After the first year of Qingli, the Song Dynasty officially entered the recuperation stage.
The imperial court lightened corvees, reduced taxes, relaxed commercial policies, and abolished the sale system, allowing agriculture and commerce to develop rapidly.
At the same time, the imperial court engaged in bloodletting, allowing local governments to withhold 30% of taxes for development and construction, and also established schools, confiscated land from illegal landlords and leased it to the people, abolished iron money, repaired rivers, built water conservancy facilities, etc.
For example, in the second year of Baoyuan, Zhao Jun ordered Wang Yao, the transshipment envoy of Jinghu South Road, and Fan Shidao, the transshipment envoy of Guangnan East Road, to cooperate in dredging and expanding the Ling Canal. The first round of construction was completed in the first year of Kangding.
The completion of this project required 2,000 workers, a total of 60,850 workers, and more than 50,000 yuan of money. All materials are sent from Xing'an, Lingui and Lingchuan counties. The method of "burning rocks to attack, both guiding and plowing" was adopted to clear the rocks in the canal that hindered boats, and increased the number of steep gates in Lingqu to 36.
Construction started again in the first year of Qingli. The imperial court allocated more than 500,000 yuan this time, mobilized more than 8,000 civilians, and employed more than 300,000 workers to expand the Lingqu channel and strengthen the dams along the coast for more than 100 miles. The amount of flood discharge and shipping volume were greatly increased. Communicate between Hunan and Guangdong and lay the foundation for commercial activities between Guangdong, Hunan and Hubei.
In addition, in the first year of Kangding, the imperial court once again repaired the Bianhe River and mobilized the people along the river to participate. In order to consolidate the embankment and use the Bianshui River to wash away the accumulated sand in the river, 600 miles of wooden pillars were built on both sides of the Bianhe River, narrowing the Bianhe River to To the point where sand can be flushed, prepare to "attack the sand with water".
In fact, although there were still seven years before the Yellow River burst its banks, the Song Dynasty government had already begun preparations. Starting in the fourth year of Jingyou, the court successively allocated funds to clean up the sand on the tributaries on both sides of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
The problem of the Yellow River is actually soil erosion in the upper reaches, resulting in too much sand in the water, and the various tributaries are gradually blocked. Once floods occur, the Yellow River will burst out in an instant. Due to the accumulation of silt, the water flows through the river channel, thus spreading and flooding, and eventually leads to The downstream area became a land of marshes.
Therefore, in ancient times, there has always been a saying in the management of the Yellow River that river control should first control sand.
At present, Zhao Jun plans to seize the opportunity with three hands. Taking advantage of the fact that the war is going smoothly now, unlike the five or six years of fighting in history, which has caused the treasury of the Song Dynasty to be empty, he will first sort out the canals in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and dredge the branches.
After all, this work is much easier than cleaning up the sediment from the Yellow River and digging a few new drainage canals, and the cleaned silt can also be used as farming soil for the fields on both sides.
The next step is to install wooden pillars and piles in the lower reaches of the Bianhe River and the Yellow River. Wait until a season with less water flow to cast dikes on large rivers such as the Yellow River and Bianhe River to store the water flow. After the dikes are built, they can be used again. Gunpowder exploded the dike, and water suddenly released to wash away the sand.
The last solution is naturally to dig and build flood discharge channels. These three methods will be used in a three-pronged approach to ensure that the Yellow River flows smoothly.
Why do you want money?
These three methods are already the most economical.
However, according to the budget estimates of the Ministry of Finance, hundreds of thousands of civilian workers may have to be mobilized, and the project volume is huge, probably costing tens of millions of dollars.
Although this amount of money can be used to save military expenditures, it is still "sixth of the world's food and five-fifth of the army."
Even Zhao Jun has not yet taken action against the gold-eating beast of Junjun, let alone save some military expenditures.
So for now, just like before the Qingli New Deal started, we only do preliminary preparations, spend less money first, and then proceed step by step.
