In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 320 I’m not a bandit
In early December of the seventh year of Baoqing.

Zhao Yurui came out from the north gate of the imperial city and went right into Yu Street.

This is the main street that runs through the entire north and south of Lin'an (part of it was called Zhongshan Road in later generations), with a total length of fifty or sixty miles at this time.

Four guards, including Niu Bao and Hu Song, were standing outside the door. A carriage and five horses were waiting at the door.

In addition, Ge Hong, the newly established Minister of Commerce and Taxation, was also waiting for Zhao and Rui by the carriage.

Zhao and Rui called Ge Hong and got on the carriage together. Niu Bao and the guards got on the horse. Hu Song drove the carriage in front and began to go north along Yu Street. The carriage was relatively slow and pedestrians could basically keep up on foot.

Before and after Zhao Yurui got up, some royal guards and Imperial City Department personnel dressed as ordinary people were already scattered everywhere, slowly following the carriage.

Zhao Yurui would not have brought so many people with him when he came out before, but recently he has betrayed his trust. He first took advantage of Mongolia, then joined forces with Jin to attack Mongolia, and then even joined Mongolia and Jin to fight together. Although he was very happy, he still felt guilty.

After all, from today on, Zhao Yurui can no longer show off. He wants to compete with Wo Kuotai for the world in an open and aboveboard manner.

The prosperous world in front of us and the belonging of billions of people cannot be solved by pretending to be cowardly. In the end, we have to show off on the battlefield.

Sitting in the warm carriage, Zhao Yurui lifted the curtain from time to time and looked outside.

This is the second time he has taken a good look since he entered Lin'an a few years ago.

The first time was when I first became King Yi.

Now it is time to become emperor for six or seven years.

Six or seven years is not a long time, but a lot has changed.

Lin'an City reached its peak during the Jiading period, with the middle and imperial streets alone stretching for dozens of miles. The national population of Lin'an after Zhao and Rui became emperors was 250 million in the fifth year of Baoqing.

Among them, the urban area covers an area of ​​65 square kilometers, with more than 100 million people, and the suburbs cover 180 square kilometers, with 150 million residents. According to official statistics in the Southern Song Dynasty, the total number of households in urban and rural areas was about 46.

In Jiading, the total number of households nationwide was 1267, with a population of more than 7000 million.

After Zhao Yurui came to power, he felt uneasy because there was gender and age discrimination in the official population statistics of the Southern Song Dynasty.

"A man is considered young when he is twenty, and he is old when he is sixty, and women do not need to be examined."

The Ding system was implemented in the Southern Song Dynasty mainly for the purpose of collecting conscription and collecting taxes, so the targets were all tax-paying adult men who could serve.

In the above sentence, a 60-year-old man may be included in the statistics, but children and women are not.

There are also objections to this statement on the Internet, but judging from the demographics after the Jin Kingdom captured the north and the Mongols conquered the Southern Song Dynasty, there was indeed a large local increase, so it is very likely that women were not counted in the Southern Song Dynasty.

In addition, the officials, nobles, troops, etc. of the Southern Song Dynasty, including the women in the Red Mansion, the maids in the rich families, etc., are definitely not included in the statistics.

So Zhao Yurui ordered a new census in the fourth year of Baoqing. All men, women, infants, and children, regardless of occupation, must be counted.

By the end of the fifth year of Baoqing, the total number of households in the country was re-calculated to 1428 million, and the total population was more than 800 million.

This was also due to the fact that he took back Shandong and defended Sichuan. There were no wars in the country for several years, and the country developed steadily, and finally the population exceeded [-] million.

The construction of Lin'an City has been getting better and better in the past few years when Zhao Yurui was the emperor, but Zhao Yurui also deeply felt the difficulties of those in power.

If you were not an emperor, you would not know it. After you became an emperor, you would find that the supply of materials consumed by millions of people in Lin'an City every day is a big problem.

Among them, the average residents of Lin'an City eat more than [-] shi of food every day.

