C265

Chapter 265 - The Great Power If Cooking Small Freshmen

The ones walking at the very front were none other than Yue Fei and Wang Shu.

Behind them were countless soldiers of the Imperial Guard and countless warriors of the Production and Construction Corps.

They had obviously received the news and were all extremely excited.

"Your Majesty!" He had not seen Yue Fei for more than half a year and now, after seeing him, he felt that Zhao Chen had changed in some way. As if the great battle this time had caused Zhao Chen to be reborn anew.

"Your Majesty, we wish you a great victory!" Wang Shu said excitedly.

Just as Zhao Chen was about to speak, cheers that blotted out the sky and covered the earth came from the surroundings. The numerous soldiers and soldiers, as well as the countless youths, were all cheering. Behind them, the soldiers of Jingyuan Army were also cheering, and the young men who followed them along the way were also cheering continuously. Countless of Jingyuan Army soldiers were surrounded by the rest, they asked about the Western Xia War, while the soldiers of the Jingyuan Army spoke excitedly.

"Pass down the order, we will celebrate tonight in Wu Gong County! The warriors, young men, and citizens around the Wu Gong County are all allowed to participate! " Seeing that, Zhao Chen was ecstatic, and laughed out loud.

Zhao Chen, Yue Fei, Wang Shu and the rest had already entered the Wu Gong County and arrived at the top of the walls of the Wu Gong County to watch the scene below.

There were cheers everywhere, and people were celebrating their victory.

Ever since Zhao Chen came to this era, this was the first time he had seen people so excited, so excited.

"Your Majesty, in the hundred years since Song Dynasty was established, I have never seen such a great victory! The people of Western Xia have bullied us for over a hundred years, but now, they have all been destroyed by His Majesty! The Western Xia's reputation exists, but naturally, this kind of work should be properly celebrated! " Wang Shu said excitedly from the side.

"His Majesty seems to have grown taller as compared to half a year ago. His face looks much more ancient now." Yue Fei said.

"Alright, I'm finally back!" When we were in the Western Xia before, we were always worried about the situation in Guan Shan. Now it looks like the situation in Guan Shan is still considered good? " Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, there have been almost no changes in Guan Shan during this half a year." Yue Fei said.

"What's the situation with the Union Army in Hedong?" Zhao Chen said.

"Very bad! The allied army of Hedong had originally numbered more than three hundred thousand people, but this time, in order to restrain the girl, they had come to the light from the shadows. In half a year's time, they have suffered heavy casualties, a total of more than two hundred thousand soldiers from the allied army have died. " Yue Fei said.

"For them to win the Western Xia War, it is because of their contribution. They are heroes as well as martyrs. If we record down their names, they should join the Temple of Loyalty in the future as well. " Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, the allied army is in chaos. Most of the dead warriors' lives are unknown. Furthermore, some of the allied armies were killed by the female army, which is extremely tragic. " Yue Fei said.

"In the future, we will establish a memorial for the nameless heroes to commemorate them." Zhao Chen said.

"They died for their country and their people, so it is only natural that they should be remembered. Even without me, the people of this world will remember them, and they will forever live in the hearts of the people of this world. " Zhao Chen said.

"Yes sir!" Yue Fei nodded his head, his eyes moist.

"Actually, there were also a lot of casualties in Jingyuan Army, Tsinghua Army and Shanbei Forbidden Army. Their corpses could not be transported back home, so the only thing they could do now was to bury them in Spirit State City. In the future, more and more people will die for the sake of and our nation's survival. " Zhao Chen said.

"This lowly general understands." Yue Fei nodded.

"What's the situation in Jiangnan?" Zhao Chen said again.

"When we told the warriors of the Information Services in Jiangnan that Wu Jie was about to go south, the Conan's traitor was greatly shocked. After Liu Guangshi went south, it was said that he was bullying the villagers by forcibly collecting food. Right now, there were many commoners in the south of the river who were in a state of turmoil, especially in the Dongting Lake. During this period of time, Liu Guangshi was suppressing the people of Jiangnan to prevent the people of Jiangnan from getting into trouble. " Wang Shu said.

"The people of Jiangnan started a war?" Zhao Chen was slightly startled, and his face revealed an expression of thought.