At least now the Yellow River has left them seven years. These seven years are enough to do a lot of things.
At the end of August, Cao Miaoxin gave birth to a fat boy.
Zhao Zhen was very happy and named him Zhao Tan, and he was accepted by Zhao Jun.
This is the word next to the word "日", the same as Zhao Fang and others.
After getting the name approval, Zhao Zhen was even more happy. When he was happy, he got a little carried away. He actually proposed to adopt him as his adopted son at the daily meeting of Chongzheng Hall, which almost made Zhao Jun roll his eyes.
Good guy.
He is estimated to be more than 30 generations younger in the family tree. If his son is adopted by Zhao Zhen as his adopted son, then he will be of the same generation as Song Yingzong Zhao Shu, which is simply the opposite of Tiangang.
Later, Zhao Zhen remembered this matter after being reminded by Yan Shu, and quickly expressed regret that it seemed that accepting him as an adopted son would not work.
But to be fair, Zhao Jun's son is Empress Cao's nephew, so he also becomes Zhao Zhen's nephew. Invisibly, the hierarchy is still a bit messy.
Fortunately, this nephew was from the palace, but even so, Zhao Zhen was very excited. In the end, he went out of his way to defy all opinions and was granted the title of Marquis of Xiangfu County. This shocked the officials of the Manchu Dynasty and wrote letters to dissuade him.
Many people think that there were no titles in the Song Dynasty, but in fact they were. For example, prime ministers and envoys were often made Dukes of the country. Even if they were not granted titles during their lifetime, they would often be granted titles after death. Some were even made kings, such as Cao Cao. Cong's elder brother Cao Qi was posthumously named King of Wu.
But in most people's minds, it is true that there were not many knights in the Northern Song Dynasty. A large number of knighthoods were mainly concentrated in the early Northern Song Dynasty and during the Huizong period of the Song Dynasty. During the Song Renzong period, only prime ministers would be granted knighthoods.
Including giving Zhao Jun the title of Duke of Song was already shocking. Although he was the head of the prime minister, it was normal for him to be granted the title of Duke.
But none of the officials knew him before arriving, and had no idea who he was.
Secondly, this is Song Guogong.
It would be better if ordinary princes like the Duke of Qi and the Duke of Wei would think better.
Ordinary officials and clan members generally do not have titles such as marquis, earl, viscount, and baron, which were almost extinct before Song Huizong.
Now, if Zhao Jun's son is suddenly given a knighthood, it will of course arouse everyone's opposition.
Although Zhao Jun also served as the head of the prime minister for five or six years and seemed to have accumulated a lot of prestige, there were many people in the court who were dissatisfied with him, and there were also many censors and admonishers who often impeached him. However, both Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun Just ignore it.
Now it's just another wave.
They are all used to it.
Just ignore it.
Under this wave of opposition, there was almost no trouble, and Zhao Tan became the only county prince to be sealed since the founding of the country.
And time slowly came to the end of the second year of Qingli.
From the start of the New Deal in February to the autumn tax in the second half of the year, what is surprising is that although the agricultural tax is lower than before, only more than 5 million guan, the commercial tax has increased a lot, reaching more than 33 million guan, of which about 19 million guan It is commercial tax and levy, and the other 16 million yuan is foreign trade.
You must know that according to historical records, foreign trade revenue during the Southern Song Dynasty only accounted for 6% of the fiscal budget. Based on the total annual revenue of the Southern Song Dynasty, which was about 100 million to 160 million guan, it basically remained at 6 million to 10 million guan. Between.
Among them, Guangzhou and Quanzhou are the main ones, with a combined income of more than 2 million yuan.
The combined income of the remaining 20 ports such as Mingzhou, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Jiangyin, and Xiuzhou is only a few million yuan, which is a far cry from today's Northern Song Dynasty.
But the two are actually completely different.