Before Zhao Yurui became emperor, all the emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty had to dispatch transportation from the surrounding Su, Hu, Chang, and Xiu prefectures, and even from Huainan, Jiangxi, Jinghu, Guangdong, and other places. The entire country was dedicated to Lin'an. The city's basic life is running wildly.

Doesn't Lin'an City have so many meters?
of course not.

There are 150 million people outside Lin'an City, with millions of acres of grain fields, and a huge amount of grain is produced every year.

But before, most of it was concentrated in the hands of landlords and officials. In this era, landlords and officials especially liked to farm grain.

This not only leads to inflated food prices, but also makes it unaffordable for many ordinary people.

When Zhao and Rui first arrived in Lin'an as King Yi, the price of rice in Lin'an City was more than two thousand yuan per stone.

After becoming emperor, he successively reformed, down to killing two birds with one stone, and then more.

After he went all out to attack the landlords, reformed the grain tax, and levied taxes based on the amount of grain fields, he forced a large number of officials and landlords to sell their fields, and finally forced some of the fields to go into the hands of the people.

Then Zhao Yurui lowered agricultural taxes. Many people in Tianshao did not need to pay taxes, or only paid very small taxes. The people had enough to eat, so they did not need to go to rice shops to buy grain.

By the seventh year of Baoqing, the supply of grain on the market had exceeded demand, and it was meaningless for the landlords to stockpile grain.

The day before yesterday, Zhao and Rui convened the cabinet members for discussion. The Minister of Household Affairs said that the price of rice in Lin'an has now dropped to one stone per stone, and in Zhejiang and Zhejiang, it has dropped below one stone, which is considered a low level in the history of the Southern Song Dynasty.

But this is not the lowest. The first year of Dazhong Xiangfu in the Northern Song Dynasty (1008) was not only the lowest year in the two Song Dynasties, but also the lowest in the entire feudal dynasty.

How low is it?
In October of that year, there was a bumper harvest in the grain fields of Jingxi, Jingdong, Hebei, Hedong, Jianghuai, Liangzhejiang, Jinghu, Fujian, and Guangnan. Each bucket of rice on the market cost seven to eight cents.

In other words, every stone of rice costs only [-] to [-] li. This price of rice is probably not available in all dynasties in the future, let alone previous dynasties.

Zhao Yurui now wants to work harder to keep the price of food down, not to mention seventy or eighty cents per dan, at least to the level of [-] cents per dan in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty.

In this way, his financial pressure on the Song Dynasty will be greatly reduced.

Don't look at his total national income in the seven years of Baoqing, including money and food, which has already exceeded 5000 million yuan, and even reached [-] million yuan.

But he spends a lot of money.

The national army expenditure, official expenditure, and in order to lighten the corvee, starting from the sixth year of Baoqing, the imperial court paid for conscription.

Like this time, we took the opportunity to pass through Caizhou and collect gold from the people of the country. They had to pay [-] cents every day, so they couldn't use it in vain like before.

Everything Zhao Yurui did was to relieve the pressure on ordinary people.

But all these pressures were placed on the court and Zhao Yurui.

If Zhao Yurui hadn't used the shameless and dirty method of high interest rates in the past few years to cheat wealthy households across the country hundreds of millions of dollars, how would he have had so much money to cover his expenses.

But the money from the trap has to be used up. This time he deployed across the country, mobilizing almost 20 soldiers and horses, and started fighting in several places at the same time. It was a waste, and the military pay and supplies were flowing out like water every day. You still have to find a way to make money.

Just as Zhao and Rui were deep in thought, Ge Hong, who was sitting with him in the carriage, spoke.

"This year, the imperial court only mobilized 50 shi of grain from Pingjiang Prefecture (Suzhou) and mobilized four batches, totaling 540 grain ships, which greatly saved the imperial court's expenses. His Majesty's tax reform can be said to be quite successful. Common people I will never forget it.”

Ge Hong also started to flatter me, but he was telling the truth.

