However, even so, it means that the Constitutional Council has formed a new interest group, replacing the original civil service group, which is fundamentally a change between the power of the prime minister and the power of the emperor.

Does Zhao Zhen know this?

Of course he knows.

But he also knew that this was the wheel of history, and he had no way to resist or stop it.

Because as Zhao Jun said.

You can be a powerful emperor and a wise ruler for your whole life, but can you guarantee that there will be wise rulers from generation to generation and that there will not be a Hu Hai who will cause the demise of the Second Qin Dynasty?

Therefore, compared with a dynasty with real power but a lifespan of only two or three hundred years or even shorter, Zhao Zhen knew that it would be more meaningful to have a country with a longer-lasting system of a nominal monarch.

Even if it was a constitutional monarchy, he would accept it as long as it allowed the Song Dynasty and the royal family to continue to exist.

At least it is enough for him to have real power while he is alive. It does not matter whether his descendants have real power or not. It is better than having real power from generation to generation but ending up with a useless king, which leads to the demise of the country and the loss of the Zhao family's kingdom.

So this is the root of the problem.

It is because we can see clearly that we understand what the general trend is.

What he is doing now is, to some extent, the same as what Queen Elizabeth II did in later generations.

Attend various important occasions and use your high prestige to stabilize the people's hearts and maintain the existence of the royal family.

As for what will happen next, Zhao Zhen doesn't know. The only thing he can do is to let the Zhao royal family continue, that's all.

"Yes, let's talk about government affairs."

"Alas, Guan Jia, Han Long, we have suffered so much in your absence."

"That's right. Without the Guanjia and Hanlong to make decisions, we often end up arguing over important matters. Even if there are eleven people voting, there will occasionally be abstentions, resulting in a tie. This slows down efficiency."

"When Hanlong was handling official business, he could review hundreds of documents a day. We don't have that ability. Sometimes we have to admit that we are old and can't compare to our youth."

Everyone quickly and tacitly changed the subject, started joking, and didn't talk about anything else.

In fact, everyone knows that the Constitutional Court is becoming younger and younger. There are several people who became prime ministers at the age of 47 or 48, such as Han Qi, Zeng Gongliang, Fu Bi, and Wen Yanbo.

In later generations, it would be good to be able to reach the vice-provincial level at the age of 47 or 48, but they sat on the position of prime minister. It was not just because of their background, but also because they were naturally gifted and talented, so there was no need to worry about their efficiency.

So these are just excuses.

Zhao Zhen didn't think deeply about it, nor did he want to think deeply about it. Seeing that everyone was talking about government affairs, he immediately said, "Then let's talk about last year and the first half of this year."

Last year's overall data was basically submitted and compiled in February.

But Zhao Jun did not go to see it at that time, but left Beijing with Zhao Zhen. Naturally, he had to report the situation in the first half of this year at the same time.

I saw everyone looking at each other, and then they all laughed.

Judging from everyone’s expressions, the data from last year and this year must be very good.

really.

Then I heard Yan Shu say: "After the emperor and Han Long left the capital, we spent half a month integrating the national statistics and found that the changes last year were encouraging."

"First, the gross national product. When it reached 1.9 billion guan in the first half of last year, we predicted a total of 3.5 billion guan, but it actually reached 3.9 billion guan. The tax revenue we predicted was 500 million guan, but it actually reached 624 million guan."

"Last year's steel production was predicted to be 12 million tons, but the actual output reached 16 million tons. Four years ago, in the 10th year of the Qingli reign, we had just reached the 1 million ton level. In just four years, it has increased 16 times."

"In the 12th year of the Qingli reign, our total foreign import and export trade volume was 967.32 million guan, accounting for 29.1% of the national GDP. Last year, our total foreign export trade volume reached 1479.65 million guan, accounting for 37.93% of the GDP, showing explosive growth."

"According to our import and export tax calculations, last year, our import and export tax revenue alone reached over 100 million. Compared to the annual trade revenue of the major customs offices during the Jingyou period, which was less than 10 million, our throughput was more than 10 times higher."

"There are also industrial output value, population, education index, employed people, farmers, and employee salary levels."

Yan Shu listed more than ten major statistics in one breath.

In fact, the Ministry of Statistics has more than forty or fifty data standards, including crime rates and official integrity indexes in various places, but the ones Yan Shuxian mentioned are indexes for measuring national development.

These data can be used to observe how much progress the Song Dynasty has made last year. Since they are the main data, they should naturally be brought out first to report the good news.

Hearing his words, Zhao Zhen gasped and said, "624 million guan of tax revenue? That's a tenfold increase!"

"More than ten times, it should be twenty times."

Zhao Jun pointed out: "The tax rate used to be at least 30% due to various exorbitant taxes and levies. Now it has basically dropped to below 15%, so it must have doubled compared to before."

"Doesn't that mean that the size of our Great Song has increased twenty times?"

Zhao Zhen opened his mouth wide.

He never expected that the Song Dynasty would grow to this size in just eighteen years.

However, Zhao Jun smiled and said, "It's not that exaggerated. Last year was a special case. We sold so many arms and signed so many trade orders. It's normal for foreign trade data to surge in a short period of time. I estimate that it should decline next year."

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

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