Northern Song Dynasty: Starting from the son of Song Renzong

Chapter 183 Two-in-one
But compared to his elder sister's marriage, his marriage is more important.

Next…

He mainly discussed his marriage with his father.

The first thing to discuss was, if we get married next year, would it be too early?
Do you want to delay it for another two years?

However, as the saying goes, the longer the night, the more trouble it may cause. Zhao Xin was afraid that some complications would arise in the middle.

Now think about it, it is June.

Half a year is enough time to catch wild geese.

He said to his father, "Dad, what do you say about me getting married next spring?"

Zhao Zhen didn't even want to say anything about him.

Are you in that hurry?

Zhao Xin added: "In fact, everything should be kept simple. How much did you spend on your wedding, Dad?"

can only say……

Definitely a lot.

Not to mention the arrangements for the wedding, just the arrangements inside and outside the palace and the rewards given to others are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of strings of cash.

The Song Dynasty was not strong in other aspects, but it spent money to buy the scholars and officials, and to gain the loyalty of the people around it.

It is much stronger than other dynasties.

But not everyone gives money, at least not the poor people.

even……

The money given out as rewards was used to extort money from the poor people.

otherwise……

There wouldn’t be so many peasant uprisings every year in our Song Dynasty.

But it’s actually not that bad if there’s no war.

It can still barely hold on, but if a war breaks out, the country's fiscal deficit will be magnified.

Zhao Xin has always been a very independent person.

Zhao Zhen naturally listened to his words.

But what can I say!

He is a prince after all.

This wedding can't be too shabby.

This spring, it's definitely not going to be good.

Not enough time to prepare.

At the earliest, it will be next autumn.

Zhao Zhen also asked: "Isn't it okay for you to get married when you are fifteen?"

Zhao Xin said, "I was fifteen, I was fifteen, I went to fight Li Yuanhao! Alas... but Li Yuanhao seems to be dead. Then I will fight the Liao Kingdom and take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun."

The Western Xia had already caused the Song Dynasty to be filled with refugees. When Zhao Zhen heard that Zhao Xin still wanted to attack the Liao Kingdom, he immediately thought: It seems that you want the Song Dynasty to perish as soon as possible.

But in fact, Zhao Xin was also hesitating about who to attack first.

You know, in terms of military strength, the Northwest Army is definitely the strongest in the Song Dynasty.

If we allow them to cultivate the land on their own and turn them into local separatist forces, that would be enough to stop the Western Xia.

in this way……

It shouldn't be a big problem for me to go north to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

As for...

Another way is to first take over Xixia and Tubo, and then destroy the Liao Kingdom.

But if you think about it, you will know that Western Xia and Liao are actually in the same group. Although Liao also attacked Western Xia, if the Song Dynasty really wanted to destroy Western Xia, that would definitely be something Liao would not want to see.

The current situation is like that of Wei, Shu and Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, where no one can do anything to anyone else.

It can only be consumed slowly.

It is very difficult for anyone to defeat the enemy with one blow or destroy the enemy's country.

Not to mention……

The Song Dynasty had no mass base either in Western Xia or in the Liao Kingdom.

The customs of Western Xia are different from those of the Song Dynasty. They will not accept your rule. Even if you station troops there, the locals will definitely find opportunities to rebel one after another.

The taxes in the Liao Kingdom were much lower than those in the Song Dynasty. The Han people living in the Liao Kingdom did not even want to return to the Song Dynasty.

after all……

Would you be willing to pay three times the original price for salt?

Winning the war is only the first step; how to rule next is the most crucial.

of course!

For Zhao Xin, this solution was not too simple.

Anyway...

It's not like we haven't learned about "one country, two systems".

Before the battle began, it was necessary to widely publicize to the Han people in the Liao Kingdom that the Song Dynasty had taken back the land and everything would be calculated according to the Liao Kingdom's tax revenue.

otherwise……

At any moment, there would be Han people who would come under the banner of Liao and offer to support the Liao Kingdom.

I had a lot of random thoughts.

At last……

Zhao Xin also said: "Dad, it's already like that! Let's set the wedding date for next autumn!"

Zhao Zhen felt ashamed.

Because Zhao Xin is so young, he is so anxious to get married.

At least you should reach the legal age before coming here!
but……

Considering that during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, many emperors and empresses got married at the age of eleven or twelve.

Things like this are nothing.

Anyway...

He is not the only one who is embarrassed.

Then he said, "Whatever you like, do as you please."

