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

Chapter 471 Telescope

Emperor Zhao Yurui finally made a brief summary. When comparing the previous emperors of the Song Dynasty, during the Baoqing and Yuanzhen years of Zhao Yurui, all kinds of income from grain taxes, miscellaneous taxes, and commercial taxes increased.

"To put it simply, we treat our Da Song Dynasty as a big family. To run this family well, everyone must do their part."

"The poorest people contribute less, and the richer officials and businessmen contribute more."

"If everyone in the country contributes, the court will have enough money and food to operate."

"In the past dynasties, many courts could not make ends meet. The most recent example is the Jiading period, when the court could not make ends meet and issued Huizi many times."

"The issuance of Huizi has caused prices to skyrocket, the value of Huizi has depreciated, and the credibility of the court has also been questioned. This is all a matter of drinking poison to quench thirst."

"Why did this happen before? Because the high officials of the imperial court and nobles were oppressing ordinary people."

“The richer the people are, the more they are reluctant to pay, and the poorer they are, the more they are forced to do so.”

"Such a court will not only become poorer and poorer, but will also cause civil unrest and unrest."

Concubine Jia Guifei's younger brother Jia Sidao is in his hands. He is still a general judge in a certain place and has not even reached the top position.

"Last year, the entire imperial city, excluding the salaries of eunuchs and maids, that is, the expenses of my family and harem, was 46,000 guan, which was the lowest among all emperors."

Zhao Yurui himself has not made new clothes for several years.

The ministers had to pay taxes, and the emperor himself also paid, and he paid five million yuan at once.

Throughout the late Southern Song Dynasty, only Jia Sidao could do this.

As soon as you enter the factory gate, you can feel the heat wave hitting your face.

Jia Sidao, the so-called treacherous prime minister in history, once wanted to implement the public land law in order to save the finances of the Song Dynasty. He led by example and took the lead in handing over 10,000 acres of land in western Zhejiang.

Because his move offended the majority of the landlord class, the public land law encountered many obstacles and ultimately failed.

There was silence.

Zhao Yurui built a glass factory in order to separate oil. Later, a large amount of glass was used to make gasoline bombs. Almost all glass craftsmen in the country were recruited.

What Zhao Yurui did was to grab directly.

This made Zhao Yurui suddenly think of Jia Sidao.

A few years before he ascended the throne, he first took control of the army, and then directly swept away the landowners across the country. This laid a solid foundation for the normal operation of the Song Dynasty's finances.

Zhao Yurui didn't waste any time: "Let's go quickly, I can't wait."

Lin'an was relatively hot in September, so Zhao Yurui rode on horseback with them.

On average, it’s more than 100 sticks a day, which is really frugal.

When Zhao and Rui entered the factory, Tang Bo and a group of officials came to greet them.

Doesn't he have money? He has more money than he can use up, but he can set an example and be frugal in all aspects.

No matter how history dresses up, Jia Sidao set an example and donated 10,000 acres, which was really for the sake of the Song Dynasty court.

Comparing the personal taxes they paid, they actually still made some money.

This year, Hebei and Shanxi were captured and designated as National Day, so officials can take a vacation again.

Everyone is selfish, no one is willing to pay a penny more.

Now Zhao Yurui talks to the cabinet members again, reminding them that the court collects your taxes because everyone has to contribute to this country.

Zhao and Rui's harem only has five or six people. Including their children, there are more than a dozen people in the family. Their annual expenditure is more than 40,000 yuan, including food, drink, and diarrhea.

This is the glass department of the Craftsmanship Bureau. Workers are blowing various glass products in the factory.

In order to win over the army, he robbed landowners and civil servants of their fields and distributed them to middle- and lower-level military generals. Now, after so many years, the Song Dynasty army is full of small landowners.

Everyone knows this truth, but before Zhao Yurui became emperor, everyone still did this.

Zhao Yurui is still good to the officials. Even if he now imposes comprehensive taxes, most of the officials have no objections.

Back then, there were rewards for conquering the Jin Kingdom. After the capture of Bo Ni last year, every cabinet member present was also rewarded with some Bo Ni spices, which were valuable.

The other so-called famous ministers and capable ministers are not even as good as Jia Sidao. They all look at their own three acres of land and are unwilling to contribute even a single cent to this country.

Therefore, in the past two years, Zhao Yurui set up personal taxes for middle- and high-level civil and military officials. In addition to the original land tax, the taxes for middle- and high-level officials in the Song Dynasty were not low. They are now considered important contributors to the fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty.

"Taizong of the Tang Dynasty once said that using copper as a mirror can correct one's clothes, and using history as a mirror, one can know the ups and downs. Obviously all the scholars in the court understand this truth. Why have they still oppressed ordinary people throughout the history?"

Although it is said that the country's money is the emperor's money, it is not bad to be able to do so.

