Three hundred and twentieth chapters treacherous Khitan
Outside the imperial hall, in a square pavilion in the garden, Yang Lin and Cai Jing were sitting opposite each other drinking tea.
Looking around at the rockery pavilions, strange flowers and trees, already dazzling in early summer, with all the flowers blooming, Cai Jing smiled and said: "Wenyuan, it is said that you are not very optimistic about the alliance between Song and Jin."
Yang Lin nodded and said: "Your Majesty, what the Jurchens did in Huanglong Mansion showed their ruthless and cruel nature. If they were allowed to easily destroy the Khitan, how could they bear it after seeing the magnificence of the Song Dynasty?
If we don’t go south, we will have another powerful enemy.”
Cai Jing pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Although there is an alliance between the Liao and Song Dynasties, envoys are sent to each other every year, so the diplomatic relations are not lacking in courtesy.
However, everyone knows that the Liao and Song dynasties were feuding countries. During the Song dynasty, the Khitan troops marched southward countless times and even attacked Bianliang several times. The Hebei area suffered greatly from the Khitan military disasters, and the people all slept in arms, ready to fight at any time.
The Liao people worked hard to harvest grass in the valley.
At that time, the Khitan came to stir up troubles with the Song Dynasty. They killed, burned, raped, and looted. The descendants of the Tianlong Babu insisted on whitewashing the Liao people, saying that the Song army also went to the Khitan to plow grass and valleys.
The cruelty and killing of Khitan old men and children is simply out of nowhere.
In fact, Hebei suffered as much from the Khitan as Xixia suffered from Qinlong.
At that time, the Song Army, under the pressure of the civilian clique, was just like the Northeast Army before the Japanese invaded China. It was very restrained, for fear of giving the Khitans a reason to go south.
The land of Youyan is a scar that the Song people cannot heal. If people know that you hindered the Song and Jin alliance to destroy the Liao Dynasty, I am afraid it will damage your reputation."
Am I still afraid of damaging my reputation? I have nearly 10,000 navy troops. Besides, if I don’t show up, it will be over.
Yang Lin was not worried about this, but was more worried about Cai Jing's attitude. If this old guy insisted on an alliance between Song and Jin, it would be difficult for him to deal with him.
However, his words were ambiguous and he never expressed his position on what he really thought.
Yang Lin asked tentatively: "How does Enxiang view this matter?"
Cai Jing chuckled lightly, and a pretty maid came forward and filled the tea cup for him. This was Cai Jing's privilege. Officials said that he was old and could bring his maid to the Mingtang to handle government affairs.
"It's you who asked me how much older I am than you, and I don't think this matter should be dealt with urgently.
The Liao and Jin Dynasties were already at odds with each other, and the Song Dynasty was now in an unprecedentedly good situation. In the past, the foreign tribes outside the customs had just sat back and watched the civil strife in the Central Plains, and they had a good time raising prices.
Now we can also do this. You lean toward the Khitans, and Liang Shicheng leans toward the Jurchens. I think this is good.
Let them bid, and the one with the highest price can form an alliance with the Song Dynasty."
Jiang was still old and spicy, and Yang Lin felt relieved immediately. As long as Cai Jing had this idea, he would be willing to be used by him, even if it was just taking advantage of him.
Isn't it possible that Cai Jing is just sitting on the ground and raising the price, taking advantage of the irreconcilable conflict between himself and Liang Shicheng to secure his position?
Now Liang Shicheng is like the Khitan, with a huge foundation but losing consecutive battles; he is like the Jurchens, rising up but with great momentum; the old guy Cai Jing is still powerful.
Yang Lin is not Wang Fu. If he is not rushing to the last step every day, what can he do if he becomes the chief minister?
Today's life is no different. It's extremely cold at high places. No matter how glorious the position of the chief prime minister is, he has to bear so many cold arrows.
As long as Cai Jing can remain as he is today and do something for the Song Dynasty, even if he is corrupt as a tiger, he is willing to keep him.
Let him be greedy. As much as he can be greedy, I will give him a million dollars myself. It is much better than the incompetent and mediocre people who came up. That will really bring disaster to the country and the people.
In later history, after Wang Fu drove Cai Jing out of power, he almost only did two things:
The first is to prevent Cai Jing from being restored to power; the second is to obey Liang Shicheng's advice. As for military and state affairs, they are not within the scope of this prime minister's consideration.
The most severe collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty happened in those few years. Later, Zhao Ji had to help Cai Jing, who was in his seventies or eighties, to gain power again.
Knowing Cai Jing's thoughts today, Yang Lin felt relaxed and decided on a few officials to accompany him to Khitan as envoys.
