You have truly caused me great suffering!

As dawn broke, Li Shishi got up and helped Chen Shao dress.

Because she was too tired before going to sleep, she was still a little groggy when she woke up in the morning, as if she hadn't slept enough.

This was the first time she hadn't gotten up early, but she still looked even more charming than when she was dressed up.

When she woke up, the madness of the previous night still lingered in her mind. The young man seemed very excited, and she wondered what had touched a nerve with him.

Li Shishi pondered, could it be some action she took yesterday? What words she uttered? Or her clothing?
She was very good at collecting details that Chen Shao liked in his daily life.

At this moment, while recalling the past, he also cared for and reminded Chen Shao to eat breakfast properly.

Chen Shao, however, appeared full of energy; his mind had already flown to the Chuigong Hall.

In the past, he was very tired and exhausted from handling government affairs, but this time he was completely enjoying the arrangements made for Japan.

Moreover, all sorts of ingenious ideas keep emerging.

After Chen Shao left, Li Shishi took off her clothes again. Although she was no longer sleepy, she still wanted to take another nap.

When it comes to health and wellness, she doesn't just care about Chen Shao; she cares even more about herself. If possible, she hopes to maintain her beauty for as long as possible.

As dawn broke and the imperial city was still quiet, Chen Shao arrived at the Chuigong Hall.

Jingyang Palace was inherited from the palace of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Although the Southern Tang Dynasty was in a period of chaos, it admired the Tang Dynasty system in its culture. The palace buildings were mostly modeled after the palaces of Chang'an and Luoyang, with tall buildings and strong brackets.

Once upon a time, this place was described as "carved beams and painted rafters, resplendent in gold and jade," especially during the reigns of Li Jing and Li Yu, when the court life was extravagant and the architectural decorations were extremely elaborate.

They planted flowers and trees extensively within the imperial city and created water features, such as the famous Chengxin Hall, Yaoguang Hall, Baichi Tower, and Qixia Pavilion, which were exquisite and elegant, embodying the ultimate aesthetic of the fusion of Jiangnan gardens and the grand palaces of the Tang Dynasty.

After Zhao Er conquered Jinling, his eyes lit up when he saw this palace, and he gained a lot of knowledge.

He immediately ordered the palace to be dismantled in large and small parts, and the exquisite decorations were transported to Bianliang from afar.

Chen Shao did not allocate much money for this renovation, and Liu Guanglie could not build a magnificent palace out of thin air, so the overall style remained Chen Shao's pragmatic and frugal approach.

It's just a house; as long as it's habitable, that's fine. Besides, how bad can the imperial city be?

He flipped through the accumulated memorials from yesterday, studying them as he waited for the officials to arrive.

Before they knew it, an hour and a half had passed, and the officials in charge of the matter arrived one after another.

Everyone saw that His Majesty's desk was covered with many papers, including maps and text.

His Majesty was so diligent that all the officials also perked up.

A short while later, Zhong Shidao also arrived.

A few years ago, when Yao Gu was still alive, he would tell everyone that Old Zhong was old and frail, nearing the end of his life, and probably didn't have many years left to live.

In the end, he even believed it himself, and shed tears several times as a sign of respect.

In reality, it was nothing more than taking up the banner of the Western Army and leading it.

Now that Yao Gudu has been dead for three years, Zhong Shidao's health has actually improved.

Historically, Zhong Shidao truly devoted himself to serving his country, yet he was also suspected because of his status as the leader of the Western Army.

He finally died in despair after hearing that his entire army had been wiped out and that Xiao Zhong had died on the battlefield.

Now, during the middle of Tong Guan's campaign against Liao, he was forced to return to his hometown and never went to the battlefield again.

My physical condition is naturally not the same as it was back then, and my mood is not as conflicted and distressed as it was in history.

He's an old fox; he still wants to see the crown prince grow up.

Looking at Chen Shao's strategy of remotely controlling Japan from Korea through the four seaports, Han Shizhong frowned slightly.

"Your Majesty, why bother with such a small place? Our navy is now extremely powerful. We can land on a shallow beach and I will personally go and capture that bird feather."

Chen Shao shook his head and said, "No matter how large a country is, it will perish if it loves war. We should not get involved; let them fight it out themselves."

