After Chinese New Year's Eve, the twelfth year of Xuanwu quietly arrived.

On the day of the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the imperial court issued an order to abolish the salt tax in the world!

Immediately after the decree was issued, the world shook!

People everywhere are extremely happy! Because salt is a necessity of life, the price of salt in ancient times was extremely high, and a large part of the people's annual income was spent on salt! Now that the salt tax has been abolished, and the people only need to spend a few tenths or even one percent of the silver they used to eat salt, how can they not like it in their hearts!

For a time, hundreds of people regarded the abolition of the salt tax as the first good governance since the establishment of the Government Council.

Some Confucian scholars were amazed that there was no one who did not collect salt taxes from ancient times to the present! In any era, the salt tax is the backbone of the world's finances! The abolition of the salt tax now will certainly benefit the people, but the financial revenue of the imperial court will inevitably be greatly reduced!

These people had no idea that the salt tax now accounted for only one-tenth of the imperial revenue, and that the imperial court already had the economic basis to abolish the salt tax.

From the seventh year of Xuanwu Zhao Chen entered the Central Plains, until now the twelfth year of Xuanwu, in just a few years, agriculture has recovered in various places, the world's agricultural taxes have increased greatly, the imperial court has reduced tax cards, encouraged commerce, and commercial taxes have increased almost fourfold in just a few years, and they are still increasing! The current imperial court no longer needs salt taxes to supplement the economy!

The treasury was full, but soon, the gold and silver in the treasury were invested in construction in various places.

This year, the imperial court focused on reclamation and immigration!

The imperial court encouraged the people of Sichuan, Shu and Jiangnan to go to the north and Liaodong to reclaim the famine, and anyone who went to the north and Liaodong could immediately get more than ten acres of land, and there would be no tax within three years! The imperial court can also provide ploughing cattle and farm tools!

The imperial court spent a lot of money to build cities and settlements in the north and Liaodong!

In one year, nearly 800,000 people in Sichuan, Shu and Jiangnan went to the north and Liaodong, and hundreds of thousands of people in Goryeo went to Liaodong for land and farm tools!

There were only 1.5 million people in Annam, and about 500,000 people were deported to Yanyun and other parts of the north this year to reclaim wasteland!

In addition, there are more than 100,000 middle-aged men in Dongying who go to the Central Plains by boat, and they are responsible for building roads and wharves all over the Central Plains! The Government Council has already set up a state-level construction agency to be responsible for construction! After the Dongying people came to the Central Plains, they only had to engage in five hours a day, that is, ten hours of work in the later generations, and the rest of the time could be arranged by themselves, and there was also a day of vacation every half a month, and they could get ten taels of silver every three months. In the past, when they were in Dongying, most of them were tenant farmers under the lord, and they basically didn't have enough to eat, but now that they came here, they felt that they had become rich all of a sudden! Many Dongying people wrote letters to their relatives and friends, encouraging them to go to the Central Plains to work! In various parts of the Central Plains, there are more and more handicraft workshops, and there is a great demand for workers, and dozens of workshop owners in Tianjin Wei even signed a letter requesting that Annan people be placed in the workshops.

In addition to reclamation and immigration, another expense of the imperial court is to build schools!

Not only are public schools being built in various parts of the Central Plains, but also public schools are being built in Goryeo, Annam, Dongying and other places! The teaching materials in all the schools are basically the same, in addition to Confucianism and practical learning, now the imperial court also attaches great importance to patriotic education, and patriotic education is also promoted to Goryeo, Annam, and Dongying at the same time!

In addition, a large number of retired soldiers returned to their hometowns, and in order to settle these retired soldiers, the Government Council also spent a lot of gold and silver.

In this year, the two major provinces of Jiangnan and Huguang also established provincial councils!

Yu Yunwen once again went to these two provinces as the emperor's envoy to guide the establishment of the two provincial councils.

has traveled to various places as the emperor's envoy many times, and many people feel that Zhao Chen has cultivated Yu Yunwen as a future prime minister!

In fact, in addition to Yu Yunwen, Hu Quan, Wang Shipeng and others often go to various places to deal with political affairs!

The current Great Song Dynasty Government Council is full of talents!

Needless to say, Yu Yunwen, Hu Quan, Wang Shipeng and other young people, Zhao Ding, Li Guang and even Qin Hui are all outstanding, and most of the governors of the 36 provinces are the elites of the military aircraft department, the army, and the production and construction corps, so it can be said that the country's talent reserve is extremely large.

For a whole year, there was no war in the imperial court!

