People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 294 National Construction and Something Big Happened

While the Liao Kingdom was watching the situation and encouraging Xixia to test the strength of the Song army, what was the Song Dynasty doing?

Da Song was doing a lot of things at this time.

Needless to say, reforming the military is a long process.

With an army of more than one million people, it is necessary to arrest so many criminal officers, recruit elites to fill the vacancies, weed out the old and weak, and reorganize the troops.

It is even possible to cancel the designations of many compartments, armies, and battalions, turning the more than 2,000 battalions of Sanya into more than 1,000.

This is a huge challenge for both the Ministry of War and other departments assisting the Ministry of War.

However, the task has been handed over, and the obstacles from the upper levels have been dealt with. What is left is to be carried out by envoys from various places in conjunction with the Yushi Department and the Imperial City Department, and then selected by the Privy Council, without the concern of the Political Council.

Again, the Constitutional Yuan is responsible for the general direction of reform and supervising its implementation. The following specific implementation policies will naturally be carried out by the executors.

September 14th, twelve days after Xixia attacked Qingtang. It's late autumn, winter is about to begin, and the weather is getting colder day by day.

Although it hadn't snowed yet, the howling north wind outside brought a biting cold.

In the Constitutional Court, many prime ministers were wearing cotton-padded clothes and warming themselves in a brazier. They were reading official documents one by one. Some were checking the exam results for the past month, some were reading official documents belonging to various departments, and some were using writing brushes. Make a review.

One of the twelve prime ministers is missing again. Sheng Du has been ill recently. Historically, he died in the first year of Qingli, which is 1041 AD. Now his life has been extended by three years, but he is already seventy-six years old after all.

This illness means that he has not been in court for more than a month and has not been on duty in the Constitutional Yuan. This means that after Wang Sui died of illness first in the Constitutional Yuan, he will become the second one.

But there is nothing that can be done about it.

I don’t know if prime ministers have short life spans. Historically, Cai Qi, Song Shou, Wang Zeng and others basically all died between Baoyuan and Qingli years, that is, 1039-1041 AD.

Their ages are actually not very old. Cai Qi and Song Shou are only in their fifties now. For example, Cai Qi is 56 years old, Song Shou is 53 years old, and Wang Zeng is 66 years old.

Keren's fate is like this, and it may really affect his lifespan.

Historically, they were demoted, depressed, and transferred around, and eventually died of illness early.

Now he is in good health. In addition to the effects of the medicine brought by Zhao Jun, more importantly, his mood is completely different, so the results are naturally different.

"Hanlong, take a look. This is the project report for the river management project in the first half of this year. I have already given instructions. According to the construction schedule, we will be able to completely solve the river problem before the river bursts its banks in 1048."

Jia Changchao, who is currently responsible for the management of the Yellow River, brought the official documents to Zhao Jun for review. Zhao Jun is the busiest person in the Constitutional Yuan. He does not need to worry about small things, but big projects require his nod.

Zhao Jun took the official document from Jia Changchao and quickly browsed it. The Yellow River is now a three-pronged approach, involving more than 300,000 civilians along the coasts of Hebei and Henan. From Luoyang to the lower reaches of Binzhou and the Bohai Sea, there are a total of more than 50 large and small projects. .

There are dredging tributary waterways along the line, digging new canals, building dams in the Yellow River, confining water to flush out sand, etc., and implementing methods such as draining, blocking, and dredging, although it is not as large a project as directly excavating the Yellow River. , but the cost and the entire management and renovation work are definitely not easy.

"Well, now the imperial court has set up a cement plant, but whether it is a steel plant or a cement plant, the technical problems have been solved, and the remaining problem is the road problem. In the next few decades, the Song Dynasty's national policy is to Infrastructure construction.”

After reading the official document, Zhao Jun said: "Currently, cement cannot be mass-produced for Yellow River management. Now we are using primitive methods. When the traffic problem of the cement plant is solved in the future, we will use cement to strengthen the Yellow River."

Just like a steel plant requires iron ore, coal mines and roads, a cement plant also requires iron ore, lime ore, clay ore and roads.

