After Guo Ning ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he did not sit upright in the palace and govern like ordinary Han emperors. He spends at least half of every year touring various places, just like the four seasons of the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchen custom of spring water and autumn mountains.
Although the Great Zhou Dynasty was a Han dynasty, its core were Han warriors and nobles. These people valued the power of the bows and swords in their hands and did not care about trivial details that were suspected of being contaminated by Hu Feng, so many of the old Liao and Jin systems were inherited. On the contrary, it was civil servants like Yelu Chucai who were busy restructuring the system and trying to imitate it in the Han and Tang Dynasties.
When the dynasty was first established, there were very few restrictions. Guo Ning's patrol route was irregular, and his entourage often traveled lightly and simply. For example, one month ago this year he set out from Zhongdu and visited Xiongzhou, Anzhou, Baozhou, Shunzhou and other places. These states are also where Emperor Shizong of the Jin Kingdom visited the spring water. Bianwubo, where Guo Ning once settled, was the paddock where Jin Shizong hunted geese.
While there, Guo Ning mainly inspected the situation of military and civilian villages in various places.
Ding Haijun relied on trade as its financial support, but it also always attached importance to farming. After the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, great efforts were made in this regard and many capable officials were dispatched to supervise. For an ordinary military group, it would be difficult to find so many available people in the pocket, but in Guo Ning's hands, firstly, he has the talents that Yelu Chucai has gathered over the past few years, and secondly, he has the full support of the old party of Xu Zhiguo headed by Xu Ding. .
People in the Xu party have been criticized many times over the years, saying that although they are talented, they are not known for their virtues and like to run around for snobbery. Since the Zhang Zong Dynasty of Dajin, these people have not been favored by the Jurchen nobles on one hand, and have been favored by the Han people on the other. Confucian scholars despised him, and even Xu Ding himself was always regarded as a scapegoat by the Jurchens.
However, the great Zhou Dynasty Zhaojian did not let the past go, and the emperor himself did not care about the honest style of writing, and only wanted to achieve results in everything. Therefore, these people are all in high spirits and work hard to serve the new dynasty.
Relying on the efforts of this large number of officials, farming in various places resumed very quickly. The old refugees were returning to their hometowns from the mountains and swamps in an endless stream, and the role of the Baojia system was also obvious. In the third year of Longwu, compared with last year, more than 10,000 hectares of fertile land were re-cultivated or restored to cultivation in Junzhou north of Hebei East Road alone.
It is generally estimated that this year's harvest will definitely be higher than last year, perhaps double that of the year before.
It's just that because the court made many promises to reduce and exempt taxes in advance, there was little increase in tax revenue. If there is a significant increase here, it will have to wait until the year after tomorrow.
As the living standards of the people gradually recovered, business became active, and various commercial firms backed by noble groups began to make profits in various places.
The strength of these trading houses is far less than that of participating in cross-border trade and maritime trade, and the profits they obtain are far less than that. All they earn is hard-earned money. But for the nobles of the Zhou Dynasty who generally rose out of the grass, it was already considered a windfall, so people flocked to it more and more.
Guo Ning knew that just a few large trading houses in Zhongdu City had opened up routes from Tianjin Prefecture to Datong Prefecture in Xijing and Dading Prefecture in Beijing. Of course, it also included Zhending Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Daming Prefecture and even the north. Trade routes in the Jinshan area. These trade routes are where the rule of the Great Zhou Dynasty is relatively stable. As for the west, because military confrontations are still frequent, it is difficult for commerce to prosper.
Most of these trade routes relied on the power of nobles to expand, and there were frequent exchanges of interests with military households in various places along the way.
While touring the civilian villages, Guo Ning paid more attention to military households in various places. He saw with his own eyes that the living standards of many officers above the rank of general had obviously widened the gap between them and the grassroots soldiers in the past two years.
Fortunately, they are generally not extravagant. Because when the imperial court was still using force, these officers were quite keen to invest money in weapons, equipment and horses. Some of the officers' direct subordinates and Alixi were already better equipped than the elite regular army.
If things like this continue, new problems will naturally arise, and they will still be big problems.
