Chapter 141: The Second Year of Xing'an [Two in One]
Although Zhao Hongrun was very disappointed by the departure of his sixth brother Zhao Zhao, in fact life went on as usual.
From April to June of the second year of Xing'an, the counties in the Wei State added this year's Enke examination. This examination was presided over by He Yu, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, and once again provided many young talents for the Wei State.
.
In the current general situation of the Wei State, people born in the Zhaowu period are gradually being replaced by young people born in the Wende period. For example, Xu Rong, the minister of Dali Temple, this old man petitioned the court in early May.
He recommended Yang Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple, to take his place.
According to the traditional rules, Zhao Hongrun, as the king of Wei, finally agreed to Xu Rong's proposal after repeatedly urging him to stay, and promoted Shaoqing Yang Yu to the post of Qingzheng of Dali Temple in the court meeting.
I remember that during this period, Chu Shuli, the Prime Minister of Daliang Mansion, joked to Meng Wei, Minister of Industry, and several others, saying that back then, their generation was called the young people in the court and the pillars of the court in the future, but now, they are not.
They became the oldest group in the court.
In fact, not only the Liang court, but also local officials were replaced one after another. Old officials resigned and talented young people took their places. Although this process inevitably made people feel a little sad, correspondingly, the Wei government
As a result, the organization has become younger, more energetic and energetic.
In early July, the imperial court issued performance evaluation criteria for local officials. This year's performance evaluation criteria are "road construction" and "field cultivation." Simply put, it refers to the conditions of roads and fields within each local county.
It will be used as the performance evaluation standard for the local officials - local county magistrates who fail to meet the standards of the court will be replaced.
Although this regulation seems to be a bit of a rigid target, considering that the Wei State is currently working hard to build a road network in the country, the court is still within the tolerance of some shortcomings.
Of course, this "slight disadvantage" refers to the local government's efforts to pave roads while slightly delaying other construction in order to meet the rigid targets of the Liang Dynasty. It does not mean to commit fraud and lie about political achievements.
But having said that, even if local officials want to commit fraud, there is nothing they can do this time. After all, more than one imperial government office is eyeing this area this year. In addition to the Ministry of Personnel and the Yushitai, Gao Kuo, the left captain of the Tiance Mansion, and Gao Kuo, the right captain of the Tiance Mansion.
Captain Zhang Qigong was paying close attention to this matter. Even the Gongwei Division, which was under the direct control of Wei Jun, sent out Gongwei Division guards to inspect the progress in local counties and counties, ensuring that Zhao Hongrun could clearly understand the local situation to the greatest extent.
Road construction status.
As of August, the track carriages in the "Daliang-Zhengcheng" section were first laid. Because Zhengcheng was roughly located in the center of "Sanchuan County" and "Yingshui County", the imperial court intended to elevate Zhengcheng's status to
Positioned on an equal footing with Daliang, it serves as one of several hubs in the national road network.
When this track carriage was officially put into use, the nobles and people of Zheng City came out of the city to watch. They were stunned to see the carriages loaded with goods speeding on the track.
The straight-line distance from Daliang to Zhengcheng is only one hundred and sixty miles, but the actual distance is more than two hundred and fifty miles, or even more. However, officials from the Ministry of Industry who were present at the construction site said that relying on this kind of rail carriage, they
You can travel from one city to another in about a day to a day and a half.
When they heard about this incident, the nobles and people of Zhengcheng were shocked.
A descendant of the Zheng family expressed disbelief on the spot. This person was the cousin of Zheng Tu, the current Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and was married to the "Hun family and Wang family" of the Queen Mother Wang family. He said he did not believe the Ministry of Works's
Nonsense.
According to what he said, when he went to Daliang in previous years, even riding a horse would take five or six days, and this was still in a hurry.
In this regard, the officials of the Ministry of Industry who were working on the local construction had no intention of defending themselves, and simply asked the Zheng family member and several other aristocratic children from Zheng City to try riding this rail carriage.
Facts have proved that the officials from the Ministry of Industry were not joking at all. By frequently changing the horses on the way, the nobles arrived in Daliang from Zhengcheng in about twelve hours.
These people were stunned and couldn't believe it.
