People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 297 Using Zhang Yuan as a scapegoat

December 8, the fourth year of the Qingli calendar.

It snowed heavily in Bianliang, and various streets in Kaifeng Prefecture organized large-scale snow clearing work.

Funded by the government, some unemployed old people and young people were hired from the outer city to carry out snow removal at a price of 90 yuan per day.

This salary is certainly not high.

Because before the Qingli New Year, the daily wage level in Bianliang reached more than 100 yuan.

According to "Tokyo Menghualu", at that time, porters on the docks earned two to three hundred cash per day, a chicken butcher on the street earned 4.5 cash per day, and a tea shop clerk earned cash per month, which was about cash per day.

Basically, the average employee salary is around one hundred cents. Except for Xiang Jun, whose average daily salary is only fifty cents, the salary level of ordinary people remains at one hundred cents.

Now the salary level of ordinary people has increased slightly, with an average of about 120 cash, which is about 20 cash higher than before.

This is because since the great reforms in the first year of Qingli, the business environment of the Song Dynasty has become increasingly better.

The commodity economy has reached a higher level, and because commodities pass through the five major trade routes, they are not only sold to neighboring countries, but even as far away as Central Asia and sold to Europe by Arab merchants.

The economic and business environment has improved. Countless new businesses, that is, companies, are registered by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce every year, and workshops are opening every day in and outside the city.

Not only textile factories, but also various paper mills, tea processing factories, iron processing factories, agricultural tool factories and countless other workshops, capital began to sprout.

After the workshop was established, it was natural to recruit people on a large scale. However, in the ancient society with underdeveloped information, Bianliang could attract basically only migrant workers from Gyeonggi Road and the surrounding areas. It was impossible for people from far away to come to Bianliang to work.

For example, people from Hebei who want to work in the city will definitely choose Damingfu first, people from Huainan and some Henan people who are close to Yingtianfu will definitely go to Yingtianfu first, and so on, resulting in a shortage of migrant workers in Bianliang.

This is a normal fluctuation in the market. Wages rise normally and continue to rise. This is what the court wants to see most, because this will inevitably cause workshops to continue to move out.

In the future steam engine era, a large number of factories will be relocated to coastal cities, which will also drive the development of coastal cities such as Guangzhou, Guangxi, and Fujian.

Therefore, the imperial court will also find ways to regulate the market and force employers to raise wages.

However, Kaifeng Prefecture employs people who are unemployed or lack the ability to work. This salary is basically a normal salary level, and to a certain extent, it can be regarded as taking care of the poor.

The organizers are the sub-district offices under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Now that the Song Dynasty is moving toward urbanization, Kaifeng Prefecture, as a government agency, must have certain control over the grassroots.

Therefore, the imperial court officially established the sub-district office. Except for the director of the sub-district office, who was a ninth-grade official, the other clerks were all civil servants, and the main affairs they managed were household registration, health, community management, etc.

For example, this year the imperial court wants to pay condolences to the lonely elderly people and distribute rice, oil, and grain. From now on, it will not be handled by the Kaifeng Prefecture and the Imperial City Division, but by the street office.

The superior leaders mainly supervise the implementation work and determine the distribution of various grain and oil materials. Moreover, the court is currently building low-rent housing. In the future, the sub-district office will also ensure that poor households will be given priority to move into low-rent housing.

Corruption will definitely occur, for example, the street office does not implement the work seriously, or lines its own pockets by distributing low-rent housing and materials to rich people or even their own relatives instead of poor people in need.

Therefore, Zhao Jun ordered the Kaifeng Mansion to supervise as the higher-level leadership department, and also asked the Imperial City Division to make secret visits, investigate at all times, and hold accountable in real time, which is double supervision.

Let's do this for now.

Even if problems arise and are rectified in the future, at least now that the sub-district office is established, the work pressure of Kaifeng Prefecture will be reduced a lot.

At the call of Kaifeng Mansion, the whole mansion was cleaned up.

Zhao Jun, accompanied by Bao Zheng, inspected the clearance work in the inner city, outer city, and even outside the city in the morning.

Open the far gate, that is, outside the West Water Gate. This is the entrance to the Bian River. Because the canal brings back a large amount of steel, cattle and sheep fur and other raw materials from the north, many workshops are gathered here.

The imperial court is now gradually moving official workshops in the city to outside the city, such as textile factories, forges, iron processing factories, etc. The relocation started two months ago.