“If we were to attack now, they would surely see us as the invaders and resist with all their might. Just look at Fujiwara no Tadamichi; he was able to refuse our Ōkage's attempts to win him over, which shows that he is not a short-sighted person. If our Ōkage were to attack, it would only encourage their various factions to reconcile and unite around Toba, which would not be good.”

“Our Great Jing is separated from it by the sea. If we get bogged down in the mud, we don’t know how many soldiers we will have to send in and how much money we will have to spend.”

Zhong Shidao nodded and said, "Your Majesty is right. It would be best if we could make them fight each other, intensify the hatred between the tribes, and prevent them from ever making peace again."

The Western Army and the Western Xia fought for over a hundred years, frequently employing various underhanded tactics, such as sowing discord and dividing the country. They were also adept at this art of stratagem.

The Qiang people of Hengshan repeatedly moved between the Song and Xia dynasties.

However, they were forced to sway each other because one side was inhumane and left them no way out, forcing them to side with the other.

The Western Army as a whole was actually very cunning, not the kind of soldiers who only knew how to fight, as people might imagine.

Just as everyone was discussing the matter, Wang Xiaojie suddenly came in and whispered something in Chen Shao's ear.

Chen Shao simply nodded and said "Oh" without saying anything more.

Han Shizhong noticed his unusual expression and asked, "Your Majesty?"

Chen Shao smiled and said, "The sixteen counties of Henan Prefecture are resisting the land survey, gathering tenants, and blocking the survey team."

"They've rebelled!" Han Shizhong roared. "I'm going to meet them."

"No need, my personal guards are still here."

During the spring planting season, a lot of land in Yanshi County, Henan Prefecture, was left uncultivated.

Yanshi is bordered by Gongxian County to the east and Luoyang to the west, and is located in the lower reaches of the Yi and Luo River plains.

Because of its flat terrain and dense network of waterways, it has been a "fertile land" since ancient times.

Chen Shao's edict made it clear that neglecting land was a grave crime for the Jing Dynasty, especially on such fertile soil.

Within Yanshi County, every household stayed indoors, and the only sound was the wind.

With a cold smile on his face and icy eyes, Mei Zang Pang led a group of men through the main road of the county.

This silent protest is extremely malicious.

Yanshi is a large county, but it is close to Luoyang, so in reality, all the power is in Luoyang, and the county government offices are small.

They hadn't gone far when Pang Ge, who had been hiding, arrived in front of the study in the inner courtyard.

Without a word, his men kicked open the study door.

The door seemed flimsy; half of it came loose and collapsed with a crash.

Amidst the swirling dust, Brother Pang, undeterred by the dust, strode inside.

Then they saw a man in his forties, with fair skin and a light beard, and a very dignified appearance. He was wearing a single-layered robe and sitting on a folding chair, holding a rope in his hand.

Beside him was a woman who was grabbing his feet and crying incessantly.

The man's hands trembled slightly as he shook his head repeatedly. Hearing the door being kicked open, he glanced up and said with a bitter smile, "While suicide is difficult for me, surrender is impossible. Just grant me a quick and painless death... Since your Emperor Jing claims to love his people, perhaps you should refrain from committing further bloodshed in the city..."

This person was none other than the magistrate of Yanshi County.

Death is the only hardship throughout history, and the county magistrate simply couldn't bring himself to do it.

However, he didn't show much servility, and he addressed Chen Shao as Emperor Jing, indicating that he still considered himself a subject of the Song Dynasty.

Given Pang Ge's personality, he would have chopped off a hundred heads, but he didn't do so at this moment.

“You lowly official, you’ve been coerced into trying to kill yourself to tarnish our emperor’s reputation. How can such a despicable and vile trick please you?”

County Magistrate Jiang Chengyao's expression immediately turned ugly; this barbarian general had actually seen through the arrangement.

Isn't it said that he is brave and fierce, reckless and foolish?
Pang Ge, looking smug, kicked Jiang Chengyao aside with one of his men, pulled over his chair, and wiped it with his sleeve.

Meizang Pangge shook his cloak and sat down, cursing, "What do those filthy scoundrels in Luoyang take me for? In the first year of Xuanhe, I joined the current emperor's ranks and made the greatest contribution to the campaign against the enemy."

Jiang Chengyao stared blankly as he listened to Brother Pang's endless chatter, which was mostly irrelevant to the matter at hand, and how clever and brave he was, and how many merits he had made.

