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Zhao Han closed his eyes and thought, and said: "Let the Datong Bank in the coastal provinces raise interest rates, absorb more deposits from merchants and ordinary people, and reduce the silver on the market. Then use the money to purchase overseas grain and ship it to Hebei. Store it as rations for conquering Mobei!"

Song Yingxing was stunned for a moment, then clapped his hands: "Wonderful, this must be included in "Economic Knowledge"!"

In ancient money houses, it is really not that they deposit money and charge custody fees.

Since at least the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the prosperity of the commodity economy, banks have to pay interest on deposits.There was also a dispute. The leader of the civil society deposited the collective funds in the bank and was questioned for embezzling the deposit interest.

With Zhao Han's limited knowledge of economics, he can only think of raising interest rates during inflation.

Not to mention Nanyang, with the development of Taiwan and Hainan Island, the food output of these two places is more than sufficient, and a large amount of food is trafficked to the mainland provinces every year.Datong Bank raises interest rates, absorbs more deposits, and then lends to the imperial court. The imperial court uses them to buy grain overseas as supplies for conquering Mobei, which is equivalent to solving many problems at once.

No one expected that Zhao Han's decision to send troops to Mobei was directly caused by inflation.

Compared with the militaristic Mughals and the Bengal emperors, who were also expanding abroad, Zhao Han's operation can throw the two brothers out of eight streets.

Of course, the silver used by the imperial court to buy grain will definitely flow back to the coastal areas, but at least the buffer time will be extended.And the other silver was distributed to Hebei and Monan as military expenses, and some supplies were purchased on the spot, which was also alleviating the shortage of silver there and stimulating economic development there.

Perhaps, the recovery of Xinjiang can also be done in the future, and by the way, the imperial court's standard silver dollar can be more vigorously promoted to the Western Regions.

It doesn't matter if there is no war, the silver absorbed by the interest rate hike is used for infrastructure construction such as roads and water conservancy, and more job opportunities can be created along the way.Doing so will definitely increase the debt of the court, and the treasury may not be able to fill up forever.

This is tantamount to changing the court's financial thinking and developing in another direction.It is completely different from the traditional treasury that keeps saving money and uses it when doing things, and taxes if the treasury is not enough.

What really troubled Zhao Han was that there were no commercial competitors in the world (the late Qing Dynasty even had a trade surplus).In the next few decades or hundreds of years, or even longer, there will only be net inflows of silver, and prices will skyrocket if you don't pay attention.How to make prices rise steadily is the key, which can only be left to future generations to solve.

Song Yingxing was escorted home by the palace guards in a carriage.

On the other hand, Zhao Han went to work at Ying Min Dian, read the work report of Kuang Hong, Governor of Palembang, and compared the reports of Luzon, Yecheng, Semarang, Malacca, Pattani and other overseas territories.

After thinking over and over for several days, Zhao Han sorted out his future colonial thinking.

A place with more familiar land, a large number of Han people, and an uncomplicated terrain.For example, Semarang, Palembang, and Yecheng can quickly and violently colonize, and kill them all like Zhang Xianzhong, but they have to slow down when encountering mountains and jungles.

In places like Siberia and Luzon, the terrain and climate are extremely complex, and the number of Han people is relatively small.In this case, the cost of military expansion is too high, and even if the territory is conquered, there will not be enough Han people to occupy it, so it is necessary to deter the aborigines into Han people while deterring them by force.

Luzon is easy to do along the coast, with mountains and jungles in the middle. Zhang Xianzhong can't play with it, and he has to be kind and powerful like Zheng Guozhong.

Siberia is terribly cold, material transportation is difficult, and immigration is extremely difficult. It is fundamental to turn the indigenous people into Chinese people.

There are also Hamgyong Road and Pingan Road in North Korea, which have a high degree of civilization, intellectuals can also read Chinese characters, and the terrain is not suitable for violent rule.Then priority should be given to care and education, and education should be the first, and it is enough to turn them into Han Chinese.

Zhao Han's thoughts became more and more clear, and he started to write "The Governor's Essentials". All future officials sent abroad must study this book carefully.

The specific policy depends on the specific situation.

