Handan City, Longtai, Qianyuan Palace.

This hall, which is very different from the Qianyuan Hall in the Sui and Tang dynasties in later generations, is the name given by Zhao Yong when Longtai was renovated last year. Of course, he didn't know that in Chang'an City thousands of years later, there was also such a big hall with the same name, and the scale was huge enough to be recorded in the history of ancient Chinese architecture. It is purely used from the sentence "Dazai Qianyuan, the beginning of ten thousand materials". There is a sense that all things are prosperous, and it begins here.

Other renovations include the Kunde Hall, which is the residence of Becky as the queen; Ciming Palace, the dormitory of Mrs. Jun. As the core of Zhao Guoxin's political affairs, the White Tiger Hall was officially renamed the White Tiger Palace, and was expanded on the original basis, mainly to improve the living conditions of the ministers on duty here, and to increase the rest rooms. After all, none of the ministers on duty are young.

Nevertheless, several ministers increasingly felt that their role had changed. The original reason why Zhao Yong established the White Tiger Hall was because he wanted to carry out a new policy, and the ministers who were set up by him divided their powers had their own factions and had some forces. And Zhao Yong and several ministers naturally discussed with each other and compromised to promote the new policy.

Although the White Tiger Hall has been changed to the White Tiger Hall, its function has become the secretariat for uploading and disseminating. Many major military and political events arrived at the White Tiger Palace, and in addition to making arrangements for some things, the ministers on duty sent more people to gather other members and report the situation to Zhao Yong, and they did not dare to be arbitrary about things they did not know much about. At that time, the Jin State's "Six Qing Rebellion" led to the division of the three families, which was a situation that many people were worried about reappearing, but so far, except for the four people who hindered each other, there was no problem, and the reason for this was probably because the Zhao State today was not like the Jin State back then, and each family had private soldiers and fiefs. And now, although the four secretaries have fiefs, but they are no longer allowed to accumulate troops, not to mention that the fiefs of the four secretaries are not large, as long as the counties continue to be implemented and the fiefs are no longer carried out, then even if these ministers want to raise troops, they can't afford to raise them. What's more, Zhao Yong resolutely promoted the parallel of civil and military affairs, and no longer came out of one door, which avoided the drawbacks of military power and regime coming from one door.

According to Zhao Yong's assumption at the beginning, the border areas of Zhao have fully implemented the county system, and all the clan fiefs have been recovered, and the land has been re-selected near Jinyang for division. For these people, Zhao Yong has no particularly good way, after all, he is a compatriot, although he has little to do with himself, but the other party is not small, and several elders are still people from his grandfather's generation, so he can't afford to offend, so he can only rely on Feiyi to supervise and supervise Zhao Chengduo.

On the basis of the original, Handan City has also been expanded and reinforced. The main roads were fortified with boulders, drainage systems were repaired, and the walls of the castle were expanded to encompass the royal castle. In addition, the defense facilities of the city wall have also been rearranged and increased, not only the addition of bed crossbows and heavy crossbows and other defensive equipment, but also the construction of urn castles, the setting of horse walls, as for other defensive facilities, it is needless to say. Handan has also become a strong city.

Even such a large-scale demolition and construction cost a lot, but whether it is Zhao Bao or Zhao Cheng, they don't have much opinion, without him, they just have money.

The financial institutions of the Zhao State were divided into two, one was the Inner History and the other was the Shaofu. The internal history is under the responsibility of Situ, who is in charge of the national grain collection; The Shaofu is under the responsibility of the Department of Survivors, and is in charge of the collection and use of taxes nationwide.

Since last year, Zhao Yong has implemented the "large mu system" and "the determination of the territory" at the same time, and the large mu system is actually a rehash of the same old tune for Zhao Guo, as early as when the Gongzhong Lian changed the law, Zhao Guo has begun to implement the large mu system, this time it is just a further emphasis; Although the rent collection is less than that of "taxing people who give up land", it is enough to meet the existing expenditure income of Zhao State under the current circumstances. These taxes are all included in the internal history, and they are responsible for the control of money and grain in the country and the management of officials.

