Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 141 Khitan's Envoy
That night, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangmei chatted all night, and then they stayed in Huainan for half a month. Zhao Guangmei took Zhao Kuangyin around Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Chuzhou, except for visiting a few big cities. In addition, I also went to the village for a walk several times.

I also visited various factories opened by trading companies in the Huainan area, including the oil press factory. Now of course he is not the only one who opens factories in the trading companies. The master craftsmen below and the foremen in the former factory can do whatever they want. Just apply for a sum of funds from a commercial bank to open a factory and submit a planning document. Most of them actually make money.

In this way, half a month later, Zhao Guangmei and Zhao Kuangyin ended their southern tour together. After returning to Kaifeng, Zhao Kuangyin directly issued two orders:
Article [-]: Military expansion.

From now on, the commercial bank will set up two additional armies outside the Privy Council. They will directly obey the orders of the commercial bank's board of directors. The required military expenses will be borne by the commercial bank. There will be no quota and no personnel restrictions.

An army is named Chu Army, which is composed of the best students from the Forbidden Army and educated in military schools. Of course, if a soldier in the Forbidden Army sacrifices his life for the country and leaves behind a young son, he can also be rushed into the Chu Army. In the army.

Chu Jun is directly responsible to Zhao Guangmei and the board of directors of the trading bank. He is mainly responsible for the security of the shareholders of the trading bank, that is, the retired veterans. The first commander is temporarily held by Zhao Dezhao.

To put it bluntly, it is modeled after the Yulin Orphans of the Western Han Dynasty. It is said to be security, but in fact it is to bring these children together to learn. Those old generals do not need a group of children to protect them. They can teach them anything. It’s been of endless use.

When these young soldiers reach the age of 20, they will be incorporated into the Forbidden Army and serve as the banzhi in front of the palace, which is equivalent to the banzhi reserve team.

The other group is named Laojun, and is composed of retired soldiers from the Forbidden Army. They are required to move out of the barracks and form an independent battalion. Each soldier of the Laojun has at least 15 years of fighting experience, and they are all veterans among veterans. Similarly, Yiying's military resources are entirely paid for by commercial banks and have nothing to do with the Privy Council, and the Privy Council cannot interfere with it.

If the Chu Army is still just a high-end military academy, and half-year-old children in the [-]th and [-]th years may not have much combat effectiveness, this group of veterans who have been fighting for half their lives and are retired, but are not yet under the control of the Privy Council, are really super killers.

Therefore, this old army does not have a commander, only a "veterans management committee". The veterans themselves vote to elect squad leaders in units of 100, and these squad leaders take turns to elect "opinion leaders" to participate. Board discussions.

Although these veterans are affiliated with the board of directors of the commercial bank, they are not anyone's subordinates, and they do not have regular tasks such as standing guard or guarding. They are only responsible for protecting the property interests of key branches of the commercial bank, and at the same time, they will also accept some tasks issued by the board of directors.

For example, Li Chongjin now has a new official position and is sent to Jinling as an ambassador, while a veteran centurion is guarding Li Chongjin, responsible for protecting the interests of Li Chongjin and the merchants in the Southern Tang Dynasty.

In short, it is a task system and an employment system. On weekdays, they are veterans. They come when they are called and they can fight. When they are not called, this army is as if it does not exist, so it is relatively less sensitive.

Almost none of the civil servants could figure out what "special security" meant, but instinctively, everyone was frightened by this military force that was completely outside the control of the imperial court.

But again, as long as Zhao Kuangyin agrees to what the trading company wants to do, no one can stop it. Who can make the entire trading company completely separate from the court?
The second item is that the commercial bank will issue additional shares and raise funds to the "society" for the first time.

Apart from the fact that these stocks cannot be traded, they are not much different from the stocks of later generations. The board of directors will significantly increase the issuance of doubled shares and issue them unconditionally to: veterans of the Forbidden Army who have served for more than ten years, and those who have served for more than five years. , officers and soldiers who have made certain meritorious deeds, as well as officers and soldiers who have made meritorious deeds in this expedition to the Southern Tang Dynasty and in the previous expeditions to Jing and Hu, and were injured.

In addition, there is also the "public fundraising" part, but so far the lowest subscription amount is 100 million yuan.

Well, these days, people who can take out 100 million in cash in one go are probably unlikely to be businessmen.

Is it obvious that they are going to the military governors of various towns?

Led by Fu Yanqing and Li Jun, dozens of military governors and defense envoys from various towns, such as Wang Quanbin, Liu Guangyi, Zhang Mei, Li Jixun, etc., waved copper coins and went to Yangzhou to buy stocks in person, and even bought stocks one by one. They all took off their clothes and pants, you exposed the penetrating wound on your shoulder, and I exposed the three-foot-long scar on my thigh. The comparison was a contribution, and it was hard not to start a fight directly.

It’s definitely not possible for someone to pay more for this thing and who has more shares. It’s impossible for you to be able to buy it if you want. In addition to collecting money, we also charge no less for land, workshops, etc. Originally, these Each and every one of the border soldiers also did business.

Thanks to Zhao Kuangyin's previous feat of killing three thousand Confucian scholars, none of the civil servants in the dynasty raised objections to such a big move.

