December 8th of the fourth year of the Qing calendar.

Heavy snow fell in Bianliang, and various streets in Kaifeng Prefecture organized snow removal work.

Funded by the government, at a price of 90 wen per day in the outer city, some elderly and young people who have no jobs are hired to remove and take care of the snow.

This salary is certainly not too high.

Because before the Qing calendar year, the daily wage level of Bianliang reached more than 100 wen.

According to the record of "Tokyo Menghualu", at that time, the porter at the wharf earned 2300 wen a day, a chicken killer at the corner of the street earned 150 wen a day, and the guy in the tea shop earned 4.5 yuan a month, about 120 wen a day.

Basically, the average salary of employees is about 100 Wen, except for the Xiangjun, whose average daily salary is only 50 Wen, the salary level of ordinary people is maintained at 100 Wen.

And now the salary level of ordinary people has risen slightly, with an average of about 120 yuan, which is about 20 yuan higher than before.

This is because since the great reform in the first year of Qingli, the business environment of the Great Song Dynasty has been getting better day by day.

The commodity economy went to the next level, and because the goods were sold not only to neighboring countries but even as far away as Central Asia through the five major trade routes, they were sold to Europe by Arab merchants.

The economic environment and business environment have improved, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has registered countless new commercial banks every year, that is, countless companies, and workshops inside and outside the city are opening every day.

Not only textile factories, but also various paper mills, tea processing factories, iron processing factories, agricultural tool factories and countless other workshops, capital began to sprout gradually.

After the establishment of the workshop, it was natural to recruit people on a large scale, but in the ancient information society, what Bianliang could attract was basically the migrant workers in and around Gyeonggi Road, and it was impossible for people from far away to come to Bianliang to work.

For example, Hebei people who want to go to the city to work must give priority to the Daimyo Mansion, and Huainan and some Henan people close to Yingtianfu must give priority to Yingtianfu, and so on, resulting in a shortage of migrant workers in Bianliang.

This is a normal fluctuation in the market, and wages are rising normally, and continuing to rise is the most desirable thing for the imperial court, because this will inevitably make the workshop continue to move out.

In the later steam engine era, a large number of factories were relocated to coastal cities, which could also drive the development of coastal cities such as Guangzhou, Guangxi, and Fujian.

Therefore, the imperial court will also find ways to regulate the market and force employers to raise wages.

However, Kaifeng Prefecture employs people who have no job or lack the ability to work, and this salary is basically a normal salary level, which can be regarded as taking care of the poor to a certain extent.

The organizers are the sub-district offices under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Now that the Great Song Dynasty is going to urbanize, Kaifeng Prefecture, as an official institution, must have a certain degree of control over the grassroots.

Therefore, the imperial court officially established the street office, except for the director of the street office, who is an official from Jiupin, the rest of the clerks are officials, and the main management affairs are household registration, health, community management and other work.

For example, this year, the imperial court wants to comfort the lonely and widowed elderly, and to send rice, oil, and grain, and in the future, it will not be handled by the Kaifeng Mansion and the Imperial City Division, but by the street office.

The higher-level leaders mainly supervise the implementation of the work, determine the distribution of various grain and oil materials, and the imperial court is now building low-rent housing, and in the future, the neighborhood office will also implement the poor households and give priority to living in low-rent housing.

There will definitely be corruption in it, such as the street office not seriously implementing its work, or filling its own pockets and distributing low-rent housing and materials to the rich and even their relatives, rather than the poor in need.

Therefore, Zhao Jun ordered Kaifeng Mansion to supervise as a higher-level leading department, and asked the Imperial City Division to secretly visit and investigate at all times and pursue responsibility in real time, which can be regarded as double supervision.

Let's do it now.

Even if there is a problem in the future and then rectify it, at least after the establishment of the street office, the work pressure of Kaifeng Mansion will be reduced a lot.

Under the call of Kaifeng Mansion, the whole house was cleaned up.

Accompanied by Bao Zheng in the morning, Zhao Jun inspected the clean-up work in the inner city, the outer city, and even outside the city.

Open the far gate, that is, outside the West Water Gate. This is the entrance to the Bianhe River, and because the canal brings back a large amount of steel, cow, sheepskin, fur and other raw materials from the north, it is home to many workshops in Liao.

The imperial court is now gradually moving the government-owned workshops in the city to outside the city, such as textile factories, forging factories, ironwork factories, etc., which began to move two months ago.

