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

In early May, Zhao Jun did more than ten days of guidance work in Wu'an and arranged everything before returning to Bianliang.

Now that the war has stopped since the first year of Kangding, five major foreign trade foundations have been laid by the end of the year.

Then in the first year of Qingli, the administration of officials was reorganized.

In the second year of Qingli, taxes were reduced across the country, corvees were lightened, foreign trade was expanded, and construction was carried out everywhere.

The Song Dynasty has been recuperating for two and a half years now.

Prices in Bianliang have basically stabilized, and the price of grain has remained at 240 Wen per shi, which is even worse than the 30-50 Wen per shi during the Zhenguan period.

But this is the result of the imperial court maintaining food prices, reducing taxes by two-thirds, and the food on the market will increase dramatically.

The collapse in food prices will only hurt farmers.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty court ordered local transshipments and yamen to purchase grain at a fair price to maintain price stability. At the same time, the Changping warehouse was expanded to prepare for use in years of famine.

As for old grain, it was customary to make it into feed to feed livestock, raising more pigs, cattle and sheep, and enriching the dining tables of the Song people.

Naturally, there may be someone here who has a hand in it.

For example, old grain is exchanged for new grain, the inferior grain is passed off as good, and then the new grain is sold.

For this reason, the Censorship Department and the Imperial City Department across the country are not idle, carrying out pickets everywhere, and the performance and performance of the Censorship Department are linked to the strict investigation of corruption.

Zhao Jun even ordered that if a corrupt official could be caught, all the family property would be confiscated, and one-tenth of it would be given to the Yushi officials who handled the case as a reward, which would also be a rising political achievement.

After many local censors heard about this, they all started to pick up corrupt officials and unscrupulous traders, and began to accumulate raw political capital for themselves.

You must know that many new censors in the Censorship Department are often new academic scholars. These people have just become officials. They first serve as generals in the imperial court for a year or so as eunuchs and commentators on affairs in Dali, and then they are decentralized to local areas as county magistrates and officials. , Observer and so on.

If his political performance is outstanding, he may be transferred to the local censorship, tax supervision censorship, picket censorship, criminal censorship, etc. His duties are somewhat like the prosecutors in later generations of Korea.

Although the rank of the local censor is between the eighth and fourth grades, they have very powerful powers.

Moreover, young censors are often very motivated. Even if they are only eighth-rank officials, they can also impeach seventh-rank county magistrates and fifth-rank magistrates. Once there is suspicion, you have the power to investigate. It can be said that the responsibilities are very broad.

These people are young and energetic, and are not afraid of the powerful. Although they are prone to impulsiveness and are not easy to deal with when they encounter the kind of old-fashioned officialdom, what the court is afraid of is not that the censor cannot find out the case, but that the censor will not investigate the case. , afraid that these people who are investigating will collude with those who are being investigated.

Therefore, in the past two years of rectification of official affairs, we have been constantly dealing with corrupt elements in the official ranks, and constantly clearing out those bad apples hidden in the court and local areas who harm the people in the name of the court.

Even if we can’t catch all the corrupt officials in the world, we will continue to catch them. Just like weeds in a field, they need to be removed at all times to ensure that crops can grow vigorously.

Zhao Jun went south along the Bianhe River, and the convoy returned to the palace from the dock.

When he went to Wu'an, he took the land route, but when he came back, he took the water route in order to see the efficiency of going from Mingshui to Zhangshui, and then from Yongji Canal to the Yellow River back to Bianliang.

From the current point of view, the efficiency is average.

After all, except for the Ming River, everything else is a countercurrent. It often requires trackers to pull the big boat, so the efficiency is naturally not fast.

However, going from Bianliang to Wu'an is okay. It's basically following the flow and the efficiency is pretty good.

It was noon at this time, and everyone in the Political Yuan was doing business. Zhao Jun did not go to the Political Yuan before he came back. Hearing that Zhao Zhen was in the back garden, he went directly to find him.

Under the leadership of Wang Shouzhong, he walked through the flower garden and arrived outside the Guanjia Hall.

On the edge of the field outside the hall, this year's new wheat has just been harvested. In the dry field, Champa rice seedlings are planted, and in the paddy field next to it, early rice is planted. After the early rice is harvested in June or July, a crop of late rice can be planted.

It is worth mentioning that Zhao Zhen planted these himself.

This is the royal tradition of the Song Dynasty. The emperor has to personally farm every season. Starting from Zhao Zhen and his father Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng, they were engaged in production in the Guanjia Palace and the Silkworm Palace. The emperor farmed and the queen raised silkworms, which became a routine.

Historically, Zhao Zhen still abided by these rules in his early days. In the middle and later stages, probably because of his childlessness, he gradually degenerated and lived a luxurious life, which was quite self-defeating.

