The imperial palace in the old city of Shuntianfu in Beijing, as the former capital palace of the Liao Empire, is really not as grand as the Ziwei Palace in Luoyang, the divine capital.
In terms of size alone, it’s like the sky and the earth. Fortunately, the size of Zhao Kai's palace was not large, with only a dozen concubines plus more than a hundred chamberlains, two to three hundred female officers, maids, and dozens of female ministers, as well as twenty or thirty princes and princesses. Therefore, when I originally lived in Ziwei Palace in Luoyang, I only occupied a small part of the palace, and most areas of Ziwei Palace were closed and not used. He still looked cold like that, and even if he walked around the palace, he was not very popular.
Therefore, after Zhao Kai and his family moved into this small palace in Shuntianfu City, they felt that it was not crowded, but rather lively and happy.
However, Zhao Kai would not just stay in this small and dilapidated Shuntianfu City just for the sake of excitement... The emperor's residence, the emperor's home, the best in the world, how could he not do some basic construction?
Besides, the current Shuntianfu City is not a bastion!
It is not a bastion, which means that the defense cost is high and the safety factor is insufficient. The current Shuntianfu City is a square castle with a circumference of thirty-six miles. If you want to tightly fortify the thirty-six-mile-long city wall, it is impossible without tens of thousands of troops.
If we build an eight-sided and sixteen-cornered bastion with a core area equal to that of Laoshuntianfu City, it would be enough to deploy 300 people and eight 10-pound cannons and dozens of eight-liang cannons on a three-sided fort. . Even including some reserves, 6,000 people in the entire castle are enough to defend the castle.
To capture such a castle, if you don't know how to launch parallel sieges, calculate ballistics, find blind spots, cast large-caliber mortars, and make reliable explosive shells, the only way is to besiege the hungry enemy. Way.
If you can do all of the above, then you are not the Tatars, but the British Empire and the French Empire from another time and space that have traveled through time and space!
So on the third day after returning to Shuntianfu Imperial City, Zhao Kai placed a model of Shuntianfu New City on the Shuntianfu terrain sand table.
"This is Tong County, which is the original Tongzhou. I plan to build Shuntianfu New City on the site of Tongzhou. I will build a large bastion with eight sides and sixteen corners along the west bank of Lushui River. The size of the core of the bastion and The current Shuntianfu old city seems to be about 80 square miles. Although it is not large, it is enough to build the palace, official offices, titles, official residences, weapons supervision workshops, military camps, warehouses, etc. It should be There is still enough land to build some people's residences.
As for industry and commerce... I plan to build a commercial city called Tianjin City in the Zhiguzhai area where the lower reaches of Lushui River intersect with Baigou River. Jin is also a ferry, and it is usually a convenient place for industry and commerce to gather. From then on, the industrial and commercial businesses on Beijing Road gathered in Tianjin City, while Shuntianfu New City was only the residence of the emperor and the capital of the military state. What do you think? "
After Zhao Kai finished talking about his idea of building a capital, he looked at the courtiers present with a smile, waiting for their unanimous support.
His idea is of course extremely reasonable, taking into full consideration both national defense and the needs of economic development.
The new Shuntian City that was moved to Tongzhou is only about 150 miles away from Tianjin, the future northern commercial capital, and the two places are connected by Lushui, the North Canal, so Shuntian City can easily obtain supplies from Tianjin. .
The travel between the two places is even more convenient and fast. It is only more than a hundred miles away, and after paving hard roads, it is only a day's journey.
At the same time, this distance of more than one hundred miles could also separate the future capital of the Song Dynasty from the northern commercial center. In this way, the capital will not be overpopulated, and it will not be overly commercialized - for a medieval feudal military state, it is impossible to have no money, but too much money will easily lead to decay.
In addition, Tongzhou (later Xinshuntianfu) has very convenient water and land transportation. Using it as a base, the imperial army can support Miyun and Juyongguan to the north, Jizhou and Pingzhou to the east, and Zhuozhou and Yizhou to the west. The various Yanshan passes within the territory can support Tianjin to the south...if there is an enemy coming from the sea!
Seeing such a perfect capital building plan, the ministers in the hall frowned slightly and said nothing.
The atmosphere in the palace became a bit awkward, and Zhao Kai's face gradually became darker. Just when the official's face became less attractive, someone finally spoke.
"Officials, the treasury is now too empty, and it is difficult to meet daily expenses. The army can hardly pay out...it is better to delay the construction of the new capital and Tianjin Mall than to rush."
Zhao Kai looked over and saw that the person speaking was Zhao Kai, the Minister of Household Affairs...a financial expert in the Northern Song Dynasty court.
However, it’s hard for a clever woman to make a living without rice. No matter how good she is at managing money, she can’t use her income of more than 10 million yuan as 30 to 40 million yuan!
"What does the construction of the new capital have to do with the empty treasury?" Zhao Kai said with a smile, "How much does Zhao Shangshu think the new capital and Tianjin Mall will cost?"
Zhao Kai frowned and said with a grimace: "If the city walls of the new capital are built with rammed earth and bricks, it will cost at least millions of dollars... If you include the palaces, streets, and government offices in the city, I'm afraid it would cost millions to build the office and various houses. Today's court really can't afford this kind of money!