Zhao Xin said, "Then Daddy, you have to prepare the betrothal gifts, and that thing, the betrothal gift and so on."

After explaining everything to his father.

He wrote another letter to Chen Yuanyuan.

Two days later, Zhao Xin took Ouyang Xiu and Du Yan, who were old, to stay in the court to collect rumors for him. He also called Zeng Gong back out of love.

in this way……

Ouyang Xiu, plus ten Jinshi, plus some officials related to the river, and some guards.

With hundreds of people, Zhao Xin conducted an investigation of the place where the Yellow River burst its banks, as well as the upstream and downstream areas.

The Yellow River burst its banks mainly because of congestion. The lower reaches are flat, and there is too much sand accumulated, causing the water level to rise continuously, eventually leading to the bursting of the banks.

Zhao Xin, who was also an official related to the river, directly proposed the strategy of "restraining water and attacking sand". He artificially narrowed some places where the water flow was slow, speeded up the flow, and let the water carry away the yellow sand.

of course!

The key is still the upper reaches, but currently the upper reaches of the Yellow River are basically within the territories of Western Xia and Liao. It is unrealistic for the Song Dynasty to plant trees or something.

but……

In order to manage the Yellow River well, this is something that must be done, and it is not something that can be solved in one or two years.

Therefore, a special environmental protection department was set up to do something.

Just do your best.

As soon as Zhao Xin came on stage, he showed extraordinary confidence.

Everyone was stunned by the shock.

unknown……

I really thought he was a genius in river management.

As for the present, the Yellow River has split into two rivers at the place where it broke its dike.

There is no way to prevent this.

No matter what, let’s first prevent the people from going bankrupt and having no food to eat.

Those who are severely affected by the disaster and can be relocated should be persuaded to relocate.

Let those whose cases are not that serious and who want to stay, continue to let them stay.

at this time……

It will be difficult to get them to pay any taxes.

But we can't just sit there and wait. In order to solve the problem that the people can do nothing and can only rely on the weather for food, Zhao Xin went to visit and inspect the iron and coal mines in Xingzhou and Cizhou of the Song Dynasty.

These two places are about four hundred to five hundred miles away from the Liao front line, and a little more than four hundred miles away from Kaifeng.

It was stuck right in the middle of the line.

If we could use railways to connect these more than a thousand miles, the military supplies of the Song Dynasty would be delivered smoothly.

But of course!

The Liao Kingdom may demolish your railway at any moment.

On the North China Plain, the Liao cavalry came and went like the wind, and you had no way to deal with them at all.

but……

Even so, we can still try to repair the section from Xingzhou, Cizhou to Kaifeng first.

Zhao Xin asked Ouyang Xiu and others for their opinions.

I especially asked about Zeng Gong.

Then he said, "I plan to let the ten of you Jinshi handle the transportation of grain to Hebei. Although this kind of thing can also be handed over to the three departments, but... I want to see your ability. I don't need to tell you the requirements? Use the least money to buy the most grain, and then transport it on the road efficiently. After arriving, it must be properly stored. The destination is Xingzhou and Cizhou. In addition, there are places that have just been hit by the disaster, so they should be placed nearby. Ouyang Xiu, the others, keep an eye on them."

Ouyang Xiu also said: "But if more people organize this matter, won't it become more chaotic?"

Zhao Xin said, "Then you guys decide among yourselves who can speak."

Ouyang Xiu then asked, "But what if none of them submits to the other?"

Zhao Xin: "What am I doing here with people like this? Let's demote them all to civilians. Don't worry, I will see your merits and demerits. You are responsible for different things and have different duties. As long as you do your own duties well, I will give you the opportunity to try other things next time. What I hate most is people who ignore the overall situation, exclude colleagues, form factions, and attack each other. If there are different opinions and it really becomes difficult to resolve the issue, it is not you who have the final say, but me! At that time, I will naturally make the decision. You just need to propose a plan and make it clear. I will choose the plan that I think is suitable. No one should argue. You can try to divide the work now."

Ten people looked at each other.

In fact, they had already held a banquet after they passed the imperial examination, so they were actually quite familiar with each other.

Of course, except Zeng Gong, his father died as soon as he passed the exam, so he was unable to attend the banquet.

It is indeed not an easy task to make these outstanding people in the country submit to others.

But the good thing is...

Some people are good at poetry and get high scores, so others may value them more.

Zhao Xin watched them with interest.

With Zhao Xin's previous words, they didn't dare to quarrel.

