Ji Yi, who left Jingdong and Shangcheng City, headed west along the canal. When the official ship he was riding left Xuzhou, where industry and commerce were developed, and entered Yingtian Prefecture, a bleak and sad atmosphere came to his face.

In the past, Yingtian Prefecture, Nanjing, the Song Empire, actually felt very different from the nearby Xuzhou.

Although Xuzhou was also affected by the crisis caused by money, its economic vitality was temporarily suppressed and not lost. At this time, Xuzhou was China's second largest handicraft center, second only to Tianjin, the capital of the Great Zhou Republic, and surpassed the nearby Haizhou.

The three pillars supporting Xuzhou's handicraft industry are carbonite, iron smelting and porcelain.

Among them, carbonite is the coal mining industry, and Xuzhou ranks first in the country (including the Zhou Kingdom)! Xuzhou carbonite is transported through the canal and JD.com to market to the Central Plains and Southeast.

The iron smelting industry in Liguojian, Xuzhou, has also made leap forward with the metallurgy industry in Xuande Prefecture, under the promotion of Haizhou Metallurgy Academy. Whether the quality or output of the product, it can compete with the metallurgy industry in Xuande Prefecture, Zhou Guo.

With the convenience of canals and sea transportation, the iron tools that benefit the State Administration of China will also be sold all over the world!

The porcelain industry near Xuzhou is already very developed because Xuzhou has carbohydrate resources and is close to the canal, Huaihe River and Haizhou ports, which is convenient for export.

Therefore, the porcelain industry for the international market and the southeast market has gradually developed.

Among these three pillar industries, ironware, especially military-grade ironware, does not have to worry about sales, so the smelting ground in Liguojian will always rise. Carbonite is a must-have, and it is now the Little Ice Age, and it is very difficult to bear in winter without carbide heating. As for porcelain, it is mainly exported or sold to the south. The financial crisis in the Central Plains has little impact on overseas markets, and the impact on the Jiangnan and Minyue markets is not very strong.

So the markets in Xuzhou and Haizhou that Ji Yi saw were quite reasonable, but Yingtianfu was so depressed that it was a bit unreasonable.

The markets and the Cao Market along the canal are in an extremely sluggish state without exception. The street markets are deserted, and most shops have door panels and no one operates them.

Yingtianfu City, which originally had 200,000 to 300,000 residents, has become very cold now. There are few pedestrians on the streets and alleys, and shops have gone bankrupt one after another. Only near the Yingtianfu Yamen and Inn, there is still a little popularity.

In the inn in Yingtianfucheng, Ji Yi met the new deputy envoy of Jingdong Road and general manager of the military commander, and was sentenced to Xuzhou affairs and the governor of Pinghai Army Pan Xiao'an.

Pan Xiao'an, who is in his fifties, has transformed from an imperial guard capitalist to a civil engineering expert, and has successively been responsible for building the Qionglin Palace, Kaifeng New Xicheng, and Nanjing Xiangyang Prefecture City. This time he was ordered to build Xuzhou City.

According to Pan Xiao'an's plan (of course he did not do it himself, Pan Xiao'an raised a large group of material craftsmen and master craftsmen in the construction industry), Pengcheng, where Xuzhou Prefecture is located, will be expanded into a step-shaped prism with 24 prism-shaped prisms.

The core of the prismatic castle is the 12-sided fort built outside the old city of Xuzhou. The 12 corners of the 12-sided forts will extend out 12 prismatic castles. At the same time, 12 prismatic castles will be built on the outside of the 12-sided faces that use a fly bridge to connect 12-sided city walls.

The 24 outgoings will wrap Xuzhou city groups, and the artillery deployed on the outgoings can support each other and form a dense cross-fire power!

In addition to this 24-angle castle, Pan Xiao'an also plans to build four eight-angle castle basins in Xiapi, the capital of Liguojian, Peixian, Xiaoxian and Huaiyang Army.

In addition, Pan Xiao'an will also make great efforts to rectify the canal waterway system within the territory of Xuzhou and Huaiyang Army to strengthen Xuzhou's central position and prevent flooding.

"Does the officials want Xuzhou to be the Eastern Capital?"

In a clean room in the inn, Ji Yi was very surprised after hearing Pan Xiao'an finish his personal talk about the "Great Xuzhou Plan".

Now the imperial court's finances are not abundant, and it has allocated huge sums of money to build Xuzhou. Why isn't it doubtful?

One Nanjing Xiangyang is not enough. Are you going to build another Tokyo Xuzhou?

But then again, Xuzhou is indeed more suitable to become the capital of the Song Empire, which is on the verge of division, than Kaifeng Prefecture.

With the capital of Xuzhou, the center of charcoal, porcelain and iron smelting, the imperial court can at least ensure that the southeastern commercial center will not be out of control - this is not only military control, but also economic control.

At least JD.com is inseparable from Xuzhou’s charcoal, porcelain and ironware!

Xuzhou has a very superior geographical location. Since ancient times, it has been a key to the north and a gateway to the south, and a place that must be fought for by military strategists. It is also a famous hometown of emperors and has a relatively martial style. You can also recruit soldiers from nearby Shandong and Huainan, and recruit soldiers of good quality.

If there is a strong castle as the foundation, Xuzhou can indeed build a capital with the rise of the southeast economy.

Of course, Xuzhou is also deficient compared to Kaifeng, which is that it is not in the hinterland of the Central Plains. It is too far away from Shaanxi, Hedong and Hebei. The Song Dynasty, with Xuzhou as its capital, would be difficult to control Shaanxi, Hedong, Hebei and other places.

