Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2797 When Suzhou and Huzhou are prosperous, the whole country is well-fed.

At the end of the tenth year of the Tianchen era, the Empress passed away!
From then on, Emperor Taizu of the Great Jin Dynasty never appointed another empress. Throughout Emperor Taizu's reign, there was only one empress.

However, after the Empress passed away, Li Xiang promoted Wu to Imperial Noble Consort and temporarily put her in charge of the Empress's seal, thus temporarily managing the inner palace.

The imperial harem still needed to be managed, and the earliest batch of concubines had all passed away, leaving only Wu Zetian, who, like Li Xiang, remained in good spirits.

As for the concubines who entered the palace later, firstly, there wasn't much affection between them, and secondly, at most they could only rise to the rank of Ninth Consort, so it was impossible for them to temporarily manage the harem.

As for the Wu family, although they have a history of misconduct.

However, the environment of the Great Jin Dynasty was completely different from that of the Great Tang Dynasty at the time, and there was no room for her to rise to power.

Therefore, Li Xiang was not afraid of what trouble she might cause.

Most importantly, Li Xiang is not Li Zhi; he lives much longer than Li Zhi.

Since the Empress's death, Li Xiang, who had been seriously ill, miraculously recovered in March of the eleventh year of Tianchen, when he was already 70 years old.

Some people below were genuinely happy about this, while others felt regret.

From the eleventh year of Tianchen to the twentieth year of Tianchen, the Great Jin Dynasty maintained the policies implemented from the first year of Tianchen to the tenth year of Tianchen, and the entire empire continued to develop steadily and orderly.

The South has become increasingly prosperous thanks to vigorous development in recent years.

Thanks to Li Xiang's policies of encouraging childbirth and population migration, the population of the south has grown tremendously, and large amounts of wasteland have been reclaimed every year.

During the Tianchen era, Li Xiang even issued a policy that allowed those who migrated to the south or reclaimed a certain amount of wasteland to offset their labor service or military service.

It was precisely because of these policies that the enthusiasm of the people was greatly mobilized.

Since the introduction of Champa rice during the time of Xiang Yu and Zhu Yuanzhang, coupled with the development of the south by the Jin Dynasty, the population of this region has continued to grow, and a large amount of wasteland has been reclaimed, resulting in an explosive development of agriculture in this region.

In the past, among the southern states, the Yangzhou and Jingzhou regions had been developed to some extent, but Jingzhou was concentrated in the northern part of Jingzhou, while the four southern prefectures were in a completely different state.

The same is true for Yangzhou. The two prefectures north of the Yangtze River, as well as Wu Prefecture near the Yangtze River, and Kuaiji and Yuzhang further south are completely different.

In the eighteenth year of Tianchen, Li Xiang officially reorganized Yangzhou and Jingzhou, dividing them into five prefectures: Yang, Su, Zhe, Jing, and Hu.

Even Jiaozhou, although slower in development than Yangzhou and southern Jingzhou, has also developed rapidly in the last 20 years and was reclassified by Li Xiang as Jiaozhou and Guangzhou.

From then on, the original three provinces of Jing, Yang and Jiao were transformed into the seven provinces we know today.

The entire Great Jin Dynasty entered a phase of twenty-three prefectures, four counties, and two states.

By the twentieth year of the Tianchen era, the proverb "When Suzhou and Huzhou are bountiful, the whole country is well-fed" had already spread in the south.

During the Tianchen era, agricultural production in the south had already surpassed that in the north and the Central Plains.

Furthermore, due to the commercial development in the south, the proportion of tax revenue in the south began to surpass that of the north and the Central Plains.

Moreover, this proportion is increasing year by year.

With the passing of the Empress in the tenth year of Tianchen, the two former young princes, Li Ju and Li Yan, were personally taken in and educated by Li Xiang, instead of being handed over to other concubines for upbringing.

These two princes were Li Xiang's last comfort.

Because, in the ten years between the eleventh and twentieth years of the Tianchen era, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Juzheng, Li Jing, and other veteran officials had already passed away. Even the slightly younger Marquis of Champion, Huo Qubing, and Han Xin, who was rewarded with the title of Marquis of Huaiyin for his merits, had passed away one after another.

Not to mention these officials, even Li Xiang's sons, he has sent several away over the years.

Looking around the entire court, all those familiar faces from back then were nowhere to be seen.

Of course, Cheng Yaojin, Luo Shixin, and Guo Ziyi, these three old guys are still alive.

Of all the old people from back then, only these three old guys are left.

Every day, without fail, he would drag Cheng Yaojin and Guo Ziyi along to perform a set of Five Animal Frolics, while Luo Shixin would just stand by and watch, grinning foolishly.

But at this point, the emperor let him do as he pleased, and had a plate of pastries served to him.

Of the old brothers who came through that brutal era, only a few remain!

Of the concubines who entered the palace before the Yuan Shi era, only Wu Meiniang remains.

Apart from her, the rest entered the palace after the Yuan Shi era.

Many palaces are now empty.

Li Xiang had originally planned to bring in those from Tongquetai to boost the popularity.

However, when he arrived, he discovered that of the women he had kept at Tongquetai, only a few remained over the years.

Time...

By the twentieth year of the Tianchen era, the canal project had entered a new phase.

In the twentieth year of the Tianchen era, the Central Plains phase of the Grand Canal project was completely completed, marking the connection between the Yellow River and the Luo River and the Yangtze River via this canal.

After about 40 years, the canal project was finally more than half completed, which made Li Xiang quite gratified.

This also means that, starting today, the Great Jin Empire's ability to combat natural disasters and man-made calamities will be further enhanced.

Even if a major disaster occurs in the north or the central plains, grain from the south will be transported to the north and the central plains in the shortest possible time to help the people with disaster relief.

Next is the southern part of the canal project, which uses the Poyang and Gan rivers to enter Lingnan, eventually connecting with the Pearl River system, reaching Panyu, and can be extended to Jiaozhou Port.

Once the southern phase of the canal project is completed, the development of the south will enter a new phase, and the south will become the economic center of the country.

With this, the Great Jin Dynasty's control over Southeast Asia could finally reach a new level.

If we get to this point, then we should consider the issue of weakening the power of the regional military governors.

However, by the 20th year of Tianchen, Li Xiang, who was already 79 years old, thought he would not live to see that day.

Even though his body is still healthy on the surface, the canal project in the Central Plains took about 40 years, and even if the southern project is faster, it will still take at least 20 years. How could he possibly live to see that day?

Fortunately, his descendants witnessed the prosperity of the empire in his stead.

From the eleventh year of Tianchen to the twentieth year of Tianchen, although Li Xiang witnessed the departure of one minister after another, the empire continued its prosperity without any change.

Until the twenty-third year of Tianchen...