In late spring, it is sunny after the rain. The countryside is probably still filled with the fragrance of soil. The mountains and forests are swaying with red and green green. Even between cities, there is also a state of dust and rain washing away dust.

But cities are cities after all. Moreover, although Tokyo has not yet returned to its peak, it may still be the largest city in the world today.

So, after the rain, Tokyo City soon resumed its noisy and restlessness.

This noisy and restlessness became more obvious with the arrival of April. When the people in the city were discussing the news of military expansion, the Zhao official family once again received two bad news, one light and one dark:

The one that is bright is actually something that has been expected, so it is not worth feeling sad; the one that is dark is a bit unexpected, but because it is dark, it is hard to talk about it.

To be more specific, the so-called bad news for Ming was that Lin Jingmo, the Minister of Revenue, finally submitted a rough financial statement to the Zhao Guanjia. The Ministry of Revenue compared the population, took the various tax data of the Shenzong Dynasty as reference, and the various data of the Fengheng Yu Da period as the theoretical upper limit. According to the speed of the central government's financial recovery in the previous years, it gave a conclusion that was extremely complicated to say in detail, but it was also very simple to summarize. Assuming that it took three years, that is, the Northern Expedition in Jianyan in the tenth year of Jianyan, the court would have a gap of at least 30 million military funds and millions of stones of grain and grass.

And if it is five years, in theory, it may be possible to complete sufficient preparations for the Northern Expedition.

This table that has a total of hundreds of thousands of words and has used many popular forms in recent years. It is almost like a book's note, which is very convincing, but also cruel.

Because in this, we really try our best to calculate everything we can.

For example, Qianzhou on Jiangnan West Road has mines and porcelain, and many Miao villages serve as potential consumer targets, so it has always been recognized as a major commercial tax prefecture. From the time of Emperor Shenzong to before Jingkang, it can provide the court with a stable commercial tax of nearly 50,000 yuan per year. However, after the Jingkang Rebellion, the Qian thief rose, and of course the direct income of 50,000 yuan was gone.

After Yue Fei pacified Qianzhou, the Qianzhou commercial tax quickly recovered to more than 20,000 chunks a year ago.

In this regard, the Ministry of Revenue believes that the Qianzhou commercial tax will likely return to the level of more than 30,000 guan in the next year, and will reach 40,000 guan in the following year.

But that's all.

In a short period of time, Qianzhou's commercial tax will remain stuck at the level of 40,000 guan, and it will never be possible to provide 50,000 guan as stable as in the previous decades.

The reason is very simple. According to the corresponding land tax, the Ministry of Revenue inferred that part of the consumer population in Qianzhou has been lost. Not only that, there is Qili Town in the east of the city of Qianzhou City, and there is a magnetic kiln in the town, which is a top-class kiln... At that time, this Qili Town could pay taxes directly for several thousand guan every year, so the imperial court specially set up an institution similar to the tax office here!

Now, after years of trouble, Qili Town still exists, but this porcelain kiln has been interrupted for several years. Even though it has started to be refired, the recovery speed is extremely slow due to the collapse of the trade route and the shrinking of the luxury goods market, etc.... In the next few years, this Qili Town may only provide a few hundred cents of profit.

Therefore, the final conclusion given by the Ministry of Revenue was that the total commercial tax in Qianzhou in the next three years would be between 110,000 and 120,000 yuan.

In fact, from the commercial tax in Qianzhou, you can see the big ones from the small, and you can understand the current financial problems of the Song Dynasty - the foundation is still there, but the upper limit is greatly reduced due to the reduction of population and the invasion of the two rivers. At the same time, the war has caused serious damage to the economic system, and it will take time to restore it to the theoretical upper limit.

There are many similar details in this Ministry of Revenue.

