After several victories, the cattle, sheep, grain and grass obtained were innumerable, Wang Shao did not have many troops, only more than 10,000 people, at least for a few months, there was no need for supplies from the rear. Wang Shao stopped for the time being, starting from Xizhou City, and repaired Kangle Village, Dangchuan Fort, Kenuo City, and Xiangzi City, first protecting the safety of the roads in the rear to avoid food robbery. He also built a river fort in the north of Beiguan Fort, one is to prevent the Western Xia people from invading Xizhou from the Donggu Road, and the other is to point to Hezhou from the north.

He also sent troops to cross the Tao River and sweep the south of the mountain, and at the same time sent the general Wang Junwan to suddenly go south from the ancient Weicheng and attack the northeast of Minzhou to take the dangerous Mozong City (Tiechengzi, Iron Castle, in Minxian County).

Mu Zheng was undecided to return to Hezhou, but he was not in a hurry, the Song army had few troops, from the north to the south of Mozong City, the troops were more scattered, and at this time he left a huge space, enough to calmly start a guerrilla war with the Song army.

As for the frontal conflict, Mu Zheng never thought about it, and even if there was a small road to Hezhou in Jiehe Fort, there were not many soldiers in the Song army who repaired the fort, so he didn't dare to send people to attack and stop it. But the problem came, it was precisely because there was this trail in Jiehe Fort, seeing that the Song army repaired Jiehe Fort, Wang Shao ordered Jing Sili to lead a light cavalry to swoop on Baicheng (the west side of Hezhou), which not only blocked the connection between Hezhou and Huangzhou, but also really formed an encirclement of Hezhou.

Mu Zheng was gallant, and when he saw the Song army occupying Tabai City, he was helpless.

But Wang Shao didn't move again, and he had a bolder plan in mind.

The news reached the capital, and the ministers congratulated.

At one time, the monarchs and ministers thought that Wang Shao had died in battle. Xiangzicheng was besieged by tens of thousands of Tibetan troops, the grain road was cut, and I don't know where the news came from, saying that Wang Shao's army was wiped out in Hezhou. Cai Yanqing, the official in charge of logistics, was anxious to send Zhang Shou, who was guarding Gangu Fort, to leave about 1,000 troops to guard Gangu Tongwei 2nd Fort, and rescue Wang Shao with 3,000 people. Zhang Shouyue said. Only 1,000 people were left to garrison the second fort. The second fort must not be defended. And Wang Shao is still strangled by thieves with thousands of elite soldiers. The minister will go with 3,000 men and he will be afraid of defeat. If you ignore the second fort and want the minister to go, at least let the minister lead 5,000 people to go.

After the war, the good news came, and Cai Ting and Wang Anshi had a dispute over Zhang Shouyue. Cai Ting thought that Zhang Shouyue was cowardly, so when he saw the thief, he found a reason to stay and avoid trouble, and he should be punished. Wang Anshi said that he was willing, if Wang Shao's more than 10,000 elite soldiers were wiped out. Zhang Shou handed over about 3,000 soldiers and horses, and he was also bound to lose.

Zhao Ji was questioning, obviously there was no big defeat, where did the news of the big defeat come from, so he doubted Gao Zunyu. However, after the news spread, Zhao Ji felt very sad for Tian Qiong's heroic sacrifice. This is what Zheng Lang is most worried about, there are war immortals.

When the victory came, the whole country rejoiced, and Zheng Lang was overjoyed. The financial statements for the previous year were published in advance. In the fifth year of Xining, the Xixia side was a little calm, but it only deceived the Xixia of more than 200,000 years. Worth nearly 400,000 yuan, Zhao Ji felt very unhappy.