At the same time, on the basis of the previous commercial tax and manual tax, the Shaofu recovered the "tax of the mountains" and "the profit of salt and iron", and all of them needed to pay taxes to the state. Zhao Yong's iron smelting industry is actually relatively developed, and the profits of the salt pond iron ore in the territory are also spectacular. Last year, Zhao Yong ordered the profit of salt and iron to redefine the amount of tax, and Zhao's tax revenue immediately doubled. Moreover, in order not to completely cut off commercial activities, Zhao Yong asked the bereaved division to transfer the land to the internal history, and then all transferred to the management of commercial tax, manual tax, and salt iron mountain tax.

The implementation of this decree is simply miserable for businessmen, in fact, the collection of commercial tax for them, can not be said to be completely unacceptable, many people are willing to pay taxes, but if the fixed layer of taxation, then for the rich, it is a little uncomfortable. Through the officials at all levels they befriended, they wrote one after another, hoping that Zhao Yong would change the decree. As a result, there was a slight easing of the tax rate, but it was slightly better than none. What's more, unless the officials of Zhao State are very hard in the background, they are still doing business, but they also hang the signboards of their relatives and dare not run their own business, because many officials are not very enthusiastic about this matter. Besides, the country has money, and their income has also risen, so why not?

In this way, step by step, Zhao Yong inadvertently established the bureaucratic system of Zhao State, but he didn't realize it. However, the same problem also appeared, that is, the number of officials of Zhao State has increased a lot compared to before, which Zhao Yong did not expect.

Zhao Yong opened a bamboo slip, this is a piece of music sent by Zhao Bao today, with only one purpose: to test merit and promotion. Originally, Zhao Yong couldn't touch this matter before, but later, after Zhao Yong withdrew the appointment and dismissal of the third-level officials below the fourth secretary, Zhao Bao submitted this matter to Zhao Yong for decision.

In this list, Zhao Yong saw a lot of familiar faces.

The first one is Li Dui. Since the last time he planted a big heel, Li Dui has become extremely deep. After arriving in Jinyang, he swept away the confused accounts of his predecessor, and also swept away the corrupt atmosphere in the widow's division, and all the officials who were eye-catching with the Zhao family clan were also eliminated according to mediocre officials. Many Zhao clans troubled him, and even bypassed Zhao Cheng, the patriarch, and reported it directly to Zhao Yong. Zhao Yong is also one head and two big, for fear that these grandfathers and uncles will give him a dead advice, so he can only hand it over to Feiyi to verify whether the case is true, and let Zhao Cheng exhort Li Dui. Even so, Li Dui still went his own way, but he didn't expect to have a good reputation among the people, and Jinyang's taxes were getting higher and higher year by year. It was Zhao Bao who put this son first.

The second one, who is also an acquaintance, Sima Qian, has made many missions to foreign countries, especially in the diplomatic actions to stabilize Zhongshan, and has done a very perfect job, so he has been able to evaluate his merits.

Further down, Zhao Yong also saw a person, Tian Buli. This name, he thought about it for a long time before he remembered it, he had heard Han Yan say this name, and he praised it. Although Tian Buli has been supported by Zhao Bao, he is like a fish in water in officialdom, and his ability is indeed outstanding, and he is indeed a capable minister. However, due to the loss of personal morality and bad reputation, he was reported as soon as he was promoted, although it was not a big deal, but it was indeed inconvenient for promotion, so until today, Zhao Yong was able to see his name.

Zhao Bao recommended him for the official position of Dongyuan City Guard. Although it is only a city guard, Dongyuan is the land that Zhao has just recovered, and it is also an important border town, so it is also a city guard, and the city guard of Dongyuan must also be appointed by Zhao Yong. The reason for the recommendation is also very simple: the newly civilized land needs capable officials to guard the border and open up the frontier.

