Song Gexing

Chapter 181 Zhao Fang’s method

Zhao Fang had obviously done his homework. When he heard Di Qing's question, he understood that this was also the biggest concern for all the ministers who opposed the annexation.

With a slight smile, Zhao Fang said: "In fact, to stabilize the people, only four words are enough, and that is to live and work in peace and contentment."

All the ministers agreed with this. No matter what race or country the people are in the world, as long as they can live and work in peace and contentment, no one will oppose those in power.

Even in the 21st century, it is still the expectation of the vast majority of the people. Whoever is willing to do trouble after having enough food will have to pay a price.

"The Hengshan area is not barren. It has rich water and grass and abundant water. What would you think if cotton was grown there?"

Zhao Fang did not put on any pretense and directly expressed his thoughts, and everyone immediately started to discuss it heatedly.

In recent years, with the promotion of cotton, people in the Song Dynasty have benefited a lot. The number of people who freeze to death in winter has dropped significantly, and the number of poor people wearing ragged clothes has dropped significantly.

The mass production of cotton cloth gave the poor a durable choice. The original Geyi was made of linen, which was not only available in quantity but also easily damaged.

Cotton cloth is much stronger and more durable than linen cloth, and the price is cheaper. As for silk and satin, it was originally needed by the nobles, and the common people did not have the spare money to buy them.

However, there is still a big gap in cotton production. After all, crops need to be grown in good fields, and food is the foundation of a country.

The people can tolerate it if they don't have clothes to wear, but they will definitely rebel if they don't have food to eat.

However, the territory of the Song Dynasty was not as large as that of the Han and Tang Dynasties. This has begun to restrict development, as can be seen from the large-scale development of Hunan in the past few years.

Hunan was the hardest-hit area in the Song Dynasty and had always been an area with constant rebellions. In fact, the only areas that were truly effectively controlled were those close to Hubei and Jiangxi.

Rebellions occurred almost every year in the regions bordering Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Historical records recorded that there were more than 150 rebellions among the people during the more than 200 years of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Calculated proportionally, the Northern Song Dynasty had an average of [-] rebellions per year, which is also one of the charges against the Song Dynasty by later generations.

But in fact, these rebellions in the Northern Song Dynasty only occurred in certain specific areas, and their influence could not even reach the neighboring provinces.

Hunan was the hardest hit area, followed by Sichuan. To put it bluntly, most of the rebellion was caused by the rebellion in the Jisi areas during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Basically, it is an area of ​​one or two counties, and in the larger three or five counties, there is almost no real large-scale rebellion.

Even Sichuan, which had always been dissatisfied, was just a mess of roads. If replaced by later administrative units, it was only a province, but most of the roads in the Song Dynasty were not as large as the provinces.

Even though it was called the largest rebellion in the late Northern Song Dynasty, Fang La's rebellion was only in parts of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui, and it also did not affect the whole country.

Therefore, those people from the Black Song Dynasty actually do not understand history at all. The continuous rebellions in Hunan and Sichuan were not due to the Northern Song Dynasty's abuse of the people, but historical reasons.

Sichuan is the territory of Hou Shu. As mentioned above, when Hou Shu fell, the people knelt along the way to send Meng Chang off. Most of the later generations thought that Meng Chang was a waste and were led astray by Mrs. Huarui's poem.

It should be said that Meng Chang was very popular among the people in Shu, but the mess his predecessor left him was so big that he had no time to clean it all up when he met the fierce tiger Zhao Kuangyin.

"Your salary and salary are high, and the people are rich and anointed. The people below are easy to abuse, but the gods are hard to bully."

This was an edict issued by Meng Chang when he was cracking down on corrupt officials. It was later used by Zhu Yuanzhang to warn local officials that a tablet with these sixteen words should be erected in every yamen.Most of the rebellions in Shu were actually carried out by those who supported Meng Chang, and they were suppressed time and time again. However, the Northern Song Dynasty rarely killed them all, which kept these people alive and would come back from time to time.

The rebellion in Hunan was caused by the mountain people there, who were actually the descendants of the Wuling Man. They were never integrated into the area, and it was still a Jisi area until the Qing Dynasty.

Even Yongzheng's reform of the country did not eliminate the resistance there. Zhao Fang also changed his country and returned to the country a few years ago.

It is the use of cotton cultivation that has brought benefits to the local mountain people. It has basically stopped in the past two years. In the final analysis, it is still a matter of living and working in peace and contentment.

Don’t think that the land in the two lakes area is fertile and growing food is the best choice. Don’t forget that Hunan is also a mountainous province.

Not only does the harvest of growing food in mountainous areas not be very good, but transportation is also a big problem. It would be much easier to replace it with cotton. The mountain people can weave the harvest into cotton cloth and transport it down the mountain.

Coupled with the good management of the officials in charge of the local area, they basically stopped them from causing trouble.

Now Zhao Fang wants to replicate this in the Hengshan area. After arguing, the ministers realized that it was feasible and started to second the proposal.

Seeing that everyone no longer objected, Zhao Fang showed a smile and said: "One more point, that is, the Hengshan area was originally a semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural area. Encouraging the people to raise large livestock is also a way to get rich, and it can also solve the problem of the war horses of the Song Dynasty. And everyone’s preference for eating mutton.”

People in the Song Dynasty loved to eat mutton. As mentioned earlier, this really aroused everyone's approval. Now those who were originally opposed to it also cheered in agreement.

Every year, the imperial court spends a lot of money to purchase sheep. Now that the cost of raising them has dropped a lot, the price of mutton will be much cheaper in the future, and everyone is naturally happy.

Zhao Fang often sneered at the obsession of the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty with mutton, but he could not change everyone's habits, not even his own family, let alone others.

His darling wives and concubines all look succulent, but you didn't see the way they look when they are feasting, which completely subverts the sense of beauty.

Imagine the fairy sister grabbing the leg of lamb and tearing it apart, holding the bone of the lamb stick and chewing a bit of meat without giving up. That picture is too beautiful to look at.

"Okay, now that the resettlement problem has been solved, let's talk about the rewards."

Zhao Zhen is also very happy today. He is about to abdicate. With such a great victory in the northwest, it is said to be a gift to celebrate the crown prince's accession to the throne, but it is not the best gift for his abdication.

He has been walking on thin ice in this life, only hoping to be recognized by his subjects as a good emperor, but why doesn't he hope that the Song Dynasty can expand its territory.

It's just that the resistance was too great for a cautious person like him to dare to object. Besides, Xixia became self-reliant during his tenure, which is a stain no matter how you say it.

Now that he's done, he can seize the strategic location before he abdicates, so he can go to see his ancestors without feeling guilty.

This is thanks to his son, but also to the Northwest soldiers who have made great contributions this time, so he didn't want to delay rewarding his merits, so he immediately raised this question.

But as soon as these words came out, Sima Guang seized the opportunity and stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty! Since the Hengshan Fanbu took the initiative to join us, what contribution does the Western Army have?"

Zhao Zhen was stunned and forgot about this. Fortunately, Zhao Fang would never let his confidants suffer, so he immediately responded: "Sima Qing is wrong!"

(End of this chapter)