Chapter 279 Do it yourself and have enough food and clothing

Due to the threat from the Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty was not very interested in the outside world.

but……

From the second half of this year, Zhao Xin proposed to his sons a plan for the Zhao family to gradually move towards the outside world in the next one or two hundred years.

For example, Taiwan today is also an island with almost no people.

Even if you say there are people, they are just some natives who don’t even have clothes to wear.

They used homemade, most primitive bows and arrows and spears.

In fact, the further south you go in Southeast Asia, the lower the level of civilization.

The reason why Jiaozhi’s civilization level was relatively high was because Han people once cultivated and lived there.

What’s more, they occupied the best Red River or some other river area there.

Going further south, even Jiaozhi itself might not want to go.

Because it is too backward.

But being behind now does not mean you will be behind in the future. “You can just go and build them.”

Then Zhao Xin’s sons also had questions. The youngest son, Zhao Xi, asked, “But Daddy, why do we have to travel thousands of miles to those places to suffer? Why don’t we just stay in the Song Dynasty?”

Zhao Xin said, “This needs to be analyzed from multiple angles. First, you think that the Song Dynasty is doing very well now, but do you know that the people of the Tang Dynasty also thought so?”

“For example, Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty once wrote about the prosperous Kaiyuan Period of the Tang Dynasty. He recalled the prosperous Kaiyuan period, when even small towns had tens of thousands of households. The rice was fat and the corn was white…”

“But just a few years after he wrote this poem, Du Fu’s own son starved to death.”

“Why do you think this is?”

They are naturally not very clear.

Zhao Xin said, “I don’t know. When you go back, go ask others and see what they say.”

“What your father wants to say here is that although the Song Dynasty seems to be very prosperous now, Du Fu was an eyewitness. From the Kaiyuan Prosperity to his son’s starvation, it was only a matter of one generation.”

“Moreover… the Song Dynasty today is actually facing a variety of problems.”

“There are too many officials, the people have lost their land, earthquakes, floods, droughts, and all kinds of disasters have continued year after year. Maybe in another ten or twenty years, the people of the Song Dynasty will be destitute and rebellions will break out.”

“You can go back and count the history from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, using the mathematical coordinate system I taught you, with years on the horizontal axis and population on the vertical axis, to draw a line graph. When you look at this line graph and combine it with the major events that happened in those ancient years, you will understand why your father, I, started working at the age of three and am now barely thirty, but I am still working diligently every day.”

“This can also explain why your father, I, have to constantly expand our territory.”

“However, this is only one reason. The second reason is that if you don’t occupy some land in advance, others will come and occupy it.”

“Your father doesn’t want to see future generations asking why we didn’t conquer these places in the first place.”

“At the same time… this also gives you a lofty goal.”

“If you only know how to lie down and enjoy yourself at such a young age, your life will be wasted.”

“Of course, it’s not impossible to enjoy it.”

“It’s just that… after you choose to enjoy, you’d better be able to bear it. When your father is gone, your other brothers are living better than you. One is a king here, and the other is an official there, but you can only live in a broken palace. You rely on other brothers for support, and the key brother’s wife still talks about you behind your back, saying that you only know how to beg for money and eat for free. It’s such an insult to you.”

“If you feel that way and you can accept it, then you can just lie down and enjoy it. It doesn’t matter.”

“As your father, I naturally want to give you the best, including planning the best life for you.”

“However…this kind of planning is not suitable for everyone.”

“Just like not everyone has the same personality or likes the same things.”

“But I, your father, still hope that all of you brothers can work together to make this family bigger and stronger.”

“Prince, as an elder brother, you must also give support to your many brothers.”

“Your Highness, don’t be too happy and think that you don’t have to go out to open up wasteland. On the contrary, compared to them, who may only suffer some physical pain, the problems you will face in the future may be even more severe.”

……

Now, as long as I come back from court.

Whenever he has time, Zhao Xin will give them lessons.

of course!

When Zhao Xin was not around, he would find someone to explain history to them and explain the various things that happened in each dynasty.

If we don’t even know the past history, we will have no idea about the future.

Finished class.

Everyone worked together to complete what Zhao Xin said, with the year as the horizontal axis and the population as the vertical axis.

You don’t know until you check, and you’ll be shocked when you do.

Zhao Zhe said, “It seems that every time the population in ancient times reached about 50 million, chaos would come.”

Others asked: “How many people do we have in Song Dynasty now?”

Zhao Zhe said, “For example, the number of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun is not very clear, but apart from the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, I’m afraid there are almost 40 million people. Of course, this number is not accurate. Because the household registration data shows that there are only two people in each household, and there are almost 20 million households in total. But if you think about it, you know that a household cannot have only two people. Father, mother, and son, at least three people. So here we will temporarily assume that it is 60 million. In fact, it may be far more than that. Now it may be 80 million people.”

Others said, “I’ve heard that some people don’t register their household registration in order to evade taxes, but this has been the case in every dynasty, so it doesn’t matter. As long as the approximate numbers are correct, it’s fine. So, if we connect this into a line, then the next step…”

Zhao Zhe said, “That’s right! The population of the Song Dynasty will probably drop sharply in the future.”

Someone asked, “What’s the reason?”

Zhao Zhe said: “Almost all of them were caused by wars. Of course, before the wars, the court had already seen various chaos, such as the use of treacherous officials, etc.”

Someone said, “Well, we don’t seem to have any now.”

Zhao Zhe said, “That’s because our father would never use treacherous officials. People like Ouyang Xiu and Fu Bi are all moral role models in the court and among the people. The people call them by honorific titles.”

The youngest son, Zhao Xi, said, “That means if Daddy becomes incompetent now, the Song Dynasty will perish.”

