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

Zhao Jun has a bold idea.

He actually didn't expect that he would gain so much from going to sea this time.

In addition to so many productivity-improving crops, they actually brought back more than three million taels of gold and silver.

There was very little silver in the Song Dynasty, unlike the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which had more than one billion silver reserves.

Therefore, although the official quota is that one guan is equal to 1 tael of silver, since the official 1 guan is 770 wen, it often takes more than 1,000 wen to exchange for one tael of silver, so the actual ratio is higher.

In other words, if these more than three million taels of silver were converted into Song Dynasty copper coins, they would probably be worth more than five million taels, equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenue last year.

It doesn't seem like much, and it cost more than one million guan, and it took five years to earn more than 5 million guan, which is equivalent to an annual income of 800,000 guan.

But a shipping company in Guangzhou only collected more than 1.5 million yuan in taxes after working hard for a year.

The generals and nobles are currently eating the free pay of more than 200,000 soldiers. Since the salaries of upper-class soldiers and lower-class soldiers are different, calculating the average of 30 guan per person per year, they have raked in 6 million guan in a year.

The problem is that these 6 million guan are not eaten by one family, but by the descendants of dozens of founding generals of the Song Dynasty. It would be good if each family can have tens of thousands of guan and hundreds of thousands.

The profits from the ocean are much greater than this huge profit.

Zhao Jun had never thought that the ocean could be so profitable. From the perspective of the imperial court, he felt that crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes were more useful.

But from the perspective of the public and other people, the white silver and the golden gold are what attracts the eye.

If these people are fooled into going to sea, wouldn't the problem be solved?

Therefore, Zhao Jun suddenly felt enlightened. The return of Chen Haizhong's ocean-going fleet opened up a new way of thinking for him.

really.

In the new era of the next generation, under the situation of global saturation, the upward path is blocked, and screws are hammered in the factory. No matter how hard you work, you can only be at the same level as your parents. Ordinary people have no chance of advancement at all.

But in this era where the whole world is a blue ocean, Europe, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, North America, South America, Australia, and Africa are full of opportunities to make money.

Inside the Chongzheng Hall.

It was completely dark outside.

Since noon today, everyone has been listening to Chen Haizhong talk about overseas affairs, and only now have we started talking about government affairs.

Zhao Jun looked around at everyone and told everyone that he had a new idea.

Yan Shu asked curiously: "Hanlong, what do you think?"

"Actually, I haven't told you about this."

Zhao Jun looked at everyone and said, "Originally, I wanted to officially start solving the three-redundant problem, but I was afraid that you would object, so I suppressed it for now. I didn't expect that I might be able to solve this problem smoothly."

"That's what you said."

Lu Yijian rolled his eyes anxiously. It was not that the scholar-bureaucrats in the imperial court did not want to solve the three-redundant problem, otherwise no one would have raised it and found a solution.

It’s just that they all know that the interest groups that are offended in this way are really too big, so it has always been a thorny problem that is difficult to deal with.

If it can be solved, of course it would be best.

Everyone looked at him curiously, only to see Zhao Jun calmly say: "That's it. I originally planned to forcefully disarmament, eliminate officials, inventory the number of troops, and simplify the official team, but these problems are full of difficulties."

"You also know that the three-redundancy problem has always been a cancer rooted in the history of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties for more than 300 years. It has deeply affected the lifeblood of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, seriously ruined the imperial government's finances, and became the three-way lock in the Song Dynasty. The heavy chains on the heads of the imperial court and the people of the Song Dynasty.”

"If this problem is not solved, it will only continue to bring a burden to the court in this era when the cake is not so easy to grow. Even now that I have made the cake a little bigger, if Sanrong does not solve it as soon as possible, It will slow down progress.”

"For example, the current annual revenue of the imperial court is 70 million guan, of which 50 million guan has to pay for the military expenses of 1.2 million people, including salaries, horses, weapons and equipment, etc., then the money available to the court is There is only less than 20 million yuan, and it has to be used to fill redundant expenses and redundant officials.”

"In this case, the court will not be able to build canals or build schools this year, society will not develop, and we will not move forward. Even if I make the cake bigger and the fiscal revenue next year becomes 100 million, how much money can I have at my disposal? How many canals can be built and how many schools can be built?”

"So you should also understand this issue. Only by solving the three redundant problems and reducing military expenditures and official expenses will we have enough money to do other things, increase investment in education, economy, construction, scientific research, etc., and the country will To become better.”

"I believe you agree with me on this point."

At the end, Zhao Jun looked at everyone and asked.

