This winter, the snow fell heavily in the north!

Yanjing City was shrouded in heavy snowfall.

On the street where the Yanjing City School is located, at the end of the street is a teahouse, where dozens of scholars sit in the teahouse while drinking hot tea while enjoying the snow outside.

The scholars here are already very different from previous years! In the past few years, scholars only studied the four books and five classics, and they were not diligent and did not distinguish between the five grains, but now scholars should learn practical learning in addition to learning Confucianism, and the status of practical learning is getting heavier and heavier, and there are more and more practical learning courses! In addition to practical learning, they also need to understand current affairs, and every spring, these scholars also need to enter the army for military training! In addition, many young people from the Production and Construction Corps have entered the academy, and the composition of the students in the academy is completely different from before, and there are fewer and fewer real corrupt Confucians.

"Mongolia is satisfied that it has repeatedly invaded the Great Song Dynasty in the south, and this time hundreds of thousands of troops of our Great Song Dynasty went north and completely annihilated the Mongols! I heard that in the area of Lake Behail, there are more than 500,000 corpses of Mongolian barbarians alone! A scholar who looked to be only fourteen or fifteen years old said with an excited expression on his face.

"I heard that many people are old and weak, women and children! Hey, the Mongol barbarians are invading us, and we should go north to fight back, but we shouldn't kill the old, weak, women and children! A Confucian in his thirties sighed.

"Those old and weak women and children have weapons in their hands, and they are also attacking our soldiers, so naturally we have to fight back, and it is normal to kill them! To be merciful to one's enemies is to be cruel to oneself! The fourteen or fifteen-year-old scholar who spoke earlier said disapprovingly.

"The northern steppe is huge, I wonder if the logistics of the army can be guaranteed?" Another scholar in his twenties is Dao.

"No problem! Since last year, the military department has begun to transport war readiness materials to the north, and this year, with the national strength of our Great Song Dynasty, the strategic materials in reserve are enough for hundreds of thousands of troops for a year! Moreover, there are many young people in the production and construction corps who deliver materials to the army, and they don't have to worry about logistics! I have relatives who are on an errand in the military department, and the latest battle report is that a large number of Mongol tribes have fled towards the Kipchak steppe, and now the advance of our army has entered the Kipchak steppe! "There is a scholar next to him.

"Kipchak steppe? What is that place? The fourteen or fifteen-year-old scholar wondered.

"You want to learn the geography of the world in the school, it seems that you haven't studied hard, this Kipchak grassland is thousands of miles away, and it is extremely bitter cold!" Next to the scholar said.

"Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, I have personally trained the army and formulated the military system, and my Great Song Dynasty soldiers and horses have long been invincible in the world! The Khitan, Jurchen, and Western Xia are not the opponents of my Great Song Dynasty soldiers and horses, and the Mongolian barbarians are naturally not my opponents of the Great Song Dynasty! My concern now is not the battle for the Mongols, but something else extremely important! At this moment, a very tall scholar with a heroic face stood up and said.

"Oh? I don't know what it is? Is it even more important than the Battle of Mongolia? The rest of the scholars all looked at him, and there was a humane.

"There's one thing that matters! Do you remember, five years ago, when the Government Council was just established, His Majesty once said that the term of the Government Council was only five years! Now that the term of office of the Prime Minister and the Ministers of the House of Ministers has arrived, will His Majesty elect a new Prime Minister and Minister? How does His Majesty elect a new Prime Minister and Minister? Isn't this more important than the Battle of the North? The battle in the north is just to expel some barbarians, and the government affairs are related to the world, which is more important? The scholar sneered.

"Ahh Not bad! It's the most important thing! ”

"Exactly!"

The rest of the scholars nodded their heads, obviously very interested in this matter!

In fact, not only them, but also the entire Yanjing City, with a little knowledge, are very interested in this matter! Throughout the world, countless people are paying attention to Yanjing, and they are also looking forward to the candidates for the next Prime Minister and Minister of the Government Council.

******

On December 15, the 14th year of Xuanwu, the National Assembly held a regular meeting to discuss state affairs.

After several years of construction, the current National Assembly is completely different from what it used to be, and now the number of members of the National Assembly has reached 194, these people come from all parts of the country, and many of them are elected from provincial councils.

The speaker of the National Assembly is still Zhao Ji, but because he has no real power, Zhao Ji is becoming more and more disinterested in the Congress, and now Li Chuwen is handling daily affairs.

On this day, all the parliamentarians are here! In the past, there were still people who asked for leave, but today no one asked for leave, they have already received the news that the matter discussed today is very important, and it is related to the choice of the Prime Minister of the Government Council!

When all the parliamentarians arrived, Zhao Chen also entered the parliament accompanied by Wang Shu, Yu Yunwen and other government officials.

"Here is the performance report made by the Government Council in the past five years, including the increase in the amount of cultivated land, the increase in the number of public schools, the state revenue over the years, the military department's actions over the years, etc., you can all take a look, and if you have any objections to these, you can raise them, and then the Government Council will give an answer." Zhao Chen said.

The guards handed out the report from the House of Governors to the members of Congress, who watched carefully, and after a while, they began to whisper.

"The grain tax has increased by 4.7 times compared to five years ago! The area of cultivated land has increased by nearly half, and the yield per acre of land has also doubled! What exactly is this birth rate? The birth rate has increased fivefold! ”

"As a member of Congress, you don't even know the birth rate? The Government Council has to make relevant reports every year, so I'll tell you! ”

"The country's teaching system is getting better and better, and now secondary schools are being built in 50 of the country's larger cities! When the middle school becomes widespread, the school will establish a university hall! ”

"The number of handicraft workshops in the country has increased tenfold, and the number of handicrafts produced has increased tenfold!"

