People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 459: The Song Dynasty Will Disband Without Me
In late November of the ninth year of the Qingli period of the Great Song Dynasty, heavy snow fell in the north.

The goose-feather-like snowflakes flying everywhere made the earth look desolate.

At this moment in the Bianliang Political System Courtyard, the room was as warm as spring. In addition to the iron stove and table, there were also heating pipes.

This is the new heating installed in August, and there is a boiler outside that keeps the water boiling.

The hot water flows into the house through steel pipes, and then dissipates heat through radiators, keeping the temperature in the house around 20 degrees.

This allowed many prime ministers who were in poor health to work even in winter.

However, Zhang Shixun and Li Di have not been in good health recently. They were both in their seventies or eighties, and historically, they died of illness in the past two years.

It seemed that they had reached old age. Even if they were not tossed around because of demotion and then died of illness soon after as in history, they had reached the age where they should enjoy their retirement.

It is foreseeable that when the Constitutional Council is replaced next year, it is unlikely that they will be allowed by the emperor to exceed their term like Song Shou and Cai Qi did.

"cough cough cough cough"

The room was very quiet, with only a few coughs occasionally. In winter, it was common for these elderly people to cough.

There are only seven people working in the office today: Yan Shu, Cai Qi, Jia Changchao, Song Shou, Jiang Tang, Zheng Jian and Du Yan.

Zhao Jun left the capital to inspect the local areas, and Fan Zhongyan went to the Ministry of War and the Privy Council. The two departments were going to transport supplies to the northwest recently, and he needed to coordinate and prepare.

Li Di and Zhang Shixun have not been feeling well recently, so Zhao Zhen specifically allowed them not to come to work in the winter if they were not feeling well.

They are the oldest two people. Even if the house is warm, if they go out and encounter cold wind, they may catch a cold, which may cost an elderly person's life.

As for Xia Song, he went to the Ministry of Finance. At the end of the year, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Statistics are the busiest. The Ministry of Statistics has to calculate the data from all over the country this year, and the Ministry of Finance has to calculate this year's fiscal revenue and fiscal expenditure.

These financial data can intuitively show the Song Dynasty's investment and construction in various directions this year, such as infrastructure, education development, scientific research investment, military spending, etc.

It allows the court to know how much money is spent on these each year, and then combine it with the data from other departments to discuss whether to increase or decrease the budget next year.

Simply put, it is about how much money was spent, where it was spent, and what effect it had after being spent.

This was also the country's development strategy in the new era. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance was extremely busy at the end of each year, and Xia Song often had to go there to keep an eye on the liquidation books.

"Prime Minister Yan."

Du Yan coughed and spat a mouthful of thick phlegm into the spittoon beside him, then raised the document in his hand and said, "This is a document sent by the commander of the Annan garrison. The Le Dynasty can no longer resist."

Yan Shu stopped reviewing the memorials with his brush, raised his head and frowned, "Why is the Li Dynasty so useless? Didn't we sell them a lot of weapons and equipment before?"

"The last emperor of the Le Dynasty, Le Longting, was cruel and murderous, and he was not supported by the people at home. After the Le family replaced the Le family, they implemented lenient policies for two generations and won the hearts of the people. Even if there were occasional rebellions in the local areas, they would first lead the army to defeat them, then pardon the leaders and comfort the people."

Du Yan said: "So after the establishment of the Le Dynasty, the people and local leaders of Annan refused to obey and revolted in the name of revenge for the Li family. The only areas controlled by the Li family now are Thang Long and Jiangnan."

Thang Long is Hanoi, Vietnam in later generations, and Jiangnan is the area around Thai Binh Province and Haiphong City in later generations of Vietnam, which is almost the Red River Delta area.

There is one point that Du Yan didn’t actually mention.

That is, the reason why the Le Dynasty was still able to control Thang Long and Jiangnan was because the Song Dynasty had troops stationed there. Otherwise, given that the Le Dynasty was so unpopular, it would have been overthrown by the Vietnamese long ago.

"So, is it wrong for us to destroy the Li Dynasty?"

Yan Shu sneered and said, "The Li Dynasty is a dynasty of benevolence and righteousness, which makes it seem as if our Song Dynasty should not have destroyed them."

