Chapter 274: More Stable
The third year of Li Yuan.

Although news of Zhao Xun’s great victory came from the front, Zhao Xin had to mention to his close ministers a sentence that his Emperor Taizong Wen once said.

Zhao Xin said, “After Emperor Taizong Wen conquered the world, he once asked his ministers, which is harder, conquering the world or keeping it?”

“Fang Xuanling replied that it was difficult to conquer the world, while Wei Zheng replied that it was even more difficult to keep the world.”

“Now, I have experienced everything from conquering the world to defending the world.”

“For the former, life is life, and death is death. The difficulty is only in a moment.”

“Take a big step forward, and there will be a smooth road ahead.”

“The latter is like cutting flesh with a slow knife. By the time you realize it, the world may no longer be safe.”

“Now the world has been conquered, but defending it has just begun.”

“In fact, I don’t really like the term ‘guarding the world’. I think it would be more appropriate to change it to ‘share the world’ and ‘share the glory and wealth’, like Emperor Taizong Wen did.”

“But it is not so easy to make the world prosperous.”

“We need good ministers and talented people who work hard and conscientiously, and we need loyal ministers and good generals who serve as the shield of the king and the sword of the country, holding sharp weapons and carrying out strong weapons.”

“I want to tell you that the conquest of the world has come to an end, but the preservation of the world has just begun.”

“I like this sentence very much, the long road ahead is as hard as iron, but now I can start over again.”

“The prelude to governing the world has just begun. For a prosperous world, let us work together!”

……

Zhao Xin seldom speaks politely.

but……

If he wants to govern the world well, he must force himself to speak.

He wants to let the people below him know what he is thinking, so that they will know what to do next.

And when Zhao Xin finished speaking.

Whether it was the Southern Dynasty or the Northern Dynasty, everyone was as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

This is definitely the appearance of a wise ruler.

of course!

On the Northern Dynasty side, it is estimated that many people will have to start changing their strategies.

If you meet a tyrant, then of course you can be a treacherous minister and do all kinds of evil.

He even held the position of prime minister and wielded power.

But now Zhao Xin has said so, and seems to be determined to govern the country. If you continue to deceive your superiors and subordinates as you did with Yelu Hongji before, you’d have to think about whether Zhao Xin will come after you afterwards.

in fact……

Everything is fine on the Southern Dynasty side, after all, they are all Zhao Xin’s acquaintances.

and……

Most of them are loyal and honest people.

On the other hand, in the Northern Dynasty, since many people were recruited, their individual qualities varied greatly.

It is hard to say how many things he did secretly to deceive Zhao Xin.

This year.

Su Shi also entered the court.

Within a year or two, Su Shi traveled all over the Liao Kingdom, and it can be said that he had fully understood the Liao Kingdom’s landscape and how its people lived.

The living conditions of the people of Liao Kingdom can be divided into two categories.

The first category is those who live in the state capital, most of whom are Han people.

In fact, they are no different from ordinary Han people. The country just allocates land to them and lets them cultivate the land.

Although there is land, it is basically due to climate and latitude reasons.

Given the northern climate, the per-acre yield of crops is generally far lower than that of some of the richer areas in the south.

therefore……

No matter how poor these people are, they are not that poor. But if you want to tell how rich they are, unless they are Han officials, they are just hovering around the poverty line at best.

Of course!
Let me ask, which ordinary people in ancient times was not like this?
But for now, it’s good enough.

At least for the North, the contradiction between people and land is not that great.

The amount of land that ordinary people can get will not be too little.

As for your question about whether there is any merger.

Of course there are some. But…

Compared with the South, the contradiction is not that great.

The second category of people are the Khitan people.

The number must be at least one million, but less than two million.

There is actually nothing much to say about these people. They rely on nature for their livelihood anyway.

If the weather is good, the cattle and sheep can be raised well. If the cattle and sheep are raised well, they don’t need to go hungry.

If the weather is bad, all the cattle and sheep will freeze to death, and then we will have to starve.

The risk of accidents is much higher for them than for the Han people.

but……

After all, we are still living in a peaceful era. If something really happens, there will be Han people who will come to buy the frozen beef and mutton and exchange them for some food, so there is a little bit of security.

only……

It is hard to say how much exploitation there is here.

After all, how should we put it? It is impossible for the former nobles of the Liao Dynasty not to see the benefits here.

It is equivalent to being levied an additional layer of tax.

Are you dissatisfied?
There is nothing I can do even if you don’t accept it!

All they can do is continue to live their lives in misery.

So sometimes, some herdsmen would work as slaves for others, which was at least much better than herding sheep on their own.

Zhao Xin listened to Su Shi’s experiences for the entire afternoon.

as far as I can tell……

All I can say is that Zhao Xin has no other choice.

but……

Zhao Xin gradually got an idea of ​​where exactly, how powerful each family was, and how they committed evil.

In addition, Zhao Xin also heard that some officials made profits by exploiting other tribes.

For example, asking the Jurchens for Saker Falcons and pearls.

The so-called Saker Falcon is a kind of hunting falcon that is very good at hunting.

The favorite pet of grassland men.

All Zhao Xin could say was that he would have to wait until he had trained his soldiers before deciding on this.

Take it slow, little by little.

In fact, nowadays, with no responsible people standing up from the Yelu family and the Xiao family, it is only a matter of time before the Khitans are gradually marginalized in the court.

Just think about it, if you don’t even read books on a regular basis, how can you argue with those Han people who have been reading since childhood.

To put it bluntly, the reason why some Khitans were able to hold high positions in the past was that they were promoted through a method similar to the Yinguan system.

If they were really asked to take the imperial examination, I’m afraid many of them would fail.

Zhao Xin was also thinking about how to balance this.

Or……

Instead of trying to balance it, it would be better to just annex the Khitan officials’ shares.

Or, let the Han people serve as civil servants, and let the Khitan officials serve as censors and other official positions.

At least this doesn’t require you to have any knowledge of civil administration. You just need to report any bad things that the Han civil officials have done.

Zhao Xin thinks…

This method seems to work.

of course!

There were some Khitans who were good at reading and writing. For example, Yelu Jue was promoted to the position of Privy Councilor by Zhao Xin at this time.

However, when talking about Yelu Jue’s noble status, we have to go back to the Tang Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, at least one hundred or two hundred years ago.

The current situation in the court is that Southern Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu and others are loyal to Zhao Xin.

In the Northern Dynasties, former prime ministers and powerful figures of the Liao Dynasty, such as Yelu Yixin and Xiao Ge, were either demoted or captured by Zhao Xin.

Over the past two or three years, Zhao Xin’s control over the Liao Kingdom has become increasingly stable.

(End of this chapter)