This year, there were still Mongols invading south, and Li Xianzhong, Liu Qi and other troops were still in passive defense.

In the thirteenth year of Xuanwu, the five major provinces established provincial councils, and this year the Government Council still did its best to carry out the "great development of the north", and at the same time encourage commerce and trade, and strengthen education!

In winter, the Mongols invaded south again, and the Song army was still mainly defensive!

However, large quantities of ordnance have been shipped to the northern ministries.

This year, Zhao Chen's interference in the Government Council became less and less, and he spent a lot of energy on the construction of the National Assembly and the court system, and the Government Council operated steadily.

In the spring of the 14th year of Xuanwu, on February 20, Zhao Chen led 10,000 soldiers of the imperial camp to the north, and the military minister Qu Duan went north with Zhao Chen.

On February 21, Zhao Chen had already come out of Juyong Pass, and they entered the vast grassland!

Although spring has arrived, the grassland is still a little cold, Zhao Chen is blowing a cool breeze, breathing fresh air, and his mood seems to be excellent.

The 10,000 imperial battalion troops continued to gallop towards the north, and they did not stop when they encountered the state capitals along the way, but passed by the side of the various state capitals.

On March 15, Zhao Chen, Qu Duan and others came to the area of Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing, which was once the Liao State, and is now the capital of the northern province of the Great Song Dynasty.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhao Chen came to the south gate of Linhuang Mansion, where countless Khitan people knelt to welcome Zhao Chen's arrival!

In the past few years, the Government Council has continued to carry out propaganda work in Liaodong, and Zhao Chen's reputation as a "savior" has become louder and louder, and the statue of Zhao Chen has been placed in the Khitan homes of every household, and there have even been a number of religious organizations among the Khitans, all of which are for the purpose of worshiping Zhao Chen.

At this moment, the Khitan people were kneeling there, and the voices of "Lord" and "Savior" were everywhere outside the Linhuang Mansion.

"Your Majesty!" At the front, there were countless soldiers there, and these soldiers also had excited looks in their eyes.

Zhao Chen's prestige in the army is extremely high and unmatched.

"Li Xianzhong!" Seeing a general kneeling there, Zhao Chen laughed and pulled him up, saying.

The general is none other than Li Xianzhong, who is stationed in the area of Shangjing! At this moment, Li Xianzhong was extremely excited and joyful.

"Your Majesty, you're finally here!" Li Xianzhong said.

"Let's go! Today I live in your barracks! Zhao Chen said.

At dusk, Zhao Chen, Li Xianzhong and others came to the Song army camp, where he was once again greatly welcomed.

"How many horses do you have now?" Zhao Chen and Li Xianzhong asked as they walked inside.

"Now we have a total of 250,000 horses! The northern province is a place where horses are produced, and there are the largest number of war horses in our army! Li Xianzhong said.

"Excellent! You can arm 120,000 cavalry! Zhao Chen said.

"We now have 130,000 cavalry." Li Xianzhong said with a smile.

"What's going on over there with Liu Qi?" Zhao Chen said.

"General Liu Qi has 100,000 infantry and 80,000 cavalry!" Li Xianzhong said.

"Yue Fei now has 100,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry, while Han Shizhong has 90,000 cavalry and 110,000 infantry! The number of cavalry in the north is close to four hundred thousand! Every year, in order to support these 400,000 cavalry, the imperial court spends a lot! Zhao Chen said.

Li Xianzhong nodded silently.

"But it's worth the cost! Our Great Song Dynasty has a territory of thousands of miles and nearly 100 million people, and we must maintain at least one million or more troops! Although the world is safe, it will be dangerous to forget the war! Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, the Mongols in the north have been invading us for many years, raising troops for a thousand days and using them for a while, and the last general will ask to bring troops into Mongolia to eliminate the Mongolian trouble!" Li Xianzhong said.

"This is what I'm here for!" Zhao Chen said.

"Ahh Li Xianzhong's face showed a look of surprise.

"The imperial court has been recuperating for two years, both policies and systems are becoming more and more perfect, and the country's financial revenue is also increasing, and now we can finally withdraw our hands to deal with the Mongols!" Zhao Chen said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, when will we use troops against the Mongols? There are a lot of Mongols, and if you only rely on the last general's army, you may not be able to completely annihilate the Mongols! Li Xianzhong said.

"Naturally, it's not your army! This time, the imperial court will use you, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and Liu Qi to encircle and suppress the Mongols and clear the Mongolian border troubles in one fell swoop! Zhao Chen said.