Later historians hated Jia Sidao and tried every means to describe him as a powerful and treacherous minister.

At this time, Zhao and Rui had grown up and had conquered the Jin Kingdom, Xixia and other places. Their reputation was the highest among emperors in history. No one, civil or military, dared to have an opinion, and it was quite easy to implement these policies.

"Last year, the imperial city paid a tribute of five million yuan to the court." Qin Zhuo continued.

The first stop was to a factory area of ​​the Craftsmanship Bureau.

After discussing with the cabinet that day and deciding on next year's distribution plan and some major matters, Zhao Yurui took Niu Bao and Quan Yong out of the palace.

Of course, Zhao Yurui did not always ask officials to pay. For example, when the court achieved some major achievements, they would also be rewarded.

The emperor personally also paid a tax of 5 million yuan to the court on behalf of the royal family.

Everyone wore regular clothes, and people outside didn't know they were emperors and generals.

Tang Bo also looked excited and led the emperor to a house.

Zhao Yurui left the guards behind and took only Quan Yong and Niu Bao in.

There are several long tubes placed on the table in the room, which look exactly like the telescopes of later generations.

In the third year of Yuanzhen's reign, Zhao Yurui wanted to build a telescope.

He asked the glass craftsmen to create the lenses first.

Lenses are optical elements made of glass or crystal. Generally, those that are thick in the middle and thin at the edges are called convex lenses. There are three types: biconvex, plano-convex, and concave-convex; while those that are thin in the middle and thick at the edges are called concave lenses. There are also biconcave, plano-concave, and concave lenses. There are three types of convex and concave.

The imperial craftsmen also put a lot of effort into it, and even polished it with crystal.

I began to find that it is easier to polish crystal, but more difficult to use glass.

However, crystal polishing is extremely labor-intensive, and everyone’s standards are different.

After several years of exploration by craftsmen, they finally used glass to make lenses, which has high efficiency, high yield, and uniform standards under the mold.

Zhao Yurui took a telescope and looked at it. It was not as clear as later generations, about six or seven times, which was already far ahead in this era.

"You guys take a look." After he read it, he handed it to Quan Yong and Niu Bao and motioned them to look outside as well. At first glance, both of them were shocked.

"Your Majesty, what kind of divine object is this?"

"This is called a telescope. It can seize the opportunity of the enemy and is of great use."

The two of them were amazed and couldn't put it down after watching it for a while.

"Each of these telescopes must be numbered, starting from the 1st and going backwards. If any of them are lost, it is a serious crime."

Zhao Yurui ordered mass production to begin from now on, first equipping each battalion and above.

The battalion level of the Song Dynasty was composed of 500 people, that is, each battalion was equipped with two, one was in command and the other was in reserve.

After the production increases, it will have to be allocated to the capital. Even if there are hundreds of people, each person will have one head.

If it is below 20%, ordinary foot cavalry will not be qualified, but sentry cavalry will be.

Tang Bo naturally wrote them down one by one.

"How many can this product be produced in a year now?"

"Back to Your Majesty, according to the previous plan, we can now produce about a thousand units per year."

The number of Qianwu is a bit small, but there are only so many craftsmen in the Song Dynasty. If more people are added here, people will have to be reduced elsewhere, or else they will have to rely on new craftsmen slowly coming out of the school to make up for it.

"Prioritize forward troops and overseas naval forces."

"According to the order."

As soon as Tang Bo finished speaking, Quan Yong started by bragging about how your Majesty is wise and has new inventions, and how awesome the Song Dynasty is.

This guy is also a veteran, and he is very shameless when he brags about his cousin.

Zhao Yurui could only pretend not to hear, and couldn't laugh or cry.

With the telescope, the Song army will have many advantages on the battlefield.

A few days later, Zhao Yurui issued an order to transfer Jia Sidao back to the capital and serve as a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, which was regarded as a promotion to his brother-in-law.

According to the system of the Song Dynasty, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites was appointed by a magistrate or above. Those who were not qualified were called Yuanwailang.

Jia Sidao was a general judge before and was not yet a magistrate. Logically speaking, even if he entered the capital, he could only be called a Yuanwailang.

But Zhao Yurui still asked him to serve as a doctor. He was the emperor's brother-in-law, and it was not a big deal to be promoted to a higher official in Beijing.

Jia Sidao used to be like a ruffian. In the early years, Zhao Yurui deliberately suppressed him and made him step by step from the local chief clerk to the county magistrate and general judge. He almost worked his way up from the grassroots level step by step, and he stayed in every position. It took several years of hard training.

It turns out that Jia Sidao was like a rocket. He didn't stay there long at all and entered the capital very quickly.

Now Zhao Yurui has allowed him to train locally for nearly ten years, and his whole person has become different.

In early October, Jia Sidao, who had just arrived in Beijing, came to the palace to meet the emperor's brother-in-law.

