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

"I didn't expect that the construction efficiency of steam engine ships would be so fast. The project was just launched at the beginning of this year, and it was already built by the end of the year."

Zhao Jun was still very happy when he heard the news about the steam ship, and his smile was obviously more exciting than when he heard that the railway was half completed, which puzzled many of the prime ministers present.

Is the appearance of this steamship so joyful?

Yan Shu said curiously: "Hanlong, our railway construction is about to be opened. Are steamships more important than trains?"

"Well, it's definitely more important."

"Why?"

"It's simple."

Zhao Jun nodded, and then said: "Do you remember what I told you about sea power before?"

"Sea power theory?"

Xia Song, Du Yan, and Zheng Jian were confused.

Even Li Di, Zhang Shixun, Jiang Tang, and Jia Changchao were confused.

When Zhao Jun talked about sea power, land power and other theories, it was the first time he proposed the Eastern Pole strategy.

At that time, except for Yan Shu, Cai Qi, and Song Shou, the prime ministers at that time were still there. Wang Sui, Sheng Du, and Wang Zeng died of illness. Fan Zhongyan was away leading troops, and Lu Yijian was also seriously ill.

Times have changed, and although there are still a group of people like the Prime Minister of the Constitutional Yuan, except for a few, most of them have changed their faces.

"It's about the fight for maritime dominance and the idea that dominance on land plays a decisive role in controlling the destiny of the country and the world. Simply put, it's the difference between my influence at sea and my influence on land."

Seeing that except for Yan Shu, Cai Qi, and Song Shou, who seemed to have some impression, the others looked puzzled. Zhao Jun briefly summarized it, and then said: "It is undeniable that whether it is the world island theory or the fringe theory, The zone theory is not as influential as the sea power theory in terms of influence and future international situations.”

"Why?"

Everyone was curious.

"Because whether it is from an economic or military perspective, the actual benefits brought by fighting for the ocean are much higher than those for land."

"Can you tell me more about it?"

“The simplest example is the difference between a train and a freighter.”

Zhao Jun explained: "A train can pull a few thousand tons of cargo at most, and rarely tens of thousands of tons. However, a freighter can pull tens of thousands of tons or even hundreds of thousands of tons at a time, and the cargo capacity is completely different."

"If the Song Dynasty wanted to attack Central Asia or Europe, it would be a short journey by land, but traveling by sea would be much faster, and its mobility at sea would be much better than by land. "

"In addition, the costs are also different. Trains need to build tracks and operation and maintenance costs, but ships do not need tracks. The ocean is a natural transportation road."

"In the future, the industrial development within the Song Dynasty will definitely fall into a period of stagnation after the growth rate, because the domestic population is only 100 million for the time being, and the production capacity that can be absorbed is limited, so it must be exported abroad."

"Which is greater in terms of cost and benefit of building a railway to go abroad or driving a ship to go abroad? I believe you can understand without having to do the math."

He continued: "In addition, foreign mineral resources and local specialties also need to be transported to the country to be used as industrial raw materials for continued production, so the importance of the development of ships can be imagined."

With the size of the Song Dynasty here, there is no need to build colonies all over the world like Dai Ying, who lacks great virtue and plunders the wealth of the colonies bloodyly while dumping excess production capacity to the colonies to further exploit the colonies in a sustainable way.

Although the Song Dynasty could do this, its own actions were not in line with the basic moral standards of human beings. What Ang Sa did during that period was no different from genocide and anti-humanity.

The Song Dynasty, as an ancient and civilized country, could not despise Ang Sa's ugly anti-human behavior and at the same time humbly learn from them, emulate and pay tribute to them.

How is that different from the squid of later generations?

Hate mustaches, question mustaches, understand mustaches, become mustaches, transcend mustaches?

certainly.

The prerequisite for all this is to deal with the two races that are humanoid in nature, Feangsa and Wonu.

So Song Dynasty can definitely use better means to do it.

First, the size of the Song Dynasty allowed it to digest a large amount of industrial production capacity internally, and then export a large amount of it when there was excess production capacity.

Secondly, when exporting industrial products, they can completely control the export destination through industrial products, such as exchanging industrial products for raw materials such as minerals, gold, silver, wood, and spices.

In this way, not only can it be covered with a layer of civilization, but it can also deal with the exporting country more gently, so that the original works of the exporting country are willing to work for the Song Dynasty.

As for whether there will be thorns in the future, it is simple. Steamships are not only cargo ships, but also armored ships. They carry long guns and cannons. At least for now, no country in the world can compete.

