"Zhang Gong didn't agree," Han Yun said disappointedly.

When he was young, Wang Ju once visited Zhang Fangping, and said implicitly that if you can't bear it, you will be in chaos, and I hope that Zhang Fangping can use his talent to play an auxiliary role in the Xining reform in the future, and finally Wang Ju was disappointed. However, perhaps because of Wang Ju's admiration for Zhang Fangping during this visit, Wang Ju later made Zhang Fangping unaccustomed to some of his practices, but he did not criticize him harshly.

Therefore, there is not much conflict between the two.

Like this time, Zhang Fangping came to the door, not to accuse, but also to remind him with kindness.

It can't be said that Zhang Fangping is wrong, if he really rudely implements the Qi Shang tax, the end will be miserable, after all, the current Song Dynasty is the same as the Qin State when the Shang Dynasty changed the law.

Thinking quietly, thinking about moving, Zhang Fangping has been retired for a long time, can he really endure the loneliness of living in Songzhou?

However, Zhang Fangping eventually refused.

"It's not that he rejects me, but he doesn't like these important ministers in the court, because he is the old school, and most of the important ministers in the court are the new party. But if you have to continue to hold this kind of party idea, no matter how talented this person is, he can't be reused. ”

Besides, Zhang Fangping is also old, not Zhang Fangping when Renzong was in time.

When people are old, their wisdom and reading are deeper, but some people are old and are content with pleasure and shamelessness, and some people are content to keep their jobs.

Zhang Fangping is not satisfied with pleasure, but he also belongs to the kind that is content with success.

So there's no need to co-opt.

…………

There are seven categories of income on the other side.

The first category is all kinds of spice jade, which was the earliest main income on the other side, but now it has become a short cultivation time. Spices with quick results are the mainstay. Such as peppercorns. As for the coral hawksbill turtle and the slow-growing sandalwood tree, they are protected. Such revenues are declining.

The second category is "arms", which are now divided into several pieces and fight with each other, which is the best time to sell arms, and if the Crusaders continue their crusades in the future, they may be able to sell these arms to Europeans. This income is rising very quickly. It may even be sold to the Tianzhu Kingdom and the Wa Kingdom and Goryeo in the future.

The third category is resale, which resells porcelain, silk, tea, and paper from the Song Dynasty to the Great Cannibals, Wa Kingdom, and Goryeo.

The fourth category is all kinds of candied fruit and cane sugar, candied fruit is mainly sold to the Song Dynasty, and cane sugar is mostly sold to the Wa Kingdom and Goryeo, especially now the Wa Kingdom is very rich...... All kinds of timber and silver alone are equivalent to six or seven million guan of trade, so some luxury goods can also be sold in large quantities to the Japanese country. However, to Wang Ju's surprise, the cane sugar is also selling well in Dashi, and some of it may be resold to Europe.

The fifth category is all kinds of minerals, including carboniferous, copper, and iron. The objects of trade were mainly the Song Dynasty, but with the exception of carboniferous. But the sales of various metal deposits are gradually shrinking, and without him, the population on the other side is increasing, and they are also needed, or some of them are processed into utensils.

The sixth category is all kinds of animal husbandry and fishery products, all kinds of cured beef, mutton and sea fish, and all kinds of leather and wool products. This category is the fastest rising, especially cattle, because there are many excellent pastures, coupled with its relatively fast reproduction, now the other side can export more than 100,000 heads a year, more than ninety percent of which are sold to the Song Dynasty.

The seventh category is all kinds of utensils and products, such as perfumes, righteous ointment, pendulum clocks, and some other utensils, such as pressure cookers, not pressure cookers, the principle is similar, but the workmanship is a little rougher.

Therefore, Wang Ju said that the other side is very dependent on the Song Dynasty at the moment.

If the economy of the Song Dynasty collapsed, it would have a serious impact on the other side.

