People become better with age.
What's more, Wu Qian is already a leader among people, so how could he not see Zhao Mengqi's perfunctory intentions.
You can only push it so hard.
Wu Qian let out a long sigh and began to speak earnestly.
"Your Highness, I don't want to go to the Northern Expedition. My greatest wish in this life is to see Master Wang conquer the Central Plains and return to the old capital before he dies. But right now, we in the Song Dynasty really don't have such strength."
"Since the crossing to the south, our country's economy has been in decline. Until now, it has shrunk even more seriously. Not only is the state on the verge of collapse, but the private sector is also in extreme decline."
"When it comes to the richest places in the world, the southeast is the most prosperous. However, the southeast today is no longer the southeast of our ancestors. In the past, Fengzhou Zhuang County had weather changes, the moon and the years changed, and it became a poor state with a lack of places. Officials with good governance, people with little joy in the fields, the upper households are reduced to the middle households, and the middle households are reduced to the lower households."
"Over the past few years, everything has been declining day by day. The common people are miserable and the rich are struggling to make ends meet. Prices are soaring, and the market is depressed. There is a saying among the people, "Weeping before we can say anything, the prosperity of the past is now in decline." "
"This is the case in the southeast, and Luzhou County is even more desolate. It is desolate everywhere. Most of the farmland and water conservancy areas are abandoned. Ten houses are empty, and the settlements are in ruins. Young people are fighting to escape."
"The current situation of the Song Dynasty is that the national treasury is empty, the prefectures and counties are exhausted, the farmers have no spoonfuls of food, the weavers have no thread of silk, the people are suffering, and the sea is turbulent."
"The general trend of the world is like a broken instrument glued to glue and rotten paper. If you put it on a few tables and touch it even slightly, your hands will fall to the ground and your ears will be broken!"
As he spoke, Wu Qian raised his hand and flicked it gently, and the tea cup placed next to the table fell to the ground and shattered.
"Your Highness, how can you continue to use weapons rashly in such a situation?"
"If there is no hope of change, then that's it. At worst, we have to fight to the death for that slim chance. But the old minister has already seen the hope brought by His Highness. He has built water conservancy, restrained the powerful, reformed the land system, paid attention to production, and is also quite unique in military culture and education. In view of this, the old minister asserted that perhaps in ten or twenty years, the situation of our Song Dynasty will undergo earth-shaking changes. By then, our country will be rich and powerful, the people will be strong, the armor will be strong, and the army will be powerful. Then we can gather Huanghuang's troops to send troops to the Northern Expedition and regain the Central Plains. Just within the palm of your hand."
I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen the light.
Originally, after so many years of wastage, Wu Qian watched helplessly as the big tree of the Song Dynasty rotted away but was unable to do anything. Frustrated, he just thought that it would be good if he could barely maintain it. However, the appearance of Zhao Mengqi gave the dark Song Dynasty a brought light.
Even so, in his original opinion, it would take at least thirty to fifty years to bring about fundamental changes in the Song Dynasty. However, considering that King Yan was young and energetic and did not have that long patience, in order to better persuade him, this I said against my will that it would only take ten or twenty years.
"Your Highness, you are still young and have enough time to realize your ambitions. Don't rush for success. Instead, you will ruin the last chance of the Song Dynasty's revival."
Wu Qian felt that ten or twenty years was already very fast, but Zhao Mengqi knew that the Mongols would not give that much time. If history remained unchanged, the Mongols would be ready in three or four years to defeat the Song Dynasty. Launch a second total war.
But Zhao Mengqi also had to admit that Wu Qian was right. With just a bunch of bad cards in his hand, even if he knew the general trend of history, he could not change any outcome.
With just one mouth opening, you can command an army of millions, with a wave of your arms you can sweep across the world, with your eyes you can destroy everything, and with your legs you can seal off the wolves. That would be really exciting, but it is unrealistic.
