"Say it," Zhao Zhen said. He didn't feel funny, his face was heavy, and there was a serious problem involved, a difficult thing to do.

"Your Majesty, your lords, the deterioration of water and soil, the north will be full of disasters and difficulties in the future, a slight shortage of water will become a great drought, a flood of water, immediately become a river disaster, the most critical disaster is food, if you want to solve the food must solve two problems." Zheng Lang said slowly.

Why Zhao Zhen left a large number of problems, it is not that the monarch and ministers do not work hard, even if there is a party dispute, under the control of Zhao Zhen's feminine methods, it has not been serious. The main reason is that Zhao Zhen's step-by-step reform did not bring all kinds of shortcomings to control, and there were bad disasters.

For example, drought. Also, four years later, it was rainy in the south of the Yangtze River, and from March to September, the monarchs and ministers were dizzy. The rain in the south of the Yangtze River is not stopping, but there is no rain in the north, one side is in a major flood, the other side is in a major drought, and the national grain prices have risen wildly. The price of rice rose from 400 wen a stone to 1,500 wen, but it made a person.

Wang Anshi bought it in Yinxian County at a price of 3,000 wen per stone, and for a time the people in Ningbo were full of resentment, and the rice merchants cheered and made a fortune. Very interesting, many people sent gold and silver, Wang Anshi did not refuse to come, accepted them one by one, some people did not send, Wang Anshi also sent people to urge, but did not enter the private pocket, all into the treasury.

Many people don't understand, but then they see Wang Anshi's intentions, due to the drought in Shaanxi for many years, the imperial court has been providing relief for many years, although there is no war, the treasury is empty, and the rain disaster in the south of the Yangtze River is also unable to help, and the price of rice rose to 5,000 wen and one stone in March of the second year, and there is no market. Looking at Yin County again, because it is profitable, the merchants have sold rice to Yin County, the grain is accumulating more and more, the supply exceeds demand, the merchants can not transport it back, so they have to sell it at a reduced price on the spot, and the price of rice gradually drops to 1,500 Wen and one stone. Although the common people have exhausted their savings for many years, they have stored a large amount of grain, and for those who cannot afford to buy grain, Wang Anshi used the bribes sent to help. In the spring of the following year, Jiangnan was full of hungry people, but Yinxian became a paradise. As a result, Wang Anshi became famous.

You don't need to remember other complicated history books, as long as you remember this historical material, you can know the bad weather in the future.

However, there is a favorable factor, because of the large-scale development of Jiangdong Wei, although the matter of dividing the polders has been noisy for many years, and it is still noisy today, but the real new increase is 450,000 hectares of high-yield land. The problem cannot be solved, the food increases, the population increases, sooner or later this advantage will inevitably be exhausted, but in the past few years, there is still an advantage.

With this foundation, it is the basis of Zheng Lang's following strategy, and he continued: "Great droughts are often accompanied by locust plagues, and if you want to refuse locust plagues, it is not enough to catch and kill locust plagues, only to strangle them from the source and cultivate them deeply. The arid climate and soil destruction lead to desertification and salinization, which is a breeding ground for locusts. The auxiliary means is greening, and reeds are the food that locusts like to eat, but beans and alfalfa are planted on a large scale in the highlands, and reeds are raised in low-lying places and part of the grassland is enclosed, so that the greening reaches more than seventy percent, and the locusts will lose their spawning ground. ”

Speaking of this, most of the monarchs and ministers were dumbfounded and didn't understand, so they could only listen to Zheng Lang's flickering.

However, it is unlikely that the people of the barren mountains and saline-alkali lands of the tidal flats are unwilling to plant useless reeds, and they are not willing to take the initiative to protect the mountains, forests and grasslands. Many officials will take the opportunity to greed for ink and try to cause disputes. There is only one way, deep ploughing, turning over the soil, killing insect-killing eggs through the cold winter, and reducing locust disasters. If you want to plough deeply, you need a lot of livestock. It is estimated that there are about 2.5 million hectares of land from the Huai River to the north, and at least 1.5 million large livestock are needed. But in fact, this number is less than half, there are few livestock, and the manpower plough is shallow, and even if there are livestock, in order to save the power of livestock, it is also shallow ploughing. Therefore, the imperial court should issue an edict to encourage the people to raise and breed livestock on cultivated land, such as cultivated livestock shall not be slaughtered or taxed, and the government shall not borrow official horses and cattle for profit, and the breeding of young animals will be rewarded with 500 yuan. Twenty years from now, the number of livestock will increase, and fifty years from now the number of livestock will double, not only for the locusts, but also for the sake of the millennium. ”

It's really not much, even if it's rewarded, there won't be more than 100,000 livestock cubs in the north a year, and the cost is only tens of thousands, and the money to raise a Eight Sages King is enough. The trouble is the official cattle and horses, but this income will not be very high, at most two or three hundred thousand. It's just that because it hinders the interests of some corrupt officials, after the implementation, there will be some controversy.

