Fanning's plan required a lot of preparation, especially the grain and grass had to go north in advance, as well as the militia recruitment process, these details Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo rushed back to the Zhizheng Hall to discuss, and Fanning was retained by Zhao Ji, the son of heaven.

"Your Majesty and the Queen Mother are getting along well!"

With no one around, Fanning spoke much more bluntly.

Zhao Ji sighed softly, "I have to say it's okay, it's just ..... It is just that on some major issues and the appointment and dismissal of ministers, our ideas are somewhat contradictory. ”

"Is it mainly about changing the law?"

Zhao Ji nodded, "In addition to the Militia Law and the Farmland and Water Conservancy Law, the Imperial Grandmother approved the accident, and she vetoed all other changes, in addition, Wang Xianggong recommended a few ministers, but she still intervened to veto, and I wanted to set up an engineering school in Taixue, but she also disagreed, and asked to change engineering to painting." ”

Fan Ning also understood in her heart that although the Empress Dowager Cao had made concessions on the surface, giving up the political power of military power, and she was only in charge of personnel power above the third grade, these concessions could not violate her principles, and the Empress Dowager Cao could be said to be a tough conservative, and she would generally not agree to the reform of the law and the like.

How many words did it take to persuade her to agree to change labor into a militia law last year, Wang Anshi's Baojia Law and Qingmiao Law have been completely vetoed, and other new laws are also very difficult to pass the Empress Dowager Cao's level, but she actually opposes the establishment of engineering in Taixue, and she wants to talk to her about this matter.

After pondering for a moment, Fan Ning smiled slightly: "Maybe the Queen Mother thinks that the time is not yet ripe to change the law, Your Majesty will temporarily focus on Western Xia and Liao, and when we completely solve this problem, it is not too late for us to go back and talk about changing the law." ”

Zhao Ji was silent, and after a while, he sighed, "That's all it takes!" ”

He then asked, "Is Fan Xianggong really in favor of peace talks with Liao?" ”

Fanning nodded, "I need time to deploy, in addition, the national rebellion of the Liao State is also beyond my expectations, if I am given time to deploy, and provoke large-scale civil strife in the Liao State, in three years, we may attack the Liao State again The effect will be more ideal." ”

"Can you elaborate on that?" Zhao Ji asked expectantly.

"Wechen originally planned to write a detailed report to Your Majesty in the next two days, and since Your Majesty wants to know now, Wechen will briefly talk about it."

Fan Ning smiled and continued: "Weichen plans to take four moves, the first is to build a military city, there are three in total, the first is to build a large military city on Senmi Island and Pingdao Island in the north of Goryeo, with 20,000 permanent people, with Tanzhou as a logistics supply base, grain, pigs and sheep, vegetables, etc., to ensure the daily needs of the garrison, and now the military city has been built, and it is estimated that it will be completed by the end of the year."

The second place is in Whale Prefecture, where His Majesty has agreed to build a military city and port, and now the military city and port are implemented by Kunzhou, which can be completed as soon as the middle of next year.

The third place is on Juehua Island and the West Liaoning Corridor, there is no problem in building a city on Juehua Island, but building a city on the West Liaoning Corridor will definitely be strongly opposed by the Liao State, in fact, this one is just a smoke, and the other two are the focus. ”

Zhao Ji wanted to say that the Liao negotiations would definitely involve Juehua Island, but he still didn't interrupt Fan Ning, and his lips moved and he held back.

Fan Ning continued: "The second step is to buy the important ministers of the Liao State, at present, Sima Liu Kui, the chief of staff, has pretended to be an imperial merchant and has set up a relationship with Yelu Yixin, the powerful minister of the Liao State, and reached a deal with him of 500,000 guan, which involves stallions and pig iron that are strictly prohibited from being exported by the Liao State, and the next step is to buy Zhang Xiaojie, Weichen wants to take advantage of Yelu Yixin and Zhang Xiaojie's greed for money, pull them over step by step, and then use the two of them to create a crisis within the Liao State, Your Majesty, this is the root of the Liao State's demise, and a military blow cannot shake the national capital of the Liao State, Only internal disintegration is the way to destroy the country. ”

"Well said!"

Zhao Ji blurted out: "What about the third step of Xianggong?" ”

"The third step is to provoke civil strife in the Liao State, in recent years, the Liao State has been financially tight, the oppression of various ethnic groups is very cruel, the taxes of the Han people have increased several times, the Jurchens and the grassland tribes have also increased their exploitation, the Han people are unlikely to rebel, but the Jurchen Ministry, the Wugu Department and the Enemy Martyrs Department have rebelled in the Liao State, we need to secretly support them and use them to consume the national strength of the Liao State."

"What about the fourth move?" Zhao Ji was already impatient to listen to it.

"The fourth move is to use trade to hollow out the people's livelihood and strategic resources of Liao, we and Liaoguo should sell more silk, porcelain, spices and other luxury goods, buy their cattle, sheep, medicinal materials and other materials, strictly prohibit grain, cloth, iron and other people's livelihood strategic materials from entering Liao, and strictly prohibit merchants from trading with Liao.

