During this period, because he could not reveal his identity, he could only passively endure the scolding and had to endure no matter how Zhao Jun scolded him.
Now he finally has an identity and can communicate with Zhao Jun.
Zhao Zhen swore that if Zhao Jun continued to scold him, he would find a way and reason to refute him fiercely, leaving Zhao Jun speechless!
Upon hearing Zhao Zhen's invitation, without waiting for Zhao Jun to agree, Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan carried him over there, saying as they walked, "You must be tired, drink some water."
Zhao Jun was almost half pushed and half carried over, and he secretly complained that these two old men were really useless. They got tired after just a few steps. It was a pity that they were the village chief and the village party secretary.
Soon he was carried to the corridor of Guanjia Hall. There was an octagonal table and several armchairs outside. Wang Shouzhong came over with a tray and looked at Zhao Jun curiously.
He didn't know much, but as a eunuch, Wang Shouzhong performed his duties conscientiously and was deeply trusted by Zhao Zhen.
However, the Song Dynasty learned the lesson of the Tang Dynasty's eunuchs' interference in politics and was extremely sensitive to the interference of eunuchs in politics. Therefore, Wang Shouzhong understood the philosophy of self-preservation by listening less, watching less, and talking less.
Perhaps it was because of this that he was able to reach the position of Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
After putting down the cup of water on the tray, Wang Shouzhong consciously stepped back and walked to a place more than 20 meters away where he could no longer hear any specific sound.
Zhao Jun was lifted up and sat on a chair, holding a water cup in his hand. It was made of ceramic and had a nice touch. He was surprised to find such a finely crafted cup in this deep forest.
"Teacher Zhao."
After Zhao Zhen handed the water cup to Zhao Jun, he said, "You said before that we could talk about history after class. How about we talk about it now?"
Zhao Jun recognized that the voice was the young man who had previously refuted him by saying that the Song Dynasty was still very powerful.
This made him very puzzled.
Where is the impoverished mountain village deep in Daliang Mountain?
Why are all the villagers so interested in history?
Could it be that he is bored at home and reads history books every day?
Don’t you farm?
"What's your name, Wa?"
"Wazamu fruit."
"Oh, hello, hello. I remember you said the Song Dynasty was very powerful back then?"
"Yes."
"Why do you think the Song Dynasty was so powerful?"
Zhao Jun asked puzzledly.
Zhao Zhen said proudly: "The great Song Dynasty has vast territory and abundant resources!"
"certainly."
Zhao Zhen added: "This is not a comparison with the new China today, but with the ancient times."
"Ah, that's it?"
Zhao Jun scratched his head and said, "Is 2.8 million square kilometers considered vast and rich? What about the Liao Kingdom, which covered 5 million square kilometers? And what about the Arab Empire in the West, which covered over 13 million square kilometers during the same period?"
"Forehead......"
Zhao Zhen was choked all of a sudden.
He had heard Zhao Jun talk about the comparison between the area of the Song Dynasty and that of New China before, and he felt that the new era was strong after all, so it was normal for the area to be large.
But at least during the same period, the territory of the Song Dynasty should have been the largest.
After all, the concept of land area in this era was not very clear, and Zhao Zhen did not know the exact area of the Liao Kingdom.
As a result, he never expected that the Liao Kingdom was so vast, and there was an Arab Empire in the west whose territory was many times larger than that of the Song Dynasty, which slapped him in the face.
Zhao Zhen couldn't find a reason to refute it for a moment. He hesitated for a moment and said, "It...it...the economy of the Song Dynasty is very good."
"Then what?"
Zhao Jun asked again.
"...cultural prosperity?"
"What else?"
"Did the Song Dynasty break the aristocratic family system of the Han and Tang dynasties?"
"Is that all? Anything else?"
“And education!”
"Forget about education. Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism restricts people's thinking and poisons women. It's all feudal dregs that cater to the ruling class. History textbooks even criticize it."
"Forehead......"
Zhao Zhen was speechless for a moment.
After all, there are only a few countries whose national strength can be compared.
Economy, culture, military, politics, science and technology, education, human resources, etc.
The economy and culture of the Song Dynasty were indeed pretty good, but apart from these two things, what else could they offer?
science and technology?
Shen Kuo is only five years old this year.
Among the four great inventions, movable type printing appeared in the Song Dynasty.
Moreover, movable type printing has a far less practical effect on popularizing education than woodblock printing.
Politics, education, human resources and the like are even more incomparable.
Especially education, things like the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, men are superior to women, a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent, starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a big matter, these are all things from that time.
Since then, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has been developed and flourished. In the Tang Dynasty, women were allowed to put on makeup and go out. But in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they basically became stay-at-home girls who never went out of the house, and they were even called "ladies of noble families."
There is also the eight-legged essay of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which also originated from Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. It restricted people's thoughts, poisoned women, fooled the lower classes, solidified the classes, and ultimately turned people into slaves.
So although the Song Dynasty had good development in grassroots and universal education, the overall education environment began to decline from the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Jun heard Zhao Zhen's stammering, unable to articulate a clear point, so he smiled and said, "The Song Dynasty's economy was indeed the pinnacle of all feudal dynasties, but it was terribly distorted. Eighty to ninety percent of its expenditure went to military spending, and there was an annual fiscal deficit of several million guan. By the time of Emperor Renzong, the deficit had accumulated to over 30 million guan. What was the point?"
"Hmm..."
Zhao Zhen was at a loss to respond because it was a fact. Among the three evils of redundancy, the biggest problem was redundant soldiers. The annual fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty was only 60 to 70 million strings of cash, of which at least 40 to 50 million strings were spent on military expenses.
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