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

June, Jiangnan East Road, Guangning Prison.

The chief judge Su Xun was a Jinshi in the first year of Kangding, ranking fourth in the first class.

It is worth mentioning that the first class in the Northern Song Dynasty was not only three people like in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but five people, so Zhang Dun took the second exam and ranked fifth in the first class.

In this year's Enke, the first place was Wang Anshi, the second place was Su Song, and the third place was Huang Shu (Huang Tingjian's father).

Historically, they all passed the Jinshi in the second year of Qingli, which is this year. But in history, it was because of the war with Xixia that the Song Dynasty was forced to stop the imperial examination for a few years, which delayed them.

Now the war with Xixia has won a great victory, and the court has opened many new departments, but gradually lacks officials, so the Enke was specially set up.

Guangning Prison is located in Jiangzhou, which is Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province in later generations. Copper is produced here, and it became the main place for producing copper coins in the Song Dynasty.

Although Jiujiang City was prosperous and bustling in later generations, Guangning was quite desolate at that time. Except for Jiangzhou County, which was an important trade area and relatively prosperous, the surrounding counties were desolate and remote.

The reason was that there were many lakes in the surrounding area and relatively little land. It can be said that the city and the people lived in the low-lying and humid places of the Penjiang River, which naturally made it difficult to develop.

The environment where Su Xun lived was also very poor. Although he was the supervisor of Guangning, the supervisor was at the same level as the county, and he should live in the supervisory office, but the local supervisory office was quite dilapidated, almost like a thatched cottage, and it often leaked when working, which made people miserable.

At this moment, Su Xun was standing on the Jiangning Wharf and looking out.

The wharf was a slightly more prosperous place, because there were ships coming and going on the Yangtze River, and the money of Guangning had to be shipped out, so a lot of porters gathered.

People naturally had consumption, so some shops were opened, such as restaurants, tea shops, wine shops, and even gambling houses and brothels.

It sounds good, but in fact it is just a shabby little street. The shops that are opened can only operate with a shed. The brothels are basically secret prostitutes with half-closed doors. It is not high-end and luxurious.

Behind the dock is a wilderness with potholes and lakes everywhere. On the distant horizon, you can still see the rammed earth wall, which is probably less than seven feet high.

Su Xun stood on a small hillside next to the dock. The cool summer breeze blew, blowing his clothes and beard with the wind.

From a distance, he saw a large ship slowly approaching, and then stopped to rest.

Because he didn't know the exact time of his wife's arrival, he could only calculate it through the correspondence, so when he calculated that it was about the same day, he came to wait and see. If it didn't work, he also arranged servants to wait and see.

At this time, a few people slowly came down from the large ship in the distance. Su Xun was surprised when he saw it, and ran down the hillside to meet them.

"Madam!"

"Husband!"

Mrs. Cheng also saw Su Xun. She was holding three-year-old Su Zhe, and five-year-old Su Shi was beside her.

Su Xun went up to Su Zhe and hugged him, saying happily: "You are finally here."

Some ancient officials would bring their families with them, while others would not. For example, Su Shi brought Mrs. Wang with him in history, but she died of illness in Kaifeng, Bianliang when he was the judge of Dengwen Drum Court.

Although Mrs. Cheng's family was wealthy in Meishan, and their Su family was also a prominent family in the local area, Su Xun had not passed the imperial examination for a long time and had been traveling around, and people in his hometown had been gossiping about him.

Now that he has become successful overnight, passed the imperial examination and became an official, he naturally wants to bring his wife to his side to let the people in his hometown see that he, Su Xun, is also promising.

Mrs. Cheng came with her brother Cheng Jun this time. In the early years, Cheng Jun looked down on Su Xun. Now that he has passed the imperial examination and is rumored to be appreciated by the prefect, he said sourly: "My brother-in-law has made a great leap."

"Brother, what are you talking about? Come with me to the county government office."

Su Xun waved his hand.

Cheng Jun pointed to the dozens of large ships behind him that had not entered the dock and said: "Forget it, I still have to go to Jiangdong to sell goods. Even if I stay overnight, I have to go to Jiangzhou Prefecture. Your Jiangning dock can't accommodate so many ships."

Su Xun smiled and said: "There is still time to go to the government office for a meal. Brother, why don't you let the steward drive the boat to Jiangzhou Prefecture first, and I will send you there in person in the evening."

"Yes, uncle, let's go for a meal together."

Five-year-old Su Shi said.

At this time, the Su and Cheng families had not yet become enemies. Cheng Jun just looked down on Su Xun as a playboy in his early years and always despised him.

Now that he has passed the imperial examination, the situation is naturally different.

Seeing that it was difficult to refuse, Cheng Jun had to agree.

As everyone walked back, Su Shi looked around and saw that this scene was completely different from Sichuan. He said curiously: "Father, this place is so shabby."

"It's a bit shabby now, but it will get better in the future."

"Why?"

"Look over there."

Su Xun pointed to the distance.

Su Shi looked over and saw many ragged farmers in coarse cloth short clothes in the distance, reclaiming land by the lake.

