Zheng Lang explained: "I have been thinking about this for a long time. ”

It was true that he had thought about it for a long time, and when he was an envoy to Khitan, Zheng Lang thought about the seriousness of this matter, but he couldn't say it.

"The severe cold in the north restricts the population growth in the north, but these kinds of miscellaneous grains can be suitable for cultivation in most areas of the Khitan, not only as food, but also as feed. Their appearance will enable the Khitan to solve the food problem. But if we don't give it, after a few years, will the Khitan be able to get these seeds from other sources? ”

A few people furrowed their brows.

This is not cotton Zhancheng rice, the Khitan sighed with admiration, they are cold and drought resistant, they are prepared for the north, and in a few years they will be popularized all over the north, the Song Dynasty can introduce watermelons from the Khitan, and the Khitan does not know that these miscellaneous grains were introduced from the Song Dynasty?

Zheng Lang said again: "For them to introduce themselves, it is better for us to take the initiative to do favors." Secondly, born in sorrow, died in peace, Tang Ming Emperor was forced by Wu Zetian and Wei, from between sorrows, so there was a prosperous era of Kaiyuan, and after the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the martial arts reached its peak, so he died in Anle, with Li Linfu's dictatorship and the Anshi Rebellion. ”

"Yes, children and grandchildren should remember," Zhao said. At this time, the Song Dynasty could not be said to be the peak, perhaps in terms of internal governance and economy, it had reached an unprecedented peak, but it was not good in the military, it was constrained by the Western Xia, and it was subordinated to the Khitan, which was far from being compared with the peak of the Kaiyuan Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, that's, but what about the Khitan. The Khitan is a big country in the world, at least at the moment, our dynasty and Western Xia do not seem to pose any threat to the Khitan, because the Khitan emperor is wandering in hunting, advocating between the Buddha and the Buddha, and there are traitors in power, almost very similar to the last years of Tianbao. On the surface, it seems that the cold in the north is restricting the increase of the Khitan population, which has become an unsolvable problem for the Khitan. Not really. The Khitan people are tough because of the cold weather, which makes the people fierce. But cold weather is not the only one, for example, some barbarians in the deep mountains in the south are equally fierce. So there are other reasons, poverty, ignorance, isolation. For example, I'm heading. The people of the southeast are relatively weak, because they have a good geographical environment and focus on creating wealth. Therefore, the Khitan people are strong, and there are reasons for poverty and stupidity, and at the same time, most of them live a nomadic life, they are born and grow up immediately, and they are skilled in riding. Once these multigrain seeds are promoted, more people will settle down and have no worries about food and clothing. On the battlefield there will be no desperate fights. It will be fierce, but it will be far less than it is now. Although the population has increased, and even food is not worried, but it has lost its fierceness and wildness, what is the Khitan competing with our dynasty? The number of people, or wealth, or the good weapons? ”

Think about it from a different angle, and you get two results.

Let's think about it together.

Zheng Lang continued: "Moreover, Western Xia has been defeated several times. The Liang family lost his heart, and Li Bingchang, the lord of the Western Xia Dynasty, heard many deeds of our dynasty from the mouths of the captured Han people, and looked up to the Central Plains civilization and had a dispute with the Liang family. But we can't believe that Li Bingchang has good intentions. For example, his father Li Liangzuo also looked up to the Central Plains civilization, and he just used the advanced civilization of the Central Plains to create more wealth. and a peaceful ruling order, rather than loyalty and friendship to our dynasty. Li Bingchang is the same, and at the same time has an extra layer of goals. The Liang family overthrew the Han rites, and Li Bingchang restored the Han rites, using this conflict to snatch back the power from his mother and the Liang family. Your Majesty, the minister thought that it would soon be time to recover Western Xia. ”

"It's not proper, the world has not repaid the debt." Lu Dafang said.

Even if you use soldiers, you have to wait for the general to repay the debt, and how much money do you have to prepare for the use of troops in Western Xia?

Zheng Lang smiled, the nine bigwigs of the two mansions, Wu Chong, Wang Qi and Lu Gongbi are neutrals, Han Jiang, Zhang Fangping and Zhang Dian are supporters, and Lu Dafang is the opposition, but Lu Dafang will not be as ambitious as Liu Zhi, and he will be personally defiled at every turn, so under Zheng Lang's deliberate reservation, Lu Dafang has been staying in Dongfu. This is also the characteristic of Zheng Lang's employment, and it has nothing to do with factions, even if it is the so-called gentleman Shijie, Zheng Lang is also disgusted. Even if it was a reformist, Lu Huiqing, and Zheng Lang didn't like it, so under the operation of Sima Guang, after Lu Huiqing was demoted, Zheng Lang did not transfer Lu Huiqing back when he returned to Zhongshu.