It does not mean that if you can find the cement formula, it can be put into production immediately.

If the three types of mines are unevenly distributed, the cost of land transportation will be very high. We can only follow the example of Wu'an and dig a canal and start inland shipping to ensure transportation.

For a moment, Zhao Jun was full of expectations for the steam engine. He turned to Zhang Shixun, who was in charge of the Academy of Sciences, and asked, "Deng Guogong, how is the research and development of the steam engine going?"

"The new Jinshi named Su Song is indeed a genius. He has solved many problems encountered by previous steam engines."

Zhang Shixun said: "However, although His Majesty found the principles of steam engines and the manufacturing methods of Watt steam engines from historical novels, the efficiency of the steam engines produced was always insufficient, and there may be other minor problems."

"Well, what many inventions in history lack is a sudden inspiration. To put it bluntly, the technical aspect is not worth mentioning. What I can do is to make up for this, but I am not omnipotent. I only know the principles of the steam engine. , they can only rely on themselves to explore.”

Zhao Jun sighed, and then signed for Jia Changchao, and said: "We will start preparing to go to sea again this year. The people in the gate will deal with what they need to deal with, and return to their hearts. We must also make a gesture and not chill their hearts. "

"Should we go to Japan and Korea first as before?"

Wang Zeng asked.

"The markets in Japan and Korea have become saturated. Even if they dig out mountains of gold and silver, the market is only so big and the population is so large. Moreover, they themselves can't even have enough to eat. Only the upper class elites have the purchasing power to buy so many big items. What are Song’s handicrafts doing?”

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "If we want to continue to develop the markets of Japan and Korea, we can only help them improve their productivity. But our country, Da Song, has just started to improve, and we can't help them yet. We will talk about it later."

"Then you mean going overseas?"

"Yes, North America is now a blue ocean. Although the Indians are not very productive, there is no market there. We can exchange grain, porcelain, tea, and silk for their gold, silver, and copper."

"Winter is coming soon. What if I freeze when crossing the Bering Strait?"

Lu Yijian scratched his head.

As he gets older, he has become a little confused recently, and his thinking has declined significantly.

Zhao Jun did not laugh at him, but just said: "We are preparing now, and we are not setting off immediately. Besides, even if we set off in winter, it will already be spring by the time we reach the Bering Strait."

"Too."

Only then did Lu Yijian wake up.

"President, there is another document to be signed here. It is the latest official document from Kaifeng Mansion. If there are no problems, we will judge it in turn."

Jiang Tang also brought over an official document. In fact, most of the cases judged by Kaifeng Prefecture are now civil lawsuits. Criminal proceedings are transferred to Dali Temple and the Trial Court. Kaifeng Prefecture is only responsible for arresting people.

However, Zhao Jun also asked the Kaifeng Mansion to hand over some classic and special cases that were sentenced every year, because he could see some people's livelihood issues from them.

For example, a private financial lending case occurred last month. At present, the imperial court's Jiaozi Bank is limited to large customers and has carried out many businesses such as deposits and loans. For ordinary people, the imperial court will not provide them with lending services.

The main reason for this is that even in the era of advanced information in later generations, when bank lending business is fully launched, there will still be many situations such as difficulty in supervision and prone to thunderstorms.

If this were done on a large scale in ancient times, the result might be like the Qingmiao Law. Due to unfavorable supervision and other factors, the court would lend money, and the government and businessmen would collude, causing losses to the court.

Therefore, this business is not open for the time being, and Jiaozipu has not been opened across the country. When the Song Dynasty has made enough money from trade, has the force to dominate the world, and internal governance has reached its peak, then Opening up to comprehensively promote economic development.

However, the imperial court did not open financial lending, and the private lending business of the Song Dynasty never stopped at all. Last year, there was a Bianliang businessman who used high interest rates to attract a large number of people to lend him money on the pretext of going to Japan to do business, and also found someone to guarantee it.

As a result, the person simply took the money and ran away, and never came back to Japan. Seeing that the repayment deadline was coming, the people complained to the Kaifeng Mansion one after another. The Kaifeng Mansion had no choice but to report it to the Constitutional Yuan.

