Chapter 305: Nong Zhigao Surrenders
The fifth year of the Qingli calendar, January 20, 1045 AD, is a special day for the Song Dynasty.
Because this is the time when each department reports the total every year.
Whether it is the internal calculations of each department or the big data of the Ministry of Statistics, they must be submitted to the Political System Institute.
Among them, the Ministry of Finance reported that last year's tax revenue increased by 7% compared with the previous year. The main reason is that the Liao Kingdom increased its trade volume and the Song Dynasty cracked down on the problem of tax evasion in maritime trade.
In addition, the new industrial and commercial taxes are growing steadily every year. Although not as ruthless as the original commercial taxes, the new commercial taxes have greatly improved commercial activities and increased commercial trade. Today's commercial prosperity is at least 30% higher than before.
In addition to finance, the growth of the big data of the Ministry of Statistics is particularly obvious.
Population, agricultural development, economic development, education, military and even cultural development have all improved to varying degrees, especially the cultivated land area in agriculture.
According to the calculation of the National Bureau of Statistics, in the past year, the newly added cultivated land area reached more than 9.8 million mu, which doubled the data from the ninth year of Kaibao of Emperor Taizong of Song to the fifth year of Tianxi of Emperor Zhenzong of Song.
In the ninth year of Kaibao of Zhao Guangyi, the national cultivated land area was 295 million mu. In the fifth year of Tianxi of Zhao Heng, the cultivated land area reached 525 million mu.
In other words, in these 45 years, the cultivated land increased by 5.11 million mu every year.
However, that was the early days of the founding of the country by Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi. After the war was settled, a large amount of abandoned cultivated land was reclaimed, which led to large-scale growth.
By the time of Zhao Zhen, the national cultivated land area had basically stabilized, and the rest of the cultivated land was at most a problem of hidden households and hidden property.
For example, in the fifth year of Tianxi, it was 525 million mu. By the third year of Zhiping of Song Yingzong 42 years later, the cultivated land area had dropped to 440 million mu. At least 80 million mu of land had disappeared in the past 40 years.
Then in the Yuanfeng period of Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi carried out reforms to check the cultivated land nationwide, and a large number of hidden households, hidden properties and hidden fields surfaced, and it was discovered that the cultivated land area of the Song Dynasty was as high as 700 million mu.
It can be seen how serious the problem of hidden households and hidden property was at that time.
A few years ago, Zhao Jun conducted a national census, and the number of farmlands found was about 600 million mu.
The method he used at that time was very simple, that is, to reduce agricultural taxes on a large scale across the country, but every mu of farmland must be included in the government's statistics.
All county offices in various places must take this matter as a task and include it in the performance evaluation system, and strictly check how much farmland there is in their county.
In the past, hidden households and hidden properties could be forgiven, but if they were not reported, the government had the right to confiscate the land without property rights and make it local official land.
At one time, a large number of landlords and tyrants were forced to report their hidden fields, resulting in an explosive growth in the number of arable land at that time.
And before the court reduced taxes, there were actually a lot of wasteland. Because the tax was too heavy at that time, many people directly gave up farming and went to the city to work.
So in addition to the hidden households and hidden properties of landlords and tyrants, local governments also cleared out a lot of unowned wasteland, turning it into official land to recruit tenants to cultivate.
The annual tax revenue generated by the nearly 70 million mu of newly-developed farmland also largely compensated for the fiscal deficit caused by the reduction of taxes by the court, and also brought a lot of benefits to the local finances.
However, the Song Dynasty has been in a period of rapid development since the beginning of the Song Dynasty. It is normal to increase by 5 million mu every year, but it is difficult in the middle and late stages.
For example, 525 million mu in the fifth year of Tianxi and 700 million mu in the third year of Yuanfeng, with a gap of 60 years in between. That is to say, in these 60 years, the annual increase in cultivated land in the Song Dynasty was less than 3 million mu.
Now it has increased to 9 million mu a year, which is twice the amount before the fifth year of Tianxi and three times the amount after the fifth year of Tianxi. There are about 10 million mu every year, which makes the total cultivated land area in the country reach 640 million mu, and the growth rate is extremely fast.
The reason for this is that, first of all, under the policy of recuperation, the government encourages the people to open up more wasteland and reclaim more new land.
Secondly, cultivated land needs means of production, such as water and farm tools.
In recent years, the imperial court has asked local governments to use local finances to build more canals and include them in their political achievements. At the same time, steel mills have been built to produce a large number of steel farm tools, ensuring that the people have enough means of production to open up wasteland.