It is expected that by the next year, most of the workshops in Bianliang will be moved outside the city, forming an urban-rural junction.

As a result, land prices are slowly rising, which is a good thing for the people living in the slums outside the city.

Because the current household registration work of the imperial court is to allow the people to settle in Bianliang, and to allow them to buy the land and houses where they now live outside the city.

Perhaps a few decades later, the first batch of migrant workers who came to Bianliang to work became Zhenghongqi Lao Kaifeng by owning real estate in urban villages outside the city.

However, that was decades later, at least for now, the price of land outside the city is still relatively low, and it is basically in the hands of the imperial court, and it is also restricted, and large-scale hoarding is not allowed for those who are interested.

Zhao Jun planned to wait two years to complete the military restructuring and incorporate the Xiangjun into the construction corps, then set up a state-owned construction enterprise and hand over all the real estate development outside the city to them.

When the time comes, the Great Song Dynasty will suck blood from the outside world, oh no, trade. Large-scale infrastructure construction at home, coupled with real estate to stimulate the economy, allow the development of the banking and financial industries, open Jiaozi shops across the country, and allow private lending.

With a four-pronged approach, this economy is not flying to the sky?

Even inflation doesn't need to be considered, Da Song only needs to print money without brains.

Because at that time, the copper coins of the Great Song Dynasty will become the global hard currency like the US dollar, and it is a bit outrageous to buy foreign copper mines and then make them into copper coins to buy copper mines.

Of course.

That's for later.

At least now, although the Great Song Dynasty is thriving, it still has not transcended the order of ancient feudal society.

It also needs to raise the level of productivity and science and technology, and the era of the steam engine needs to arrive in order to complete greater internal reforms.

"Zhiyuan, this snow has been falling for more than ten days, burying all the roads and freezing the river, Kaifeng Prefecture has funded and hired 13,674 people, costing about 2,000 yuan a day, and it took six days to clear the heavy snow in the city and break the ice."

On the edge of the Bianhe River outside Kaiyuan Gate, Bao Zheng, the general judge of Kaifeng Prefecture, introduced to Zhao Jun the recent construction activities in the city.

After the reform of national tax and local tax, Kaifeng Prefecture also had certain financial power as the capital government, and the expenses incurred by Bianliang's commercial activities and urban management would be paid to Kaifeng Prefecture, resulting in tax expenses.

Although this has caused a serious drop in the tax revenue of the imperial court, if the local government has money, it can do a lot of things, such as this snow clearing work, which is a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people.

"More than 10,000 people employed? That seems to be a good salary per person per day. ”

Zhao Jun said with a smile.

He looked around in the distance, the northwest Bianhe River boats came slowly, much less than in spring, summer and autumn, but this was winter, and the previous winter was completely stopped.

Now it seems that the Yellow River control work and ice-breaking actions can still be done, at least to ensure the navigation of Bianliang.

"It's a shame to say that it's only 90 wen a day."

Bao Zheng shook his head and said.

"90 wen a day? It's a little less, what is the situation with the extra 300 or so? ”

Zhao Jun wondered, did he start to get up and down so soon?

That's too fast, isn't it?

"It's for tools."

Bao Zheng said: "I'm afraid these tools will have to be saved when they run out. ”

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "Then put it in the street, your Kaifeng Mansion will set up a sanitation department, and hire sanitation workers to clean up for a long time, so that the city is clean and tidy." ”

"Hmm."

Bao Zheng nodded: "I will report this matter to Governor Liu." ”

"In addition to sanitation work, there are also street planning, infrastructure, urban roads, green environment, business environment, shop rectification, etc., all of which are the responsibilities of Kaifeng Prefecture, and your burden is not small."

"The lower officials will not live up to the expectations of the court."

"That's good, old bag, do a good job, I left you with the position of Kaifeng Mansion Yin, I'm very optimistic about you."

Zhao Jun patted Bao Zheng's shoulder and said with a smile.

At present, the position of Kaifeng Mansion Yin is still relatively mobile, mainly used to place some officials who are about to be promoted to various ministries and servants.

The specific affairs of the house are handled by Bao Zheng, which can be regarded as an unspoken rule to a certain extent.

Everyone knows that this is actually the prefect's accumulation of political qualifications for Bao Zheng, and his work ability is obvious to all, so the successive prefects of Kaifeng Prefecture have given him the work to do.

On the contrary, the chief officer will participate in the day-to-day affairs of various departments so that he can join the ministry in the future.