But it's okay now, I haven't relaxed much. Zhao Jun saw Zhao Zhen squatting in the field with a piece of dogtail grass in his mouth.

In the distance, the five-year-old King Zhao Fang of Wei was playing with water. He scooped it out of the rice field with a cup, dug a hole himself, poured it in, and carefully put a small fry he had just fished out of the rice field into.

"What are you doing, bro?"

Zhao Jun walked over and wondered: "What are you doing squatting in the field?"

Zhao Zhen raised his head and saw him coming, and immediately laughed: "Da Sun is here just in time, look."

He said and pointed to the vegetable patch next to him.

Only when Zhao Jun got closer did he notice the broad beans growing in the vegetable field. He wondered: "Brother has been mysterious since the beginning of this year. He is growing beans at home."

"This is a replica of Mendel's hybrid experiment. I originally wanted to use peas, but peas like warm and humid temperatures and are not drought-tolerant. In recent years, the temperature in the north has been getting higher and higher. I was afraid that I would not be able to feed them, so I used the same autobiography. Pollen, and slightly drought-tolerant broad beans.”

Zhao Zhen pointed at the broad bean seedlings and said: "Did you see that the broad bean plants in the south are only two feet tall and only take 100 days to mature? They produce less seeds and have the advantage of growing quickly. The broad bean plants in the north are four feet tall and produce many seeds. But it usually takes 150 days to mature. I use the two of them to pollinate each other to form two experimental fields. What if I can get broad beans that mature in 100 days and produce more seeds?"

Zhao Jun said speechlessly: "Brother, although you are not as handsome as me, your thoughts are quite beautiful. Although this direction is correct and it is also scientific breeding, this thing needs to be cultivated continuously for generations. Slowly get rid of the shortcomings and keep the advantages. How can it be done so quickly. "

"Then you have to try it."

Zhao Zhen took the dog's tail grass from his mouth and said: "I found that the traditional rice of our Han people takes more than five months to grow, while the Champa rice only takes three months. It's just that the Champa rice produces less rice, while the traditional rice produces more rice. So with the two-season alternation, if we can produce rice that matures in just three months and produces the same amount of rice as traditional rice, wouldn’t it be possible to grow three crops?”

“Good guy, if it weren’t for you, brother, I wouldn’t have taken you to see the World Food Prize in the future.”

Zhao Jun gave a thumbs up: "In the future, my title will change. From now on, I will be the one emperor of the Song Dynasty. He is a famous thinker, educator, biologist, agriculturalist, father of modern genetics, and reformer." Pioneer, the founder of the Song Dynasty’s world dominance, and the pioneer of the dynasty! When people talk about you in the future, they will probably say you are a time traveler.”

"Oh, you praise me so much that I feel embarrassed."

Zhao Zhen smiled so hard that he couldn't close his mouth.

"However, this matter still requires a systematic theory, such as recessive genes and dominant genes, which must be sorted out."

Zhao Jun said.

"I've sorted it out. I found some first-year biology knowledge from your notebook."

Zhao Zhen spread his hands and said: "I copied them all. When the time comes, I will put this experiment into it and publish it in the newspaper. And that's not all. I also copied the garlic soil that I found in historical novels. The refining method, glass refining method, and soap refining method are all copied down, and they are published every once in a while to benefit the whole people. "

Zhao Jun almost peed at that time and said: "How can you plagiarize? You have to come up with something yourself."

"Look what you said."

Zhao Zhen waved his hand: "It's smaller, the pattern is smaller. You see, Mendel did experiments first, and then came up with the theory. I first had the theory, and then I did the experiment. But before that, who in the world still had a theory? So even though the egg was born before the chicken, who knew that the chicken was born before the egg?”

"Forehead"

Zhao Jun's mind was full of chicken and egg, and for a moment he felt that what Zhao Zhen said made sense, but he was speechless.

Maybe Zhao Zhen is right.

He is an otaku who can only stay in the palace every day anyway, so he might as well study his notebook more.

Even Zhao Jun himself just put a lot of information in his notebook and didn't have time to read it. Why not let Zhao Zhen do more research and maybe come up with a great inventor?

Just when his brain was about to short-circuit, Cao Xiu hurriedly crossed the field ridge, came to the two of them, raised his hands to them and said: "Your Majesty, the Governor."

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

Cao Xiu said excitedly: "The fleet sent out in the first year of Baoyuan is back!"

"What?"

Zhao Jun hurriedly asked: "Where are they?"

"It should be arriving in Suzhou soon, maybe even already."

Cao Xiu replied: "They arrived at Tsushima Island at the beginning of last month. Our naval captain stationed at Tsushima Island was very surprised. After asking, he found out that it was our Song Dynasty fleet, so he quickly sent someone back to report the news. They The fleet is bloated and should be much slower.”