First, the Southern Song Dynasty only counted port trade revenue, not land trade revenue with the Jin Kingdom, Dali, Xixia and other countries.
Secondly, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Japan had not yet discovered silver mines, and it was difficult to carry out huge trade with the Song Dynasty.
Nowadays, the Song Dynasty is not only engaged in foreign trade business in Central Asia, but also develops five trade routes with Liao, Xixia, and Dali at the same time. It also sends envoys to Central Asia to communicate with Arab merchants in Central Asia and encourage maritime trade between the two sides.
Therefore, since last year, the growth of maritime trade has increased significantly.
The income of Guangzhou and Quanzhou alone reached more than 3 million taels, and the annual trade volume with Japan soared to 40 million taels of silver, eight times the original amount. It also brought about more than 4 million taels of silver to the imperial court. income.
In this way, including other municipal shipping ports, the annual maritime trade revenue in the second year of Qingli basically reached nearly 10 million yuan, reaching the highest level in history during the Southern Song Dynasty.
Moreover, the Southern Song Dynasty did not deepen communication with Central Asia, nor did it discover Japanese silver mines. An income of 10 million yuan was the limit.
Now is not the limit. As trade volume increases, imports and exports reach hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and it is very possible that taxes alone can reach 10 to 20 million dollars. Therefore, it can be said that the current ocean trade is booming and the future is promising.
In addition to maritime trade, trade along the Silk Road, the Ancient Tea Horse Road, and the Liao-Song and Xia-Song dynasties also increased dramatically. Last year, the Guangliao Kingdom imported 800,000 kilograms of sulfur from the Song Dynasty.
Since the Song Dynasty established trade transfer stations on Jeju Island and Tsushima Island and encouraged merchants to trade in Japan, the books, handicrafts, porcelain, and tea of the Song Dynasty were almost crazy in Japan.
Japan’s sulfur, copper, and iron were almost being snatched up by merchants of the Song Dynasty.
Then the merchants of the Song Dynasty simply did not return to the Song Dynasty. They reported and replenished water and food on Jeju Island, and sailed directly to the Mizhou Shipping Department in Shandong. After reporting and replenishing supplies at the Mizhou Shipping Department, they pulled Arrive at Qianfu County.
Qianfu County was later known as Huanghua City in Hebei Province. The Song Dynasty set up a port here, mainly for bulk trade with the Jurchens in Northeast China and the Liao Kingdom.
The merchants of the Song Dynasty transported the sulfur brought from Japan here, and then transported it northward by land to Nigu Village on the border of the Liao and Song Dynasties, probably around Tianjin in later generations, and sold it all to the Liao Kingdom in the mutual trade area on the border between the two sides.
This middleman made a lot of money, almost directly producing it from Japan, labeling it as the Song Dynasty, and selling it to the border of the Liao Kingdom.
Under this circumstance, the domestic agriculture and economy of the Song Dynasty can be said to have improved rapidly, and economic circulation has grown explosively. Although the Audit Bureau has not yet given growth data, you can understand how fast business growth is just by looking at tax revenue.
As a result, the Song Dynasty's autumn tax this year has reached 39 million guan, which is more than 2 million guan higher than this year's summer tax, and the total tax revenue is about 76 million guan.
This number is still much lower than last year, about 25 million guan less. Compared with previous years, it is even less than 30 million guan.
Because Zhao Jun has been generating revenue for the court since the fourth year of Jingyou's reign.
Fight corruption, confiscate all property of corrupt officials, sell state-owned assets, reform tea mountains, salt farms, etc.
Especially in the latter two, a large number of tea mountains and salt farms have been privatized, allowing private businessmen to participate in a large number of shares, eliminating the corruption that used to be practiced by state-owned landowners, and bringing more than 10 million yuan in revenue to the court every year.
But with the national agricultural tax reduced by two-thirds, this is obviously far beyond expectations.