The silver mines in the Shaowu Army on Fujian Road gradually dried up, and in the future, they would be calculated based on a decrease of 300 stakes per year;

And a trading town outside Hangzhou City completely disappeared in the previous military chaos, and there is no sign of reconstruction at present... all kinds of records have opened the eyes of the Zhao official family.

Even Zhao Jiu really learned some other strange knowledge from this Chen - for example, the tax revenue in Suzhou is far lower than that in Hangzhou these days, because there are many swamps outside Suzhou, which restricted the development of urban areas. Tax revenue has not increased much over the past few decades, but the population and markets in Hangzhou are constantly rising.

In short, this document is so meticulous and convincing that everyone understands that Lin Jingmo is definitely prepared. Most of the suggestions for Jiancai come from him, and he probably started preparing for this major project as soon as he came back last winter.

The Zhao Guan family also had to accept this. But having to accept it also meant that Zhao Jiu had to face the big hole with at least 30 million yuan.

That's right, of course it's the least, because the Ministry of Revenue is an ideal model, all calculated according to theoretical sustainable recovery, and does not consider the additional expenditure caused by any disaster or any disaster, nor does it consider the consumption of small-scale battles in the middle.

So, if the Zhao Guanjia wants to make an Northern Expedition three years later, he must obtain an additional 30 million trump card in three years in addition to the normal national finances!

Only more or less.

Speaking of this, we have to mention another bad news. Zhang Jun sent a secret letter to the Zhao Guan family - his fleet went to Japan first and then to Goryeo. After a long time of travel, he finally returned to Dengzhou, but only one-quarter of the goods were released.

The reason is very simple. The fleet is too large, and there is also an obvious armed ship, so it backfired, making the Japanese feel like they are facing a great enemy... Especially when the fleet sold two cargoes at Kyushu Hakata Port and tried to move further east, the Japanese were obviously stimulated and sent a large number of inland sea ships to follow and monitor them. The ports everywhere were no longer trading with the fleet. They were just because they were cautiously given normal supplies under the banner of the royal Zhao Song Dynasty.

As for buying and selling forcing?

Don’t joke, although the fleet is huge and there is an armed ship, it can’t hold back the entire Jingdong two-way maritime merchant, Huainan two-way big merchants, Zhang Jun and Zhang Dutong, and even Zhao Guan’s no-than-than-way money... Who is crazy? Dare to really bring so many silk porcelains to fight?!

Finally, in the Seto Inland Sea, a brave Japanese official finally took the order of the Japanese court to board the ship to negotiate. After all, he persuaded him. Seeing the official documents given by the Zhao family in Dengzhou, the flag was slightly relaxed, and he believed it, so he asked the local Japanese Western merchants to board the ship and bought two more ships of cargo. Then he made a little negotiation and asked the Japanese court to buy almost all the copper coins used to suppress the warehouse with silver and gold... The Japanese do like the copper coins of the Song Dynasty. From this perspective, it may be possible to conduct a certain precious metal trade.

After all, although the Song Dynasty also lacked copper, it was even more lacking in silver and gold... During the Jingkang period, the Jin people plundered a huge amount of gold and silver, but did not plunder copper coins, which made this transaction very profitable for both parties.

But that's all.

Next, the Japanese refused to allow ships to continue to walk to Japan's heartland, and refused to buy goods that exceeded normal demand.

Throughout the trip to Japan, I can only say that the words of Zhang Jun and Zhang Taiwei’s Japanese imperial pills are pure nonsense! The Japanese imperial court obviously has enough prestige and action, otherwise how can the ports along the way be consistent?

And it would be nonsense if someone from Zhao Guan’s family didn’t buy it and burn the port! Thousands of miles away, across the sea, who would have the fire to light up their own silk?

Just those Japanese ports, the silk in the belly of these ships is not valuable in the whole country!

