The exhibition of gold products is still going on in the Yizhou Guild Hall, and the guests have expanded from the original Xijing merchants and gentry to further afield, and many southeastern merchants have poured into the Yizhou Guild Hall.

They stared greedily at the slightly rough gold objects.

The style is clumsy, the material impurities are very high, but no matter what, it is gold, and it can be seen from the ornaments and inscriptions on it that it is authentic, an old thing hundreds of years ago, not a forged fake.

Enthusiastic scholars flocked to the gold and stone research, and they were allowed to touch the gold objects, many of whom wrote down their observations in a row of articles.

There are newspapers that go out of their way to get the news of gold out.

Xijing Luoyang, Kaifeng Mansion, Jingzhao Mansion, Hebei, Jiangnan, Bashu ...... It's like a plague, and almost everyone is not immune.

Even the major families were not far behind, and they dug out previous documents, especially the records of the Han and Tang dynasties about the Western Regions.

Among the many texts, there is indeed a record of the discovery of gold mines, and every year countless merchants bring tens of thousands of taels of gold from the Western Regions.

In addition, there are many homeless people who went to the Western Regions to dig gold mines and became rich.

It was only later that the Silk Road was cut off, and the people who went to the Western Regions to pan for gold disappeared.

Everyone is full of sighs, looking forward to the magnificence of gold and silver mountains, one by one blood boiling, eager to immediately put on their wings, fly to the legendary Altai Mountains, to see the gold mines all over the valley, how spectacular!

……

The Altai gold mines are, of course, real, and in large quantities, and in the open pit, which is easy to mine. It's just that due to its remote location, it has always been entrenched by barbarians, and not many people know about it. In the original history, most of the gold here was cheaper than the Russians, and after they seized it, they found thousands of gold objects in the tombs, which was a sensation.

Until the last century, when the surrounding herders had no money to spend, they would go into the valley and come back with bulging pockets full of gold.

Some people even tripped up, but when they got up, they saw that it was a piece of dog's head gold!

The Central Plains has always lacked precious metals, especially in the Song Dynasty, on the one hand, a highly developed economy, the demand for money is terrifying, on the other hand, the territory is unprecedentedly narrow, the gold mines in the Western Regions and Liaodong cannot be imported, and the overseas gold and silver have not been developed.

As a result, the whole Song Dynasty, including the royal family, was seriously short of gold and silver.

Wang Ning'an remembered that in the first few years of entering the dynasty, every New Year's Day, the emperor rewarded silk cloth into a mountain, but the gold was often only a gold ingot the size of a thumb.

At first, Wang Ningan thought that Uncle Zhao was stingy, but later learned that many senior officials in the court could only get silver ingots of the same size...... It's not that the emperor doesn't want to be generous, but he really doesn't!

Until the development of the Japanese market, Dali and Jiaozhi also have gold input, the situation is better, but a drop in the bucket, far from keeping up with the demand.

On the black market, one tael of silver can be exchanged for two to three yuan, and as for gold, it can be exchanged for 50 copper coins, and the price is not marketable.

At this time, the news of the gold of the Western Regions came, no less than the land that had been dry for a hundred years, and suddenly a rain fell from the sky, and everyone went crazy all of a sudden.

Immediately, peasants mortgaged their land, workers gave up their jobs, and even the old monk in the temple took up his hoe and prepared to go to the Western Regions to pan for gold.

A frenzy permeated the sky above the Great Song Dynasty, and it quickly spread the ......

"This won't work!"

Lord Bao, who has been raising soldiers, joined hands with the princes of the political hall to find Wang Ningan, and the old man had a solemn face and was very angry. He is Wang Ningan's old parent official, and he doesn't need to be polite.

"Erlang, now the common people don't want to plough the land, the workers are unwilling to work, the people's hearts are fluctuating, and they are all looking forward to getting rich overnight, how can it be good if it goes on like this?"

Wang Ningan poured a cup of flower tea for Bao Zheng with his own hands, the old man has always been simple, he likes jasmine double smoke the most, he barely took a sip, put it aside, and waited for Wang Ningan's explanation.

"Hehe, Bao Xianggong, I think it's not a bad thing, at least for Wang Xianggong's change, it's not a bad thing!"

Wang Anshi's old face was slightly red, and he coughed again and again.

"The original intention of the package phase, the promotion of the green seedling law, and the Fangtian average tax law is to ease the burden of the people and inhibit mergers...... Nowadays, the common people, and even some gentry, want to go to the Western Regions to pan for gold and compete for pawn land, so that the price of land will come down, and the land annexation will be eased. The more gentry would not hide the land, and it would be much easier to re-clear the land. Moreover, the rest of the water conservancy law, the exemption law, and the city change law will be easier to implement. ”

The core problem of Wang Anshi's reform is the contradiction between man and land.

As long as the population multiplies, grows more and more, the total amount of land remains unchanged, and the contradictions continue to intensify, the gentry will do everything possible to hide the land, obstruct the new law, and protect their own interests.

This is also the reason why the old school officials continue to go forward and succeed.

It's not that they're stupid, but the interests are so good that they have to fight!

At the beginning, Wang Anshi thought that when Wang Ningan came back, he would help him suppress the old faction, maybe he wanted to get rid of the old party like the Elder Ying Society.