Of course, with such a big move, the old Zhao family's share of the entire business had to be further reduced. Even if one dollar was added, it would account for less than [-]%. And except for the Zhao family, all the other shareholders held all the shares. Scattered, and the business bank's current expansion speed is naturally very fast.

Everyone knows that these should be just a prelude. The power of Zhao Guangmei and the trading bank has been further expanded, and the next step will definitely be a new policy led by the trading bank.

However, what exactly is this new policy? The smart people in the world may be able to detect a vague clue, but it is really just a clue. They have no idea what His Highness King Qin plans to do, and those mediocre people, even more so I was so confused that I couldn't see anything.

This kind of feeling that things are clearly changing, but no one knows exactly how the changes will be made, and that all the rhythms are completely controlled by Zhao Guangmei alone. This kind of feeling, it is clear that people have raised their knives high, but no one knows where he is going. The feeling of where you cut is really making people want to vomit blood.

In the next month, Zhao Guangmei only did two things in total. One was to dredge the rivers, especially the canal dredging from Kaifeng to Luoyang, and take over the siege.Well, from Kaifeng to Luoyang, there is only such a small section of the canal, which is still dredged. Historically, the Northern Song Dynasty did not finish dredging from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the Jingkang Revolution. Now this work is done by trading companies.

The imperial court did not give a penny to the trading houses, and the construction materials were all paid for by the trading companies themselves. However, after this section of the canal was completed, the almost abandoned Luoyang Wharf and the surrounding land of more than 300 acres were all transferred to the trading companies for contracting.

Then, a New Deal Development Zone was planned outside Kaifeng.

Who knows what a development zone is.

Instinctively, everyone felt that His Highness King Qin was doing something huge, but no one really could guess what he wanted to do.

…………

For more than two months, Zhao Guangmei was busy every day. Officials from the six departments were interviewed by him one by one, and sometimes he would even go to the six departments unexpectedly as Ping Zhangshi, a disciple of Zhongshu. It was called inspection work, and he sat there for a whole day, and no one knew what he was inspecting.

On this day, Zhao Guangmei was busy as usual, but was carried over by Zhao Kuangyin. He couldn't help but said: "Brother, I know you are in a hurry, but don't be anxious. I have already started many preparations for the New Deal, and the regulations are also in progress." More than half of it has been completed. If you give me at most two more months, this new policy can almost officially move forward."

"It's not about the New Deal, but a guest has arrived. An envoy from the Liao Kingdom came to congratulate me on the founding of the Song Dynasty. Do you know who is here?"

"Oh, an envoy from the Liao Kingdom is here. Ke Miaogu should think carefully."

I remember that this guy seemed to be here in history.

"No, it's Xiao Siwen who's here."

Zhao Guangmei was stunned and asked: "Who...who is here?"

"Xiao Siwen stayed in Nanjing in the former Liao Dynasty."

"Grass."

Zhao Guangmei was really confused this time. This was not an ordinary person. Even though this time period should be when Xiao Siwen lost power and was at the lowest status in the Liao Kingdom, it was still Xiao Siwen after all!
Such a big man personally came to Kaifeng as an envoy?
Isn't he afraid that he won't be able to go back?
Of course, during his low years in recent years, he didn't seem to be a very big figure in the Liao Kingdom, because a few years ago, during Chai Rong's Northern Expedition, he recaptured the three states in Guannan in one fell swoop. It's Xiao Siwen.

That performance can be said to be quite wonderful. It can be highly summarized in four words: fear of enemies and fear of war. Although he is a civil servant, this may not be a big mistake in the political environment of the Han people, but in the Khitan people This is almost the most serious fatal stain in our culture. Naturally, I was fucked to the end and given a job to cool off.

But no matter what, he is still Xiao Siwen.The leader of the three Khitan tribes.

A dead camel is bigger than a horse, not to mention that he is not dead yet. Zhao Guangmei knows very well that he will make a comeback and will become the prime minister of the Northern Palace of Liao in the future.

"What is he doing here?"

"I don't know, but it must be a show of goodwill and peace negotiation. This is a good thing for our Song Dynasty."

Zhao Guangmei nodded after hearing this. In fact, this also showed that the Song State was strong and powerful and had been recognized by the Liao State.

In fact, what few people in later generations know is that since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty was the first dynasty that the Liao Kingdom treated equally. Before the Song Dynasty, even in the Chai Rong era, the Liao Kingdom had always regarded itself very highly and unilaterally believed that the Zhou Dynasty should He was a vassal of the Liao Kingdom, and he always felt like an elder brother looking after a younger brother when looking at the Central Plains Dynasty.

"Although our Song Dynasty is an enemy of the Liao Dynasty, if we can really ease the relationship at this time, it will undoubtedly be a good thing for our Song Dynasty. Xiao Siwen is a well-known pro-Han sect in the Liao Kingdom. It is said that Sinology is excellent. Now, since they have sent such a high-level envoy, we must not lose our etiquette. After much thought, I want you to go to Chanzhou to pick him up as an angel. What do you think?
"Okay, I'll go."

(End of this chapter)