Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 251 Zhao Dezhao, too steady
Faced with the olive branch extended by Zhao Guangmei, the Uighurs and Khotan actually had no choice at all.

They have obviously discussed it with Cao Yuanzhong. If they don't want this money, the court will never invest in any serious projects in Hexi in the future. This is the position given to them by the Song Dynasty, and they have to accept it even if they don't accept it.

And to be honest, in the Hexi Corridor, apart from its important location, connecting the north and the south, the resource endowment and climatic conditions are indeed too poor. Whether it is farming or grazing, you can only survive at most, and you can't live a prosperous life. no way.

If you want to get rich, you have to do business along the Silk Road. If you want to do business, but there are those lustful people blocking the way, they will either join in the corruption and change their beliefs. Only those who believe in the same religion as them can this trade road be viable again. , or, they can only fight over it and force their compatriots in the west to convert back to Mingjiao or Buddhism.

They sent people from the Uighurs and Khotan, and the Song Dynasty provided money, grain, and everything. As long as they could fight all the way to the west and expand their territory, they could repay the money with a lot of loot and even make a lot of money.

I heard that this time the imperial court's southern expedition was to sell the interests of the Southern Han Dynasty and Dali to commercial banks and private merchants in advance. It was said that the imperial court could still make a lot of money after the final settlement, which was equivalent to the military expenses given by the merchants.

This kind of routine can be copied westward. In this way, this war is simply a business. If you can make money, fight it. If you don't make money, don't fight it. Losing the war is equivalent to losing business.

In fact, people living in Hexi are naturally very business-minded. As soon as the news of the bidding of the Military Supervisor came out, Cao Yuanzhong came over to discuss how he would open up territory for the Song Dynasty.

In the next one or two generations, the Cao family will withdraw from the Guiyi Army one after another. The descendants of the Cao family will work in commercial banks to earn dividends and do business, and will no longer be Jiedushi envoys.

However, Shazhou and Guazhou have their own state conditions here, and they will definitely retain a certain degree of autonomy at any time. Although their return to the Song Dynasty can be regarded as completing their historical mission, how can they make the people of Guazhou live better? , he has also been thinking about it.

In this way, after the Cao family completely withdraws from the Guiyi Army, they can draw a perfect end and leave a perfect image in the history of Qing Dynasty.

Then let's go to war?

They, who are from Hexi, are incompetent, but they consider themselves very brave. However, when he originally chatted with Zhao Guangmei, he wanted to fight against Tibet. Unexpectedly, Zhao Guangmei had almost no interest in Tibet, and instead asked them to go all the way west to fight against Tibet. .

It doesn’t matter, who should I hit?

The initial capital is [-] million. If you still need it in the future and you are sure that you can repay it, you can continue to borrow it without a limit.

Not only that, Zhao Guangmei also has a big project behind him. He plans to rebuild the Tang Dynasty Canal and connect Luoyang, Chang'an and Liangzhou through the river. From Liangzhou to Guazhou, he will build a major road to ensure the smooth flow of military supplies. He will even build a road in Guazhou. The total cost of building some munitions factories and large commercial markets will not be less than [-] million yuan.

He is very serious about opening up new territories.

To put it bluntly, Zhao Guangmei now regards the Uighurs and Khotanese as their Cossack regiments in the Song Dynasty, and the Guiyi Army, because of their special characteristics, serves as the reins to control this foreign regiment.

And sure enough, a few days later, the imperial court issued another clear decree, welcoming some retired Forbidden Army soldiers to join the Guiyi Army in the Western Expedition. The military pay was doubled compared to when they were in the Forbidden Army, and those who owed credit loans were welcome to pass. Join the Guiyi Army in exchange for resettlement expenses and loan repayment.

In short, Zhao Guangmei's military expenditures for the Guiyi Army are unlimited, and he also wants to try how far the Guiyi Army can fight under this model.

Of course, it is impossible to invest so much money in one breath without inflation. Zhao Kuangyin also found him, frowning and said: "Are you printing money too harshly recently? One hundred million after another. Loan, isn't it too exaggerated? Although the military expenditure is provided by the businessman, the money provided by the businessman is actually still a loan. "

Zhao Guangmei explained: "The average interest rate of these loans is around 6%. The interest rate is really not low. As long as these loans can be repaid in the end or there are enough assets as collateral, the problem will not be big."

"I understand this, but this money can't be used so uncontrollably. Didn't you also say that the more you let go, the wider the gap between the rich and the poor will be. I always feel that this money... That’s how it should be, you should live within your means.”

Zhao Kuangyin still has a conservative feeling similar to that of an old farmer. He always feels that it is definitely not a good thing to print money like this, because the money printed by Zhao Guangmei recently has indeed been higher than his financial income.

