In the Song Dynasty, there is no law. Chapter 270 of the main text: To reduce the army, first build up the army and prepare for the worst. The third year of the Qingli period was the seventh year since Zhao Jun came to the Song Dynasty.

During these seven years, he did a lot of things.

He cleared out the stubborn problems in Kaifeng Prefecture, eliminated the rats hiding in the underground sewers in Bianliang, and solved the problem of people having difficulty in filing complaints.

He traveled all over the world, went deep into the grassroots, understood the sufferings of the people, and knew the difficulties of life at the bottom. After Fan Zhongyan's death, he helped him preside over the reforms of the Qingli New Deal, reducing labor service and taxes, and alleviating the burden on the people.

He expanded the powers of the Censorate and the Imperial City Administration, making the scope of supervision wider and the supervision of officials more meaningful.

He also organized the establishment of multiple departments and institutions with clear division of responsibilities among officials, abolished the case-hearing power of county and state yamen, and made the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs independent; and he made great contributions to inventions, cultural propaganda and educational development, which were not highly valued by the imperial court before.

In addition, he improved gunpowder, guided the invention of cannons and muskets, established steel mills, textile mills, and printing houses, manufactured the spinning jenny, and developed new high-efficiency steel converters, allowing the Song Dynasty's smelting technology to achieve a qualitative leap.

He did many things that benefited tens of millions of people in the Song Dynasty, but he did not address the three major problems that had plagued the Song Dynasty: redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses.

Because as he said in his early years, the three redundancies problem was not only the poison that dragged down the Song Dynasty, but also a good medicine to stabilize the situation in the Song Dynasty.

Take the redundant soldiers as an example.

The Song Dynasty recruited a large number of rebellious peasants, brave and violent criminals, social vagrants and gangsters, and other people who were not conducive to its rule into the military camp, which greatly maintained local stability.

People like Di Qing, Zhang Yu, Han Shizhong, etc. were essentially small thugs in the towns and villages who liked to fight, but they eventually became famous generals.

Although the military redundancy was serious, it also allowed the Song Dynasty to have enough troops to deal with sudden crises.

During the Qingli period, the Liao Kingdom witnessed repeated defeats in battles between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia. They stationed over 100,000 troops on the border but ultimately did not march south. Was it because they had a brotherly alliance with the Song Kingdom and had a deep relationship, so good brothers would not fight among themselves?

Wrong.

This was because the Song Dynasty mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops in the northwest to fight against the Western Xia, while also mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops on the Hebei border to be on guard against the Liao Kingdom.

The Liao Kingdom therefore felt that although the Song Dynasty had suffered successive defeats, the hundreds of thousands of Song troops were still a tough nut to crack. In the end, it obtained the promise of increasing the currency during the Qingli period and decided to stop while it was ahead.

So although the redundant soldiers seemed to have seriously dragged down the finances of the Song Dynasty, to a certain extent, they barely kept the Song Dynasty afloat and prevented it from perishing early!

Not long after Zhao Jun traveled through time, he started shouting anxiously, "I want to solve the three redundancies. I want to lay off redundant officials and soldiers, and reduce all expenses."

I'm afraid it won't be long before the country is surrounded by foreign enemies, the imperial court is in turmoil, rebellions and uprisings break out in various places, and the people of the Song Dynasty are living in dire straits.

At that point, even if Zhao Zhen and Lu Yijian knew that Zhao Jun was a rare time traveler, they might have to kill him to quell the chaos like Chao Cuo did.

Zhao Jun is a young and energetic man, and also a patriotic young angry man, but that doesn’t mean he is really stupid.

He has faith in his heart and worships the great man who said "Long live the people", so he hopes that the people of the Song Dynasty will live well and the Han people will be strong. However, this does not mean that he can act recklessly after gaining power.

Because a great man once said that we should make reforms that suit our national conditions, rather than just making decisions based on our own ideas and thinking that since this is a problem, we should use force to eliminate it.

Doing so is like drinking poison to quench thirst.

Therefore, after he came here, he only made some mild reforms.

The greatest resistance encountered was the performance evaluation system of the Qingli New Deal. Officials were dissatisfied with having to do so much every day and had to complete their tasks conscientiously every day.

But now, he finally felt that the time had come.

In the back garden.

Fan Zhongyan had just started working in the Political System Council.

Suddenly Wang Shouzhong came over and told him that the government wanted to see him about something.

So, in the surprised eyes of Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others, Fan Zhongyan followed Wang Shouzhong out.

At this time, he was walking on the path in the back garden, passing through the distant countryside, and saw Zhao Zhen pacing back and forth outside the Guanjia Palace.

Zhao Jun next to him had a serious expression on his face, his hands behind his back, his head raised to look at the sky, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Official, Hanlong."

Fan Zhongyan first saluted Zhao Zhen, and then greeted Zhao Jun.

"Mr. Fan."

Zhao Zhen responded and said, "Go in first."

"yes."

Fan Zhongyan probably guessed what was going on, and immediately became excited, following Zhao Zhen into the Guanjia Hall.

Zhao Jun gave Wang Shouzhong a wink, and Wang Shouzhong understood. He came over and closed the door, then waved his hand to let the guards standing around leave, and he stood outside like a door god.

The three of them entered the hall, and Zhao Zhen sat directly on his main seat. Then he called out to Fan Zhongyan and Zhao Jun to sit on his left and right respectively.

After everyone was seated, Fan Zhongyan leaned forward and asked, "Sir, what is the matter with calling me here?"

"Big Sun, come and talk to Fan Qing."

Zhao Zhen looked at Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice, "I think the third round of reforms should begin."

"Is it okay?"

Fan Zhongyan was cheered up.

To be honest, the first two rounds of reforms.

The first round of performance evaluation system was just to rectify the administration of officials.

Although the second round involves many aspects, its core is just recuperation.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!