It seems that when the Great Jing Dynasty was founded, his contributions were even greater than those of Emperor Chen Shao.

After venting his anger, Pang Ge said, "Those scoundrels in Luoyang don't dare to oppose His Majesty's new policies themselves, so they send pathetic wretch like you to your death. You're supposed to be a respectable man, how can you be so spineless? Is this your wife?"

Jiang Chengyao sat up straight, moved slightly in front of her, and glared at Pang Ge without saying a word.

"You, an official, can't even protect your own family?"

Jiang Chengyao sighed, turned around and slapped the woman, cursing, "I told you to leave, but you wouldn't listen. Now you've fallen into the hands of thieves, what are we going to do!"

"Pah!" Pang Ge's face turned bright red, as if he had been stepped on. He stood up and shouted, "Who's the thief? We're soldiers, you're the thief! A traitor to the country!"

"Now we live in the Great Jing Dynasty. Since you, this worthless official, consider yourself an official of the Great Song Dynasty, why don't you listen to the words of the last emperor of the Great Song Dynasty?"

"If you disobey the imperial edict of the Song Dynasty, you are a thief of the Song Dynasty; now you disobey the imperial edict of the Jing Dynasty, you are a thief of the Jing Dynasty. You are truly a thief by nature, serving as a dog for those old servants in Luoyang, defying two emperors and fathers, bah! You have disgraced your ancestors, you are utterly shameful! We, who destroyed the western bandits and northern barbarians, and recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, are honorable founding heroes, and you are still cursing us?"

Jiang Chengyao was filled with shame and indignation.

After a while, he said, "Kill me. My family has been indebted to Lord Dong for generations, and I cannot betray him."

"What great favor?"

Jiang Chengyao sighed and said, "When my ancestor was studying in Luoyang, he didn't have enough money to go to the capital. It was the Dong family who sponsored him and gave him fifteen sesame cakes. That's how he was able to go to the capital and pass the imperial examination."

"Why don't you just give him thirty bills back?"

Jiang Chengyao crossed his legs and said in annoyance, "This isn't about the cake, you don't understand!"

"I don't understand. Doesn't the sage understand? You've wasted your time studying. Think about it carefully. Would the sage ask you to prioritize personal favors or to consider the greater good of the world?"

"Tell me yourself, how well is the current emperor doing?"

Jiang Chengyao lowered his head even further.

Pang Ge snorted and said, "Capture him."

"General, you've been trying to persuade him for so long, why did you arrest him again?" the guard whispered. "I think he's about to give up."

"I only cursed him to have some fun. Who cares if he wakes up or not? As long as I feel good about it."

Jiang Chengyao suddenly stood up and shouted, "Me!"

"What's wrong with you?" "I confess."

Mei Zang Pang Ge nodded and said, "I don't really need whether you confess or not, but these days I'm looking for some people to teach me to read, so you can stay by my side. Watch how I drag all these bastards from Luoyang into jail."

After saying that, Brother Pang took out a list from his pocket and told his men, "Use this list, the addresses are written on it, arrest them!"

Jiang Chengyao looked down and turned pale with fright. It turned out that all the important figures he had in mind were on this list of barbarian generals.

It was just a casual remark: "They've all been arrested."

The troops under Pang Ge's command were all soldiers of Wu Lin's Lingwu Camp, and were already formidable warriors.

In Henan Prefecture, they first broke into Zhaijiazhuang and captured the brothers Zhai Xing and Zhai Jin alive; then they captured the entire family of Shao Bowen, son of the famous Neo-Confucian scholar and founder of "Xiantianxue" (the study of the innate nature of learning).

Three days later, the Fan, Lü, and Sima families were all captured.

Among them, the Zhai brothers were able to gather 10,000 people to resist when the Jin army marched south, defend the Yiyang Mountain stronghold, and repeatedly defeat the Jin army.

However, at this time, few people were willing to follow the Lingwu Army.

After all, the enemies they faced were different. One was the Jin army that burned, killed, and looted, while the other was the Emperor of the Great Jing Dynasty, the legitimate ruler of the Central Plains.

You can do bad things secretly, but openly confronting someone has no legal basis.

They hid behind the scenes, trying to incite the government and the people to oppose the imperial court, create public opinion, and coerce the court into abandoning the land survey.