In later generations, this area is actually the Chengmenshan Copper Mine in Jiujiang City, which has been under reclamation.

But in ancient times, it was like an island, and the lake area was much larger than in later generations.

For example, the Sai Lake in later generations was connected to the Yangtze River at that time. Some of the Chengxi Port area in Jiujiang City was exposed, and some were soaked in the river.

This made the living environment in this area quite harsh at that time. Apart from the copper mining industry, there was almost no agricultural production.

Cheng Jun asked curiously: "Are you reclaiming farmland?"

"Yes."

Su Xun nodded: "Now the imperial court is tax-free and allows people to cultivate land. The government will lend them seeds and farm tools. Landless people now have land."

"Why do you have to farm? There is so much copper in the mountains. Wouldn't it be better to dig more ore and make more money?"

Cheng Jun was puzzled.

"Of course this is good, but it won't keep people."

Su Xun smiled bitterly and said: "Food has to be bought from outside, and few people come to do business. Many hired workers dug for a while and then went to Jiangzhou City to squander the money. For a long time, Guangning will always be just a copper miner. The place is not even as good as a town.”

"Isn't that nice?"

Cheng Jun shrugged: "You are responsible for digging copper mines and casting copper coins, so why bother?"

Su Xun glanced at him and said, "This is why you can only be a businessman and not an official. How can you become a great person if you only focus on this little product?"

"you!"

Cheng Jun was furious.

This seems to be what he said to Su Xun before.

"OK OK."

Mrs. Cheng quickly smoothed things over and said, "We finally met, why bother arguing again?"

"The Magistrate has said that being an official is not only about keeping one's peace, but also about benefiting the people and building up the countryside."

Su Xun said proudly: "This time the imperial court allowed the local government to withhold 30% of the tax. Although our Guangning prison did not have to pay much tax before and only had to pay copper coins to the imperial court every year, the magistrate said that we were willing to spend money on construction. Only then will more money come out. If Guangning has more and more supervisors and becomes more and more prosperous, it will produce more copper, and won’t there be more money? "

This time Zhao Jun had high hopes for him. With the development of the commodity economy in the Song Dynasty, society's demand for currency continued to increase. Even though the imperial court set up more than 40 copper coin prisons, it still could not meet the demand, so it had to be imported from overseas.

Nowadays, not only copper is imported from Japan, but also silver is imported, all to meet social development.

In the past, problems such as severe copper shortage, chaotic management, and excessive quotas plagued the Song Dynasty court. For this reason, Zhao Jun specially selected smart and capable officials to serve as local magistrates, and they were not under the jurisdiction of the state government, but directly under the road. He first lowered the quota, Reserve some copper coins for local governments to develop.

Many prison areas are located in deep mountains and old forests. Apart from mining workers, there are almost no other people. Zhao Jun told them the development direction. One is to build roads, and the other is to cultivate fields.

Having fields and food can stabilize local prices and attract people to settle down. After the road was built, more people came, and it was also convenient for the court to transport. Such slow development will eventually lead to the formation of an urban settlement. With more and more mining workers and more and more craftsmen making copper, won't it lead to the upgrading of the entire industry?

Therefore, for things like gold, silver, copper and iron, it does not mean that you will be rich immediately if you have a mine. Instead, you need to build local supporting facilities to attract more people before you can increase production.

Otherwise, if the mines are there, it would be impossible to even dig them out, let alone make us rich.

“But it’s still so shabby here!”

Su Shi looked at the dilapidated rammed earth city wall in the distance and felt that it was much worse than his hometown of Meishan.

"It's going to be okay, everything's going to get better."

Su Xun looked over from a distance, and saw that there were already people cultivating fields in the wilderness, and others were repairing roads. There was no plan to repair the city yet, but the infrastructure should be built first so that the local area could produce grain and copper. This was a long-term solution.

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After the New Deal was issued, all prefectural and county governments were engaged in political performance.

During a private visit to the people, Liu Yong, the magistrate of Xinzhou, discovered that there was a landowner surnamed Liu in Yiyang County. Taking advantage of the high mountains and distance of Qingshan Township, he colluded with Li Zheng and the head of the household to enrich himself.

He outsmarted the landlord and figured out the situation in the village. Then he mobilized the people and captured the landlord Liu and others on the spot.

Ruyin County Magistrate Li Xiaoji discovered that his boss Bai Zhipeng connived at his younger brother Bai Zhiyuan's forced buying and selling and tax evasion.

So he pretended to be flattering, but actually reported it immediately after seizing the evidence.

In August, with the issuance of the new policy across the country, various places were prosperous, with agricultural farming and commerce booming, and even rebellions and uprisings becoming less common.

In Bianliang City, singing and dancing flourished, and the cotton shipped from Guangzhou was quickly sold out as soon as it came on the market.

As summer taxes were significantly reduced, the amount of food available for sale on the market also increased dramatically.

For a time, the price of food plummeted to more than 200 yuan a stone.

It is estimated that in a few years, I am afraid that it will be a matter of time before we return to the Zhenzong period of Song Dynasty.

