The headquarters of the Jinghu Road General Administration Department in the Southern Song Dynasty was Jiangxia County in Ezhou, which later became the location of Wuchang District of Wuhan City. It was located on the bank of the Yangtze River and directly opposite the entrance of the Han River. And now the dividing line between the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties on Jinghu Road is the Yangtze River flowing eastward!
In other words, the entire Han River basin opposite Jiangxia County was the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty. And the Han River was an economic lifeline in the Northern Song Dynasty!
Not only did the grain in the Jinghu area have to be transported northward through the Han River, but also the rice, silk, iron, salt and other materials produced in Sichuan had to be transported northward along the "Chuanjiang-Jingjiang-Hanjiang River". Jiangxia happened to be located at the hub of the economic lifeline of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In other words, as long as Zhao Huan had enough courage, he could order the navy deployed in Jiangxia to cut off the economic lifeline of the Northern Song Dynasty. But Zhao Huan was naturally timid and did not dare to do that.
Besides, Zhao Kai's Northern Song Dynasty actually did not rely much on the commodity economy to provide military expenses... If the target of attack was Zhao Huan's Southern Song Dynasty, the feudal landowners in the entire Northern Song Dynasty would be happy to not need military pay and prepare their own military rations.
Therefore, although the military preparedness here in Jiangxia has been increasing, the war has never broken out.
While the war did not break out, Jiangxia's economy experienced explosive growth!
This city, located on the thoroughfare of nine provinces in later generations, developed into a trade center between the two Song dynasties in just seven or eight years due to the lifeline of the "Chuanjiang-Jingjiang-Hanshui River" and the mutual trade between the north and the south.
Moreover, Jiangxia also became the third largest commercial center city in the Southern Song Dynasty after Jinling and Yangzhou. Its prosperity even surpassed international trade centers such as Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Mingzhou!
The reason for this situation is mainly because Zhao Kai's policy of "raising northern soldiers from Sichuan and Lake" was somehow used by profiteers in the Southern Song Dynasty and Sichuan.
The thing is probably like this... Because the transportation cost of Sichuan River is actually very high, there is no problem if it is used to transport silk, iron materials, and salt, but it will be a loss if it is used to transport grain.
The Sichuan Road Transfer Department has heavy rice transportation tasks every year. These transportation tasks are not allocated through corvee service, but are contracted out to gang merchants using the labor service method.
No businessman can be a traitor, and of course Gang Shang is also a traitor!
Since he was a profiteer, he certainly would not foolishly transport rice out of Sichuan. At that time, Sichuan's industry and commerce was relatively developed, the population was dense, and there was not much arable land, so the price of food was not cheap. If you really want to transport grain out of Sichuan, you will have to make a fool of yourself.
So this group of profiteers simply sold Gang's grain in Sichuan, and then exchanged it for pig iron, taking advantage of Gang's tax-free quota and customs clearance convenience (Sichuan Caoshan would not pay freight to Gang's merchants, but would use the tax-free transportation of other goods to offset the freight. ), transport pig iron to Jiangxia and sell it at a high price, and then purchase cheaper grain from Jiangxia and transport it to Xiangyang.
At that time, Jiangxia was close to the main copper-producing areas of the Song Dynasty, so the price of iron was high. Miners in the Song Dynasty had already mastered the bile-water copper leaching method and the bile-soil copper leaching method, which is the technology of replacing copper from copper salts with iron.
For every pound of copper produced using this method, approximately two pounds of iron are consumed!
Although there were many copper mines in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were not many iron mines, and the output of pig iron was not high. It was certainly enough to meet military needs, but there was no way to open up copper smelting. Fortunately, Zhao Kai did not think of imposing an iron ban on the Southern Song Dynasty, so the profiteers who opened copper mines in the Southern Song Dynasty bought iron at a high price from profiteers in Sichuan during the Northern Song Dynasty in Jiangxia and then brought it back to smelt copper.
The profiteers in Sichuan used the money they got from selling iron to buy rice and transport it to Xiangyang. They also bought donkeys and sheep in Xiangyang and sold them in Jiangxia (livestock prices in the Southern Song Dynasty were also expensive), making another fortune. Finally, I will purchase some items shipped from Jiangnan or overseas and bring them back to Sichuan for sale.
After going through this cycle, it’s hard not to get rich!
After making a fortune, profiteers from Sichuan bought property and settled here in Jiangxia City, and at the same time invested the money they earned in Jiangxia!
That's right, these profiteers did not invest in Sichuan, nor did they invest in Hanyang Commercial Market in the Northern Song Dynasty on the other side of Jiangxia. Instead, they chose Jiangxia in the Southern Song Dynasty to invest... As for the reason, of course it was Zhao Kai's misdeeds of confiscating the land of scholar-bureaucrats. It's really scary. It's good to stay away from him.
The merchants on Jinghu Road in the Northern Song Dynasty, of course, like the Sichuan merchants, preferred to settle in Jiangxia.
Due to the large influx of wealthy people from Sichuan and Jinghu North Road, Jiangxia County had to undergo a large-scale expansion three years ago. Now the area of Jiangxia County alone has exceeded that of the old city of Jinling (the former capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty). ) a lot.
The market in the city is even more prosperous, with houses packed to the brim. The streets and alleys are lined with shops, bustling with pedestrians and merchants.
On the long Jiangxiaguan wharf outside the city, there are groups of ships and boats connected with each other. Standing on the other side of the Yangtze River, Hanyang looked towards Jiangxia and knew how rich Jiangxia was.