You know, not long ago, he thought his financial income was astronomical.

This thing is neither grown nor produced. As soon as the money printing machine is turned on, hundreds of millions will be printed out. This will inevitably make him feel like he is struggling to eat his food and give him a huge sense of insecurity. feel.

Zhao Guangmei said: "Brother, you are right, but you are also wrong."

"I know what you said, as long as the loan can be repaid, there won't be much of a problem. Expansion of territory and technological advancement can dilute inflation, but I just don't feel at ease. Besides, if I'm not afraid of ten thousand, I'm afraid of the worst. Now our country in the Song Dynasty is in great shape, as long as we follow the steps, our national power will naturally become stronger and stronger, so why take risks and rush for success?"

Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "Brother, you are right. This is exactly what a person in power should do. As long as the line is right and you take your time, you can always make the country better and better. The way to govern is to be steady and steady. Radical, in principle, the court's loans must be controlled as much as possible, because future generations will always have to repay them, and it is really better to do less of the things that Yin eats and eats."

"Then why are you still..."

"Because I am not a politician."

"what?"

"The imperial court and commercial banks are two different things. Although commercial banks are becoming more and more like a monster-like administrative department, they are still essentially commerce. Business is all about rapid expansion. Brother, you have confused the money. I The money printed now is not the fiscal budget of our Song Dynasty. What belongs to the society belongs to the society, and what belongs to the imperial court belongs to the imperial court. The money of the trading houses is indeed the money of the Song Dynasty, but you can't really regard the trading houses as belonging to the imperial court."

Zhao Kuangyin was thoughtful after hearing this.

After a while, he sighed and said, "It's up to you. With you in the Song Dynasty, I can sit back and relax. You...just oversee the two kingdoms."

"Ah? I am the supervisor of the country? What about you?"

"I'm going to Luoyang. I heard that the harem part of the new palace has been built first. I'll go take a look."

………………

On the other side, the battle situation in Dali also had a different meaning.

"Look, this mountain, this water, this waterfall, do you think this place is very suitable for a power plant? Wouldn't the electricity here be very cheap?"

Having said that, Zhao Dezhao ignored the helpless expressions of the civil and military officials and merchants behind him and directly ordered a halt. Then he got off his horse and started to inspect the unknown waterfall in front of him.

Dute Niang’s has been number 12 times.

If Pan Mei's war was mainly focused on destroying the enemy, for fear of wasting military supplies and burdening the Song Dynasty court, Zhao Dezhao fought this battle too seriously and rigorously, completely treating military supplies as nothing.Because Zhao Dezhao is particularly sensitive to mountains and water, every time he visits a place, he will visit the local hydrological conditions in detail, and then judge whether a hydropower station can be built here.

As a result, he found that the southwest is a fertile land. Everywhere here is suitable for building a power station. In some places, there is no need to dig any major projects at all. With a little modification, the motor can be moved directly to generate electricity.

What's even more amazing is that there is an alarming amount of limestone here, almost everywhere. Therefore, it is completely possible to dig soil here to build a hydropower station, and then use electricity to process the excavated soil into cement.

There is a lot of nitrate in the mountains here, and even sulfur, so the nitrate can be processed directly into gunpowder here. With so much electricity, the nitrate can be further processed into nitric acid.

Nitric acid is a good thing. It can be used not only to make explosives, but also to make chemical fertilizers. Although it is not yet mature, it can actually be made slowly by building a laboratory here.

Essentially speaking, whether it is nitrocellulose or ammonium nitrate, as long as it can solve the problem of large-scale production of nitric acid, it will not be too difficult to produce, except for the cost.

Zhao Dezhao was really interested in this.

It just so happened that he still had a lot of merchants in his army.

and so……

"This is it. Look at the topography here. It's very suitable for building a small commercial city. There is water, electricity, cement and saltpeter. There are iron ore, copper ore, lead ore in the west, and there is a large area of ​​land behind. Come to farm, um... Privy Chu, do you think it is feasible to build a city here? If it is feasible, how much will it cost?"

Chu Zhaofu was also helpless. He was a supervisor, but under Zhao Dezhao he was almost used as an accountant.

Originally, he wanted to be a supervisor for Pan Mei, but Zhao Guangmei created a bullshit mechanism to avoid suspicion. Since his son wanted to invest in Quanzhou, he was not allowed to supervise the army in the southeast, and instead he was sent to the southwest.

And that's it.

This Zhao Dezhao is simply a weirdo!

It's just a mere fight in Dali. It has been three or four months, but the Song army has not yet fought against the main force of Dali. Instead, it has been wandering around in the southwestern Yi. Today, we will inspect this, and tomorrow we will inspect that. is a stable one.