All these years, he had fought to the east and west, but the memories of his previous life were still etched deeply into his heart. He didn't know much about the history of the Southern Song, but he did know a few well-known incidents. And this includes the peasant uprising in the early Southern Song Dynasty.

"Zhong Xiang, Yang Me, the peasant uprising? "Could it be that this is the case?" Zhao Chen secretly thought.

Until now, he still did not know that Zhong Xiang was a member of the white lotus. Back then, when he was in the Chuan Shu, he had interacted with these two before. That day when the white lotus assassinated him, one of them was Zhong Xiang.

"As a result, Liu Guangshi's army has been confined in Jiangnan and it is temporarily difficult for them to head north. There were also the hundreds of thousands of troops under Zong Ze's command, many of them had already returned to Kai Feng. For the Changan generation, all of their citizens have already been moved away by us. Hundreds of thousands of them are there, and the daily cost is enormous. There are also quite a number of members of the rebel army who have families in Kaifeng, so many of them have secretly returned. " Wang Shu said.

"Does that mean we don't have to worry about the situation in the Guan Shan anymore?" Zhao Chen said.

"That's right!" After the return of His Majesty's army, we do not have to worry about the situation in the Guan Shan for the time being! At least the situation now is much better than it was last year. " Wang Shu said.

"This is great! We eliminated the Western Xia, eliminating the hidden danger of a three-sided pincer attack! And now that we have a time for peaceful development, we will gather more troops! Also, I brought back 200,000 war horses from the Western Xia, so we can form a real cavalry army! Our power is constantly increasing, while the Female Genius and Emperor Kang are constantly exhausting themselves within us. Sooner or later, we will definitely eliminate them all. " Zhao Chen said.

The people around him nodded their heads in succession, excitement written all over their faces.

"When I returned, I saw that the crops cultivated by the warriors of the Production and Construction Corps s were extremely good. Where were the crops grown in the rest of the Guan Shan s? And Chuan Shu, how is the crop coming along this year? " Zhao Chen said again.

"This year's rainfall was unusually plentiful, with crops growing very well everywhere. As for the Chuan Shu, after this year's introduction of Rent reduction order, it is very likely that they will receive an unprecedented harvest from the crops. We will have enough food tax revenue and enough food for the army. Your Majesty, the effects of the Rent reduction order are truly beyond our expectations. " Wang Shu said.

Zhao Chen smiled and nodded.

In fact, the impact of the system on agricultural production is enormous. In the later generation, from the people's commune to the household, farmers' enthusiasm for grain planting greatly increased. The same land, the same population, people used to eat every day, but once they got home, people didn't worry about food anymore. Right now, it was the same in Song Dynasty. After Rent reduction order was promoted throughout the country, the farmers' enthusiasm for farming food had greatly increased, and the production of food had naturally skyrocketed as well. Moreover, the gentry class had suffered a huge blow. This year, no one would steal the food tax. And this year, the Song Dynasty's imperial government would obtain an innumerable amount of grain. From now on, the problem of military rations would be greatly resolved.

"Your Majesty, our Advocacy Division mobilizes young people from all over the Chuan Shu and often organizes campaigns for young people. Right now, the countless youths in the Chuan Shu can also join the army and the Production and Construction Corps. " Wang Shu said.

"You did well! As for the specific question of the expansion of the army, we need the staff officer to carefully study it. " Zhao Chen said.

Wang Shu, Yue Fei and the rest all nodded their heads.

The issue of expansion was exceptionally complicated. It was not only a matter of recruiting soldiers, but also a matter of considering weapons, logistics and many other issues.

"Has our Guan Shan encountered any difficulties during this period of time?" After a while, Zhao Chen said again.

"Your Majesty, there are many places in Production and Construction Corps that lack agricultural tools. We may need a large amount of metal to make weapons, but it's hard to get that much metal. If we have enough farm tools, our food production will increase by leaps and bounds. " Wang Shu said.

"Agricultural tools? Metal? " Zhao Chen frowned slightly.

This was not something that could be done easily, even Zhao Chen himself would find it difficult to resolve this matter in a short period of time.

That night, in Wu Gong County, the youths celebrated their victory in the north.