"The number of soldiers has increased by three hundred thousand! The number of production and construction corps has increased by 500,000, of which 300,000 have gone to Annam! ”

It took half an hour for the congressmen to gradually stop talking.

Then some people questioned this report card, and Wang Shu personally answered various questions from the congressmen.

For a whole morning, the congressmen accepted the performance report without any doubts.

"The achievements of this session of the Council are obvious to all! From the stability of the world to the present, our national strength has at least doubled! Moreover, the most important thing in the past five years is to improve the system and make the world stable, which is the era of laying the foundation, and I can predict that in the next 10 to 20 years, our agriculture, industry, commerce, academia, military, and science and technology will really explode, and our national strength is expected to reach 10 times or even more than the current one! At that time, the national strength of our Great Song Dynasty will be better than that of all other countries in the world combined! I am very satisfied with the results of this year's Government Council! I propose that Wang Shu remain the next Prime Minister, and if the National Assembly passes, this matter will be decided! If the Congress does not pass and does not believe in the king, I will propose the next candidate until the Congress passes! Members of Congress are elected by the people of the world, and your answer is the answer of the people, so you must be cautious! Zhao Chen said.

The MPs below all showed excited looks on their faces, they didn't expect that it would be the National Assembly that decided the choice of prime minister!

"The election of the prime minister needs to be your own will, so don't whisper, don't consult with others, and give your answer in half an hour!" Zhao Chen said.

Half an hour later, the official voting begins! A total of 194 parliamentarians, 176 voted in favor, Zhao Chen once again announced that Wang Shu was elected as the next prime minister, in addition, Zhao Chen ordered Wang Shu to prepare to form a cabinet again!

Wang Shu's face showed an excited expression, Zhao Chen patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Do it well!" Don't let me down, don't let the people of the world down! ”

For Wang Shu, Zhao Chen is indeed very trusting.

Wang Shu's talent is not as good as Yu Yunwen, Hu Quan and others, but he took refuge in Zhao Chen very early, experienced a lot of civil and military affairs, and managed national politics as a vice minister in his early years, he also has a deep understanding of Zhao Chen's governance thoughts! He is steady and experienced enough to take the helm of the Council.

This appointment of the prime minister is also another change in the system! Now it is still Zhao Chen nominating the prime minister, and the National Assembly will discuss and approve it, and it will slowly change to become the National Assembly nominating the prime minister or a thorough election system, but everything has to be done step by step, for the reform of the system, Zhao Chen is very cautious! The wisdom of the people has not been opened, and now it must not be achieved overnight!

******

Early the next morning, Wang Shu, Yu Yunwen, Hu Quan, Zhao Ding and others entered the imperial study to discuss state affairs with Zhao Chen.

The snow was still falling outside, and it was very warm in the study, but the discussion was extremely intense.

"In the past five years, the Ministry of Commerce has made remarkable achievements, and the national commercial tax has increased tenfold! In the past five years, the country's maritime trade has also developed rapidly, and now the maritime trade accounts for one-tenth of the commercial tax. Zhao Chen said.

"Our sea ships set off from Tianjinwei, Dengzhou, Hangzhou, Quanzhou and other places, all the way into the South China Sea, and then they entered Tianzhu from the South China Sea! Our porcelain, silk, lacquer, and all kinds of handicrafts are constantly being shipped into overseas countries, and gold and silver are shipped back to China from overseas! In the past five years, there are thirteen cities in the country can be said to have become maritime trade cities, and most of the people in these thirteen cities are serving maritime trade, and the scale of our overseas trade has tripled......" Yu Yunwen said continuously, and finally said: "Your Majesty, my lords, Yu thinks that commerce and trade are the primary means of enriching the people, and maritime trade is an important component of commerce and trade, and there are many overseas countries, and the status of this maritime trade will inevitably become more and more important in the future!" The more developed the maritime trade, the richer the people! The people are rich and the country is strong, and for the country to be rich and strong, sea trade is indispensable! ”

Zhao Chen nodded and said, "Yunwen is right, sea trade will become more and more important in the future!" In fact, not only the sea trade, but the entire ocean is becoming more and more important to my Great Song Dynasty! Now that the Imperial Court has Dongying, we have to cross the ocean to go to Dongying to manage there! The imperial court also had to transport grain and materials by sea, and many materials had to be shipped from Jiangnan all the way to Tianjin Wei, Shubinfu, Goryeo, Dongying and other places! Moreover, Wu Gong has just discovered an extremely huge territory on the other side of the northern sea, which already belongs to my Great Song Dynasty, and he has to pass through the ocean to go there! In addition to these, there are a large number of overseas countries, these may be the threat of the Great Song Dynasty in the future, if we control the sea, we can defend the enemy from the outside, this is the strategy of attack, if we lose the ocean, sooner or later in the future, we will face the attack of the maritime power, we can only defend passively on land! I have discussed these things many times with many ministers of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of War! I thought that the sea was related to the national fortune of the empire, and sooner or later in the future, our Great Song Dynasty would fully go out of the land and go to the ocean! We control the oceans to balance nations and control the world. I believe that the next Council should add a Ministry of Maritime Affairs and appoint a Minister of the Sea to manage the Empire's maritime affairs. ”

Say:

There is only one chapter left today. Think about how it ended up.

Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I feel a little reluctant to finish the book...... Thank you all for your continued support......