A night of love and concubine, lingering grace. It wasn't until sunrise the next day that Yang Yan and Zhao Yueru got up to freshen up and dress. Fortunately, the most difficult time has passed, so it is occasionally a little later, and it has nothing to do with the overall situation.

In the following days, the Song army's march was very smooth, and reports were received frequently that Junzhou, Guanghua Army, Yingzhou, and Suizhou were all recaptured by the Song army. On the Eastern Front, after learning of the defeat on the Western Front, Monk Wanyan Chen did not dare to stay for a long time, and immediately gave up Haozhou and Yingzhou, and retreated to the line of Shouzhou, Yingzhou, and Sizhou. At this point, the Song army almost completely recovered the places captured by the Jin army, and after almost three months, the two sides returned to the situation before the Jin army's southern expedition.

Yang Yan also returned to Ezhou from Caizhou to station, while re-stationing all the imperial garrisons in their respective defense areas, and began to mobilize men and horses, preparing to launch a counterattack against the Jin army on the eastern and western fronts, the eastern front target was Suzhou and Pizhou, and the western front target was Tang and Deng Erzhou.

At this time, the holy decree was transmitted to Yang Yan's army, and it turned out that Zhao Chen sent Yang Yan back to Jiankang to inquire about the battle situation at the front. Yang Yan smiled bitterly, knowing that something must have happened to Chaoli again, so Zhao Chen would transfer himself back to Jiankang.

It turned out that after the Song army won successive victories and recovered Xiangfan, the officials of the DPRK and China also increased the quota with their hands to celebrate the Song Dynasty's defeat of the Jin army's ambition to invade the south again, but at this time, the ministers of the DPRK and China were also divided into two groups, one group represented by Han Yanzhi, Wang Yan, Zhang Yan, etc., advocating that at this time, they should immediately take advantage of the victory to march into the north and regain the lost territory. The other group of ministers, represented by Zhao Ruyu and Fan Chengda, believed that although the Jin army had been defeated now, the consumption of the Great Song Dynasty itself was not small, and the treasury was almost exhausted, so it was better to take this opportunity to strike the army twice, wait for two or three years of accumulation, and wait for the national strength to recover before going on the Northern Expedition.

So the two factions insisted on their own words, and a fierce argument began in the court, and they fought for several days in a row, but there was no result.

On this day, Zhao Chen only summoned five ruling ministers to discuss whether to carry out the Northern Expedition.

Han Yanzhi said first: "Your Majesty, now that the Jin army has been defeated in the southern invasion, morale is low, and the prestige of Wanyan Changzhi will inevitably plummet, and my Great Song Dynasty has a new victory, and the morale is booming, so it is a good time for my Great Song Dynasty to hold a northern expedition and recover the lost territory, which is still a godsend." When Wanyan Liang raised troops to invade the south, he returned with a crushing defeat in the first battle, but my Great Song Dynasty failed to seize this opportunity to raise troops to the Northern Expedition, and after Emperor Xiaozong succeeded to the throne, he often thought that it was a pity, and His Majesty must not miss the opportunity again. ”

Zhao Chen nodded, but he couldn't say no.

Fan Chengda said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the Northern Expedition is a major event, and it must not be decided hastily, and it must be considered in the long run. Although the Jin army withdrew, it was not defeated and its strength was still there. And my Great Song Dynasty has gone through the March war, and the military strength is exhausted, and it is the end of the so-called strong crossbow, and it is impossible to wear Lu Min. What's more, the country is empty, how can the Northern Expedition continue at this time? I hope Your Majesty will think twice. ”

Wang Yan said: "Lord Fan's words are bad, if the Jin army is not defeated, why should it withdraw? And after three battles, the military strength of my Great Song Dynasty is exhausted, and the Jin army is no better, the two sides are just each other, so why worry? When our army's physical strength recovers, the Jin army can also recover, and I wonder when the Northern Expedition will be carried out. ”

Zhao Ruyu also came out of the ranks, and said: "Your Majesty, with the meaning of the minister, it is not that you do not agree with the Northern Expedition, but the matter of military conscription, which is extremely expensive and food-consuming, in order to cope with the southern invasion of the Jin Army, this year's Spring and Autumn Taxes have been exhausted, and Your Majesty's inner treasury has also pulled out millions of dollars. ”

In fact, Zhao Ruyu's words were talking about Zhao Chen's heart, he didn't want to hold the Northern Expedition, and he also knew that now was indeed a good time for the Northern Expedition, but what Zhao Ruyu said was not wrong, in order to resist the southern invasion of the Jin army, the Great Song Dynasty did spend a lot of money, and even Zhao Chen's inner treasury also spent half of the copper coins. Now the treasury plus the inner treasury can add up to less than 10 million yuan, such a batch of money is simply not enough to pay for a full-scale Northern Expedition, if it is only a small-scale Northern Expedition and take a few cities on the border to come back, then it is better to simply wait for another two or three years, and then talk about it after the treasury is sufficient.

Therefore, Zhao Chen said: "Han Qing, if the Northern Expedition is held, where will the money for the Northern Expedition come from?" Han Qing, have you considered this? ”

Han Yan said straightly: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister has thought about it." ”

"Oh!" Zhao Chenzhi felt a little surprised, and said, "Does Han Qing have a way to raise money?" ”

Han Yanzhi suddenly knelt down on the main hall, pestle the ground with his head, and said: "The minister knows that Your Majesty puts benevolence and righteousness first and puts the people first, but for the sake of the Northern Expedition, please ask Your Majesty to issue an order to re-collect the general economic money." ”

As soon as Han Yanzhi said this, the whole hall was in an uproar, Zhao Ruyu looked at Han Yanzhi, and couldn't help but say: "Han Xiang, you are... It's..."