However, the two battles were not very useful, Zhang Dian ran the gorge area, almost did not use troops, saw the imperial court soldiers and horses coming, and the chieftains surrendered. Wang Shao used very few soldiers, less than 10,000 soldiers when Pingwu won the military city, and in the battle of Xiangzicheng, there were only 10,000 soldiers, and the casualties were not serious, and a lot of food logistics was easy to obtain in Yingtian City, Qinfeng Road. They were even provided with money and food to build roads. The main cost is used to build roads and water conservancy, including the Xiazhou Man. After improving the lives of the people and building several highways, starting from Gangneung Prefecture, it was possible to deploy troops to any part of Xiazhou within ten days. When the highway is built, commerce will prosper, and the breath of civilization will blow into this backward mountainous area. As long as the imperial court is careful to operate, the people of this land will gradually become naturalized and sinicized, and the imperial court will have one less trouble. Of course, there is also taxation, and if there is a cost to management, it must be taxed, but only one autumn tax is levied, and there is no summer tax, and the tax is halved to show preferential treatment. In short, these taxes only exempted the cost of maintaining the management and garrison, and the imperial court still did not receive any profits. I won't ask for any profits, I just want this place to be peaceful, then Amitabha.

However, the imperial court really spent a lot of money, and the military expenditure on the two pieces of land was not much, and the cost of construction was as high as 10 million yuan, including military expenses, reaching more than 14 million yuan. However, this is within the acceptable range of the imperial court.

The other largest expenditure was the grain reserves, and although 5 million stone grains were produced in the later period, the cost of 2 million taels was recovered, but 15 million taels were spent in the early stage. and embezzled 20 million yuan from the bank as the principal, if Zheng Lang had not secretly prepared gold and silver in advance, the cost of the principal would have increased by four or five million. As a result, spending remained high last year, at 179 million.

At this point, almost all the ministers were speechless.

said that if he opposes Zheng Lang's defeat, as soon as the finances are made public, the country will not be in arrears, and there will be no way to live.

But last year's revenue was also impressive, reaching more than 196 million.

The main ones are the increased income of the banks, as well as the increased income of the two taxes.

This year may not be so optimistic.

First of all, the locust plague in Hebei was serious, and the disaster area was exempted from two taxes, and this exemption reduced a lot of income. But this year is not over.

Regardless of this, more than 4 million yuan was allocated from the tax revenue this spring to repay the arrears of Jinghu North Road. If the arrears can be repaid sooner or later, the longer it can be delayed, although the interest is light, it is also a heavy burden on the state. Priority is given to Jinghu North Road, firstly, there is less burden here, and secondly, it is to cooperate with Zhangduan's peaceful work. Next is Jingdong Road, but before repaying the huge debt of Jingdong Road, Zheng Lang is ready to allocate seven to eight million taels to buy a large number of wheat when the summer harvest comes.

This amount is much higher than last year.

But wheat is very cheap, because of the backwardness of hulling technology, whether it is wheat or millet, there are a lot of bran, Zheng Langcai came to the Song Dynasty to eat all kinds of noodles very unaccustomed. However, rice is different, and although the husking technology is backward, it is still relatively easy to remove the husk. Therefore, the price of rice has been high, but the price of wheat and millet is very cheap, and it is easy to cause a misunderstanding, thinking that the grain of the Han and Tang dynasties is cheap, and the grain of the Tang Dynasty is only five wen when it is low, and it is only twenty or thirty wen when it is high. This is not true, the price of grain in the Tang Dynasty refers to the price of millet, and the price of rice is also very expensive.

However, when the catastrophe came, even the bark and grass roots of Guanyin soil were eaten, and it didn't matter what bran. Whether it's millet or wheat, it has nothing to do with taste. It's the quantity. The more the better. This has to be prepared for the summer harvest. Otherwise, when the autumn harvest comes, the profiteers will inevitably see some signs. On the contrary, the more grain the imperial court stockpiled, the less daring the profiteers were. When the autumn harvest comes, then a batch of grain can be prepared. This is the fullest state to meet next year's catastrophe!

And it is possible that next year, Zheng Lang will also go to ...... River Huang!

The beginning of the branch.

On the eve of the palace exam, Zheng Lang deliberately went home. There are a lot of people in the house. The two daughters came back, and it was normal to go back to their parents' house to take a look, but they didn't just go back to their parents' house to have a look, but to see how the two younger brothers were doing. So he returned to the capital with a few children.