Zhao Chen celebrated together with the young people, and only returned to his room late at night.

It had been more than half a year since he had returned, and the place was still very clean. It seemed that someone was cleaning the place every day.

himself sat cross legged on the bed, thinking about something.

The victory in the war with the north had proven that the Song Dynasty's military power had improved tremendously. Zhao Chen believed that even if they were to face the true female and the Emperor Kang's pincer attack, they would not be afraid. They could also win the war. Of course, the cost of winning the war could be great.

But after victory, where should the country go? Where should this country go from here?

There were so many things to do in this country other than war.

He had countless ideas on how to govern the country, including many of the more advanced political ideas of the future generations. How was he supposed to carry them out?

Right now, following the victory on the battlefield, Zhao Chen was already considering this question.

He pondered for a long time before suddenly muttering, "The governance of a country is like cooking a small meal. Many political ideas cannot be truly implemented right now."

He got up from the bed, went to the window, and began thinking again.

These few years, Middle Han Area had been promoting Rent reduction order s, and last year, Chuan Shu had just been promoting Rent reduction order s. The implementation of the Rent reduction order had also greatly offended the level of the gentry. On that day, when they were in the Middle Han Area, even the Curved End was unusually opposed to the Rent reduction order. It could be said that after the Rent reduction order s were pushed forward, Zhao Chen and many other Landlord bureaucrats stood on the opposite side. He had relied on the chaos in Zhe Keqiu and the chaos in white lotus to deal a huge blow to the power of the, allowing the country to be stable and there to be no unrest.

Therefore, many radical political ideas could not be carried out now. If it was carried out now, it could very likely cause chaos in the Middle Han Area and the Chuan Shu! Although Zhao Chen was extremely powerful now, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and countless of youths supporting him, it would not be a good thing for the country if chaos were to break out! The way to rule over a country lay in safety, especially now that the world was in chaos, half of the land was in the hands of a female True and Emperor Kang, and under such circumstances, more so, had to be safe!

"There can be no major political changes in a short period of time and stability is needed. The most I can do right now is make a little economic fuss. " Zhao Chen thought about it for a long time before calming himself down.

He took out a piece of paper and wrote down all the economic measures that he had thought of during this period of time.

The first was to repair water conservancy projects in large scale throughout the country.

This, of course, is to develop agriculture and raise the standard of living of farmers once again. The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the greatest gap between the rich and the poor, and the peasants lived in extreme hardship. Zhao Chen naturally wanted to change all these. The higher the standard of living of a farmer, the more he will be supported by the majority of the country's population.

The second is to encourage business and reform the business tax.

After the Rent reduction order was introduced, many of the landlord was not satisfied, but these landlord had a lot of surplus money. The court can encourage landlords to put their surplus money into business.

Moreover, the reform of the commercial tax must be implemented. The commercial tax of Song Dynasty was not very heavy, but the commercial tax of Song Dynasty had an important characteristic, "repeated collection tax". Ordinary merchants would have to pay taxes to pass through different places. According to historical records, some places had "less than a hundred miles and there were three taxes." All of this naturally needs to be changed. Many tax cards need to be deducted.

In doing so, the imperial government's income would fall in a short period of time, but the country's business would definitely flourish. The rich and powerful would naturally have more taxes when the citizens became richer and had more property.

The third was the construction of the road.

The ancient road was very difficult, and many places didn't even have the same road. There were many benefits to be gained from travelling from one side to the other, one was for commercial development, the other for the movement of people, and the second was for the movement of troops. Later generations said, "If you want to be rich, build your own path first." In ancient times, this was the same principle. However, the construction of the road would also cost a lot and would require the imperial government to have enough money. This was a huge problem. The imperial government probably wouldn't be able to take out that much money right now.

Just when Zhao Chen was thinking about the future of this country and thinking about possible changes to it, the countless soldiers and young people outside were still cheering throughout the night. Many soldiers and young people began to write letters to their families, informing them of the great victory of the Western Xia War. The under Wang De's command also began to pass down orders, ordering the various intelligence personnel to spread the news of the great victory of the Western Xia War.

They wanted to spread this news to all parts of the Central Plains. They wanted to let all the people in the world know of the Western Xia's victory, so that the people everywhere would be encouraged.