At the end of October 327 of the Great Song Dynasty, in December of the Western calendar, snowflakes had fallen in Hangzhou. Although not as cold as the Xiaoice River period in the late Ming Dynasty, it will snow in Guangzhou in winter. According to the news received in Hangzhou, in addition to the direct territories of the Mongol Great Khan, most of the territory of the Mongol Empire was already covered in silver.

Zhao Jiaren has never believed that human activity can really determine the earth's climate. In the billions of years of the earth's history, it has been covered in thick ice and snow for hundreds of millions of years, and the average temperature has been ten degrees higher than that of the 21st century. When humans became the strongest species on the ground, the Yellow River basin was also inhabited by elephants, so Henan was called 'Henan'. Of course, Zhao Jiaren insisted on reducing pollutant emissions, because at this time in Hangzhou, because there was no concentration of mercury, and the air was a little bad because of the presence of a large number of boilers.

The Marco Polo priest from Europe did not criticize the air in Hangzhou, maybe the sky in Italy is bluer than in Hangzhou, but the air quality in Hangzhou is much better than in Italy, where animals are everywhere and the streets are full of filth. In addition, the Polo priest was very curious about the winter in Hangzhou.

"When it snows, people shovel snow on the streets. Some of the streets in the capital of the Great Song Dynasty are stony, and the snow will make the road very slippery and easy to fall. The newly built streets are gravel and very solid. Snow cover can also affect traffic. In the past three days, there have been many horse-drawn carriage collisions."

"On a snowy day like this, there are definitely very few pedestrians in Venice or other Italian cities, and everyone will hide at home to survive the winter. In Hangzhou, people still go out at the same time, whether the factory or the city is still open. The snow cover has a great impact on the city of Hangzhou."

The school is also continuing to be held, and dozens of Mongolian teenagers who come to study are like the children of the Great Song Dynasty, braving the wind and snow and stepping on the mud to go to school every day. In Da Song, everyone works hard"

Xiong Shangshu didn't complain about the cold. The temperature inside the carriage was warm, and the temperature at home and in the Ministry of Rites was comfortable. Winter came, social activities outside the cities of the Great Song Dynasty were greatly reduced, and the operations of the countries outside the Great Song Dynasty basically came to a standstill∩ there was no new news about the military operations of the ancient empire in Tianzhu, and the attack of the Japanese state on the Iyo naval army was also terminated.

When I passed through the various offices, I heard the staff of the Ministry of Rites chatting. Shang Shu didn't care about it until he heard a squire say, "I heard that the pattern of tax collection is going to change dramatically recently. It's no longer about planting whatever you want. ”

"What do you mean by this?" The officials of the Ministry of Rites immediately followed suit.

Xiong Shangshu also stopped, he only wanted to take care of his own affairs recently, and he was going to be a minister in three or four years, so he was not interested in many court politics. He had heard about this tax, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

"I've heard that the situation seems to be that the state will demand what to plant at the local level through taxes. For example, the government thinks that in some places it can only grow rice, and whoever grows wheat there will have to double the tax. The squire recounted what he knew.

"Why?" Officials are very interested.

"This seems to be called some kind of advantageous industry. For example, the north is suitable for growing wheat, and the north is subject to high taxes for growing rice. The mountain is suitable for planting tea trees, so we should try to plant tea trees. The squire explained.

Xiong Shangshu had little interest in agricultural policy or tax policy, he did not know how to farm or collect taxes. After continuing to walk into the toilet and washing his hands, Xiong Shangshu suddenly remembered his family's business in the north. The purpose of this operation is animal husbandry, which happens to be partnered with the families of Zhang Shijie and Yang Shufei. If the imperial court stipulates so much, will it have any impact on the situation in the north.

It was about his own industry, and Xiong Shangshu wrote a letter when he returned to the office, asking if his own industry had been affected.

After writing the letter, Xiong Shangshu picked up the teacup and remembered the conflict between the Duan family in Jiangning and Wen Tianxiang's younger brother Wen Zhang. The conflict seems to have started over the tax issue, and the prefect of Wenzhang showed a tough attitude. Xiong Shangshu would not oppose Wen Zhang because of the Duan family, but thinking of the strength of the government, he felt even more uneasy in his heart.

Time passed quickly, and on the 6th day of November 327, the Ministry of Rites began to get a little busy again. Sanhan Xing Shi Xiang Wang Chen sent his eldest son Wang Zi to pay tribute. Xiong Shang went to see Zhao Jiaren and came up with a set of tribute procedures. Zhao Jiaren didn't read the plan, and asked directly: "What gift is Da Song going to give?" ”

"Isn't the official family ready to give a reward?" Xiong Sheng asked tentatively, and he could hear what Zhao Guanjia's tone meant.