Many people in later generations believed that the Song Dynasty was very rich and its failure to defeat the Mongols was purely due to incompetence.
But if you look carefully at the historical data, you will find that in the late Southern Song Dynasty, people were really poor. The court was poor, and the people were even poorer.
After the southern crossing, it was under high pressure from external threats for a long time. In order to maintain defense, a large amount of financial expenditure was invested in the military. The economy fell into a vicious cycle and continued to deteriorate. Except for the Xiaozong period, which was slightly better, it was in rapid decline at other times.
Before the southern crossing, the Song Dynasty generally minted 2.9 million copper coins every year, but after that, it never exceeded 200,000 copper coins a year.
During the Yuanfeng period, iron output was 5.5 million jins per year. During the Shaoxing period, it was cut by more than half, to only 2.1 million jins. Now it is even more pitiful, less than 500,000 jins, which is even a tenth of the total.
Nothing was saved.
This is not bad, but other minerals are even more outrageous. Copper dropped from more than 14.6 million to 230,000, lead dropped from 9 million to 170,000, and tin dropped from 2.3 million to 20,000. Not here.
This disparate decline clearly cannot be attributed solely to the loss of half the territory.
The decrease in mineral production is only a microcosm. In addition to the handicraft industry directly affected by it, other agriculture and commerce have also suffered serious setbacks.
Even the overseas trade, which compared with other dynasties, they could be proud of, has fallen to the bottom. During the Shaoxing period, Quanzhou could receive more than one million guan in shipping tax, but now it is less than 40,000 guan.
All these signs indicate that the Song Dynasty was really so poor that only his pants were left.
The reasons for the economic recession are many and complex. In addition to the destruction of war, the main reasons are the intensification of mergers and corruption of governance.
Faced with such a mess, Zhao Mengqi could only choose to live in obscurity and grow up in the short term.
"Wu Gong, don't worry. I am not an ignorant or reckless person. I understand what you are saying. I promise you that I will never start a war unless I am ready."
Yes, not proactively.
After all the hard talk, Wu Qian was temporarily relieved, but he did not relax his supervision of Zhao Mengqi and always taught by his side.
It wasn't until Wanwan and Zhao Han saw that Zhao Mengqi had not returned to Wujiang that they simply ran to Gusu City. Therefore, Zhao Mengqi took the opportunity to pick up people and got rid of Wu Qian's control.
After waiting for people outside the city, Zhao Mengqi changed directly to the ladies' boat and entered the city through Panmen.
Zhao Han stood on the bow of the boat with Xiaobai in his arms. He was very excited when he saw the scene in the city, "Wow, it's so lively here. It seems to be more prosperous than Lin'an."
Zhao Fei also looked excited, "Wujiang County is too small. Just take two steps and you'll end up there. It's not interesting at all. This place looks big and fun. We should have come here a long time ago..."
These days, as some people expected, food prices have indeed dropped, and it is not the official action, but the private food stores in the city that have taken the lead in cutting prices.
They all have debts, but King Yan is only willing to offset them at one and a half prices. They want to sell while the market price of grain is still two and a half to minimize losses, and they don't all borrow money from King Yan. Other creditors are not too kind and will definitely wait until food prices are at their lowest to collect debts.
In the past, these grain stores had the same caliber and raised prices at the same time. But now, it is different. In order to grab business, they sell more grain. Each store is cheaper than the other. If you sell it for nine, I will sell it for eight and give you two eggs. , and the service attitude is so good, I just have to call the customers who buy food daddy.
But the common people are not stupid either. They have always been willing to buy grain instead of buying grain. No matter how diligent these grain dealers are, few of them actually go in to buy grain.
As a result, the price of food on the market fell one day at a time, falling below 500 yuan in two days, and then continued to fall. Some people who were forced by debt even paid 800 yuan and one stone.
The haze of the food shortage has completely dissipated, and Gusu City has returned to its former vitality. In addition, there are hundreds of foreign gentry living in the city. They are drunk and spending money every day, which greatly stimulates the city's economy, as well as eating, drinking and having fun. Related industries have become more prosperous as a result.