In order to win the trust of the people, officials from the Ministry of Industry who tested this rail carriage also invited respected old men in the counties along the road to ride this rail carriage. After all, the court will charge for this rail carriage in the future, and one more person
The imperial court will have more income.
Under the propaganda of the Ministry of Industry, this magical rail carriage gradually spread in Zhengcheng.
In fact, the Wei State had already had five rail carriages before, including Daliang connecting Fenyin in Hedong, Shanyang in Hanoi, Shangshui County in Shangshui County, Luocheng in Sanchuan, etc. However, because these rail carriages were blocked by the imperial court and Chengling
Wang Zhaoshen and other big nobles in the country controlled it, so that it was not famous in the country. Even those who knew about it only knew that such a thing existed and did not know the details.
But this time, the imperial court actually presented the rail carriage in front of the people of Zhengcheng. From the nobles to the common people, everyone was shocked by this magical thing.
Even the people from nearby counties flocked to Zhengcheng after hearing about this incident, hoping to see this magical thing.
Having said that, if the nobles and common people in Zhengcheng were just looking for something new, then the merchants in Zhengcheng saw the business opportunities in it.
In fact, many merchants in Zhengcheng have already tried this kind of rail carriage, such as when they were doing business in Sanchuan and Shangshui counties.
It is no exaggeration to say that after trying the rail carriage, who would still be willing to use ordinary carriages to transport goods as usual? - Starting from Daliang at the same time, others use the rail carriage to travel back and forth between Daliang and Sanchuan within a few days.
, and if we continue to use the previous transportation methods, we may not even be able to reach Luocheng within these few days. What this means is clear to all merchants with some brains.
So, while the people in Zhengcheng were still in a wait-and-see attitude, the merchants in Zhengcheng immediately got in touch with the officials from the local Ministry of Works responsible for the construction.
It has to be said that when Zhengcheng opened the railway carriage, the appearance of the city seemed to suddenly become different. In just one or two months, many goods and goods that were rarely seen in the past poured into Zhengcheng.
The market in Zhengcheng quickly became prosperous.
And Zhengcheng’s local specialties seem to have suddenly become on sale.
In fact, this has nothing to do with whether Zhengcheng's specialties are good or not. The key reason lies in the cost of transportation. Many merchants in Wei have been tricked by water transportation and rail carriages, and naturally they are no longer willing to spend huge manpower and material resources as before.
Carry cargo.
For example, although Chu State's pearls have not been as easy to sell in Sanchuan in recent years, the advantage is that the transportation from Shangshui County to Sanchuan is cheap. A ship of pearls, no matter how low the price, can still have a huge impact.
profit.
Not to mention that water transport can now lead directly to Xianyang of the Qin State. With Qin and Wei forming an alliance and dominating Hexi, this trade route is simply a huge profit.
Although Zhengcheng was closer in comparison in the past, because of transportation difficulties, who is willing to travel back and forth to this city?
After the rail carriage was opened in Zhengcheng, officials from the Ministry of Industry who were working on the local construction quickly handed over the maintenance of the rail carriage to the Driving Department under the Ministry of War, and were anxious to build more tracks in a radiating manner with Zhengcheng as the center.
Horse-drawn carriages, such as "Yangcheng" in the west, "Yangzhai" in the southwest, and "Changshe" in the southeast, were eventually built all the way to Sanchuan County and Shangshui County, connecting the existing road network while activating the territory of Wei State
The entire road network.
Of course, this is just an idea at the moment. If you want to implement it, you may not see any results within three to five years.
The main reason is the lack of manpower.
Speaking of manpower, with the acquiescence of the Daliang court of the Wei State, the Lun tribe of the Sichuan-Luo Alliance got in touch with the Jie tribe of Nanyang and Wandi, and used some of the weapons and equipment eliminated by the Wei State and newly produced rice grains to
The Jie people who immigrated to the local area exchanged for many Ba people slaves.
These Ba slaves were quickly put into various construction projects of the Wei State and made considerable contributions to the construction of the Wei State.
It is worth mentioning that except for the fact that the Liang court privately purchased these Ba slaves to promote the progress of domestic construction, the sales of these Ba slaves were very small. This may be because the Banu are not as tall as the Hunu, or it may be that the Banu are not as tall as the Hunu.
