Chapter 265 Sealing Pile Depot
"Jiefu, you have to remember one thing. When it comes to matters concerning the people, the simpler the better. Because most people are illiterate, and policies are too complicated, it would be too easy for local officials to deceive the people.
I came up with the idea of allocating taxes according to the amount of land in order to make the tax system simpler and clearer. What you said about grading the land is somewhat contrary to allocating taxes according to the amount of land. "Zhao Xing said.
Why did Zhao Xing always feel that Wang Anshi was a little too idealistic?
It is because Wang Anshi’s reform policies are good no matter how you look at them.
However, when put into practice, most of these policies ended up harming the people.
Some people may say that this is because the officials of the Song Dynasty were corrupt and Wang Anshi cannot be blamed.
But isn’t it Wang Anshi’s fault?
Zhao Xing felt that he was to blame.
First of all, this is a set of false propositions. The main reason for introducing any new law is that the original law has too many drawbacks and new laws are needed to solve these drawbacks.
Where do the drawbacks of the new law come from?
Ultimately it's still those officials.
Before implementing a new law, we must consider whether there are any loopholes in the new law and what drawbacks exist.
But Wang Anshi did not think about these things, or he was too confident in his new laws.
But Wang Anshi’s starting point was not wrong, which is also the reason why Zhao Xing used Wang Anshi.
However, he positioned Wang Anshi as an executor rather than a maker of reforms.
However, most capable literati in ancient times had a common problem.
If you don't do what they want, they won't serve you.
How can I bow my head and serve the powerful and wealthy, and make myself unhappy?
In history, Wang Anshi submitted petitions for reform several times, but his proposals were not adopted, so he simply resigned.
The same thing happened to Sima Guang. When Emperor Shenzong insisted on reform, he resigned and started to revise his book.
The literati of the Song Dynasty had almost abandoned the six arts of a gentleman, but their arrogance was stronger than that of other dynasties.
Wang Anshi looked thoughtful when he heard this. At that time, he was not yet the person who later presided over the reform and was not as stubborn as he was.
The important thing is that Zhao Xing was not opposed to the reform, so when he heard what Zhao Xing said, he would think about it instead of resisting.
Zhao Xing paused and continued, "Since ancient times, there have been many dynasties with wise rulers and capable ministers, but have there ever been policies that have remained unchanged? Don't think about formulating policies that will last forever, just formulate policies that are in line with the current situation. Maybe the current system and policies are useful, but in a few decades, new drawbacks will arise. Think carefully about what I said today. I have high hopes for you and hope you don't let me down."
"Yes, I understand." Wang Anshi stood up and saluted, saying, "I'll take my leave!"
"Go ahead." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
Watching Wang Anshi leave, Zhao Xing shook his head slightly.
I hope Wang Anshi’s thoughts can change.
Otherwise he would just have to discard it.
…………
At the end of November, Sheng Wei and his son returned to Bian Jing. Zhao Xing hosted a banquet for them and sent someone to invite Shu Lan to meet him.
Shulan is already nine months pregnant and is due to give birth around the New Year.
Shulan was so excited that she hadn't seen her father and brother for a long time, which scared Zhao Xing.
He secretly cursed himself for his mistake. If Shulan got excited and something happened to her, his father would probably skin him alive.
After all, up to now, Shulan is the only pregnant concubine of Zhao Xing, and the others are still not pregnant. The emperor is very concerned about this grandson and sends people to deliver supplements every month. Even though there are imperial doctors in the East Palace, he still sends imperial doctors to take the pulse and check the situation every once in a while.
After a while of comforting, Zhao Xing finally calmed Shulan down.
I didn’t dare let her stay any longer, so I asked someone to send her back.
After Shulan left, Zhao Xing also breathed a sigh of relief and started chatting with Sheng Wei and his son.
Sheng Wei was in charge of repairing the city. Due to the harassment by the Liao Kingdom, he was not able to complete the repair of all the northern border cities. Except for the two important cities, Xiongzhou City and Bazhou City, only a few small cities were repaired.
But now it is freezing cold in the north and water turns into ice, so there is no need to worry.
Moreover, the Liao Kingdom had internal problems and would not send troops to the Song Dynasty in the short term.
In fact, Zhao Xing took on the task of repairing the city in preparation for future military action against Western Xia.
The Liao Kingdom was happy to see the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia go to war, and would definitely sit on the sidelines and watch the fight at first.
The Western Xia had the upper hand, and the Liao Kingdom would let it go. After all, the strength of the Western Xia was not enough to annex the Song Dynasty.
But if the Song Dynasty gained the upper hand, the Liao Kingdom would definitely send troops to force the Song Dynasty to withdraw.
The Liao Kingdom would not allow the Song Dynasty to annex Western Xia.
If we want to launch an attack on Western Xia in the future, the North must be able to defend against Western Xia.
During this period, Zhao Xing was also thinking about his father's previous proposal.
He previously thought that building the Great Wall and connecting the northern border cities would make the civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty feel that there was a barrier in the north, and would make them lose the desire to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
Later, thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was natural for him to have some ideals.
First of all, when he looked at the problem, he always viewed the Liao Dynasty and the Western Xia separately.