In the first year of Baoyuan, the Song Dynasty spent about one million yuan to recruit about 6,000 sailors and more than 50 large ships in total. The imperial court at that time selected two envoy officials from the Mingzhou Shipping Department to supervise the city's shipping. , led the team to go.

On board the ship are not only experienced sailors who have traveled to Japan, Korea and even Central Asia many times, but also dozens of recruited businessmen who have been to the Bohai Sea. The lineup is quite luxurious.

It was only worse than Zheng He's later voyage to the West, which cost more than 4 million taels of silver, brought 30,000 people, and more than 200 large ships.

However, Zheng He followed the mature route of the Maritime Silk Road that countless Central Asian merchants had traveled, and what the Song Dynasty pioneered this time was an unprecedented northward journey to Russia, then across the Bering Strait, to the Americas, and finally Also heading south to South America.

Therefore, both in terms of safety and distance, it was much more dangerous and far away than Zheng He's voyages to the West.

Even with the world map given by Zhao Jun, it is still full of risks.

Diseases on the ship, the supply of food and fresh water, whether the local indigenous people are hostile, wind and waves at sea, changes in weather, cold factors, etc. are all accidents.

From the first year of Baoyuan to the present Qingli three years, five years have passed and there has been no news. Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian, and the others even thought that the entire fleet had been wiped out on the road to development, but they didn't expect that five years later, they would actually come back!

"Even if I just look at the map, I can only feel fear at such a long distance. I didn't have any hope for them at first, but I didn't expect that they could actually come back!"

Zhao Zhen was also overjoyed.

Zhao Jun said: "I just don't know whether they encountered setbacks on the way and came back, or whether they have arrived in America and returned with a full load."

Cao Xiu said in a deep voice: "I heard reports from Tsushima Island that their fleet suffered heavy losses. There were more than fifty large ships before departure, but now there are only more than twenty ships left, with less than 3,000 people."

"well."

Zhao Jun let out a long sigh, shook his head and said, "They are all risking human lives to create routes."

This was not done to open up the Americas, but to take the lead.

Some things, whether successful or not, must be done.

So even if he knew that sending people out would be a waste of money and people, and that these people might die, he could only do this.

In this way, even if they are forced to return midway, at least they have accumulated experience in pioneering, and when they are ready next time, they can continue to set off. Maybe they can succeed one time?

"Did they say where the furthest they had been?"

Zhao Zhen asked again.

Cao Xiu replied: "He said he went to a place called America, and he brought back a lot of crops!"

"Very good."

Zhao Jun clapped his hands excitedly: "Now productivity can be greatly improved again."

Zhao Zhen was also excited and said: "I must plant one of those crops myself to see if their yield can really produce a thousand catties per mu."

Crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, jicama, potatoes, cassava, pumpkins, peanuts, sunflowers, peppers, tomatoes, beans, etc. can not only enrich the Han people's dining table, but also increase food production for the Song Dynasty.

"You go down first."

Zhao Jun waved his hand quickly, signaling Cao Xiu to leave first.

Although Cao Xiu was a little puzzled, he immediately walked away.

Zhao Jun looked at Wang Shouzhong nearby.

Wang Shouzhong bowed slightly in understanding, and then retreated fifty meters away.

Seeing this situation, Zhao Zhen wondered: "Dasun, do you have anything to say to me?"

"Brother, the time has come, prepare to raise troops!"

Zhao Jun made a fierce downward gesture with his right hand, signaling that he was going to start a fight.

Zhao Zhen said in shock: "Are we going to fight the Liao Kingdom again?"

"Not with the Liao Kingdom."

"Xixia?"

"Not Xixia either."

"That is?"

"ourselves!"

Zhao Jun pointed at Zhao Zhen and then at himself and said: "We are ready to start the third round of reforms."

“What exactly is the third round of reforms intended to do?”

Zhao Zhen asked hurriedly: "You and Fan Qing are so mysterious that you don't even tell me or Lu Yijian."

"What else could it be, starting to kill ourselves."

Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said: "Eliminate officials and reduce redundant officials. Reduce royal and government expenditures and redundant expenses. Reform the military system, eliminate the old and weak in the army, strictly investigate the practice of eating empty pay and drinking soldiers' blood, and may even change the entire country." Song’s military system. I’m not sure I’ll survive if I’m cut down by this knife!”

In an instant, Zhao Zhen's expression became serious and full of solemnity.

This is the third round of reforms.

That’s when it really started to get serious.

Reducing redundancy is a major blow to the expenditure of the royal family and the government.

Reducing redundant officials is a blow to the heads of tens of thousands of officials in the world.

The reduction of redundant troops was a blow to the heads of the more than one million soldiers of the Song Dynasty.

If you are not careful, the whole country is in danger of overturning!

The last few chapters may be a bit watery. One is foreshadowing, the other is recycling foreshadowing, and the third is transitional plot. The big one is coming. Let's talk about how many people we need to kill before everyone is satisfied.