Zhao Jun took a look, was this inappropriate illegal fund-raising?

Then the law was immediately revised to classify this problem as illegal fund-raising, and then the guarantor was arrested and imprisoned. The businessman who made the donation and ran away was wanted across the country and asked Japan to take the person.

As for how to explain it to the people, there is no way to explain it. The imperial court has money to compensate them, but the imperial court will not compensate them.

First of all, this is a private loan and has nothing to do with the court.

Secondly, and most importantly, if private loans are paid by the court, does that mean that if something like this happens again in the future, the court will continue to pay compensation?

At that time, not only will there be a proliferation of illegal fund-raising, but the court will take care of it anyway, and some people will even do it deliberately, deliberately taking the money and running away to defraud it.

Therefore, the court will not care about this kind of thing. It can only introduce relevant laws to restrict illegal fund-raising and catch escaped prisoners.

If you are lucky enough to catch it, and the money and property taken away are still there, then that's easy to say. If they are unlucky, the people will have no choice but to admit defeat.

This month, a new batch of special case judgment documents came out. Zhao Jun flipped through two pages at random, noticed a case inside, and said with a smile: "I didn't expect Song Dynasty to be so far ahead."

"what happened?"

Jiang Tang wondered.

"This property mortgage system is a bit interesting."

Zhao Jun pointed to this case and said: "It reminds me of the full-rental housing in Korea in later generations."

In this case, a common man spent 60% of the house price to rent a house. According to the contract, the landlord should return the money to him after three years. As a result, the landlord failed in business and had no money to pay back.

The Kaifeng Prefecture then ruled that this citizen added about 32% of the house price and transferred the house from the landlord to him, thus buying the house at 92% of the house price.

“What is full rent?”

"It has the same meaning as this property mortgage system."

"South Korea also pays a lot of money to rent a house? So why don't they just buy a house?"

"Because I can't afford it, I still need a bank loan for this large amount of money."

"Oh."

Jiang Tang nodded: "It is indeed similar to this house, and it is also borrowed."

"Water Margin" said that Wu Dalang rented a house in the county. How could he, a sesame seed seller, have the money to rent a nice small courtyard?

It is based on a situation similar to full renting, renting at 50% of the total price of the house. After about two or three years, the landlord will return the money to him, forming a unique house pawn system in the Song Dynasty.

As for where did Wu Dalang get the money for renting a house? One is to rely on loans, and the other is to rely on his wife Pan Jinlian’s trousseau jewelry.

Historical records indicate that this method was very popular in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Because the situation in the Northern Song Dynasty was somewhat similar to that in South Korea. Due to the developed economy, people came to the cities to work. In addition to the capital Kaifeng, the other three capitals and many second- and third-tier cities also gathered a large number of migrant workers.

This caused housing prices to skyrocket.

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, housing prices in Bianliang skyrocketed. An ordinary Bianliang laborer's income was 100 yuan per day, which was 3-4 yuan a month.

But at that time, the most ordinary private house in the outer city of Bianliang was worth three to four thousand guan, and the more expensive one was 8,000 or 9,000 guan. Houses in the upper grades cost tens of thousands of dollars, and luxury houses in inner cities are sky-high, with prices ranging from hundreds of thousands to even millions of dollars.

In order to buy a house, Su Shi sold a lot of calligraphy and paintings, and even borrowed money from his younger brother, so that he could barely make up the money to buy a house. His younger brother Su Che became prime minister and still rented a house until he was seventy years old.

It is obvious that ordinary people would have to go without food and drink for hundreds of years to buy even the most ordinary and peripheral houses.

This gave rise to a boom in the rental business.

This is where the house-renting system comes from. The all-rental house business in later generations in Korea seems to be the first of its kind in the world. In fact, it had already appeared in the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Jun said: "The situation in the Song Dynasty is a bit similar to that in South Korea. Bianliang is the center of major industry and commerce. The economy is prosperous and people gather in large numbers. It is difficult to rent a house."

