Zhao Bing did not have the ability to turn stones into gold, and his fiscal revenue has always been the practice of the previous dynasty, which was nothing more than agricultural tax, commercial tax and official monopoly. However, after the restoration of the country, in order to stabilize the hearts of the people, the tax reduction and exemption policies were implemented in many regions. After the reduction and exemption, the various expenses that the court had to maintain operation were still not small, so the expenses of the court increased and remained unabated.

Zhao Bing used confiscated property to survive the most difficult period when he first entered Jiangnan, but soon launched the Northern Expedition, which not only ruined the court's savings, but also caused a deficit in the finances, leaving his small treasury empty, and owed a lot of money in Lianghuai. Therefore, in recent years, the main income of the court now comes from monopoly and commercial taxes, among which the tariffs and trade differences from maritime trade account for the majority, accounting for about 40% of the total income, followed by salt taxes.

Last year, Zhao Bing's internal treasury income from the sea trade was 30 million jin, so the court's tariff and commercial tax revenue would probably not be less than this. Now that the three-year tax reduction and exemption period for Jiangnan has been over, the agricultural tax will increase significantly this year. In this way, the court will be more financially relaxed this year, but according to Zhao Bing's plan, it is not enough to spend it.

This is not only because of this, but the social contradictions that arise from it are becoming increasingly prominent. The root cause is the distribution of means of production. The first is the population. The population of the Song Dynasty is now more than 30 million, which seems to be quite large, but compared with modern times, it is not even as large as that of Sichuan. You can imagine how sparse the population is.

Problem In ancient times, the productivity of society was still low and the grain output was not high. In order to make up for the inefficiency caused by this, most people had to invest in agricultural production to meet social needs. In this way, most people were bound to the land. Now, due to the prosperity of maritime trade, many people invested their funds and manpower, either directly bought ships to sea or invested in the production of commodities. The divergence of population will lead to the phenomenon of abandonment of land.

Another aspect is mineral production, especially copper and iron production, which cannot meet the needs. The current iron production is 10,000 jin, which is a very different from the modern calculation standard of tens of tons. Now, the production of weapons, ships and new machinery requires a large amount of steel, which is in conflict with the development of people's livelihood, making it difficult to take into account both ends.

In addition, tax reduction and exemption, the use of fiscal funds to buy grain and labor from the people, while consuming most of the country's financial resources, it also gives the people some spare money. This also stimulates the increase in private consumption, which intensifies the contradiction between supply and demand of goods, and creates the momentum for rising prices and the demand for the court to increase taxes.

After this spring, court officials have reported to reduce the manufacturing of weapons to reduce the occupation of resources and funds and to tilt towards people's livelihood. They also believe that agriculture is the foundation of all industries, and require the suppression of industry and commerce, the loss of agricultural population, and prevent the country from shaking its roots.

Zhao Bing knew that this was an inevitable contradiction brought by economic development, but the clouds of war were always spreading. Reducing investment in the military and developing people's livelihood would inevitably lead to slowing down weapons renewal and declining combat readiness capabilities. Suppressing industry and commerce would reduce the country's fiscal revenue and the ability to pay, and have to increase agricultural taxes, thereby increasing the burden on farmers and returning to the old path.

To resolve this contradiction, Zhao Bing knew that it was to develop science and technology, improve production efficiency, and liberate more productivity. However, in this era of weak science and technology, it is basically a dream to make science and technology develop leap forward in a short period of time. It takes ten years, decades, or even hundreds of years of knowledge accumulation and talent cultivation. As the saying goes, distant water cannot quench near thirst.

Sugar cane is not as sweet as both sides. It must ensure people's livelihood and actively prepare for war. Therefore, Zhao Bing fell into an embarrassing situation of being in a dilemma. At this moment, either tilt resources to the military to ensure that the Yuan Dynasty is destroyed in one fell swoop a few years later; or maintain the current peace with the Mongolian Yuan and concentrate efforts to develop people's livelihood. The war to destroy the Yuan Dynasty can only be postponed and coexist with tigers and wolves for a long time.

Of course, Zhao Bing was unwilling to give up the Northern Expedition. He knew that once he relaxed preparations and devoted himself to economic development, he would probably fall into the situation after signing the "Tanyuan Alliance". The ministers did not want to fight, the army was unwilling to fight, and the people refused to fight, which resulted in the unwillingness of the upper and lower levels of war, and the military was weak, and he would lose the opportunity to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun forever, which also laid hidden dangers for the destruction of the country.

However, if you completely focus on the military and give up restoring the economy, you will lose the foundation for war mobilization and cannot support huge consumption, resulting in giving up halfway and falling back into a confrontation between the two countries. Therefore, how to balance the development of the two sides can ensure arms, while at the same time, economic development and people's livelihood have become a problem that is not solved at present...

