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

In November of the eighth year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty, the news of the destruction of the Western Xia spread rapidly with the publicity of newspapers.

For a time, the whole country was jubilant, even happier than the destruction of the Liao Kingdom.

The reason was that although the Liao Kingdom oppressed the Song Dynasty, it had not fought with the Song Dynasty for more than 40 years after the Treaty of Chanyuan.

On the contrary, the Western Xia repeatedly invaded the border. Although there was no major war before the Song-Xia War officially started.

But small-scale looting has never stopped. The two sides have fought too many times around the border area, causing heavy casualties to the Song army on the border.

In addition, during the Baoyuan period, the Western Xia brazenly launched a full-scale invasion war.

Therefore, under the premise that they had been at peace with the Liao Kingdom for a long time, fought with the Western Xia from time to time, and the Western Xia took the initiative to attack them.

The information and information received by the people of the Song Dynasty were all about the Western Xia, and they hated the Western bandits to the bone.

In addition to destroying the Western Xia and occupying a large amount of territory by the Song Dynasty, the Song army continued to move north and captured a large area of ​​land in the Hetao and Yinshan areas.

When the Song Dynasty recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, it also conquered part of the territory of the Liao Kingdom. Now it has occupied tens of thousands of square meters of the Hetao Plain and continued to expand its territory.

When the news was passed back to the Political System Institute, Zhao Jun took out the map and began to compare the current territory of the Song Dynasty.

It was still snowing outside, but the house was very warm.

There was honeycomb coal burning in the heating table, and the smoke was discharged outside the house through the pipe. Several prime ministers were writing official documents around the heating table.

There was a plush blanket on the table. Zhao Jun covered his feet with the blanket and looked at the map.

"Hanlong, what are you doing?"

Yan Shu saw that Zhao Jun had been looking at the map after reading a document just now, and asked curiously: "What's so good about the map."

"I'm looking at how big our territory is now."

Zhao Jun drew a few circles on the map with a thick pencil. Compared with the brush, the pencil is more convenient.

This thing has no technical content. It was invented by Germans in the 17th century before the Industrial Revolution. After the Song Dynasty entered industrialization, it was also produced.

But it was not made until recently. The reason is that Zhao Jun had always thought that the raw material of this thing was lead, but he didn't know it was graphite.

He ordered the factory to conduct research and development. Lead didn't work at all. Finally, he tried many materials before finding the body.

"Have you calculated it?"

Song Shou asked with a smile.

"Well, about 3.8 million square kilometers."

Zhao Jun also said with a smile.

"You can calculate this too?"

Everyone was surprised.

The ancients had no idea about these.

Due to transportation and the lack of a concrete map of China, they didn't even know how big their country was.

It was often the ancient army that fought and ruled where, and those places would become territories.

As for how many miles it was, it was purely an estimate.

For example, during the Tang Dynasty, the King of Gaochang said that his Gaochang Kingdom was 8,000 miles away from Chang'an, and the Tang army couldn't beat it at all.

But the actual distance was actually 2,000 kilometers, and then he was exiled by the Tang army.

Although Zhao Jun brought them a map, it was still difficult for them to visualize an abstract thing.

"It's quite simple, just make a rough estimate. I'm good at geography and I know the area of ​​each province."

Zhao Jun pointed to the Western Regions and said, "For example, Xinjiang is about 1.6 million square kilometers, Tibet seems to be 1.2 million, and then subtract Qinghai, Yunnan and Guizhou, the three northeastern provinces, and Inner Mongolia, plus Xixia, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures and part of Liaoning Province, it's about the same."

He calculated on a draft paper before, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures is about 120,000 square kilometers, Xixia was not yet at its peak at this time, about 700,000 square kilometers.

Then it controlled most of Liaoning Province in the three northeastern provinces in the future, about 100,000 square kilometers.

In addition to the captured Liao Kingdom Xijing Road, Zhongjing Road part of the territory, and the Hehuang Valley bottom, it is about 70,000 to 80,000 square kilometers.

All in all, the Song Dynasty has expanded about 1.1 million square kilometers of land in recent years, and the total area should be about 3.9 million square kilometers.

Don't think these places are few.

In fact, this is the traditional area of ​​the Han Dynasty, excluding the Western Regions.

Because according to later calculations, if the Western Regions are not included, the area of ​​the Central Plains during the Han Dynasty was about 4.11 million to 4.2 million square kilometers.

And the missing 200,000 to 300,000 square kilometers is not the entire Yunnan, but the part from Guizhou to the north of Yunnan.