"That's true. Nowadays, many officials are renting houses in outer cities or even outside the city. It's okay if they don't go to court, but it will be uncomfortable for those who need to go to court."

Li Di said something.

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "Bianliang will definitely need to be re-planned in the future. After the army is built, the city wall needs hammers and a part of it can be left as a tourist attraction. But even if it is demolished and rebuilt, it will be done later. It will be done before you learn how to walk." If you don’t want to run away, let’s get low-rent housing first.”

“What is low-rent housing?”

"It's the public house managed by our store."

"Build more public housing? But there is no land left to build public housing in the city."

"Then build it outside the city."

Zhao Jun said: "Starting next year, we will move all the workshops built by the government to outside the city, and then use cheap land rent to attract private workshops in the city to outside the city, and create the urban-rural fringe, so that the population will They will move out of the city, which can also alleviate the rental pressure in the city."

Building a country is really not an easy task, even if you have a high-level view, you can copy it for future development. But after all, it was an ancient society, and its level of development and system were still different from those of later generations.

Therefore, every step of construction must be done carefully and step by step, and cannot be accomplished overnight.

The current situation is that only when problems are discovered can they be solved. Even if Zhao Jun is so many generations ahead, he cannot predict the problem in advance and solve it at the source.

In other words, he can predict problems, but there are too many problems. He is a human, not an AI, and it is impossible for him to do everything in advance.

So we can only do it step by step.

Jiang Tang worriedly said: "The construction outside the city is very poor, and the various facilities cannot keep up. Will it cause any problems if we rashly move all the workshops there?"

"Will not."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "What is the biggest need of the workshop? It is transportation. The Bianqu canal is not only found in the city. There are rivers outside the West City, outside the East City, and outside the South City for transportation. The workshops make the goods and use them through the rivers. The transportation of goods is their biggest need. The rest of the supporting facilities require workshops. Wherever the workshops go, they will naturally follow."

"I see."

Jiang Tang thought the same thing. What the workshop needs is raw materials and the sale of finished products. Both of these require transportation. As long as it is by the canal, can't it be solved?

Zhao Jun mused again: "This system of renting a house is the same as renting a house. When house prices have been rising, this problem is not obvious and it will not cause any trouble to the people. Once house prices fall, thunderstorms like those in South Korea will occur, which will cause trouble in the future. That’s big.”

"Hanlong means to rectify it now?"

Yan Shu quickly inquired about it. He had a lot of real estate under his control. Historical data records that this guy even had many stores, and most of them were rented out in this way. If he had to rectify them, he would suffer a lot.

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "Let's not make rectifications for the time being. Judging from the current situation, housing prices in Bianliang are expected to rise for another hundred years, and large-scale thunderstorms are unlikely to occur. But we cannot bury the thunder. For future generations, there is no legal prohibition on renting houses, but it must be controlled by policy."

"How to control it?"

Everyone is also very concerned. All the prime ministers in their group are rich or noble. Except for a few like Jiang Tang, which family doesn't have a few houses?

"The first step is to establish family homes for each department."

Zhao Jun said: "Officials should not rent a house outside. Those who can afford it will buy their own house, and those who cannot afford it will live in family buildings. The second thing is to move the population out of the city and curb the housing prices in the city. Then there is the expansion of urbanization. Incorporate Yuetai and Qingcheng into Kaifeng Prefecture. The last step is to continue to increase the construction of low-rent housing. After several rounds, housing prices will be stabilized, and the pre-housing system will naturally be curbed."

As the population moves out of the city, housing prices will drop. There will be more houses available for rent and low-rent housing, which will naturally reduce rents. When rents and housing prices fall, the mortgage housing system will become less cost-effective. So what choice? There will be fewer and fewer people in this system, and the thunder will certainly not be buried until later.

"Ah."

No one said anything after hearing this.

Although doing so will definitely cost them their own interests, after all, this is a policy that is beneficial to national development, and who dares to obstruct it.

They began to discuss the details for a while.

At the end of the morning, just as it was about to have lunch, Fan Zhongyan hurried in from outside and said, "Something big has happened."

(End of this chapter)