After Sheng Changbai became prime minister, the first thing he had to do was to build a defense line in northern Xinjiang.

Doing these things is mainly for the consideration of future generations. Those who do not plan for the future are not enough to plan for one life.

At present, the Great Zhou Dynasty has made great efforts to govern, its national power is at its peak, and it has been revived.

The Liao government was corrupt, domestic civil strife continued, and the situation was chaotic.

In fact, it is already a situation where the enemy is weak and we are strong. In fact, there is no need for a defensive line. Just relying on basic terrain and natural dangers is enough to defend the north.

But just because you don’t need it now doesn’t mean you won’t need it in the future.

The grassland nomads have always had their ups and downs, there are always races declining and there are always races rising.

But no matter which tribe rose up, the grassland peoples who became stronger all coveted the fertile land of the Central Plains.

Like Qin Shihuang, he built the Great Wall and built a defense line in northern Xinjiang to resist the invasion of nomadic tribes in the Central Plains.

This is the solution that can truly lead to long-term peace and stability.

Now, if Zhou bullies the declining Khitan, it will not solve the border troubles.

It will only create a better environment for the rise of other grassland peoples.

Suppressing the Khitan, forcing the Khitan to develop northward. Let the Khitan exploit other ethnic groups on the grassland.

The North may be able to live in peace for a longer period of time.

The Great Zhou Dynasty can continue the Northern Expedition and indeed has the strength to occupy the grasslands further north, Monan and Mobei.

It may be difficult to destroy the Khitan nation, but it is not difficult to drive the Khitan several hundred miles north.

However, the Zhou Dynasty, dominated by Han people, did not actually have the ability to occupy the grasslands.

For the farming people, grassland only means barren and unsuitable for farming.

In the labor expedition, the logistics line was too long, it cost a lot to occupy the grassland, and there was no ability to develop it, so it could not get the benefits it deserved.

Although the country is large, it is better to be warlike than to perish.

The campaign against Xixia and the Liao Kingdom were actually intended to reduce the financial burden on the Zhou Dynasty.

That's why Sheng Changbai supports a war without interests. Don't say that Sheng Changbai doesn't support it.

Manchaotang only wanted to be on par with the emperors of Tang Zong and Hanwu. For the sake of reputation, they had the idea of ​​​​exploring, but they were not firm.

It is necessary to immigrate to the border, build roads and forts, and station troops to garrison.

Agricultural peoples have no production capacity on grasslands.

If you want to control the grasslands, you have to rely on blood transfusions from the Central Plains. Any measures will cost a lot.

Even if Sheng Changbai knows that the grassland has many resources,

It’s not just cattle, sheep and herbs, but also a lot of energy and mineral resources.

It's useless because productivity is limited.

The mineral resources within the Great Zhou Dynasty are scarce except for gold, silver and copper, which can be used as currency.

Other resources are actually completely sufficient for the imperial court.

There is coal and iron on the grassland, and there are indeed some mines that are easy to mine.

But considering the transportation issue, the cost is no better than the minerals in Dazhou.

After solving the border troubles in the northwest and northern Xinjiang, the only place that was not peaceful in the Zhou Dynasty was the south.

Countries such as Jiaozhi in the south have never been a big threat to the Central Plains regime.

Some countries that are developing well will jump out and try to compare themselves with China.

But often the Central Plains regime only needs to send out a partial division to beat the southern countries to a bloody head.

Kneel down and pray for surrender, and every time you send troops to the southern border, you can ensure peace in the southern border for decades.

The Great Zhou Dynasty still had no interest in occupying the southern barbarian lands.

The climate of the tropical rainforest is still not suitable for Han people to survive.

Dazhou could not even develop its own territory in Lingnan, and was completely unable to occupy Jiaozhi and other places further south.

Officials were unwilling to even go to Lingnan, which allowed Lingnan to develop into a concentrated place for demoted officials and exiles during the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Further south, no officials from the Great Zhou Dynasty were willing to go to the Huawai land.

Neither officials nor the people are willing to go, so there is no actual control.

If you want to expand your territory, you still have to do it step by step.