It's just that I didn't expect that Wang Ningan actually came to draw a salary from the bottom of the kettle.

Now around Xijing, there are some new situations, such as some people, in the face of the gentry oppression and exploitation, unable to continue, in the past, in addition to entering the city, to do more humble work, or to die, now there is one more way, to go to the Western Regions to pan for gold, many people have the dream of getting rich, ready to gamble.

The same is true of some gentry, who feel that it is too much effort to dig food in the soil, and even fight wits and courage with the imperial court, and they can't make much money all year round by relying on food alone.

If there is really so much gold in the Western Regions, it is not impossible for them to go to a glory and wealth.

With one more choice, the originally sharply opposed parties suddenly have room for maneuver.

For example, the government hall can issue a decree, and if you are willing to cooperate with Qingzhang Tianmu, you can provide convenience and support the gold panning in the Western Regions, so that the pressure on Fangtian's average tax will be much less.

Even because of the gold exhibition, those officials did not hold on to the explosion of the gunpowder factory, nor did they shout for Wang Anshi to step down.

Everyone knows that Wang Anshi supports the development of the Western Regions, and if he is replaced, everyone's dream of going to the Western Regions to make a fortune will be shattered.

There are many people who regret it, they knew it was like this, why bother to fight with Wang Anshi, isn't it unpleasant!

Bao Zheng understood the truth, but the old minister was very worried, "The Western Regions are thousands of miles away, how many bandits and thieves along the way, as well as the Western Xia army, judging from the old man, it would be good if half of the people could reach the Western Regions safely." Besides, there may be a lot of gold mountains in Altai, but how many people can find gold? As the prime minister, the old man really can't bear to watch the people risk their lives, Erlang, you shouldn't push this matter. ”

Wang Ningan lowered his eyelids, and suddenly said in a low voice: "Bao Xianggong, how many disciples does Confucius have?" ”

Bao Zheng was puzzled, Sima Guang was afraid of embarrassment, and hurriedly said: "It's 3,000 disciples, but only 72 people have become famous...... What does Mr. mean that the sage can't make everyone successful, and going to the Western Regions to pan for gold is a risky thing, and if you want to get rich, you have to pay the price? ”

"Junshi is really keen."

Wang Ningan nodded and said: "It doesn't matter if Xianggong Bao says that I am ruthless, or that I careless about human life!" In short, someone has to take this step...... There will be no less death, but among these people, it is enough to realize the golden dream in one or two percent. And...... Without the attraction of gold, if the common people are allowed to go to the Western Regions, how can they enrich the frontier? Ladies and gentlemen, since the end of the Tang Dynasty, we have lost the Western Regions, why? It's that there are too few Han people in the local area, just imagine, if there are tens of millions of Han people, Tunzha Western Regions, or even more distant places, have a territory larger than the Great Song Dynasty itself, will they lose the Western Regions? We've missed a great opportunity, should we miss a second time? ”

Bao Zheng was very painful, but also helpless.

Wang Ningan said, of course, it is clear, but there is no safe arrangement, rushing into the Western Regions, who can predict the consequences?

"Isn't there a way to have it both ways?"

Wang Ningan shook his head, "The purpose of opening up the Western Regions is to make a fortune, if you want to be foolproof, thousands of miles of roads, you must arrange supply depots, you must arrange soldiers to protect them, and the common people go to gold mining, and you must also arrange officials and soldiers to maintain order...... Bao Xianggong, these expenses alone are more than tens of millions, can the imperial court afford it? ”

Sima Guang also took it, "There is another point, if the court helps, then the court cannot lose money, in other words, the gold mine must be owned by the imperial court, and the people cannot be allowed to mine it casually, and the income from the gold mine must be used to compensate for the previous investment...... If this is done, how can the common people realize their dream of making a fortune? They can't get rich overnight, so why should they venture to the Western Regions? Without a massive influx of people, how can we gain a foothold in the Western Regions in a short period of time? ”

is really worthy of being a super brain, Sima Guang saw Wang Ningan's wishful thinking very clearly.

In fact, when it comes to this, many book friends should be familiar with it, this gold fever and the westward expansion movement of the mold country in later generations are almost the same!

It was also attracted by large-scale gold mines, and the people spontaneously took action to pour into the wilderness, expand their territory, expand their markets, and increase their territory rapidly in a short period of time.

In order to develop the west, the people of the mold country have paid a lot of price, on the way to the west, there are white bones left everywhere, they want to rob the indigenous land resources, to compete with the cruel natural environment, and even to beware of their own people...... Death is inevitable, but history has shown that such sacrifices are worth it, and they make for a mighty empire.

Bao Zheng is not pedantic, but the thought of the possible price makes his scalp numb and overwhelmed.

"No matter what, you can't live and die, don't you care at all?"

"Bao Xianggong, I have ordered that all those who advance to the Western Regions can get armor and swords, and they can also hire samurai to provide protection...... In addition, I will take Liangzhou and Ganzhou as soon as possible, and send men and horses to attack and sweep the barbarian tribes with more than 10,000 people to prevent them from attacking the people of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

The implication of Wang Ning'an's words is very clear, a small group of barbarians, as many as cattle hair, the court can't take care of it. If you want to get rich overnight, you must turn yourself into a fierce lion, and if you don't have the ability to defeat hyenas, leopards, and coyotes, don't think about making a fortune in the Western Regions!