Finally, the fleet carried the Japanese envoy who came to ask about the beginning and end of the matter, the one who had been promoted to the Daesu of the Central Affairs Office for proper handling of the matter, and was ready to come back directly. But the leading Zhang Jun family really felt that thirty ships had passed by, and only four ships had a cargo that was too terrible... so they simply convinced others, and set off from Hakata Port in the north, and then headed to Goryeo, and then arrived at the famous Liseng Port (Incheon Port) next to Kaijing.

As a result, the Goryeo people's reaction became more intense and more like facing a great enemy.

However, this does not mean that the Korean people were afraid of these dozens of sea ships. Unlike Japan, which had been relatively closed, conservative and sensitive after stopping the Tang envoy, the Korean Peninsula had been in close communication with the Central Plains dynasty for hundreds of years, and had always had a tradition of sea trade. For example, during the Silla period in the late Tang Dynasty, it was in the Huaidong area that participated in the army and obtained a green card. Zhang Baogao, a Silla man who had obtained a green card, actually contracted East Asia sea trade after the Tang Dynasty fell into civil strife.

During his heyday, Zhang Baogao's fleet had to have a dozen or dozens of ships sinking in the reefs in front of Mingzhou (now Ningbo) every year... Of course, the ships traveling along the shallow seas were definitely not as big as Zhang Taiwei's ship now.

In other words, the Goryeo people have considerable short-range combat capabilities in the near-shore areas.

The truth of the matter is actually very simple - in the final analysis, Goryeo is different from Japan. As neighbors of the Jurchen country, they were deeply involved in the 20-year war between the Liao and Jin and Song and Jin, but they had no end. So for the Goryeo people, if a poor handling is done well, it may very likely mean that the country should directly enter a state of full-scale war.

After Zheng Zhichang brought back the news that the Jinhebo Alliance and the Zhao Guan family destroyed the Western Xia, there was even fierce debate among the Goryeo people, and they became more sensitive and cautious from a diplomatic perspective.

And don’t forget that at this time, the Zhao Guanjia sent an envoy to establish an “alliance” coincided with the meeting and had just arrived in the capital of Goryeo.

Therefore, when seeing these thirty sea ships coming, Goryeo was certainly facing a great enemy. They thought that this fleet, like the envoy of the Honglu Temple, represented a certain attitude of the Zhao Guan family, who had been spread to the magical place in Goryeo.

Fortunately, an international friend Zheng Zhichang counted that he had the greatest face. After he personally boarded the ship for inquiries, clarified and resolved the misunderstanding, the Koreans chose to be cautious in their eyes, and they chose to buy the cargo of three ships at a share that was slightly greater than the normal trade demand.

Moreover, this transaction is concentrated and delayed.

It was an official transaction carried out when the fleet was surrounded by countless offshore ships, including fire ships, and it was a *** after careful and fierce political struggle within the Goryeo court.

After the transaction was completed, the fleet was clearly informed that they would not receive any ports other than Licheng Port, and it was recommended that the fleet turn back quickly.

In desperation, the fleet could only carry officials of the Honglu Temple to Goryeo, as well as the prime minister of the Goryeo people, and the political enemy of Zheng Zhichang. This time, Jin Fushi, who was a half-old friend of the people of the Song Dynasty, returned to Dengzhou.

The old man is already in his sixties this year, and it is also hard to run around for state affairs every day.

No matter what, only seven or eight of the thirty ships were sold. Although there was a surplus and even made hundreds of thousands of yuan back, it was undoubtedly a failure from the perspective of the Zhao Guan family - because Japan and Goryeo were cautious, it was probably necessary to conduct trade beyond normal trade needs. However, at this time, the Song Dynasty could not carry out ocean-going operations as Zhao Guan family imagined.

It’s not that it’s not, it’s not worth it.

Not to mention anything else, there are still 30 million holes in front. How much does it cost to conduct an ocean-going raid?

Even if you succeed by luck, how much more can you make in three to five years with the market saturation? Can you get it back? What's more, there are the possibility of defeat and many factors outside of manpower.