Secondly, you can use the trade between Japan and Liao to carry out strategic deception, buy pig iron, population, and armor of Liao, and at the same time import a large amount of copper coins to Liao, resulting in Liao's money being expensive, prices skyrocketing, and people's grievances boiling, copper coins and materials are operated by Kunzhou, and the Japanese court is just cooperating with us to make a show, and as compensation, we can secretly support the Fujiwara family to deal with the Genji family. ”

Zhao Ji walked a few steps with his hand and said: "There is a loophole here, will the Liao State trade with Goryeo to make up for its lack of food and other materials, and then Goryeo will trade with us and buy the materials back?" ”

"There is indeed this possibility, which requires us to negotiate with Goryeo, strictly prohibit trade between Goryeo and Liao, if they don't comply, then they are the enemies of the Great Song Dynasty."

Zhao Ji nodded, "Regarding the matter of Goryeo, I will discuss it with the Zhizheng Hall again, I am very much in favor of these four plans, and I will work hard for Xianggong Fan to come up with a written report as soon as possible." ”

"Weichen has written it in the past two days, Your Majesty must remember to keep it secret, if the matter is not secret, it will fall short in the end."

"Don't worry! I will deal with this matter as a military secret. ”

...........

Fan Ning stayed in the imperial study for nearly two hours, and it was almost noon when he came out, he got into the carriage and went to Zhu's mansion, he did have a lot of entertainment now, there were three old men who needed to visit alone, and he had to visit several ministers to maintain personal friendship.

But what Fan Ning wants to see most is Zhu Yuanfeng, and he needs to know about the situation on the overseas Ganjiang Island.

The carriage slowly stopped in front of Zhu Yuanfeng's mansion, Zhu Yuanfeng and his daughter Zhu Jie were already waiting at the gate, now Fan Ning's identity is different, although he is a junior, he is the deputy minister of political affairs after all, and he cannot be neglected.

Fan Ning got out of the carriage and saw Zhu Yuanfeng at a glance, he had almost no change, he was in good spirits, with a smile on his face, and next to him was Zhu Jie, more and more like a capable strong woman.

"Third grandfather, auntie, I haven't seen you for a long time."

"Huh! A-Ning is now a distinguished guest, please come into the house. ”

Zhu Yuanfeng couldn't close his mouth with a smile, and hurriedly let Fan Ning into the inner house, the father and daughter invited Fan Ning to sit down, and let the maid serve tea, Fan Ning picked up the tea cup and said to Zhu Jie with a smile: "I heard that the sales of "Hong Kong Economic Daily" have surpassed "Express", it's not easy!" ”

Zhu Jie smiled slightly, "Thanks to your timely news and being able to synchronize with the war report, our Hebei war situation will come out one day earlier than the "Express", plus we share the news with the Cao family's "Herald", which is good for both newspapers, and we have also made a steam printing press, and many people have come to buy our newspaper for this." ”

Fan Ning suddenly became interested, "Auntie said this, I really want to go and see it!" ”

"I'll go later! I'm going to the newsshop soon. ”

"Good! I'll go with my aunt later. ”

Fan Ning asked Zhu Yuanfeng with a smile again, "It seems that the steam engine is doing well!" ”

Zhu Yuanfeng smiled bitterly, Zhu Jie covered his mouth and laughed, Fan Ning was stunned, "What's wrong?" ”

Zhu Yuanfeng sighed, "The steam engine manufacturing has been taken away by the craftsman supervisor, and they are responsible for the manufacturing, I think the output of our workshop is too low, there is no way, who let others be the government!" ”

"Daddy, why don't you admit it, the government is indeed much better than us, the quality is not worse than ours, and the people have also compensated and exempted the commercial bank from taxes for two years, which is more than 100,000 yuan! Besides, he also conferred the title of Duke of your county, so you don't have to complain anymore. ”

"I'll just tell A-Ning, can't you?"

Fanning was surprised: "Third grandfather doesn't make steam engines anymore? ”

"It's still done, but the production is too low, and we can only build two units a month, just enough for our own shipbuilding workshop."

"What about the Craftsman?"

Fanning asked again: "How many units can they build in one piece?" ”

"They can build about 30 units a month, now the mine uses steam engines to pump water, and also grinds noodles and large workshops also use steam engines, but mainly used on boats, you go to the Bianhe River to see, the slender man can't see it, it is a steam ship, behind the pull of hundreds of flat-bottomed tugboats, I heard that the imperial court is ready to transform all the fortune boats into steam fortune boats, my coking field has expanded to 1,000 people, but coke is still in short supply, and the imperial court is also preparing to open two more coke farms in Zhaozhou and Taiyuan Mansion."

Fanning said with a smile: "I suggested that the steam furnace should use coke at the beginning, because it is not easy to replenish the seagoing vessels, and the calorific value of coke is large, and the seagoing ships can run farther, but ordinary coal can be used for inland waterway shipping, and it can be replenished at any time, and coke is too expensive to cost-effective." ”

"You don't care about this, the shipowners will settle accounts, they can use whatever they like, they all use coal, how can my coke make money?"

Fanning smiled, and no longer dwelling on the topic, he asked, "How's the situation on the North Island?" ”

"Akihito and Mingli are in the capital, you go back and ask them."

Fan Ning was stunned, "What are the two of them doing in the capital?" ”

"You don't know?"

Zhu Yuanfeng was surprised: "The imperial court allocated 10,000 households to the North Island and the South Island, Mingren and Mingli came to pick up people, the Cao family and the Gao family also came, there were 6,000 households in the North Island, 4,000 households in the South Island, and the agreement with the imperial court has been signed, don't you know?" ”

Fanning was stunned, he really didn't know about this.