In the Han Dynasty, this area in the southwest was the Ailao Kingdom, which was not incorporated into the Han Dynasty until the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty also lacked the territory south of the desert owned by the Western Han Dynasty. The increase and decrease basically hovered around 4.1-4.2 million square kilometers.

So now if the Song Dynasty attacks Dali and takes the Western Regions, then the current Song Dynasty has basically restored the peak territory of the Han Dynasty, and even exceeded the Han Dynasty.

As for the 9.6 million square kilometers of my country in later generations, minus 3.9 million square kilometers, where did the remaining approximately 6 million square kilometers go?

It's very simple.

The Western Regions alone are 1.6 million square kilometers, and then the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is Tibet in later generations, is 1.2 million square kilometers.

Then Inner Mongolia has about 1.2 million people, the three northeastern provinces have about 800,000 people, and the Song Dynasty has about 100,000 people in Liaoning Province, minus another 700,000. Finally, add Qinghai and Yunnan-Guizhou regions together for 1.2 million people, and it's just about 6 million.

"So much more territory, it's a cause for celebration."

When Zhao Jun said that so much land had been added in recent years, several prime ministers smiled, but they were not too excited.

Because many territories did not bring much benefit in ancient times, but were negative assets.

For example, even though Lingnan has been developed for thousands of years and has been succeeded by countless generations, it was still a place where criminals were dispatched during the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Therefore, the ancient dynasties took whatever surrounding territories they could. It's not a pity if you can't get it. There are even situations where Sima Guang gave away the captured territory.

Zhao Jun saw that although they looked happy, they were not too happy, so he asked: "Do you think these lands are of no use?"

"Of course we know that Han Long is obsessed with land, but you should also understand that with the current productivity of the Song Dynasty, it is not possible to actually control so much land. It is indeed of little use to the Song Dynasty."

Cai Qi said.

"Yes, Hanlong, you can't compare the national power of future generations with the national power of the Song Dynasty. Isn't that bullying?"

Jia Chang spread his hands and said.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "How is that possible? Of course I also know that one bite cannot make you fat. You have to develop step by step. But don't underestimate these places. They will not become our negative assets."

"oh?"

Fan Zhongyan became interested, stopped what he was doing and said, "Why, is there a mine in Xixia?"

"Yes, a big yes."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Coal mines, iron mines, salt mines and rare earth mines, those are all good things, and the other thing is."

As he spoke, he pointed at Xingqing Mansion with a pencil and said: "This will be the rear area where we take over the Western Regions in the future, as well as here."

He pointed to Yinshan Mountain, which is also known as the Bayannur, Baotou and other tunnels in later generations: "These places should be the rear areas where we will attack the grassland and capture the entire grassland in the future."

"Preparing for war again? Didn't we explore before that the Western Region is too far away and requires long-term preparation?"

Yan Shu said.

"Yes, isn't this the preparation stage?"

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Look, this is the western part of the Hetao Plain, the Ningxia Plain. There are also the Bayannaoer Plain and the Tumut Plain in the eastern part of the Hetao Plain. These are all good natural places for growing food."

Everyone came together.

I saw that the place Zhao Jun was pointing to was very close to the hinterland of the Liao Kingdom to the north and very close to the Western Regions to the west. If agriculture could be developed here, it could indeed become the rear of the Western Regions and the Liao Kingdom.

"Um."

Fan Zhongyan first saw its strategic value, nodded and said: "I remember that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once sent people to irrigate farmland here, and the place has prospered since then. Looking at it now, our predecessors really had foresight."

Zhao Jun said: "We have never played it in the Song Dynasty, so we naturally don't know its role. It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that this place developed vigorously."

Everyone looked at Zhao Jun with resentful expressions.

Stop blowing the whistle.

Besides, can the Song Dynasty now be the same as the Song Dynasty in history?

"But judging from the map, this place is still too far away from our important areas. Will it be difficult to supply supplies?"

Fan Zhongyan raised objections.

The supplies mentioned here are not only food, but also local control. From Yan'an Prefecture to Bayannur, it is a full 500 kilometers, and control is very difficult.

"train!"

Zhao Jun made the final decision: "Other parts of the northwest can not be repaired for the time being, but the trains from Guanzhong to Hetao and from Guanzhong to Yumenguan must be repaired first. Once opened to traffic, the economy and military will be two-pronged, which will be of great benefit to the development of the Song Dynasty. too much."

Why was it that only the Western Regions and the Mongolian grasslands were governed in ancient times?

It's just too far.

When the Central Plains Dynasty wanted to march to these places, the marching distance was measured in thousands of kilometers.

For example, when Huo Qubing attacked the Huns, he had to go back and forth for two to three thousand kilometers.