Cui Xian laughed and scolded Zheng Lang for this, the Zheng family is really not prosperous, look at the two children, one marries into the farming family, and the other marries into the Wang family, and the people are prosperous immediately. The other is Zhao Niannu and Li Gui, Zhao Niannu has rarely returned to the palace over the years, although Zhao Ji is not thin on Miao Guifei and Zhao Niannu. Li Gui often came to Zheng's house to study behind Zheng Lang. Li Gui doesn't know his true identity now, but it may be related by blood. It may be that the Zheng family is very affectionate to him, and the two families are next to each other and run diligently.

The provincial test arrived, with Zeng Buquan knowing the tribute, Lu Huiqing, Deng Xuan, Deng Runfu and the same knowledge of the tribute, last year Zheng Wei Zheng Yan participated in the lock hall test and obtained the qualification to lift the child, and Li Gui also obtained the qualification to raise the child in Taixue. So I participated in this year's provincial examination.

Everyone was very curious about this.

Not many people know Li Gui's identity, but they know that he has been studying with Zheng Lang, and Zheng Lang's two precious adopted sons, everyone is not clear. Zeng Bu was brought up by Zheng Lang, but Zheng Lang would not ask Zeng Bu what test questions he would make, but he made a small gap.

This year's imperial examination will certainly not be like in history, with the new meaning of the Three Classics interpreted by Wang Anshi, Lu Huiqing, and Wang Yan as the compulsory textbook and examination basis for students. This is where Wang Anshi made the most mistake, since ancient times, as a courtier, he was crowned a saint and a king after his death, for example, after Zheng Lang's death, with his merits, he was named a sub-saint, and he could be crowned any king, but could he be a king during his lifetime? So how does the emperor claim to himself. This kind of behavior undoubtedly puts Wang Anshi in the situation of being the first saint of the dynasty, Lu Huiqing and Wang Yan as the sub-saints.

Originally, the world was turbulent, and there was another dismount case, but Wang Anshi misunderstood the object, that is, he mistakenly thought that it was given by Gao Taotao, and it was already in crisis. Let's take Xinyi as a model for scientific research, how do the scholars of the world think? When the drought comes, can you not step down?

Now no, although Zheng Lang cultivates Confucianism and has hundreds of thousands of words before and after, Zheng Lang only writes and will not use the power of the imperial court to forcibly promote it. However, Zheng Lang was still able to drill into the empty door, and said to his two adopted sons and sons cryptically: "The four of them are more radical, and their words are radical, and they will be happy." ”

Enough is enough.

As a result, the provincial examination list was decentralized, and 480 people were recruited, Zheng Wei ranked 246th, and Zheng Yan ranked 379th, the ranking was not very good, and Zheng Lang proposed, the number of places in the palace examination gradually decreased year by year. But the qualifications of the two are not very good, and it is not easy to be able to take the provincial test. On the other side, Li Gui is really not simple, ninth in high school. This may be the highest ranking in the provincial examination of the children of relatives in the entire Northern Song Dynasty.

On the eve of the palace examination, Zheng Lang gathered the three children again.

If you want to go through the back door, Zheng Lang can get the test questions, which is not very good.

Zheng Lang was also disdainful.

But you can teach some exam skills, which is very important, just like some children, when taking exams, like to drill difficult problems, that is not right, in a limited time must first answer the easy questions, get the points that should be obtained, and then drill the difficult questions, so that the results are better. Now the same is true for the imperial examination, unless it is an official's examination department, it is just a strategy, which has nothing to do with time, but depends on the ideas expressed in the policy. There is also a draft, you can't scribble on the test paper, think about it on the draft, and then copy it to the test paper, then the theme and ideas are clearly expressed, and the test paper is refreshing. Although there are still officials who copy it, the test paper does not necessarily require how beautiful the handwriting is, but it must be neat, otherwise the officials will be annoyed and slightly tampered with, which will affect the results. Wait a minute.

and mentality.