It was because the nobles of Wei State, especially the Zhao family, were hostile to the Ba people.
In addition to the Banu, the Nanyang Jie people also imported some specialties of the Ba country to the Wei State, such as insect wax, a specialty of Bashu, which was immediately included in the list of tributes. The reason is that candles made of this kind of insect wax are very popular in the world.
It will not produce black smoke when burning, will not blacken the buildings in the palace, and the price is much lower than beeswax.
In addition, the Nanyang Jie people also circulated some other local specialties of Bashu to the Wei State through the Sichuan-Luo Alliance, such as silk, tea, ores, etc., which were basically what they obtained from plundering the Ba people, and the Wei State also
Through the Sichuan-Luo Alliance, some rice grains, salt, weapons, equipment, etc. were exported accordingly, secretly supporting the Nanyang Jie people to continue fighting with the Ba people.
Although the Nanyang Jie people and the Wei State did have an unhappy time, as the saying goes, there are no eternal enemies. With the right interests, even those who were once enemies can become good partners again - just like
In the eyes of Wei State, the Nanyang Jie people were very good thugs or slave catchers.
Generally speaking, the Wei State was peaceful in the second year of Xing'an. It was not like the war between the two countries of Korea and Chu more than ten years ago. This period of peace made the Wei people in the country increasingly recognize and be loyal to the royal family.
improve.
Of course, the most important thing is that the policies implemented by the imperial court have indeed benefited the civilians in the country.
To vividly describe it, the Wei State is currently making a pot of broth. The imperial court eats meat. Even if it can't eat it, it doesn't mind letting the nobles who always chew bones take away two pieces of meat. And these domestic nobles are busy.
While swallowing the fat, I don't mind throwing in a few bones to the people who have been drinking soup. Even the soup is not available to ordinary people, so that they can taste the taste of meat and bones.
All three levels are currently satisfied.
It has to be said that such a harmonious situation is really rare, but if you think about it carefully, it is not surprising, because the pot of broth is sufficient, or in other words, the resources of the Wei State are enough to be divided among the three classes in the country.
"PS: The author knows that there is a contradiction called "not worrying about scarcity but worrying about inequality", but I think the Wei people have not yet reached this ideological state, so there is basically no hatred of the rich."
Around September, Qin Shaojun Yingying took the fleet that Lantian Jun Ying had relegated to carry jade, and returned to Daliang again after being away from Wei for more than half a year.
After learning about this, Zhao Hongrun secretly thought something was wrong.
Sure enough, at noon that day, Qin Shaojun Yingying rushed to the palace with her uncle Lantian Jun Yingban - to be precise, it was Lantian Jun Yingban who kept trying to persuade her niece who had a bad temper along the way.
"You actually treat me, Da Qin, as a spearman!"
In the study room of Ganlu Hall, Qin Shaojun Yingying angrily rushed to the table in front of Zhao Hongrun, slapped the table with both hands, leaned forward slightly, and stared at Zhao Hongrun domineeringly, matching her slightly neutral appearance, without knowing it
The people in the palace thought that there was some conflict between the young king of Qin and their majesty.
Well, actually it's pretty much the same.
After glancing at the embarrassed eunuch Gao He standing near the palace door, and then at the angry side chamber in front of him, Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth and said, "Well... please come in."
Qin Shaojun looked at Zhao Hongrun dully, and after a while he whispered: "I'm not kidding you, Zhao Run..."
"Hey, hey."
On the side, Lan Tianjun persuaded with a strange expression: "Young Jun, how can you talk to your husband like this? As a woman."
"Uncle, please shut up!" Qin Shaojun glanced at Lan Tianjun and interrupted the latter rudely.
Lan Tianjun opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. He stood aside with an embarrassed look on his face, just muttering secretly in his heart: Why does this girl feel that her temper is worse after getting married? Could it be because she hasn't had any problems yet?
Caused by heirs?
While muttering, the only thing he could do was hope that the young king of Wei in front of him could tolerate his wife being so rude - even in the eyes of Lantian Jun, Qin Shaojun's behavior was very rude.