In the past, places like brothels and brothels usually only became more lively in the evening, but now they are decorated with lights and colorful music in broad daylight.
Panmen is the main entrance and exit passage of Gusu City. There are a large number of merchants coming and going, so the neighborhood is relatively prosperous, with restaurants and shops densely covered, and the flower streets and willow lanes are indispensable.
The boat is traveling in the river, and both sides are lined with colorful buildings and flower pavilions. In the pavilions, many beautiful ladies are showing off their flowers, leaning on the railings, shaking fans or waving silk handkerchiefs, showing off their charm to the people passing by in the river.
Wearing colorful sheer gauze, they dance and twist from time to time, showing off their graceful figures to the fullest, with charming eyes, chanting or singing, and using sticky and charming voices to attract distinguished guests.
"Officials... you have worked so hard, why don't you take a rest here? Take a dip in the well to rinse your teeth and purify your mind."
"Members of the Communist Party of China, it's a pity that today is not the same for a hundred years in life."
, there are fine wines, delicacies, warm and fragrant nephrite here, just waiting for you to come..."
"What a handsome little fellow, come to my sister's place. I will drink wine and sing with you, play the wind and strings, and talk about homely things together."
"Xiao Sheren, please don't pay attention to her. She is like a wolf and a tiger, and you can't bear it. You'd better come to my concubine. As the saying goes, it's new every day, and it's new every day. I'm the newest one. "
"Oh my, Xiao Sheren looks like a good reader at first glance. He must be tired of reading the truths in the book. There are some great truths here in the slave family. Would you like Xiao Sheren to come and read a few, but it's a different experience..."
"Haha, I see that the people in Xiaoshe are very popular. They must be martial arts practitioners. Nunu also likes to dance with spears and sticks. Come on, people from Xiaoshe, we are like-minded. We are destined to meet each other. The depth of our relationship depends on Xiaoshe. That’s what people mean…”
Damn it, what are you talking about?
Zhao Mengqi had been staying in the cabin when he left the city, so he didn't notice any of this. Now he was standing on the bow of the boat with several young ladies, looking at these birds and birds, he felt dazzled and his heart was racing.
Zhao Han looked confused, with curiosity shining in his eyes, "Oh, fourth brother, are they talking to you? What do they do? They all look so beautiful."
"Bah! A bunch of shameless bastards, they are shameless in broad daylight. They are not wearing clothes, and they are talking nonsense and filthy words." Zhao Fei blushed and spat.
She is two years older than Zhao Han, and they are both about to leave the cabinet. With a good palace education, she knows everything there is to know.
Qian Duo stood aside and sneered, with a sinister tone in his mouth, "Haha, let me just say, it turns out that someone is immersed in this sea of flowers all day long, no wonder he left us in Wujiang and forgot all about it!".
Zhao Mengqi turned his head and saw Wanwan looking at him playfully, with doubts in her eyes. He couldn't help feeling a little panicked and quickly argued.
"Qian Duo, don't try to smear someone's innocence! I am very clean and tidy! Besides, how can I like these vulgar fans!?"
"Oh, if not, then why are you panicking? I didn't mention him by name just now." Qian Duo thought he had caught Zhao Mengqi's hand and was unforgiving, "You said you don't like these, then you must find someone I’ve heard that some of the clothes in Gusu City are even more gorgeous than those in Lin’an.”
That’s right, I didn’t do anything, why should I be panicking! ?
Although I had this idea, I never had the chance to implement it.
So, Zhao Mengqi had a straight face and ignored Qian Duo. He just looked at Wanwan seriously, "Ruochu, you have to believe me. I am absolutely innocent. Well, Mr. Wu can vouch for me!"
Wanwan remained silent, just looking at Zhao Mengqi without batting an eyelid.
Zhao Mengqi is in danger!
