Lingzhou, as an important town in the northwest border, is the hub city of Mobei, Hexi and Western Regions in the Central Plains, with Yuan, Jing and other prefectures in the south, Qing, Ning and other prefectures in the southeast, and there are two post roads leading to Chang'an; north through Fengzhou to the Uighurs and other northern provinces; west through Liangzhou to the Western Regions; northwest westward to Yizhou Daxi Regions; southwest through Ulan Pass, Huizhou to Lanzhou; East through Yanzhou to Xiazhou cross the Yellow River to Taiyuan Province, both the Yellow River water transport. ,!

Many towns in the northwest also continued to communicate with the Lingzhou trade route on the basis of the previous generation, or opened up new roads to reach the Western Regions, becoming important intermediate stations on the network transportation line from the new or inland to the Western Regions. The traditional trade route has gradually become the political and military passage operated by the Central Plains Dynasty and governed the northwest region and the domestic commercial artery of the trade between the northwest and the hinterland.

At the same time, in the Sino-Western trade, it was famous for its prosperous relay trade, and it was an important window for material and cultural exchanges between the Central Plains Dynasty and the Northwest ethnic groups. The trade route began to be the trade of luxury goods, and in the later period, luxury goods such as silk and pearl and jade were still traded in large quantities, but the Central Plains Dynasty wanted to obtain the most military horses in the Sino-Western trade, and the export and import of salt and tea also occupied a very important position in foreign relations, that is to say, the scope of Sino-Western material trading has expanded to luxury goods to national necessities and daily necessities.

From the Five Dynasties to the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, Lingzhou was the largest relay place for the silk and horse trade between the Central Plains and the Saiwai tribes, as the gateway to the Western Regions at that time, controlling the trade routes to the Western Regions, the geographical location was very important, the official tribute trade of the Ganzhou Uighurs and the Western Regions was still carried out through Lingzhou, and the Dangxiang clan obtained financial support by plundering the transit officials, civilians and merchants.

Therefore, after the Western Xia occupied Lingzhou, its political backlash was not just a unilateral issue for the Western Xia, but related to the benefits of Western trade through a trade transit point such as Lingzhou controlled by the Western Xia. However, if the countries that controlled the trade routes had a long-term monopoly on this benefit, it would naturally arouse the discontent of some countries, and the countries of the Western Regions, which had been exploited by excessive transit tax rates, and those who were dissatisfied with their monopoly on this benefit, would try to establish a way to avoid the Western Xia and the Chinese and Western communications.

Due to the occupation of Lingzhou by Li Jiqian, Lingzhou's important position in the east-west trade was weakened, causing major changes in the history of Sino-Western transportation. The Song Dynasty established contact with the Tibetan region of Western Liang, and the states of the Western Regions transited through Western Liang to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, avoiding the Western Xia and making a detour to the south and entering the Song realm. After Xiliang returned to the Song Dynasty, this road was also cut off. At the same time, the Liao State avoided Western Xia and established trade routes with the Western Regions countries in Mobei. On the one hand, they had to trade through Lingzhou and other transportation arteries controlled by Western Xia, and on the other hand, they avoided Lingzhou to open up a communication channel between China and the West in the south, and the land transportation between China and the West that had lasted for more than a thousand years gradually declined, and maritime trade between China and the West rose. Stunned to force out a 'Maritime Silk Road'

Zhao Ta clearly knew the difficulties he was about to face, and if he wanted to seize the initiative in the war, he would need sophisticated weapons, well-trained troops and sufficient logistical supplies, all of which must be supported by strong and strong financial resources. Now, although he has attracted a lot of capital through a series of preferential fiscal policies, the tight fiscal situation in the northwest has also eased. However, none of these taxes collected by the government will fall into his pocket, and all the 'annual tribute' of Western Xia will be put into his father's inner treasury, and even the war reparations he fought for will only be used to resettle the displaced people and compensate the people who died in the war.

The weapons and equipment of the loyal and brave army, eating, drinking, and Lazar, the clothes from the inside out, and even the socks on his feet are his own money, and now he has added a Kryu army fighting in the Liao State, and the logistics and supplies at this stage also depend on him. This huge expenditure made Zhao Ta, who had tens of millions of dollars in his pocket, feel difficult. If he only relies on the current business supplement, I am afraid that it will not take two years to let alone develop, even if he returns to Xiangyi to farm, it will depend on whether the Jurchens will let him go, so he must reopen his financial resources and expand his trade scope. Earn back more money to support the most expensive game.

Zhao Ta once hated those who used to be the policymakers and knew inside information, and they could make a fortune from it with their foresight, but now he himself has become a part of it. Zhao Ta had already known that Lu Dao was under his own coercion during his negotiations with Western Xia. The Western Xia would surely reopen the trade routes to the Western Regions. When Shenghetang opened a port in Western Xia, it acquired a large area of fertile land in Lingzhou. When they used their own business networks to sell Qingbai salt to the Great Song Dynasty and surrounding countries, others often just got the news or were on their way to the northwest. And it was this step that made Zhao Ta earn a lot of money, but it also made Zhao Ta feel quite uneasy, and he could only rely on 'those who have achieved great things are not informal' to comfort himself.

"Lord Wang, why did you get to the construction site?" Xu Hong, the prefect of Lingzhou, suddenly saw a few people walking along the irrigation canal, and looked at it when he saw that it was the prince with a few guards, and hurriedly dressed up to greet him.