As the price of grain dropped steadily, the people were able to be self-sufficient, so less grain entered Lin'an, and the imperial water transportation was reduced. This was a huge saving in terms of manpower, material and financial resources.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Yurui was not thinking about this: "There are too many troops in the capital, and they consume a lot of food. They have been training in the capital for so many years, and they don't have many opportunities to fight. After the new year, [-] troops from the capital will be mobilized to leave the capital and garrison them." Somewhere else."

"..." Ge Hong was stunned.

He was talking to the officials about civil and commercial matters, and the officials were talking to him about military affairs.

I am in charge of business and taxation, not military affairs.

But what Zhao Yurui said was right. A full-scale war with Mongolia was about to begin. There were tens of thousands of Beijing troops before Lin'an City. When Zhao and Rui first came to power, they were more afraid and tried their best to win over the Beijing troops. The Beijing troops had trained nearly [-] troops, and It is the highest salary in the country.

After practicing for several years, it’s time to go out and fight.

In the past, the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty did not feel safe, so he placed so many forbidden troops in the capital.

Now Zhao Yurui doesn't have a good sense of security. It's useless to have so many soldiers and their families staying in the capital.

Ge Hong didn't know how to answer. After thinking for a while, he hurriedly said: "If the Forbidden Army deploys [-] people, Lin'an City should not have to transport food from Outer South next year."

The army is also a big food eater, and each household uses much more food than the common people.

For the 50 imperial troops and their families, the imperial court spent more than [-] dan on rice and grain last year.

Ge Hong said that was right, these [-] forbidden troops had been withdrawn, and there would be almost no need to transport food in from other places next year.

"Reduce firewood and use more coal." Zhao Yurui said again at this time.

In addition to being a large consumer of grain, Lin'an City also consumes countless other materials every year.

Among them, charcoal, bamboo wood, and fruits are shipped from Yan, Wu, Qu, and other prefectures; seafood and aquatic products are shipped from Qingyuanfu, Yue, Wen, and Taizhou prefectures; other needed vegetables, cloth, salt, and various Groceries also come from all directions, and boats gather on both sides of the Qiantang River every day, all year round.

At this time, Zhao Yurui was vigorously developing coal mines in Jiangxi, and a new coal mine was discovered in Diezhou. Zhao Yurui wanted to use the coal mines in Diezhou to transport Sichuan and Guangxi, and Jiangxi supported Jiangnan and Zhejiang. The firewood originally used by the people was more Most of them are used in gunpowder and steelmaking.

Moreover, firewood is more expensive than coal at this time, which can also reduce people's expenses.

Ge Hong nodded in agreement upon hearing this, thinking that officials are always thinking about the people.

At this moment, their carriage had just entered the busiest part of Yu Street. Zhao Yurui pointed to the rows of empty shops on both sides of the road and said to Ge Hong, "Does Shangshu Ge know how many industries there are in Lin'an, the Song Dynasty?"

Ge Hong was stunned and shook his head in embarrassment.

Fortunately, he had known Zhao Yurui for many years and knew that Zhao Yurui would not get angry and curse easily, so he had nothing to be afraid of.

But this time Zhao Yurui asked, and it would be impossible if he didn't know next time.

"I asked Jin Yiwei and the Imperial City Division to investigate. In Lin'an, Song Dynasty, there are 410 four lines in total."

“There is a cloth shop, a hat shop, a gold shop, a fish shop, a crab shop—”

The so-called 360 lines, the number one scholar in each line, I don’t know if it started in the Song Dynasty.

Lin'an's industry in the Southern Song Dynasty was also at its peak during the feudal dynasty, with more than 400 industries.

Zhao Yurui added: "Every morning at five o'clock in the morning (from three to five o'clock in the middle of the night), the morning market sellers open their shops. When the sun sets, the night market starts again -"

There was no curfew in the Southern Song Dynasty. The latest shops, such as red shops, restaurants, and singing houses, did not even close until the third or fourth watch (three o'clock), which was almost seamlessly connected with the morning market that opened at the fifth watch.

In other words, there were industries open 24 hours a day in Lin'an during the Southern Song Dynasty, which may not be the case in later generations.

Ge Hong didn't know what he meant, so he could only smile and say: "The prosperity of our Song Dynasty is all due to your majesty's wisdom."