Yang Lin specifically named them: Qin Hui, Gao Bing, and Bai Shizhong are all famous flatterers. I don't know anyone else, but they are very good at getting things done. The food, drink, and entertainment are top-notch in Bianliang, let alone going to Beijing to corrupt Khitan.
The popularity depends on these items.
After leaving Mingtang, Yang Lin asked Yang San to drive to Xiu Tower. Several wealthy businessmen in charge of Xiu Tower had been waiting for a long time.
Yang Lin's carriage drove directly into the inner courtyard and stopped under a plum tree.
Wang Yun, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, has been occupying the downstairs for some time with such a group of well-known wealthy businessmen.
When they saw the carriage coming in, they all stepped forward. Yang Lin got out of the car with a smile and said, "I was detained by Prime Minister Cai for tea, which delayed me for a while, but I kept you waiting for a long time."
Wang Yun quickly smiled and said: "Young Zai's national affairs are the most important thing, so we should wait for a year."
Entering a fragrant pavilion, Yang Lin relaxed a lot. Three maids from Zhaodefang had already laid out a seat cushion for him and stood aside, squeezing his shoulders with their delicate hands.
Yang Lin took a sip of tea, motioned for everyone to sit down, and said with a smile: "I have called you all here today. There are two main things to discuss. First, I am going to set up an award to reward those who invent tools and create machines.
.”
"Young Master, please forgive the common people and others for their ignorance. What is a machine?"
"Spinning wheels, water wheels, stone mills, anything that can replace human power can be called machines."
Everyone suddenly realized that the literal meaning made sense. Yang Lin said: "In business, Xiulou is a chamber of commerce. You all know how much profit a water-powered spinning wheel can bring to a merchant's workshop.
It's a pity that not many people are willing to devote themselves to research, and I think it's just that there is no benefit.
I plan to spend 200,000 yuan from my share of the bonus in Xiulou, and there will be an annual selection, and the best machine will win the prize.
You should find some highly respected people, regardless of whether they are leaders or merchants, and let them make unified selections. Then report all the useful ones to me, and I will lead people to conduct on-site inspections and personally evaluate the rankings."
Young Zai was so heroic that everyone was busy praising him. Yang Lin's move will vigorously promote the invention and creation of skilled craftsmen among the people.
Two hundred thousand dollars is undoubtedly a huge amount of money, and it is a wealth that many families cannot earn in dozens of lifetimes.
After all, there are only a few people who can read among the people. Yang Lin is equivalent to finding a way out for the miscellaneous scholars. After all, there are 200,000 yuan every year.
Wang Yun woke up from the shock and asked: "Shaozai, what is the second thing?"
Yang Lin hesitated for a moment, sighed, and said: "I am going to ask Your Majesty to use silver as the currency of circulation."
As soon as this statement came out, there was a lot of exclamation. This is a truly generous act.
Silver's status in history has always been rather awkward. It was suppressed by gold, which is also a precious metal, and restrained by copper coins minted in previous dynasties. The output of domestic silver mines was small. For a long time, silver was not used as an official currency. In the Tang Dynasty
For example, although silver began to emerge in large quantities at the end of the Tang Dynasty, there is no doubt that gold is still the main reserve currency, and copper coins are mainly circulating in the market, with silver playing a minor supporting role at most.
In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, after a long period of evolution, silver began to have currency properties. In the early Song Dynasty, there was a shortage of copper coins and private currency was in short supply. Some areas gradually allowed people to use silver instead of copper coins to pay taxes, and silver gained some legal status.
So now, silver can be used as currency in many cases, but it is not popular. Silver was not a complete currency in the Song Dynasty, because it was neither a measure of value nor the main means of circulation. It was sometimes used as payment, and it was not the only payment.
The use of silver for day-to-day transactions is extremely limited.
Nowadays, maritime trade is developed, and the trade routes in the Western Regions have been reopened. Once the Karakhan Dynasty is opened up, its former glory will be completely restored.
The Western Regions have always used silver as currency, and the Song Dynasty has begun to be affected by this. Silver is becoming more and more common as currency in the northwest region.
Yang Lin has already prepared and asked Zhao Ji to start casting the first batch of silver ingots and gold ingots.
Otherwise, copper coins are too difficult to carry around, and they are also easy to counterfeit.
The maritime trade of the Song Dynasty was so developed, who would have thought that the best-selling item would be the copper coins of the Song Dynasty.
Especially the Japanese country, which had a lot of gold and silver, but could not mint copper coins. Gold and silver were often shipped in whole ships in exchange for copper coins, the currency of the Song Dynasty.
Once the country switches to gold and silver currency, it will be a big change for merchants in the Western Regions and coastal ports. It will help silver pour into the Central Plains, increase the Song Dynasty's external purchasing power, and increase the value of the imperial court's treasury.
As foreign trade increases and the territory to be conquered becomes wider and wider, this move can be said to be urgent.