Zhu Lou and Zhu Ji Qian Shop, both belong to the overseas assets of the Beidao Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce has many assets in the Great Song Dynasty, such as the wharves and warehouses in Yangzhou, several large textile workshops, the Chamber of Commerce in Quanzhou, and the land and houses in various places.

It can be said that at present, in addition to the newspaper in the capital, most of the property of the Zhu family and the Fan family has been merged into the North Island Chamber of Commerce.

However, although it was merged into the North Island Chamber of Commerce, the business on the surface has not changed, and Zhu Lou is still the big shopkeeper and the bartender.

At dusk, in the special private room of the Zhu Building on East Street, Fanning and Fu Bi were sitting opposite each other drinking, talking about the next situation.

Fu Bi smiled self-deprecatingly: "Actually, that defeat is not very serious, the key is that confidence has been greatly hit, perhaps because you have been leading the Song army to victory for a long time, once you leave your job, you will suffer a big defeat, and the confidence of the entire government and the opposition will collapse." ”

Fanning took a sip of wine and said lightly: "The battle of Song and Liao is actually a battle of national fortunes between the two countries after a hundred years, and now it is still a continuation of the Hundred Years Battle, since it is a Hundred Years War, then we should look at the problem from a strategic point of view, whether it is my long victory or the defeat of the Song army this time, it is a matter of tactics, if you don't see the direction of strategic development clearly, then I don't know how to fight the next battle?" ”

"Oh? Tell me about the direction of the strategy. ”

"It's nothing more than the right time, the right place, the right time, it is the Great Song Dynasty that uses overseas expansion to alleviate many deep-seated contradictions, such as the problem of land annexation, the survival of the people at the bottom, the excessive accumulation of wealth of the powerful, and the problem of bloated and huge army and low combat effectiveness, and also solves the financial dilemma of the imperial court.

However, the Liao State is just the opposite, the extravagance and profligacy of the upper echelons of the Liao State, and the excessive worship of the Buddha by the Son of Heaven, Yelu Hongji, led to the emptiness of the treasury, and the Chongyuan Rebellion more than ten years ago was a watershed for the Liao State from prosperity to decline.

Without the New Year's coins of the Great Song Dynasty, the hostility of the Liao State to the Han people, and the plundering nature of the grassland peoples, directly destroyed the tax base of the Liao State, so that the financial resources dried up.

The two southern invasion fiascos caused the Liao State to be unable to plunder from the Great Song Dynasty, so it could only plunder from the inside, exterminate the Jurchens, brutally suppress the Kereh Department, so that the Liao people were disheartened, and the mutual tilting within the royal family seriously damaged the mutual trust within the Khitan people. ”

"What about the location?" Fu Bi asked with interest.

Fan Ning knew that Fu Bi was entrusted by the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji to come to ask him about politics, so Fan Ning also tried to answer in detail.

He smiled and continued: "The geographical advantage is the war capability possessed by the Song and Liao countries, the Great Song Dynasty has the strength of the naval army, the powerful weapon of iron and fire thunder, and the steel ballista, not to mention that the iron and steel output of the Great Song Dynasty is dozens of times that of the Liao State, the population is a hundred times that of the Liao State, the food is rich, the reserves of various war materials are sufficient, and there are tens of thousands of skilled craftsmen, and a million troops can be mobilized at any time.

And what else is there in Liao, after the battle of Datongfu, there are only 200,000 troops left in Liao, all kinds of strategic materials are scarce, and pig iron forging tends to stop, it's not that I underestimate Liao, even if Liaoguo gets the iron fire thunder, they can't imitate it, not to mention that the Great Song Dynasty still has a steam engine, as long as you don't be greedy, don't rush forward, and avoid Liao's cavalry advantage, at most two years, I can be sure that I will destroy Liao. ”

After a pause, Fan Ning said: "As for the people, I won't say more, Liao is worried about foreign troubles, they forcibly conquer the tribes by force, once the Liao State declines, they will definitely be counterattacked by the tribes, from the battle of Datong, the three grassland tribes are unwilling to give their lives to the Liao State, I can see this trend." ”

Fu Bi nodded, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu can see it thoroughly, and it is the luck of the Great Song Dynasty to have His Royal Highness here." ”

He poured Fan Ning full of wine, and said with a smile: "I heard that His Royal Highness asked the official family for 100,000 immigrants, is this to imitate Wang Jian to go on an expedition?" ”

"Fu Xianggong can think like this, but it's not quite, but it's the king's affairs in the world, and I have won the name before and after my death, I still have to return to Beidao sooner or later, which is the best result for me and the official family, otherwise our military power is too heavy, and sooner or later we will repeat Di Qing's fate."