Opening up territory and expanding territory is a long-term matter. It is not just about occupying territory and just doing everything OK.

All represent huge investments in the later period. Now the Great Zhou Dynasty has occupied the nearby sacred land and has no motivation to expand outward.

There is no reason why you have to plant other people’s wasteland when you haven’t finished planting your own good land.

From then on, Sheng Changbai's main focus as Prime Minister was still the development of internal affairs.

In fact, they are the six departments that manage the court well.

The official department is the most important part of the imperial court. People are the source of everything. No matter what happens, people do it.

Establish a more stringent supervision system. Supervisors should be deployed not only at the county level, but at least at the state level. Sheng Changbai wanted to set up a modern discipline system. Considering that there were only a few local officials, it was too unrealistic.

Give up.

The second ranked among the six departments is the Household Department.

In addition to managing household registration, the Ministry of Household Affairs' main task is actually finance. Finance is about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.

To further solve the problem of redundant staff in Dazhou, we used to solve the problem of redundant staff in other companies.

What needs to be solved now is the redundant staff of the Zhao family. There are too many people in the Zhao family who have not contributed to the country and are still taking advantage of the country's finances.

You don't need to think about it, you also know that with the stability of the country, the population of the old Zhao family will explode again.

There is no foreign race to help the old Zhao family solve the problem of overpopulation, so Da Zhou can only solve it himself.

On the one hand, it is to reduce the influence of relatives, and on the other hand, it is to allow the descendants of the old Zhao family to make a living on their own without being supported by the state's finances.

Relax restrictions on the Zhao family's descendants from engaging in politics and business.

Some of the Zhao family are unwilling to do this, and some are willing.

The closer one is to the emperor by blood, the richer the reward will be, and the more reluctant one is to leave the national finances.

The further away from the blood relationship with the emperor, the fewer the rewards. Some of them are not enough to support their own lives, and their livelihood is restricted, and they hope to be free.

After the decision is made, except for special circumstances, it is basically within the emperor's fifth service, and he can enjoy financial support.

The number of people is considered to be within control.

In terms of open source, Sheng Changbai still focused on sea trade, plundering resources from other countries to support the Great Zhou Dynasty.

As we all know, there is an island country to the east of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The country is small and the people are weak, but it has the most silver mines in Yinshan.

Sheng Changbai also sent ships and troops to sea to support the civil strife on the island.

Seize the island country's gold and silver through military, trade, arms, and various means.

Then there is the Ministry of Rites. In terms of etiquette, it is not easy to change too much. This is the weapon used by civil servants to limit the imperial power.

What can be reformed is the imperial examination, which is in charge of the Ministry of Rites. It goes without saying that science and education promote education and education.

Sheng Changbai also included his own personal belongings and continued to increase the proportion of mathematics and physics in the imperial examination.

Plant a scientific seed for Dazhou.

The fourth military department, starting from the time when the Zhou Dynasty has no border troubles, the army of the Zhou Dynasty can switch from quantity to quality.

Take the route of elite troops, improve the combat effectiveness of the army, and reduce military expenditures.

Vigorously develop the militia system with minimal cost, and use the militia and rural warriors to maintain local security.

The fifth one is the Ministry of Punishment.

The judicial system of Da Zhou was actually implemented quite well.

Various laws and regulations and various criminal investigation methods have actually made considerable progress compared to the previous dynasty.

However, Sheng Changbai still supported the revision of the new laws, checked for omissions and filled the gaps, eliminated the bad and retained the good, and helped Zhou revise a more perfect law.

Vigorously carry out legal education among the people to reduce private crime cases.

The last one is the Ministry of Industry.

There are so many things that the Ministry of Industry can do. During Sheng Changbai's tenure, the royal family built relatively few gardens and palaces.

The main thing is to build Chidao across the country. It is definitely not possible to connect every village like modern times.

But we should try our best to repair it within the scope of possible.

For example, it is difficult to build the road leading to Bashu. The construction level of Dazhou is really not up to par, so there is really no way.

Build irrigation water conservancy projects to irrigate as much farmland as possible.
To be continued...