Zhao Zhe: “That makes sense! That’s why Dad doesn’t dare to be incompetent. But what does this have to do with expanding territory?”

Everyone was a little confused.

A few people expressed their confusion, so Zhao Xin asked them to go to the county below and ask the people how many acres of land they had at home.

Just ask and you will probably understand.

Some people may have 20 or 30 acres of land at the beginning, but because of famine, they sold some for emergency relief.

Some of them sold their meat to save other people’s children who were sick.

Someone else also told them that the few acres of land they had could not support a few people.

fortunately!

Now that the government has moved the capital here, in addition to having this kind of land, they can also go to the city to work. If there were no jobs in the city, they don’t know if their family can support themselves.

If we encounter a locust plague again, I guess the whole family will have to eat tree bark.

An old man said, “My daughter is weaving cloth for others in the city. She can earn two or three strings of cash a month.”

Of course, several people knew about the recruitment.

In fact, they had also read that newspaper.

but……

But I never thought that these jobs are so important to these people.

I also learned from the old man that whoever owns the most land is the real local rich man in this area.

The key point is that there are still many people who rely on the other side for food. Then the group understood.

He said: “If we can expand the territory and send these poor people to open up wasteland, maybe we can get more land again.”

but……

Why can this local rich man get so much land, while these poor people can only be sent to open up wasteland?
That’s another question.

After they came back, they told Zhao Xin this.

Zhao Xin also said: “You probably haven’t noticed one problem, that is… if the people can’t survive, what will they do. Especially when there is a large number of famines and their land is not enough to feed them.”

After a few people thought about it, they suddenly realized and asked, “Will they rebel?”

Zhao Xin then asked: “So now you understand the importance of this land?”

Zhao Xin then took out the map he had drawn.

He said to the crowd, “Jiaozhi has two rice crops a year and a dense network of rivers, which is the most suitable for feeding people. And the further south you go, the more rice you can grow three times a year, so naturally you can feed more people.”

“In fact, there is another Ryukyu to the east, just southeast of Fuzhou in the Song Dynasty. It should also be suitable for growing rice.”

“Then, take a boat from Ryukyu and follow the current north to Japan, which is also suitable for growing rice.”

“Japan is a country with a lot of silver and gold mines. But the downside is that both Ryukyu and Japan have the same old problem of being prone to typhoons and earthquakes.”

“But…others can live there, so why can’t you?”

“You four must learn how to sail and how to lead troops. When the time comes… these places will be where you can display your talents.”

Look at that picture.

That boy was not a middle school student when he was young.

When I thought about becoming an emperor or his majesty once I climbed up there, my blood would boil.

However, what they have learned nowadays is far from enough. In addition to learning how to sail and lead troops in battle, they also have to learn how to govern the country.

How to better turn local people into our own people.

of course!

This can be done in Jiaozhi.

For places like Ryukyu or Japan, I don’t think it’s necessary.

so……

How can we quickly accept the people of Jiaozhi?

in fact……

The people always support whoever wins.

therefore……

As long as the Song army could do its best to avoid harming the civilians and quickly behead the nobles of Jiaozhi, and take over Jiaozhi in a very short period of time, the possibility of directly taking over would be relatively high.

Unfortunately, there is no climate data for Jiaozhi at present.

Although there are some records in ancient books, they are not very complete.

We have to send someone there to experience it first.

It is best to go with a thermometer.

This mercury thermometer is actually not very difficult to make.

Mainly to collect the winter temperature.

If the temperature can reach around 10 degrees, then basically, you don’t need to worry about mosquitoes.

after all……

Zhao Xin turns on the air conditioner, and when it reaches about 10 degrees, the mosquitoes disappear.

As for how to determine whether it is more than ten degrees and how to calculate the scale.

Of course there are methods for this. For example, even if you can’t know the specific amount, you can get a rough idea by using human body temperature as a reference.

can only say……

None of these issues are a big deal.

If Jiaozhi could make it so that the winter temperature could prevent mosquitoes and there was little rain, then they could choose to send troops in winter to minimize the various plagues and diseases caused by high temperatures, heavy rains and many mosquitoes.

of course!

It may not be possible to take it down immediately.

Maybe some loyal people will become rebels and fight guerrilla warfare with them.

and……

If you are attacked in winter, you cannot leave in the next year and have to stay.

therefore……

If you want to know how to make Jiaozhi surrender so that it does not develop into a guerrilla war or even a war lasting more than ten years, there must be some considerations.

You have to take all of this into consideration before heading out on an expedition.

It would be good if Jiaozhi produced a tyrant ruler.

According to the information Zhao Xin has obtained from Champa…

At least it seems now that Li Rizun of the Li Dynasty of Jiaozhi once personally led an expedition to quell the rebellion.

Perhaps… compared to his father Li Dezheng, he is not much worse.

Moreover, the country called itself “Dai Viet”, which fully exposed the other party’s ambitions.

In any case, let’s send someone to investigate first.

In addition, during this period, we must also consider how to organize manpower and material resources, build warships, and form an army.

This autumn.

Zhao Xin then let the princes form their own teams.

As for what you said, where did this team come from?

Anyway…

You can pick any one from Song Dynasty.

Like the Jinshi who passed the imperial examination, or the descendants of Li Yuanjun.

The descendants of Li Yuanjun, those who are not legitimate, can actually do so if they have ideas.

But in fact, they don’t have much contact with outsiders.

Basically, most of my time is spent reading and studying.

So next, Zhao Xin also allowed them to go out and walk around on their own.

It certainly can’t be some random person who puts everything into his pocket.

first……

The person you are looking for must be able to endure hardship, right?
And secondly, he has to be able to help you establish your country in the future, right?
Rather than the kind of person who can only write poetry and write good poetry.

(End of this chapter)