"Di Qing is because the military generals entered the phase, breaking the rules of the Great Song Dynasty civil officials."

"That's nonsense, being promoted to prime minister, secretly seizing military power, who is suppressing Di Qing? Fugong, you and I know it. ”

Fu Bi smiled: "We won't talk about these sensitive topics, come!" I toast you. ”

The two drank a few glasses of wine, and Fanning stopped his glass and asked, "There is one more thing I want to ask Fu Xianggong, that is, what is the imperial court saying about overseas fiefdoms?" ”

This is also something that Fanning attaches great importance to, that is, the status of Beidao, which is not something that Zhao Ji can decide alone, but is related to the interests of the civil official group and the elite group of the imperial court, in short, the attitude of the entire ruling class of the Great Song Dynasty.

As the right minister, Fu Bi should be able to weigh the attitude of the Son of Heaven and the civil official group, as for the elite group, Fan Ning is not worried at all, the overseas fiefdom was originally dominated by the elite group.

Fu Bi understood what Fan Ning meant, he muttered and said: "This matter was communicated with the Son of Heaven two months ago, our attitude is to be canonized by rank on the basis of the title, it is impossible for everyone to be an overseas king, and basically recognize the title of the country, but this country is an overseas country, and it has the same status as the Western Regions country, and it is subdivided into five classes, one is the kingdom, the second is the principality, the third is the county state, the fourth is the county state, and the fifth is the township country, for example, your North Island is the Chu Kingdom, and the South Island of the Cao Gao family is the principality. ”

"What's the difference between these five countries?"

"Of course, there are differences, population, taxes, the number of militias, building specifications, and the number of cities, there will be clear regulations, such as your kingdom, the attitude of the Son of Heaven is that the population must not exceed three million, the kingdom can be exempt from taxes, but it must pay tribute, the number of militias must not exceed 30,000, the building specifications are equivalent to the prince's palace, the number of county towns must not exceed 100 cities, there must be a proton in Beijing, of course, not as a hostage, but you must have a son as an official in the imperial court, the eldest son must inherit the throne must be canonized by the Son of Heaven, and the appointment of the minister of state must be filed with the imperial court, etc., Your Highness, you just need to remember one thing, the Kingdom of Chu is a subject country of the Great Song Dynasty, and you must not encroach on this status. ”

"What about the Duchy?" Fanning asked again.

"The population of the principality shall not exceed one million, the poll tax must be paid to the imperial court, and at the same time the tribute must be paid, the maximum number of militia shall not exceed 10,000, the building specifications shall be the same as that of the national prince, the number of county towns shall not exceed fifty cities, and there must be protons in Beijing, and although the counties, counties and townships do not need protons in Beijing, but the imperial court wants garrisons in these three kingdoms, their numbers and the number of county towns are much smaller, such as the population of the township shall not exceed 50,000, and the number of county towns shall not exceed three, etc."

"So how do you level up? For example, if a principality is promoted to a kingdom, and a county is promoted to a county state, are there any conditions? ”

Fu Bi shook his head, "Once the initial identification is made, it will be difficult to upgrade in the future, and you will have to make a great contribution to the imperial court to have a chance, there are no clear regulations yet, but you can make an analogy, for example, if the county pays a tribute of three million taels of silver to the imperial court at a time, it may have a chance to be promoted to the county state."

In addition, there are many merchants who have also bought small islands and land overseas, so they don't expect to be feudal, but call them dominions, called lords, and there is no difference between buying a manor in the Great Song Dynasty, the only advantage may be that the emperor is far away, and the court has no energy to care about him. ”

"When will the rules for overseas fiefdoms be promulgated?"

"After the formulation is completed, it will be discussed by the court meeting, and then voted by the prefect, and finally approved by the Son of Heaven, before it will be officially promulgated, and I estimate that it will be in June and July in the middle of the year at the earliest."

Fanning got up and saluted: "I will leave for Laizhou early tomorrow morning, and I will ask the rich man to help supervise the immigration to the North Island." ”

Fu Bi smiled, "Don't worry! The household department has a preliminary plan, this year will move 10,000 households from Bashu to the North Island, and there will be 3,000 households in the South Island, as long as you are ready to receive them. ”