The one with the highest score, however, started to organize the group: "I think we should discuss the process together first, so that we can allocate tasks and decide who will do what."

Zeng Gong was also among them.

However, compared to the top scholar, he is much more down-to-earth.

Zhao Xin watched their discussion throughout.

In fact, from everyone's expression and what they say, you can roughly tell what level some people are at.

Some of them are very leadership-oriented, but most people think they are a bit pretentious.

Some people just follow others and seem to have no ideas, but in fact, this type of people are the best at listening.

One night's work.

Basically, the process was discussed.

The next day, when Zhao Xin woke up, the ten people had already divided their tasks.

In fact, the most difficult thing is probably communicating with businessmen.

As for road transportation, warehousing, and distribution, the difficulty is just average.

Of course, it is not easy to do it well.

Seeing that they all had an idea, Zhao Xin asked Ouyang Xiu to just watch.

his words……

He had to go back to Kaifeng and carry out a second round of reforms on the Li Yuan Army.

The first thing is to improve the welfare system for Li Yuanjun himself and a certain number of his family members, from birth to old age to illness and death, and establish systems such as child support and pensions.

Secondly, we need to establish a withdrawal mechanism. Some people say they don’t want to be a soldier anymore, they don’t want to live on the edge of a knife, they can’t stand it.

Well, they can also be allowed to withdraw.

only……

The two hundred acres of land were turned back into the fifty acres that other people in Xuchang and Nanyang had, and he had to reclaim the remaining one hundred and fifty acres.

Zhao Xin then specially hired a charlatan to find a Feng Shui treasured site in Xuchang.

Planning to build a cemetery.

At that time, carve a very large stone tablet and place it about 100 to 200 meters in the center of the avenue at the entrance.

It is written on it, 'The people of the world'.

Then behind them are all the tombstones of soldiers.

Turn it into an emperor-level cemetery.

Of course!
It’s definitely not as deep as the one the emperor dug.

The second round of military reforms mainly focused on improving family welfare and also on developing the spiritual civilization of soldiers.

after……

Every month, some speeches should be held regularly.

Tell them what kind of soldiers they need.

at the same time……

Also tell them that there will definitely be no reduction in benefits.

Because the benefits were informed to them in advance, and the withdrawal was informed to them later.

and so……

Naturally, there are only a few people who want to retreat.

but……

Some people are born timid, and even after training, they still feel that they are not suitable for this job.

Then there's no way!

Zhao Xin gave them ten days off and asked them to go back and discuss things with their families.

At last……

Zhao Xin also taught them to sing a new song, "Song of Reform and Strengthening the Army."

The most important sentence is, 'Stay firm and upward'.

We must unify our actions and our thinking.

So, they were released.

These ten days were naturally extremely painful.

On the one hand, it is the highest welfare for the army ever seen in human history, except for those who were granted titles of nobility and appointed as prime ministers.

On the one hand, one’s own life might be lost on the battlefield any day.

After Zhao Xin let them go, he asked Zhao Xun, "Zhao Xun, how many of them will run away?"

Zhao Xun also replied: "I don't know, but it's not as good as the best, but it's more than enough than the worst."

What Zhao Xun meant by "up" was being granted a title of nobility and being appointed as prime minister.

Zhao Xin also said: "Maybe in the future, there may be a chance. There may be a third round of reforms, or even a fourth round of reforms."

Zhao Xin has figured it out. His peak period is only ten years in total, so he might as well make the most of it.

That’s it after the fight.

Do you still expect it to run for fifty or a hundred years?

Ten days later, the soldiers came back one after another. Out of three thousand people, more than two hundred ran away.

I can only say it's acceptable.

After all, this is less than 10%.

then……

Next, Zhao Xin could also arrange for those people who had been affected by the disaster in Hebei and could no longer survive, and who were so miserable that they had to sell their children, to help the remaining 2,700 people to farm the land.

There were a total of more than 8,100 households affected by the disaster, and each household helped to cultivate 50 acres of land and was considered a tenant.

Half of the grain produced from the land was handed over to the Li Yuan army.

As for Li Yuanjun's family members, they all became small landlords.

of course!

This is not fixed. Maybe one day when the disaster in Hebei is not so serious, these tenants will go back and replant their own land.

After this reform, Zhao Xin could clearly feel that the combat effectiveness of Li Yuan’s army seemed to have improved again.

After all, we are already small landlords, so how can we not work hard?

nowadays……

Even Zhao Xin of Liao Dynasty dared to touch him.

(End of this chapter)