After thinking for a long time, Zhao Bing decided to "focus on military and take into account people's livelihood", he convened court meetings and discussions in succession. First, he unified the thoughts of the senior management, strengthened the determination to destroy the Yuan Dynasty, and decided on the direction of the stage of development. Then he discussed with the ministers how to balance the conflicts between the two sides. After many discussions and private communication, he finally made a resolution.

First of all, continue to expand and develop overseas trade, which is an important part of the national financial source, and must not be given up just because of some adverse effects. At the same time, maintain a low agricultural tax and reduce corvee labor to ensure that the people's living standards will not be greatly affected after the tax reduction and exemption policies have expired one after another, and ensure farmers' production enthusiasm.

In order to coordinate development, the threshold for participating in overseas trade should be appropriately raised, and there is no need to develop, especially cracking down on smuggling. The court should promote agricultural development while preventing low grain from happening in farmers. Regular positions should play an important role in stabilizing prices. When actively collecting and storing, the prices of agricultural products should be kept within a reasonable range.

Secondly, while encouraging the development of handicrafts, the court should also establish a number of workshops, adopt intensive production, improve production equipment, improve production efficiency, and ensure people's livelihood needs, thereby curbing the disorderly development of the people and the stability of the prices of products. In order to rationally utilize limited resources, ensure military industry needs, and not make the people's nothing available.

In order to solve the problem of serious shortage of resources such as copper and iron, in addition to the court continuing to increase resource mining and obtain new mineral resources, private capital should also be appropriately liberalized to increase production. The prices of scarce resources should be increased so as to curb private demand, while increasing prices can promote foreign resource imports and make up for domestic shortages.

In addition, through the investment of the imperial court, the construction of the Bianhuai water conservancy project was started. This project was mainly composed of the Bian River dredging and dredging canals, the Han River water system, and the Jiangnan water system and the Huai River flood control project. After completion, it can not only improve the mobility and transportation capacity of the army, facilitate material exchanges between Xiangfan, the Huai River, and even the Jiangnan, but also used for flood control and irrigation, which can be called a major project that takes into account both the military and the civilians.

In June, the Secretariat made an overall plan, the Menxia Province approved the implementation, and the Secretariat also began to enter the implementation stage. The Privy Council also ordered the local army to assist local governments in water conservancy construction and accelerate the construction progress. In July, the prefectures and prefectures reported that in accordance with the requirements of the court, provincial and ministerial departments, issued detailed implementation plans and promoted implementation.

After several years of hard work, the Song Dynasty was well-off, the officials were clear and the people lived and worked in peace, and the martial arts were prominent, and the signs of prosperity had begun to appear. Zhao Bing's prestige reached a new level, and the voice of praise became higher and higher.

What made Zhao Bing laugh and cry was that at the routine court banquet, Lu Xiufu, the main lecturer, did not preach the scriptures and the classics as before, but talked about the prosperous era of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty. What makes people wonder is that he did not talk about the strategies for governing the country, but about Xuanzong. The prosperous era came, and although the Tang Dynasty had many hidden worries, the overall situation seemed to be very good, and Xuanzong became more and more arrogant.

Zhang Jiuling, the last virtuous prime minister of the Xuanzong Dynasty, refuted what was inappropriate according to the old rules and declared that he would not obey the imperial edict. If the prime minister did not agree with a government order, even if the emperor insisted, there would be no chance. Unless the emperor dismissed the prime minister and asked someone to discuss it. If it was the past, of course the emperor would give in, but at this time, the Emperor Ming Emperor Li Longji had already risen and of course he would not bear it anymore.

When Zhao Bing heard this, he understood that Lu Xiufu was using this to hit him! Sure enough, he talked about the three major disasters in dynasty politics in history, the autocracy of eunuchs, the heroine and the relatives of foreign affairs. The already elated Xuanzong was getting older and he couldn't hear the noise. But he was tired of the sweet words of the eunuchs and the beloved concubines around him, so he could hear them.

Li Linfu followed the path of eunuchs and favored concubines and became prime ministers, and his contribution was to cater to the emperor secretly so that the emperor could maintain a good sense of self. He told the censors about the horses in the royal guard of honor, and did not say anything, and it would be better not to say anything. The censor Zhou Ziliang, who was talking nonsense, was actually killed by the emperor. Now, the censors really became silent horses.

Li Linfu has been in power for more than 20 years and has lost many people, but he will not touch Gao Lishi, the eunuch trusted by the emperor, and he will not touch Chen Xilie, whom the emperor favors. Later, with Yang Guozhong, who came up with Yang Guifei, he dared not touch. Although the person who was punished was not the crime, it was all the emperor's will. Anyone who had the emperor's favor was not even touched.

In order to ensure his position as prime minister, Li Linfu prevented civil officials from becoming the border commander, making contributions and then becoming prime minister, which affected his power. Therefore, he advised Emperor Xuanzong to be a full-time general. The general was not authorized and could not be the prime minister. Therefore, he could maintain his position as the leader, which led to the Anshi Rebellion.
Chapter completed!