The government-owned workshops have also led to the relocation of many private workshops. It is expected that by the next year, most of the workshops in Bianliang will have moved outside the city, forming an urban-rural fringe.

Therefore, land prices here have slowly increased, which is naturally a good thing for the people living in slums outside the city.

Because the imperial court's current household registration work allows people to settle in Bianliang and allows them to purchase the land and houses they currently live outside the city.

Perhaps a few decades later, the first batch of migrant workers who came to Bianliang to work changed their identities and became Zhenghongqi Old Kaifeng by owning properties in villages outside the city.

But that was decades later. At least currently, the land prices outside the city are still relatively low, and most of them are in the hands of the imperial court. Sales are also restricted, and no interested people are allowed to hoard on a large scale.

Zhao Jun plans to wait until the military restructuring is completed in two years, integrate the Xiang Army into the Construction Corps, establish a state-owned construction enterprise, and leave all real estate development outside the city to them.

When the time comes, the Song Dynasty will suck blood from other countries, no, trade. Internally, we will carry out large-scale infrastructure construction, add real estate to stimulate the economy, allow the banking and financial industries to develop, open Jiaozi shops across the country, and allow private lending.

With the four-pronged approach, won’t the economy soar to the sky?

There is no need to even consider inflation. The Song Dynasty only needs to print money without thinking.

Because when the time comes, the copper coins of the Song Dynasty will become a global hard currency like the US dollar. It is a bit outrageous to think of buying foreign copper mines and then turning them into copper coins to buy copper mines.

of course.

That is still a matter for the future.

At least now, although the Song Dynasty is prospering, it still has not transcended the order of ancient feudal society.

The level of productivity and technology needs to be improved to a higher level, and the age of steam engines needs to arrive to complete greater internal reforms.

"Zhiyuan, it has snowed for more than ten days, covering the roads and freezing the rivers. The Kaifeng Prefecture funded and hired 13,674 people. It cost about 2,000 guan per day and cost 6 In the next day, the heavy snow will be cleared from the whole city and the ice surface will be broken."

On the edge of the Bianhe River outside Kaiyuanmen, Bao Zheng, the general magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture, introduced to Zhao Jun the recent construction activities in the city.

After the reform of national and local taxes, Kaifeng Prefecture, as the capital government, also has certain financial powers. Expenses generated by Bianliang's commercial activities and urban management will be paid to Kaifeng Prefecture, thus generating tax funds.

Although this has seriously reduced the court's tax revenue, it allows the local government to have money, so it can do a lot of things, such as snow clearing work, which is a good thing that benefits the country and the people.

"Hire more than 10,000 people? Then the salary per person per day seems pretty good."

Zhao Jun said with a smile.

He looked around in the distance. Ships from the Bianhe River in the northwest were coming slowly, much less than in spring, summer and autumn, but this was winter. In the past, water transportation was completely stopped in winter.

Now it seems that the Yellow River management work and ice-breaking operations are still done well, at least to ensure that Bianliang is open to navigation.

"It's embarrassing to say that I only have 90 Wen per day."

Bao Zheng shook his head and said.

"90 Wen per day? It's a little less. What about the extra Wen?"

Zhao Jun wondered, did he start to take action so soon?

This is too fast.

"It's used to buy tools."

Bao Zheng said: "I'm afraid these tools will have to be stored once they are used up."

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said, "Then leave it to the street office. Your Kaifeng Prefecture should set up a sanitation department and hire sanitation workers for a long time to clean the city to make the city clean and tidy."

"Ah."

Bao Zheng nodded: "I will report the intention of the magistrate to Magistrate Liu on this matter."

"In addition to sanitation work, there are also street planning, infrastructure, urban roads, green environment, business environment, shop improvement, etc., which are all the responsibilities of the Kaifeng government. Your burden is not small."

"This official will not let down the public expectations of the court."

"That's good, Lao Bao, do your best. I'll leave this position of Kaifeng Prefect to you. I'm very optimistic about you."

Zhao Jun patted Bao Zheng on the shoulder and said with a smile.

At present, the position of Kaifeng Prefecture Yin is still relatively fluid, and it is mainly used to accommodate officials who are about to be promoted to ministers and ministers in various ministries.

Bao Zheng handles all the specific affairs in the house, which can be regarded as an unspoken rule to some extent.

Everyone knows that this is actually the purpose of the magistrate to accumulate political qualifications for Bao Zheng. In addition, his work ability is obvious to all, so the successive magistrates of Kaifeng Prefecture have entrusted his work to him.