"Zhao Run, is Great Qin an ally of Great Wei?!" Qin Shaojun asked dully, looking directly into Zhao Hongrun's eyes.
"Of course." Zhao Hongrun said with a smile: "Didn't we pull the hook before?"
Hearing this, Lan Tianjun couldn't help but laugh out loud, but after being glared at by Qin Shaojun, he immediately stopped smiling.
"I didn't mean to joke with you..."
After glaring hard at his uncle Lan Tianjun, Qin Shaojun turned his eyes to the husband in front of him again and said displeasedly: "Since we are allies, why did Wei terminate the war with South Korea early?"
"That's because the Wei army's food and grass can no longer support it." Lord Lantian explained to Zhao Hongrun from the sidelines.
"...Exactly." Zhao Hongrun spread his hands.
Immediately, he stood up, reached out and touched Qin Shaojun's messy hair, then held her hand and asked gently: "What's the matter, Shaojun? Are you tired from the road? Why are you so angry? Why don't you go first?"
After bathing, I will ask the dining room to prepare a sweet soup of your choice for you?"
"I, I'm telling you something serious, no, don't do this..."
Her husband's gentle words made Qin Shaojun's face turn red all of a sudden, and he pulled his hand away from Zhao Hongrun shyly and angrily.
She was very angry. Every time she was angry, the guy in front of her would deliberately treat her tenderly and affectionately, making her angry. But she still felt like this in her heart. Even if she was angry, she could only be angry with herself.
It's so worthless, a few sweet words were dominated by this hateful guy in front of me.
"Is it from South Korea? The war between Qin and South Korea is not going well?" Zhao Hongrun patted Qin Shaojun's hand and asked with a smile.
Qin Shaojun, who was blushing, rolled his eyes at Zhao Hongrun and struggled a little, but in the end, she still couldn't pull her hand out of Zhao Hongrun's hand - or in other words, she actually didn't use any force.
"It didn't go well."
Seeing that Qin Shaojun was calmed down by Zhao Hongrun after several scorns, Lan Tianjun raised his thumb secretly and shrugged his shoulders and said: "But it doesn't matter, as long as there is a war, those people will not be in chaos."
Speaking of which, the national conditions of the Qin State are also incredible. Other countries frequently fight wars, which leads to resentment among the people. But only in the Qin State, the country's lack of war will arouse dissatisfaction among the domestic people.
It’s no wonder. After all, if the Qin State does not go to war, it will cause a series of things. For example, tattooed soldiers will have nothing to do and idle around all day, causing chaos to local security. Another example is that civilians at the bottom of society will not have the opportunity to improve their social status through military exploits, etc.
Etc., these are all the drawbacks caused by the military merit system.
Fortunately, in recent years, Qin State, with the help of Wei State, has opened up terraced fields in the Qinling Mountains, greatly increasing the amount of cultivated land and finally relieving some pressure. However, due to its shallow foundation, Qin State still needs to go through war.
To consume the excessive energy of the people and plunder materials from other countries to meet domestic needs.
It is precisely for this reason that the royal families of Qin such as Lantian Jun Yingban are not very concerned about the war between Qin and South Korea - as long as there is a war, the people in the country will not be in chaos, and the country will not be in chaos.
, this is enough.
As for whether this war can be won, in fact, the nobles of the Qin State really don't care much today. After all, the benefits they obtain from trade with Wei are not necessarily less than the profits obtained through war.
Of course, most of those who have this kind of mentality are from the royal family who do not know how to make progress, such as Lantian Jun Ying, Qin Shaojun Ying Ying, Wu Xin Hou Gongsun Qi, Chang Xin Hou Wang Jian and others. Of course, they still hope to open up the country for the country.
Territory expansion.
However, Li Mu, the defender of Yanmen County in South Korea, was really capable. He firmly established himself in Yanmen County and took advantage of the geographical advantages. He repeatedly repelled Qin's army, leaving Qin helpless and unable to do anything.
"Can't the two hundred thousand Qin army defeat Yanmen?"
Zhao Hongrun asked with great interest: "As far as I know, Li Mu of Yanmen only has tens of thousands of troops, right?"
In fact, he is still very optimistic about the tattooed army. Compared with the tattooed army, what are the martial arts warriors of Qi State?
