Chapter 621 Don’t Do Ethical Things
Zhao Yulin picked up the tea bowl in front of Hulan and handed it to the little girl, asking her to have some tea. He said calmly: Just look at the list of the diplomatic corps and you will know. Let's be frank and speak frankly, reopen the trade, export steel, any trade, and don't mention returning the land.
If you have anything else, tell me.
This was Zhao Yulin's style of doing things, straightforward and without any pretense. The clerks of both sides were recording quickly in the back.
Hubili didn't expect that the other party would give it to him before he even asked for it. He looked at Hulan approvingly and thanked Commander Zhao.
Hu Lan said coldly: She knew nothing and said nothing. Geng lowered his head to drink tea.
Hubili was frustrated and asked for 100,000 catties of refined iron. Your country used 100,000 catties of iron to build a bridge, so it should be okay to sell you 100,000 catties of iron, right?
Zhao Yulin said: "Okay. We need a healthy horse of equal value in exchange."
He guaranteed that the steel was produced from blast furnaces in Daming Prefecture and that the quality was absolutely unique.
Hubili was happy at first, but then a look of hesitation appeared on his face.
Zhao Yulin took a sip of tea and said that it was very fair. You all know how much iron Hebei can produce in a year and how much manpower and resources are needed to smelt iron.
You can just take out all the refined iron for exchange, but it must be equal.
Don't worry, everyone. The New Song Kingdom will get horses and gallop across the grasslands. It's only a matter of time. Right now, there is a thorny matter happening in the grassland royal court. I guess that Kuo Duan is mediating to establish another Khan.
Hubili stopped them with a glare of lightning in his eyes, saying sternly: Don't try to transfer them, it's useless. The brotherhood on the grassland is as solid as a rock.
Zhao Yulin smiled faintly and told him: It was just a casual talk, why take it seriously, it sounds like it is really going to happen. He picked up the tea bowl and drank the tea, asking him to taste it, it was the best Qingcheng tribute tea.
Then he signaled Li Liang to do his job, and Li Liang immediately pulled out a piece of silk from his sleeve and pushed it to Hubli.
He said: Shi Tianze has been found, let's make a deal, it will definitely be a good deal.
Hubili was surprised to see that Zhao Yulin wanted to exchange Shi Tianze for Princess Lan'er of the previous dynasty. The Mongolian army in Baozhou was annihilated, and Shi Tianze's life and death were unknown. It had been several months, and he thought the old dog was dead.
Unexpectedly, he was caught by the Shenwei Army and imprisoned.
The guy readily agreed: Deal.
Zhao Yulin also spread his hands and said: Deal.
Wang Han asked: We need a written document as proof, so let’s make a covenant.
He shook his head and said: "Who has ever kept the covenant we made with the grasslands in the past? This is called a gentleman's agreement. How many ports do we need to open the trade? I will send a letter right away, and I guarantee that the trade will be open before you reach the foot of the Great Wall."
Zhao Yulin did not treat Wang Han the same as a country. In his mind, the desert belonged to the Central Plains dynasty, which had been determined during the Han and Tang dynasties. He wanted to defeat these lunatics and take it back.
Hubili knew that he was a man of his words, so he waved his hand and said, "That's it, that's it. Let's just keep this as a gentleman's agreement."
He smiled and said: That's right. From now on, Hulan will have full authority.
Zhao Yulin stood up, patted Hu Lan on the shoulder, waved to Hubli, turned around and left.
Minister of Rites Li Liang also stood up and followed behind him out. Zhao Yulin saw Wang Han and his deputies also coming out, and asked them to go to the side hall to discuss the details.
Hulan and Hubli were the only two people left in the hall. I couldn't bear it any longer, so I quickly stood up, walked around the long table and rushed towards Hubli, shouting with tears in my eyes: Brother...
In the evening, Zhao Yulin returned home after finishing his official duties. Several women were already sitting together smiling and having a meal. When Hu Lan saw him come in, she happily stood up and went to get the bowls and chopsticks.
Fenghuang said with a laugh: My brother dotes on Hu Lan, and my sister is thoughtful too.
The little girl's face immediately turned red.
Zhao Feiyan said: The grassland delegation is not slow, they will leave after finishing their business, and I'm afraid they have all left Jintang by now.
Before leaving, he left behind three strong horses, saying they were for the Third Young Master. I'm afraid they were for Hulan and her son? I saw them all. They were red lightning horses, one large and two small.
Hu Lan immediately picked up some food for Zhao Feiyan and said with a smile, "It's for Brother Yulin. You can ride it, right?"
He said: Of course, ladies, please try it when you have time.
Several women were delighted and shouted, "Yeah, great!"
At night, Zhao Yulin went to Hulan's room to sleep with him. After the little girl squeezed him dry completely, she curled up in his arms and fell asleep. When she woke up, she lay on him and played with him. She asked him if he really didn't blame her brother for killing Yuanzi, and if he would return Shi Tianze to her brother.
He said: Wars have winners and losers, and there are sacrifices. Losing a loved one is painful, but no one can be blamed. If you really hold grudges, there will never be peace. The woman was very moved and fanned the flames. The two of them were naked to begin with, and soon they were closely connected again.
At daybreak, Hulan packed up to go to Qiongzhou on official business. He sent the woman to Jinguan City to attend court, where the Minister of Works Yu Dayi was already waiting.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile: "Happy New Year, Mr. Yu, I hope you have a lively New Year."
