Opening the report of "Research on Soil Salinization in the Guanzhong Plain and Huanghuai Plain", Zhao Qian quickly read it. A year ago, I followed my father to Shaanxi to 'find the nine-tailed fox', and the study classes along the way told the reason why Guanzhong, which was once rich in the world, gradually declined. This made Zhao Qian have a lot of interest in the situation in the northwest.

The report was printed roughly, but Zhao Qian didn't care at all. At the beginning of the report, the author stated his position that the purpose of this survey was to increase agricultural production in Guanzhong and to restore the agricultural base in Guanzhong. Zhao Qian was happy after reading it, this is quite the style of the materialist dialectic proposed by his father. The butt decides the head, and Zhao Qian encountered many arguments when he was working in the water conservancy department, and the reason why the two sides of the argument argued until his face was red and his neck was thick was often that he did not 'set a position' in the first place. The positions of water conservation and mountain closure seem to be the same in many ways, but in fact they are in fact-for-tat.

The author of the report made his position clear first, and it was much easier to read. If you are a reader who insists on closing all mountains in the northwest for afforestation, can you not read it from the beginning? After reading the part of 'Northwest Land Assessment', Zhao Qian put down the report with a frown. The author puts forward the point that although Zhao Jiaren's method of planting special tree species to remove saline and alkali components from the land can extract wages from the bottom of the kettle, it cannot be popularized. The first is that the tree species itself is only suitable for heavily salinized soil, and the improvement process enters a new stage with increasing efficiency and low cost with increasing time. Judging from the natural environment at this time, the entire northwest is no longer a grain producing area thousands of years ago, except for a few areas.

Just as I was thinking, the alarm went off. As soon as Zhao Qian closed the report, the secretary walked in. Zhao Qian stood up and left his office for a nearby conference room. After entering, I saw that the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Yang Congrong were all there. As soon as a few people sat down, Zhao Guan's family walked in. Luo Yiren, the head of the Ministry of Governors, immediately began to report, "Officials, ladies and gentlemen, after discussion, the Ministry of Governors believes that the existence of the slave dynasty in the north of Tianzhu should be accepted, and a vassal state should be established in the area outside the slave dynasty. Debriefing is complete. ”

After talking about the strategy of the entire vast area of Tianzhu in this paragraph, Zhao Qian found that he did not understand a large part of it. Then I heard my father laugh and say, "Has the Ministry of Domain Affairs carefully read the means of the countries of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period?" ”

"Go back to the official's house. The ministers and colleagues of the Ministry of Governors held a study class, and only then did they realize that we all looked at the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period with the concept of great unification. After figuring out this key, we finally made progress. There was a pride in Luo Yiren's voice.

Zhao Qian couldn't help but ask, "What's the difference?" ”

"When Zhou Tianzi is strong enough, if there is a problem in various countries, you can ask Zhou Tianzi to coordinate and solve it. If Zhou Tianzi sees that reasoning can't work, he will directly send troops to clean up those countries. That's what it means. Later, Zhou Tianzi's power weakened, and the countries could only rely on themselves to solve the problems they encountered. Originally, it was the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, who managed to maintain the system of the Zhou Dynasty. When the countries merge with each other and the power of the great powers increases, they will become the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. They fought against each other. ”

Zhao Qian nodded slightly after listening, waiting for Luo Yiren to continue to speak, but found that Luo Yiren closed his mouth and remained silent. Only then did he realize that Luo Yiren felt that he had finished answering Zhao Qian's question, and he didn't want to say anything other than Zhao Qian's question.

There was silence in the conference room for a moment, and then Zhao Jiaren asked: "I don't want to put too many resources on the Tianzhu Peninsula, since I can't solve the slave dynasty in the short term, then accept the existence of the slave dynasty." We are going to try to enter the slave dynasty by economic means. ”

After speaking, Zhao Jiaren looked at Yang Congrong, and after a few seconds, the eyes of everyone present fell on Yang Congrong. Yang Congrong only felt that his heart was beating faster, he had received a lot of training during his return to China, and he had been able to understand his position in the entire understanding level system of the Great Song Dynasty. The goal of the Zhao family was not only to defeat the Mongols and regain all the Chinese lands. He further hoped to build a global economic system centered on the Great Song Dynasty. From the Eastern European Division to the province of Europa, this great shipping route has begun to connect the economies of civilized regions. Yang Congrong had no idea that he had contributed a crucial force to such a great project in more than ten years of hard work.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Yang Congrong hesitated a little, he thought for a moment before saying, "I will do my best." ”

