If I'm not mistaken, this year in orthodox world history is 1140 AD.

In that year, Yue Fei led his army on a northern expedition, repeatedly crushing Wanyan Wuzhu in the process.

Unfortunately, Zhao Gou issued twelve gold tablets.

Zhao Huan, who was reborn and traveled through time, has completely changed the course of Chinese history.

The moment he embarked on his westward expedition, he began to influence Western history.

In order to quickly divert domestic conflicts, at the end of the fifteenth year of the Jingkang era, Zhao Huan began to mobilize resources for the western expedition.

As for the resumption of production in the Central Plains, Yu Yunwen will be in full charge.

Some people have never understood why the emperor would go to such great lengths to launch a western expedition, stretching the battle lines so far and costing a huge amount of money.

From the beginning of last year until now, Yue Fei and his entourage have spent a total of 100 million strings of cash, equivalent to 30 billion in later times.

This is an expensive undertaking. Some ministers advised the emperor against it, saying that the country has suffered heavy losses and it is not advisable to allocate funds for a western expedition.

The thing civil officials liked to do most was hold meetings, and the thing they liked to do most during meetings was to argue and bicker, which would eventually turn into a quarrel.

The arguing turned into a sullen fit, and the sullen fit escalated into factional strife.

After an argument, Zhao Huan finally came up with a solution himself.

1. Starting from Xingqing Prefecture, proceed to Suyab City to begin building post stations. The main functions of the post stations are to transmit messages, transport grain, and provide rest stops. This will be completed within three years.

Second, 100,000 troops were transferred from the Hetao Road to garrison Suyab City.

Third, the planning department's ten-year railway plan, which extends from Gaochang all the way to Suyab.

There are several issues here that Tang Ke needs to resolve.

First, how much money is needed in total? In the fifteenth year of the Jingkang era, the national treasury had 2 billion strings of cash, equivalent to 600 billion yuan, more than any other era in ancient times. But what the emperor is about to do is something that no emperor in any other era would have done.

This was essentially pioneering, extending transportation from the rich Central Plains to the desolate lands of the Western Regions, all for the sake of fighting.

Assuming there is enough money, how much criticism will Hao endure during this process?

Throughout history, emperors who loved war have been depicted in historical records as tyrannical rulers who exhausted their resources for military campaigns.

Emperor Yang of Sui acted too hastily in everything he did, which caused widespread resentment among the people.

What should we do if public discontent boils over?

Secondly, where should the people be transferred from? The Central Plains have just experienced war and need to recover. If people are transferred again to repair roads and post stations, won't it cause public resentment?

The two main issues are still the most important.

In short, as soon as this decision was made, a large number of people kept submitting memorials, which immediately overwhelmed Yu Yunwen.

Some even impeached Tang Ke, the Commissioner of the Three Departments, for spreading rumors and misleading the emperor, and one person even spat in Tang Ke's face in public.

Next, countless people started criticizing.

Who exactly are these people criticizing?

The Censorate, the Council of State Affairs, the Privy Council—that's right, everyone except the Military Governor's Office was criticizing the Three Commissioners.

What was Tang Ke's attitude?

Eat and drink as you please, as long as you don't stop me from eating hot pot. Remember to drink water when you're thirsty from spitting out so much hot pot.

Many people were unwilling to accept this and went directly to the Tang residence to hurl insults.

When this reached Zhao Huan's ears, he was furious. With a wave of his sleeve, he ordered anyone who went to the gate of the Tang residence to curse to be arrested and confined for three days.

After that, everyone behaved much better.

As time went by, more and more grain was transported from Jiaozhou, truckload after truckload.

The previously empty granaries were now filled with grain again.

The process of local governments incorporating and pacifying the bandit rebels was also coming to an end.

In the New Year of the sixteenth year of the Jingkang era, Zhao Huan took out a large sum of money from the imperial family. What was he going to do with it?

Give out red envelopes!

Furthermore, the imperial court issued an order requiring local governments to prepare a portion of their budget to distribute red envelopes on the first day of the first lunar month!

Does the Song Dynasty have money now?

Extremely wealthy!

In the fifteenth year of the Jingkang era, there was a war in the Central Plains, but how much tax revenue was collected at the end of the year?

Eight hundred million strings of cash!

The southeastern provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong alone contributed 300 million strings of cash.

No dynasty has ever opened up the South Seas as thoroughly as it has now, with Song Dynasty merchant ships and warships sailing neatly along the seas all the way west from the South Seas.

The advent of penicillin greatly reduced the mortality rate during voyages and marches.

The Song Dynasty's merchant ships anchored at the port of Zhulian and continued westward, reaching the Arabian Sea, entering North Africa, and sailing along the Red Sea to Egypt and other shores.

Another event that occurred in the fifteenth year of the Jingkang era was the submission of the Dali Kingdom.

The Song Dynasty spent seven years completely opening up the road network leading to Dali, Yunnan.

The imperial court spent a total of 1 billion strings of cash, equivalent to 300 billion yuan, to open up transportation routes to Dali.

They cleared mountains, built roads, and constructed wharves.

How much sacrifice was made for this?

According to later statistics from the State Council, as many as 30,000 people were buried in the southwest. Three directors and five clerks from the Ministry of Works died, all of whom perished on construction sites.

As a result, countless families have lost their breadwinners, and countless children have lost their fathers.

The imperial court spent a huge sum of money on compensation for this.

Later, some criticized the Jingkang New Deal's southwestern expansion, accusing Yu Yunwen of causing too many deaths on railways, highways, and waterways, and of the government's inaction.

Some people lamented: China has always faced many hardships. Those workers who died in the southwest, like those who died defending their country on the battlefield, should be remembered by us forever.

Some mocked the Jingkang Reforms, saying that the Song Dynasty's golden age was built on piles of bones, and that such a golden age was stained with blood.

Therefore, many people later questioned Emperor Shengwu's policies, criticizing them as being too brutal and domineering, which resulted in the deaths of many people.

Too many wronged souls are buried among the green hills.

But the submission of Dali that year, regardless of the motivation, made the officials in the court see the changes brought about by the new policies.

In the first month of the sixteenth year of the Jingkang era, a new voice emerged in the imperial court: the reform of the tax system.

The Jingkang New Deal had been underway for fifteen years.

In the first ten years, the nationwide grain production was initially completed, and the cultivated land of the Song Dynasty increased from 500 million mu to the current 1 billion mu, more than doubling.

The recapture of Jiaozhou and Liaodong, the main areas, provided the Song Dynasty with two more granaries.

The annual output totaled 500 million shi, or 60 billion jin of grain.

The population has increased from 100 million in the first year of the Jingkang era to 200 million today.

The population increase resulting from abundant food supplies further boosted economic growth.

In the fifteenth year of the Jingkang era, the main roads of the country were basically completed, and the main roads connecting Tokyo to the four capitals were all completed.

Merchants traveling from Guangzhou to Tokyo used to need more than a month, and if the weather was bad, it could take up to two months.

But now it only takes ten days to reach Tokyo, and the amount of goods transported is more than ten times that of before.

With rapid economic development and unprecedented territorial expansion, it was clearly no longer reasonable to continue using the previous fiscal and tax system controlled by the central government.