangnan West Road."
Zhao Yulin smiled politely and said that each place has its own advantages in development. Guangnan faces the sea and is exposed to all directions, so there is a lot to learn. This time, General Cao is expected to take Lingqu after his return, which will open up a channel for doing business with Guangnan, and the products of sea trade can also enter Sichuan quickly.
He said he had never been to Guangnan and he would definitely go there when the time comes.
Not to mention, even in later generations, Zhao Yulin had never been to Changsha or the Li River. Seeing the natural scenery of Guilin has become a luxury at the moment.
Mr. Qiu immediately said happily that he was willing to lead the horse and act as a guide for his brother, no matter where he went.
Zhao Yulin asked how this could be possible, and the two of them immediately burst into laughter.
Chen Chen told him that she and Mr. Qiu had already inspected Jinguan City and planned to use the weaving and embroidery workshop that was about to be relocated as an official office for the relocation. They would let all the officials in charge of the relocation affairs sit in Jinguan City and face the people directly. After conducting a thorough investigation, they would summarize and classify the policies.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that this was a great idea. He would invite all the workshop owners to Cuiping Mountain Guigu to visit the new machinery and tools, and persuade them to replace the new tools with machines for production and build a new industrial park. This would definitely be a leap forward for the country's handicraft industry.
Both Mr. Qiu and Chen Chen were full of confidence.
Chen Chen told him that Yang Zhishan would not be able to come to Chengdu until after the Chinese New Year, and with Uncle Yang in charge of coordinating things, things would go very smoothly.
He said let’s do this before the New Year and get all the people together first.
Zhao Yulin asked Chen Chen if a young man from the Wei family had come to report, and whether he had agreed to his request.
Mr. Qiu said with a smile, "Here he comes. This boy is called Wei Rensheng, and everyone knows it. His father-in-law once opposed our republic. However, this boy is eloquent and can write strong and powerful characters. He is a promising talent."
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that we should not stick to one pattern when hiring people, and that if they are talented, we should give them the opportunity to shine. The three of them chatted until late at night, and when he saw that it was too late, he asked Feihu to escort Mr. Qiu back.
Mr. Qiu was grateful. He never expected that Zhao Yulin was so caring and considerate.
On New Year's Eve, General Cao Youwen returned He went straight to the government office to meet with the officials, exhausted.
Lao Cao said happily that he saw Chengdu was in good order, with clean streets and orderly patrols. It was a completely different city, which was a great blessing.
He briefly introduced the trip to Jinghu and reported the results of the mission to everyone.
Lao Cao felt a little regretful. Although he failed to persuade Meng Gong to join the new Song Kingdom, he still obtained the management rights of the Xiang River line and had already dispatched troops from Kuizhou to garrison there.
Zhao Yulin said that was all. He had already calculated that Meng Gong had almost plundered all the gold and silver in Jiangnan. Sichuan and Shu transferred 5 million strings of money to his Jinghu Army every year to ensure military supplies. He could choose not to join the New Song Dynasty, but he had no reason not to give up Jinghu South Road.