Zhao Jiaren personally didn't like the tributary system of the Celestial Empire, so he replied cheerfully: "I don't like rewards≤ I think it's pointless." ”

"What does the official family want to do?" As the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, one of its roles is to package national interests in etiquette.

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Jiaren replied: "Either you can reward some pearls for them to pull." ”

"Yes." Xiong Shang replied. As a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, Xiong Sheng knew the source of the pearls of the Great Song Dynasty. In the past, the annual output of pearls was only a few dozen taels, but now Liu Meng's family in the South China Sea and the Yiyu Navy of the Wa Kingdom charge hundreds of catties of pearls to the Great Song Pearl City every year. The price of Da Song pearls plummeted. If it is rewarded with pearls, the same number of pearls is enough to satisfy the Koreans.

Prince Wang Zi was an ordinary-looking man, about twenty-seven or eighteen years old, and he didn't look special. After seeing Xiong Xiang, Wang Zi did not put up any score, but honestly bowed to the Book of Rites of the Great Song Dynasty.

After seeing the ceremony, sitting down on both sides, Wang Zi opened his mouth and asked, "May I ask Xiong Shangshu, I don't know when the official family will summon you." ”

Xiong Sheng was so enthusiastic by the prince that he almost burst out laughing. Zhao Guanjia obviously didn't have a good impression of Sanhan, how could he summon Sanhan's prince. But there is no way to explain this, and it is too straightforward to say it. So Xiong Sheng replied: "The official family is busy with state affairs, even if it is to hold a banquet and feast the ministers, it will take some time. ”

"Shang Shu must have thought that I was too arrogant. This is not surprising. Wang Zi replied.

Xiong Shangshu smiled slightly, waiting for Wang Zi to say the reason why he must see Zhao Guan's family.

"I can be the prince again, all thanks to the official family." Wang Zi's voice was sincere.

In order to solve the Mongolian persecution, Wang Chen asked Kublai Khan to marry a Mongolian princess. Kublai Khan initially stated that he would not marry his own daughter, but in order to win over Goryeo, he finally decided to marry Wang Chen's daughter. Wang Chen married the lost princess of Kudulu Jieli, the daughter of Kublai Khan, who was more than 20 years younger than him, and his original partner Wang was forced to live in seclusion.

As the son-in-law of the Mongols, the power of Goryeo was of course inherited by the sons born to the Mongol princesses. Wang Zi, as the son of the original match, lost the right to inherit. When the Great Song Dynasty ran away from Mongolia, Wang Chen naturally made the Mongolian princess a concubine and restored his status as a wife. Wang Zi also regained the right to inherit.

Before Wang Zi arrived in Hangzhou, the Great Song had already gathered information about him. Xiong Sheng believed that Wang Zi's desire to meet Zhao Guan's family was sincere, but this sincerity was not enough for Wang Zi to be qualified to meet Zhao Guan's family.

"Some time ago, the angel of the upper court came to Samhan and asked my father if he wanted to restore the name of Goryeo. My father thought that the angel was tempting, so he refused. I thought Da Song was sincere. ”

"Hmph." Xiong Sheng did not directly say that he was disappointed with Wang Chen's reaction.

Wang Zi continued to say sincerely: "As a prime minister, my father is busy with affairs and cannot farm by himself. I am willing to follow the advice of the previous dynasty and sell grain to the upper court. ”

"Do you think Da Song wants Sanhan's grain? Hehe. Xiong Sheng laughed dryly.

"The Shang Dynasty is definitely not short of this bit of food, and I am here to say this, just to let the Shang Dynasty know that our three Han are willing to obey the orders of the Shang Dynasty."

Xiong Shang did not answer immediately. It doesn't matter whether the three Hans obey the orders of the Great Song Dynasty or not, and the elimination of the Three Hans is just new to the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Guanjia said before that he just wanted to make Sanhan useful to the Great Song Dynasty. If the mud of Sanhan can't support the wall, Da Song will have nothing to lose at all.

"Xiong Shangshu, I'm waiting for ruin. I don't know the deep meaning of the last dynasty, but also ask Shangshu to teach. Wang Zi's posture was very low.