I believe that with this combination of kindness and power, the international situation around the world will soon undergo fundamental changes.

By then, there will be countless people willing to work for the Song Dynasty, and raw material exporting countries will also benefit a lot from cheap industrial products.

Just like in later generations, my country shifted from the export of human resources to the export of industry and technology.

In the Mao Xiong period of later generations, tens of billions of subsidies were given to the franchised countries, and a large number of cheap industrial products were subsidized to the franchised countries, which greatly improved the domestic economic capabilities of the franchised countries.

Although doing this in the Song Dynasty would cause raw material exporting countries to be heavily dependent on and tied to industrial exporting countries, it was better than being like Angsa in later generations, who first engaged in the black slave trade, then enslaved the colonies, and even brutally killed and scalped. It was much more civilized.

In order to achieve this effect, the shipbuilding industry is a top priority.

Because only if the shipbuilding industry is developed, the industrial products of the Song Dynasty can travel across the ocean and resell their production capacity to other countries.

Only the natives of other countries could look at these new industrial gadgets and at the same time follow the instructions of the merchants of the Song Dynasty, go to their mines to mine, and help the Song people transport them to the cargo ships to bring them back.

Only the shipbuilding industry was developed. When Europe and island countries found that their raw materials were replaced by cheap industrial products, there was a huge trade deficit and they closed themselves off.

Only the iron-clad ships of the Song Dynasty sailed to Europe and Japan in a mighty manner, shouting to Ang Sa and the Japanese slaves: "Open the door, free trade."

Therefore, the foundation of the industrial revolution lies not only in industrial production capacity, but also in the ability to have stronger transportation capabilities, material circulation capabilities, and powerful military weapons.

This is why in the steam engine era, after factories appeared, steam trains and steam ships soon followed.

"Of course, it is still early to raise sea rights. The top priority now is domestic construction. Regarding maritime trade, it is to increase contact with other countries in the world and find more waterways and islands."

Zhao Jun looked around and said: "In the past, during the Age of Discovery, the West had the right to name the world. But this should change now. The Age of Discovery should be initiated by us, and the naming of this world should also be initiated by us. This is the power I gave to Da Song!"

The power I gave to Da Song?

Everyone was stunned.

These words.

So domineering!

But think about it.

There's really no way to refute it.

Everyone wrote down Zhao Jun's words and wrote them into a memo.

These are the future development directions of the Song Dynasty, and naturally we must keep them in mind at all times.

"I really hope to see the day when the Great Song Dynasty takes over the world, but it's a pity that I probably won't be able to see it."

Yan Shu was filled with emotion.

"There will still be a day. At least although it will not be able to shock the whole world, at least it will be able to dominate the East and restore the style of the Han and Tang Dynasties."

Zhao Jun smiled and said.

"look forward."

Yan Shu nodded.

Immediately, everyone continued to handle official business while reporting the situation to Zhao Jun.

Last year, the system of apportionment was implemented, and this year a large number of landowners were killed. As a result, many landowners were forced by the court to transform, sell their land, and invest in industry and commerce.

Humans are such animals. If you treat them kindly, they will turn their noses up and look down on you, thinking that you are easy to talk to and easy to bully.

Only when you raise your butcher knife to kill a group of people will they understand that you have to be serious and become honest.

Although the vast majority of landowners are still in the stage between hardening and transformation, they have not yet completed a complete change.

But the labor force has now been absorbed by the government, or they have been recruited by the government to build canals and reclaim wasteland. Either send them to build roads or build water conservancy facilities.

After a combination of punches, the landlords now want policy support but not support, and they want population but not population. They have been in a state of loss just by owning land, and in the end they naturally have to obey the court's arrangements.

After a large amount of land was liberated, the court would also sublease it to the people.

It is not a direct gift, but a leasing situation, but the rent will be much lower than that of the landlord, and it is stipulated that the land property rights will belong to the people after the number of years of farming.

This involves indirectly nationalizing a large amount of land, and then transferring the land to landless refugees to relieve land pressure.

certainly.

In addition to strong tactics, this situation will inevitably require strong financial support.

Use force and policies to force the landlords to hand over their land, but the appearance should not be too ugly, and it is not the end of the dynasty where you can act recklessly.

Directly robbing and killing landowners would lose the credibility of the court, and would also trigger panic among the gentry and landowners, leading to domestic instability and even mass rebellions.

Therefore, the fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty court has been a lot in recent years, but the fiscal expenditure has been even greater, so that this year there is a fiscal deficit of about 8 million yuan.

Zhao Jun is quite open to this point.