Du Yan said solemnly: "Even if he is kind and righteous at home, it is an indisputable fact that he actively harassed big countries abroad. Those who are rude and insult big neighbors, greedy and stubborn and make bad friends will perish! The fall of the Li Dynasty is their own fault!"

Song Shou on the other side also said: "When the Li family was in power, there were also rebellions in the local area. In my opinion, these people are pretending to seek revenge for the Li family, but they are taking advantage of the opportunity to establish themselves as kings."

"Ah."

Yan Shu nodded and said, "That makes sense. Where are the rebels fighting now?"

"Except for Thang Long and Jiangnan, there are rebel leaders everywhere. I'm afraid there are dozens of them. They once attacked Xinghua in the north of Ruyue River and were dispersed by the cannons we sold to the Le Dynasty. But this time they are coming with more force."

"What's the specific situation?"

"Since they were defeated last time, they have united together."

Du Yan said: "The rebels got a few homemade cannons from somewhere, with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses. They have already broken through Xinghua and are heading straight for Bac Ninh. Beyond Bac Ninh is Thang Long City."

"Ok?"

Yan Shu frowned even more tightly: "Are we almost at Thang Long City? How did these Annan people get the homemade cannons?"

Du Yan scratched his head and said, "I guess it was our people who sold it. We have a limited number of steel cannons, and the army certainly doesn't dare to sell them. But didn't we sell them a lot of cold weapons such as weapons and armor before? The principle of this cannon is not difficult. The army can melt some iron tools, make a cannon barrel by themselves, and sell some gunpowder to those Annan people. Small cannons like the Weiyuan Cannon should still be made. It's just that the range is a bit shorter and the power is a bit weaker, but it should be enough to deal with the Le Dynasty."

"."

Yan Shu was helpless, holding his forehead and said: "These guys are really not good enough to help, but they are more likely to cause trouble."

"We only have 3,000 troops stationed in Annan, most of them on the coast, and 500 in Thang Long City, but it is still easy to mobilize an army from Qiongzhou to quell the rebellion."

Du Yan said: "Why not let the Changhua Army in Qiongzhou go there?"

"If you ask me, no matter how much trouble those rebels make, will they dare to attack the army of our Song Dynasty? It doesn't matter who is in charge of Annan, as long as they obey the orders of our Song Dynasty. Why bother with so much trouble?"

Jia Changchao said casually.

Yan Shu shook his head and said, "That won't work. An obedient country that is unified and stable is better than an obedient country that is extremely unstable. Besides, if Annan is stable, who will we sell our weapons and equipment to?"

"I don't quite understand. Annan is poor in resources. Although it produces coal, the rest of the gold, silver and copper are very rare. Why should we go to such great lengths to station troops there? Just supplying the Annan garrison every year is a serious expense."

Zheng Jian said in confusion.

Yan Shu hesitated for a moment and said, "I haven't thought about this question, nor have I asked Han Long. But since Han Long did this, he must have a purpose. Besides, isn't it suitable for growing rubber and cinchona trees? It's also good for growing grain, and we can have three harvests a year. In recent years, the Li Dynasty has paid us mostly grain and coal. Even if our Song Dynasty has no shortage of them, they are important resources."

Vietnam is indeed a country with scarce resources. Apart from relatively abundant aluminum ore, other common minerals are extremely scarce, and only the Red River Delta is suitable for farming.

Moreover, it is located in the tropics, with a hot climate and many diseases caused by mosquitoes, making it completely unsuitable for human habitation.

Otherwise, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Vietnam broke away from the Central Plains dynasty sequence. If it were not for these shortcomings, the Central Plains dynasty would have fought back long ago.

Therefore, in recent years there have been some voices in the imperial court that believe that whether it is controlling or occupying Annan, the cost outweighs the gain, and a lot of military expenditures would have to be spent every year to support the local garrison, so it would be better to withdraw troops and give up.

Even the prime ministers of the Constitutional Council had complaints about Zhao Jun's decision, thinking it was a pure waste of finances.

Only Zhao Jun knew that the problem with Vietnam was that, firstly, this area had belonged to the Central Plains dynasty in ancient times and had been occupied since the Qin and Han dynasties. It had been Han territory since ancient times.