Confucianism pays attention to the golden mean, and the golden mean is not to follow the crowd with muddy mud, that is for the ignorant to take the meaning out of the text.

The core idea of ​​Zhongyong is the unity of heaven and man, and emphasizes the coordination of heaven, earth and man.

The mean in a narrow sense talks about the cultivation of human nature and how to be a gentleman.

In the broad sense of the mean, it talks about how to do things.To put it bluntly, I have to stick to my principles and know what my goals and bottom line are.Then, according to the environment and interpersonal relationship, make the most appropriate choice, adapting measures to time, place and person.

Zhao Han's colonial policy is the golden mean, the core is to open up, and the rest depends on the situation to decide what to do.

Chapter 958 [Tsar]

Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu left Nanjing quietly.

Fei Ruhe went to Shaanxi to control the Shanxi, Shaanxi and Monan troops.Zhang Tieniu went to Hebei to control the Hebei, Liaoning and Modong troops.

They had nearly a year to mobilize troops, recruit civilians, and coordinate supplies.Local officials must cooperate.Datong Bank, Datong Navy and Nanfang Maritime Merchants will also transport grain overseas for them.

In addition, Li Zheng's Anton Governor's Mansion will also cooperate in the battle.

Fei Ruhe's West Route Army is expected to dispatch 8 troops, including 3 infantry and 5 cavalry (including Mongolian cavalry).There are also 15 civilian husbands and 30 mules and horses.

Zhang Tieniu's Central Route Army is expected to dispatch 10 troops, including 4 infantry and 6 cavalry (including Mongolian cavalry).There are also 18 civilian husbands and 30 mules and horses.

Li Zheng's East Route Army is expected to send 6000 troops to take Nerchinsk directly along the Heilongjiang and Shileka Rivers, occupy the confluence area of ​​the Shileka River, Yinguoda River, and Onen River, and prevent the enemies from the Hulunbeier Grassland from fleeing north.If you have spare energy and time, attack the Cossacks and recover the Baikal area!

This battle cost at least 4000 million taels of silver in military expenses, not to mention so many mules and horses, and hundreds of thousands of civilians had to be paid wages!

If the battle goes well and takes a short time, maybe 3000 million taels can be done.

……

When China was preparing for war, the Russian mission had already returned to Moscow.

Tsar Alexei I is facing various difficulties, or has been facing difficulties.

At the beginning of his ascension to the throne, he was controlled by the powerful minister Morozov, and was forced to be a brother-in-law with the powerful minister.

The powerful ministers raised the salt tax higher than the price of salt, and canceled the salaries of blacksmiths, carpenters, shooting soldiers, and urban civil servants, so that these people would not get paid to work for the government.Then, the shooting army tax and post tax were pursued.

A series of coquettish operations eventually led to an uprising of Moscow citizens, and artisans, merchants, soldiers, and nobles united to rebel.

Many nobles in power were killed, Alexei I took the opportunity to attack, and exiled the power minister Morozov to the monastery.

The tsar was finally in power.

He recalled officials exiled by powerful ministers, exempted arrears of taxes, convened a meeting of gentry, and formulated the "Council Code".It also reorganized government agencies, improved the tax system, formed a new army, comprehensively studied European culture, curbed the expansion of church power, established the first new school in Russian history, and annexed Eastern Ukraine.

Everything is booming, but unfortunately the treasury has no money.

The Ottoman Empire also ended the chaotic era of queens and launched an attack on Russia again.While he was fighting Ottomans, he was fighting Poland and Sweden. The continuous wars made Russia very poor.

His daughter, Princess Sophia, who is also Wei Xiaobao's lover, is three years old this year.

As for the son Peter the Great, he has not yet been born.

Baykov, the leader of the mission, had an audience with the Tsar in the palace, and the virtuous minister Olkin Nashokin stood beside him.

The Prime Minister Nashokin is very powerful, proficient in mathematics, Latin, German and Polish, and has long been dealing with Western European countries.He felt that Russia was too backward and had to study hard, even from the enemy.

Later, Peter the Great's successful reforms were inseparable from the solid foundation laid by Nashokin.