"If Sanhan wants to have grain to sell to the Great Song Dynasty, naturally there must be grain to be harvested. If you want to be able to collect taxes, you have to have the ability to collect taxes⊥ as we know, the Samhan royal family lacks soldiers and major generals, and it is not easy to collect taxes from Haoqiang. ”

"What Shang Shu said is very true. But I don't know what Shangshu has to say. ”

"People will help themselves, and God will help them. If the royal family of Sanhan can cultivate it himself, I will reward you with some tools. If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools, you have made more food, except for being able to keep it for yourself to eat, and sell it to the Great Song Dynasty. Naturally, my Da Song can sell farm tools to you cheaply. If you have food in your hands, you can raise soldiers and raise soldiers. When the time comes, the Goryeo royal family will be restored, and it will naturally be able to truly grasp the power. Otherwise, the Goryeo royal family is at most the previous situation where the warriors were in power, and the Goryeo royal family was just a puppet. ”

Xiong Sheng was a little tired after speaking, these were the reasons why the Ministry of Rites wanted to persuade Wang Chen at first, but Wang Chen decisively refused to restore the name of Goryeo, and the envoy was not interested in persuading him again. Speaking out at this time, Xiong Shang also lost his previous passion.

Wang Zi listened to Xiong Xiang's narration, and his eyes began to shine. After Xiong Sheng finished speaking, he got up and knelt down, crying with tears in his eyes: "The court treats him like this, he is really like a parent." The minister is grateful. ”

Being treated so humbly, Xiong Shangshu felt a little embarrassed while being complacent. In fact, this plan was not taken out by the Ministry of Rites, but the direction given by Zhao Guan's family. The Zhao family did not have any special kindness to Sanhan, and the reason why he made such a mistake was because the cost of transporting grain from the Great Song Dynasty to the Wa Kingdom was relatively high, and the distance was much shorter if it was to start directly from the port of Busan. The cost is also much lower.

Helping Wang Zi up, Xiong Sheng asked the secretary to bring a hot towel over. After Wang Zi wiped his face, Xiong Sheng said: "We know that this matter is not easy, and grain is only produced once a year. If you want to promote new agricultural tools, it will take time to adopt the planting methods. But because of this, if it drags on for a year, it will be a whole year late, and seeing that the prime minister of Sanhan doesn't think so, we can only give up. ”

"Please rest assured that I will personally farm ▲ will not disappoint the court." Wang Zi's attitude is firm.

Unexpectedly, Wang Chen's son turned out to be quite upright, so Xiong Sheng went to see Zhao Jiaren and happily told what happened' Thinking that Zhao Jiaren looked calm after hearing this, he asked: "Does this Wang Zi know how to farm?" Do you know how to manage agriculture? ”

"What does the official mean by this?" Xiong Sheng was puzzled.

"Farming is not just about farming tools. Improved seeds, cultivation time, irrigation, and the use of cattle require specialized skills. Does Wang Zi understand this? Does he have such a team to manage tens of thousands of acres of cultivated land? ”

"I don't think he understands." Xiong Shang no longer has the relaxed mood he had before. He clearly remembered that the Zhao official family in front of him had personally planned the agricultural and water conservancy construction of Songjiang Mansion, and had made excellent arrangements for the entire agricultural system of Songjiang Mansion. Up to now, Songjiang Mansion can be described as a rich world in the Great Song Dynasty, which is the foundation laid by the Zhao official family.

Compared with the Zhao official family, that Wang Zi was at most a Goryeo nobleman who dared to envoy to the Great Song Dynasty.

"You go and ask Wang Zi how many of his subordinates he has. Can he manage his subordinates? Are they willing to learn about managing agriculture in the Great Song Dynasty? ”

"Official, we taught them this, isn't it too good for Goryeo."

"We have slandered the Wa kingdom, and the amount of gold and silver imported from the Wa kingdom has increased tenfold. Teach these skills to Goryeo, and Goryeo will probably really be able to export grain. ”

"If Goryeo's grain production increases greatly, will it no longer be subservient to the Great Song Dynasty?"

"If Goryeo is only nominally subordinate to the Great Song Dynasty, the Great Song Dynasty is at most fighting Goryeo. If the things produced by the Goryeo people were to be sold to the Great Song Dynasty, they would not dare to be disrespectful to the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"Really?" Xiong Shang doesn't have any particular confidence in such a profit-oriented thing.

Zhao Jiaren is really lazy to popularize trade knowledge for Xiong Sheng alone △ The importance of the white market is something that Zhao Jiaren learned from the operation of the Xu Paper Factory at home "There is a market, and the things produced only occupy a lot of materials and funds in vain.