"I'll come over to see how you're doing and see how you're doing!" Zhao Ta looked at Xu Hong, who was dusty and thin, and said.

"The prince has a life, how dare the lower officials slack off, now it's a day and night rush!" Xu Hong said with a wry smile that as soon as he arrived in Lingzhou to take up his post, he received an order from the prince to open canals and reclaim wasteland, resettle displaced people, and establish people's settlements.

"Hehe, Mr. Xu has worked hard!" Zhao Ta smiled and said, looking at Xu Hong's appearance, he knew that he had been eating and living on the canal all these days, "These branch canals must be repaired this year, and the main canals must be strengthened and desilted, and next spring we will be able to irrigate thousands of hectares of fertile land, and we can also recover some of the capital!" ”

"Lord Wang, that's right, but the northwest is very cold, and the frozen soil is as hard as iron, so you can only dig while roasting, and you have delayed a lot of effort, and you can't go fast if you want to!" Xu Hong pointed to a team of people who were working not far away and said, the frozen soil is three feet thick, and there is only a white spot left when the pickaxe is planed.

"I know the way, but if you don't prepare this winter, you will have to waste it next year, you also know our situation, Lingzhou's grain storage can only last until May next year, and the rest has to rely on transportation from the mainland, and now there is a shortage of money everywhere, and it is unrealistic to rely only on the imperial court, so we must ensure that next year's harvest can alleviate the crisis of food shortage, and the year after tomorrow you must ensure that Lingzhou has surplus grain, and you must be able to support other places!" Zhao Ta said solemnly, according to the development of history, next year the Great Song Dynasty will attack Liao according to the agreement, the southeast has just experienced turmoil, and the treasury of Hebei and Henan is empty, and it will support the supply of grain and grass for hundreds of thousands of troops, and there will definitely be no surplus grain to support the northwest, and you can only rely on yourself if you want not to starve.

"Don't worry, the lower officials will never live up to expectations!" Although Xu Hong shouted bitterly, he had been in the system for so long, how could he not know the current situation!

"You can think of more ways, this canal can also make money, don't just know that Lu Dao reached out to me for money!" Zhao Ta said that the government used the government to hire people to farm, and the Song Dynasty was no exception, which was similar to the modern production and construction corps, and the government provided cattle, seeds and other means of production, but also paid salaries on a monthly basis, and the harvested grain was counted separately, so as to ensure that the people of Tun were guaranteed to harvest in drought and flood, so as to retain people, but in this way, the funds invested in advance were a large amount.

"What does the prince mean that anyone who uses the irrigation canal must let them contribute money and effort?" Xu Hong thought for a while and asked.

"Of course, after the irrigation canal is repaired, the surrounding fields can benefit from more than ten miles of land, but the fields are not all owned by the tunmin, those large and small landlords will not take advantage of us in vain, they can't use water in vain, but they can't scare people away after that!" Zhao said.

"Well, the prince is right, and the lower officials have been taught!" Xu Hong got the prince's affirmative reply, then he knew how to do it, after recovering Lingzhou, some of the people who fled here are many people with strong funds, and then some big families in the mainland are following the Kutian to pick up cheap here, they also bought a lot of land here, if the irrigation canal is repaired, their land can also be used, and those wastelands can also become fertile land, so it should not be difficult for them to pay some money appropriately, but only the prince can come up with this kind of money string, if he proposes it, he has to make a hat to compete with the people.

"Mr. Xu, I don't worry, I still have to go to Lao Han to have a look, but you still have to pay attention to your body, don't be tired!" Zhao Ta looked at the thoughtful Xu Hong and said, knowing that he had already comprehended the spirit.

"Lord Wang, take care, Lord Han's life is much better, you can eat at his place!" Han Tong was promoted after the war, and the envoy of the Lingzhou military tun also settled here, Xu Hong smiled and congratulated the prince!

Zhao Ta smiled bitterly and shook his head, this Xu Hong has also learned badly from himself, and he has become picky, and the hospitality fee can be saved! He said goodbye to Xu Hong and ran to the direction of Jingzhou. After Zhao Ta returned to Hedong, he then took the opportunity to form the Hezhong Road Forbidden Army, and reorganized the original Hedong and Hezhong garrison forbidden armies and the Xiang Army.

Because the Song Dynasty implemented a conscription system, the soldiers were all professional soldiers, and the sergeants could not retire until they were 60 years old, and the 10 generals, generals, generals, bureaus, and detainees could not retire until they were 65 years old, so the army was full of many old and weak generals who could not be recruited, and these people were called 'leftovers', who could retain their military status, reduce their salaries, and engage in miscellaneous service in the army.

Zhao Ta expanded this provision, all generals who are more than Chinese New Year's Eve and unwilling to serve in the army can enter the list of leftovers, but there is a condition that they must obey and be assigned to the border defense to engage in military cantonment, and they can also bring their families to go, and in addition, Ding Zhuang was recruited from the displaced people to make up for the shortage, and more than a dozen generals were trained to be stationed at the border. It became a tun army with a knife in one hand and a plough in the other, and undertook the task of reclaiming the frontier, while Lingzhou concentrated 50,000 tun troops, which became an important force in defending against the invasion of Western Xia and reduced the economic burden.

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