However, Rao is like this, Lao Bao is already on a rocket, from Jing You's four years from eight grades to now from five grades, and the promotion speed is basically one level per year.

Zhao Jun planned to wait for two years for the old bag to accumulate about the same, and then he raised the political status of Kaifeng Mansion from the fourth grade to the second grade, which is equivalent to the deputy ministerial level.

and concurrently served as the alternate Tongzhi of the Zhengerpin Political Academy, so that the political status of Kaifeng Mansion was raised to a high-ranking official, and the importance of Kaifeng Mansion Yin was also increased, so that he could participate in the management of state affairs.

After all, Kaifeng Mansion is equivalent to Beijing in later generations, if the level is only the fourth grade, then it is still difficult to convince the public in Kaifeng, which is full of magnates, and it will be more difficult to manage.

"Zhiyuan."

Just when Zhao Jun was inspecting the recent development of Kaifeng Mansion, a pair of palace guards not far away hurriedly came and reported to him: "Your Majesty, please go back to the palace." ”

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun turned his head, came to the guard's side and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"It was said that the thief of the West had written to ask for surrender."

"Haha, Li Yuanhao can't hold on."

Zhao Jun smiled and said to Bao Zheng: "Okay, Lao Bao, you do a good job in urban management first, and I'll go back first." ”

"Yes."

Bao Zheng had long been accustomed to saying some words from Zhao Jun's mouth that he could understand and not understand, and bowed.

At that moment, Zhao Jun sat back in his carriage, and the honor guard returned to the palace in a mighty way.

He has had his own guard of honor since he became the prefect, with proper prime minister's specifications, and the horse team opened the way, holding signs "quiet" and "avoidance".

Coupled with the protection of the Imperial City Division, there were hundreds of people around him at all times, and the people of Bianliang knew his team.

There were even people who stopped the sedan chair and shouted grievances, but they were all solved by Zhao Jun one by one, so that the people praised them.

Soon Zhao Jun returned to the palace and went all the way to the Chongzheng Palace.

The crowd has arrived.

He saluted Zhao Zhen first, and then sat back in his place.

"Hanlong, look at it, this is Yuan Hao's table."

Zhao Zhen knocked on the official document on the table, no one was allowed to come in at the Chongzheng Palace meeting, and even Wang Shouzhong could only guard outside the door, so Zhao Jun could only walk over and get it by himself.

He picked up the official document and glanced at it, and said with a smile: "As expected, I didn't expect Li Yuanhao to be defeated in this battle, and he definitely couldn't hold back." ”

Judging from the current form, Yuan Hao has let go. But it's not easy to get him to pay, what if he refuses? ”

Zhao Zhen asked.

"It's easy to say no."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Although the current national army restructuring has not been completely completed, most of the black sheep have been eliminated, and the elite have also been selected to fill them, and the basic combat effectiveness can still be maintained, so let's fight, just destroy Liaoxixia." ”

It's not that it can't destroy Western Xia, but it's more troublesome to destroy it at present.

It's like you can wait a few years for the combat power to become 120 before destroying an enemy with 20 combat power and 50 combat power.

When the combat strength is 80, it is necessary to deal with the Liao State and the Western Xia, two opponents with a combined combat strength of 70, at the same time.

Even if the strength of the Great Song Dynasty is stronger than theirs, the combat effectiveness of the army is still almost poor before the restructuring.

It is necessary to wait for the complete restructuring to be completed, to eliminate the old and weak, to put military training on the agenda, and to popularize steel refrigerated weapons and armor, so that cold weapons can be coordinated with the hot weapons of the firearms battalion, so that the maximum combat power can be brought into play.

When the time comes, it will be much easier to fight the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia.

But Li Yuanhao took the lead in provoking, if he didn't fight back, where would Da Song's face be?

So he had to be taught a lesson.

Either they will pay compensation for the land and pay the annual tribute.

Either the Northwest Army of the Great Song Dynasty was dispatched and beat him to cede land and pay compensation.

There may even be a risk of losing the country.

It's up to him to choose.

"Okay, just follow the original plan and let him pay the compensation."

Zhao Zhen was also stubborn, this matter had been discussed a long time ago, and he could respond to the other party.

Since the war began in September, the Song Dynasty has not eaten dry rice in the past three months.

Although there was no large-scale deployment of troops, the war machine was running, and the Hebei Iron and Steel Plant was producing tons of weapons every day.

Steel weapons began to be distributed, even if they had not yet been popularized in the whole army, but tens of thousands of people were used first, and the firearms battalion was enough to deal with the Liao army.

When the time comes, I will go all out to export Western Xia, and don't beat Li Yuanhao's head crooked?

So the Manchu hardliners also had the upper hand.

This has to do with Zhao Jun's attitude.

Soon everyone discussed the details, and immediately sent people to give instructions to Yang Kai.

By mid-December, Yang Kai knew the meaning of the imperial court, so he immediately recruited Li Yuanhao's envoy and expressed to him openly and secretly that the imperial court needed sincerity.

He did not directly say that the Great Song Dynasty wanted Li Yuanhao to pay compensation, because this was too purposeful, and it would be difficult to negotiate with each other and bargain at that time.

The highest level of negotiation is that the other party takes the initiative to propose, so that his side can open his mouth and negotiate the conditions step by step.

A few days later, Li Yuanhao received a reply from the envoy.

In the city of Zhuo Luo.

Li Yuanhao's life has not been easy these days.

The party nobles benefited from the trade between Song and Xia, but they didn't want to offend the Great Song Dynasty, so they joined forces to put pressure on him.

The civilian clique was silent about the defeat, so the armistice faction gained the upper hand.

Although Li Yuanhao himself is a main battle faction, he can't stand the strength below, and he and the famous tribe behind him still can't suppress it.

So he had to encircle a group of obedient nobles and stabilize their mood.

This day happened to be the time when he was in a meeting with several major domestic tribal leaders such as Fei Ting, Fang Dang, Xi Feng, and Po Chao.

"King, it's really not a way to go on like this, the Song people are strong, and it's not a good thing to be enemies with them."

"Yes, it's best to make a decision early, and it's not good for the country to delay it any longer."

"This year's winter grain is all bought from the Song Kingdom, although the Song Kingdom has not canceled the mutual market, but once they cancel the mutual market, what will we do."

"If you want me to say, the king shouldn't listen to that Zhang Yuan, this person must be the internal response sent by the Great Song Dynasty to harm my Great Xia."

"Yes, since this person came, I have been defeated many times in Great Xia. Before we didn't go to war with the Song Kingdom, we only needed to supply a few hundred cattle and horses every year, and we could get countless rewards, what about after he came? ”

"King, kill this person and send it to the Song Kingdom, presumably you can get the favor of the Song Kingdom, and we don't need to go to war anymore at that time."

"Exactly."

Several people persuaded them with party words, and some people shouted to kill Zhang Yuan.

Li Yuanhao had to be reassured: "I have already sent someone to discuss with Emperor Song, and I believe that there will be a result soon." ”

He doesn't want Zhang Yuan to die for the time being, after all, he himself is a main battle faction, if Zhang Yuan dies, then the main battle faction in China will be gone, who will encourage him to be enemies of the Great Song Dynasty in the future?

"Well, I hope so."

Someone sighed.

In history, the Song-Xia War, the Great Song Dynasty canceled the mutual market, the domestic economy of Western Xia collapsed, and the people were struggling to make a living.

Now it is not like this, but they have tasted the sweetness of the mutual market for too long, selling cattle and sheep to the Great Song Dynasty, and then reselling the goods of the people of the Western Regions to the Great Song Dynasty, and buying tea from the Great Song Dynasty and selling it to the merchants of the Western Regions in exchange for huge profits.

While the middlemen made the difference, they themselves could also make a lot of money through buying and selling, and they could also buy grain, tea, and iron tools from the Great Song Dynasty to maintain the development of the tribe, killing three birds with one stone.

Therefore, although the domestic situation in Western Xia is not bad now, no one wants things to develop to the worst, anyway, the party people are not like the Khitans who have always been kings and hegemons, and it is their best choice to continue to maneuver between the Khitan and the Han people.

"Report!"

Just at this time, soldiers from outside came to report: "The messenger has returned." ”

"Let him in."

Li Yuanhao hurriedly said.

"Yes."

The soldier went out.

A moment later, the messenger who had been waiting for news in the West Market came in, bent down to Li Yuanhao with a party salute and said, "King." ”

"How?"

"The minister is fortunate not to be dishonored, and he has already received the reply of Emperor Song."

"Great, what did he say?"

Li Yuanhao was in good spirits.

The envoy said: "Emperor Song means that they don't want to use swords and soldiers, and the Great Song Dynasty has always advocated peaceful governance and turned hostility into war with neighboring countries. However, Great Xia attacked Qingtang in vain and provoked a war with the Great Song Dynasty, which was unforgivable. ”

Li Yuanhao was shocked: "Didn't you tell them that we were just fighting with the Great Song Dynasty and didn't want to be the enemy of the Great Song Dynasty?" ”

"I said it, I don't know how many times the minister said it."

The envoy smiled bitterly: "But the Great Song Dynasty has always accused me of attacking and defending the Great Song allies by attacking Qingtang on the grounds that it signed a mutual offensive and defensive alliance agreement with Qingtang, and that it was intended to take the initiative to provoke a war. ”

"That's good."

Fang Dangqiu Hu patted his legs and said bitterly: "The Great Song Dynasty soldiers are strong and strong, how can they be enemies." ”

The crowd was also sad.

No one thought that attacking Qingtang would provoke the now powerful Great Song Dynasty.

If it was okay before, the Great Song Dynasty had grenades and artillery, they gritted their teeth, and with the support of the Liao State, it was not impossible to build hundreds or thousands more.

But now that the Great Song Dynasty has muskets again, and there are more than 10,000 such troops in the northwest, plus the cannons and grenades that the Great Song Dynasty already has, where can they resist it.

"But things have taken a turn for the better."

The messenger hurriedly said.

"Say it quickly."

Li Yuanhao suppressed his anger.

The envoy said: "What Yang Sishuai means is that the Song Kingdom can stop fighting, but I, Great Xia, must show sincerity to compensate for the losses of the Great Song Dynasty this time." ”

Indemnify?

Everyone suddenly showed a blank mood.

Under normal circumstances, the big guys should be able to think of things like war reparations.

But that's something the Song people can think of.

For nomads such as their party and Khitan, this is not exciting.

If you are defeated, you will run away and run to the north of the country.

Could it be that the Song people can still catch up with Saibei?

When the Song people are gone, they will come back.

So the first thing that comes to their mind is that they don't apologize enough.

Someone immediately said: "Why don't the king pay tribute to hundreds of cattle and horses every year as before, and claim to the Great Song Dynasty in exchange for the reward of the Great Song Dynasty." ”

"That's good, too."

"Yes, only in this way can the king calm the anger of the Great Song."

"I don't think so."

Fei Tinggu said: "The Great Song Dynasty hates treachery the most, after the war started, the Great Song Dynasty offered Zhang Yuan's head in the border city, I am afraid that only by taking Zhang Yuan can he exchange the Great Song Dynasty for the sword soldiers." ”

Li Yuanhao's eyes suddenly darkened.

He could actually understand what Da Song meant.

After all, his vision is different from that of the people under him.

As an ambitious monarch trying to transform from a nomadic tribal system to a feudal system, Li Yuanhao naturally has a vision beyond ordinary people.

So he understood that the Great Song Dynasty actually didn't want Zhang Yuan's head, but wanted the Western Xia to cede land and pay compensation.

The specific amount of money must not be negotiated after one or two emissaries negotiate, and it will inevitably go through a long period of pulling, just like when Song Liao signed the agreement.

But Li Yuanhao doesn't really want to pay compensation.

First, the indemnity will definitely hurt his prestige in China.

Second, it also depleted the national strength of Western Xia.

Originally, Western Xia was weak, even if it had made a lot of money by using the Silk Road over the years, it was still very different from the national strength of the Great Song Dynasty.

Therefore, if you can not lose money, you must not want to lose.

The problem is that Da Song's side will definitely bite the bullet and not let go, just to make him pay compensation.

What to do?

Pretending to be stupid can't fool you.

When the time comes, it will be uncomfortable if he can't fight again.

Then the best option is to push a scapegoat out.

Da Song hated Zhang Yuan a lot.

The noble leaders of the various tribes in the country were also annoyed by him.

If Zhang Yuanzai is killed, it will not only appease the country, but also calm the anger of the Great Song Dynasty and give the Great Song an explanation, which would be great.

And doesn't Da Song want to be sincere?

Then push out the Western Xia military division as sincerity, this is not enough?

At that time, even if Da Song made it clear that he wanted compensation, Zhang Yuan would have handed it over to them, would he be embarrassed to ask for more compensation?

Perhaps now is the time when Zhang Yuan is needed.

Although there is no Zhang Yuan in the future, many strategies are difficult to formulate, and the core of the main battle faction is missing.

But sometimes, he can't help it.

Li Yuanhao sighed.

There was a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes.

Zhang Yuan.

No wonder me.

can only blame the Great Xia for not being able to defeat the Song Kingdom these years.

(End of chapter)