"More than tens of thousands."
Although Lantian Jun Ying was relegated, he didn’t care much about the military, but as a descendant of the Qin royal family surnamed Ying, he still understood some of the situation: "In July and August last year, South Korea sent more troops to Yanmen and Taiyuan... South Korea
The powerful crossbow caused a lot of casualties to our army."
Zhao Hongrun nodded suddenly.
It is undeniable that South Korea's military industry foundation is indeed good. The crossbows produced by its domestic workshops are not inferior to those of Wei's crossbows. This is why even if South Korea is defeated this time, Zhao Hongrun is still wary of South Korea's rise again -
-Compared to the outdated Qi State, South Korea is the 'skinny camel'.
"Speaking of the powerful crossbow..." Lantian Jun Yingban seemed to have thought of something, and said with a smile: "This time I come to your country, the king of our country hopes that His Highness Run - oh, no, now he should be called His Majesty the King of Wei -
I hope that your majesty can build a batch of powerful crossbows for Wu Xinhou’s army, otherwise Li Mu will use the power of the powerful crossbows to block the mountain pass, making it difficult for our army to advance."
"No problem." Zhao Hongrun agreed cheerfully, and then there was a hint of hesitation on his face: "But..."
Lantian Jun Yingban knew how to read his eyes, and immediately patted his chest and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I, Xianyang, will bear all the expenses, and I will never cause your country to suffer."
"readily!"
Zhao Hongrun smiled and ordered the eunuch Gao He: "Send someone to inform the Bing Casting Bureau and order them to immediately free up several assembly lines to cast crossbows for our soldiers of Great Qin."
"Yes, Your Majesty." The great eunuch Gao He bowed and sent a young eunuch behind him to the Bingzhu Bureau.
"In addition, we may also need your country to raise a batch of grain and grass for our country." Lantian Jun Yingban then added.
"Food and grass..." Zhao Hongrun pondered for a moment.
In fact, the problem of food and grass is not big, because since the spring of this year, Wei's army of up to 4 to 50 thousand has been cultivating military fields in Hexi, Hetao, Hedong, Hanoi and other places. This year's food output will definitely be higher than in previous years.
More; in addition, there is no war in Wei State this year, and the rice grain consumption is not serious, but he can sell or lend part of it to Qin State - although Zhao Hongrun originally planned to store this grain in large granaries across the country, after all
The grain reserves accumulated by his father for twenty years during his lifetime have been squandered by him over the years, causing the Wei army to temporarily lose the ability to fight for a long time.
After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun said: "After this year's autumn harvest, I can provide some assistance to your country. Of course, that..."
"I understand, I understand." Lan Tianjun nodded repeatedly.
On the side, Qin Shaojun felt a little unhappy when he heard: That hateful guy was obviously using Qin as a spearhead to achieve his goal of continuously weakening South Korea, but whether it was Xianyang or his uncle Lantian Jun who was relegated, it seemed that
None of them were dissatisfied with this.
Although it is said that the interests between countries do not involve personal relationships, at least you should take care of our Qin country a little.
While feeling depressed, Qin Shaojun said from the side: "Are you really planning to appease South Korea? According to the detailed report sent by Da Qin to South Korea, South Korea has also been actively building its country this year. Be careful of raising tigers!"
"oh?"
Zhao Hongrun raised his eyebrows in surprise, feeling a little unbelievable: South Korea's skinny camel, even if it goes to war with Qin, still has enough energy to develop domestic construction?
If this is true, then it really needs to be dealt with.
However, in Zhao Hongrun's view, there is no need to target South Korea, only Han Wangran - for example, using a certain strategy to destroy Han Wangran's body.
As long as Han Wangran falls, South Korea will have little threat at all.
After squinting his eyes and thinking for a moment, Zhao Hongrun ordered the eunuch Gao He: "Send an order to the Ministry of Rites, I will send someone as an envoy to South Korea, and ask them to select a few more people, and I will personally select them."
"Did you come up with something?" Qin Shaojun asked curiously.
I saw Zhao Hongrun walking slowly to the window, looking at a few chirping birds on the tree in the courtyard outside the window, and smiled faintly.