Zhao Yong looked at this list and knew that he would never be the first to see this list, at least there must be a certain tacit understanding between the four ministers, otherwise Zhao Bao would not have handed it over to him. This is Zhao Bao's way of being an official: a group of harmony.

"Old Situ is also getting older, find a chance, it's time to rest." Zhao Yong muttered.

"What did you say, my lord?" The eunuch Fu behind him asked cautiously.

The previous eunuch Lingxi, because of his advanced age, had already arranged for Zhao Yong to live in the royal city for a long time, and he promoted a young Fu from many eunuchs, although the young man was able to stay up late with Zhao Yong, but this maturity and stability are still in urgent need of exercise.

"Nothing." Zhao Yong said, "How many hours?" ”

"King Qiqi, the time has just passed."

"Today, Lord Sima should be on duty, go and invite him over, and there is something important to discuss."

Fu hurriedly bowed, wiped the cold sweat on his face, and ran out, Zhao Yong then picked up the pen and wrote behind the bamboo slip: "Dui Ben was demoted for crime, although he was excellent in the examination, it is really a meritorious service, and the reward can be done, and he will not be promoted for the time being." The Tian clan was rude and moved to the city guard. The rest is played. ”

Zhao Yong finished writing one stroke at a time, sealed it, and put it in the box next to several cases.

At this time, Wu Guang also walked in, and after Zhao Yong asked him to excuse himself, he asked, "Regarding the preparation of grain and grass, has Sima already done a thorough investigation?" How's it going? ”

"King Qiqi, according to the arrangement, the old minister has basically completed the investigation." Wu Guang cleared his throat and said: "According to the king's request, more than 45,000 stones of grain and grass have been raised, including 20,000 stones in Handan, 15,000 stones in Daijun, and 10,000 stones in Lin Cheng. It was verified that 9,500 military horses were available, including 7,000 in Daijun and 2,500 in Handan; It was confirmed that the people could be requisitioned, about 50,000 people. ”

Zhao Yong pondered for a while and asked, "Nine thousand five hundred military horses, can they be counted as chariots and horses?" ”

"Not counted."

"How many?"

"About four thousand."

Zhao Yong knocked on a few cases and continued to ask: "If you wait for another five months, can you raise 60,000 stone for military rations?" ”

"This?" Wu Guang thought for a while and said, "I'm afraid it's difficult." ”

"Why?"

"In addition to some of the military rations raised this time, some of them come from the border military camps, and some of them come from the grain and grass collected by the Survivors Division. This part of the grain and grass was normally to be handed over to the Situ Mansion for grain storage, but the day before yesterday, the emperor convened a court meeting and agreed to use the grain and grass collected this year as military rations, which was enough to make up this amount. Otherwise, I'm afraid it's even less than that. The king is stupid to use troops in the summer, and the grain has not been handed over by then, so there must be no other way. ”

"Handan's grain stock is about 60,000 or 70,000 stones, but it belongs to the national grain stockpile, which is used in order to cope with the disaster year, level prices, and distribute Yulu and part of the military food reserves, and it cannot be easily moved, otherwise it will be suspected of shaking the country's foundation." Zhao Yong also sighed.

"The main reason is that the cavalry consumes a huge amount of food and grass, and it is relatively expensive in wartime, not to mention the training on weekdays, which costs a lot, and such a huge number of horses is indeed a bit difficult for us."

"So this battle must be fought, only by driving the Hu people out, we will be equivalent to having a Guanzhong Plain. The cost of cavalry will also be reduced. ”

"So this battle, even if you exhaust your family's money, is worth fighting." In the White Tiger Palace, Zhao Yong summoned Siqing, Le Yi, Pang Cong, Niu Jian and others to plan the marching route. Le Yi, as the first army division under Zhao Yong, took the initiative to plan a multi-day march plan for Zhao Yong and himself, and communicated with the ministers.

(End of chapter)