In March of the fifth year of the Qing calendar of the Great Song Dynasty, and in March of the seventh year of the summer conferral law Yanzuo, Li Yuanhao was killed by the crown prince Li Ning Lingge, and then Li Ning Lingge ascended the throne under the support of the ministers, and the year was called Yanji Ningguo; At the same time, the leader of the Wuzang tribe who fled the capital, the former minister of the country, announced the world with Yuan Hao's secret edict, announcing the third prince Li Liangzuo as the legitimate imperial heir, and on this ground, he entangled several northern ministries to set up a separate court and support Li Liangzuo, who was still in infancy, as the emperor.

Subsequently, Empress Ye Lidulan instructed Li Ning Lingge to issue an order to crusade against the rebellion of the Wuzang tribe, and the two sides each gathered more than 100,000 horses and horses to start a confrontation on the two forks of the river south of Dingzhou, and the battle was about to break out.

At the end of April, the two sides launched the first fierce battle in the Liangcha River, a few days later, the defeat of the Pang did not hide and fled to Dingzhou, the southern court army took advantage of the victory to pursue and besiege the city of Dingzhou, after the siege of the city for three months, the city of Dingzhou ran out of ammunition and food, the city killed horses to fill the hunger, and then began to kill people and eat; didn't hide it, Pang saw that the general trend was gone, and killed himself; The southern army swept through the northern tribes, killed more than 30,000 rebels, and put down the rebellion.

The already scarred Xia State, after experiencing this catastrophe, the national strength is even weaker, and even in September of the first year of the Yan Si Ning Kingdom, when the grain is harvested, there are more than ten state capitals There was a famine, although the rebellion was quelled, but the country was already in danger.

Su Jin, one of the initiators of the civil strife in Xia, took the opportunity to make a fortune in the Xia country, constantly dumping daily necessities such as grain, cloth, and tea at high prices in the Xia country, and at the same time plundering the leather goods, livestock, medicinal materials, green salt and other scarce materials in the Song country at low prices; In just half a year, the profit was tens of millions, and at the same time, the Pearl City was also famous for the goods banned in the north.

The Chengzhou Iron Mine was also put into operation in June, and the iron ingots were purchased by the three divisions, except that the price was not very satisfactory to Su Jin, this time Zhao Zhen did not pick the door, and the money was not in arrears; By the beginning of August, Su Jin had successfully filled the 13 million holes that Su Ji Yinzhuang had embezzled.

Su Jin also ordered the dowries and private houses of the daughters redeemed from the capital, and in addition to returning them to the original owners, he also added a lot of jewelry, which can be regarded as a knot in his heart.

The first batch of taxes in the northwest state capitals and Pearl City have begun to be collected, according to Zhao Zhen's promise, the northwest is self-sufficient, how to collect taxes, and the geometry of the tax rate is determined by Su Jin himself, of course, it seems to be Zhao Zhen's generosity, but in fact, Zhao Zhen tried his best to squeeze Su Jin's skills, for decades, the Northwest Fourth Road has not been allowed to let the imperial court feed, and the taxes are only symbolically collected, because the little money and things collected are not enough to be stuck in the gaps.

But this year's situation has changed significantly, mainly because the commercial tax of Pearl City accounts for a large proportion, the current merchants in Pearl City have nearly 10,000 households, and the fourth ring outside the third ring has begun to take shape. Everyone wanted to take advantage of the strange city of Pearl City, which was unprecedentedly prosperous, and the first batch of merchants to settle in secretly congratulated themselves on their vision, because their shops were in excellent locations, and they had the right of first refusal to buy after a year's rent, and despite the astonishingly high prices of their shops, the merchants did not frown and spent a lot of money to buy their own shops privately.

The funds accumulated by the huge commercial operation are enough for the operation of the Northwest Fourth Road, and Su Jin has never stopped investing in the construction of funds, nor has he given up the transformation of people's concepts; Just after the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, Pearl City ushered in a new thing, which suddenly became a topic of conversation.

Led by Li Chong, he invited elite students from various universities to establish the first newspaper "Pearl Daily" in Pearl City, which was bound by 16 pages and 8 pages, which respectively published the latest news inside and outside the Great Song Dynasty, famous poems from all over the world, customs and customs from all over the place, as well as interesting stories of celebrities, miscellaneous and strange theories, etc.; What's more conspicuous is that the first issue of the homepage is full of large advertisements for Su Kee Briquettes, Su Kee Silver Village, and Su Kee businesses, and is accompanied by wonderful words and phrases that Lu Envoy Su personally came up with, which can be described as full of gimmicks.