This guy used to go to the palace basically once a year, before the Chinese New Year to see his sister and brother-in-law.

Every time Zhao Yurui saw him, he felt that he was a little different. To put it simply, he was slowly maturing.

This is actually related to personal growth experience.

In another time and space, Jia Sidao had no one to discipline him since he was a child. When he grew up, he was surrounded by friends and friends. After entering the capital, he was protected by his sister and surrounded by flatterers. Emperor Zhao Yuju also took special care of him, so Jia Sidao's His character was influenced by the people around him, but even so, when the public land law was finally implemented, he took the lead in donating 10,000 acres of fertile land. This was not only the only one in the history of the Song Dynasty, but also the only one in the entire feudal dynasty.

Now Jia Sidao entered the county government before he was eighteen years old. Under the arrangement of his brother-in-law, he became an official at the grassroots level of the Song Dynasty. With Zhao Yurui's careful guidance, he did not have many friends or sycophants around him. All the officials who partnered with him were carefully selected by Zhao Yurui.

For example, when Jia Sidao came to Beijing to serve as the prefect, his partner in the prefect was Shi Yanzhi.

Shi Yanzhi was Shi Song's younger brother and Shi Miyuan's nephew. He was not as famous as Shi Songzhi in history, but he was still relatively capable.

Growing up in this environment, Jia Sidao looked clean and upright, with an upright look on his face.

"Your Majesty, Jia Sidao, long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty." Jia Sidao was only twenty-seven years old at the moment. He looked relatively young. As soon as he saw Zhao Yurui, he knelt down and kowtowed. .

Zhao Yurui was temporarily absent-minded. It had only been a year since they last met, and Jia Sidao seemed to have matured a lot, and now he looked like an upright official.

If Zhao Yurui didn't know him better, if he didn't know his details, he almost forgot that this was Jia Sidao.

"Get up, there are no outsiders here." Zhao Yurui waved with a smile, gesturing for him to find a seat and sit down.

"Uncle, sit here." Zhao Qi, the eldest son of the emperor, also came over and took Jia Sidao's hand cordially.

Jia Sidao showed a hint of affection on his face and looked deeply at Zhao Qi, the eldest son of the emperor.

Zhao Qi is thirteen years old. He is the emperor's eldest prince and the son of Jia Yuhua. Although the emperor has not established a prince, many people believe that Zhao Qi may be the prince in the future.

Jia Sidao has been very careful in the past few years, and he doesn't dare to make random friends outside. Jia Yuhua has reminded him many times that now everyone's eyes are fixed on the position of prince, and Jia Sidao must not show anything outside.

Therefore, Jia Sidao now lives with his tail between his legs. In the eyes of outsiders, he is very humble and low-key.

"Did Shidao meet your sister yesterday?" Zhao Yurui asked politely after he sat down.

"Back to Your Majesty, we just met yesterday." Jia Sidao's attitude was also quite humble.

The two of them chatted for a while, and the eldest son of the emperor, Zhao Qi, would also interject a few words. The three of them chatted like family members for a while, and Jia Sidao's originally tense expression gradually relaxed.

While talking to Zhao Yurui, he looked up at Zhao Yurui. He could see that Zhao Yurui had a smile on his face. He was also secretly happy in his heart. It seemed that the emperor was in a good mood.

I have been an official in other places in the past few years, and I have not made any mistakes.

Of course, he didn't have any great achievements, and he didn't make any mistakes. He felt that he was quite qualified as an official.

While he was dealing with the emperor thoughtfully, Zhao Yurui suddenly asked: "How did we win or lose when we played mahjong with them the day before yesterday?"

Jia Sidao subconsciously replied: "Thanks to your majesty's great blessing, I have won more than a thousand coins, haha——" Jia Sidao was a little proud and grinned. After a few smiles, his smile gradually froze in mid-air.

A moment later, boom, he felt a bang on his forehead, and a rush of hot blood rushed to the back of his head. Originally, Lin'an was relatively cold in early October, and he was suddenly dripping with sweat.

"I deserve to die." Jia Sidao quickly moved down from his seat and knelt on the ground: "Wei Chen deserves to die, Wei Chen deserves to die."

His expression was filled with fear, and he never thought that the emperor would know that he had invited several people to play mahjong at night.

Zhao Yurui remained calm and let him kneel on the ground, saying calmly: "You were not on duty the night before yesterday, so it is normal to ask a few friends to play mahjong."

Jia Sidao blushed and didn't know what to say. He could only look at the emperor in horror.

If it is normal, Your Majesty, why do you need to mention this matter? He is a smart man, and of course he knows that the emperor will not take the target lightly.

But I heard Zhao Yurui continue: "But your status is different from ordinary officials. In the past month, you played mahjong eight times in Huzhou and the capital, and you won every time and never lost."

"Sidao, do you know why you win every time?" Zhao Yurui asked earnestly.

(End of this chapter)