The last and most important point.
Terraced fields, silted fields, sandy fields, rack fields, lake fields and other special fields appeared on a large scale in the Song Dynasty. In addition, Zhao Zhen found local fertilizers, and the cultivated land area and grain output were naturally greatly improved.
The cultivated land area and grain output soared, and grain prices naturally plummeted. At the same time, the prices of livestock such as pigs, chickens, ducks, and sheep also plummeted.
Especially pork, from 27 wen a catty in previous years, it has fallen to 15 wen a catty today.
It is just around the corner to return to the 5 wen a catty during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song.
After all, pigs in the Song Dynasty often ate pig grass, but this would definitely not grow fast or big. Eating rice and wheat is different. Rice and wheat are originally one of the pig feeds, providing more carbon water and growing faster.
Zhao Zhen also issued a wide range of imperial edicts, requiring local governments to teach people how to castrate pigs, so that pigs can concentrate on eating, and their growth cycle and obesity rate will soar.
With low grain prices, more pigs will be fed rice and wheat, and naturally more pork will be produced.
The only relatively strong price is beef. The Song Dynasty explicitly prohibited the killing of cattle. Cattle were to be used for farming, and only those that died of old age or accidental death could be eaten, which led to the high price.
The low prices of basic living expenses and the high wages of migrant workers in the city obviously led to the overall economic situation of the Song Dynasty developing in an excellent direction.
If there were developed countries in the feudal agricultural society, then the Song Dynasty today should be the only developed country in the world.
In addition, the reporting work of various departments is also satisfactory.
The basic education of the Song Dynasty has been carried out for four years. Although there is no first batch of students who have successfully graduated, more and more students are enrolled, and there will be more and more talents in science and engineering in the future.
Zhao Jun not only built a mathematical and physical science system, but also built a certain industrial system.
For example, the manufacture of artillery and muskets has strict regulations, and the length of artillery, material thickness, musket quantity, shooting method, etc. have been systematically specified.
After the mass production of steam engines in the future, assembly line operations will also appear simultaneously.
The growth of commerce is also gratifying. After the commercial reform, the degree of commercial prosperity has increased day by day, the domestic commodity economy has circulated rapidly, the carrying capacity of the canal has increased significantly, and blockages have occurred repeatedly.
For this reason, the imperial court allocated a lot of money and asked local governments to dredge and expand the canal in their own territory, which greatly increased the canal's carrying capacity.
Strictly speaking, the first direction of future logistics development is definitely trains. The backward mode of transportation such as the canal should not be paid attention to.
But after analysis, Zhao Jun found that the canal has not yet reached the point of elimination.
After all, it is definitely difficult to connect the whole country with trains in a short period of time. The emperor of later generations spent countless Chinese workers' blood and water to build more than 500,000 kilometers of railways in the fifty years from 1860 to 1910.
And in 2021 in our later generations, the total mileage of railways is only 160,000 kilometers.
So Zhao Jun believes that the canal will be useful for at least fifty years.
It is estimated that the railway will cover all parts of the country in fifty years, so it is not a short-sighted thing to continue to build the canal now.
In addition to the development of various places, the explosive growth in the military is particularly critical.
More than 1.2 million people were eliminated to only more than 600,000 people. The generals stayed in the barracks for training every day, which greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of the soldiers.
In addition, according to the instructions of the Political System Council, in the second half of last year, after the army was reorganized, a group of elite soldiers, about 30,000 people, were selected and began to equip firearms. They have been trained for more than two months and have a considerable scale.
In this way, the situation of the army of the Song Dynasty is very clear.
Among them, the 80,000 firearms troops, taking the first army of 5,000 people as an example, have three artillery battalions, each artillery battalion has ten heavy artillery, each artillery is equipped with 20 people, and 60 small steel cannons, each with five people.
In this way, the whole army has 48 artillery battalions, 480 heavy artillery, and nearly 3,000 small steel cannons. At the same time, there are 56,000 musket troops, with sufficient firepower.
The only disadvantage is that the artillery is too heavy and needs to be pulled by a large carriage. Twenty artillery members work together to operate the large artillery.
But even so, it is basically invincible in field battles.
Once a 5,000-man firearms army is deployed, with 3,500 musket teams covering the artillery positions behind and occupying favorable terrain, it is no problem to stop the charge of tens of thousands of cavalry teams.