Baykov, who returned from Nanjing, knelt down and bowed to the tsar and the prime minister: "Your Majesty, the capital of Khitan is not in Khan Bali (Beijing), but has been moved to a big city called Nanjing."

"Where is Nanjing?" Alexei I asked.

Baykov took out the map he got from China, which was still the civilian version, without marking mountains, rivers and rivers.He was allowed to come to the Tsar, pointed to the map and said, "Your Majesty, Nanjing is here."

The tsar and the prime minister looked around the map for a while.

Baykov said: "20 years ago, the Khitan Kingdom fell into civil strife, and the emperor committed suicide in Khan Bali. Today's Khitan Emperor is called Zhao Han. He raised troops from here (Jiangxi), defeated all enemies, and established a country called 'Datong' The Khitan Dynasty. Then, it expanded its territory crazily, and the territory of Khitan was unprecedentedly large."

Prime Minister Nashokin asked: "Are there so many countries and territories overseas? Expansion like this may not be enough financially."

Baykov said: "On the contrary, the emerging Khitan Datong Dynasty is the richest country I have ever seen. The national inventory has more than 100 years of silver coins. Moreover, the lives of the Khitan people have not been affected by the war. In Nanjing, I couldn’t even find a single beggar, and even the humblest servant lived better than a craftsman in Moscow.”

"How is this possible?" Nashokin was so shocked that he couldn't understand it at all.

Alexei I asked: "How did the Khitan emperor do it?"

Baykov said: "There are a lot of Khitan people. Nanjing City alone has a population of over one million. There are more than ten such cities (bragging). And there are nearly a hundred people in big cities with tens of thousands of people. Khitan Although the population is large, there is no poll tax, only land tax and industrial and commercial tax. Silver from various European countries is flowing into Khitan, because Khitan is rich in silk, porcelain and spices."

Nashokin muttered to himself: "What kind of powerful country is this?"

Baikov said: "The Netherlands has been driven out of the Far East by the Khitan. I heard that they have been defeated many times, and they are completely powerless to fight back. The mighty Spain was also defeated by the Khitan, and more than half of Spain's colonies in the Far East were annexed by the Khitan. .”

Nashokin was dumbfounded.

Because the Dutch navy is very powerful, Russian fur is also sold through Dutch merchants.The Russian prime minister admires the Netherlands very much, and is currently hiring the Dutch to build the Russian navy—the capital ship is a small three-masted sailing ship, and the rest of the warships are all small gunboats. The naval regulations are all copied from the Netherlands.

"The mighty Dutch navy was beaten so incapable of fighting back?" Nashokin couldn't believe it.

Baykov said: "When I returned to China, I saw densely packed Khitan merchant ships in a port called Shanghai. There are countless such ports. If the Khitan emperor wanted to fight, he could recruit thousands of merchant ships to fight at any time. And , I met the British prince in Nanjing. The exiled British prince married his younger sister to the Khitan crown prince. I also met envoys from France, Persia and many other countries. They were all sent by the king to Nanjing to meet the Khitan emperor. .”

Nashokin asked: "In a country as vast as Khitan, are there no nobles and lords rebelling? Perhaps, we can provoke civil strife in Khitan."

Baykov said: "Although there are nobles in Khitan, there is no lord who controls the land. The emperor has unlimited power, and there is a parliament (cabinet) under the emperor. The speaker and members assist the emperor to rule the country, and under the parliament, there are military, Taxation and other departments. They set the whole country into several governor districts (provinces), the governors are completely appointed and dismissed by the emperor, and each governor has a term of office, and must be transferred to other places when the term expires. All generals also obey orders emperor."

Alexei I said: "The general obeys the emperor's orders, so a large standing army must be maintained. How many standing troops does Khitan have?"

Baikov said: "The first-level standing army (regular divisions) has hundreds of thousands, the second-level standing army (patrolling soldiers) hundreds of thousands, the third-level standing army (police force) hundreds of thousands, and the number of reserve troops (farmers and soldiers). million."

The tsar and the chancellor looked at each other.

Nashokin became more and more puzzled: "How many people are there in Khitan? What about the millions of reserve troops?"