Will officers become corrupt?
Will soldiers be exploited and become slaves of officers?
Will the imperial court's economic and political masters become a tool for the military to pursue its own interests?
Will the military's combat effectiveness be concentrated on a small number of people directly under the officers, leading to the decline of the imperial court's military force?
Guo Ning started from the bottom of his family. He is used to doing whatever he can when everyone is in trouble, so he will never overestimate the integrity of his subordinates. His answers to these questions were always "Yes".
And he knew very well that these problems would break out within ten or twenty years at the most, or within one or two generations at most. Even if you don't think about the long term and just look at the present, in the past two years, the military's equipment level and training level have become higher and higher, but its fearlessness and fearlessness are no longer what they used to be.
There are even some people who are very satisfied with the current life of their wives and children on the hot bed, and they obey the military requirements from above. He was obviously a military householder, but his life was no different from that of ordinary farmers and small landowners.
Guo Ning traveled around and personally dealt with grassroots soldiers and people, so he naturally saw this. When he saw someone who was particularly excessive, he also directly ordered the local generals who led the troops to clean up, and even killed people on the spot with the emperor's order more than once.
But generally speaking, Guo Ning is not harsh on changes at the grassroots level of the military. He felt that this kind of thing was not worth paying too much attention to.
There is no ever-lasting good method in this world. Every generation has to face the problems of every generation. Various systems in later generations are said to be advanced, but in fact they are only effective for ten or twenty years at most, which is a matter of luck. Even if it is said to be made of special materials, it will inevitably deteriorate here and there and cause trouble of one kind or another.
What's more, the military group gathered by Guo Ning did not have advanced ideas as guidance. Everyone joined the army for survival or revenge at first, but later they thought more about wealth.
The military noble group was the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty. As the emperor, Guo Ning was in no rush to suppress them. To a certain extent, he hoped that the nobles could see some good days, develop a greedy mentality, and have some expectations for wealth.
Because only greed can make progress; only the expectation of continuous and more benefits can respond to Guo Ning's continuous promotion.
Guo Ning hopes that at a certain point, the interests of the royal family, civil servants and military personnel will be bundled into a few or a dozen large-scale trading houses. The further the power of the Zhou Dynasty reaches, the further the trading routes of the trading companies will be, and the more profits they will make; at the same time, the more benefits the warriors get, the further they will look further.
So every time he went on a tour, he would gather the soldiers wherever he went and tell them where the recently popular products came from.
For example, the Tiantai tea that the king will like is a product of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, perhaps from the manor of Shi Miyuan, the prime minister of the Southern Dynasty; the spices hidden in the home of the high commander are specialties of the big food country, shipped from the South China Sea via Jiaozhi. That's why Shi Tianni made a fuss in the South China Sea last year, and three or five commercial banks immediately made a fortune.
Another example is that the soldiers have recently received newly-issued military robes, and the wool is produced on the grasslands. It is only provided for military use every year, and the boss pours money into it, and the supply among the people is simply in short supply. If we control a corner of the grassland, how about controlling the entire grassland?
After talking too much, Guo Ning felt that he was no longer a warrior or an emperor, but a shopkeeper with a bright tongue.
In the eyes of future generations, I will definitely be considered a loser. Li Yun should give me, Shopkeeper Guo, an extra reward.
The warriors of the Great Zhou Dynasty were a new and vigorous group. They generally come from humble backgrounds, so their thoughts and actions are rarely restricted, so they retain simple and undisguised ambitions. After they experienced the temper of war and were instilled with a lot of knowledge in the military academy, their vision was broader and their ability to act was better than that of the warriors of previous dynasties.
Guo Ning believes that they will be happy to turn their attention to the sea or the depths of the grassland, or even foreign lands thousands of miles away. The imperial court of the Great Zhou Dynasty did not have to worry about them being satisfied with being a wealthy man who wanted to exploit his subordinates and the surrounding people all day long.
In this way, it may be possible to avoid corruption to the greatest extent after the dynasty continues.
These were all matters that Guo Ning had been weighing for a long time, related to Zhou's major policies, but at this moment he frowned and looked at Zhao Xuan, then raised his head and looked into the distance. What filled his mind was a purely private matter.