In addition to these 80,000 firearms troops, the remaining more than 400,000 people are also elite cold weapon teams, using steel weapons and re-forged armor.
It can be said that the equipment advantage of the Song Dynasty’s army, whether firearms or cold weapons, is very obvious when facing the Liao Kingdom and Xixia.
The only flaw is that there are relatively few cavalry. Among the entire army of more than 600,000 people, there are only 120,000 cavalry in service, of which 16 firearms have 4 cavalry troops, shooting on horseback, and the rest are infantry firearms troops.
This is the result of the Song Dynasty being able to trade horses with the Liao Kingdom and Xixia in recent years. Otherwise, given the situation before the army was restructured, the number of cavalry would be even smaller.
At the end of January, when the overall strength of the Song Dynasty was greatly improved, the Political System Council sent a reply letter to Nong Zhigao, who was far away in Andezhou, Guangnan West Road.
When the letter reached Nong Zhigao, it was almost the end of February.
At this time, the Song Dynasty was preparing to launch a new round of Qingli New Deal, which was already the fourth round.
The previous rounds of new policies had laid a lot of groundwork, and only the third and fourth rounds were more dangerous, one was to deal with redundant troops, and the other was to deal with land annexation.
However, the specific policy had not yet been made. Although Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan discussed the draft, it was still under discussion in the Political System Council. It was estimated that it might take until March or April to be officially issued.
At this time, Nong Zhigao happily received the news from the Song Dynasty.
Andezhou.
In the so-called palace of the king of the Southern Kingdom, Nong Zhigao, who had just turned 20 this year, was discussing with his confidants Gao Huangwei, Huang Shimi, Nong Jianhou, Nong Zhizhong and others.
The palace was very simple, in fact, it was the house occupied by Nong Zhigao, a local rich family.
Moreover, this place is surrounded by mountains and hills. Although they are all small hills, the forests are extremely dense and surrounded by vast primitive jungles. It is more like a larger town than a state.
Because in later generations, this place is a town, called Ande Town, located in the northwest of Jingxi City, Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and southeast of Napo County.
In the Song Dynasty, it belonged to one of the 48 vassal states of Guangnan West Road.
The border Jisi Prefecture in the Song Dynasty was not as large as the local prefecture. It governed several counties and had an administrative level like a city in later generations. Instead, they are located close together like villages on the border.
Therefore, no matter in terms of form, regional size or even population distribution, these Jizhou prefectures are more like a certain town, a certain township, or even a certain village in later generations.
However, these Jizhou prefectures range from large to small, and the largest and most prosperous ones can be compared to counties.
Among them are Guangyuan Prefecture and Ande Prefecture.
Therefore, in a sense, Nong Zhigao used only a few counties and dozens of villages in his hands, with a population of perhaps less than 200,000, to deal with Vietnam, which has a population of millions. In the end, he even rebelled against Vietnam with nearly 100,000 people. The war between the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, which had a population of 100 million, was also a miracle.
"Your Majesty."
After Huang Wei and others arrived, they asked, "What's the reason for calling me here?"
Nong Zhigao said: "Brother Jing, brother Congfu, you came at the right time."
As he spoke, he handed over the letter in his hand and said, "The imperial court finally replied."
"Did you reply?"
Huang Wei and Huang Shimi suddenly became excited.
Nong Zhigao nodded: "The imperial court said that the southwest is remote. In recent years, because of the war with the Liao Kingdom and Xixia, there has been no time to pay attention to the southwest. Now that the Liao Kingdom and Xixia are defeated, free up the hands, we will destroy the Yue Dynasty."
"Destroy the Yue Dynasty?"
Several people were shocked. They didn't expect that the imperial court was going to take serious measures this time and directly wanted to destroy the Yue Dynasty.
Huang Wei took the letter and glanced at it immediately.
The content of the letter is actually very simple. First of all, it affirms Nong Zhigao's struggle against Vietnam in the southwest over the years, but at the same time it criticizes Nong Zhigao's ambition to establish a country without authorization. The Constitutional Yuan's first request is to immediately revoke the country's title. Return to the banner of the Song Dynasty.
This is actually not difficult, because the founding of Nong Zhigao was originally to fight against Vietnam and North Korea. He needed to set up a flag in the southwest and win over the ethnic minorities who were oppressed by Vietnam and North Korea to unite for warmth.
He had written to the court several times before, always asking for surrender. Therefore, it is not difficult to realize the requirements of the imperial court.