"The population of Khitan has already reached hundreds of millions," Baikov said. "As for the millions of reserve troops, all of them are peasants. The Khitan emperor was originally just a commoner. All of them are distributed to farmers for farming without compensation. Therefore, all farmers support him and are willing to serve as a reserve army for him without compensation, and conduct military training when they are not farming.”

"He distributed all the land to the peasants?" Alexei was dumbfounded.

In Tsarist Russia, where more than 90% of the population is serfs, this shocking news is more terrifying than China having millions of troops.

Nashokin asked, "Is there no more serfs in Khitan?"

Baykov nodded: "Yes, there are not only serfs, but also other slaves. The Khitan Emperor is a philosopher. He believes that all men are created equal, and no one is nobler than the other. Even the dung diggers are different in personality. The emperor is also equal. Therefore, his title is Minshi Emperor, which literally translates to Peasant Emperor."

"Is there no one against him?" Alexei asked. "He distributed the land to the peasants, but who will be the official? How can such a large empire find enough literate people?"

Baykov said: "Those who opposed him were either killed or exiled. As for literacy, this is what Khitan lacks most. Even Khitan farmers, regardless of boys and girls, can be free Go to school to study. Khitan has an imperial examination system, where officials are selected and appointed according to their talents, learning and moral character. Even descendants of nobles must take the imperial examination and cannot be directly awarded official positions."

The Russian monarchs and ministers were all dumbstruck. They could not understand or even imagine this system.

Baykov continued: "So officials in Khitan are all people with outstanding knowledge and moral character. Few officials in Khitan will be corrupt. If they hear that they embezzle hundreds of copper coins, they will be exiled. There is a proverb in Khitan that officials If you can’t seek benefits for the people, you should resign and go home to grow sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are a kind of root food from America. Therefore, Khitan civilians love and respect their officials and emperors. The last Khitan emperor was taxed too heavily , committed suicide when the peasant army broke through the capital."

Nashokin advocated learning from foreign countries and his own enemies. When he heard this, he said: "Your Majesty, please send another mission to Khitan, and send some outstanding young people there. Only by learning from Khitan can Russia be strong." .to reach one percent of Khitan, we are enough to defeat Poland, Sweden and Ottomans."

Alexei I was kind and said, "I will leave this matter to you to arrange."

Alexei used to be envious of the French king, but now he started to envy the Khitan emperor, and even felt a bit of admiration in his heart: "Tell me all the news about the Khitan emperor."

Baykov held up a book: "This is "The King of Kings—The Biography of the Great Khitan Emperor" written by the French envoy. I copied a copy in Latin."

Chapter 959 [Envy]

The original version of the book "The King of Kings - The Biography of the Great Chinese Emperor" was written in French.

Like "Golden X Plum", it was banned by Louis XIV, so I just took it out and have a look.Because this book is too real, it analyzes and explains the content of "Datong Collection" in detail.

However, scholars sponsored by the Medici family, like Russian envoys, translated the book into Italian and brought it back.

It is now popular in Italy, but it was quickly banned by more than a dozen states.Only the Republic of Venice dared to continue printing and publishing, and even the Pope couldn’t stop it—Venice was fighting against the Ottoman invasion, and the Cretan War had lasted for more than ten years, and all the states were looking forward to Venice’s victory.

Alexei I, sitting alone in his study, opened the Latin version of "The King of Kings - Biography of the Great Khitan Emperor".

"About this great emperor, there are many rumors in Europe, and the story of the prince's return to the country is widely spread. Even in Khitan, there are many people who believe that their emperor is a royal descendant of the Song Empire. But the great emperor, Publicly refuted such remarks, claiming that he was just an ordinary civilian..."

"However, His Majesty the Emperor is obviously humble. In Khitan, there are some very ancient surnames with a family history of thousands of years. His Majesty the Emperor and the royal family of the Song Empire had the same ancestors more than 1000 years ago. During the Ming Empire, The ancestors of His Majesty the Emperor were reduced to a family of ordinary scholars. In the Ming Dynasty, the people were divided into many occupations, including military households, civilian households, kitchen households, craftsmen, astrologers (yin and yang households), etc. His Majesty the Emperor belonged to Confucian households, that is, Official family of scholars..."