Ge Hong is a relatively upright person and generally does not flatter anyone easily.

But after spending so many years with Emperor Zhao Yurui and watching the Song Dynasty's power flourish, I guess this was something he said from the bottom of his heart.

"Don't keep flattering me." Zhao Yurui was angry and funny, and pointed at these shops and businesses: "You are the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce and Taxation. You have to see, this is all money."

"..." Ge Hong finally understood. The government was going to reform again?

There was commercial tax in the Song Dynasty, but of course it was relatively small.

Zhao Yurui now seems to be eyeing more than 400 lines in Lin'an City.

"This matter cannot be rushed. It must be done step by step, starting with the most profitable ones." Zhao Yurui smiled: "Comprehensive taxation is estimated to take ten years."

In his plan, he had to at least pacify Mongolia and conquer Ogedai before he could start a comprehensive commercial tax model.

"Your Majesty is wise." Ge Hong had no choice but to say something nice again.

Zhao Yurui lifted the curtain in front and signaled Hu Song to speed up slightly.

About half an hour later, Zhao and Rui arrived at Guanwen Academy.

Zhao Yurui has not been here for several years, and he was not well-known here before. Ling'er Lan'er, who helped him sing, has now entered the palace as a female official, so no one here knows him now.

He brought Niu Bao, Hu Song and Ge Hong to visit places like Wenyuan. Ge Hong was still quite depressed because he didn't like this kind of place.

But there was nothing he could do if the officials came, and he estimated that the officials would start collecting taxes from this place.

This is one of the most profitable places in Lin'an City.

A few people opened a private room, and a person named Mother Song came in immediately.

Zhao Yurui became happy when she saw her, and Song's mother was also stunned when she saw Zhao Yurui. She must have looked familiar.

But Zhao Yurui came to Guanwen Academy two or three times back then, but he hasn't been here in the following years. Moreover, he was still dissatisfied at that time. Now he is in his 20s, and he has been the emperor for several years, so he looks mature and stable.Song's mother must not have recognized her, so she asked several people with a smile, "Are you looking for a girl?"Then the introduction begins.

The top player in the competition back then was no longer the top player. The new top player was also called Ling'er. Zhao Yurui was stunned for a moment after hearing this.

Song's mother said that Ling'er was only 12 years old, and she was very charming and charming. Of course, she was a prostitute rather than a prostitute.

Accompanying someone to eat is 15 taels of silver, not counting drinking, singing and dancing, only silver and party money.

Zhao Yurui subconsciously looked back at Niu Bao, who looked at Zhao Yurui with a confused expression.

Only then did Zhao Yurui remember that it was Quan Yong who came with him before, and Niu Bao didn't know either.

Back then, it only cost 15 taels of silver to accompany Sai Shishi to dinner, but this Ling'er actually costs [-] taels.

However, Sai Shishi only accepts money, and now he accepts Huizi, which proves that Zhao Yurui's financial reform is relatively successful for the time being.

So Zhao Yurui asked again: "Where are the other girls? I remember there was a Sai Shishi in the past."

Song's mother smiled and said, Sai Shishi is now called Li's mother.

"..." Zhao Yurui, he calculated in his mind, Sai Shishi is not even 20 years old now, right? Is this Li's mother?In future generations she would still be considered a little girl.

Mother Li doesn't accept new customers now, but regular customers also accompany her to eat. The price has been reduced to one tael of silver. Drinking is also included, and she no longer sings songs.

Zhao Yurui asked again, what about the other girls?
Song's mother's face changed slightly at this time, she felt that Zhao Yurui wanted to inquire about the price, not to spend money.

She looked at Zhao Yurui and the others calmly: "The big shopkeeper's accent doesn't sound like he's from Lin'an City? Are you visiting from out of town?"

Two months ago, a new hook shop opened in Lin'an City. The girl was pretty and provided good service. She took away a lot of business from Guanwen Academy. Mother Song thought she was sent from the opposite side.

Zhao Yurui waved his hand: "Call Linger over first."

Whoosh, Niu Bao casually threw a pile of huizi on the table.