Secondly, the imperial court granted Nong Zhigao the same background as a Jinshi, and he was appointed Tongzhi of Yongzhou.
The current magistrate of Yongzhou, Wang Chu, was transferred, and the court appointed a new magistrate, Zhao Wenzuo, the former magistrate of Gaozhou.
In addition, the transfer envoy of Guangnan West Road has also been changed, becoming Yang Cha, the former supervisory censor.
The court also explained the reason in the letter.
Wang Chu and others were afraid that the affairs of Yue Dynasty and the border area would be reported to the court and affect their political performance, so most of Nong Zhigao's letters to the court were withheld by them.
If it weren't for the Imperial City Secretary on Guangnan West Road, I'm afraid the court wouldn't even know about this matter.
This is not just Wang Chu, his successor Chen Gong, the magistrate of Yongzhou, also did this. Chen Gong was very disgusted with Nong Zhigao. Later, Nong Zhigao rebelled in anger and killed Chen Gong. Only then did he find out that his letters were from It was never sent to the court.
Finally, the imperial court officially issued a notice saying that the Southwest would be transferred to Jisi Prefecture and returned to the territory of the Song Dynasty. From now on, they, the leaders of ethnic minorities, would serve as local officials and must obey the imperial court's dispatches.
And not only Nong Zhigao, Huang Wei and others were also awarded positions such as county magistrate and defense envoy.
Huang Wei and Huang Shimi, brothers from the clan, were born in Jinshi. They met Nong Zhigao when they were taking the exam together in Bianliang. By luck, they got to the bottom of the Jinshi exam, while Nong Zhigao failed.
Therefore, Nong Zhigao is still a profession in which many heroes come out - no less talented people.
This means that their knowledge and ability are much higher than ordinary people. Huang Wei saw the clue immediately and said in a deep voice: "The imperial court wants to annex the Yue Dynasty and completely transform Guangxi and the Yue Dynasty. It became the territory of the Song Dynasty."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too."
Nong Zhigao nodded and said: "It seems that the imperial court is very determined this time. The letter says that if the Yue people kill one Han person, ten Yue people will be wiped out. If one Han territory is occupied, the Yue Dynasty will be wiped out!"
Marquis Nong Jian said: "Your Majesty, the court wants us to abolish the country. Does that mean we can no longer be kings in the future?"
"Of course it is."
Nong Zhigao glanced at him and said: "We will be officials of the Song Dynasty from now on, just like those who are officials."
Nong Zhizhong said dissatisfied: "What's so good about being an official in the imperial court? It's not as good as building our own country. Besides, they didn't care much about us before, so why should we care about them?"
"Confused!"
Nong Zhigao slapped the two clan brothers and said: "Now that the Song Dynasty is strong and powerful, it has defeated the Liao Kingdom in the north and defeated the Xia rebels in the west. It is at its peak. We founded the country privately, which has made the court dissatisfied. Moreover, the court is planning to annex the Yue Dynasty. , Will you still allow a small country on the border? If you don't obey the order, I'm afraid it will be wiped out in an instant."
At this time, Nong Zhigao was still very weak. Historically, he built a country, raised a banner, and gathered ethnic minorities from various tribes around him. Only then did he manage to gather tens of thousands of people, and launched a mighty resistance war. The Yue Dynasty rebelled against the Song Dynasty.
But at this time, Nong Zhigao had not yet reached his later stage. His territory was Guangyuan Prefecture, Guihua Prefecture, Ande Prefecture and other Jisi Prefectures. There were tens of thousands of tribesmen and only a few thousand troops. Compared with the Song Dynasty, it was a world away. The difference.
Therefore, he had no thoughts of rebellion at all, but was very happy because he was appointed to an official position by the court.
He looked around and said to Huang Shimi and Huang Wei: "Jingzhi, Congfu, the imperial court has appointed you as the magistrate of Wuyuan County and the defense envoy of Yongzhou. Let us go to Yongzhou immediately to wait for the new transfer envoy of Guangnan West Road and the magistrate of Yongzhou. Come on, what do you think?"
Huang Shimi said with a smile: "Your Majesty has already become the governor of a place when you just turned 20, and you are in charge of Yongzhou before the new governor of Yongzhou comes. If you don't go now, when will you go?"
"Go, go, go to Yongzhou to take office immediately."
Nong Zhigao thought the same thing.
He was immediately excited.
Now he is the boss of Yongzhou for the time being.