Luo Yiren said with a smile: "Don't worry, our Ministry of Management will not send Yang Jiedu envoy to Tianzhu so unkindly." ”

was said to be in his heart, Yang calmly laughed a few times. He was indeed proud of his contributions, but he never wanted to go overseas again. Yang Congrong just wants to stay well in the Great Song Dynasty and live a stable life of being a monk for a day and hitting the clock for a day. After waiting for a while, seeing that no one put forward an opinion that disagreed with Luo Yiren, Yang Congrong began to hit the bell by himself, "Official, if the slave dynasty really wants to fight against the Mongols, if they win, we have to be careful about what will happen in four or five years." ”

"Yang Jiedu thinks Mongolia will lose?" Zhao Qian was a little surprised. Even if the Great Song Dynasty was already not afraid of the Mongol cavalry, the Mongols would be defeated by the slave dynasty of Tianzhu, which was really a bit beyond Zhao Qian's impression of Mongolia.

Yang calmly replied: "Prince, if the Mongols themselves are strong enough, it should be extremely difficult for the Great Song Dynasty to exterminate the barbarians north of Yinshan Mountain over the years." The Great Song Dynasty exterminated the barbarians north of Yinshan, killing at least hundreds of thousands every year. Far less arduous than fighting south of Yinshan. Mongolia was a strong enemy of the Great Song Dynasty back then, just because Mongolia would use the Han people to fight the Great Song Dynasty. Since the Zhao Guanjia completely eliminated the traitors in the north, Mongolia has been exposed in its original form and is completely vulnerable. The same is true for the Mongols overseas, not to mention that Boyan and Hao Ren, the two most capable people in the Mongol court, broke away from the Mongols and established their own states. There were simply no talents within the Mongol court. ”

Zhao Qian was stunned. He believed that the Great Song Dynasty galloped north of Yinshan because it annihilated the main force of the Mongol army south of Yinshan. But after listening to Yang Congrong's words, Zhao Qian suddenly found that there was a problem with his own understanding of the main force of the Mongolian army. If you think about it carefully, the only battle that really annihilated the Mongols was the Battle of the Yellow River, which was personally commanded by Daddy. Kublai Khan and Boyan sent Mongol cavalry, including Mongol heavy cavalry, to fight the Great Song Dynasty in the vicinity of Chaoge. The Great Song Dynasty killed nearly 20,000 Mongolian cavalry in that battle, and the subsequent battle was that the Great Song Dynasty used the Hebei Han people to form the Red Turban Army to fight against the Mongol army. As Yang Congrong said, the core force that supported the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian army was not the Mongols, but the northern Han people, who were regarded as third-class people. When the Mongols were unable to use the Han Chinese in the north against the Song army, the Mongols' combat effectiveness plummeted. In hindsight, this is indeed true. But these views are completely different from Zhao Qian's previous views.

No matter how his son was in a daze, Zhao Jiaren himself agreed with Yang Congrong's opinion. Previously, Zhao Jiaren only knew that the main force of the Song Dynasty was the new annex army, but he was very materialistic and believed that the new annex army, which was the main force, was not the main combat force. Seeing that Yang Congrong was already able to look at the problem so objectively, Zhao Jiaren said very fullly: "This matter is the responsibility of the Ministry of Governance." What does the Foreign Ministry think? ”

Lu Baifeng was also a little in a daze at this time, he was the oldest among these people, and Yang Congrong's views had a particularly big impact on him. In the past three hundred years, the Great Song Dynasty has gradually formed a stubborn impression that the barbarians have strong combat effectiveness, and Lu Baifeng believes that the standard of the barbarians' combat strength is the ability of the Han people, and if he wants to fully admit this in such a short period of time, he must first break the view that has been solidified in Lu Baifeng's heart. Lu Baifeng almost ignored other people's discussions at this time, and it was not until Luo Yiren, the minister of the Ministry of Science and Domain, who was next to him, shook his shoulder vigorously that Lu Baifeng's mind was recalled from the chaos.

"Ah...... What do the officials say? Lu Baifeng asked a little confused.

"I said, the affairs of the Tianzhu Slave Dynasty are in charge of the Ministry of Martial Affairs, what does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs think?" Zhao Jiaren repeated it again.