"This may be the reason why His Majesty the Emperor has profound knowledge and wise thinking, because his ancestors are all scholars, and his family has passed down excellent secrets of oriental culture..."

"The Ming Empire was once powerful, but decades ago, there appeared an emperor (Wanli) who ignored government affairs. The officials of the empire retired and died of illness, and he refused to let new officials take office. The huge country lacked official governance, and the gentry They set out to steal power from the Empire."

"When our great emperor was born, the Ming Empire was on the verge of decline. The barbarians from the north continued to invade the borders of the empire. The heavy taxation caused mobs in the empire to rise up, and people rebelled against the rule of the Ming Empire. The last emperor of the Ming Empire Chongzhen is recognized as a hardworking monarch, but his talent obviously cannot save the huge empire..."

"Even the family of scholars, in the face of tyranny and natural disasters, became homeless due to hunger. Yes, His Majesty the Great Emperor once worked as a homeless beggar. And he was only a child at that time, and his father and mother died of starvation , my sister was sold to be a maid, and he needs to take his sister to beg and wander..."

"Such a person cannot become a monarch in Europe. He will die of various reasons in the end. After a long period of suffering, His Majesty the Emperor was taken in by a benevolent scholar and allowed him to become a retinue as an adopted son. The scholar's daughter, who later became the Khitan Empress."

"Understanding this, you can understand why His Majesty the Emperor treats the common people favorably. No, not the common people, but everyone, including prostitutes and slaves. Your Majesty the Great Emperor believes that all people are created equal, and only virtue is truly noble. Instead of family, title and office..."

The author is obviously not very good at writing popular books, and the opening paragraphs are long and long, describing the social situation in the late Ming Dynasty.He even gave various notes explaining what Confucianism is.The explanation of lattice theory is several pages long, and it is written like a dissertation.

After Zhao Han ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he spent a lot of time explaining the content of political reforms and analyzing the differences between these systems and those in Europe.

Alexei I read this biography for more than half a month before he finished it roughly.Then, start reading again, combining those annotations for a detailed understanding.

The author writes at the end of the book:

"Your Majesty, the great emperor, is still young and vigorous, and his body is so healthy. Under his rule, the empire will be even more expansive and the people will be richer. Your majesty's story is far from over..."

"But we can already conclude that His Majesty the Great Emperor is an unprecedented and unique existence. Regardless of his prominent status, His Majesty is first and foremost a philosopher. He is like omniscient and omnipotent, knowing all the knowledge in the world .He has made pioneering achievements in the fields of mathematics, geometry, and physics. He is a poet and a writer, and his poems are praised by all people..."

"He is kind. His kindness is real kindness, not false kindness. He makes everyone live equally, even the lowest level of common people. He makes all children, regardless of gender, have the opportunity to receive free education .”

"Just like his title, he is called the Emperor Minshi. To elaborate on this title, everyone is equal from him. He is not the emperor of the nobility, he is the emperor of the people. Is there such a monarch in Europe?"

"He is the philosopher king, the king of kings. His dignity does not lie in ruling the most powerful empire in the world, but in his noble soul that surpasses all others."

"Praise the great emperor, may God give him all blessings, and may his body be healthy forever. The rich Khitan has the most wealth in the world. And His Majesty the Emperor himself is the greatest wealth of the empire!"

Alexei I read it twice, and then handed the book to Prime Minister Nashokin.

After reading it carefully, Nashokin said to Alexei: "Your Majesty, this book cannot be circulated. No one but the royal family must read it, otherwise it will become a plague-like existence. If a down-and-out nobleman reads it, May lead a serf rebellion that will eventually disintegrate the rule of the Russian Empire."

"I know," Alexei sighed, "but I sincerely admire the Khitan emperor. He is the benchmark of all monarchs, and no monarch can surpass him. He can make the common people happy, but ours can only continue tax the people. I know that the citizens of Moscow are complaining, because this year the taxes are heavier again. But what can be done?"

Nashokin said: "The greatness of the Khitan emperor lies in the fact that he got rid of the shackles of the noble lords, and the emperor can directly rule the people. What we should do most is to weaken the power of the nobles and let the tax revenue be concentrated in the center."

Alexei shook his head: "It's too difficult."