This situation continued until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, in 939 AD, when some Annan people took advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains and the lack of time to worry about the southwest to break away from the Central Plains dynasty and establish an independent small kingdom, the Wu Dynasty.

However, the Ngŭ Dynasty was not a unified dynasty of Vietnam. Instead, there were many internal conflicts, known as the Rebellion of the Twelve Lords. It was not until 968 AD that the Dinh Dynasty ended the internal conflicts and unified Vietnam.

So in essence, Vietnam at this time was just a piece of territory that had separated from the Central Plains.

To be honest, it is an integral part of Chinese civilization.

Second, although Vietnam is poor in resources, it is suitable for growing various tropical fruits as well as rice, peanuts, soybeans, sugarcane, ramie, cotton, tea, rubber, etc., and has great economic value.

Although it lacks minerals such as gold, silver and copper, it has huge reserves of coal and aluminum ore, ranking among the top in the world. Its rare earth reserves are second only to my country, ranking second in the world.

Therefore, even if it cannot be utilized now, as an industrial pioneer, the Song Dynasty may find it useful in the future if we look at it from a long-term perspective.

The third one is the most important point.

Southwest my country has been stagnant for a long time, with many mountains and dense forests, and insufficient food production. If the Red River Delta is cultivated well, it will not be a problem to feed the entire southwest. And by connecting the Red River Delta region in northern Vietnam with Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou in my country, the southwest will have a very good outlet to the Beibu Gulf, which can greatly affect the economy and trade of the entire southwest region.

So, taking all factors into consideration, Zhao Jun believes that conquering Vietnam now and actually occupying this land would definitely be a huge loss.

But from a long-term perspective, supporting regime puppets and indirectly controlling them by spending some military expenditure every year is a good deal. You may not benefit from it now, but it will be a treasure trove in decades or hundreds of years.

It's like when Russia sold Alaska to the United States. At that time, Americans felt that it was a huge loss to spend 720 million US dollars to buy such a large piece of barren land.

But when gold and oil were discovered in Alaska, that was a different story.

"Okay, if Prime Minister Yan insists, let the Changhua Army go. However, we have no obligation to help the Li Dynasty. The most we can do is to help them repel the rebels so as to avoid spending so much military expenses."

Jia Changchao said.

"Well, let's go with the Changhua Army. Leave the note behind and have everyone sign it together. We can handle ordinary matters ourselves, but this involves mobilizing the army after all."

"By the way, Prime Minister Yan, there is something else here."

"what's up?"

"Didn't the Jinghai Army of Guangnan East Route be sent to Mayit Island by the Zhiyuan two years ago?"

"what happened?"

"They found that the local area was indeed rich in resources, so they wanted to build a port and set up a military port there, so that they could travel back and forth between Mayi and Guangzhou at all times."

"The court asked them to explore the route and record the local human geography, but they wanted to build a military port. I think the matter is not simple."

Yan Shu was indeed a smart man. He stroked his beard and said with a gleam in his eyes, "I'm afraid the Jinghai Army wants to do business by transporting goods there and enrich themselves."

Everyone looked at each other and felt that there was some truth in this. The behavior of the Jinghai Army was too abnormal. To build a port, the court must first send people to establish a stronghold, and then the court must organize the Guangnan East Road Transportation Bureau to build it.

Why did the Jinghai Army want to apply to establish a separate military port across Guangnan East Road? What forces were there that were worthy of the Song Dynasty's army, and the elite navy at that?
Makes no sense.

Jiang Tang said: "The army is not allowed to engage in business. This is a strict rule set by the governor!"

"Then call back and ask the Guangnan East Road Transportation Division to take a look at the situation."

"Ah."

"There is also a tricky thing here. Our soldiers stationed in Goryeo seem to be acting recklessly over there. Goryeo has already sent a letter."

"what happened?"

"Bullying women."

"This"

Yan Shu felt a headache.

The composition of the Song army was not the same as that of the later soldiers.

Instead, it is filled with a large number of criminals, rebels, and gangsters.

These people not only have low awareness, but also a high crime rate. Otherwise, why is there a saying in the Song Dynasty that "good men don't serve as soldiers, and good iron doesn't serve as nails"?