That is the whereabouts of Lu Shu.
Only the disappearance of this national relative could make Guo Ning suspend his original inspection schedule and rush north from Anzhou to Xuande, north of Jinshan Mountain.
The Mongolian regime on the grasslands has always been hostile to the Zhou Dynasty. Small-scale battles often broke out between the two families and even between the two families and horse thieves and wandering tribes. With the frequent business exchanges, the death or disappearance of personnel became even more common. Every meadow on the grassland has been strewn with human bones that have been eaten clean by wild beasts for decades. Some have been added occasionally over the years, but no one cares at all.
It was not until last year that the situation in the Great Zhou Dynasty became more and more stable, and the people, wealth and force invested on the edge of the grassland became more abundant, so that the caravan could be equipped with sufficient guards, at least so that ordinary horse thieves would not dare to act recklessly.
Several large trading houses claimed to the outside world that they would not abandon their partners, and they also encouraged the caravans to treat their companions who went deep into the grassland favorably.
At the end of the year, an old soldier from Dinghai Navy who was transferred to the caravan as a guard disappeared on the grassland. This trading company happened to be supported by Qiu Huiluo and Zhao Jue. The capable knights went out to search, and after finally finding the clues, they dispatched the elite knights to make a long-distance attack and wipe out the tribe that was killing people and robbing wealth.
After that trip, there was no human life on the edge of the grassland for two or three months. For their own benefit, the Mongolians began to pay attention to business rules and even took the initiative to find a suitable place to build a special settlement. field.
That's why Lu Shu had the confidence to make this trip.
As a result, something went wrong on this trip. The benefits of the trade were too great, which triggered a fight between the Golden Family and the powerful Qianhu. The result of the fight was that Lu Shu disappeared.
Lu Shu was not an ordinary relative of the state. His parents were Guo Ning's tutors in reading and literacy, his sister was Guo Ning's wife, and his brother was a follower who accompanied Guo Ning from birth to death, and died in battle to protect Guo Ning. He himself was the child who grew up under Guo Ning's eyes. He was not only Guo Ning's brother-in-law, he could almost be regarded as half a son!
The news has now reached Zhongdu. Lu Han was very worried about this and sent several letters one after another, asking Qiu Huiluo and Zhao Jue to search carefully and bring Lu Shu back safely as soon as possible.
Guo Ning estimated that if he didn't rush to Xuande from Anzhou, Lu Han himself would be unable to restrain himself and come. The queen of the Zhou Dynasty had an influence on the military and politics, which was not comparable to that of ordinary women in the boudoir; but the queen personally stationed on the border and directed the infiltration into Mongolia, which was still too surprising. So no matter what, Guo Ning had to resolve this matter as soon as possible.
But……
The grassland stretches as far as the eye can see, with no end visible to the naked eye. Even if Zhao Xuan guessed correctly, Lu Shu went to the direction of Wushabao, which was still hundreds of miles away from Xuandezhou and Jinshan, two important military towns.
The Great Zhou Dynasty expanded its power with Xuandezhou and Jinshan as the center, and formed a corner with Huanzhou in the northeast and Fengzhou in the northwest. It controlled nearly a thousand miles of land along the route. But the control is not yet firm, the military and civilian settlements are far from being spread out, and the originally small number of nomadic tribes have not yet been completely subdued.
Because the grasslands, deserts, and mountains along the route are vast and sparsely populated, Guo Ning saw almost no trace of development when he left Xuande City for twenty miles. There are only trees, shrubs, and weeds, all very lush.
Guo Ning was accompanied by thousands of fine cavalry, but not far away in front of him, there were still traces of animal activity. Previously, a servant casually shot an arrow into some deep grass, which immediately caused a group of wild boars to run away screaming.
That's it, twenty miles away from Xuande. The Gouluo Farm, one hundred and fifty miles away from Xuande, had to take shelter from the Mongols.
What about Usha Fort, which is three hundred and seventy miles away from Xuande, separated by mountains and swamps? Guo Ning knew very well that Zhou Jun's power was completely out of reach.