The pot on the stove is this kind of pressure cooker, in the Song Dynasty it is impossible to really appear in the Water Margin scene, when Wu Song passed Jingyanggang, he could order beef to eat in a small wine shop, and there was so much beef. But because of the emergence of the other side, beef can be officially popularized among the people. But the amount of beef is still very small, and if you want to meet the needs of the people, unless the other side can provide 400,000 beef cattle a year, then you don't know what year it will be.

And this kind of beef may be marinated thoroughly, it is very fragrant and chewy, but well, if there is no pressure cooker made by the other side, then cook it slowly.

Now that the beef in the pot has been fragrant, Qiongniang took it off the coal stove, let it cool, and took out another pot, put hot water in it, and condiments, and poured the beef into the pot along with the soup, but remember that the number of dishes must be large enough, and at the same time, you can't put a little salt, otherwise it will be salty.

It's really salty.

After a while, the scent came out.

"Brother Qianfu, please use it." Wang Ju said.

The two of them have been talking for a long time just now, mainly about the situation in the south.

In fact, Wang Ju's biggest helper is not Zhang Dan, but Zhang Qi, the biggest problem of the Song Dynasty is not internal contradictions, but actually the north. The two powerful enemies pressed the border, and the imperial court had to support a large number of various types of troops, so it had to incur at least six or seven thousand expenditures every year. If there is a large-scale war, that expenditure will be even more staggering.

The northern nomads cannot be solved, unless they really enter the era of hot weapons, but the problem is that the Song Dynasty not only has strong enemies in the north, but also strong enemies in the northwest. If the Western Xia is taken, not to mention the embarrassment of the people on the Shaanxi Road, the pressure on the entire Song Dynasty will be immediately relieved, both militarily and financially.

As for Huangzhou, let's rest.

And the Western Xia is not really unsolvable, not to mention the current situation, just mention the Song Dynasty in history, not only took the entire Hehuang, but also extended the power to the Western Regions, if it were not for the Jin people to go south, the Western Xia would definitely not have existed for more than fifty years. In fact, at that time, including the entire Hengshan Mountain, as well as Tiandu Mountain, Huizhou and Quwu Mountain, all were occupied by the Song Dynasty. These sinister places were occupied by the Song Dynasty together, what else could Western Xia play? However, the golden man came.

Think about it, how many detours the Song Dynasty took in another time and space, and it was still able to achieve such an achievement.

Of course, Western Xia is not so easy to destroy, and now the Liao State is a thin camel bigger than a horse, and even Wang Ju can't figure out whether the Liao State will send troops to help.

If he wants to take Western Xia safely, Wang Ju must rely on Zhang Ji.

And it's really good now, it's easy to get a thousand troops, but it's hard to find a general. Under Wang Ju's intentional arrangement. Zhang Ji's military talent has been well honed. At least to reach his all-time peak.

The two continued to chat while eating wine and meat.

Because next, Wang Ju will give Zhang Qi an important task.

"Brother Qianfu, after you go to Weizhou, you must use the fastest time to familiarize yourself with the terrain of the enemy on the front line of Jingyuan Road, and understand the situation of the officers and soldiers of the three armies on Jingyuan Road. I will transfer them to Jingyuan Road one after another next year, or a certain general and soldier are all cowards, even if they can't train well, you can also propose it to me, and I will immediately rotate them with other generals. ”

"Zi'an, with the power of Jingyuan Road, I'm afraid I can't be ashamed of the imperial court."

"Brother Qianfu, you are wrong, it is not for you to lead the Jingyuan Road army deep into the enemy territory, but for a large-scale shallow attack."

"Oh. Let's hear it. ”

The two of them were in Wang Ju's study, and the stove was also placed in the study. Wang Ju pulled out a map from the bookshelf next to him, pointed to a place, and said, "Build a city here." ”

Zhang Qi looked at it and said, "If you build a city here, the people of Western Xia will definitely go crazy." ”

"That's, otherwise how would it come from."

"But it's still very difficult, although it's not very far from the front line, but it's surrounded by enemy territory. Moreover, the morale of all kinds of soldiers in Shaanxi is now ...... Zi'an, you can't help but think about it. ”

It's not that Zhang Ji is scared, but the truth.

