In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

The banquet ended in a joyful atmosphere.

Zhao Jun didn't know why, but he kept praising the Cao family's fine bloodline, as if he had enlightened himself.

Cao Miaoxin became shy instead, acting like a little girl.

After the banquet, Zhao Zhen asked Zhao Jun what he meant, and Zhao Jun thought there was no problem.

First of all, Cao Miaoxin is very beautiful.

Secondly, you are old enough.

Thirdly, they are from the Cao family, they are of the same family, and there is no sense of difference.

After Cao Cong returned, he naturally asked his niece. Cao Miaoxin was unhappy before she saw Zhao Jun. After seeing Zhao Jun, she was naturally filled with joy and shyly agreed.

Marriage in ancient society is actually very difficult. You can fall in love freely for a few years and get married when it suits you. It is more about the parents' orders and the words of the matchmaker.

Zhao Jun's request for a blind date first is considered a relatively advanced concept of love. Naturally, it cannot be love at first sight. The essence of love at first sight is to fall in love with someone and like them when they look good-looking.

Since you have good looks, a good family background, and are old enough, then of course there is no problem.

Cao Miaoxin, as the daughter of the Cao family, could not decide her own marriage. Now that she has met her sweetheart, of course there is no problem.

So when both parties had no objections, Zhao Zhen and Queen Cao acted as parents and sent people to send betrothal gifts to the Cao Mansion. After accepting the six gifts, it was regarded as an engagement and they would get married on an auspicious day in the zodiac.

After all, Zhao Jun, as the first generation of post-00s generation, has traveled to the Song Dynasty for almost five years and has just turned twenty-eight. It would indeed be unreasonable to not get married.

However, a marriage is a marriage, and you still have to do the business that needs to be done.

During this period, he and Lao Fan placed people in various important positions such as the Censor's Office and the Ministry of Officials, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the Censor Zhongcheng Zheng Jian.

He believed that Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan were interfering with the operation of the Yushitai by inserting so many cronies into the Yushitai, so he wrote a letter of impeachment.

This person was not a bad person, but he was headstrong. The history books commented that when he governed the local area, he was "resolute and determined to act when faced with difficulties, but he was willful and near-chivalrous, punished harshly, and most of the people were resentful."

And historically Zhang Kang was not promoted because he arbitrarily believed that Zhang Kang embezzled military pay and bought people's hearts.

This shows that he does not know how to adapt and is a conservative person.

If such a person is too rigid in the place, it will obviously harm the people, but it is very suitable to put him in the Yushitai. After all, as the Yusheng Zhongcheng, what he wants is to be impartial and selfless.

Therefore, Zhao Jun and Lao Fan did not make things difficult for him. They just patiently gave him a job and told him that the Yushitai would be of great use in the future and that it would become an important official tool for national supervision of officials. This is why it was necessary to send a large number of upright people and so on. This finally calmed Zheng Jian's dissatisfaction.

And just as Zhao Jun and Lao Fan were preparing the New Deal in an orderly manner, another good news came.

Last year, Zhao Jun told Song Cai to go to Jeju Island and Tsushima Island to establish strongholds. This matter has been completed. As the Song Dynasty defeated Xixia and Liao Kingdom, it immediately aroused huge repercussions in the East Asian world.

The country of Dali immediately sent envoys to offer sacrifices and express their congratulations.

Goryeo was frightened and immediately sent envoys over, hoping to restore the long-term friendship between Song and Gao.

To some extent, the international situation during the Northern Song Dynasty was very bad. In the surrounding countries and regions, except for Dali and the Northern Song Dynasty, which maintained good relations, only Qingtang was friendly to the Song Dynasty.

In other places, Japan closed itself off and had no official contacts with the Song Dynasty.

Vietnam has had many wars with the Song Dynasty since the Zhao Guangyi period. Except for the initial attack by Zhao Guangyi, which was later defeated, most of the others were caused by Vietnam taking the initiative to harass the Song Dynasty border.

