In December of the third year of Jingyou's reign, it began to snow in Bianliang.
Snowflakes were flying, turning the earth into a pure white color.
The New Year brings a new atmosphere. Although the New Year has not yet passed, the atmosphere in Bianliang has already taken on a completely new look.
Zhao Jun came to the Song Dynasty in April of the third year of Jingyou's reign. His eyesight recovered in July, and he entered the Constitutional Yuan in September. He was fully prepared and has been in power for three months.
The Song Dynasty as a whole may not have changed much in the past three months, but Tokyo Bianliang is completely different from before.
After the reorganization of the officialdom, administrative efficiency has been greatly increased. Yesterday, a water transport ship at the mouth of the Bianhe River collided and capsized, blocking the river and causing great commercial fluctuations.
We must know that the Bianhe River at this time was like the Strait of Malacca in later generations, the life route of the great Eastern countries. If it was blocked for one day, the entire Bianliang economy would be affected.
Therefore, every blockage was taken seriously by the court.
But in the past, the efficiency of the government has always been low. It would take at least two or three days to clear the blockage. If there was a big blockage, it might even take a month or two. For example, in the first year of Emperor Renzong's Qingli reign, a grain ship capsized and was blocked for more than 20 days before it could be opened to navigation.
But now that the Constitutional Yuan issued an order to dredge the river immediately, the Ministry of Transport and the Kaifeng Prefecture jointly coordinated and quickly commanded and dispatched the capsized boat to the shore, restoring the river course in just half a day.
It can be said that the administrative efficiency of the officialdom has risen by more than one level.
The order on the streets and the flow of people moving back and forth are much better than before. The only thing that hasn't changed much is the rampant illegal construction.
This is not easy for Zhao Jun to do.
The main reason is that ancient city planning was unstructured. Since the early Song Dynasty, Kaifeng Prefecture has been just like what it was originally, and it has continued to be like that since then, without a clear direction of development.
As a result, the citizens of Bianliang began to grow wildly and build houses at will, making it extremely difficult to travel to various towns.
But if there is forced demolition, the people of Bianliang will collectively fight against the government. Therefore, the Song Dynasty officials are actually deeply troubled, and even Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi have nothing to do.
We can only do this for now, and then we can demolish and re-plan the city when we have money in the future.
On this day, Zhao Jun was on duty at the Constitutional Yuan. He was wearing a purple robe, autumn clothes and autumn trousers underneath, and cotton shoes on his feet. It was not cold.
When he went to Daliang Mountain, he brought only summer clothes. He originally planned to wait for the autumn and winter seasons to change, and let his family express some autumn and winter clothes. Unexpectedly, he would be separated from his family forever in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, my mother was worried that it would be cold at night in the mountains, so she stuffed two pairs of autumn clothes and trousers in the suitcase. Otherwise, with the cold conditions of the Song Dynasty, the high-ranking officials would not be as good as the common people of later generations.
"well"
After reading today's official documents, Zhao Jun was not in a good mood. He threw the papers aside, leaned on the Taishi chair, frowned, and looked out the window quietly.
The door was closed tightly, and the window was only opened a crack to prevent the room from being filled with carbon dioxide from burning charcoal.
Through the wooden window, you can see the snowflakes blowing in with the wind.
The windows were vaguely dotted with a few ice particles.
Zhao Jun just watched. He was actually thinking about nothing, only uneasy irritability and brief confusion. For a moment, he didn't know what to do at all and just wanted to be in a daze.
"What's wrong?"
Yan Shu came over with a pile of official documents.
He is now the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and an alternate magistrate of the Constitutional Yuan. He usually works at the Ministry of Revenue in front of the Daqing Hall, but now he is here to deliver documents and discuss next year's population census with the Constitutional Yuan.
Seeing the unusual movement here, Lu Yijian Wang Zeng and others also looked over. Since the hall was working, there were many subordinate officials coming and going. They were not in the hall to discuss matters. If it was more important matters, they would go to the conference room.
"fine."
Zhao Jun rubbed his temples and said softly: "I just feel a little tired."
