The Conspiracy of the Seven Golden Kingdoms (1)

Chen Lianghan, the secretary of the household department, first introduced to the officials all the expenses calculated by the officials of the household department if they were to follow the proposal of the Jin State.

The geography of Jin is also divided according to the "road", but under the "road", the Jin country only has "government" and "state", and does not set up "army" level administrative regions, Jin Guo will set the Central Plains as Nanjing Road, Hebei as Hebei East Road, Hebei West Road, Damingfu Road, Henan South Road, Shandong as Shandong East Road, Shanxi Road, Guanzhong as Jingzhaofu Road, Fengxiang Road, and Yanyan Road. There are eight roads, seventeen prefectures, and eighty-five prefectures, totaling one hundred and two. According to the standard set by the Jin State, it would take 13.6 million taels of silver to redeem the 17 prefectures and 51 million taels of silver to redeem the 85 states, for a total of 64.6 million taels of silver. And this does not include the sixteen states of Yanyun in the past.

The price of silver and copper money is generally one or two silver converted into consistent money, but this conversion price is not fixed, usually the price of silver is higher than this copper coin, sometimes one or two silver is converted to a consistent two hundred dollars, and the highest time can generally reach a consistent five hundred dollars. Therefore, if it is actually converted into copper coins, it will take about 80 million yuan.

At present, the annual financial revenue of the Great Song Dynasty is about 50 million guan, excluding various expenses, the remaining amount of copper coins per year is between 500 and 8 million guan, that is to say, if according to the plan of the Jin State, with the current financial revenue capacity of the Great Song Dynasty, it will take at least ten years to redeem all the lost land. And in the meantime, nothing else can happen, otherwise it will take a long time.

With the data as a basis, the gains and losses are clear at a glance. The officials of the Great Song Dynasty immediately divided into two factions and began to express their opinions and argue.

The first to speak was Zhang Yan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, who said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the proposal of the Jin State is absolutely impossible, the Central Plains, Shandong, Hebei, and Guanzhong were originally the homeland of my Great Song Dynasty. ”

Fan Chengda, the secretary of the ministry, shook his head and said: "Lord Zhang's words are wrong, it is true that the Jin people forcibly occupied the land of my Great Song Dynasty, but the land was occupied by him, can he still ask him to return it to us?" It is the responsibility of my Great Song Dynasty to recover the lost land, but no matter what method is used, whether it is clever or forcible to take it, as long as it can recover the lost land, what method can not be used? Therefore, Your Majesty, according to the minister's opinion, it is completely feasible for Jin Guo's proposal. ”

Ye Heng, the secretary of the Ministry of War, said: "Master Fan, 80 million guan is not a small amount, and I paid it there for a while." If the surplus money is used to redeem the land every year, how should the imperial court deal with natural and man-made disasters? If the Jin State takes advantage of the exhaustion of our Great Song Dynasty's financial resources, renegades on its promises, and sends troops to attack, what should we do? ”

Fan Chengdao: "Lord Ye, didn't you listen to what Jin Guo said, the silver money is not paid all at once, and the lost land is not for us to redeem together." Although 8,000 guan money is not a small amount, Wei Chen thinks that with the financial income and expenditure of my Great Song Dynasty, if he takes out three or four hundred guan money every year and gradually redeems the lost land, then in about 20 years, he can redeem all the lost land. And every year the imperial court still has some festivals, and even if something happens to my Great Song Dynasty during this period, there is enough money to deal with. ”

As soon as Fan Cheng finished speaking, Wang Yingchen, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, came out and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that what Lord Fan said is very true, although 8,000 guan is a lot, but it is divided into 20 years, and it only needs 4 million guan per year, with the financial resources of my Great Song Dynasty, it can be done." On the contrary, if there is a war with the Jin State, the number of victories and defeats will not be mentioned for the time being, but only military spending, and how much will it be tens of millions a year. And my good boy of the Great Song Dynasty, I don't know how many people will die on the battlefield and be loyal to the country, and how many people will be displaced and uprooted because of the battlefield, which is not the wish of the benevolent lord. And according to the proposal of the Jin State, if you don't use your troops, don't hurt the people, and only waste a little money every year, you can return the lost land, so why not do it? Although it will take 20 years to waste, His Majesty is in the heyday of light spring, and after 20 years, he is not old. Which is more important, please think twice. ”

In fact, Zhao Chen has thought about these reasons they listed, and this suggestion of the Jin State did make Zhao Chen also a lot of temptation, although the cost of redeeming each state capital is large, but it is actually less than the cost of fighting with soldiers, and there is no need to send troops to fight, and the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty do not need to be killed or wounded, and the lives of the people can be stable. Although it will take twenty years, Zhao Chen will only turn twenty-five years old this year, and he will only be forty-five years old in twenty years, it is the prime of life, no matter what method is used, as long as he recovers the lost land, the achievements he has established are enough to compete with Emperor Taizu.