For example, after the establishment of the Li Dynasty in Vietnam, from the fifth year of Shuntian, that is, 1014 AD, to the fourth year of Taining, that is, 1075 AD, there are records of Vietnam actively raiding the Song Dynasty border more than ten times, and often It is "looting cattle and horses, burning houses and returning them".

The most serious one was the Battle of Yongzhou in the fourth year of Taining. The Vietnamese army captured the city of Yongzhou and "killed more than 50,000 officials, locals, and residents." In addition to the people from Qin and Lian Prefectures killed previously, Vietnam The army killed no less than 100,000 people.

In the end, Song Shenzong couldn't bear it anymore, so he sent troops to attack Vietnam. The Song-Vietnam Xining War broke out between the two sides, and Vietnam sued for peace. This ended the Song-Vietnam hostility and reconciled the two countries.

This shows how bad the relationship between Song and Yue was before the Xining War.

Goryeo was fine in the early Song Dynasty. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Goryeo immediately sent envoys to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, accepted Zhao Kuangyin's canonization, and adopted the reign title of the Song Dynasty.

In the next twenty years or so, the Song Dynasty had frequent exchanges with Goryeo, and their relationship was very close.

However, this friendly relationship lasted until 985 AD, when Zhao Guangyi's battle on the Gaoliang River shattered the Song Dynasty's dream of regaining the north.

The Liao State sent troops to Goryeo to force it to recognize Khitan as its suzerainty. Goryeo refused at first, but could not defeat them, so they had to ask for help from the Song Dynasty, hoping to get asylum provided by the Song State.

But Zhao Guangyi's donkey cart drifted and his mind went crazy. At this time, he was so afraid of the Liao Kingdom that he quickly rejected Goryeo's request. So Goryeo had no choice but to stop paying tribute to the Song Dynasty and recognize the Liao Kingdom as its suzerainty. From then on, the two countries were severed. diplomatic relations.

Therefore, during the Renzong Dynasty, the international environment of the Northern Song Dynasty was indeed very bad.

But now it's different.

The war between the Song Dynasty and Xixia could not explain anything, but in the Battle of Baozhou, they fought a famous battle and recovered hundreds of square kilometers of land. The Liao people fled north in panic, and their momentum suddenly shocked all directions.

The Dali Kingdom was not actually bordering the Song Kingdom at that time, because at that time there were a large number of southwestern barbarians in the border area between Yunnan and Sichuan. Their location was probably in the Zhaotong, Yunnan, Bijie, Liupanshui, and Anshun areas of Guizhou in later generations, and they were called Shimen Fan tribe, Luo Shi tribe, Luodian tribe, etc.

However, these tribes and the Dali Kingdom maintained a prosperous trade with Sichuan and had the ancient Tea Horse Road, so they were very well-informed. The leader of the Dali Kingdom, Duan Suxing, was a debauched person, but he was not a fool, so he immediately sent an envoy to congratulate him.

Goryeo first waited and observed the situation. When news of the Liao-Song peace talks reached Goryeo in October, Goryeo king Heng sent Minister Zuo Cheng, Jin Yuanchong, to the Song Dynasty in December of the first year of Kangding as an envoy to the Song Dynasty.

In fact, although Wang Heng submitted his vassal declaration to the Liao Kingdom, what is interesting is that as a member of the East Asian cultural circle, the Koreans actually looked down on the barbaric Liao people. Therefore, while paying tribute to the Liao people, the Koreans built the Thousand Miles of Great Wall to resist. I can't beat you, but I just look down on your attitude.

Now that the real suzerain country in the hearts of Koryo had won a great victory, they were naturally very happy, so they came over hoping to be favored by their former father.

The envoy Jin Yuanchong set out in early December, but had to go back due to a maritime accident. At the end of December, he prepared gifts for the Song Dynasty and set off again. It was not until late January that he finally arrived in Bianliang safely.