The discipline of the Song army at home is still relatively good, but it is hard to say about the troops stationed abroad.

I think there must be a similar situation in Annan and Japan, but Goryeo has never been beaten by the Song Dynasty and is willing to be a dog of the Song Dynasty. It thinks it can have a say with the top leaders of the Song Dynasty, so it dares to write a letter to explain the situation.

Otherwise, if it were Japan or Annan, it would have been covered up by the local garrisons and would have never had a chance to be presented to the Constitutional Yuan.

"There have been a lot of troubles recently. A copper mine was discovered on Jiangxi Road. It was originally a good thing, but it happened to be in the Futong Mountain area at the junction of Jizhou and Qianzhou."

Cai Qi said, "In theory, half of each state would be enough, but the official document said that the mines in Jizhou are easy to mine, and many of them are open-pit mines. It is easy to dig out the mountain belly and take away the mines in Qianzhou. The mines in Qianzhou are not easy to mine, but associated gold mines have been discovered, flowing out of the river in the mountains. Qianzhou is worried that Jizhou will dig up their mines, but Jizhou said that since Qianzhou cannot dig, it is better to let them open a smelter."

He then added: "If it was before, it would be fine. The court would make unified arrangements and set up the Copper and Iron Bureau to smelt the iron by itself. But now the court's new policy encourages local states and roads to set up state-owned enterprises, and the minerals discovered in the local area can be operated independently by the local area to develop the local economy. Now that this political achievement is there, neither side will give in. We lack relevant industrial experience, and it is indeed difficult to make a decision on how to distribute it."

"Well"

After Zhao Jun left, Yan Shu had replaced Lu Yijian as the decision-maker in the Constitutional Council.

But the problems are more troublesome than the last.

Some involve foreign civil wars, some involve overseas exploration, some involve the stationing of troops in other countries, and some involve industrial development.

These problems can be said to be tricky.

It’s not that the prime ministers are useless, but they are better at solving domestic problems. They are completely clueless about many overseas and industrial issues and have no experience in this area.

"Where is Hanlong now?"

Yan Shu suddenly remembered this question. He looked around and asked, "Didn't you say you had already arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang a few days ago?"

"Well, Hanlong set out in March, dealt with the problems of the local noble families in Yanyun in June, and then went south from Hedong Road, successively inspecting Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Huainan and other places."

Song Shou said: "According to the date, we should be almost in Jiangsu and Zhejiang now."

As he said this, he smiled again and said, "Han Long also said that he wanted to visit his hometown in Hunan again during the Spring Festival this year, but he was delayed for too long on the road. I heard that he killed a lot of people. Now it is late November, and the Spring Festival will be in another month and a half. I estimate that he can only go to Jiangnan West Road at most. I am afraid that he will not be able to go to Hunan before the New Year."

"Isn't that a coincidence?"

Yan Shu smiled and said, "These things all happened in the south. Send an urgent letter to Han Long. He knows how to deal with it."

"Pushing the matter to him again?"

"What can we do? This involves foreign situations, which is our knowledge blind spot. After all, when has the Song Dynasty ever dealt with foreign affairs?"

"That's true."

Cai Qi shook his head and said, "Although Hanlong is not in Bianliang, Bianliang cannot do without him. When can he come back soon? Then we can have some free time."

"Okay, let's do it right away before the Jinzouyuan is off duty. It's 500 miles fast, so as not to put it off until tomorrow."

"Ah."

Everyone nodded, this was the only thing they could do.

At this moment, Zhao Jun, who was far away in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and had just arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to investigate a corruption case in a state-owned salt field, sneezed violently.

It was late November. Although there was no snow in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there were continuous heavy rains and the sky seemed gloomy.

He stood on the salt field, staring coldly at the corrupt officials who had been tied to the execution ground. Among them were officials in charge of the salt industry, state-owned enterprise bosses in charge of operations, and people who colluded with them.

The last time he dealt with corruption in the salt industry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was in the first year of the Qingli period. It was Liu Yong, who was in charge of salt business at the time, who reported the problem to him.

Just nine years later, termites were infested again.

"The Song Dynasty will disband without me."

Zhao Jun looked at the execution ground in the distance and slammed the table lightly, saying, "Kill!"

In an instant, a large number of heads fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)