This is not a problem, after all, the two countries are not the same power. However, he overlooked a very critical issue, Xixia and Liao were bordering each other.
If we do not build the Great Wall in the north and create an artificial barrier, it is hard to say whether we can defend the north when we send troops against Western Xia in the future.
Even if it was held, the Song Dynasty successfully destroyed Western Xia, but the border areas between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty increased.
The annexation of Western Xia will certainly take time to digest, and as the bordering area expands, the defensive area will also increase.
Now that we have a barrier in the north, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, so we still need to build it.
"Sheng Wei, if we build the Great Wall to connect the northern border cities, how long will it take? How much will it cost?" Zhao Xing asked.
Sheng Wei was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect Zhao Xing to have such an idea.
The border defense line facing the Liao Kingdom in the north is hundreds of miles long. Building a Great Wall to connect them would be a huge project.
But this was not his business. He paused for a moment and said, "If we have sufficient preparations, enough manpower, and cement, it will only take about half a year. Including the initial preparations, it will take about two to three years. But in this case, we need to recruit a large number of civilians. As for the cost, I need some time to calculate it roughly. But a rough calculation shows that if we still hire civilians, it will cost at least tens of millions of taels of silver."
The preliminary preparations he mentioned include collecting stones and burning cement.
After all, it is a plain, and there is no place to mine stones nearby, so they need to be transported from far away.
However, there are pros and cons. Plains are convenient for transportation and construction.
As long as there are enough materials, it is entirely possible to build simultaneously between all the border cities.
The prerequisite is to recruit a large number of civilians.
This is also what Sheng Wei said, as long as there are enough materials and manpower, the construction can be completed in half a year.
This time only includes the construction time and does not include the time for preliminary preparation.
Zhao Xing frowned slightly when he heard this. The expenses were too high. Even if he had saved some money over the years, it would not be enough.
Although some money could be saved by conscripting corvée, it was too hurtful to the people and the actual cost was still quite high.
So why did my father have the confidence to propose building a Great Wall in the north to connect the cities and serve as a barrier?
Even with the presence of cement, costs can be reduced.
But my father is not so naive as to think that cement will not cost much.
The imperial court couldn't even find the money to repair the border cities, so where would it get the money to build the Great Wall?
Seal the pile warehouse!
Zhao Xing suddenly thought of a possibility.
Fengzhuangku was established by Emperor Taizu and was considered the royal treasury.
However, the money included in this is the annual surplus of the imperial court.
During the reign of Emperor Taizu, the Fengzhuang Ku was established, and all the money surplus in the national treasury each year was transferred into the Fengzhuang Ku for storage.
The original intention was to use the money to redeem the Liao Kingdom or to conquer the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun by force.
Although wars were frequent at that time, there were not so many accumulated problems. The Song Dynasty destroyed many separatist forces and also obtained a large amount of money.
During the reign of Emperor Taizu, a huge amount of wealth was stored in the Fengzhuang Treasury.
However, later emperors often embezzled money from the Fengzhuang Ku. The Song Dynasty had been spending more than it earned in those years, but it was able to survive, and the Fengzhuang Ku played an indispensable role in this.
Zhao Xing had always thought that the money in the Fengzhuang Ku had been almost used up. Now it seems that there should be a lot of money left in the Fengzhuang Ku, otherwise his father would not have thought of building the Great Wall.
As to whether it is true or not, we have to try it out to find out.
"You should calculate it first. I am just saying this and I don't really want to repair it. Remember not to spread it out." Zhao Xing said.
"I understand and will never leak a single word!" Sheng Wei quickly assured.
Zhao Xing also asked Sheng Changsong about the placement of the war horses.
In recent years, Zhao Xing also arranged for people to build a horse farm in the north, and most of the war horses traded this time were placed in that horse farm.
Only those who could not be accommodated were sent to the imperial horse farms, because Zhao Xing had often provided war horses to the imperial horse farms before. Although there were more this time, there were actually not many left once the horse farms were dispersed.
The officials at the horse farm didn't take it seriously and didn't report it, so my father doesn't know about it yet.
"Your Highness, those beauties from the Liao Kingdom have been temporarily placed in a farm outside the city. I wonder what to do with them?" Sheng Changsong asked.
If Sheng Changsong hadn't mentioned it, he would have almost forgotten the beautiful woman from Liao that he had traded for.
Zhao Xing asked with interest: "What do those Liao beauties look like?"
"I heard that some of them are very beautiful, but I have never seen them." Sheng Changsong said.
The so-called beauty was just a matchmaker, and Sheng Changsong was worried that Zhao Xing would take a fancy to her, so he arranged for someone to look after her after she arrived, and he never went to see her.
Zhao Xing pondered for a while after hearing this, and said, "Find someone to teach me, and then open a brothel."
He originally thought of giving these women as rewards to his subordinates, but after thinking it over carefully, he gave up the idea.
Who knows whether any of this was specially arranged by Yelu Chongyuan? It would be easy to cause problems if the reward was given to his subordinates.
Zhao Xing didn't even dare to stay by his side.
You can't keep these people for nothing, you might as well open a brothel and let these women entertain customers.
Zhao Xing didn't care that war had nothing to do with women. The Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty had been fighting for many years, and they had a deep blood feud.
(End of this chapter)