These days, the emperor rarely attends court. Every day, he holds discussions with the two chief ministers in his study, from morning till night. He eats his meals there, and sometimes even rests with his eyes closed during his afternoon nap before resuming his discussions.

Finally, a conclusion was reached, which can be summarized in the emperor's words: To get rich, build roads first! Abolish corvée labor before abolishing taxes!

After being forcibly indoctrinated with all sorts of bizarre ideas by the emperor in his room for half a month, the minds of the two ministers began to change slightly. Listening to what the emperor said, it seemed to make sense.

The seven points that the emperor proposed more than half a month ago have basically been summarized:

The first and foremost principle is the strategy of enriching the country and strengthening its military. In other words, to make the national treasury and the military stronger, it is necessary to redefine the tax and military systems.

One of the most unreliable aspects of the Northern Song Dynasty's military system was the rotation system: the imperial guards were stationed in the capital and outlying prefectures, rotating between the two, and returning to the capital periodically, hence the name rotation system.

The garrison troops were given various names such as stationed, encamped, and provided with provisions.

Troops were typically stationed in places such as eastern Beijing, western Beijing, Hebei, eastern Hebei, Shaanxi, Jiangnan, Huainan, Zhejiang, Jinghu, Sichuan, and Guangdong, rotating every three years.

Soldiers stationed in remote and harsh border areas are rotated every six months.

The court temporarily appointed officers to command the garrison troops, resulting in soldiers not knowing their generals and generals not knowing their soldiers, making them easier to control.

While this method was beneficial in preventing generals from seizing power, it weakened the army's combat effectiveness.

Fortunately, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, the system of rotating military posts was abolished.

However, the century-old problems caused by the Gengshu Law have not been eliminated and continue to affect us to this day.

Zhao Huan's idea was to divide the country into several major war zones: the Yan-Yun War Zone, the Northwest War Zone, the Southeast War Zone, the Southwest War Zone, and the Central War Zone.

Each of the five war zones was headed by a supreme commander, known as the Military Commissioner. The Military Commissioner was no longer a temporary appointee but a permanent position. Two deputy Military Commissioners were also appointed to assist the Military Commissioner in managing the war zone.

It was ostensibly to assist in management, but in reality, it was a mutual obstruction. Why two? It's too easy for a military commissioner to overthrow one deputy commissioner, but two would greatly increase the difficulty.

The deputy envoy also wielded considerable power; he was not merely a deputy. He held the authority to command troops, and the power to deploy troops required the military commissioner to report to the court, and then the Privy Council and the emperor to approve the deployment.

Each war zone is equipped with five armies, each army has a standing force of 10,000 men, each army has three generals, each general has three commanders, and each commander has a division commander, with each division consisting of 100 men.

The military commissioner could report the number of recruits to the court based on the war situation. After the emperor and the Privy Council issued a document, the recruitment was allowed to proceed.

It was only then that Zhao Huan, the autocratic emperor, truly realized the importance of the power to mobilize troops. In this context, the power of the prime minister still had a certain restraining effect on the imperial power. For example, both the recruitment and mobilization of troops had to go through the Privy Council.

By the Ming Dynasty, things were very different; Zhu Yuanzhang had concentrated all power in his own hands.

In order to consolidate the emperor's power, in addition to being the supreme head of state and acting as the ruler of the country, the emperor was also granted the position of supreme commander of the national war zones. This was something that Zhao Huan forced the ministers to agree to. In other words, at any time, the appointment of the military commissioners of the five war zones was decided by the emperor, and when marching and fighting, they also directly obeyed the emperor's dispatch and appointment.

In the words of historians, the reforms of the military and political system under the Jingkang New Deal were full of radical elements. In addition to being the ruler of the world, the emperor also had the status of supreme military commander. This marked the growth of militarism in the Song Dynasty and foreshadowed the arrival of an era of expansion.

This greatly weakened the power of the Privy Council, and the emperor used various means to strengthen imperial power once again, gradually beginning to sideline the Western Secretariat.

The second point is to increase the population. Population is a strategic resource in later generations, let alone in ancient times.

At that time, the Song Dynasty had a population of 126 million, making it the most populous country on the planet. However, Zhao Huan felt that it was still not enough. The more people the better, as there were certainly plenty of places to accommodate them. If the Central Plains couldn't hold them all, they would colonize Southeast Asia. If Southeast Asia was full, they would march west to Mesopotamia. If Mesopotamia was full, they would continue westward, crossing Asia Minor, passing Constantinople, and marching into Europe, or sailing across the Pacific Ocean to conquer the Americas.

In short, this planet is big enough that the more people the better.

The visionary Zhao Huan proposed abolishing the poll tax system to alleviate the economic pressure of having children and also abolishing all kinds of exorbitant taxes to fully unleash the vitality of ordinary people.

At the same time, infanticide is strictly prohibited in the private sector, and those who commit infanticide will be held accountable!

The Chinese have a long-standing tradition of carrying on the family line. Infanticide was very common in the Song Dynasty because of the excessive poll tax and various exorbitant taxes, which made it impossible for ordinary people to raise a child.

This aroused strong opposition from the ministers. If these measures were abolished all at once, tax revenue would decrease by a full 20%. Based on last year's fiscal revenue of 80 million strings of cash, 20% would amount to 16 million strings of cash, which is a huge sum.

The thought of this figure being wiped from fiscal revenue made Zhou Chao, the Minister of Revenue and concurrently the Commissioner of the Three Departments, jump up in anger. He almost blushed and roared out, making the other ministers sweat with worry. This emperor was not like the previous ones. Zhou Chao, you are courting death!

Unexpectedly, Zhao Huan did not get angry. Instead, he smiled and reassured Zhou Chao, telling him not to worry about such a small amount of money. Zhou Chao became even more agitated. "This is still a small amount of money! Your Majesty, you don't know how much pressure you're under if you don't look at the financial statements!"

The atmosphere became very tense, but the emperor remained patient as he explained things to Zhou Chao, keeping track of the emperor's interests.

The ministers were now puzzled. "Your Majesty, haven't you always liked threatening people with a knife? Why the sudden change of heart? Have you lost your mind?"

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