"Oh. Slave Dynasty ......" Lu Baifeng tried his best to return his thoughts to the previous discussion. After thinking for a while, Lu Baifeng suddenly understood something, and he hurriedly said: "The official family, if the official family recognizes the existence of the slave dynasty, shouldn't our Ministry of Foreign Affairs be responsible?" ”

"Huh." Hearing this, Luo Yiren couldn't help but laugh twice.

Stimulated by this laughter, Lu Baifeng also felt inappropriate. Suddenly I realized that I was wrong, and hurriedly said: "Official, let Yang Jiedu envoy come to work in our Ministry of Foreign Affairs." We, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will form a joint working group. ”

Zhao Jiaren looked at Yang Congrong, "What do you think?" The Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, choose one. ”

Yang Congrong didn't expect this choice to be made for him, he hurriedly said: "The official family, the ministers are all arranged by the official family. ”

Zhao Jiaren put away his smile, "What I am in charge of is to make the national government run smoothly, and you need to be able to give full play to your talents." As for which side can exert your strength, don't you have a judgment yourself? ”

Yang Congrong no longer dared to be humble, and hurriedly replied: "The minister is willing to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." ”

"Good. Personnel transfers are entrusted to the Organization Department. Meeting. Zhao Jiaren gave the final order.

The meeting was dismissed here, and Lu Baifeng left immediately. Yang Congrong hurriedly stopped him, "Minister Lu, do you want everyone to go to dinner together?" ”

"No, I can't. I have to go home. Something. ”

Yang calmly looked at Lu Baifeng, and Lu Baifeng immediately responded: "I just have something I want to talk to Yang Jiedu about something." ”

The two looked at Zhao Qian, and Zhao Qian sighed, "I still have a document to read." Next time. ”

And the crowd dispersed. Zhao Qian returned to the office and picked up the "Research on Soil Salinization in the Guanzhong Plain and the Huanghuai Plain" to continue studying. The author's team has a rather cold view, believing that under the current climatic conditions, the planning of the grain producing area of the Great Song Dynasty can only abandon Guanzhong, a production area with a long history of granary. The northernmost grain producing area of the Great Song Dynasty was planned to be the Huanghuai Plain, and at the same time, Siam and further south regions were vigorously developed.

Since the main research direction is not in this direction, this aspect of the story ends here. Zhao Qian put down the report, and his heart was in a mess. The return of the Great Song court to Kaifeng was of great political significance, and the political center of the Great Song Dynasty returned to the Central Plains again, which meant that the Great Song Dynasty was no longer the Great Song of Jiangnan, but the Great Song of China. But the recent climate is so bad, and the climate of the Xiaoice River that Daddy Zhao Jiaren has long described has not changed because of human political activities.

Under the Xiaoice climate, Guangzhou snows every year, even heavy snow. North of the Huai River, the worst part of the Xiaoice climate is the annual drought, which causes plant thinning and raises the threat of locust plagues. Once the chain of evil deeds develops to the stage of locust plague, it will directly destroy the fertile fields north of the Huai River.

The very existence of saline land is very conducive to the breeding of locust plagues. Until now, one of the reasons for the people's worship of Daddy Zhao Jiaren is that the Zhao Guanjia family can divert the river. Judging from the perspective of that year, this action was also necessary. But the two-sided nature of the matter comes to light at this point. Without a stable and reliable food supply, the north of the Huai River could not afford half of the population of the Great Song Dynasty. Without half of the population of the Great Song Dynasty, the economic center of the Great Song Dynasty could not be shifted north of the Huai River. It's also a ripple effect.

After thinking about it, Zhao Qian really couldn't find a way to solve the problem completely. He sat down and wrote down his thoughts on a piece of paper, and when he was sure that it was all right, he went to see his father.

After listening to his son's story, Zhao Jiaren asked Zhao Qian: "Have you come up with any solution?" ”

Zhao Qian said: "It's not that there is no way. To do so would be to sacrifice part of Henan's grain production and to maintain the transportation capacity of the Tongji Canal in terms of water supply. In times of poor harvests, more food was transported through the canal. ”

Zhao Jiaren nodded, this is indeed the opinion of previous dynasties. In fact, in the Tang and Song dynasties, Bianliang could not completely rely on the stable access to grain in Henan, and Emperor Yang of Sui was called 'the precursor of the king' by later generations, which means that the Grand Canal built by Emperor Yang of Sui solved the problem of food supply north of the Huai River and became the key to stabilizing the Henan Road in later generations.