Zhao Zhen met with Jin Yuanchong and tried his best.

Then Zhao Jun held talks with Jin Yuanchong on behalf of the Constitutional Yuan. At the meeting, the Song Dynasty agreed to its request for an alliance with Goryeo. The two parties signed the "Song-Gao Defense Treaty", agreeing that if the Liao people invaded Goryeo without any reason, the Song Dynasty would Send troops to protect the safety of Goryeo.

At the same time, Zhao Jun hoped that the Song Dynasty would station troops in Tamluo (Jeju Island) to protect the trade between Song and Gao from being destroyed by the Liao navy.

Although the Liao State had a navy, it was ineffective compared to the Song Dynasty's navy. However, if the Song State had stationed troops in Tamluo for a long time, it was possible that when the Liao State invaded, the Song State's army could go north by boat to support it.

Therefore, upon hearing this request, Jin Yuanchong was overjoyed and agreed on the spot.

Under such circumstances, Goryeo recognized its ancestors and returned to the embrace of its old father. Although Wang Heng did not dare to tear up the vassal relationship with Liao, at least the trade between Song and Gao was much smoother.

The Japanese side is pretending to be dead as always.

After all, they had only paid tribute to the Liao Kingdom twice. It was the Liao Kingdom that sent people to urge them many times, which made them reluctant to pay tribute. Naturally, they were too lazy to pay attention to the Song Dynasty.

After all, the current Song Dynasty is no longer the Tang Dynasty that they longed for before.

But there is no doubt about the power of the Song State, not to mention that Song Cai had been operating relations in Japan a few years ago. Last year, he followed Zhao Jun's advice. After going to Japan, he handed over part of the equity of the Iwami Silver Mine to the Japanese royal family, and obtained have a certain influence.

With the recommendation and persuasion of Song Cai and others as well as the powerful people who owned some shares of the Iwami Silver Mine, the Song Dynasty sent an envoy to Japan in November last year and was received by Emperor Suzaku of Japan.

It would be much easier to do things with internal support. Although Emperor Suzaku did not agree to turn the Song-Japanese relationship into a vassal vassalage like the Tang-Japanese relationship, and the two sides did not sign any treaty, he did allow the Song Dynasty to establish a stronghold on Tsushima Island in Japan. Allow Shijian State to establish treaty ports and open ports for operation.

In this way, the trade between Song, Gao, and Japan has basically been implemented.

In January of the first year of Qingli, the Song Dynasty’s Shipping Department in Hangzhou, Tongzhou, Mingzhou and other places encouraged Song Dynasty merchants to go to Korea and Japan to do business.

I hope that merchants will sell the culture and handicrafts of the Song Dynasty to Japan and Korea, so that they can enjoy the influence of Confucian culture that they have not experienced for a long time.

In this case, Zhao Jun has truly realized his original idea.

The five major trade routes.

The first one is Guangzhou-Central Asia Maritime Silk Road trade.

Article 2: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Song, Japan and Gaozhou Free Trade Zone Trade.

Article 3: The Tea Horse Road trade between Sichuan and Dali.

Article 4, Shaanxi Hehuang Corridor and Xixia Hexi Corridor Silk Road trade.

Finally, a northern free trade with the Liao Kingdom was added.

Neighboring countries, including Central Asia, have become trading countries, and the Song Dynasty's business has reached Europe all the way.

On February 3, after making sufficient preparations, Zhao Jun held the last meeting before the release of the new policy in Chongzheng Hall.

Zhao Zhen sat high on the throne, and Zhao Jun sat next to him. He looked around and looked at the many governors below, and said with a smile: "Everyone, with the signing of trade agreements with Xixia and Liao, at the beginning of this year, we also signed trade agreements with Japan and Korea. The trade relationship has been reached and my idea is complete!”