The so-called general economic system money is the combined name of the economic system money and the general system money, which belongs to the scope of miscellaneous taxes in the Song Dynasty. The economic system began in the fourth year of Xuanhe in 22 years, and was created by Chen Yu, the financial planner of the seven roads of Jianghuai, Jingzhejiang, and Fujian. Jingkang was abolished in the first 2 years, and was restored in the 3rd year of Jianyan 29 years, and the general system money was created in the 5th year of Shaoxing 35, and Meng Yu took the measures to use the money, and said that the general system was created when the department was created. These two miscellaneous taxes are the addition of the fixed tax amount, the so-called tossing and turning accumulation between the subtle, but there are many types, so the amount is very huge. The purpose is to help with military spending. It was used until the era of Xiaozong and became an important part of the financial revenue of the Great Song Dynasty, until Zhao Chen succeeded to the throne and the Great Song Dynasty was restored.

Of course, Han Yanzhi did not mean that he wanted the imperial court to really make money from the general economy, but actually asked the imperial court to add additional taxes to raise expenses for the Northern Expedition.

In fact, the collection of taxes, in the Great Song Dynasty, is really a very ordinary thing, the emperors of the past dynasties are not soft in this regard, so the Great Song Dynasty has a wide variety of miscellaneous taxes, and the names are different, only in Shaoxing there are no less than ten kinds of miscellaneous taxes. The addition of one or two miscellaneous taxes is really nothing. But since Zhao Chen became the emperor, he has been paying great attention to recuperation and recuperation, reducing the burden on the people, and the Great Song Dynasty has just restored the country and cut many miscellaneous taxes. Later, after the Great Song Dynasty adopted the mu tax law, all taxes and forced labor were included in the field property, and except for a few miscellaneous taxes, all other miscellaneous taxes were abolished.

Zhao Chen is praised not only because he advocates restoration and has a tough attitude towards the Jin State, but also because he can really reduce the burden of the people and reduce taxes lightly. Therefore, Zhao Chen is called benevolence and righteousness, people-oriented, and appropriate. But now Han Yanzhi asked him to raise taxes suddenly, although it was for the noble goal of the Northern Expedition, but he couldn't turn this corner all of a sudden.

Even Wang Yan, who supported Han Yanzhi, didn't know what to say for a while, after all, persuading the emperor to increase taxes, no matter what the goal was, was not a good thing for the minister, after all, in the history of the Great Song Dynasty, Cai Jing and Qin Hui's tour had set up a name and arbitrarily increased taxes.

Fan Chengda took a step forward and was about to speak out against the tax increase, when Han Yanzhi said again: "Your Majesty, the minister also knows that the re-collection of the general economic system will damage the name of benevolence of the imperial court, and it will go against Your Majesty's love for the people. ”

After listening to Han Yanzhi's words, Fan Chengda retreated again, because Han Yanzhi's words made it very clear that for the sake of the Northern Expedition, he was willing to bear the notoriety of raising taxes alone and bear this black pot for the imperial court.

Zhao Chen naturally understood what Han Yanzhi meant, and pondered for a moment before he said: "The matter of re-levying the general economic system money is very important, and it cannot be easily decided. ”

Back in the harem, Zhao Chen had always kept such a thing in mind, so he also swallowed tea and dinner, and sat in a daze in the Ruide Palace. Of course, he knew that money was needed to fight a war, and according to Han Yanzhi's method, re-collecting the money from the general economic system was the only feasible way at present. But in this way, the good reputation of being generous and kind, diligent and loving the people that he has finally established will be greatly affected, although he will not be compared with a mediocre emperor like Song Huizong because of this, but after all, it is a stain.

At the same time, Zhao Chen was unwilling to push this black pot to Han Yanzhi, he was also the emperor in the end, what would it be like if he pushed the responsibility to the minister.

But what Han Yanzhi said is also good, now is indeed a great time, once you miss it, how long will you wait to encounter such an opportunity? After two or three years, the Great Song Dynasty could indeed accumulate enough money for the Northern Expedition, but at that time, the Jin army was also relieved, and maybe the Jin State would take the initiative to send troops to attack the Great Song Dynasty.

During this time, although Zhao Chen was quiet on the surface, he was also very worried in private, and after learning that Fancheng was lost, he was so nervous that he couldn't sleep well for a few days. It wasn't until I received Yang Yan's letter that I settled down. Therefore, the next time the Jin State attacked the Great Song Dynasty, the result was unpredictable.

At this moment, Empress Yue Ying personally came to the Ruide Hall with a food plate and said, "Official, you should always eat something!" If you let Niangniang know, you have to blame the concubines and others for not serving the officials. ”

Zhao Chen also smiled bitterly, although she was full of worries, but in the face of Yue Ying, it was difficult to attack, not to mention that she also carried the Empress Dowager Zhou out, so she had to nod and said, "The queen also sits down and eats a little with me." ”

Yue Yingyan smiled, added a bowl of porridge, put it in front of Zhao Chen, and then added another bowl to herself, and said: "The concubine heard that the war has been very good recently, and the Jin army has all withdrawn, so what are the officials worried about today?" ”

Zhao Chen smiled bitterly again, and then told him about today's court meeting. Yue Ying listened, and didn't know what to say for a while, so after thinking about it, she said: "Didn't the official family use the scriptures to make an order to recruit brother-in-law and sixth sister back to Beijing?" According to the concubine, it is better to wait for the brother-in-law and the sixth sister to return to Beijing, listen to their opinions, and then make a decision. ”

Zhao Chen also nodded and said, "That's it." ”

At this moment, an insider came in and reported: "Show the official's house, there are concubines and princesses of Yong'an and Yongning begging to see outside."