"Brother Qianfu, you also neglected one thing, that is, the Tanguts got a large number of armor."

Among the several expeditionary forces, Li Xian's army suffered the lightest losses, and the Northern Second Route Army and Liu Changzuo's Southwest Route Army were the most outstanding in terms of combat exploits. If it weren't for the large-scale destruction of the Western Xia army by these three routes of soldiers and horses, after the defeat of Yongle City, the Shaanxi Road of the Song Dynasty would have been miserable.

However, the whole battle of the summer was hot, mushy and confused, winter came, and they were blinded together, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians collapsed by themselves, so the Xixia people got a large number of armor. However, this route army was a little better, especially the strongest main army, Gao Zunyu's middle route army, which was drowned in the icy waters of the Yellow River. Therefore, a large number of excellent armor prepared by the ordnance supervisor in the early stage were mostly obtained by the Tangut people.

Western Xia also has excellent armor, Western Xia crossbows, cold-forged armor, and Xia swords, but due to financial and technical constraints, the output has not been very high.

It was precisely because of getting these armors that the advantages of the Song army's armor were wiped out at once.

In particular, many god arm bows have also been obtained by the Tangut people, but fortunately, under the guidance of Wang Ju, the arrowhead manufacturing technology is higher, not that the Xixia cannot imitate it, but it is more difficult to imitate it.

Zhang Qi smiled bitterly.

"But it doesn't matter, this time I brought you a good thing from the other side," Wang Ju originally wanted to say that the times have changed, but he didn't say that although the current artillery can exert its power, there are still many limitations, or the musket, either far away, or out, it is estimated that most of it is only the level of the musket at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and it cannot completely replace the cold weapon.

Although under his guidance, various research and development speeds are relatively fast, sulfuric acid and nitric acid are produced in the laboratory, and primitive electricity has been invented, but it is only a laboratory product, and it is still far from popularization.

"It's not just this thing, the other side has improved various smelting and casting technologies in recent years, which has further reduced the production cost of armor, and I'll take you to take a look tomorrow."

"Oh." Zhang Qi's eyes lit up, Wang Ju said that it was a good thing, it must be a good thing.

The main thing is that he has been in the south, and he has only hurried into Beijing, so he has not heard any relevant news.

"In addition, in addition to familiarizing yourself with the local terrain and the officers and men of the three armed forces when you go to Shaanxi, it is best to use the next year to recruit more border troops and train them to combat effectiveness."

"Zi'an, this is difficult."

Think about how many Ding Zhuang were killed by the Xixia people on the entire Shaanxi Road, especially in the border areas. And if you want to recruit new border troops, you can't recruit from Guanzhong, you can only recruit from the border areas.

Zhang Qi's cautious attitude made Wang Ju very satisfied.

Don't think that after a few victories, you will be complacent, then, against the powerful Western Xia, you will only usher in another fiasco.

But having said that, Zhang Qi and Wang Ju are similar in their way of using troops, they are both known for their careful and careful planning, not Li Jing and Wang Shao's kind of large-open and closed troops.

"Brother Qianfu, that's the case, not only that, especially the families of these martyrs, which makes the three armies even more frustrated, so I wantonly moved the people from Shaanxi Road, and there were people in the imperial court who objected, in fact, the cost of relocating people from Shaanxi Road was higher."

With so many people coming all the way, they had to be responsible for their food and drink, and they had to hire boats from the Wuzhang River or Bianshui to transport them to a place near Shandong, and then disembark, and lead them to Mizhou step by step. And they are not ordinary immigrants, most of them are families of martyrs, and they must be treated well along the way.

Then, after the other side settled them, they immediately asked someone to write letters for them and bring them back to their hometowns. For example, if you send a letter from Mizhou to Shaanxi Road, you will be charged at least two or three hundred yuan, even if the transportation cost is high now, it can't be as high as this.