This is obviously a commonplace question. Whether everyone agrees or not, the truth is this and there is no way to refute it.

Therefore, Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Yan Shu, Fan Zhongyan and others also said: "Yes, it is like this."

"Of course we agree with you, but the problem is here, what can we do?"

"Please tell me what you think first."

everyone said.

"Then let me talk about disarmament first. What difficulties will we encounter in this?"

Zhao Jun said: "The first difficulty is naturally that as vested interests, they will not give up these interests easily."

"If these generals and nobles broke the law, it would be easy to deal with. If we have someone to be the bad guy, such as Lao Fan, we can directly find the crime and deal with them, and naturally solve this problem."

"But"

He smiled bitterly: "You also know that this matter is actually the behavior of my ancestors who betrayed their grandsons. They gave up military power with a cup of wine and raised the generals and nobles like pigs. They would only be sent out when there was a war, making the generals not know the soldiers and the soldiers not know the generals."

"This is the benefit that the court gave them completely. If the court forcibly took it away, it would obviously have a great impact on the royal family."

"The problem of unrest in the harem alone is not easy to solve."

"So in this issue I have always been cautious, and it has been dragging on for seven or eight years without being resolved, mainly because there has been no particularly good solution. "

"Before, I planned to let them invest in some companies, or build steel mills together, build a military corps, etc."

"But these things are hard to see the benefits in the short term, and they may not agree."

"But now"

Said Zhao Jun, looking at the crowd, pointed in the direction of the door, and smiled slightly: "Isn't the profit from this navigation rich?"

The founding generals of the Northern Song Dynasty don't seem to be very well-known. Compared with Liu Bang, Li Shimin, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding heroes who conquered the world, the later generations probably know at most one Cao Bin and one Pan Mei.

Even Pan Mei came because of his bad reputation. Except for those who specialize in history or Song Dynasty history enthusiasts, no one knows who the others are.

Are these people incompetent?

Of course not.

In fact, there were many powerful generals in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Wang Shenqi, Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, Murong Yanzhao, etc., who were all famous generals.

Then why are they not well-known in later generations?

Because Zhao Kuangyin inherited the Later Zhou Dynasty of Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, the first wise ruler of the Five Dynasties. By this time, the Later Zhou Dynasty was very powerful, and it was not difficult to eliminate the remaining separatist forces.

Secondly, Zhao Kuangyin released the military power with a cup of wine. These founding generals retired quickly after fighting for a few years, and each of them became a rich man.

As a result, the generals in the early Northern Song Dynasty were not well-known.

And Zhao Kuangyin's method of dealing with them was actually very simple, that is, to give them a luxurious life.

This led to the legality of generals and nobles doing business, eating empty salaries, drinking soldiers' blood, occupying land, having farms, holding privileges, and even letting hundreds or thousands of soldiers serve as slaves for them.

In short, the royal family acquiesced, or even indulged them to do so.

Of course.

It is still easy for the royal family to turn against them.

Acquiescence is acquiescence. Once the imperial power wants to take these things back, it is difficult for the generals who have been taken away to resist.

But there is one embarrassing thing. The royal family of the Song Dynasty is actually deeply entangled with the nobles and generals.

For example, empresses often come from high-ranking military noble families, only a very small number come from high-ranking civil servant families, and there are only a handful of empresses from civilian families.

In addition, although the noble generals do not directly command the army, the second and third generations often serve as middle and lower-level officers in the three divisions. Once the war breaks out, these people will be sent to the front line to lead the army to fight.

In history, in the Northwest Army during the reign of Emperor Renzong, most of the middle and lower-level officers, and even the middle and high-level generals, came from noble families, such as Cao Cong, the son of Cao Bin, Ge Huaimin, the son of Ge Ba, Gao Jixuan, the son of Gao Qiong, Wang Kai, the great-grandson of Wang Quanbin, and Liu Hu, the hostage of Liu Wen, etc.

Although these people do not have direct military power at ordinary times, they have a certain influence on the army. In addition, the royal family of the Song Dynasty itself gave them great privileges, and they were deeply tied to their interests, making the two sides in a mutually beneficial situation.

Therefore, Zhao Jun said that dealing with the problem of redundant troops was a knife cut into himself. He really didn't want to have a direct conflict with the generals and nobles until it was absolutely necessary, because that would involve too many people, and even his wife would be implicated.

But these people controlled the army, made the soldiers serve as their slaves, and also did business in the army, asked the army to help transport goods to the border for sale, and ate empty salaries and drank the blood of the soldiers, and they had become the country's parasites.

