Volume 5 Chapter 21 Nothing
Although many things happened in the seventh year of Jianyan, and even Emperor Zhao did everything he could to make ends meet due to the financial hole, and even became ill from exhaustion, those things were more complicated affairs from the perspective of the rulers, which at most made the emperor and the central government officials feel tired and made the top dignitaries feel panic.
For the vast majority of the people of the Song Dynasty south of the Yellow River, even for a considerable number of grassroots officials, and including the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the imperial camp, this year was undoubtedly a very relaxing and comfortable year.
Because there were no large-scale wars that year.
Putting aside the harassment on the border, the only two places that could be called organized battles were the battle between the Imperial Camp Navy, which had absolute water advantage, and the Jin Navy, which had tentatively emerged from the north, on the Yellow River in the middle of the year, and won a small victory; then after the autumn harvest, Li Yanxian, who received a signal, organized forces out of Zhongtiao Mountain to launch a tentative attack on Hezhong Prefecture, a major town controlled by the Jurchens. The momentum was strong, but after the arrival of the Jurchen Taiyuan reinforcements, they chose to retreat across the board and returned empty-handed.
However, these actions are not worth mentioning at all compared with the large-scale troop deployments of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops, the participation of hundreds of thousands or millions of civilians, and the thousands or tens of thousands of casualties in previous years.
In fact, apart from the official gazette, not many people mentioned it.
Even Zhao Jiu himself knew that the purpose of fighting these two battles was more for the sake of fighting itself, which was to tell the world that Song and Jin were still at war, that Song and Jin were irreconcilable, and that they would have to fight sooner or later.
Then according to what this official meant, the fight will have to continue next year, and the scale and frequency .
Han Shizhong, Wu Jie's troops, including part of the imperial camp's central army, will all participate in the battle in Hezhong Prefecture... Shanzhou is located in Pinglu City and Zhongtiao Mountain area north of the Yellow River. It is the only preserved Hebei salient of the Song army. Its position is as important as it can be. Hezhong Prefecture is the natural first landing point for the future Northern Expedition. We must understand it as thoroughly as possible, and large-scale troops must be as skilled as possible in traveling on the Yellow River with different river conditions.
By the same token, due to specific historical reasons, there are many old roads in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River... These old roads are certainly not as wide and smooth as the main roads entering the sea in Shandong, but the problem is that during the summer flood season, they can still allow large ships to pass through them. They are the natural way for the Imperial Camp Navy to try to infiltrate the vicinity of Daming Prefecture, and they are also the direct channels for the Imperial Camp Front Army and the Right Army to reach Hebei in the future. There is also no reason to give up the fight for this complex waterway.
In addition, although the Imperial Camp Navy is in its infancy, it is currently only at the stage of collecting ships and recruiting pirates. Just like Li Qi, the Pseudo-Qi naval general who was taken away by the Jurchens, it is at the level of a jack of all trades...For this reason, a few young officials who advocated the navy to tickle the Jurchens were reprimanded by their more cautious superiors.
Of course, due to a certain superstition developed in later generations, Zhao Jiu did not say it out loud, but he firmly believed in his heart that with his support and the blessing of shipping policies, the Imperial Camp Navy would grow rapidly and become another breakthrough point to the north.
But, the same thing goes... none of this can change the fact that there were no major wars during the entire seventh year of Jianyan.
No war.
Then, although Zhao Ding and Zhang Jun kept making small moves against each other, they generally maintained and presented a period that was probably the most clear-headed political period in the Song Dynasty in the past forty or fifty years.
Then naturally there is a lot of work to be done and the place is full of vitality.
Even Emperor Zhao's brutal military spending campaign did not prevent the great empire from making great strides in its revival.
The political situation became increasingly stable, production gradually recovered, the population began to grow slightly, a baby boom began to appear...even the son of Prime Minister Zhao Ding was said to be looking for a wife.
The speed and scale of this spontaneous healing behavior of the entire society far exceeded the expectations and judgments of politicians.
Before the Imperial College's political study session, the Ministry of Revenue conducted an inspection of the second half of the year based on the thick fiscal proposals it had drawn up, and was surprised to find that the speed of financial recovery was faster than expected.
The collapsed porcelain kilns were rebuilt much faster than expected; small-scale trade markets were spontaneously formed at the transportation hubs next to the burned-down markets; the cities that had been slaughtered and burned quickly regained their glory after a few years of peace... Luoyang and Nanjing (Shangqiu), which were originally wastelands, were the most obvious. In just a few years, they recovered into metropolises with a population of over 100,000.
There is no doubt that Luoyang will continue to recover rapidly, as this city has great potential.
Moreover, fiscal revenue showed that many new things that emerged in many places were not anticipated when they formulated the fiscal proposal at the beginning of the year... The officials of the Ministry of Revenue expressed cautious optimism about the trade in the Western Regions. The existence of the Lanzhou Grand Market was indeed within their consideration, but at the same time, they had no idea about Yinshan Mountain and only regarded it as a pure inflow point for horses.
Come to think of it, the population is only one or two million... maybe there aren't even that many grasslands. Even if the area is larger, what can we say? Can it be as useful as the millions of acres of fertile land in Xingling Plain?
However, it turns out that the commercial taxes collected at Keyi Gate this year alone are a shockingly huge number... It was not obvious in the first half of the year, but starting from the second half of the year, all kinds of strange goods from the entire Guanxi and Bashu will pass through here to the north.
Several doctors and assistant officials of the Ministry of Revenue were beaten to death. They couldn't believe it. How could a place where a king couldn't even support dozens of sons consume so many exquisite porcelains and Shu brocades?
Even the tea leaves and medicinal herbs are a bit too much.