He didn't have the slightest awareness that he was leading troops in battle.

The so-called southwestern barbarians are actually the collective name for some barbarians between the Song Dynasty and Dali. In fact, no one in the Song Dynasty knows where the border crossing is in Dali and how big the actual controlled territory is. In fact, no one in the Song Dynasty even knows. People in Dali may not know about it. The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is divided into countless small barbarian races due to geographical factors. With so many barbarian races, which ones are affiliated with the Dali Kingdom, which ones have nothing to do with the Dali Kingdom, and which ones are important to Dali? Whether the country listens to the tune but not the propaganda, there is no definite answer at all.

Dali is not originally a serious feudal authoritarian country. The Duan family is actually more like the leader of the various tribes in this land, and their dominance is only that much. Although they also want to imitate the foreign tribes in the northwest and rely on their strength. They promote Buddhism to increase their dominance, but these southwestern Yi people are really not very interested in this thing and are not accustomed to the local environment.

As a result, Zhao Dezhao led the so-called [-]-strong army, just walking and stopping along the way, wandering on the territory of the Southwest Yi. He didn't fight many battles, but he did a lot of poverty alleviation and construction work. The main thing was to keep everything stable.

Wherever he thinks it is suitable for building a city, he will arrange construction teams to carry out the construction directly, and will also cooperate with various local Yi tribes. As long as they surrender, he will provide loans to these Yi tribes, some of which can grow sugar cane, some of which can grow tea, and those who can grow rice. If you can't grow anything else, you can at least grow fruits to make wine. You can harvest as much as you can.

Three months later, Pan Mei has almost entered Guangzhou City, but he is still here inking, inking, inking.

But there are advantages to being slow, and he fought really steadily in this battle.

He treats most of these southwestern barbarians with gentleness. As long as they surrender and pay tribute, they can say anything. Only those who refuse to surrender and pay tribute will be beaten.

He did not engage in massacres. These barbarians would only provoke their 10-strong Song Dynasty soldiers when they were full.

This Zhao Dezhao fought, and wherever he went, the road was built. The army and civilians marched together. Anyway, he had a special status. With a swipe of his pen, he signed out blank checks one after another, and handed them directly to those who came to supervise the army. Merchants used it to build roads.

Limestone is everywhere in Southwest Yi, which is really suitable for building cement plants. With cement plants, road construction is really not slow.

And those barbarians discovered that Zhao Dezhao really gave loans, and these loans could really buy things from the Song people. Even because of road construction, the businessmen simply let them work as workers.Those leaders said, do you want to enslave us?The businessmen said, we pay wages.

Besides, no matter how stupid these barbarians are, they at least understand that building roads is definitely a good thing for them.

As a result, these southwestern barbarians are now extremely enthusiastic about Zhao Dezhao. They not only build roads, but also actively provide them with logistical support services. Along the way, more and more merchants from the Song Dynasty follow their army to do business. The more we get, the more serious the army may be, less than 80, but there are almost [-] merchants, hawkers, workers, Han people and Yi people combined.

The barbarians said one after another: We are all loyal vassals of the Song Dynasty. We have been a family since the Tang Dynasty. We have been looking north to see Master Wang for so many years. Now, Master Wang is finally here!
Dali?What is Dali.

If you, Duan, dare to invade our Song Dynasty, I will fight you to the death!
This style of play actually messed up Dali.

The military strength and strength of the two countries are displayed here. There is no way that a hundred Dali can be the opponent of the Song Dynasty. However, they were not panic at first. After all, they occupied the geographical advantage. The southwest borderland was full of barren mountains and rivers. , the roads are impassable and barbarians are everywhere.

As long as the Song Dynasty's lone army penetrates deeply, the barbarians can plunder its food routes, and then block them step by step in the mountains and dense forests, and use the dangers of the mountains and forests to deal with them, and the [-]-strong army will only be defeated.

When Nanzhao fought against the Tang Dynasty, it was also in this way that the Tang Dynasty was defeated.

But now...

This script is completely different from what they thought.

Da Song, you have an army of [-] people. How can your logistics support you if you are walking so slowly and leisurely?

Moreover, you are building roads as you go, and you are even building cities and factories along the way. This... are you so rich?
God knows what Zhao Guangmei’s expression was when she saw Zhao Dezhao’s military expenditure bill, but anyway, the current rulers and ministers of Dali Kingdom didn’t even have a good expression when they read the battle report.

If this continues, all those barbarians will defect to the Song Dynasty, and there will be no need to fight this war.

"Send troops. If they don't come to fight us, we will have to go find them. Even if sending troops is seeking death, it is better than just sitting here and waiting to die. They say the Song army is brave, but you have to fight to know it, right? You can't Just surrender without even fighting, right?"

(End of this chapter)