It's just that Zhao Chen always felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, and always felt that Jin Guo's proposal was a trap, a conspiracy, and unreliable, but he couldn't think of any conspiracy in it, and he couldn't make up his mind, so he let the ministers discuss it.

Zhang Yan said again: "Your Majesty, the Jin people have always been cunning and disregard for faith, so they should not be gullible. In case they collect the cash and don't return the land, won't my Great Song Dynasty be empty of silver and land? ”

Chen Lianghan shook his head and said: "Lord Zhang's words, I don't think it is possible, just negotiate a safe way with the gold people first, we will pay the money, the gold people will hand over the land, and the silver and land will be clear, so why are you afraid that the gold people will rely on my money?" ”

At this time, Ye Heng, the secretary of the Ministry of War, also said: "Your Majesty, the minister still thinks it's inappropriate, although it only costs three or four million yuan a year, and my Great Song Dynasty can afford it, but in this way, wouldn't it be the best of my Great Song Dynasty to fund the enemy's country." In this way, I am afraid that in less than ten years, my Great Song Dynasty will be weak, and the Jin Kingdom will be strong. The consequences are embarrassing. ”

Wang Shipeng, the secretary of the Criminal Department, also came out and said: "Your Majesty, the minister also thinks that the proposal of the Jin State is feasible. The money spent on land redemption can be made up by the income of the two countries, and the second is that every time I recover a land in the Great Song Dynasty, there will be an additional tax on the land, and the country will be rich and strong, while the Jin country will lose a land, and the country will lose a point of taxes, and the country will be weakened by a point. ”

Listening to Wang Shipeng's words, Zhao Chen's heart couldn't help but move, and it made sense. I only thought that after the Jin Kingdom got the money to redeem the land, it would become stronger, but I didn't expect that as long as the land was in hand, the Great Song Dynasty would also be able to increase its income. But wouldn't Jin Guo think of this?

At this time, Zhang Yan said again: "Your Majesty, according to the minister's opinion, now the gold lord is to seize the throne by force, and a big war with Mongolia, and the army is reckless, at present, the national strength must be exhausted, and the treasury is empty, so I came up with this plan, first, I want to stabilize my Great Song Dynasty, not to do the Northern Expedition, so that the Jin State has a chance to breathe, and secondly, I want to use a little land in exchange for the silver money of my Great Song Dynasty to tide over this difficulty." Once the Jin Kingdom recovers, it will inevitably tear up the agreement and become an enemy of our Great Song Dynasty again, so please Your Majesty and don't be fooled. ”

Zhao Chen listened and nodded, what Zhang Yan said just now is very reasonable, it is indeed very likely that Jin Guo intends to do so.

But Wang Yingchen also immediately retorted: "Your Majesty, now with the national strength of my Great Song Dynasty, I will not be able to carry out the Northern Expedition again in one or two years, not to mention the major events of the war, how can there be a reason to win, the ancients said: send a million troops to attack, and you will not get a place after the age of one." However, now it is possible to redeem the land with silver, even if the Jin people will lose the alliance in the future, as Lord Zhang said, but my Great Song Dynasty has also redeemed more than a dozen state cities, and it is not for profit. Therefore, it is not to be lost. I hope Your Majesty will think twice. ”

In this way, four of the six scholars were in favor and two were against, and under their leadership, the other ministers quarreled with each other. Only a few of the ruling ministers were still calm and did not participate. But Zhao Chen listened and felt that what both parties said made sense, so it was difficult to decide. Before I knew it, the debate was over, but there was no result yet. Zhao Chen had no choice but to order, for the time being, the officials dispersed and went home, and the discussion would continue tomorrow.

Zhao Chen thought that he would be able to discuss it immediately, whether to agree with the plan proposed by Jin Guo to redeem the lost land, but knowing that this discussion, the civil and military officials insisted on their own words, and there were many discussions, and no one could convince anyone, and then they discussed for six days in a row, but no result was determined. Moreover, the competition between officials became more and more intense, and even Wang Yan, Ye Hao, Zhou Kui and others among the ruling ministers also joined the controversy.