In addition, there is another problem with building the capital Xuzhou, that is, Xuzhou is a real industrial and commercial capital, and the nearby JD.com is a harbor and financial center that is comparable to Tianjin.

The Song Dynasty court, with Xuzhou as its capital, was inevitably controlled by emerging industrial and commercial capital. The Song Dynasty would gradually become the second largest Zhou... no, it was even worse than the Zhou Dynasty.

Because the Great Zhou Republic is a country of a republic of military and commercial citizens.

The military landlord class of the Song Dynasty was very weak and concentrated in Shaanxi, Shuofang, and Hebei. If the capital was moved to Xuzhou, then the pillar of the court would be the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie.

What power does such an imperial court have to govern the vast territory of the northwest, Hebei, Henan and the southwest?

"The official family doesn't mean this," Pan Xiao'an shook his head, "The official family just wants to enfeoff Prince Yun as the prince of Donghai, and use Xuzhou as the base for the enemy to defend the East China Sea."

"This..." Ji Yi was confused when he heard it, "What does the seal mean?"

Pan Xiao'an smiled and said, "It is to cut off half of Haizhou as the Donghai Kingdom, use Prince Yun as the monarch of the Donghai Kingdom, and guard the Donghai Kingdom. Then use Xuzhou as the backing of the Donghai Kingdom, so as to ensure that the country's eastern gateway is safe."

"This..." Ji Yi thought about it and it seemed to make some sense, but it was a bit inappropriate. "It is a way to guard the southeast coast with Donghai King, but what if Donghai King is uneasy?"

"No," Pan Xiao'an smiled and waved his hand, "Although Prince Yun is very talented, he has no monarchy and is obsessed with learning. He will never have the ambition to rule the Southeast."

"Tonghai King has no ambitions, just afraid of the people around him..."

"That won't be even more." Pan Xiao'an smiled, "The King of Donghai will marry his niece Mei Niang as his concubine. Mei Niang is the daughter of a great scholar. She is well-educated and polite. She will definitely persuade the King of Donghai to be close to the gentleman and stay away from the villain."

"Your niece? The daughter of the Great Confucian?" Ji Yi didn't understand at once. Pan Xiao'an had only Pan Qiaolian, the legitimate sister, but there were a lot of girls from the Pan family. However, Ji Yi couldn't remember that Sister Pan married the Great Confucian.

"It's Wu Mei's eldest daughter Wu Chongdao, the head of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"

"Ah..." Ji Yi rolled her eyes and said to herself: It's great, even if Zhao Kai doesn't have the intention, it's hard to have Wu Meiniang blow the wind beside her pillow every day, it's hard not to be in chaos in the southeast!

Pan Xiao'an saw Ji Yi's surprise appearance and just smiled, saying, "Yizhi, Your Majesty is in full swing in the spring and autumn, and is in good health. There will be no problem with being the emperor for 30 years. Then whether you and I will still be alive or not... As long as the emperor is not in chaos in the southeast when he is alive, you and I will fulfill your responsibility for the Song Dynasty.

Whatever is left behind the Emperor Long Yubin Tian, ​​you and I can’t control you and let future generations worry about it!

Besides, there are now signs of the second country of Zhou in the southeast. I dare not think about what will happen in another thirty years. I know that King Donghai’s surname is Zhao after all... Isn’t this enough?"

Ji Yi frowned: "It wouldn't be like this, it wouldn't be like this... It should be Xuanma, and there will be a solution at that time."

"The solution is not without..." Pan Xiao'an stroked his gray beard and stopped talking.

Ji Yi looked at him and said, "The lay Buddhist Xianshan (Pan Xiao'an named Xianshan) said something if you have something to do."

"Just say it!" Pan Xiao'an said, "Now the Song Dynasty is not weak, but has a trend of collapse. All directions are trapped in the southeast, and all scholars and officials are trapped in industry and commerce. To resolve the dangers of the world, there is only two ways, either suppress industry and commerce, or rely on industry and commerce.

If you want to suppress industry and commerce, you must move the capital to Xiangyang in order to collect the rice from Jinghu, the brocade from Bashu, the bravery from Shaanxi, Huaixi, Guanluo, Sichuan, and Jinghu.

If you want to rely on industry and commerce, you should move the capital to Xuzhou, control the East China Sea, and control the Jiangnan region from afar. Use the wealth of industrial and commercial trade in the southeast to support Shandong and Huaixi."

In Pan Xiao'an's view, the Song Dynasty has now divided into two major interest groups: scholar-officials and industrial and commercial capitalists.

Moreover, because the Southeast Industrial and Commercial Group relies on the power of silk, sea salt, iron, porcelain, carbon, and financial capital to exploit more than 300 state prefectures in the inland, the contradictions between the two sides are so sharp that it is difficult to reconcile.

If you want to please both sides, it is destined to be thankless.

Ji Yi frowned deeply after hearing Pan Xiao'an's words, without comment.

Although he has always been a high-ranking official in the court, he has served in the local area for a long time, especially in the Southeast and Jiaozhi for many years, and has no idea about the situation in the Central Plains and Kaifeng Prefecture. Therefore, it is impossible to imagine that the internal conflicts within the Song Dynasty have intensified to the point where the capital needs to be suppressed by moving the capital.

But moving is a matter of shaking the foundation of the country, so can it be carried out casually? And should the Song Dynasty rely on industry and commerce or literati and officials?
Chapter completed!