Mother Song then raised her eyebrows and smiled.

The price of Guanwen Academy is indeed more expensive than Zhao Yurui's back then.

When Yuan Mihai invited him, there was no charge for the private room. The food and drinks were arranged directly, including four cold, eight hot and three pots of wine. No matter how many of you could eat or not, it was all [-] yuan.

Now today there are four of them, four cold, eight hot and four bottles of wine, which is two drinks.

Then there is an additional charge for the private room, which is one hundred cash per person, that is, four hundred cash for two rooms.

The fees for this private room are similar to those in Zhao Yurui's mahjong parlor, charging per head.

In addition, ordinary girls come to accompany you to dinner, and the prices vary according to age and beauty.

The low one is fifty cents a night, the high one is always.

Most of the girls will drink when they come here, and of course the guests pay for the drinks.

Some girls who can sing, dance and play the piano charge additional fees, which range from fifty cents to as much as ten cents.

If you stay overnight, the low price is [-] Wen, and the high price starts from [-] Guan.

Zhao Yurui understood what he heard and looked back at Ge Hong.

Ge Hong thought to himself, this place is really profitable. He was moved and asked: "I heard that there are not many girls in the Wenwen Academy, so there are not many to choose from, right?"

Mother Song immediately said, are you kidding? We are the three largest families in Lin'an, with nearly a hundred girls.

This is your first time as a guest. You can walk around the entire Guanwenyuan from the door to take a meal.

Guanwen Academy occupies a really large area, Zhao Yurui knows that.

"Okay, you call some girls over and let us choose." Zhao Yurui sent Mother Song away, and when Mother Song left, she also got up and left.

Open the door and go west.

Their box was upstairs, and there were two people wearing ordinary business clothes standing outside in the corridor watching the performance below.

Seeing Zhao Yurui coming out, someone walked close to him and whispered: "Your Majesty, Xia Qingzhi is in the fourth room of the west wing of the backyard."

Zhao Yurui nodded and went to the backyard.

There is a room passing by in the middle.

He paused. When he was in this room, he had a good feel for Xia Qingzhi's mature side, and also tested some of Xia Qingzhi's more rounded and charming talents.

He had a good memory. This room was between the two buildings, the outermost one in the bridge corridor.

But now it looks like this room is a bit dilapidated.

At this time, a little girl happened to pass by. Zhao Yurui pulled her and asked, "What is in this room?"

The little girl held the wine in her hand, glanced at Zhao Yurui, and then said: "Garbage room, where we put debris."

"..." Zhao Yurui smiled bitterly, guessing that Xia Qingzhi was still remembering her cruelly.

Back then, Zhao and Rui defeated Xia Zhen and moved Xia Zhen's family to Jeju Island, leaving only Xia Qingzhi behind, which was considered to be a liberal act.

But now it seems that Xia Qingzhi doesn't appreciate it.

The room where something happened to Zhao Yurui back then was used by Guanwenyuan as a garbage room to pile up debris?
The key point is that even the little girl said it was a garbage room. This must have been specifically said by Xia Qingzhi in front of the girls.

Zhao and Rui went all the way to the backyard, then went downstairs and walked west along the corridor. Someone followed him on the way and led him forward.

These are the people he arranged here.

Guanwenyuan is indeed relatively large, with one courtyard after another at the back and two main gates.

Zhao Yurui and the others only came in through the east gate, and they could also come in and play through the north gate.

After finally walking to a courtyard, I saw two big men standing outside the courtyard gate.

One of the big men was stunned when he saw Zhao Yurui.

Then I wanted to kneel down.

Zhao Yurui shook his head and asked in a low voice: "Is Shopkeeper Xia here?"

"Back to Your Majesty, I'm here."

These two people were Xia Qingzhi's servants, but now, of course, they were Zhao Yurui's people.

After a moment.

"Dong dong dong" Zhao Yurui knocked on the door gently.

The familiar voice soon sounded inside, but the voice no longer had the sharpness and edge it had before.

"Who?"