"I must be tired."
Yan Shu glanced at the official document on the desk. The official document was open, and Fan Zhongyan came to Zha Zi. Yesterday alone, more than 30 people froze to death in Kaifeng Mansion.
Not just beggars on the street, but also poor families, most of whom are old people and children.
Although cotton already existed in the Song Dynasty, it was not as popularized as it was in the Ming Dynasty, so for the bottom layer, its ability to withstand the cold was very limited.
Even high-ranking officials usually use fur coats or kapok furs to keep out the cold.
For example, Su Che wrote in his poem: "The spring has been invaded by eternal leakage, and the earth furnace is still surrounded by wood and cotton fur."
Ordinary people cannot have fur coats and fur clothes, so they can only rely on charcoal fire. Once the charcoal stops, people may freeze to death.
"Sitting in this position, looking at these letters and memorials, you will feel that sometimes human life is really just a number."
Zhao Jun sighed, sat up, leaned his hand on the desk, lowered his head and squeezed the Jingming point, closed his eyes and said, "But these people are living beings, and their deaths are actually the government's negligence."
"There is no way. The Song Dynasty was not as productive as later generations."
Lu Yijian stopped what he was doing, turned his head to Zhao Jun at the table next to him and said, "If the Song Dynasty had so much cotton, so many looms, and so many cotton clothes, why would people freeze to death in winter?"
Zhao Jun glanced at the other party and sneered: "Do you know why before the Song Dynasty, from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the population in ancient times has been maintained at around 60 million?"
"Why?"
Lu Yijian was puzzled.
"Based on the limit of ancient productivity, there is actually no problem in feeding one to two hundred million people. However, ancient wars, natural disasters, and plagues will cause large-scale population reductions."
Zhao Jun looked at him and said: "Secondly, since the Han Dynasty, wealth has been mainly concentrated in the hands of large manor owners, large landowners and the bureaucratic class, and the distribution is seriously uneven. If the food produced by people at that time was distributed evenly, how could only What’s the limit to 60 million people?”
"Uneven wealth?"
Wang Zeng on the right also became interested and turned around and said: "But from ancient times to the present, there has never been a way to completely equalize wealth. Even in the early Tang Dynasty, under the Land Equalization Law, by the middle of the Tang Dynasty, it no longer existed. .”
He was talking about the land equalization system in the early Tang Dynasty.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the ownerless wasteland caused by a large number of wars, natural disasters, plagues, etc. was nationalized, and then distributed to the people, the land was equally divided, and the sale of land was prohibited.
This resulted in most people having land at that time and social resources being highly evenly distributed, which gave rise to the two prosperous eras of Zhenguan and Kaiyuan.
But it is a pity that in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, after the Anshi Rebellion, the equalized land system collapsed, and restrictions on land sales were loosened. Since then, land annexation has become serious. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Tang Dezong introduced the Two Taxes Law, and the equalized land system has completely disappeared since then.
"That's right, the people outside have no fields. They can't compare to the countless acres of land in each of the prime ministers' homes. They have groups of servants. They have carriages, horses and sedan bearers when they go out, and they have charcoal fires and furs at home."
Zhao Jun spread his hands, looked at everyone and said, "I think with the wealth of everyone here, it shouldn't be a problem to feed ten thousand people."
Hearing his sarcasm, Lu Yijian was a little unhappy and said: "These are all rewards given to us by the officials. We have worked hard for the court all our lives and worked for national affairs. We deserve to be treated like this. You are not the same, so why bother saying so?" What about us?"
"Indeed, I am also enjoying the welfare of the country, but I still want to find a reason to scold you. Seeing that you are living comfortably here, but the people outside are living worse than death, I feel a little unhappy."
Zhao Jun said very confidently.
Everyone: "."
Zhao Jun held his forehead and stopped talking.
Yan Shu put down the official document and talked about the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue. The topic was changed and everyone continued to do their own things.
In fact, Zhao Jun also knew that he had no reason to scold Lu Yijian and the others.
Even in later generations, those in power in Western countries still enjoy the benefits and conveniences provided by the state.