He said happily: "The only thing that has not yet been realized is to cultivate Vietnam, Bagan and Angkor into food and cotton producing areas, and let their people grow food and cotton for us."

"The Song Dynasty does not border Bagan and Angkor, and we have no contact with them. As for the country of Yue"

Lu Yijian shook his head and said: "The relationship with us is not harmonious."

"It's okay, that's a matter for the future. If they don't live in harmony, they will be reconciled in the future. If it weren't for the hot climate and miasma in Southeast Asia, in history, Song Shenzong won the Battle of Xining, but the disease caused more than 100 casualties. Half of them, it is difficult to destroy Vietnam, and I really don’t necessarily want to let Vietnam go.”

Zhao Jun said: "At present, our goal is to strengthen the country first. After business begins, and the people are rich, they will slowly abandon agricultural taxes and maintain commercial tax revenue. As for Vietnam, in the future, they will have strong ships and cannons. After a few cannons, they will You have to be a raw material producing country for us.”

"Well, let's talk about the New Deal."

Wang Zeng changed the topic and said: "Now it is determined that the new policy will focus on testing the law and rectifying the administration of officials. What next?"

"Then economic and agricultural reforms go hand in hand."

Zhao Jun explained: "After the economy improves, foreign trade will feed back into the country, Japanese silver will flow in, and gold, silver, and copper from other countries will flow into the Song Dynasty in large quantities. The money shortage can be solved, and communication will be spread across the country to completely solve it." The problem of commodity trade is difficult, and if the economy is prosperous, agricultural taxes can be eliminated in large quantities and commercial taxes can be used to replenish the national treasury.”

This was also the path taken by the Southern Song Dynasty. Even though the Southern Song Dynasty was relatively peaceful, the relationship with Japan greatly increased during the Southern Song Dynasty, and trade exchanges were also very frequent. In addition, Guangzhou and Central Asia, and the Southwest Tea Horse Road, only relied on three trade routes to make a profit. There is a lot of money, and commercial taxes account for more than 80%.

Now the Great Song Dynasty not only has two more trade routes than the Southern Song Dynasty, but also due to the discovery of large silver mines in Japan, the trade volume will inevitably increase explosively. Once the five trade routes are fully developed, it is possible to completely abolish agricultural taxes.

Although the abolition of agricultural taxes has greatly benefited the landlord class with serious land annexation, the prosperity of the commodity economy will inevitably attract a large number of young and strong laborers to engage in handicraft manufacturing. In the absence of young and strong laborers, landlords may need to lower land rents to save tenants, which will greatly Ease the increasingly acute land conflicts in the country.

"This is the strategy we are planning to implement this year. If there are no problems, we will officially start promulgating it in a few days."

Fan Zhongyan took out the reform plan that he and Zhao Jun had discussed for a long time these days, and gave each person a copy.

In fact, Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan had much more in-depth discussions. At least the affairs of the farmers' association were not revealed to these old men at all, otherwise there would definitely be a commotion.

What has been put out so far are things that everyone can accept for the time being. Although it is good to have reforms in one step, if you are too radical, the consequences will be no different from Wang Mang's, so you must do it step by step and keep trying and making mistakes.

In later generations, my country's reform and opening up also progressed slowly step by step, rather than fully opening up from the beginning, so Zhao Jun was ready for a protracted war.

He is young anyway.

He would carry out some reforms in his twenties, some again in his thirties, then some in his forties, then in his fifties, year after year. One day, the Song Dynasty would be able to reach the level he expected.

Everyone took the plan and everyone looked at it seriously.

In fact, the content is not too much. The first thing is to continue to clarify the functions of officials at each level and determine the work content of the main officials at the county, state, and road levels.

The officials in the imperial court had already cooperated with the Ministry of Punishment to formulate rules and regulations in their own departments after Jingyou's restructuring.

In this way, the work of all officials has been clearly arranged in the general direction.

Then the next step will be inspections by officials at all levels from the state government to the county government, the road government to the state government, the court to the road government, and many departments.