Of course, everyone knew that it must have flowed into the Jurchens... The rich and powerful there had plenty of gold and silver to spend. The so-called Mongolia was simply another Goryeo.
It is possible that the fact that Kublai Khan, who was once shaken by the Jin Dynasty, eventually sent his son to him was also related to the explosion of this business in the second half of the year.
This unexpected transfer of trade route was undoubtedly a double-edged sword - Emperor Zhao was wary of Kublai Khan because of his surname, the Khitans made their own judgment based on the geographical advantages of the Mongolian Plateau, and the officials of the Song Dynasty keenly sensed from Kublai Khan's actions the ambition and arrogance of the first Khan in Mongolian history, which they did not know how to conceal.
However, for the moment, everything is for the Northern Expedition, and the first priority of the Northern Expedition is to make money... If everything must be subject to this overall situation, the court can only turn a blind eye.
Who made Ningxia Road collect hundreds of thousands of strings of cash in commercial taxes in just half a year?
A road that is considered remote even in the northwest, but in just one year, the commercial tax is equivalent to half of Jiangnan West Road! And its location and the water conservancy system of Xingling Plain make its food destined to become the lowest-cost high-quality military food supply point during the Northern Expedition... The fall of Western Xia and the establishment of Ningxia Road played a much greater role in the Northern Expedition than imagined.
Its help is all-round, not just military and geographical, but also economic, fodder, and even diplomatic.
Eight million, seven hundred and thirty thousand, four hundred and twenty-seven strings of cash and seventy-three coins.
This was the seventh year of Jianyan, and the total additional revenue from new sources exceeded the original fiscal plan, including everything from seal taxes to lotteries, to Emperor Zhao's selling of flags, calligraphy and paintings, and palaces, as well as all the results of his lowering his status to engage in large-scale foreign trade.
"wrong."
In Chongwenyuan, Zhao Jiu, who was standing in front of the secret pavilion with his hands behind his back, turned around and shook his head and laughed at the Minister of Finance Lin Jingmo in front of him. "And the one million strings of cash I just extorted... Mr. Lin should not have been included in it."
This was too frivolous, but Lin Jingmo's expression remained unchanged. He was just startled for a moment and then nodded solemnly: "That's right, but the government's national debt actually sold for a full million strings of cash?"
"That's right." Zhao Jiu was honest with the many important officials in front of him in Chongwenyuan. "At the beginning, I only prepared 300,000 or 400,000 guan, and they were all five-year bonds. Since many people in the capital had already bought large amounts of national debt, they didn't sell well... But later someone asked if I could buy some for their mutual friends in Yangzhou. I thought it would be convenient for myself to help others, so I agreed directly. Who would have thought that the person's friends would be so generous? They actually bought tens of thousands of guan."
Lin Jingmo and several ministers around him remained silent... The Empress Dowager Yuanyou had moved here and would probably spend the New Year on the road. The descendants of nobles and the escort of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were dragged to the street and beheaded in public by the imperial guards. The famous Taoist scholars in the southeast had their property confiscated and were exiled... Under such circumstances, the friends in Yangzhou had never bought large amounts of government bonds, so of course they were generous.
but……
"But if you calculate it this way," Zhao Jiu exhaled, looking at the blue sky in the winter morning, he said in a low voice. "It's only more than 9 million guan, still less than 10 million... Besides, everything has to follow the basic rules. These people are willing to buy large amounts of national debt today, but they may not be willing to buy it next year. The same goes for the houses in Jingyuan. These are tens of millions of guan of income."
"But things like maritime trade, stamp taxes, and lotteries are growing steadily... the government doesn't need to worry." Prime Minister Zhang Jun hurried to comfort them.
"That's true." Zhao Jiu immediately smiled at his most trusted and important minister with his hands behind his back under the expressionless gaze of many ministers.
However, there are always people who like to stir up trouble. Just when Zhang Jun was about to speak again, the Minister of Works Hu Yin could no longer bear it and stepped forward to confront him sternly:
"Have you forgotten that many things this year were only gradually implemented this year? In my opinion, it is impossible to have such a huge profit in the next two years, such as Jingyuan, Haiqi, the royal auction, and today's large-value national debts. Millions of guan windfalls are impossible to be so smooth, but if calculated for the whole year, it will definitely be more than 10 million guan... Why does the emperor have to pretend to be deaf and dumb?"
Everyone suddenly realized, or rather many people pretended to realize, and led by Zhao Ding, they all bowed and congratulated.
Finally, Emperor Zhao showed his smug look, and looked around the courtyard with a rare smile, then waved his hand and said:
"I almost forgot that this is the result of half a year... But no matter what, this is the result of your hard work and your contribution. However, for the next two years, you will have to continue to tighten your belts with me."
After these words were spoken, including Prime Minister Zhao Ding, Prime Minister Zhang Jun, and countless civil and military officials gathered in the Chongwen Academy felt that their year of hard work had not been in vain, but they did not dare to be negligent and bowed their heads in response.
"Let's go!"
Emperor Zhao finally stopped pretending and walked away from the officials with his hands behind his back. "Today, I will explain the matter to the world at the Imperial College. This year will be really uneventful... Everyone, you have worked hard for the last day, go back and have a good New Year."
The crowd responded loudly, and followed Emperor Zhao out of Chongwenyuan, turned into Xuande Gate, and then set up a ceremonial guard and marched along the Imperial Street to the Imperial College... It turned out that today was indeed the last major event of the year, which was the Imperial College's political affairs ceremony.
But after today, I can finally put aside temporarily the ups and downs, gains and losses of the past few years, the major changes in the political situation that may come in the next few years, and the victory or defeat of the Northern Expedition... Because it is really as the emperor said, as far as this year is concerned, there is nothing to worry about.