Except for a very few idealists like the great man, Sankara, Che Guevara, Allende, Castro, Lumumba and so on, those in power in the country should enjoy the treatment they deserve.
Firstly, they represent the country, and secondly, as the people in charge of the country, food, clothing, housing and transportation are themselves public expenditures and are reasonable and legal matters.
Like Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng, their wealth was also given by the emperor and inherited from their ancestors, and they accumulated it slowly through business.
So just because they have money doesn't mean they are greedy. This is what they deserve.
But Zhao Jun's butt has never been tilted, and his sitting position has always been on the people's side. Seeing such a thing, naturally he felt uncomfortable.
More importantly, he has no ability to change this.
"well."
After getting off work at noon, Zhao Jun walked out of the Constitutional Yuan, hit the wind and snow, and sighed inwardly.
In fact, in addition to the many problems reported in the Kaifeng government report, there are also a lot of troubles happening all over the country.
Sitting in this position, some of the officials below reported good news but not bad news, but there were also those who reported bad news. Zhao Jun specifically picked out those who were worried, so he naturally accumulated a lot of negative emotions.
For example, Guo Miaoshan and Zhang Hai rebelled on Jingxi Road. They started to rebel five years ago and occupied the vicinity of Shangshan. Later, they were surrounded and suppressed by the army and moved to the Junzhou and Guanghua Army areas, which later became the Hubei Wudang Mountains. This area of Laohekou City.
There were also ethnic minority uprisings in Guangdong and Guangxi, and the war continued. Then the plague was rampant in the Guangnan area, causing numerous casualties among the people. Ganzhou has been experiencing constant autumn rain since August and September. "The Jiuyu River overflowed and broke through the city wall, and many people drowned" and so on...
Various problems appeared frequently, which made Zhao Jun feel very depressed. After seeing too many such troubles, he was unable to do anything. The deep feeling of guilt made him breathless.
"Life is always so painful, not just when I was a kid."
Zhao Jun shook his head, looking at the snow still falling in the sky, then slowly walked out of Xihua Gate, returned to his home first, changed his clothes, and then went out to the market.
There are still people following him.
But the security in Bianliang is much better at this time. It is not like before with hundreds of people following him at any time. There is only a few guards like Di Qing in the surrounding area.
Then there were more than thirty police officers who followed him covertly and covertly, walking among the crowd, as if they were far away from Zhao Jun.
"Zhiyuan, what's wrong with you?"
Di Qing looked at Zhao Jun's worried look and wondered, "Are you sick?"
Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "It's okay, I'm just a little bored."
"Maybe I'm hungry, why not eat a bowl of soup cake."
Shi Yu next to him said carelessly: "After a bowl of soup cakes, all the worries about storage will disappear."
Di Qing rolled his eyes at Shi Yu and said, "I'm afraid you want to eat soup cakes."
Shi Yu scratched his head and said, "I guess Zhiyuan also wants to eat."
"You guy."
Di Qing pretended to fight.
"Hahaha."
Zhao Jun laughed and said, "It's noon, and I'm really hungry. Why not eat a bowl of soup cakes to warm up."
They are warriors, and warriors don't have that much scheming.
When they first followed Zhao Jun, Di Qing and others were cautious and did not dare to speak.
But after being together for a long time, they found that Zhao Jun was actually very approachable, and even taught Di Qing and others how to read and some tactics of war.
What about "when the enemy advances, we retreat, when the enemy retreats, we advance, when the enemy is stationed, we harass, when the enemy is tired, we attack, when the enemy retreats, we pursue", as well as "avoiding his energy and attacking his laziness when he returns - the mushroom tactic", and "playing a live game of chess - —Eat one, carry one, watch one” and so on.
Sometimes I only understand it half-understood, and sometimes I feel suddenly enlightened. Especially Di Qing, who is a quick learner and understands a lot of things. Therefore, everyone was still very grateful to Zhao Jun and became increasingly familiar with Zhao Jun.
After they have been together for a long time, their conversation is no longer as formal as it was at the beginning, becoming less unfamiliar and more friendly.