Instead, the chief officer will participate in the daily affairs of each department in order to join the department in the future.

However, even if this is the case, Lao Bao is already on a rocket. From the eighth grade in Jingyou's fourth year to the fifth grade now, the promotion speed is basically one level per year.

Zhao Jun planned to wait until Lao Bao had accumulated enough money in two years, and then raise the political status of Kaifeng Mansion from the fourth rank to the second rank, equivalent to the deputy ministerial level.

He also served as an alternate magistrate of the Second-Rank Political Academy, which raised the political status of the Kaifeng Prefecture to a high-ranking official, and also increased the importance of the Kaifeng Prefecture Yin, allowing him to participate in the management of national affairs.

After all, Kaifeng Mansion is equivalent to Beijing in later generations. If the level is only the fourth level, it will still be difficult to convince the public in Kaifeng where there are many powerful people, and management will be more difficult.

"Zhiyuan."

Just when Zhao Jun was inspecting the recent developments in Kaifeng Mansion, a pair of palace guards hurried over not far away and reported to him: "Your Majesty, please inform me to return to the palace."

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun turned around, came to the guard and asked, "What happened?"

"It's said that the Western thieves sent a letter asking for surrender."

"Haha, Li Yuanhao can't hold on any longer."

Zhao Jun smiled and said to Bao Zheng: "Okay, Old Bao, you should do a good job in city management first, and I will go back first."

"Yes."

Bao Zheng has long been accustomed to saying some words that he understands but not quite understanding from Zhao Jun's mouth, and bows his hands.

At that moment, Zhao Jun sat back in his carriage, and the honor guard marched back to the palace.

He has had his own guard of honor since he became the magistrate, with proper standards for a prime minister. The horse team clears the way, holding signs saying "Quiet" and "Avoidance".

Coupled with the protection of the Imperial City Division, there are hundreds of people following him around at all times, and everyone in Bianliang knows about his team.

There were even people who stopped the sedan chair to complain, but Zhao Jun solved them one by one, which made the people praise him.

Soon Zhao Jun returned to the palace and went all the way to Chongzheng Hall.

Everyone has arrived.

He first saluted Zhao Zhen and then sat back in his seat.

"Hanlong, look, this is Yuan Hao's watch."

Zhao Zhen knocked on the official document on the table. No one was allowed to come in during the Chongzheng Hall meeting. Even Wang Shouzhong could only guard outside the door, so Zhao Jun could only walk over and get it by himself.

He picked up the official document, glanced at it, and said with a smile: "As expected, Li Yuanhao's defeat in this battle was beyond my expectation. He must not be able to hold back."

"Judging from the current situation, Yuan Hao has relented. But it is not easy to make him pay the price. What if he refuses?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

"It's easy to refuse."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Although the restructuring of the national army has not yet been completely completed, most of the bad apples have been eliminated and elites have been selected to fill in. The basic combat effectiveness can still be maintained, so let's fight, just in time to destroy Liaoxi Xia."

It's not that Xixia can't be destroyed, but it's more troublesome to destroy it now.

It's like you can wait a few years for the combat power to reach 120 before destroying an enemy with 20 combat power plus 50 combat power.

It happened that when the combat effectiveness was 80, he had to deal with Liao and Xixia at the same time, two opponents with a combined combat effectiveness of 70.

Even though the Song Dynasty was stronger than them, the combat effectiveness of the army was still poor before the restructuring.

It is necessary to wait for the complete restructuring to be completed, to eliminate the old and the weak, to put the army training on the agenda, and to popularize steel refrigerated weapons and armor, so that the cold weapons can be combined with the hot weapons of the firearms battalion to achieve maximum combat effectiveness.

By then it will be much easier to defeat Liao and Xixia.

But Li Yuanhao took the lead in provoking him. If he didn't fight back, where would the Song Dynasty's face be?

So he must be taught a lesson.

Either cede land as compensation and pay annual tribute.

Either the Song Dynasty’s northwest army would dispatch and beat him to the point where he would cede territory and pay compensation.

There may even be a risk of national subjugation. It depends on what he chooses.

"Well, let's make him pay compensation according to the original plan."

Zhao Zhen also insisted that this matter had been discussed long ago and he could respond to the other party.

Since the start of the war in September, the Song Dynasty has not been doing anything for the past three months.

Although there is no large-scale deployment of troops, the war machine is running, and the Hebei Iron and Steel Plant produces tons of weapons every day.