But Zhao Zhi, the king of Xin in the Song Dynasty, who was standing on a passenger boat moored at the Hanyang pier, saw now not only the wealth of Jiangxia... but also the strength of the navy of the Southern Song Dynasty. And the strong defense of Jiangxia city!
On the other side of the Yangtze River, south of Jiangxiaguan Pier, there is a city wall that is sixteen miles long. The city wall is not tall, but there are many artillery mounted on it. Since this city wall is more than two miles away from the north bank of the Yangtze River, it is difficult for artillery set up in the north of the Yangtze River to hit the long wall of Jiangxia Pass.
The cannons mounted on the long wall can basically block the estuaries of the Yangtze River and Han River.
In addition to these artillery pieces, there is also a military port on the east side of Jiangxiaguan Pier, where the river is wider, with dozens of mud-smeared wooden boats connected together to form a water fortress. The water village is filled with warships of all sizes!
Among them were more than ten turtle-shell gunboats. The armor of the warships was polished, reflecting the sunlight and emitting a frightening light, as if to warn the opponents in Jiangbei - although we in the Southern Song Dynasty were very rich, we were not weak. Super fierce!
"Brother Twelve, don't look any further...Jiangxia Pass is impregnable, and Brother Three's navy can't defeat it!"
The speaker was King Jing Zhao Qi, the sixth son of Zhao Ji and the sixth brother of Zhao Zhi.
Zhao Zhi smiled and replied: "The Yangtze River is so long, how can the elder brother set up defenses everywhere? Although the third brother's naval division is weak, his land division is not weak!"
King Jing Zhao Qi said with a smile: "Brother's Lu division is not weak either... Don't think that it is the imperial army before the Xuanhe disaster!"
"Really?" Zhao Zhi said with a smile, "Aren't they just armored infantry who ride on vegetable horses and throw explosive pots?"
King Jing Zhao Qi shook his head and said: "The cavalry of the Southern Army is indeed relatively weak, but the infantry of the Southern Army is not weak. Now the infantry of the Southern Army are all young and strong men hired with sufficient food and pay. And they cannot always be soldiers, 17 You can join the army at the age of 35, and if you cannot become a military official at the age of 35, you must retire. Therefore, there are no old or weak people in the army, only young and strong."
Being a soldier is a strenuous job, and it is difficult to stay in shape as you get older. Moreover, older soldiers mostly have families to support and often have less time to devote to training, making it more difficult to maintain their condition.
Therefore, it is best to recruit young soldiers, and to do this, you have to spend more money!
Soldiers must be allowed to earn enough money between the ages of 17 and 35 to buy a piece of land and live and work in peace and contentment.
Zhao Qi added: "Let me tell you another secret. The Southern Army already has your grains of gunpowder!"
"Really?" Zhao Zhi was surprised when he heard this.
The secret of granular gunpowder is closely guarded, and he doesn’t even know how to make it!
King Jing whispered: "The Lu division of the Southern Dynasties often encountered heavy rains when they were besieged by the Annan people at Pingnan Port. Some of the gunpowder prepared in wooden barrels was soaked by the rain due to negligence and turned into After the flame mud is dried, it becomes a piece. After being crushed, it will be similar to your kind of gunpowder.
In addition, the golden thief sent someone to get through not long ago, and by the way he taught him a short-legged fort building method and a very light camel tube... Don't underestimate the enemy! "
Zhao Zhi was a little unbelievable and looked back at Zhao Qi, "Brother Six, why are you telling me this? Do you want to..."
Zhao Qi sighed and said: "Twelve brothers, when my father died for his country, I was also with him! His old man really wanted to pass the throne to third brother!"
This misunderstanding really made Zhao Huan miserable!
Zhao Zhi hurriedly asked: "Does the elder brother know about this?"
Zhao Qi nodded, "Brother and sister-in-law already know."
"Then what they mean is..."
"My sister-in-law wants to return the throne of Jinling to my third brother after my eldest brother has lived forever. But my eldest brother hopes that the King of Jinling can ascend the throne and make my third brother the emperor's uncle."
Zhao Zhi shook his head repeatedly and sighed: "Sister-in-law is still sensible!
The eldest brother is the same. How can you let the third brother be the emperor's uncle? The third brother has 600,000 soldiers in his hands, and they are all clamoring to attack the southeast! If something really happened to the emperor's uncle, the third brother wouldn't be able to stop them. "
"Brother Twelve," Zhao Qi heard something and asked, "You mean that Brother Three doesn't want to fight?"
"He doesn't want to start a war in the southeast!" Zhao Zhi whispered, "Now Shandong has been severely damaged by the war... There is really no need for the southeast to be like Shandong. The only way to win is to win without a fight! But the soldiers and generals below are all jealous of the wealth in the southeast and want to grab it all!"
Zhao Qi clasped his hands and seemed a little anxious, "Here in the southeast, the officials want to pass the throne to King Jinling, while the clan and our royal wife want to return the throne to the third brother... But the real headache is, It’s still the officials with water, land and military power down there!”
"Who do they support?" Zhao Zhi asked.
Zhao Qi snorted: "Of course it's King Jinling! Only when King Jinling takes the throne can they hope to keep their position. Even if King Jinling loses in the future, they can surrender to Third Brother again... They will die by then. , or the emperor’s sister-in-law and the King of Jinling, how hateful!”
Zhao Zhi waved his hand and said: "No, no... Third brother will not harm my sister-in-law, nor will he harm the King of Jinling. By the way... Sixth brother, how is the eldest brother's health now? Like? When will you die?"