But it is not an exaggeration to say that it is not only to deal with locusts, once the north really has more than 1.5 million large livestock, then it will increase the production of a lot of food.

Yan Shu asked: "Then what about the official horse and the official cow?" ”

"The imperial court set up officials, horses, and cattle to prevent tenant farmers from exploiting the main and guest and lightly taxing the people, but now on the contrary, the government is more exploited than the host and guest, and some local officials and cattle die, and the people have to bear the cattle tax one after another. When I first arrived in Taipingzhou, the Guangde Army had always levied cattle tax on tenant farmers a year, and they could always buy more than two stones of coarse grain in Jiangnan, which could feed one and a half people, and the marriage of ordinary poor people was only three or four yuan, and in three or four years, the cost of a marriage was exploited by the government. What does the court want this money for? Is this the so-called love of the people? ”

After Zheng Lang came to the court, he rarely spoke, only talked about some shortcomings in a private meeting with Zhao Zhen, but rarely made suggestions. This is his first real admonition, and he didn't say anything big, but every sentence was full of a strong pragmatic style.

Yan Shu couldn't speak.

"Official cattle and official horses are also a disadvantage of the imperial court, although the harm is not great, but the imperial court has little profit, which has caused some public resentment. It is better to sell it, one by one at a fair price year by year, and after a few years, except for a few that must be retained, all the ploughing horses and cattle will be returned to the people, whether it is the host or the tenant farmer, although many flock to the host and guest, but the host and guest must also keep the tenant farmer to cultivate, if the price of cattle is high, and the rent is heavy, the tenant farmer will not accept it, and will inevitably flee. The imperial court did not prohibit the tenant farmers from the home of the host and guest like the Tang Dynasty, and did not put an end to the flow of tenant farmers, so let them complete self-regulation, and the imperial court did not bear the infamy, why not? Otherwise, the government will continue to make profits from officials, horses, and cattle, and the officials themselves will not want to encourage the people to own livestock, and all kinds of regulations will become empty talk. ”

"Accurate!" Zhao Zhen said suddenly.

This is only a small trouble for the imperial court, and the income is not high, if it is not allowed, there is no way to reform.

Since Zhao Zhen was accurate, Yan Shu couldn't keep silent, and Zhang Dexiang asked: "What about the second article?" ”

"Kurafa."

"What's the explanation?"

"Although the country has set up a lot of warehouses to prepare for war and famine, the people who used to manage the granaries were all civil officials, without salary, in order to increase income and feed their families, they often cheated and greedy, and the grain was transported from the south, there was already a loss, and there was a problem of rats and insects after storage, and the loss of water was reduced, so they took the opportunity to expand, overreported the deficit, and the loss was five or six out of ten in a year. In a disaster year, the stored grain will be in urgent need. If there are bumper harvests year after year, storing a large amount of grain every year will cause a huge deficit in the country. So warehousing is not thriving. ”

"So how do you change it?"

"The reason for the loss is that there is no salary, and now that the exemption law is implemented, most of the state capitals where the warehouses are located have begun to hire small officials to manage the warehouses. However, the salary is very thin, the quality is low, and there is a former system, and the greed for ink continues. Therefore, the minister wants to ask the imperial court to select the warehouse officials, be sure to know how to read and write, the family background is above the capital, and then increase their salary, which does not require much money, a large warehouse can store 5,000 stones, a small warehouse also has thousands of stones, and the state needs to store 20 million stones but thousands of permanent positions. A small official can manage at least one or several warehouses, and the number of officials required is only a few thousand, and a person can support his family with seventy or eighty yuan. ”

This account is very easy to calculate, and the salary required for 5,000 petty officials is only 300,000 yuan, and the imperial court itself is already using salaries to replace the service, so the actual salary is only increased by 20 or 30 yuan, and the total amount is only 100,000 yuan. For the disguised loss of storage in the Song Dynasty every year, it is nothing.

In order to prevent officials from entering, including the Baisi, the supervisor and the officials of the prefectures, as long as they dare to be greedy for ink and grain, they will be severely punished. This is the way of benevolence and righteousness, giving and taking. If the minister's expectation is good, next year's imperial court economy will turn around, and if it is a bumper harvest, you can use this strategy to stock up on grain. Even if there is a great drought in the north, there is still a harvest near the canals, and some grain is stored, and the drought in the year of Xiangjingyou is only 10 million people to eat. Half-starved and half-fed, a person needs one stone and a half of food a year, which is enough to maintain life, and with mobilization, it can sustain two years of catastrophic disasters. ”

Or use data to speak for argument.

At this time in the Song Dynasty, the actual population of the north, including Shaanxi, was only 40 million people, and there was a shortage of 10 million people to eat, which was already a year of great disaster. In other eras, there are often big problems. This is the worst estimate Zheng Lang has made. What if there is a major drought in three years? If there is a three-year drought with a difference of more than 10 million, in that dynasty, it will also be dizzy, this probability is very rare, but there is one in the future, and it is still very far away. After all, the more food you store, the greater the loss. In these decades, 2,000 stone is enough, and there is no war, which is enough to cope with a series of disasters in the next few years.

Zheng Lang continued: "Buy grain at a low price in a good year, sell grain at a flat price in a famine year, the difference in price is enough to make up for the loss, and the imperial court economy allows, and it can also be distributed to the victims free of money." If there is a bumper harvest year after year, it is the best, but it is not completely wasted, the old grain can be exchanged for wine, and in the spring famine, it can be loaned to some poor people, or to grow or eat. ”

"Loan?" Zhao Zhen said in surprise.

Even in a bumper harvest year, there are still many poor families who are hungry and can only borrow usury from the host and guest to maintain the spring famine, and even delay sowing. The court cannot aim at making profits, it is enough to take one out of twenty, and if it is repaid in the coming year, one out of ten will also be taken, but whether to borrow or not depends on the free choice of the people, and no official can force the people to borrow, and if so, it must also be severely punished. Your Majesty prays to God, this is also a move to accumulate good deeds and virtues, and it is secretly in line with the will of heaven," Zheng Lang said with great difficulty, it has actually become the Qingmiao Law, the difference is that the interest rate is low, Wang Anshi is 20 percent, Zheng Lang has become 5 percent, Wang Anshi is profit-seeking, the officials below forcibly apportion it, and Zheng Lang does not allow officials to apportion it for profit. This is also to lay a foundation for the implementation of the bank in the future, but Zheng Lang still feels close to each other when he thinks about the disputes brought about by the Qingmiao Law.

This is Zheng's warehouse method, which is more complex than Wang Anshi's warehouse method, but it actually includes the green seedling method, as well as the new method to encourage the people to raise livestock, strictly speaking, it is actually simpler.

Wang Anshi's cang method caused fewer drawbacks, Song Shenzong once said with satisfaction: "The cang law is practiced, last year there were 200 people, 500 fewer than before, and the rice is not mixed, and the soldiers do not need to do it, this is really a good law." ”

The Su brothers, who opposed the law change, also said that today, the law is re-applied to Chonglu, and the bribes are less than the old ones. Sima Fa objected in order to oppose it, and after abolishing the warehouse law, he sighed and said: "In the past, the state and county parallel warehouse law, and when it was paid, ten fees were two or three.

In the implementation of the warehouse law, only the Kaifeng Prefecture governor reduced the loss by four-tenths.

But Zheng Lang has always been afraid of trouble and didn't say it, but today Zhao Zhen was a little moved, not only talking about the warehouse method, but also talking about the official cow and the official horse, and talking about the Zheng family's green seedling method.

I thought about it perfectly, but when I went down there, what kind of demon moth would I become?

Zhao Zhen was very happy, the country was difficult, he could even listen to Fan Zhongyan's new policies, and this seemingly perfect policy said: "Zheng Qing, why didn't you say it earlier?" ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers have been thinking about the disadvantages of the country for a long time, not only the cangfa, but there are more ideas, but the ministers dare not say it, because they are afraid that the implementation will not be effective, every time the court changes is not well-intentioned, for the people, but every decree is issued, and when it comes to the bottom, the officials will succumb, and it will become a bad government for the people. The minister's heart was like walking on thin ice, trembling, so he didn't dare to say it. However, after glancing at Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi, Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi were silent, and the corners of their mouths were a little bitter.

It's another opportunity, it happens that there is a drought in the north, the imperial court is worried about food, and there have been too many disasters over the years, and having food in hand also makes everyone feel at ease. Several ministers looked at each other left and right, but did not come up with anything bad, so they discussed the policy. This is the method of preparation, and it will be implemented in the coming year. However, some specific measures will be set, including where to add standing positions and how many management officials are needed. Where warehouses are concentrated, there are few small officials, such as Jingshi, there are many warehouses, reaching hundreds, and it is enough to have a hundred small officials to manage the patrol, but there are only a few warehouses in some places, and the small officials also have to take turns off, and they also have to manage the accounts, count the entry and exit, moisture and fire prevention, repair the warehouse, and even include trivial affairs such as catching rats, so the proportion of small officials needed will increase.

Walking out of the capital hall, Zheng Lang breathed a sigh of relief.

This is to prevent the future, bit by bit regulation. But he was afraid of discord in the hearts of the ministers, so he resolutely opposed it and passed by luck.

After getting off duty, Yu Jing walked over ashamedly and said, "Xingzhi, I misunderstood you." ”

"It's okay," Zheng Lang said lightly. Don't guess my thoughts, as long as you don't attack me, whether you misunderstand or not.

However, the Junzi Party already felt that Zheng Lang was not in the same group as them, and Ouyang Xiujin said: "Since Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan arrived in Que, they have only gone to the palace with the two mansions to perform ordinary official affairs, and Your Majesty has not specially summoned them to visit calmly. Now that the western affairs are not harmonious, there will be an emergency in the border, and His Majesty will go out of the palace when he has nothing to do, and specially summon Qi and others to visit calmly, so that the affairs of the west will be dealt with. As for the ministers of the two provinces, whenever there is an urgent matter of border defense, they either order to summon a meeting from time to time, or each order to report what they see, and only summon one or two people to discuss, this is the dynasty of the ancestors and allows this, and there is no need to stick to the usual practice. ”

Your Majesty, you didn't do well, you are also a meritorious hero, after Zheng Lang came back, you have met with you alone two or three times, but Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan did not admonish once.

In fact, the so-called side affairs, Zheng Lang has long been out of his mind.

and inevitably.

Moreover, there are so many fierce generals in the northwest, there are Zhang Kang, Zhang Qi, Di Qing, Wang Ji on Jingyuan Road, Shiheng and Yang Wenguang on Huanqing Road, Pang Ji and Wang Xin on Yanjun Road, Wang Kai and Zhe Jimin on Fulin Road, the soldiers have been tempered by war, the defense line extends to Xiaoguan, and many cavalry have been added, and the three roads can form an overall joint defense at any time.

The country's center of gravity has shifted domestically.

And Zheng Lang will prepare for the next reform, which is the real reform, the reform that he has been thinking about, but he has to wait for an opportunity. Finally, the opportunity has arrived.

Yizhou, Shandong Province is also a drought-stricken area this year, and the governor of Yizhou has not done a good job, and the hungry people have seized the granary of the government by force in desperation, and then developed into a peasant uprising. It can't be regarded as an uprising, after grabbing the grain, I was afraid, gathered together, and wanted to make some resistance. Some people even hold the idea that the law does not hold the public accountable, and they gather together. As soon as Wang Lun fled, all of them were automatically disbanded.

In fact, if the government sends someone to appease it, it will be fine. However, the bureaucrats of Yizhou did not care about the lives of the common people, and the inspection made Zhu Jin send the forbidden army to catch the thieves and tiger wings to suppress it. Most of the soldiers were born from poor peasants, and they had some connections with these peasants who grabbed grain, and even their families were in this team of peasants. So he was reluctant to go on the expedition, coupled with Zhu Jin's usual harshness towards them, and for various reasons, under Zhu Jin's oppression, he pushed Wang Lun as the leader, killed Zhu Jin, and joined up with a small number of peasants who had gathered some boldness. This was the real uprising, not only killing the imperial court officials, but also wanting to attack various cities in the Song Dynasty, and it had become an operational organization with the goal of rebellion.

However, under the moderate internal governance policy of the Song Dynasty, although the drought was difficult, there were not many followers, less than 200 people. It is better to say that they are rebels than to say that they are a group of outlaws. But with just 200 people, it has become a microclimate.

First to the north into the territory of Qingzhou, Qingzhou Zhizhou is the former prime minister Chen Zhizhong, although he does not understand military affairs, but to deal with this group of bandits is not a problem, immediately organize some men and horses, to fight back, killed some brothers, Wang Lun saw that it was not good, quickly slipped away, turned around and fled south. The happy time has come, after crossing the Huai River, passing through Chuzhou, Surabaya, and Gaoyou Army, it is like entering a no-man's land. The only thing that made Wang Lun dissatisfied was that not many people joined, and when he arrived in the Gaoyou army, only a few dozen outlaws were added, and the number of rebels was only two or three hundred.

This is also the most laughable place, there are only two or three hundred people, even if these two or three hundred people are all Zhang Qi, what can they do? But the people who ate and drank spicy food all the way actually came to Gaoyou City safely. The funniest scene appeared, Gaoyou Zhijun Chao Zhongyue actually asked the local rich family to treat this group of rebels with gold silk cattle wine in order to buy peace.

It's hilarious, shameful to the point where you have to laugh.

The same is true of the subsequent uprisings, it is these two uprisings, if they are used properly, they are a good opportunity, and if they are not used properly, they will make the Song Dynasty slide into the abyss of eternal redundancy.