The most common thing parents do before exams is encouragement, but they are also wrong, and often the result of encouragement is increased pressure. On the contrary, you should not increase the pressure, but let it go and keep a normal heart. So there are many scholars who are really good at learning, and Zheng Lang has also seen a lot, such as Fu Bi, can you say that he is not good at learning? There are also Ding brothers, but they have repeatedly failed the exam. However, some students usually have poor grades, but they can make a splash during the scientific examination. In addition to hitting the test questions correctly, it is a matter of mentality.

Zheng Lang first said the two adopted sons. You want to be in the temple test for this rank. That's unlikely. Hearing this, the two daughters-in-law frowned. However, Zheng Lang's voice changed. He also said, but it doesn't matter, you have already passed the provincial examination, and I will be able to make up for it in the future. Go for it. It's better to be able to do well in the exam, but if I don't take the exam well, I have already felt face-saving if I won the provincial exam.

Cui Xian and Xing'er were so angry that they twisted Zheng Lang's arm.

In fact, it is loosening.

Zheng Lang looked at Li Gui at this time. said that you are better, but even if you won the top prize, as a relative, what can you do? Therefore, don't think too much about it during the temple examination.

Zhao Niannu was also rolling his eyes.

Li Gui suddenly said: "Gong Zheng, if I can do well in the exam, can I ask you to do something for me?" ”

Li Gui didn't know his true identity, but for so many years, he had been getting along with his father and teacher, and he faintly regarded Zheng Lang as his father in his heart. It's not too restrictive either.

"What's the matter?"

"Gong Zheng, I want to marry the lady of the Di Yong family after the palace examination." After Li Gui finished speaking, he quickly ran behind Zheng Ping and Zheng Hang, afraid that his mother would beat him.

"No," Cui Xian was the first to shout.

His daughter has married to the seed family, and Zheng Lang's only biological son welcomes the general's daughter, and the family and the military general can no longer be separated. Moreover, Zheng Lang and Di Qing are like brothers, and Di Yong's daughter is a generation later than Li Gui, and the generations are not compatible. Although the seniority is not important, the front is very important.

Zheng Lang lost his mind slightly.

Di Qing is handsome, famous all over the world, and several of his children are all beautiful, and the most famous one is Di Yong, the son of Di Qing. Zhao Ji's sister wanted to get married, Song Yingzong was looking for a colt for his daughter, but they were all unsatisfactory, and finally Yingzong asked his daughter what kind of person she was looking for, and his daughter pointed to Di Yong and said, "I want to find someone like him." Yingzong called Di Yong to his side, looked at it for a long time, and finally said, "You really look like a human." That is to say, in terms of the goodness of the skin and the appearance of Di Yong, few men can beat it. The appearance of people is widely spread in the capital. However, this little princess can't get her wish, it's not Di Yong's identity, there is nothing remarkable about the Song Dynasty's concubine, but Di Yong has already married and has children, is it that the dignified princess went to the Di family to be a concubine? Zheng Lang can't either.

Therefore, this little princess can only be sad.

At that time, he was just a guard in the palace, and he actually made the princess suffer from lovesickness, which shows how handsome he is, Zheng Lang also knows it, at least in terms of appearance, even Di Qing is not as good. There is another thing, later, the daughter born to Di Yong's concubine was known as the most beautiful woman in the capital because she was too beautiful, and she was almost elected as the queen, but was rejected by Gao Taotao. It's not that the Di family is not attached, the Song Dynasty elected queens from the military generals' families, at least the Di family is not weaker than the Xiang family. But there are too many mothers in this girl, Di Yong's concubine is her mother, according to tradition, Mrs. Di Yong is also her mother, of course, Di is not the rumored Qinghe county lord, or the county horse does not want to take a concubine. But because she is a concubine, her status in the family is not very good, and it just so happens that the eldest brother's family has no daughter, Di Yong gave this daughter to the eldest brother Di Zhi as a daughter, that is, Mrs. Di Zhi became her mother again, the whole three mothers, plus the daughter of the concubine, it was too messy. As a relative, Gao Tao ignored his son's crush, and sure enough, he did not choose Di Xiaoniang to the palace.