Among them, Wang Yan strongly refused, but Ye Hao and Zhou Kui advocated acceptance, each insisting on its own words, and refused to give in to each other, as a result, they all fought with red faces and red ears, green muscles and violent muscles, and they almost quarreled several times. Fortunately, Zhao Chen was very alert, and the momentum was not right, so he immediately forcibly stopped it, plus the two prime ministers Han Yanzhi and Zhao Ruyu were both people who took care of the overall situation, and they also tried their best to control this dispute within a reasonable range, so it did not turn into an attack on each other.

can't help it, because Zhao Chen has always used a relatively open attitude towards governing the country, and the information on the government is basically open to the public, so the proposal of the Jin State to advocate the redemption of the lost land quickly spread from the DPRK, and even the people in various places began to discuss it. However, among the middle and lower-level officials and the people, the vast majority of them agreed with Jin Guo's ideas. After all, no one wants to fight again, and it would be good if we could regain lost territory without the means of war.

And Zhongshan Academy, which has always been open to learning, is naturally not immune this time. Although the imperial court did not interfere in the academic and academic debates of Zhongshan Academy, several scholars who presided over the academy were people who were old enough to be accidents, and naturally knew that those things could be said and those things that could never be said. Although the imperial court gave the academy considerable freedom of study, there were some taboos that must not be touched. Therefore, we usually pay great attention to restraining students, and we must pay attention to our words and deeds, not to go out of line, and not to make taboos. Even the dispute between Chen Liang and Zhu Xi over the king's tyranny and righteousness only stopped from the last three generations to the Han and Tang dynasties, and it will never involve the affairs of this dynasty.

But this time it is different, no matter what you choose, the main premise is to recover the lost territory, but you can choose between recovering it with money or by force, which will not violate the general principles of the imperial court. Second, the imperial court is uncertain now, and I hope that more people will discuss it. Therefore, there are no taboos in the academy this time, and you can speak freely. Even the few scholars who presided over the academy quickly split into two factions, opposing each other. Lu Zuqian, Zhu Xi, Lu Jiuling, and Chen Boliang all advocated agreement, while Chen Liang and Lu Jiuyuan firmly opposed it. For several days on end, both sides engaged in a heated debate on this topic. However, on the whole, there are still the majority of people who agree.

Interestingly, the Lu brothers, who have always been consistent in their words and deeds, actually faced each other this time, one agrees and the other opposes. However, this controversy is not an academic disagreement, but an opinion on the government, and the Lu brothers have different personalities, so it is understandable to hold different views. And the students of Zhongshan Academy were also fortunate to see the scene where the Lu brothers argued with each other and refused to give in.

It was originally a simple question, but now there is indeed a more and more complex development trend, Zhao Chen can't help but worry and hurry, but he himself is also in a dilemma between these two opinions, he can't choose, and he is also very anxious.

After the court went down this day, Zhao Chen returned to the palace, and he didn't want to eat, so he fell on the couch and covered his head with a brocade quilt, but his head was still "buzzing", just now in the Wende Palace, the sound of officials arguing with each other seemed to be still in his ears. Even Queen Yue Ying brought a can of black-bone chicken soup to greet him, but she ignored it.

When Yue Ying saw Zhao Chen like this, she knew that he was worried about national politics, but she was afraid that he would have something wrong, so she asked the palace maid to bring the little prince and put him next to Zhao Chen.

The little prince is named Zhao Tuo, and now he is almost four months old, he can sit and stand upright, he looks white and fat, very cute, lying next to Zhao Chen, screaming according to his yaya. Although Zhao Chen was full of worries, when he saw his son, he had to temporarily suppress his troubles and pick up his son to tease him.

Yue Ying said at this time: "The concubine knows that the official family has been worrying about state affairs these days, and she is upset. It's just that state affairs are important, but they can also be solved slowly, and the official family's body can't be ignored, if you are sick urgently, you can't help but be nervous about the ministers of the court, and even the mother can't feel at ease, so I hope that the official family will be more relieved and take care of your body. ”

Zhao Chen smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know what the queen said, it's just ...... Alas, these governments are annoying when they say it, so it's okay not to say it. ”

Yue Ying ordered the palace maid to add a bowl of chicken soup, handed it to Zhao Chen with her own hands, and said: "No matter how annoying the government is, the rice still has to be eaten, so the official family will drink this bowl of soup first." ”

Zhao Chen nodded, handed Zhao Tuo to the palace maid, and took the soup bowl. When he was drinking the soup, suddenly a chamberlain came in and said, "Qi Qi Guan's family, Yang Yuma and the two eldest princesses are outside the palace, and they want to ask to see the official family." ”