Therefore, these prices set by Wang Anshi and Zhang Dian made Wang Ju speechless.

However, with the exchange of letters, although the fees were more expensive, it was indeed convenient for the people, and the life of the post guards at each post station was improved, and at the same time, the imperial court successfully settled many veterans or disabled soldiers.

However, the problem arises, to let the relatives of these immigrants on Shaanxi Road know the safety of their relatives, then there must be a letter exchange every one or two years, and this cost alone is not a small number. If life on the other side is stable, maybe you have to send money over, it will cost a lot of money.

Of course, although a lot of money was spent, but with the exchange of money and letters, the people of Shaanxi Road were also stable, at least in their hearts, they may not be able to imagine what the other side is, and they also thought that it was the territory of the Song Dynasty, and the court was properly settled, so what else could they say?

But because it is too far away, at least there will be riots until next year or even the year after, so Wang Ju asked Zhang Qi to do it the year after tomorrow, thinking about it earlier, that is not good, people's hearts are not settled, how to use troops on a large scale?

Wang Ju said about the situation, and said: "This year, the Shaanxi Road is still turbulent, fortunately, the Western Xia took the initiative to send envoys to negotiate peace, although the reputation of the Western Xia people is very bad, but at least next year there will be no large-scale invasion, then next year's commotion and embarrassment on the Shaanxi Road will be improved." At the same time, since I returned to the capital, I have transferred a large amount of grain to Shaanxi Road, which is also conducive to the stability of the people in Shaanxi Road. Brother hostage, do you understand? ”

"I understand, Zi'an, you have gradually created a lot of good conditions."

"I can't say it's good, I can only say that if the Shaanxi Road gradually stabilizes, if it's unstable, you won't be able to come to the next conference. Therefore, you don't have to worry about grain and grass armor, and Cai Gong (Cai Ting) laid a good foundation on Jingyuan Road, and reclaimed a large number of tuntians in Zhenrong Army and other places, and you can use these tuntians to put all the archers into a border army. ”

Becoming a formal Baojie army also means that the imperial court will pay them a formal salary every year, at least like Zheng Baiqu's Baojie army, each of them has to pay more than a dozen military salaries a year, and other small subsidies, if they are generals, the salary will be more.

Therefore, Wang Ju said: "You don't have to worry about these salaries, I can take out as many border troops as you can recruit, and I can pay as much as I can from the treasury, and at the same time, I may also draw an additional five million yuan next year for you to dispatch, or use it to reward soldiers for training and preparing for war, or for the reclamation of tuntian, the purchase of livestock, to increase the income of the border army, or to buy intelligence, and build forts." ”

But there is one thing, you can't stuff everyone into the recruits, it's just Zhang Qi, and Wang Ju doesn't need to remind him.

"And the lord of Xihe Road will be Miao Zhu, he has no problem, as for the lord of Huanqing Road on the side of Jingyuan Road will be Zhao Yu, although he is a Wenchen, Wenchen doesn't matter, he can't be called a famous general in the military, but his military talent is no less than Guo Kui, what I'm worried about is that he has an arrogant personality, you have to go to Weizhou to see the situation, if he can't cooperate with you and communicate with each other, then I will replace him and Liu Changzuo in the Chinese book."

That is, Zhao Yu will be transferred to Yanzhou, and then Liu Changzuo will be transferred to Gyeongju, then Zhang Ji will be awarded to the left Miao, and Liu Changzuo will be on the right, and these two tiger generals will cooperate with Zhang Ji, which will undoubtedly increase the certainty of victory.

It cannot be said that Wang Ju has good intentions, and the victory or defeat of this conference battle in the year after tomorrow can even determine whether Wang Ju can really annihilate Western Xia after he goes to Shaanxi. Therefore, Wang Ju worked hard to create all kinds of favorable conditions for Zhang Qi.

The cautious look on Zhang Qi's face gradually faded, and after he drank a glass of wine, he asked: "Zi'an, then I am sure, but if this is the case, it will cost a lot of money." (To be continued.) )