Because the national debt prepared since the year before last will immediately be on track next year. When the national debt comes online next year, and banknotes come online two years later, an appropriate fiscal deficit will only stimulate economic growth.

By then, as long as the Song Dynasty enters a stage of rapid development, with agriculture and commerce nurturing industry internally, and industrial products exported to other countries to feed commerce and agriculture externally, a virtuous cycle can be achieved, and it will not become crazy involution and squeeze domestic farmers and businessmen.

"Report."

While everyone was dealing with state affairs, a subordinate came in from outside and reported to them: "Today's official document from Youyan has arrived."

"oh?"

Everyone raised their heads and looked over.

Youyan now writes and sends battle reports every day, but due to the lack of timeliness, they are often a few days ago.

"bring here."

Zhao Jun said.

"yes."

The official handed the official document to Zhao Jun's desk with both hands.

Zhao Jun took it and said casually: "Today's official document is a little faster. How many days ago was this?"

"The report to the Magistrate was five days ago. In fact, it was not that the official document was delivered quickly, but that it was delayed by a day. It has also started to snow on Hebei Road recently."

The official replied.

"oh."

Zhao Jun frowned and began to read the contents of the official document.

You Yanxue still hasn't melted, Fan Zhongyan has only surrounded Yuhe and Wanping, and captured Miaoyin a few days ago.

This short message contains a lot of information.

For example, despite the heavy snow, the Song army was still very strong and had occupied almost all the territory south of Xijin.

Moreover, Miaoyin is located in the southeast of Xijin, and continuing to the east is Xianghe County and Yutian County, and then enters Pingzhou. The Song army can then go to Yuguan to join Di Qing, completely cutting off the east-west connection channel for the Liao people.

Just seeing the news, Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said, "It's not what we wish for. I thought the soldiers could finish fighting early and go home for the New Year, but I didn't expect this heavy snowfall."

If it hadn't snowed, the current progress would probably not be about capturing Miaoyin, but that Fan Zhongyan was about to dig Jinjin out to the bottom.

Once the city gate of Xijin Mansion is blasted, Yelu Zongzhen will be killed by the cannon even if he has only three heads and six arms.

"Nine times out of ten, life will be unsatisfactory. As the saying goes, people make decisions and God makes things happen. No matter how good the plan is, accidents are inevitable."

Yan Shu comforted him: "But now our army has such a huge advantage and has surrounded the capital of Xijin. I think next spring will be the time when the Liao people flee north and return to the prairie."

"Well, I think so too. I hope Lao Fan and the others won't disappoint me."

Zhao Jun shook his head.

He put down the official document in his hand and suddenly felt a little tired, so he unconsciously looked outside.

It's not snowing in Bianliang, but it seems to be coming soon.

A few days ago, in the middle of winter, the sun could still shine for a few days, but the weather has become increasingly gloomy in the past two days, and it seems that some kind of storm is brewing.

But it's probably about time. When spring comes next year, the Liao people can't afford it. Naturally, that's when the Song Dynasty will be victorious.

After resting for a while, Zhao Jun returned to work.

In the past, he quite enjoyed the power of being under one person and over ten thousand people.

Sometimes he even feels that if he abandons morality, he can decide the life or death of anyone.

Walking outside, what corrupt official would feel so scared that his legs would tremble when he saw him?

Even though there seems to be an emperor above his head, what is the difference between him and the emperor?

But after living like this for too long, I became a little numb.

He goes to work over and over again to deal with national affairs. The economy, military, people's livelihood, and education in various places are all pressing on him.

Instead, I felt extremely tired.

I just don’t know why Lu Yijian and his gang are so obsessed with power?

It’s really confusing.

well.

Zhao Jun sighed.

Thinking of Lu Yijian, he suddenly turned to Yan Shu and said, "How is Duke Lu Xu doing lately? I heard that he sends people to inquire about the war in the north every day."

Speaking of this, Yan Shu put down the pen in his hand and sighed: "Tanfu Gong's death is approaching. He spends more days in bed than in the field. His only wish now is to see Yan Yun before he dies. return."

"Zhiyuan."

As soon as they finished speaking, a eunuch from outside hurriedly came over and said: "Zhiyuan, Duke Shen is on his deathbed. The officials have asked you to come and visit him."

"this"

Everyone was shocked by the news and raised their heads for a moment.

Zhao Jun sighed and said: "It seems that God has not fulfilled his wish. After all, Lu Xugong will not be able to survive this winter and see when Yan Yun returns."

Destiny is always so unpredictable.