Chapter 320 A Comforting Word
At this time, Zhao Yan had an issue to discuss.
He said that a letter had arrived from Prime Minister Shi of Jiangdong , which also said that Prime Minister Shi had also written letters to Lord Fan and Lord Du, asking everyone to unite and fight the enemy together.
Prime Minister Shi wants the New Song court to take into account that the country belongs to the Song people and that King Zhao Bing is the legitimate descendant of the Song royal family, and to treat Meng Gong the same way, and to transfer 5 million silver coins to Jiangdong Lin'an for emergency purposes.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. You Shi looked at Fan Zhong and Du Fan in confusion and asked, "Is this true? He really doesn't know?"
Fan Zhong hesitated for a moment and said that this was true. The letter was forwarded by the postmaster, but he did not take it seriously and burned it as fire starter.
He believed that since the New Song had inherited all the territories of the Great Song, it would not recognize the existence of the Jiangdong pseudo-emperor regime.
Sooner or later, the New Song will unify China. Although we disdain to discuss the topic of state system with Jiangdong, we are very clear in our hearts. The reason why we did not use troops against Jiangdong is that we are all Song people. We should unite to face the enemy. After defeating the Mongol Empire, we will definitely unify Jiangdong.
Zhao Yulin looked at Du Fan, and everyone also focused their attention on him.
Du Fan said that he had the same idea as Fan Gong. He did not take Shi Xiang's letter seriously at all and burned it after reading it.
However, next time he encounters a similar letter, he will hand it over to Mr. Ding so that all the officials in the Central Council will be aware of it.
Zhao Yulin finally heard a comforting word, smiled and applauded him, nodded and said that we have already established a country. As the saying goes, there can only be one sun in the sky. Sooner or later, the new Song Dynasty will unify the country, but everything has its priorities . Even so, we have never used force to coerce any country.
The Lin'an court in Jiangdong controls all the routes in Jiangdong , occupies the most fertile land, salt fields and strong maritime trade in the world. It is much richer than Sichuan and Shu. They may ask us to pay money, which is unreasonable.
General Meng has given us all the territories to manage, and he is still fighting against the Mongols in Jiangbei. How can we not transfer silver to him for use?
Jiangdong took the silver and refused to resist the Mongols, willingly becoming a vassal state of the Mongol Empire, spending the people's taxes in extravagance and debauchery, and now comes to us for more silver when it's gone?
Have you forgotten how they choked on the sea salt and tried to kill us?
Zhao Yan said that Jiangdong was not unwilling to resist the Mongols. Shi Xiang wrote to them saying that they also wanted to resist the Mongols, but the gap in strength was too great. The northern barbarians would easily number hundreds of thousands or even tens of thousands of people and march southward, and they simply could not resist and had to compromise.
Now the northern barbarians are forcing them to pay tribute of silver and silk. Jiangdong is in chaos and even supplying the army's wages has become a problem. How can they fight against the Mongols?
Lao Cao said coldly, "Then the Lin'an court should be disbanded. Why call yourself emperor if you can't even support yourself?"
It is said that the officials of the Lin'an court are everywhere, and even if the salary expenses are reduced by half, they are still far greater than those of the court of our New Song Dynasty.
Shi Xiang and Zhao Bing were fighting among themselves, destroying Lin'an. If we transfer the money to them, they will definitely spend it on repairing the palace.
What do they say about fighting against Mongolia? It's all lies.
Mr. Ding finally spoke. He said that Young Master Yulin had already said that he would never transfer money to Jiangdong at any time, so everyone should not mention this matter in the future.
Regardless of whether the status of the Lin'an court is orthodox or not, the fact that they are threatening us with sea salt shows that they are not on the same side as our New Song.
Lao Cao said angrily that it was scary to think about it. If we hadn't had the lake salt from Xining as a guarantee, Sichuan and Shu would have been in chaos long ago. He said that the road to Lingnan must be opened up. After opening up Lingnan, we will have another channel for goods to enter and exit from the sea. The sea salt from Yue can also be sold to Sichuan and Shu, and we will no longer be troubled by Jiangdong.
Everyone suddenly became alert, Lian Lian said yes, and nodded continuously.
Zhao Yan would be embarrassed.
Zhao Yulin felt a little tired. Even when Mr. Ding asked him to have a meal in the government office, he refused and went home on the pretext of being unwell.
As soon as he entered the room, Cao Youwen followed him in. As soon as he entered the room, he asked Wu Yuqi to prepare wine and food, and wanted to have a good drink with him.
After Zhao Yulin and the maid brought tea, they said that they had been discussing this for half a day and they hadn't gone back yet, so what else did they want to say?
Lao Cao asked him with a smile, "Are they trying to drive him away?"
Zhao Yulin felt unhappy and said a little depressedly, "No, it's not like that. I just wanted to ask the general what urgent matter he had."
Lao Cao waited until Wu Yuqi entered the room before saying: It seems that the court is unstable. He told Zhao Yanna and Fan Zhong about the letter they received from Jiang Dongshi's son, and asked Wu Yuqi whether Shunfengsi knew about it.
Wu Yuqi said that this wave of letters to and from Jiangdong was delivered through legitimate mail delivery, and there were reports from Jinghu and Kuizhou Road. However, Lord Zhao and Lord Fan were in high positions, so how could the Shunfeng Division arrange undercover surveillance? It was just to provide security protection for the mansion.
Zhao Yulin thought that Jiangdong was waging a war of public opinion against him, and there must have been quite a few letters of persuasion from Lin'an. Even a high-ranking official like Zhao Yan openly spoke for Jiangdong's son Shi, so there must be others who were wavering after receiving the letters.