There were fewer people coming and going on the street than in summer and autumn, and it was not as lively.
Because water transportation in Bianliang is almost half-stop in winter, water transportation only operates normally for about 240 days a year, excluding the time of blockage. After winter, the canal is prone to ice, so it almost stops.
Without the water transport economy, many people who come to work from other places will go back to celebrate the New Year, so the city seems to be in a lot of depression.
But even with heavy snow falling, street commerce did not stop.
Zhao Jun and others found a noodle shop. Their family set up a stall on the street and built a shed. Business was not very good after winter. Apart from Zhao Jun and the others, there was only one other table.
"Shopkeeper, please bring six bowls of soup cakes and three cages of coins."
"okay."
The shopkeeper responded and started.
At this moment, two women walked out of a street shop holding a little girl.
Passing by this soup cake shop, one of the girls looked at Zhao Jun frequently, walked out for more than ten meters, whispered a few words to the woman on the other side, and then they pulled the girl back and deliberately sat at the table next to Zhao Jun and the others.
"Shopkeeper, here are three bowls of wontons."
The older woman, who looked like the girl's mother, sat with her back to everyone, while the young woman faced Zhao Jun.
She was about sixteen or seventeen years old and had a sweet appearance. She would poke her head over from time to time and stare at Zhao Jun's face.
Di Qing and others naturally saw that the girl seemed to have a crush on Zhiyuan.
Knowing that the dean was handsome, it was not uncommon for women to look askance at him when he walked on Bianliang Street. This situation was not uncommon.
But it was obvious that Zhao Jun's mind was not on these, he still held up his chin and frowned.
At this moment, the little girl came over in a strange way and said in a sweet voice: "Master, why are you sitting here frowning? Are you worried?"
Zhao Jun woke up with a start, lowered his head, and found out that it was a little girl, about eight or nine years old, and she looked really cute. He raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "You little girl, how do you know that there is something on my mind?"
"It's what my aunt said. She told my mother that the way the official frowned was nice, but it just made people feel a little distressed."
The little girl's words made the girl at the next table crawl into the ground in shame.
She just wanted to see the handsome guy, but she never expected that her niece would go directly to the next table and sell her out.
"Hahahahaha."
Zhao Jun laughed and rubbed the little girl's head. Then he saw the two women at the next table. Seeing that the two women were bringing the little girl out, he said, "Why are only your mother and aunt bringing you out?" , three women walking on the street, aren’t they afraid of danger?”
"Don't be afraid!"
The little girl puffed up her chest and said, "Mom said that Zhao Qingtian came to Bianliang. He beat away many bad guys, so that we girls can go out."
"Yeah?"
Zhao Jun was stunned.
"yes."
The little girl's two braids twitched and twitched as she spoke. She was so cute. She pointed in the direction of the street in the distance and said, "That Zhao Qingtian lives in our Qingtai Fang. With him here, we can meet again in the future." You don’t have to worry about being kidnapped by bad guys while walking on the street like before, that’s what mom said.”
"So that's what it is. That's what it is."
Zhao Jun murmured to himself twice, and then the haze in his heart was suddenly dispelled. A sunny and gentle smile appeared on his face. He raised his head and looked at the sky and said: "Yes, maybe this is that." Zhao Qingtian, that’s what you should do.”
His eyes, which were confused at first, gradually became firm. Some things may be difficult, but no matter what, you still have to do it. Even if it is as difficult as climbing to the sky, you will have no regrets!
I'm stuck. I can't type a few words today because it has actually reached the second stage, which is when the protagonist goes down to the grassroots level, inspects various places in the Song Dynasty, and beheads people in various places in the Song Dynasty (pretending to be cool), and then it is divided into three parts. There is a story line. Zhao Zhen and other supporting characters are governing in Bianliang, the protagonist is causing trouble everywhere, and Fan Zhongyan goes to the northwest to fight. The three lines are parallel, but there are still a few excessive chapters in the middle. It is really troublesome to write such excessive chapters. I have not written them until now. Please Please forgive me.
(End of chapter)