After resting with the people, the whole country appeared prosperous.

On August 6, in the Constitutional Court, Zhao Jun looked at official documents from various places.

He has already dealt with the affairs of Liu Yong and Li Xiaoji. He killed those who deserved to be killed and exiled those who deserved. He punished the criminals severely.

But there is no end in sight for killing such people, especially under the New Deal, where loopholes are easy to appear.

Therefore, during a period of particularly strict supervision, things like this were reported almost every day, so much so that both Dali Temple and the Sengguan Yuan have been extremely busy recently.

"This new policy has uncovered a lot of corrupt officials."

Li Zhen shook his head and said.

He has also just handled a tax evasion case. As the Minister of Industry and Commerce, he must take on the responsibility of strictly investigating business issues with the tax department under the Ministry of Finance.

Nowadays, counterfeiting and selling are considered a minor problem. Due to the new policies, it is too easy to evade taxes. It is expected that commercial taxes will be greatly reduced again this year.

"They are all officials who evaded taxes for relatives and friends. These are just the ones who were caught. There are many more who were not caught."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "There is no end to catching corrupt officials."

"I have long said that this new business tax is unreasonable. If this continues, how can we get it?"

Lu Yijian sighed.

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "What can I do? Everything has advantages and disadvantages. As long as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, then it is a good idea. Remember what I said? Make a big cake."

Yan Shu turned his head and asked, "Is the cake bigger now?"

"Not big enough."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "This is just the beginning. If we want to make the cake bigger, it will take a few years for private business to become more prosperous."

"I'm afraid that within a few years, the national treasury will be empty in two years."

Wang Zeng poked his head and said: "This year we have begun to prepare for major repairs to the Yellow River. As you said, the government will fund and hire people to dig and build canals to divert the water to avoid bursting of the banks. But if this continues, money will be like water. ah."

"You have to spend money like running water."

Jiang Tang walked in with an official document and said with a smile: "This is an official document just sent by the Audit Department and the Ministry of Education. Now basically every county in the country has built a school and the teachers are already in place."

"Finally there is good news."

Zhao Jun took a long breath and said: "I suggest that starting from next year, mathematics and certain physical and chemical knowledge should be added to the imperial examination, so as to cultivate the soil of science."

In the past few years, Bianliang opened schools, convened many experts and professors, and began to establish the missing verification system.

It also promoted Arabic numerals. The Arabic numerals of the Song Dynasty were actually a bit different from those of later generations. For example, 2 looks like a Z, and 3 looks like a reverse Σ. The gestures are relatively straight, not as rounded as those of later generations.

Zhao Jun also made improvements to make calculations easier.

As for contracts, the imperial court stipulated that contracts should still be written in Chinese 1234. Arabic numerals are just for convenience in daily life. Strict official documents, handouts, contracts, etc., naturally cannot be careless.

Therefore, the missing mathematical system was gradually established, and after archaeological research, basically the mathematics level of the Song Dynasty was enough for a high school student, and there was no problem.

The students who were recruited successfully graduated in a few years and began to work as principals in schools in various places, slowly spreading their science knowledge into the hearts of the people.

"In the final analysis, there is still a lack of money."

Yan Shu sighed.

"Yes, there is a lack of money, but I still say the same thing. If you want more money, you must first adjust the patient's body and restore health first, and then talk about other things."

Zhao Jun looked around and said seriously: "Treating diseases and saving people is a process, but creating a prosperous age is actually simple. As long as we recuperate, lighten the corvee, reduce taxes, and encourage farmers to be cautious about punishment, even if there are natural and man-made disasters, it is not impossible to do it. The difficulty is how to maintain it."

"Because this kind of prosperous age itself is very fragile. Like the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties later in the Qing Dynasty, official corruption was rampant in the middle and late period, and the people were displaced. Once the government was not properly governed and officials and businessmen colluded, it was the people who suffered."

"So in many cases, supervision and rectification of officials must be maintained. A thousand-mile embankment is destroyed by an ant nest. Officials should be killed and punished. They must not tolerate traitors."

"Now is just a good start. In a few years, the real key to reform will be when people's livelihood in the country is truly stabilized."

"Da Song will get better!"

Zhao Jun said with firm eyes.

In the last chapter, Li Xiaoji is Li Di's grandson, which is actually not a bug, because I said before that in ancient times, father was grandfather, and calling him grandpa meant calling him father. However, in the Song Dynasty, things gradually changed. In some places, Aweng was called grandfather, but there were Aweng who was called father, father who was called father, and grandpa who was called grandfather. There are also those who call grandpa daddy and father grandpa. Anyway, customs vary from place to place and the names are also different. However, it does seem a bit ambiguous now, so I changed it because in the Song Dynasty, more people called Aweng grandpa.

The last few chapters are excessive chapters. I don’t know if they are considered useless. I still need to describe the current situation after the New Deal reforms to pave the way for the big things below. After all, the big one hasn't come yet. Once we really want to deal with San Duan, I'm afraid we will have to go on a killing spree. Let's take it step by step. We can't just kill more than 700 people. The old Qin people won't explode.