The Song Dynasty royal family wanted to win them over to maintain the stability of their imperial power, but Zhao Jun also wanted to solve the problem of redundant troops and make the Song Dynasty stronger. In this way, there would naturally be different positions.

Although Zhao Jun had tried to solve this problem many times before, there was no particularly good way, especially since his wife's family was involved, it was even more difficult to deal with.

After all, this matter was originally a privilege granted by the royal family and the court. It was easy to give it out, but it was difficult to take it back.

So Zhao Jun was actually quite headache.

Including the selection of elite soldiers, it was also to prevent accidents, and finally he was forced to clean up.

But he never expected that Chen Haizhong would bring back a high profit.

And it has already caused a stir in Bianliang. It is estimated that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the whole of Bianliang will talk about the news that Chen Haizhong and his team found the New World and brought back countless gold and silver.

This profit is much higher than eating empty salaries and drinking soldiers' blood, not to mention that the powerful and wealthy people can mobilize hundreds or thousands of soldiers to serve as slaves for them.

If they are fooled into going, they can not only open up overseas, but also solve the three redundancies, which can be said to be a good thing to kill two birds with one stone.

"Does Hanlong mean to officially open up America?"

As a supporter of the development faction, Lu Yijian was overjoyed. His brother is in business, so he is naturally more concerned about this matter. The profit is too high.

"Wrong, I support the powerful and wealthy businessmen to open up, not the common people."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "The cost of development is still too high now. Ordinary people can't afford it at all. Only those with family background can go."

"I understand."

Yan Shu suddenly realized: "Going overseas once costs hundreds of thousands of strings of cash. The court can let those nobles unite and help them go overseas to operate in America at the cost of letting them give up the interests of the army?"

"That's right."

Zhao Jun praised: "With such high profits, I don't believe they won't be tempted. But they don't have a navigation map, and they are not familiar with the situation along the route. If they want this profit, they can only find Chen Haizhong or find the surviving sailors, but how come these sailors are controlled by the court?"

"Well."

Everyone pondered.

Yan Shu thought: "So this is an exchange of interests. The court can let those sailors help them go overseas, but they must no longer eat empty salaries, no longer be responsible for arms sales, and no longer have a certain private army?"

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Yes, if you want to get higher profits, you will naturally pay some price, otherwise why should the court help you?"

If nothing unexpected happens, all Bianliang will know about this tomorrow.

If the newspapers and official reports had promoted it, the whole Song Dynasty would have known that Chen Haizhong had brought back more than three million taels of silver.

If the court had added fuel to the fire, sold the maps drawn, and allowed sailors who had already had experience to act as guides, it is estimated that in recent years, the whole Song Dynasty would have set off a wave of sailing to the sea.

But the reality is very different from the ideal. In the ideal distance, there are gold and silver wealth everywhere. A trip by boat can make a poor boy become a millionaire in an instant, directly crossing the class and fulfilling his life dream.

But the reality is that the coastline is more than 10,000 kilometers long. Even if it is not as dangerous as crossing the Pacific Ocean, it is also difficult. Ordinary people simply do not have the ability and cost to complete this task.

It is different for generals and wealthy merchants. They have money and can hire more ships, more sailors, and buy more goods.

Even if there are risks on the road, a rich man will invest 500,000 strings of cash, hire more than 20 large ships, and more than 3,000 sailors. It is not that all these 20 large ships will be wiped out at the same time.

Even if only half of it goes to North America, the money brought back can be earned several times.

So again, the rich are much more resistant to risks than ordinary people. For the court, this matter can expand foreign trade and collect commercial taxes. Secondly, it can also expand the route and stabilize this route.

The last and most important point is that fooling the generals and nobles can also solve the three redundancies, free up a lot of fiscal expenditures, and relieve the pressure on the treasury.

Killing multiple birds with one stone, the court will make a lot of money.

I have a bold idea. Last month, I updated an average of about 9,700 words every day, almost 10,000 a day, which caused me to have serious mental exhaustion, and the plot was sometimes fragmented, and I also added words for the sake of watering the number of words. So I want to relax a little this month and polish the plot by the way. For example, yesterday I updated 2 chapters with 8,000 words, and today I updated 4,000 words, 15 days twice, and 15 days once. I calculated that even if I only maintain exactly 8,000 words and 4,000 words, it will be 180,000 words a month. And it is impossible to maintain, often more than 8000 words and 4000 words, often a chapter of 5000-6000 words, so even so, 200,000 words a month, an average of 7000 words a day is more than enough.

Let me take a break, please.