From the country's point of view, there are two stages of rapid increase in the influence of New China, the first stage is from the beginning of New China's violent attack on the Korean War to the end when New China has two bombs and one satellite, and has become a powerful army that can be counted on one hand in the world.

The second stage is from China becoming the world's factory, to China becoming the world's wings.

In the third stage, China wants to become the hegemon of the world's capital market, but Zhao Jiaren does not have a chance to see that development.

Even if you just see the first two stages, it is enough to make Zhao Jiaren's view completely different from this era.

So Zhao Jiaren asked: "What do the people think about the payment of banknotes now?" ”

Xiong Shang didn't know what to say. He didn't really care much about handing over money.

"Your family used to have a lot of silk, and I think you've seen people who have a lot of food at home. In the current Great Song Dynasty, there is a large amount of silk at home, and a large amount of grain is considered a rich source? Zhao Jiaren changed his angle.

Xiong Shang's eyes lit up, and the reality of his family made Xiong Sheng suddenly realize at this time. For the Great Song Dynasty, wealth is not a physical object. Wealth is money, gold and silver. If you don't exchange food for money, you won't be able to live this life. The Xiong Shang family once owned tens of thousands of silks, and the Xiong family at that time was not rich and rivaled, but was on the verge of bankruptcy. If it weren't for the help of the Zhao official family and let the Ministry of Rites buy the silk of the Xiong Shang family, the Xiong family would probably have gone bankrupt by now.

Looking back on the past, Xiong Shang suddenly regained his original intention. At that time, he sincerely and secretly swore to be infinitely loyal to the Zhao official family, and now thinking back to his mood at that time, he also felt in good spirits. Xiong Sheng replied decisively: "Official, I'll go to Wang Zi to talk about this." But what if Wang Zi refuses to learn? ”

"If he refuses, then Goryeo doesn't have this opportunity. It's not just that anyone can really open their eyes to the world. Once their horizons are restricted, they will see mountains of gold and silver piled up in front of them, and all they see is loess and gravel. Zhao Jiaren sighed.

Xiong Shang didn't talk nonsense. Re-found his position and re-realized that his identity was just a loyal subordinate of the Zhao official family, and Xiong Sheng was no longer confused. He immediately turned to take his leave.

Two days later, Xiong Sheng told Zhao Jiaren that many of Wang Zi's men were from his mother's family, which was credible but not necessarily reliable. However, Wang Zi was determined to learn the agricultural techniques of the Great Song Dynasty, and Xiong Sheng asked him to return to China first to gather people.

"Winter is such a learning season." Zhao Jiaren couldn't help but say clumsily.

"Official, can you send someone to give a lecture at the Ministry of Rites? The minister felt that the Ministry of Rites did study hard. ”

"Hmm. You make a study plan and hand it over to the officials. ”

"Officials, ministers will be appointed in two or three years. After thinking about it, I felt that I still wanted to recommend a few people. This is not to embarrass the officials, but the ministers want to do this for the officials. ”

After Xiong Shang finished speaking, he felt his heart beat faster. He also made such a decision when his loyalty was boiling, but after he really said it, he immediately became worried. Wouldn't this be misunderstood as Xiong Shang wanting to have an inappropriate amount of influence in the Ministry of Rites?

Zhao Jiaren smiled and said: "Cultivating cadres has always been an extremely important matter, your suggestion is very good⊥ go to Wen Tianxiang and discuss this matter with him." If the Ministry of Rites does a good job, it can set a charter in the future, which can better select talents. ”

"Yes." Xiong Shang responded happily. Zhao Jiaren's reaction made him very happy, and the heart he was carrying completely fell into his stomach. Wen Tianxiang is a little too high-minded, and many people may not like it. However, everyone thinks that Wen Tianxiang is very popular, and he is not the kind of star chicken.

Although he had an extremely fierce attitude towards Dong Songchen and Jia Nidao back then, he even resigned if he disagreed with the imperial court. But when he really faced the officials, he was surprisingly very tolerant. We don't target them because of disagreements.

After Xiong Shang left, Zhao Jiaren leaned back in his chair. The only foreigners who went to the Great Song Dynasty for training were Wang Zi of Goryeo, but Hao Ren from Mongolia sent a large number of Mongolian teenagers. Or a group of traitorous teenagers. In addition, the Iyo Naval Army of the Wakuni Province who is working hard to learn the hook and sickle gun. After this winter, what will happen to those in power who are resting on their laurels?