Lao Cao said that he was also worried about such things. He pointed to his head and said that fighting with others here was too tiring. He didn't want to stay in Chengdu anymore, so he asked Zhao Yulin to let him go to Jinghu North Road to command the upcoming Luoyang Campaign.
He laughed at Lao Cao and thought he was joking. Why did the general need Zhao Yulin's permission to go anywhere?
Lao Cao said seriously that someone had to watch over the court, and one of them had to stay in Chengdu to guard it. Lao Cao looked at him in a very uncomfortable manner as if asking for help, which made him look very funny.
Of course Zhao Yulin knew what he meant, so he said that if the general really wanted to go, he could go, and he also informed Mr. Ding.
Old Cao was overjoyed. As long as he didn't argue in the court in Chengdu, he would do anything he was asked to do, let alone attack and occupy Luoyang?
Lao Cao was so happy that he raised his glass repeatedly, and the two of them drank until they were drunk.
After seeing Lao Cao off, Zhao Yulin went to Wu Yuqi's room to rest. The woman carefully helped him bathe and get into bed, and Zhao Yulin fell asleep soon.
At dawn, he woke up from his dream and felt an itchy back. It turned out that the woman was drawing on his back with her fingers. The couple quickly started their homework.
After a period of intense work, both of them let out a long sigh of relief.
Yuqi huddled in his arms and asked, "Do we need to monitor everyone?" That's how the Lin'an Palace was done. The old man in the Imperial City Department had told her a long time ago.
Zhao Yulin said that was natural. This is called the heart of the people is separated from the belly, and it must be restrained by the system. Shunfengsi is only responsible to the country, not the private army of that person. He asked Yuqi to select elite soldiers to form a special team to complete this difficult task.
However, it is difficult to achieve this.
Wu Yuqi responded by sticking her butt out to him, and told him that after Ma Ling, Yang Jin and others went down to supervise the reforms, they found that corruption was serious in various places. She had to go down again and verify all the clues in her hands.
Zhao Yulin knew that some big tigers had to be dealt with by Yuqi, and he felt helpless, so he told Yuqi to be careful and protect herself. Once the corrupt officials were found in these places, they were definitely not small fish or shrimps. They were deeply rooted and had great power. They had to act quickly and dealt with them with solid evidence.
After breakfast, Zhao Yulin went to the government office and saw that Lao Cao had arrived early. It was true that old people tend to sleep less.
When they met, Lao Cao told him that he had already spoken to Lord Ding about the matter, and the king had allowed him to go east to Xiangyang to carry out his mission.
Mr. Ding said that General Cao was getting older and older, and he would not be able to go on tours very often. If the general wanted to go, he could go, but he had to protect himself.
Zhao Yulin saw that Lao Cao's going out was a foregone conclusion, so he invited Li Gong to practice with Lao Cao and reminded him not to charge into the front like he did in the past.
Talents emerge in every generation. Let the youngsters make achievements and Cao Gong just needs to watch over them from behind and make sure they don't make mistakes.
Lao Cao was in a very good mood and got drunk before going back. Mamaliang set out the next day.
Zhao Yulin also drank heavily last night. When he woke up to eat, only Chen Chen was with him. Wu Yuqi had left early.
Chen Chen told him that Shen Baiyi from Guanzhong had arrived and wanted to see him.
Zhao Yulin said that they were all old friends, so he asked them to come.
Chen Chen said resentfully that he drank too much last night and slept like a dead pig without moving, so who was he going to see?
The two were bickering when the guard announced that Mr. Shen was coming to visit, so they went to the flower hall to wait.
As soon as Shen Baiyi came in, he said that the third young master was very busy and he was helpless to bother him by coming to his house.
Zhao Yulin said he was just pretending to fight, since they were all acquaintances, they had something to talk about now that they were here. He asked: Did you want to come to Chengdu to invest and make money?
Seeing that he had started talking, Shen Baiyi stopped hiding his feelings and told Zhao Yulin that he had brought his brothers from Guanzhong and Hanzhong to Chengdu to beg for food, and seeing the large-scale relocation and reconstruction of Jinguan City, he begged the Third Young Master to give him a chance to make money.
Zhao Yulin looked at Chen Chen and said that there were so many houses for migrant workers being built outside Jinguan City. Didn’t Ma Ling say that he wanted to build a new city for real estate development? Let Brother Baiyi spend all the money he has.
Before Chen Chen could say anything, Shen Baiyi was already happy and kept saying it was great. The Third Young Master's idea was definitely a way to make money, so he accepted it.
Zhao Yulin had just taken a sip of tea when he almost spit it out. Did this guy really believe what he said? Could he make money just by saying something casually?
He was completely speechless, and suggested to Shen Baiyi that he should invest money to buy all the houses built by the migrant workers. After the Jinguan City project was completed and the migrant workers left, he should renovate the houses and sell them to the people who came to make a living.
He had already thought of a name, which was Guanghua New Village, meaning a new and shining place.
Shen Baiyi was delighted and agreed immediately, saying that he would be responsible for building any houses for the workers that were needed in the future, and provide them with good housing. He would also build a trading market for daily necessities to ensure that the craftsmen living there would live comfortably.
Damn, this guy is really an old hand in the business world. A large number of craftsmen living together must have needs for food, clothing, housing and transportation. If he builds a centralized supporting market, his business will surely boom.
Just as Zhao Yulin and his wife sent Shen Baiyi away, guard captain Chu Yuxuan brought an urgent report: After the Yue State took over the jade mining area and gained a foothold, it launched a fierce attack on the border of Dali State.
Since Yue purchased a large number of Shenwei Army standard weapons, the two countries were equally powerful. Yue had more soldiers and generals, and had fought for years without fear of death. It actually defeated Dali and had already penetrated hundreds of miles into Dali.