Steel weapons began to be distributed, and even though they had not yet spread to the entire army, tens of thousands of people were using them first. Together with the firearms battalion, they were enough to deal with the Liao army.

When the time comes, if you use all your strength to attack Xixia, won’t you knock Li Yuanhao’s head off?

Therefore, the Manchurian hardliners also have the upper hand.

This has something to do with Zhao Jun's attitude.

Soon everyone discussed the details and immediately sent personnel to give instructions to Yang Kai.

By mid-December, Yang Kai knew the court's intention, so he immediately summoned Li Yuanhao's envoy to express to him overtly and covertly the court's need for sincerity.

He did not directly say that the Song Dynasty court wanted Li Yuanhao to pay compensation, because this was too purposeful, and it would be difficult to negotiate with each other when the time came.

The highest level of negotiation is for the other party to take the initiative, so that he can open his mouth and negotiate terms step by step.

A few days later, Li Yuanhao received a reply from the messenger.

In Zhuoluo City.

Li Yuanhao's life has not been easy these days.

The party nobles benefited from the trade between Song and Xia, but they didn't want to offend the Song Dynasty, so they joined forces to put pressure on him.

The civil service group remained silent because of the defeat, so the armistice faction gained the upper hand.

Although Li Yuanhao himself is a leading warrior, he cannot withstand the powerful force below. He and the Weiming tribe behind him still cannot suppress it.

Therefore, he must win over a group of obedient nobles and stabilize their mood.

This day happened to be the time when he had a meeting with the leaders of several large domestic tribes, including Feiting, Fangdang, Xifeng, and Pochao.

"Your Majesty, this is really not the way to go. The Song people are powerful and it is not a good thing to be enemies with them."

"Yes, it's best to make a decision early. Delaying it any longer is not good for the country."

"This year's grain for the winter is all bought from the Song Dynasty. Although the Song Dynasty has not canceled the mutual trade, what will we do once they cancel the mutual trade."

"If you ask me, your Majesty should not listen to that Zhang Yuan. This person must be the spy sent by the Song Dynasty to harm me, the Xia Dynasty."

"Yes, since this person came, my country, Daxia, has been defeated repeatedly. Before, we didn't go to war with the Song Dynasty. We only needed to bring in a few hundred cattle and horses every year to get countless rewards. What about after he comes?"

"Your Majesty, if you kill this man and give it to the Song State, you will definitely gain the favor of the Song State, and we won't need to start another war."

"Exactly."

Several people used Dangxiang language to persuade him, and some people clamored to kill Zhang Yuan.

Li Yuanhao had to comfort him: "I have sent people to discuss with Emperor Song. I believe there will be a result soon."

He doesn't want Zhang Yuan to die yet. After all, he himself is a militant. If Zhang Yuan dies, the domestic militant faction will be gone. Who will encourage him to become an enemy of the Song Dynasty in the future?

"Hey, I hope so."

Someone sighed.

In history, during the Song-Xia War, the Song Dynasty canceled mutual trade, the Xixia domestic economy collapsed, and the people were in dire straits.

It's not like this now, but they have tasted the sweetness of mutual trade for too long. They sold cattle and sheep to the Song Dynasty, then resold the goods of the Western Regions people to the Song Dynasty, and bought tea from the Song Dynasty and sold it to the merchants of the Western Regions in exchange for huge profits. .

While the middlemen earn the price difference, they themselves can also make a lot of money through buying and selling. They can also purchase grain, tea, and ironware from the Song Dynasty to maintain the development of the tribe, killing three birds with one stone.

So although the situation in Xixia is pretty good now, no one wants things to get to the worst. Anyway, the Dangxiang people are not like the Khitans who have always been kings and hegemons. It is their best choice to continue to deal with the Khitans and the Han people.

"Report!"

At this time, soldiers outside reported: "The messenger is back."

"Let him in quickly."

Li Yuanhao said quickly.

"Yes."

Soldiers go out.

After a while, the messenger who had been waiting for the news in the West Market came in, bowed to Li Yuanhao with a party ceremony and said, "Your Majesty."

"How about it?"

"I am fortunate to have fulfilled my mission and have received the reply from Emperor Song."

"Great, what did he say?"

Li Yuanhao perked up.

The envoy said: "The Emperor of the Song Dynasty means that they do not want to use force. The Song Dynasty has always advocated peaceful governance and turned conflicts with neighboring countries into friendship. However, Daxia recklessly attacked Qingtang and provoked a war with the Song Dynasty. This matter Unforgivable.”