It must be known that military expenditure is all about people's wealth! It was obtained by the Kiln workers in Qianzhou and the Shaowu army miners for their blood and sweat! Zhao Jiu would choose to fight against Japan and Goryeo at this time unless he was sucking his brain.

It is not impossible to open the sea route, dump goods, and engage in economic colonization, but it is necessary to talk about methods and time.

However, just speaking of the Northern Expedition, if the sea cannot be used as a plug-in for the time being, how can we make money?

About ten days later, it was mid-April. Under the escort of the Imperial Camp army, Goryeo envoy Jin Toshi, Japanese envoy Hei Zhongsheng, and Honglu Temple official Xu Jing who was on an envoy to Goryeo, and Zhang Jun specially sent a team to send the "Sea Trade Organization" to Zhao Guanjia, and arrived in Tokyo together.

Immediately, things went wrong. First, a group of people from the east were asked to specifically Nanxunmen to the south. At first, the Goryeo delegation and the Japanese delegation thought this was important because Nanxunmen was facing the Imperial Street. However, when we arrived at Nanxunmen, Yang Yizhong, a confidant from the Zhao official family, led hundreds of people to greet him, but he was just here to welcome the "Sea Trade Organization".

Whether it is the Korean or the Japanese, including Xu Jing, an official from the Honglu Temple, could only look at the Japanese. The Korean specialties and tens of thousands of pounds of silver all the way up the Imperial Street, and under the escort of the Imperial Ban, they went straight to Xuande Building. However, they were driven to the Concierge House under the Honglu Temple, and no one paid any attention.

At this time, the Koreans and Japanese people completely realized that they were the only ones.

"Leichuan Gong (King Fushi's name)."

He arrived at the Concierge Courtyard at noon, only an hour later. In the afternoon, Xu Jing, the chief clerk of the Honglu Temple, who was the envoy to Goryeo, returned. He probably hurried to the Honglu Temple for a handover and returned. After returning, the chief clerk of the Honglu Temple came directly to the place where Jin Fushi was staying. After smearing, he couldn't help but look ashamed. "I'm neglecting Leichuan Gong today. Unexpectedly, the imperial court only focused on official private pockets and not on diplomatic relations!"

Jin Fushi, who was reading the newspaper in the courtyard, slowly looked up. The Goryeo Suan, who was nearly 60 years old, looked carefully at Xu Jing, who was twenty-six years younger than him. He sighed: "Uncle Ming (Xu Jing), how many years have we known each other?"

Xu Jing, who had just passed his thirties, was slightly stunned, but blurted out: "Ten years have passed."

"Not bad." Jin Fushi pressed the residence on his knees and sighed. "When Emperor Taishang Daojun was in power, I was the one who was responsible for the Goryeo, and the Great Song Dynasty envoyed Goryeo only once, ten years ago, and you took responsibility. At that time, you first learned Goryeo with me in Tokyo, then went to Beijing together, and then returned together, ate and lived together for two or three years, and then became a foreign friendship... Later, the Jingkang chaos was in chaos. I only thought that you and I would never meet again in this life, but I could actually travel with the same boat again... Uncle Ming, I cherish the friendship between you and me very much, and I can see that you have always been sincere to me."

Xu Jing was slightly stunned when he heard this, almost losing his composure.

By the way, Xu Jing, as an envoy who officially sent a mission to Goryeo to the Song Dynasty ten years ago, sat down and watched a sea merchant king Lun become one of the nine ministers through his relatives. It was not until this time that the court needed diplomatic professionals to be temporarily promoted to serve as envoys. Xu Jing himself was a wealthy young man who was good at calligraphy, painting and poetry. His greatest achievement before was to go to Goryeo, but his father Xu Hongzhong was a senior official who became a transit envoy to the Huai River during the Xuanhe period!

Those who can sit in this position during the Xuanhe period are likely to be in the Fenghengyu Grand Prix Party.