It is possible that more soldiers died of exhaustion or illness on the road than the number of Han soldiers killed by the Huns in their resistance.

So it's not that the ancestors didn't want to own more land, but that they were powerless and couldn't control so much territory.

It's different with trains.

Materials can be transported directly to the border, and control will be greatly improved.

More importantly, Zhao Jun wanted to open up the Overland Silk Road and expand trade with Central Asia by controlling the Western Regions.

Such a flourishing of both maritime trade and land trade would surely open up the market quickly, thus laying the foundation for the Song Dynasty to enter the era of industrialization.

Otherwise, once the domestic market becomes saturated, the industry will inevitably cause overcapacity. If preparations are not made early, problems such as laid-off workers, unemployment, and domestic economic decline will follow.

Therefore, Zhao Jun is taking precautions and taking measures for the future.

"It is difficult for us to predict these things. The current development of the country is already very unfamiliar to us."

Yan Shu sighed with emotion: "Today's development of the country can only be achieved by you, Hanlong."

"Yes, although I understand a lot of economic principles, it is still difficult to change my thinking and really apply these principles."

"It's funny. Last month, I wrote in a letter on Guangnan East Road that I hope to lower tariffs. At that time, I was thinking that if the tariffs were lowered, the national tax would be reduced a lot. But when I looked at the letter, it said that they only import from us. Products, export of raw materials and ores, if tariffs are reduced, it will greatly increase their enthusiasm for exporting raw materials and bring more tax revenue to the country. At that time, I felt that I no longer knew how to govern the country. "

"Alas, we can't keep up with the times."

Several prime ministers also sighed.

If someone said ten years ago that they did not know how to govern a country, they would most likely just smile and be too lazy to argue with them.

But if someone says now that they don’t know how to govern a country, they will most likely be silenced.

Because the development of the Song Dynasty has really exceeded their capabilities.

In the past, they only had to take into account local agricultural development, any disasters, and any judicial issues. Instead, it was more about officialdom struggles.

Now there is no official struggle and development is happening all over the country.

But how do they understand where to build roads to improve economic construction, where to plant what kind of food to get a good harvest, and how do they understand the role of raising tariffs and lowering tariffs?

These things are beyond the scope.

If Zhao Jun hadn't been steadily formulating a development path over the years, I'm afraid they would all be helpless and allow the country to develop wildly.

"As times progress, people's thinking must also change. Just like in our later generations, the atmosphere was conservative in the 1970s and 1980s, and men and women would blush when they held hands. But in the 21st century, that is nothing."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Although it is indeed difficult for you gentlemen to make good plans for the future, you have also stabilized the country's foundation. Agriculture and population are the foundation. We all have contributed to this."

"Okay, you don't need to say that. Anyway, whatever you want to do in the future, we will support you unconditionally. We don't understand anyway."

Yan Shu smiled.

If Zhao Jun made plans in the past, they would also be able to provide suggestions for modifications.

Now, it's just a black eye.

Because times have really changed.

What they did in feudal society can no longer be used in industrial society.

"That's just right. In fact, I also plan to implement new reforms."

Zhao Jun smiled.

"oh?"

Fan Zhongyan became interested and asked, "What are you planning to reform?"

"Some are based on the past, and some are big changes. The country is getting bigger and bigger, which means that there will be more and more things to manage. Every time we reform, we must solve the problems that arise, so that we can develop. long."

Zhao Jun said.

The Qingli New Deal has gone through six rounds, and now ten years later, the results are remarkable.

But some things are already outdated.

Just like we once vigorously studied the Big Brother Bear Bear system, but in the end found that those things were not suitable for us.

Our own domestic changes must also be innovated from time to time, rather than sticking to the old rules and just thinking about resting on our laurels.

"When does that start?"

Fan Zhongyan asked: "What specific plans have you made?"

"There's no plan."

Zhao Jun shook his head.

"Ah?" Fan Zhongyan said in astonishment: "Then you still said you want to carry out new reforms."

"Because many problems are hidden under the water and have not been seen yet, we still need to go to the grassroots level."

Zhao Jun sighed: "This time, I have to travel the world again."

He traveled around the world for two years and saw a lot of things at the grassroots level, which led to a lot of changes.

Nowadays, the life of ordinary people is better. The evil forces at the grassroots level, oppression by landlords and oppression by officials are now much reduced.

However, new problems will inevitably face new challenges.

Who knows what new problems will arise at the grassroots level, and whether people's lives are really better than before?

Therefore, Zhao Jun must go again, and he must go more in the future, go to the people all the time, and mingle with the people, so that he can know what the future of the Song Dynasty will be like!