But they forgot that the Emperor of Dajing was not the Emperor of Dasong, and Tongting was full of ruthless officials. No one cared about this or that; they just arrested and convicted people.

Thus, a massive purge and arrests unfolded in Henan Prefecture.

This is the biggest obstacle we've encountered since the nationwide land survey began. If we can crack this tough nut, things will be easier from here on out.

Faced with the Henan government's resistance tactics, Chen Shao was reminded of one person—Gandhi.

"You're too ahead of your time to be engaging in a non-resistance movement in the Great Jing Dynasty," Chen Shao said, both amused and exasperated.

In his view, this was no big deal. They still hadn't figured out one thing: their rise to power hadn't involved any compromise with them whatsoever.

I have no need for you, and naturally I won't care about you. In the end, you are the beneficiaries of the Song Dynasty and the foundation of its rule.

Then, to the Great Jing Dynasty, you are just a bunch of insignificant scoundrels who still dare to enjoy the privileges of the previous dynasty.

Therefore, Chen Shao did not issue an imperial edict to intervene.

He knew that Pang Ge was not one of his men.

Despite being a foreigner, Mezang Pangge is a very intelligent man.

By remaining silent, I allow him to express himself freely.

Sure enough, after receiving Chen Shao's tacit approval, Pang Ge became increasingly bold.

As more and more people were arrested, Cai Jing came to plead for leniency ten days later.

The scholar-officials of the Song Dynasty were deeply entrenched in their social networks. Even among political rivals, many had kinship or teacher-student relationships when they were brought up a certain distance.

But Chen Shao remained unmoved.

He looked at the white-haired Cai Jing and Chen Shao, who was discussing matters with his officials, and said with a smile, "I will spread the word that the Grand Tutor has come and spoken well of them."

"You all go out and speak to him for me, so that we can repay the Grand Tutor's favor."

"The ministers obey the order."

Cai Jing blushed.

He didn't really want to plead for mercy; he just couldn't stand idly by because Brother Pang had already arrested more than two thousand people.

More than two thousand people, not just two thousand cattle and sheep, but many families behind them.

Luoyang in Henan Prefecture was a haven for scholar-officials, and many of its inhabitants were descendants of famous ministers.

Everyone present laughed.

To say that there were no connections involved this time is really not true.
The Hedong and Henan prefectures are adjacent to each other. Some gentry in Hedong, because they are too deeply involved with them, have also been misled into secretly resisting the new policies.

After teaching these people a lesson, Brother Pang released some of them who confessed and begged for mercy.

He's a very shrewd man. The Hedong faction carries a lot of weight in the court. If he cultivates good relationships with a few people there, he can ask for favors and get things done if he needs anything in the future.

However, all those in Luoyang are remnants of the previous dynasty, people who have been at odds with His Majesty from the very beginning.

These people must be dealt with severely!
Luoyang is already the center of scholars in the world. If an ordinary person were to arrest him, they would definitely feel psychological pressure, but Pang Ge didn't care about any of that at all.

I am a barbarian general.

My troops all come from the Northwest, and their roots are in the fortresses and strongholds of the Northwest. No matter how powerful or well-connected you scholars and officials of the Central Plains are, you have nothing to do with us.

Cai Jing did not leave. He sat in the Chuigong Hall and listened for a while as Chen Shao and other civil and military officials discussed politics.

They were talking about Liaodong and Goryeo.

Although Cai Jing was wise, he didn't know much about the matter and just listened quietly.

Although he didn't understand it very well, he didn't find it boring.

During the Song Dynasty, discussions about border affairs and wars were often gloomy and the atmosphere was painful.

But now it's a completely different story.

This left the old man, Cai Jing, somewhat dazed.

Sitting in the chair in the Chuigong Hall, he did not participate for the first time, but instead attentively observed a political discussion.

His discussions with the emperor and his ministers in the palace were devoid of any vested interests or calculations aimed at maximizing benefits and minimizing harm.

This was simply impossible before. Whenever there was a major or minor event in the court, the first thing to do was to determine whether it could be used to attack political enemies and whether it could benefit one's own camp.
Then we'll discuss what to do next.

Just as he was in a daze, he suddenly heard Chen Shao's words, "Grand Tutor Cai, how much did the court spend when we returned to Hedongliu?"

Cai Jing blurted out, "During the Daguan era, the Yellow River flowed eastward, mobilizing over 200,000 laborers across Hebei, eastern Beijing, and western Beijing. The cost was 12 million strings of cash."