How could Dayi dare to call him "Mr.", and begged him not to call him that.
He said that he was already a Shangshu, so why not? Don’t be so literary, I don’t like it.
Dayi was at a loss, muttering that it was really unsatisfactory that he did not allow the gentlemen to visit his house.
He waved his hand and told me to get down to business. He had been thinking at home these days that a big city like Chengdu should set up an institution to regulate the environment, such as urban environmental sanitation, the construction and maintenance of urban public facilities, the standardized management of street stalls and other matters.
He had a thought about the large cities across the country. He wanted to set up an Environmental Regulation Bureau in cities with a population of more than 50,000, and to establish the General Administration of Environmental Regulation under the Ministry of Industry.
As for employing people and workers, we can first gather together and dispatch the officials in various departments who are involved in such affairs, and then employ the poor families, the elderly without skills, and the beggars in the city. This will not only solve their food problems, but also restrain these people and standardize and beautify the urban environment.
He said: Chengdu is a good place, but there are still beggars gathering in the corners. If we organize and utilize these people to do things, the appearance of the city will definitely be greatly improved.
Yu Dayi thought it was a good idea. There were some related institutions and organizations in various places doing this, such as the Pollution Control Bureau in Jiading, but they were not as systematic and standardized as Zhao Yulin said.
He said: Doing this seems to be spending the court's money, but the money should be spent. For example: we spend 100 strings of cash to hire someone to clean up the mess, and the person uses the money to buy oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. The merchant has to pay taxes to the court after receiving the money, and the money earned is used to buy goods. Every link generates taxes and profits.
The biggest benefit comes from managing these big cities well.
Yu Dayi was a little confused after hearing this, and said carefully that the Third Young Master had a good idea and that he would make plans when he returned.
Since someone else was doing it, he didn't care and just threw out the idea first. He picked up the tea bowl and drank tea.
Yu Dayi thought he was going to see him off, and hurriedly said that the construction of Jiayang New Town had begun to take shape and he wanted to invite the third young master to take a look.
He nodded and said okay, he would go after he was done with this busy period.
The next day was the ninth day of the first lunar month. As the saying goes, if you don't go out on the seventh day, you won't come back on the eighth day. On the ninth day, a lot of people go out. Wu Qian, director of the Office of the Central Government, proposed that the officials of the Central Government discuss state affairs to make a good start.
Zhao Feiyan happily gathered everyone together for tea and chat.
The little woman told everyone very easily: This year, our New Song will no longer use large-scale military forces, and the financial expenditure on the military will be reduced a lot. We should sort out the urgent tasks that need to be done by each department, and we must do what must be done immediately.
Everyone started discussing the matter immediately. The Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Education all said they had projects. The Ministry of Rites also proposed improving the provincial and county schools and supporting towns and villages in providing elementary education.
Zhao Feiyan turned to look at Zhao Yulin, eagerly hoping that he would say something.
He said that there were many things to do at the moment, and that they should be planned carefully and arranged according to their priorities. The Ministry of Personnel should first adjust and arrange the officials of the roads, prefectures, states, and counties south of the Yellow River in accordance with regulations. At present, these places are completely controlled by our Shenwei Army, so we must act according to the court's personnel strategy, otherwise new unstable factors will arise.
The gentlemen nodded after hearing this.
He continued: The second is the Ministry of Household Affairs. They need to conduct a census across the country to find out our financial situation, especially in the areas that were just recovered last year. They need to use this census to properly resettle the displaced people.
The third is that the Transportation Department should immediately come up with a tax reduction strategy. The land of the whole country has been recovered, and we don't have to bear too heavy a burden on the people because we don't have to spend a lot of money in the war. We should reduce taxes so that the people can enjoy the fruits of victory.
Fourth, the Ministry of War no longer needs to recruit soldiers on a large scale, but it still needs soldiers to guard the border. This requires changing the past strategy of recruiting soldiers without rejecting anyone, and formulating recruitment standards and demobilization systems that are suitable for the current war needs, to ensure that for every soldier who returns from the front, there is a well-trained new soldier to take his place.
Fifth, the Ministry of Water Resources can make a detailed plan for the country's large-scale water conservancy facilities to allow these irrigation and shipping facilities to play their full role.
For example, through transformation, can our Dujiangyan Irrigation System be able to expand the water diversion capacity to benefit more people in Western Shu?
For example, can the Zero Channel connecting Lingnan be repaired and renovated to allow cargo ships with larger capacities to pass through?
For example, can the Zhengguo Canal in Shanxi be extended to increase the irrigation area?
Zhao Yulin raised several major questions in a row, and the meeting room suddenly became quiet. Everyone was holding the paper and pen in front of them, thinking over their teacups.
He took a sip of tea and said: These water conservancy and shipping facilities were almost all built in the pre-Qin period. Our ancestors were not simple. And the Great Wall that prevented the grassland people from plundering the south was built under the conditions of simple tools and insufficient food.
Today, we have tools that are ten times more advanced than theirs, and we are not starving. So why can't we build some large-scale projects to solve the people's hopes and needs once and for all?
He believed that after the recovery of the country, the army would turn to the grasslands and march forward. A large number of infantry troops were no longer suitable for future military needs. The army should allow the old, weak, sick and disabled brothers to demobilize and return home, and the teams with weak combat effectiveness should be disbanded and merged. This would require a large number of soldiers to be properly resettled.
We must not do such immoral things as hiding the good bows when the birds are all gone, or cooking the dogs after the rabbits are dead.