Check to see if these people have completed their duties on time every month, and whether they have acted lazily, committed crimes, committed corruption and perverted the law.

At the same time, in addition to the inspection of the superior and subordinate work of officials in various localities and many departments, there are also inspections by the imperial censorship desk and the local left-behind censorship department.

Moreover, the internal inspection departments of each department are not responsible to the ministers or ministers of the departments, but directly to the Constitutional Yuan.

In this way, the Constitutional Yuan supervises the 21 main departments under the Constitutional Yuan through the inspection departments of various departments, as well as the Imperial College, the Shaofu Supervisor, the General Supervisor, the Ordnance Supervisor, the Du Shui Supervisor, Liu Neiquan, the Third Class Yuan, and the Examiner. There are more than 20 sub-departments such as the Guanyuan, the Pinyuan, the Firearms Bureau, the Creation Bureau, the Production Bureau, the Living Bureau, and the Etiquette Bureau.

Through the supervision of local officials, coupled with the dual supervision of the central and local governments by the Yushitai, a perfect chain of supervision was formed between the central government, local governments, and the Yushitai, which greatly increased the supervision of the court and the rectification of officialdom. .

After everyone saw the complete set of plans involved, Lu Yijian greatly praised: "This is the test method, it is simply ingenious. Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty was also a strange person of his generation."

Zhao Jun showed Fan Zhongyan the test method, but he didn't show it to them.

Wang Zeng also praised: "It is indeed very good. This method is interconnected and eliminates cover-up from above and below."

"Well, this system has been improved on the basis of the examination method to adapt to the system of our Song Dynasty."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Remember what I said before my eyesight got better? The Song Dynasty should formulate a KPI assessment system to kill these bureaucrats. Anyway, there is a serious redundancy of officials, and the Song Dynasty lacks everything else, except for officials. Official."

"I have not canceled Menyin's appointment as an official, but it is the duty of officials to do their jobs well. You won't stop me this time."

Fan Zhongyan looked at Lu Yijian and the others warily.

Historically, when his Qingli New Deal failed, he eliminated a large number of officials who came from different backgrounds. This naturally offended interest groups, so he was dismissed.

But now he did not do this, but asked officials to complete the tasks they were responsible for. If you fail to meet the requirements or if you are found to have problems, it means that you are incompetent or a corrupt official, and it is natural for you to be dismissed by the court.

To some extent, the Qingli New Deal is a barbaric forced change of the system, while the performance evaluation system is based on reason and law. Although the purpose is the same, the means are completely different, and the latter is much milder.

Lv Yijian and Wang Zeng and others looked at each other, and after a long time, they all nodded slightly and said: "This law is great!"

As long as they do not exempt the entry of officials through family ties and do not block the upward path of their descendants, it naturally does not matter. As for whether the descendants will be eliminated because of poor political performance, they will definitely give them some pointers to let them roll up and increase their political performance.

So the new policy of official administration is naturally unimpeded.

Seeing that it was passed at the level of the Political System Institute, Zhao Zhen was also relieved and said happily: "That's great. In this case, I announce that from today, Fan Qing will officially start to preside over the Qingli New Deal, and all personnel in the Political System Institute must obey the dispatch of Da Sun and Fan Qing to implement the new policy!"

"Yes!"

Lv Yijian and others no longer had any objections, and stood up and saluted.

The first chapter of the Qingli New Deal, official administration, officially started.

The last few chapters are indeed foreshadowing and transition, which may make people feel a little watery, but there is no way, otherwise many things will be difficult to explain. For example, if I don’t talk about the content and trade situation, no one knows what the reform has changed, so I still have to explain it.

As for the heroine, those who have read "My Conspiracy" and "Silver Fox" know that I am not good at writing love scenes. Basically, I will bury a small foreshadowing in the early stage, have a heroine, and then pass it. There will be no drama in the future, so don't worry.