"How's the repair going?"

Cai Jing gave a bitter smile. "At that time, Zhao Ting was the river management commissioner. He blocked the northern flow of the river, widened the Ergu River, and built dikes for hundreds of miles. Just as the project was completed, the following year, the river breached its banks in Wucheng and Yuxian, causing the eastern river channel to silt up. The project was a waste of resources."

Chen Shao thought to himself that not much of that 12 million would actually be used for river repairs.

He drew a line on the map with his finger. “Forcing the flow eastward is not advisable. This time, we should take advantage of the need to transport supplies to excavate the canal and reduce our dependence on the Yellow River.”

The Yellow River is not suitable for water transport, and Chen Shao has already restricted wooden houses and developed coal mining to reduce charcoal production in order to protect the water and soil upstream.

However, this is a long-term process that requires time to show results, and the threat to the Yellow River occurs every year.

Cai Jing then stepped forward and noticed a canal on the map that Chen Shao and the others were discussing, connecting Youyan and Jiangnan.

I heard that Yang Cheng is currently digging, and the progress is incredibly fast.

Cai Jing couldn't help but think that if this river were actually built, in his professional opinion, it would truly benefit future generations.

It can revitalize Youyan and benefit Hebei.

With the Silk Road, maritime caravans, canals, and the Yangtze River, and no powerful foreign invaders or local warlords, the whole world will surely prosper.

How fortunate it is for someone to become prime minister under such financial circumstances.
Thinking back on the more than ten years he had ruled the country, Cai Jing felt an indescribable bitterness in his heart.

Li Tangchen, Wei Li, Xu Jin, Zhang Xiaochun
Who could compare to me? It's a pity I was born at the wrong time!
Cai Jing thought of the Northwest, where Chen Shao had risen to power, and how those fortified villages, occupying key routes of the Silk Road, were becoming increasingly wealthy.

The fertile lands of the Central Plains are about to be filled by the Dingnan Army.

The regime of the Great Jing Dynasty was unprecedentedly stable and could last for a long time.
-
The case of Henan Prefecture resisting land surveys and concealing land holdings can be considered the biggest case since the founding of the Jing Dynasty.

The imperial court seemed indifferent to this matter, but dealt with it with swift and decisive action.

It was swift and ruthless, without any hesitation, clearly telling the world that our Great Jing Emperor had fought his way through fire and water to conquer this land.

No one should think they have a lot of face or weight.

In the end, this case implicated 2,300 households and more than 50,000 people.

Because the prison was not large enough, soldiers temporarily surrounded their mansions and concentrated them in various wealthy and powerful households to await their fate.

The farmland of these two thousand households was completely confiscated, and most of their family property was also confiscated.

168 million mu of farmland and 655 million strings of cash were confiscated.

At this point, Chen Shao finally intervened and stopped Pang Ge, who still wanted to continue.

His target was families with generations of officials and prominent local clans; small and medium-sized landowners were not within his scope of attack.

Fifty thousand criminals were exiled to places such as Lingwu, Jiaozhi, Liaodong, Qingtang, and Hexi.

In the Song Dynasty, this would have shaken the very foundation of the regime, but not in the Jing Dynasty.

Because they are the foundation of the Song Dynasty, not the foundation of the Jing Dynasty.

Chen Shao exiled them to the border, which was tantamount to a reshuffling.

People from the northwestern border regions came to the fertile Central Plains, to the heartland of the land.

These people were all exiled to the border, which meant that Chen Shaolai made the best use of them.

They number 50,000, and aside from everything else, they are brimming with literary and cultural knowledge.
They were probably the most cultured group of people in the entire Great Jing Dynasty, and also the group who understood the orthodox Han Chinese poetry, literature, and etiquette best.

Sending them to the border also has its advantages; they can help Sinicize the border residents, making good use of their resources.

So much land has been conquered over the years, and in many places, barbarian customs are still preserved.

As for whether they would spread anti-government sentiments in the area, that would be a gross overestimation of them. Fifty thousand men scattered across the border would not cause a ripple.

Because they left the Central Plains, they lost their original foundation. They were local bullies in the Central Plains, but they were nothing when they went to the border.

Before long, after a few years of hardship, they will urge their children and nephews to work hard and try to pass the exams to return home. (End of Chapter)