Di Yongzhengpai's daughter, Zheng Lang didn't see it once, but it was definitely not bad when he thought about it.

At this time, he was still very young, only fourteen or fifteen years old, and the specific Zheng Lang was not clear.

I don't know how to let my son see it.,Crush.。

Zhao Niannu chased after Li Gui, and Li Gui hid behind his two sisters.

Zheng Lang thought for a while and said, "If you do well in the exam, I will agree." ”

"Official."

"Zheng Gong."

Several women looked at Zheng Lang in amazement.

Zheng Lang said slowly: "Li Guinai is the grandson of Renzong, and the charity association has a lot of good names, and I ...... Although the surname is Li, it is impossible to say that there is no fear. The Di family is gradually declining, and he is a military general, and he is still the kind of small military general who can't hold much military power. Although marrying the daughter of the Di family restricts Li Gui's future future, it is precisely because of this that there is less jealousy, which is enough to ensure his safety, and peace and security is true. ”

Sima Guang often gives advice to Zheng Lang, Zheng Lang will not become black-bellied, but he has been affected a little, and he immediately sees the stakes.

Li Gui jumped up, pulled Zheng Lang's elbow, and said, "I know that Zheng Gong is the best for me." ”

Zheng Lang was a little bitter, I am your father, not good to you, so who can be good to you?

The family laughed and laughed, and they were all joking about Li Gui during the banquet, so on the eve of the palace exam. The atmosphere was very relaxed.

The temple examination begins.

The Imperial Collection of Heroes Singing Chart. A total of 487 people were admitted to Jinshi, Mingjing and various subjects, origins, the same origins, and classmates.

Reduction of officials. The quota for the imperial examination is also very low.

The champion is Yu Zhong.

But the next list is quite surprising, it is not Zheng Wei and Zheng Yan, the two of them did very well in the exam, although they almost reached the end. But they all got the same Jinshi background. Although this is not as glorious as Jinshi, the two children are not talented enough, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to get into Jinshi in this life. It's another person, Li Gui. actually won the fifth place in the exam. There are a few old ministers who still have feelings for Zhao Zhen, such as Fu Bi, when he heard the roll call, a few tears appeared in the old man's eyes, and he muttered: "Renzong has a future." ”

Zheng Lang looked at Zhao Ji suspiciously, Li Guizhong is not too difficult, but this ranking, could it be that Zhao Ji has done something?

All three members of the family made the list, and the whole family smiled.

Later, the Zheng family asked the Di family for marriage on behalf of Li Gui, and the Di family agreed. But they can't get married right away, because there are still three little aunts who are not married. First, the princess of Lu Guo got married. married Qian Jingzhen of the Qian family. Zheng Lang's teaching of this little girl is also very strict. She is a famous longevity princess of the Song Dynasty, Princess Ping'an, probably because her mother Zhou is more philistine and has not been taught well. When Jin Ren went south, he heard that she was the daughter of Renzong and immediately released her. After the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Qian family had many industries in Hangzhou, so the Qian family donated property to the imperial court many times as military expenses. Zhao Gou also has great respect for the Qian family and Princess Lu. However, the princess of Lu Guo was difficult to fill, and she wrote that although the concubine was close to hunger and embarrassment, she did not dare to ask for anything, but because she was old and sick, she had a clear vision, and she did not hate it. My family is poor and hungry. God knows how poor her family is. Therefore, Your Majesty, you have to add some more rewards.

But Zhao Gou actually agreed, every time she gave her son Qian Chen an official and became a knight, she always said to the ministers: "This is a special case, others don't think about it (Shang Yichen is the envoy of the Huchuan Festival, and he is still not allowed to cite the example)"

In the end, Qian Chen's title became Qin Yanqi Zhuzhou regimental training defense envoy, Ningwu Luzhou Second Army Observation and Retention Chengxuan Jiedu and other envoys, Kaifu Yi with the three divisions, inspection school major, Rong Guogong, tired gift Taishi, Han State Yuguo Gong.