You can have the right to scheming, you can have different ideological and political views, and you can also oppose disputes, but you must have a certain degree of morality, which is the bottom line of being a courtier.

It has nothing to do with history books, and it has nothing to do with the deliberate beautification of later scholars in history.

Zheng Lang said: "Wei Zhong, one person owns 100,000 properties, will he care about the 5,000 low-interest loans in his hands?" If there were no major military expenses and disasters, the imperial court could accumulate more than 70 million yuan per year. Speaking of the eunuchs, the eunuchs alone used nearly 500 million yuan for the imperial court, and if they were sold in the banknote shop, the value would be 1.7 billion. is only more than 80 million debts, and the imperial court has no need to worry about it. In addition, in the past two years, the imperial court has spent 30 million yuan to reserve a large number of materials, grain and grass in the northwest, the inner storage warehouse is full, and the three divisions still have more than 20 million reserves, advanced weapons, strong soldiers and strong horses, compared with Qingli's hasty use of troops, it is a world of difference. Moreover, next year and the year after tomorrow, the imperial court will also produce a large surplus, which will be used for the military expenditure of the summer, although it is tight, but the gap will not be too big. But if the time has passed, it will not come again. Of course, whether or not soldiers can be used also depends on the situation. However, with the Western Xia, this is a war of annihilation, and the most important thing is the attitude of the Khitan. Therefore, I think that offering seeds at this time is to temporarily befriend the Khitan, and second, to make the Khitan think that we will be afraid of them and win favorable conditions for Vaxia. ”

There are also reasons why Zheng Lang did not say it, including the Xining drought, which is only a sign before the arrival of the Xiaoice River, and there is not much harm for the time being, but it is not long, in another twenty years, the Xiaoice River will officially come, Daguan for four years, Fuzhou is cold, lychees are frozen to death, the mountains are white (thick frost), and the hope is to become a dry forest. It's so serious. In the first year of Zhenghe, the Taihu Lake River was frozen, all the orange trees froze to death, and the people shed tears and felled for wages. In the third year of Zhenghe, heavy snow fell in most areas of the Huanghuaihai, the flat ground was eight feet, and many birds froze to death. In the first year of Jingkang, the Jin people invaded, encountered a great cold, and the soldiers defending the city in Kaifeng could not hold the army, and there were zombies. It was so cold, and there was no cotton to keep out the cold, and he couldn't even pick up his weapons, and even froze to death directly on the head of the city, how could he reach the Jurchen warriors who were born in the cold zone?

The rise of the Jurchens, how could it not be the harm brought by the Xiaoice River, they had to go south to fight with the Khitans, the Khitans were defeated, the thick wall blocking the front collapsed, and the Song Dynasty was sad. is that without Tong Guan's seduction, nine times out of ten, the Northern Song Dynasty will be invaded by the Jurchens, and at most this time will be delayed for several years.

With these grains, the Jurchens would not necessarily take this risk. Raise the clan as soldiers.

But Zheng Lang can't talk about this crisis.

In fact, just by being born in sorrow and dying in peace, we can convince everyone. Not to mention these three reasons.

However, Zhao Ji's eyes were slightly distracted.

Zhao Ji saw that Zheng Lang was tired, and personally comforted him, Zheng Lang said, there are too many ills in the country, and it is not good if you are not tired, and when the disadvantages of the country are solved one by one, the matter of Western Xia will be over. The minister will give him a good rest.

After so many years of reform, the phenomenon of redundant soldiers and redundant officials has been gradually resolved, and the only thing left is Western Xia. As soon as the Western Xia is over, Zheng Lang will fade out of the political situation.

Over the years, Zheng Lang has been like a pillar, holding up the sky of the Song Dynasty, and it has not yet come, just thinking that Zheng Lang has really faded out of the political situation, Zhao Ji has lost his mind.

Zhao Ji's thoughts. Everyone didn't know, Lu Dafang said again: "The army is together, and the lives are destroyed again." ”

"Western Xia is not extinguished, and the northwest is restless. The people on the border of Shaanxi are suffering from misery every year, and if the Western Xia is not destroyed, our dynasty will always be constrained by the Khitan. I had to, and one of them died. It can't be delayed any longer. ”

"Who?"

"You'll know what happened in Western Xia." Zheng Lang sighed slightly. Five top scouts, Wei Yang, who went by the pseudonym Li Huangzhu, died of illness this fall. Before he died, Wei Yang was very unwilling. Now there are only four scouts left. If it drags on any longer, Feng Gao, Lu Yi, Zhao Shanjin, and Wei Zhifang will all die, and this good chess piece will lose its effect. However, this news is still not available.