It is worth mentioning that the printing handwriting of the "Pearl Daily" is clear, and there are even color page illustrations to match, which is really a must, it is said that Su Daren went to Yingshan County, Hubei Province to invite a letterer named Bi Sheng, gave him several months of time to experiment, and finally invented a kind of movable type mold printing, and I don't know why Su Daren knew that the cloth lettering workers in Yingshan County could invent such a thing, which is really confusing.

Although the price of the first printing of 10,000 copies of the "Pearl Daily" was 10 yuan, Li Chong, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, announced in public that the newspaper would be given away for one year free of charge, and all residents of Pearl City would have one copy per household, without paying for it; Since then, ordinary people, who have always ignored the world, have opened their eyes from this newspaper, and the things they talk about have gradually changed from short and boring conversations in their parents to strange words such as the Xia Civil War and the Southern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty.

More savvy businessmen quickly saw the opportunity and invested heavily in the publication of their own business name with a specially designed vocabulary, which was the perfect opportunity to expand the popularity of the business.

Within a few months, all parts of the Great Song Dynasty knew that there was a newspaper in the Pearl City in the northwest that could know about the world's affairs, from which they could learn about the news and trends of various places, and even advertise their own shops.

The editor-in-chief is Li Chong, but the busiest person in the newspaper is Li Ahri, Su Jin gave her a title called the chief reporter, and his subordinates commanded more than 100 students who fell into the first place, and rode around the Song Dynasty every day, collecting news and consultations, and summarizing the Pearl City; Ahri also went into battle himself, using his special identity as a Xia countryman, to find out a lot of the latest news of Xia Guo, and opened a column called "The Past of Xia Kingdom", each issue tells a story of the Xia Kingdom court or folk affairs, which satisfies the curiosity of the Song people to watch the Xia Kingdom, and also makes herself famous. ”

Su Jin is happy to see the wise opening, the newspaper is the best way for people to broaden their horizons and divert their attention from their own firewood, rice, oil and salt, and at the same time, as a controllable force of public opinion, at a critical time, it can also help themselves realize certain ideas.

Of course, all this is based on the fact that the people live and work in peace and contentment, so Su Jin will naturally not relax on the economic development of the northwest, and when people really do not have to worry about food and clothing, the role of the newspaper will be greater, and the guiding role will be better.

……

With the activity of the Northwest Fourth Road, Su Jin's name was broadcast in the Great Song Dynasty, and he had inadvertently become the idol of the majority of young people, and everywhere he went, there was a voice of praise.

The officials who were far away in the capital were also surprised by Su Jin's ability, this guy didn't know what tricks he played, and revitalized the entire northwest, when the city was built, many people waited to see the jokes, and it turned out that this person had a good heart, but he was not fooling around.

Su Jin's mansion began to be in full swing, and the officials liked to travel thousands of miles to pull them when they had anything to do, because they vaguely felt that such a Su Jin could not stay in the northwest for a long time, and his official position might have to be adjusted soon, and it would obviously go straight to the center.

On the tenth day of October, on Su Jin's twenty-first birthday, Zhao Zhen sent someone to send a gift and brought an edict to Su Jin to enter Beijing for a while; Su Jin didn't want to go to the capital to play with Zhao Zhen again, but the emperor wanted to see him, it was impossible not to go, and at least Zhao Zhen even remembered his birthday, which shows that he still values himself, maybe this value has other intentions, but it is better than forgetting himself.

Su Jin carefully selected a few carts of gifts, including gifts for the queen's concubines, now that he has a lot of money, he naturally can't be stingy, and the adults in Beijing can't be less, even Xia Zhu and Du Yan Su Jin also brought gifts, there is no need to stay tense with them forever, after all, in the matter of Fan Zhongyan and others' derogation, these two people still did a little favor.

After traveling slowly for more than ten days, Su Jin and his entourage rushed to the capital after nearly a year of absence.

After nearly a year, things are wrong, when I left Beijing a year ago, I was still depressed because of Fan Zhongyan and others, and even worried about my future because of a dispute with Zhao Zhen, but now I am back, but I am in a different mood.

It's just that Su Jin is no longer easily moved by foreign objects, his heart has gradually calmed down, and even when the big and small officials greeted him outside Xicheng, Su Jin was not too excited, but just sighed a little at the fickleness of people.