"Squeak" Zhao Yurui opened the door and saw Xia Qingzhi holding a brush and writing something on the table.

Suddenly seeing Zhao Yurui, her expression condensed at first, and then showed an incredulous look. After a moment, her face turned red, and her chest was heaving. Judging from her expression, she definitely did not welcome Zhao Yurui very much.

Although Zhao Yurui did not touch her, he also arranged for many people to be in Guanwen Academy in the past few years and did not take away her family property, but it was basically under surveillance.

Zhao Yurui entered the room, looked around, then turned and closed the door.

The room was quiet.

The two looked at each other.

We haven't seen her in the past five or six years, and Xia Qingzhi looks a lot older.

Calculating her age, she should be over 35 now, or even close to forty. Coupled with the changes in her family circumstances, Xia Qingzhi is no longer as bright and charming as before.

I don't know how long it took before Xia Qingzhi came back to her senses and realized that it seemed wrong to be like this.

She hurriedly put down her brush and walked around the table: "I am Xia Qingzhi, and I wish to greet Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty."

Zhao Yurui looked at her quietly and suddenly thought of something: "I still like your unruly demeanor before."

Xia Qingzhi suddenly raised her head, and her expression changed drastically. The next moment, her eyes were red, and her voice was a little louder: "Your Majesty, I haven't seen you for so many years. If you want to humiliate Qingzhi, why would you come to her in person? Send someone to give Qingzhi a foot of white hair. Aya is."

Zhao Yurui shrugged, finding that joking seemed inappropriate in the current situation and status.

"I'm wrong. I didn't mean that. I just--" Zhao Yurui's tone was sincere and he tried to be gentle: "I just miss the days when I got along with Qingzhi."

Xia Qingzhi's face looked a little better, because she really didn't expect that the emperor would admit his mistake in front of her.

Zhao Yurui approached slowly. Xia Qingzhi seemed a little panicked and quickly backed away.

Because Zhao Yurui was very courageous back then and dared to touch her in front of her.

Now that she is so old, and Zhao Yurui is the king of a country and can be considered her enemy, it is obviously inappropriate.

Zhao Yurui did not walk towards her, but looked at what she was writing and found that she was practicing calligraphy.

"Have you corresponded with Xia Dianshuai in the past few years?" Zhao Yurui said pleasantly.

"My brother often writes from me, praising His Majesty for his contribution to rebuilding the country." Xia Qingzhi said calmly.

"Xia Dianshuai's whole family is fine. Qingzhi doesn't necessarily think of me as an enemy."

"..." Xia Qingzhi didn't know how to answer.

"From Qingzhi's perspective, how is the power of our Song Dynasty now?"

Xia Qingzhi originally wanted to say that I am a weak woman and don't understand anything.

But after thinking about it for a while, he still said: "It is booming, far more than the previous dynasty."

There are countless guests and merchants from Guanwen Academy coming from north to south. Xia Qingzhi certainly knows that the Song Dynasty is much stronger now than before.

Grain prices have dropped, Huizi has become more valuable, people have become more able to eat rice, and the quality of salt has improved. Even she was a woman and could feel the various changes in the Song Dynasty.

At least there are more guests at Guanwenyuan, and various fees have also increased.

"Many ordinary people can survive." Zhao Yurui sighed.

"It's His Majesty, His Majesty." Xia Qingzhi had no choice but to follow him.

"So, I didn't do anything wrong."

Xia Qingzhi was silent and didn't know how to respond.

When Zhao Yurui saw this, he didn't want to waste time with her.

He immediately said: "I want to do more for the Song Dynasty and the people."

“But these things require strong economic support, which means money.”

Xia Qingzhi immediately gritted her teeth and said, "Your Majesty can take it at any time."

When Zhao Yurui copied Shi Miyuan and Xia Zhen, they did not copy Xia Qingzhi. Xia Qingzhi had already been prepared.

"What Qingzhi said, I'm not a bandit."

You are still a bandit, Xia Qingzhi thought to herself.

"I want to collect taxes. Starting from Guanwenyuan, Qingzhi will take the lead in paying taxes."

(End of this chapter)