Zheng Lang quickly changed the topic and said, "And it's time to draw salary." ”

"What?"

"Wei Zhong, do you remember Chen Duo who defected to Western Xia?"

"You know, didn't he kill?"

"No, Chen Duo is a secret agent I sent out, I sent troops to Huangzhou, and Western Xia will be saved, but Western Xia will be trapped in finances, so I let Chen Duo defect to Western Xia, and make suggestions to let Western Xia set up a bank to solve financial difficulties. The fact is that in the past, I always said that the bank must prepare as much gold, silver and copper as it prints, and many people objected. Thankfully, this strategy has been employed. If we ignore the reserves of metal and print Jiaozi on a large scale, there will be a serious crisis. For example, in Western Xia, a total of more than 50 million Jiaozi are now printed. However, the actual reserve metal equivalent is only about 4 million. ”

At first, there were not so many, but the Song Dynasty has not started, these years the Western Xia has been constantly invading and harassing the Song Dynasty, and the finances are becoming more and more tight. As a result, the price of Jiaozi fell, and one Jiaozi was only equivalent to more than 700 yuan in cash. But it has not yet become a hazard.

The danger is in Zheng Lang's decision.

Zheng Lang said: "In recent years, some secret agents in the special service battalion have disguised themselves as merchants, and they have used their goods to hold many Western Xia Jiaozi, nearly four million. Now it is possible to order them to exchange the Western Xia Jiaozi for gold, silver, and copper coins. ”

Only Zhang Fangping and Wang Anshi are in charge of the three divisions, and these expenses pass through their hands to know the truth. When the others heard this, they were all dumbfounded, and if this was the case, nearly three million cash would be withdrawn. That is to say, the so-called Jiaozi in the bank in Western Xia will become a castle in the air and collapse quickly. Of course, there are still a lot of gold, silver and copper in the Western Xia, but these gold and silver are scattered in the hands of various nobles, and they can take it out to "save the city".

If it is really drawn, Western Xia will face a great disaster.

Thinking of this consequence, several people gasped together.

Zhao Ji couldn't help but be happy when he saw their expressions. The destruction of Tubo is only a merit, not Zhao Ji's dream, let him change it, he would rather destroy Western Xia than destroy Tubo. A Western Xia, a Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, is Zhao Ji's biggest dream.

Zheng Lang said again: "Everyone, this matter must be kept secret, whoever leaks it will have to bear the consequences." ”

Several people all nodded.

In this position, it is difficult to say how clean it is, including Zheng Lang, it cannot be said that he is clean-minded, but these people can at least take care of the overall situation, rather than ministers like Liu Zhi who are "upright and outspoken".

Zheng Lang said again: "This is the Western Xia, even my dynasty can't do it, although the Western Xia and the Khitan do not have such a large economic aggregate, which endangers the banks, but there are many giant businessmen in the country, and the wealth in their hands is immeasurable." As long as the bank does not have enough reserves of metals, in order to make profits, they can use the wealth and leverage principle in their hands to leverage the price of Jiaozi, Jiaozi loses its credibility, and the bank's income is over. Therefore, I have been demanding that this policy be strictly enforced. ”

If you say it, you may not understand it all, let alone know the principle of economic leverage, but the profits of banks are getting heavier and heavier in the country's revenues, and no one wants it to happen.

Wu Chong asked, "What about Chen Duo?" ”

"Of course he is not dead," Zheng Lang smiled again, dividing the corpse with a chaotic blade, who could recognize whether it was the real Chen Duo or the fake Chen Duo. Then Zheng Lang looked at the West and said: "More than forty years, I have only sharpened a sword, a long time." ”

Zhao Ji lost his mind again.

In the battle of Qingli, Zhao Zhen vigorously mobilized the army, not only for defense, but if it was for defense, there was no need to send so many troops at all, and he wanted to deal with Western Xia at that time. But due to the economy and the military strength at that time, whether it was Zhang Kanglin's victory or Zheng Langjing's original victory, it was all over in the end. Although it was peaceful, in the past 40 years, even if the Song Dynasty gave countless years of gifts, and spent more than 10 million yuan of money, not including the help of the mutual market to the Western Xia, the Western Xia still invaded many times, and the number of large and small invasions amounted to more than 300 times.

It is only now that the Song Dynasty has really shown its fangs.

With such a large country, forty years is indeed too long to deal with Western Xia.

The city was dispersed, Zheng Lang brought back a piece of information from the Privy Council, returned home, and came to the study, where a handsome young man was sitting, holding a book with a melancholy expression. Zheng Lang said in a harmonious voice: "Your Highness, ......" (to be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )