Xiangfan is the abbreviation of Xiangyang and Fancheng. Xiangyang is named because it is located in the yang of Xiangshui, and Xiangyang and Fancheng on the north and south banks of the Han River face each other across the river. During the Three Kingdoms era, it is said that when Guan Yu attacked Fancheng, he flooded the Seventh Army and captured it alive, thus shocking China.

However, in the end, Guan Yu still failed to capture here, just as Sun Quan failed to conquer Hefei anyway. For the Cao Wei regime, these are the two main points of defense against the southern attack. For the southern regime, it was also a central city to defend against attacks from the north.

In the second year of Xianchun, whether it was the upper echelons of the Mongol army as the attacking side or the upper echelons of the Song army as the defensive side, it was very clear that the key point from the Han River to the Yangtze River was Xiangfan. Whoever controls this place will be able to easily enter the Yangtze River from here.

The main commanders guarding Xiangyang and Fancheng are the two brothers Lu Wende and Lu Wenhuan. No matter how the two of them were scandalized in the Legend of the Condor Heroes in later generations, the Lu brothers in reality calmly and bravely took on the burden of defending Xiangyang. Jia Yidao entrusted the Lu family with important tasks, and the Lu family was also very confident.

Money and food are needed to fight a war, and the average amount of money spent by the Yuejia army on each soldier every year was 50 copper coins. What is depreciating now is the payment of banknotes, and the purchasing power of copper coins has not decreased compared with Yue Fei's time. And because it is a defensive posture, 36 copper coins per year can raise an elite soldier whose performance in battle is not inferior to that of the Yuejia army. Zhao Jiaren is in charge of the cotton business, and the money he can provide can support 35,000 elites. Coupled with the money raised by Jia Rudao, there was no problem with the payment of the Song army in the Battle of Xiangyang.

Based on this situation, the huge amount of 100,000 copper coins per month is like a rope tied around Jia Nidao's neck, without this rope, Jia Nidao will stumble and slide into the abyss. However, with this rope in the hands of others, Jia Rudao felt extremely uncomfortable in his heart.

The fifteenth day of each month is the time when the cotton service pays 100,000 copper coins. Jia Rudao had already set the rules that he must send the news of the money to him as soon as possible. On 15 April, the staff sent the document to Jia Nidao, and when he saw that it was actually a fold, Jia Nidao, who was a little disappointed, raised his head and asked, "Is there no news about the cotton affairs yet?" ”

The staff hurriedly replied: "Xianggong, the money for cotton has begun to enter the warehouse, and every time you count the money, you can only get news at noon." ”

Jia Rudao snorted, but did not continue. He knew that he was concerned about it, and after the so-called raising troops for a thousand days and spending millions of copper coins like water, Jia Rudao didn't know what the front line had become. This kind of words were not taken out to say, Jia Rudao opened the fold that was sent. After a few glances, Jia Rudao snorted heavily. After watching the folds, Jia Rudao directly slapped the folds on the table.

The content of this is quite simple, some ministers think that Gundam performed well in the Battle of Eju, so they can let Gundam be in charge of the Battle of Xiangyang.

Zuo Prime Minister Jia Yidao knows the twists and turns very well, and the credit for my Great Song is probably the name. The Gundam can indeed fight, but the purpose of getting the Gundam out at this time is not because the Gundam can fight, but because the Gundam has a gap with Jia Yidao. As long as Gundam can take control of the Battle of Xiangyang, he will be an important lever to overthrow the reign of Prime Minister Jia Nidao in the future. Just like the Lu brothers guarding Xiangyang and Fancheng, their success or failure is also an important boost for Jia Nidao's right to speak.

Jia Yidao didn't care about this at all, and the official family didn't seem to be the same. Even if it is only a ten-day court, Jia Rudao has to go to the court. The official family had great respect for Jia Rudao, and he said almost in awe: "Jia Gong, the ministers think that Gao Da has made great contributions in the battle of Ezhou and should be able to defend Xiangyang. ”

When the official family spoke, Jia Rudao couldn't be regarded as not hearing. He replied, "Although Gundam is capable, it was not only Gundam who defended Ezhou back then. Lu Wende looked at the lack of meritorious service, because he went later than Gundam. When heading south from Diaoyu City, Lü Wende defeated the Mongol naval army, and this man knew how to fight in water. By the time Gao reached Ezhou, the Mongol naval army had already gained the upper hand. ”

Although he didn't directly scold Gundam for not having the ability to fight, Jia Rudao's words could be regarded as greatly belittling Gundam's merits. Unexpectedly, the official family hesitated and said: "In the battle of Ezhou, the naval army is led by Zhao Jiaren......

Hearing the official's words, Jia Rudao's brows naturally wrinkled. Zhao Jiaren is the same age as the official family, 26 years old this year. A 26-year-old young man was mentioned in an important matter, which can only be said that the young man already had an influence far beyond his age in the Great Song Dynasty. Jia Yidao is 53 years old, and at this time he has a strong sense of jealousy in his heart. However, what Jia Rudao said was something else, "If the official family thinks that Zhao Jiaren can take on the important task of guarding Xiangyang, they might as well issue an order to ask him." ”

Hearing Jia Rudao directly push the matter down Zhao Jiaren's side, the young official Zhao Yu was a little confused. This official has a very poor sense of power, so he is completely unsure of what the problem is at this time. He didn't even know if Jia Yidao really wanted him to ask Zhao Jiaren to make an order.

And Jia Rudao, who shirked the responsibility, was no longer touching this topic when the old god was there. As for what Zhao Jiaren's answer will be, Jia Rudao has been able to determine. Among the officials Jia Yidao encountered, Zhao Jiaren was definitely an old fox. In other words, Zhao Jiaren will never put himself in an unfavorable environment. However, even though Zhao Jiaren is like a ghost, he has always stood very upright on the national righteousness. At least in the more than ten years he has been an official, Zhao Jiaren's contribution to the Great Song Dynasty is by no means comparable to other officials. This is also something that makes Jia Yidao feel very surprised.

was turned against the army by Jia Rudao, and the official Zhao Yu stopped mentioning the matter of letting Gundam take charge of the defense of Xiangyang for the time being. However, to Jia Yidao's surprise, a few days after this incident, the official Zhao Yu decisively issued an order. Zhao Jiaren has made outstanding contributions to the cotton business, so he has been promoted to one level.

In the official system of the Great Song Dynasty, official rank has nothing to do with errands. At this time, Zhao Jiaren was already a fifth-grade official, and was promoted to a fourth-grade official, and his real power was still 'Fuzhou Zhizhou and Fujian Road pacification envoy and lifting cotton affairs'. However, this promotion is a gesture, which is to show Zhao Jiaren's goodwill to the official. And behind this, it also shows that someone is giving advice to the official Zhao Yu.

Jia Rudao has a lot of means at his disposal, but he chooses not to deal with it at all. Sure enough, as Jia Yidao expected, the news that Zhao Jiaren was promoted to the first rank because of his meritorious service in cotton affairs immediately caused a lot of sensation in the Lin'an Imperial Court. It is not common for a 26-year-old fourth-rank official to be a fourth-rank official, when this fourth-rank official is still a relative of the Zhao clan......

Zhao Jiaren is a fellow traveler of Jia Nidao in the eyes of those who oppose the reform of Gongtian, and the greater his achievements, the more it means that Jia Nidao will gain power. Such a person was promoted because of cotton service, and this is worth it!

"Zhao Jiaren has ill intentions and has the intention of rebellion......" such concerts have been released.

Zhao Jiaren naturally has channels in Lin'an, one of which is his father Zhao Zhizhuo in the Ministry of Rites. From his father's letter, it can be seen that the toss within the court made Zhao Zhizhuo feel very unhappy, but Zhao Zhizhuo's reaction was very tired. At the end of the letter, Zhao told Zhao Jiaren that some officials who had left Lin'an in disheart wanted to go to Fuzhou to open their eyes, and many of them were old friends of Zhao Zhizhuo. I hope Zhao Jiaren can be properly received.

Zhao Zhizhuo's letter was delivered to Zhao Jiaren by Zhao Jiaren's Rentong Express, and Rentong Express also transported people. At this time, Zhao Zhizhuo's old friends Xu Jingsun and Chen Maolian were taking a boat to Mawei. The two old gentlemen first arrived in Fuzhou, but when they passed by Mawei, they were stunned to see the dense buildings. Xu Jingsun had served as a prisoner in Fujian Lutidian, and he was very familiar with Fuzhou, and he knew very well how desolate Mawei was.

According to the original plan, the two old gentlemen were going to see Zhao Jiaren directly. Now they have changed their minds, rested in Fuzhou, and then went to Mawei to see what was going on.

"Fuzhou City has also changed a lot." On the boat, Xu Jingsun made an evaluation of Chen Maolian.

After they disembarked in Mawei, they saw a wide road leading from the port to Mawei. If you look closely, the road surface is not a dirt road, but an indescribable gray thing. Laboriously bent down and poked the ground with his hand, and found that the ground was solid. The old man didn't want to distinguish anymore, and straightened up a little tremblingly. The servants propped up the sedan chair, and the two sat down on a double sedan chair called a sliding pole, and the servant lifted the sedan chair and walked along the main road towards the dense urban area to the north.

Mawei is north of the Min River, high in the north and low in the south. One of the reasons why Zhao Jiaren chose this place to build a new city is that this kind of terrain is very suitable for water supply and discharge.

The two gentlemen didn't know why, but they saw slender street trees that had just been planted, as well as shops and public buildings on both sides of the street. Many of the buildings were unfinished, and the construction workers were working on them.

"Are the Fujian people so powerful?" Seeing two people lifting huge objects through the crane, Chen Maolian asked in surprise.

Xu Jingsun was also unable to understand this situation, and also frowned. This can't be blamed on the old gentleman's lack of knowledge, Da Song has experience similar to pulleys, but he doesn't have the concept of pulleys. Zhao Jiaren's equipment is completely based on the theory of pulley blocks, so the actual effect is of course beyond the scope of experience.

At this time, it was already noon, and the two old gentlemen saw groups of little dolls walking in a neat line on the street, and some students from that community left the group in each neighborhood. Xu Jingsun asked Chen Maolian puzzled, "These ...... should be students, right?" ”

“…… It should be......" Chen Maolian replied very puzzled. Then he readily expressed his real doubts, "But there are too many of these students!" ”

Compared with New China, the literacy rate of the Great Song Dynasty is just like that, and even the literacy rate of Fujian Road, which is famous for its exams, is less than 20%. As a person born under the red flag, Zhao Jiaren has an unusual insistence on universal education. Even if there is no way to popularize the whole of Fujian, at least Zhao Jiaren's subordinates have to force it.

95% of the people living in Mawei are Zhao Jiaren's subordinates, and the other 5% are also stained. All school-age children are required to receive education, even adults, to attend literacy classes. The size of the student body caused by 100% school-age children attending school really frightened the well-informed two old gentlemen.

As I walked forward, I saw neatly painted simplified Chinese characters on the wall: "Patriotic Health Month, Eliminate Pests and Diseases". Like other Great Song officials, these two had their own academic specializations, and they were engaged in the library major of "Four Libraries". They can understand the simplified characters on the wall, and they know each word when it is taken apart. It's just that when it comes together, they don't understand.

Watch as the children come out of school in groups and then into the neighborhoods. The two old gentlemen asked the palanquin driver to stop at the gate of a community. There is only a simple partition wall between the neighborhoods, and only flower beds and street trees on this side of the street. Looking at a road that was not very narrow leading straight into the community, which looked quite deep, the old gentleman hesitated.

The urban layout of the Great Song Dynasty is also facing the street with storefronts, but the alleys are different from this. That's really one by one, one by one. Looking inside from the outside of the community, you can see that the three-story buildings are neatly arranged. The community looks like the private property of a large family. You can't mess around in this kind of place.

In the end, curiosity prevailed over strangeness, and the two asked the palanquin driver to carry them into the community. At noon, everyone was cooking. There was no lack of cooking oil in the cooking smoke, which made the two old gentlemen stunned. Stir-frying vegetables in oil is not something that poor families can afford every day. Just looking at the houses, the people in this community don't look like they are poor. Smell it again, and you can be more sure that they are really rich.

Just as they were about to go out, the two were attracted by the fountain in the community. The old men are well-informed, so at a glance it is by no means natural. Artificial fountains can cost much more than natural fountains. And the men and women with buckets who went to the fountain to get water proved that it was good water to be cited.

I walked through several neighborhoods with great enthusiasm and saw the same thing. Chen Maolian asked Xu Jingsun, "Duke Xu, have all the rich people on Fujian Road come to live in Mawei?" ”

As a former Fujian Road Prison, Xu Jingsun certainly knew that there could not be so many rich people on Fujian Road. Even if there were, they wouldn't have gone to the tail of this bird that didn't lay eggs to open up a rich city. Living here in the first place makes it impossible to go home often, which means that they can't manage the property they already have.

Xu Jingsun, the former Fujian Road Prison Prison, told Chen Maolian what he thought of, Chen Maolian nodded again and again, and he also said that he noticed a strange thing, "Half of the dolls who go to school are female babies." ”

The girls of the Great Song Dynasty can't take the imperial examination, but the girls of the Great Song Dynasty can go to school, and many of them have become private school gentlemen when they grow up. All such families, without exception, are the wealthy class.

Combining many things, the two old men felt that there must be something big wrong here. Over the years, there have been more and more statements about Zhao Jiaren in the imperial court, and everyone feels that this young Zhao clan member has a strange rise. Now, he must have received extremely strong support.

The old man didn't bother to look at it anymore, and they prepared to return to the dock and return to Fuzhou. This question has to be asked by Zhao Jiaren, the current governor of Fuzhou. After such a period of time, the two of them saw the dolls coming out of various communities and heading towards the school. It can be seen that the school is in the afternoon.

received two old friends of his father, Zhao Jiaren originally thought that it was a very polite reception, and then listened to the nonsense of the old gentlemen who relied on the old and sold the old. Then you can do what you want.

However, after hearing the old man's words, Zhao Jiaren was first surprised, and then laughed dumbly.

For the first time in a long time, someone has pointed out something that Zhao Jiaren has never noticed. He often created a large number of people who could rank into the wealthy class in the Great Song Dynasty. What the old gentleman said was quite consistent with Zhao Jiaren's understanding, but Zhao Jiaren didn't feel like this.

Over the years, from Zhao Jiaren to the people below, they have made great efforts. Compared with the hard work put in, the wealth gained now is not a big deal. At least in Zhao Jiaren's view, these riches are not enough, and they are not even rich enough.

"Zhao Zhizhou, I really want to know how Zhao Zhizhou found so many first-class households. It depends on where they live, according to the system of our Great Song Dynasty, they all have to be first-class households. Xu Jingsun's voice, which was a former Fujian Road prisoner, was puzzled.

"It turns out that the two of you don't understand this." Zhao Jiaren said with a smile.

Seeing Zhao Jiaren's expression of being ready to explain, Xu Jingsun hurriedly said, "Oh? Please also ask Zhao Zhizhou to make it clear. ”

Zhao Jiaren explained, "I have bought the entire land in Mawei, and those houses are also mine. Those people were just renting my house. ”

It turned out that it was not so many rich people gathered in Mawei, but that the land in Mawei already belonged to Zhao Jiaren, a rich man. After understanding this fact, the two old men had a relieved expression on their faces. This explanation, while equally frightening, is not beyond their comprehension. The Great Song Dynasty was very tolerant of the Jinshi, and the Jinshi had many tax-free privileges. It can be seen that Zhao Jiaren is not only good at managing accumulation, but also makes full use of his privileges.

The Great Song Dynasty tax revenue was divided into two categories: rural and urban, and each category was divided into five classes. In the countryside, it is based on how much land you own, and in the city, you see how much real estate you own.

If the land in Mawei were owned by the occupants, everyone would have to pay a large personal tax every year. If the entire horsetail belonged to Zhao Jiaren, he would only have to pay a very low land tax. Because Mawei is not a city, but a village, the houses on it are not taxable at all. Even if Zhao Jiaren built a new city beyond Fuzhou on it, it would only be Zhao Jiaren's private estate. It cannot be listed as a city.

The two old men figured out this joint, and when they looked at Zhao Jiaren, they lost their affection even more. Xu Jingsun couldn't help but say: "I really didn't expect Zhao Zhizhou to be so good at gathering. ”

"Haha!" Zhao Jiaren was amused by these words, and at this time, Zhao Jiaren seemed to be the wail of a defeated dog. But after all, it was his father's old friend, Zhao Jiaren felt inappropriate after laughing a few smugly, he quickly put away his smile, "Xu Gong praised ......, uh, ......, Xu Gong's joke is a bit big." ”

Seeing Zhao Jiaren's expression of not being ashamed but proud, Xu Jingsun was even more unhappy. He had a straightforward personality and served as a minister during the Gongtian reform. The duty of this official position in the Great Song Dynasty was to give opinions on the court plan that was put forward. If it is not signed or even rejected, these decrees cannot be issued.

In the face of the reform of the public field, Xu Jingsun stated the harm of this system one by one, and Jia Rudao asked Yu Shi Shuyou to impeach Xu Jingsun and remove him from office. It was an obstacle to the reform of public land. And Xu Jingsun recommended Chen Maolian, Chen Maolian supported the reform of the public field, became a public land official, in charge of Jiaxing Mansion, heard that Xu Jingsun was dismissed, he said: "I can't bear Xu Gong." So he resigned decisively.

These two are both friends of Zhao Jiaren's father Zhao Zhizhuo, and seeing Zhao Jiaren so arrogant at this time, Xu Jingsun was also angry. He said angrily: "Zhao Zhizhou is good at accumulation, others dare not do cotton work, you dare to do it." You can also pay 100,000 copper coins to the court every month. Such a method is really admirable. ”

Seeing that the old man was so excited, Zhao Jiaren smiled and said, "If Duke Xu accuses me of something else, I may feel that there is a trace of convergence." It doesn't matter if this cotton business really drinks and gathers. This is all earned by selling cloth. ”

Xu Jingsun was seventy-three years old, and he couldn't help but be angry when he heard Zhao Jiaren's words, "Please also ask Zhao Zhizhou to tell me how you earned this money!" ”

Zhao Jiaren was not polite, and simply stated what was going on. In the past, when the great food and maritime merchants arrived in the Great Song Dynasty, each ship would leave with thousands of catties of copper coins. In the eyes of maritime merchants who do not have the concept of general equivalents, these copper coins are valuable commodities in their own right, and they can also be used as ballast.

In this era, a copper coin weighed about 2 grams, and Song Jin was equivalent to 1.2 city catties now. One catty is 300 copper coins. Even if you take away 2,000 catties of copper coins at a time, it is still 600,000 copper coins, which is about nearly 90,000 yuan. As long as there are twelve ships, millions of copper coins a year will be lost overseas.

After Zhao Jiaren's fleet was opened and controlled the South China Sea shipping route, the ballast became an iron pot. There are no copper coins in the goods shipped overseas. Not only did it completely eliminate the outflow of copper coins, but it also recovered a lot of copper coins that had been taken overseas by the Great Maritime Merchants through trade. Over the past few years, Zhao Jiaren has recovered more than 13 million copper coins from overseas through trade. These copper coins alone can provide for at least eleven years of cotton money.

After listening to Zhao Jiaren's explanation, Xu Jingsun was silent. As an official who supported the reform of Gongtian, Chen Maolian was well aware of the problems of the Great Song Dynasty. Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiaren unconsciously solved the problem of copper money outflow that had plagued the Great Song Dynasty for a long time in the past few years in Fujian. He looked at Zhao Jiaren with some faint admiration in his eyes.

Seeing that the old man Xu Jingsun didn't speak, Zhao Jiaren was ready to beckon someone to come in and arrange accommodation for the two of them first. The elderly are particularly stubborn, and if they don't know that they are wrong, they are probably a little more tolerant. When they know they're wrong, they tend to be extremely stubborn. So Zhao Jiaren doesn't want to talk about right and wrong with the elderly, and it's not a good thing to really make them angry.

At this moment, Xu Jingsun spoke, "Zhao Zhizhou, I blamed you wrongly. I'm here to apologize to you! ”

These words scared Zhao Jiaren. He never expected his father's old friend to be so elegant. Even if it is pretended, it is extremely rare for an old man to apologize to a young man. At this moment, his opinion of Xu Jingsun immediately changed a lot, much better.