These official positions are what Zheng Lang may not be able to ask for now.

The old lady was still not satisfied, she was over eighty years old, and she still entered the palace on crutches to ask for a reward for her son, forcing Zhao Gou to call her ancestor, ancestor, it's time to be content, just let me go.

Now coupled with the power of the Qian family, Xiao Luguo must be worry-free in his life. On the day of the wedding, Zhao Niannu held his father's spirit card and cried loudly. Gao Taotao and Zhao Wei sighed, and Zheng Lang's identity could not be exposed, and Zhao Niannu, who had dragged his daughter over the years, actually had a very hard time. There are also two little princesses who have not been married because they have not yet reached the age of the princess, but the husbands found by the two little princesses are not bad, Princess Yongshou is the Cao family's Cao Shi, and Princess Baoshou is Guo Xianqing of the Guo family. The power of the Guo family should not be underestimated. The object chosen by the three princesses is either Jiangmen, or after meritorious service, and they are also the most descendant of the three powerful families.

This has little to do with being a prisoner, none of the three major families will be short of money, as long as the Song Dynasty does not fall for a day, and the three families do not have unfilial children, the money can only increase. Therefore, when Zheng Lang spoke, he said to Gao Tao behind the screen: "Thank you Queen Mother." ”

Gao Tao has a heart.

It can be said that in the entire Song Dynasty's unmarried list, these three children can enter the top 50, not to mention marrying Renzong's three daughters who have lost power, even marrying the princess, which is more than enough.

The four children were all relieved, whether it was Zhao Niannu or Zheng Lang's family.

Zheng Lang began to prepare summer grain.

But this time it was different, and 3 million yuan was allocated to let Xue Xiang build a grain storage in the upper reaches of the Danshui River from the southeast.

Zhao Ji was puzzled.

Zheng Lang explained, not explaining the disaster, but talking about the military.

The Danshui Road is very important, but it is still separated by the reckless Shangshan Mountain Range, and the road is isolated, and Wu Zetian has repaired it in the past, but it is not very successful. Later, the Anshi Rebellion occurred, and the Tang Dynasty repaired the Danshui Road, it is precisely because of the existence of this road, the southeast Cao Yun came continuously, although the cost was high, but because of the supply of Jiangnan, the Tang Dynasty finally defeated An Lushan and Shi Siming. Ouyang Xiu also suggested that Cao Yun should be sent to Guanzhong from this Dao, but Renzong refused.

Because of the many years of ruin, the road was in ruins, and the financial constraints of the year, unless the road was rebuilt, the transportation cost was too high. But it doesn't matter now, the gunpowder and blasting technology have improved, although there is a debt, this is not in a hurry, when there is money, it will be repaid, and when there is no money, it will be repaid, and the Danshui Road can be built first. From Danshui to Guanzhong, there are more than 300 miles of dry roads, and the construction of the Tang Dynasty has made some foundation for repair. Although the cost of the dry road of more than 300 miles is high, it is only sent to Guanzhong, from the Grand Canal, and then after several turns, to the Yellow River, Sanmen, and then to Weishui, the cost is also very high. And because the road is far away, the cost of sending the grain and grass to the capital is also very high. Therefore, in recent years, the grain prices of Liangjing, especially Jinghu Road south of the Yangtze River, have been relatively cheap because of the large-scale development. Then from Xiangshui, you can take a shortcut and supply it to Guanzhong. This road does not need to be repaired immediately, because of the destruction of water and soil in Guanzhong, the people often have a bad harvest year, then they can be organized, while eating, while repairing. The intention of opening up this road is not only to support Guanzhong and have a role in commerce and trade, but also once the troops are used against the Western Xia, it will be a general battle of hundreds of thousands of people, and with this supplement, the financial pressure on the country will be reduced.

It was not repaired for disasters, but for the general attack on Western Xia.

After listening to Zheng Lang's explanation, Zhao Ji immediately agreed.

But in fact, the following year this was in handy, although not a single servitude was still under construction...... (To be continued.) )