As for the cost of Tianjin Mall, it will not be less than a million dollars... Moreover, the sea route is not in my hands now, and Shandong has not been recovered, so the canal is not of much use, and the Tianjin Mall will be empty and useless. "
Zhao Kai smiled and said: "There is some truth in what Zhao Shangshu said, but you are not a businessman, how do you know what the businessman is thinking? Tianjin Mall is of little use now, but what about the future? Sooner or later, I will dominate the world, and by then Beijing will be the best in the world. , Tianjin is the country’s commercial port... I’m afraid you don’t have to pay for every inch of land! If you spend some money to invest in a piece of land in Tianjin, you might be able to collect rent for a thousand years in the future. Why not do it? Maybe with the income from selling land in Tianjin, we can start building Shuntianfu New City and Tianjin Mall."
Is this still possible?
Lu Yihao, Chen Ji, Zhao Kai and others all felt that it was a bit unreliable. Chen Ji came out and said: "In the official family, as the saying goes, there is no treachery without businessmen... If the court wants to use businessmen's money to build Shuntianfu New City, and Tianjin Mall, we must be cautious to avoid being deceived by them.”
Zhao Kai smiled and said: "Don't worry, Prime Minister, I don't have to deal with merchants for more than a day or two... My residence is my business port, and I can go and talk to them without paying a penny from the court."
Lu Yihao smiled bitterly and said: "I am incompetent and have not promoted the official family to take charge of this family. Even if the official family wants to use the court's money to build a new city, there is really no money in the imperial treasury..."
"No money available?" Zhao Kai asked, "Can't we issue more cloth tickets?"
"In the official family," Zhao Kai, the Minister of Household Affairs, said in a class report, "the so-called cloth tickets are nothing more than Yin eating Mao grain. There will be no cloth in the future, and there will be no tickets now. Since the state of Wu has stopped paying annual tribute, the cloth tickets based on Wu Jin have been It’s difficult to cash in... Now the market price of cloth tickets has plummeted, and businessmen are reluctant to accept it.”
There is also a currency crisis!
"The annual tribute from the State of Wu will be restored soon!" Zhao Kai said with a smile, "When I finish taking care of things like ennoblement, moving the capital, and arranging the soldiers, I will personally bring the soldiers and go south to ask for money... No, We are going south to investigate! So the price will definitely be raised back, so you can rest assured!"
"Official family," Chen Ji said with a sad face, "the imperial court cannot afford the expenses required for ennoblement, moving the capital, and placing government troops..."
"You can't afford this?" Zhao Kai was stunned, "Are you really that poor?"
"The official family," Chen Ji said with a wry smile, "the travel expenses for moving the capital are still unpaid on credit (to the people and merchants)...the rewards that were to be paid when the title was granted have not yet been paid.
But the biggest gap is the toll for the relocation of the soldiers, and the cost of opening new Zhechong mansions on Hebei, Beijing, and Datong roads... There is no way to pay for these.
Therefore, the dozens of Zhechong mansions in these three places now only have government offices and soldiers. They are unable to open schools, schools, arsenals, grain depots, horse farms, or build castles. "
Zhao Kai was stunned when he heard this, "Aren't the expenses of the Zhechong Mansion and the relocation of the soldiers to the Mansion not raised by the Yingtian envoys themselves? How can you ask me for money?"
Zhao Kai explained: "In the official family, Yingtian Envoy Road could raise its own funds before. That's because Yingtian Envoy Road has money... There are rich supervisors on Shaanxi Road, Hedong Road, and Jingxi Road, and the small half There is a railway station on Hebei Road, there are many salt ponds on Shaanxi Road, there are coal mines in Hedong and Hebei, and there are commercial roads and many shopping malls and stalls on Jingxi Road. In addition, there are wine taxes, tea taxes, etc.
Together, the three Lukes have an annual income of nearly eight million, which can not only subsidize the farmland, but also open charity warehouses, renovate official roads, establish official schools, repair water conservancy, and relieve famines. But the occupied areas of Beijing Road, Hebei Road, Datong Road and other places are now in a state of depression, and you can’t collect much money at all! "
The civil servants of the Song Dynasty were still very good at making money. Even if the military households in Shaanxi, Jingxi, Hedong and other roads did not pay land taxes, they could still collect a lot of money through commercial taxes, mining taxes, monopoly, coinage, etc. Millions in revenue.
However, Hebei (occupied areas), Beijing, and Datong have all been repeatedly ravaged by gold thieves and the Song army, and their economies are about to collapse, so the officials of the Yingtian Division cannot make money.
"Then..." Zhao Kai thought for a while and said with a smile, "Then let the soldiers pay some money themselves, they have money!
Can't they afford to move? Hebei and Beijing have become what they are now, and they also share in it! After this battle, each of them will make a fortune, but they won't be able to afford travel expenses? As for setting up schools, schools, arsenals, grain depots, horse farms, and building forts, they are all for their use. If there is no money for camp and road, let them pay for it themselves! "
"Officials, why are they willing to pay?"
"Yes, why would Fu Binghu be willing to pay this money?"
"The officials should think twice..."
"Officials, soldiers, and soldiers who fight for the country are all heroes..."
The ministers below all started to admonish... The soldiers of the Song Dynasty were very powerful! With a knife in one hand and a large amount of land in the other, it was like the former scholar-bureaucrat had become a soldier. How could he afford to offend him?