Then Zhao Jiaren listened to Zhao Qian say regretfully: "The key is that the Yellow River is not stable and navigable. It would be nice if the Yellow River could be as navigable as the Yangtze River. ”

Zhao Jiaren was satisfied, at least Zhao Qian had realized the importance of transportation. The Yangtze River is navigable all year round, at least without worrying about transportation. The Huanghuai Plain does not have such an advantage, once it encounters a catastrophe, it will be thousands of miles away, and there will be nowhere to run. Zhao Jiaren said: "Zhao Qian, I am going to prepare for the establishment of the Ministry of Railways, and you will be responsible for this matter." ”

Speaking of the railway, Zhao Qian immediately remembered the smell of horse feces. The current railway relies on horses to pull the carriages, this kind of rail transit is really good, in the past, the transportation of military rations, thousands of miles away can reach ten percent of the management level of God. Although the grain on the grain truck does not look the same, it is not concerned about the consumption of people eating and horses when transporting along the way. On average, only 5 per cent of the food actually transported arrived.

Rail transit has made the whole transportation much more efficient, and the first large-scale rail laying has been tested in the Yinshan area, and the consumption of 500 miles of road using horse-drawn vehicles has been reduced to 15%. The cost of a round trip 1000 miles has been reduced to 28%. In other words, 70% of the grain can be transported to the transportation hub on the front line. But this requires a lot of pulls, and every road where pulls are used in large quantities smells of horses drowning. Smell it a few times and you'll never forget it.

"Official, how many railways do you need to build?" Zhao Qian was frightened by his imagination.

"Zhao Qian, have you ever counted the damage to vehicle transportation?" Zhao Jiaren asked.

“…… No. ”

"Then go find the information and study it." Zhao Jiaren replied indifferently. He had ordered an investigation, and although he hadn't read the report, he was able to figure it out. Wooden vehicles are easily damaged, and metal vehicles themselves are too heavy and do not have a large number of roads in later generations, so they are not practical at all. If lubricant is not practical, the damage to the vehicle is even more serious. The lack of maintenance of the vehicle itself will lead to a significant reduction in transportation efficiency and a rapid increase in vehicle damage. These are all costs that no one cares about. All that is taken into account, the steam-powered train is a god-like being. Although Zhao Jiaren did not read the damage report of the wooden vehicle, he was very concerned about the progress of the research and development of the steam locomotive. As he saw it, the steam train was only one year away from being fully put into practical use.

"Yes." Zhao Qian responded.

"In addition, you talk to someone from the Ministry of Agriculture to make a model of grain transportation under the conditions of railway transportation."

"Yes. Anything else? ”

"Well...... what do you think of Yang Congrong's evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the Mongols and Han Chinese?"

Zhao Qian thought for a while and replied decisively: "The minister thought it was a bit deafening. ”

"Hmm. I think so too. Let's do a few newspaper issues on this issue. Zhao Jiaren ordered.

Zhao Qian was ordered to go. When I returned, I began to gather my secretary and start preparing. Seeing that the secretaries were a little out of spirit, Zhao Qian ordered again: "It's a holiday soon, or the big guy will rest a few days in advance and take a long vacation." ”

Immediately the secretaries were cheered, "Great." Thank you, Prince. ”

Zhao Qian didn't blame these guys for being lazy. He knew how busy he had been with these secretaries for more than a year. Since he said that he was on holiday, Zhao Qian immediately gave everyone a holiday. Staying in the empty room, Zhao Qian only felt a little lonely. He put his legs on the table in a very shapeless way, and thought nonsense with a cigarette in his mouth.

It's easy to be a prince, since there have long been rules for establishing a successor, Zhao Qian can be a prince as long as he has no special problems. But it's too difficult to become an official like Daddy Zhao Jiaren, and the more Zhao Qian tries his best, the more he can feel what kind of monster his dad is. Just the effective working hours every day, Zhao Qian felt that he couldn't catch up in his life.

Zhao Qian once insisted on it for a month, recording what he did every day. The more he looked at it, the more frightened he became, and he spent half of the whole day eating, sleeping, and resting. The remaining half of the time is spent on 6 hours walking, reading information, and understanding what kind of situation you are encountering. The remaining six hours were all kinds of meetings and talks. Often, at the end of the day, nothing can really be accomplished. My dad spends at least six hours a day getting his work done.

Just like today's meeting, the strategy for the northern slave dynasty of Tianzhu for at least half a year or more was determined. Following his father's side, Zhao Qian found that his every action could be effective. By the time Zhao Qian faced the problem himself, his efforts had become an inefficient waste of time. It's a terrible feeling.