Li Yuanhao was shocked and said: "Didn't you tell them that we were only fighting against Xisiluo and did not want to become an enemy of the Song Dynasty?"

"I said it, I don't know how many times I said it."

The envoy smiled bitterly and said: "But the Song Dynasty has been accusing me of signing a mutual offensive and defensive alliance agreement with Qingtang. Daxia's attack on Qingtang is an attack on the allies of the Song Dynasty, and it is an attempt to proactively provoke a war."

"What can we do?"

Fangdang Qiu Hu patted his legs and said bitterly: "The soldiers of the Song Dynasty have strong horses and strong horses, how can we defeat them?"

Everyone also looked sad.

No one thought that attacking Qingtang would provoke the now powerful Song Dynasty.

If things were fine before, the Song Dynasty had grenades and artillery. They gritted their teeth and had the support of the Liao Kingdom, and it was not impossible to build hundreds or even thousands more.

But now that the Song Dynasty has muskets, and there are more than 10,000 such troops in the northwest, plus the cannons and grenades that the Song Dynasty already has, how can they withstand it?

"But things have taken a turn for the better."

The messenger said quickly.

"Say it."

Li Yuanhao suppressed his anger.

The envoy said: "What Commander Yang means is that the Song Dynasty can cease the war, but I, Daxia, must show sincerity to compensate the Song Dynasty for this loss."

compensation?

Everyone suddenly showed a confused mood.

Under normal circumstances, everyone should be able to think of things like war reparations.

But that's what Song people can think of.

This is not the case for nomadic peoples such as Dangxiang and Khitan.

When defeated, run away and go to Saibei.

Is it possible that the Song Dynasty people can still pursue them as far as Saibei?

They will come back after the Song people leave.

So the first thing they thought of was not apologizing enough.

Someone immediately said: "Your Majesty, why don't you pay tribute to hundreds of cows and horses every year as you did before, and become a vassal to the Song Dynasty in exchange for rewards from the Song Dynasty?"

"That's good too."

"Yes, this is the only way the king can calm down the anger of the Song Dynasty."

"I don't think so."

Fei Tinggu said carefully: "The Song Dynasty hated traitors the most. After the war, the Song Dynasty offered a reward for Zhang Yuan's head in the border market. I am afraid that only Zhang Yuan can be exchanged for the Song Dynasty not to use weapons."

Li Yuanhao's eyes suddenly widened.

He could actually understand what Da Song meant.

After all, his vision is different from those of the people under his command.

As an ambitious monarch who tried to transform from a nomadic tribal system to a feudal system, Li Yuanhao naturally had a vision beyond ordinary people.

So he understood that the Song Dynasty did not actually want Zhang Yuan's head, but wanted Xixia to cede territory and pay compensation.

The specific amount cannot be negotiated in one or two envoy negotiations. It must go through a long period of pulling and pulling, just like when Song and Liao signed the agreement.

But Li Yuanhao actually doesn’t want to pay compensation.

The compensation will definitely hurt his prestige in the country.

Secondly, it also depleted Xixia's national strength.

Xixia was originally weak. Even though it had made a lot of money using the Silk Road in recent years, its national power was still far different from that of the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, if you can avoid losing money, you definitely don’t want to.

The problem is that Da Song will definitely insist on not letting go, just to make him pay compensation.

how should I do it?

You can't fool him by pretending to be stupid.

When the time comes to fight, it will be uncomfortable if he can't beat him.

Then the best option is to introduce a scapegoat.

The Song Dynasty really hated Zhang Yuan.

The noble leaders of various tribes in the country were also annoyed with him.

It would be great if Zhang Yuan was killed not only to appease the country, but also to calm the anger of Song Dynasty and give Song Dynasty an explanation.

And doesn’t the Song Dynasty require sincerity?

Then push the Xixia military advisor out as a sign of sincerity. Isn’t that enough?

At that time, even if the Song Dynasty clearly stated that they wanted compensation, and Zhang Yuan had already handed it over to them, would they be embarrassed to ask for more compensation?

Maybe now is the time when Zhang Yuan is needed.

Although there will be no Zhang Yuan in the future, many strategies will be difficult to formulate, and the core of the main war faction will be missing.

But sometimes, he has no choice.

Li Yuanhao sighed.

There was a sinister look in his eyes.

Zhang Yuan.

No wonder I am.

I can only blame Daxia for not being able to defeat Song in recent years.

(End of this chapter)