In fact, this is true. Xu Jing's father Xu Hongzhong not only relied on Cai Jing, but also relied on Zheng Juzhong. So from the beginning, Jingkang was implicated by his father and went to Chizhou to be the head of a tax supervisor. He worked there for four or five years, and then died again, and after he was filial, he was free for almost a year before he was summoned.

In other words, this Ambassador Xu and the Chief Censor Xu are simply a mixture of brothers Lu Benzhong, brothers Zheng Yinian, and brothers Gao Yanei. In terms of the degree of bad luck and bad things from his ancestors, they are definitely not as good as the Gao brothers and the Zheng brothers, and the whole family escaped the Jingkang change; in terms of luck, they are definitely not as good as the Lu Benzhong brothers. The legendary experience of Lu Gongxiang after Jingkang is probably considered to be the only experience in the Song Dynasty... Of course, it is not as good as poetry, but it is said that the painting level is very high.

But this doesn't matter. The key is that this person can't resist the fact that he accidentally got a foreign language expertise in order to flatter Emperor Taishang Daojun... It can be seen that it is still more important to know a foreign language.

"Uncle Ming."

Seeing this, Jin Fushi felt more and more moved. "Although we are the best friends, you are almost thirty years old. If you are not taboo, I will talk to you about something that a gentleman should not say today."

Xu Jing had always been convinced by Jin Fushi. When he heard this, he naturally suppressed all kinds of emotions and came to the courtyard to sit opposite each other under the shade of the tree.

"Uncle Ming." Jin Fushi pressed the mansion in his hand and met seriously. "Tell me the truth first. Do you have any resentment towards your current Zhao official family because of the ups and downs of your career?"

"How could that happen?" Xu Jing smiled awkwardly and turned his head to answer. "It was a matter of Jingkang that my family was in the past. Even if I blamed the Emperor Yuan, I would only blame the retired Gong Lu, Gong Xu, and even those who were Li Guang and Li Zhongcheng, the government would only have the grace of restoration for me."

Jin Fushi didn't say a word, just staring at the other party.

Xu Jing was silent for a moment, looked around, and then whispered: "Actually, he was a little dissatisfied with the lucky ones like Wang Lun. A maritime businessman, just because he took the path of a foreign relative, became the Nine Ministers and was ranked in the Secret Pavilion..."

"Is it just Wang Lun?" Jin Fushi finally spoke, but still stared at the other party.

"Of course it's not just Wang Lun." Xu Jing hesitated for a moment, and finally sighed in a low voice. "Once he returned to Beijing, he became a seventh-rank official in Beijing, but his old acquaintance was not around, and he still had the intention of being a clever official... Besides, Zhu Zi in the court was a minor official in the past, the last official. Although he knew that this was a chaos in the world and the current situation was relieved, he still felt a little relieved... Always thinking about going further."

At the end, Xu Jing was blushing and then lowered his head directly.

"I know." Jin Fushi nodded slightly and continued to say it. "Then he had a vague resistance to the entire court and your officials... This is actually human nature. I am in Goryeo because I lead the two squads of Kaijing (Seoul) and aren't they the same as the two squads of Xijing (Pyongyang)? But Uncle Ming, the Song Dynasty and Goryeo are different..."

"Yes." Xu Jing raised his head hard, his face still a little embarrassed.

"In Goryeo, I am always three-point sure to deal with those people." Jin Fushi saw the other party's expression uneasy, and he slowed down and smiled. "But here in the Song Dynasty, it is the Zhao Guan family's one-word ceremony! But there is nothing we can do about it. Your Zhao Guan family has been in chaos, and they have been in a state of mind. It has been established for seven or eight years to make the country come to this situation. So what? Who can really oppose him? What kind of person is Li Gang and Li Boji? He has made such a fierce memorial, but has it shaken a little? And if you are a mere seventh-rank Beijing official, what else can you find if you really have resentment?"
To be continued...