The five major trade routes originally envisioned by Zhao Jun have begun to take off. This year's total foreign trade revenue is about 27 million guan, ocean trade is close to the peak level of the Southern Song Dynasty of 10 million guan, and land trade has reached 17 million guan. The growth can be described as gratifying.
Although the restructuring of domestic business has made it easier to evade taxes, it cannot withstand the fierce tax army. The imperial court mobilized local Xiang troops and forbidden troops. There were about 200,000 people nationwide, plus more than 100,000 Imperial City officials to form a law enforcement force.
In almost every county, the county government, the State Administration of Taxation, and the Yushi Department strictly control tax collection. Once tax evasion is caught, the goods will be confiscated and a certain amount of fine will be imposed. In severe cases, all property may be confiscated or even jailed.
For a time, the businessmen were in panic. Except for a few who took desperate measures, the vast majority of businessmen paid taxes honestly and became honorable taxpayers.
In fact, Zhao Jun wanted to exile all criminals to Taiwan at this time to develop Taiwan.
Although our country has already set foot in Taiwan since the Three Kingdoms Soochow.
However, at that time, Taiwan was full of miasma and densely forested. A large number of people were needed to cut down trees and open up plains to gradually become suitable for human survival.
Most of Taiwan's indigenous Gaoshan people also migrated slowly from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Baiyue period. However, their numbers are small and they have no advanced production experience, so they have always maintained a tribal life of caring for hair and drinking blood.
Therefore, it was not until the end of the Southern Song Dynasty that the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty approached, and a large number of Han people moved to Taiwan, bringing advanced technology, production tools, forging techniques, etc., which made Taiwan slightly more populated. Finally, the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty easily took over and established Xuanfu here. Division, included in the territory of our country.
So from this point of view, it is basically a piece of cake for Zhao Jun to just send a ship over and a few officials to declare Taiwan as an inalienable territory of our country.
In fact, not only Taiwan, but also Australia.
But it’s useless for you to declare.
There has to be someone up there.
Just some primitive tribesmen, what's the use of your announcement?
Just like Lingnan was developed through generations of criminals dispatched to Lingnan, this method is actually quite effective.
But in the end Zhao Jun gave up the idea.
The main reason is that the mortality rate is too high.
I'm afraid that even one out of ten will be distributed, and a lot of manpower and material resources will be spent, but the results will not be very good.
It would be better to wait until productivity increases in the future, people can be divided into acres, and the population grows explosively, and then send a large number of people to develop it. It is much better than taking human lives to pile up now.
This year, the Song Dynasty could not be said to be in good weather, but because of the New Deal, people's lives were much better.
This year, business restrictions were relaxed and the tax model was changed, which made private business more prosperous and the number of people engaged in commercial activities increased day by day.
In this year, the internal and external affairs of the Song Dynasty were stable, with frequent trade with merchants from Xixia, Liao, Japan, Goryeo, Tubo, Dali, and Central Asian countries, and exports soared.
In this year, the Song Dynasty built canals across the country, carried out large-scale construction projects, built schools, promoted science education, and laid the foundation for mathematics, physics, and chemistry from primary school to junior high school.
This year, Su Song, the new Jinshi, was very interested in the steam engine being researched by the institute, and took the initiative to request to be transferred to the institute to join the scientific research.
This year, the imperial court cast more than 200 bronze cannons, and began to invest in the research and development of iron cannons, flintlock guns and other firearms.
This year, Zhao Jun drew a circle in Handan City, Hebei Province, requesting to build a canal between Wu'an and Mingshui, and then build a steel plant here and officially start a large-scale steelmaking experiment.
In this year, as Jiaozipu had been established in major commercial cities across the country, a large number of merchants deposited copper coins in Jiaozipu to facilitate trade. The imperial court used silver imported from Japan as an anchor, which gradually replaced the copper coins. Let the money shortage in the market gradually ease.
Although it is not completely solved, it is much better and promotes business development.
In the midst of this noise that is getting better and better.
The third year of Qingli has come.
(End of chapter)
