At the end of the ninth year of the Qingli period in the Song Dynasty, the old year came to an end amidst great joy.
This is the tenth year of the Qingli period.
It was also 1050 AD, the 14th year since Zhao Jun came to the Song Dynasty.
In just 14 years, the Song Dynasty underwent comprehensive reforms in politics, economy, military, culture, education, and more.
The national strength has shown a qualitative leap.
Judging from the GDP data, the gross domestic product has more than doubled compared to the Jingyou year.
Based on the tax revenue during the Jingyou period and the tax rate at that time, it can be roughly calculated that the GDP of the Song Dynasty during that period was about 3.4 billion guan.
But by the fourth year of the Qingli period, it had grown to 1.6 billion guan. By the eighth year of the Qingli period, with the full development of the steel industry and various construction projects driving economic development, the GDP reached 3 billion guan.
Moreover, the tax rate in Jingyounian was very high. The official tax rate was 10%, but with all kinds of levies and exploitation at all levels, it generally reached around 2030, which was particularly severe for the oppression of the lower-class people.
Now the agricultural tax has dropped significantly, and the only people who are subject to higher tax rates are landlords who own more land and wealthy people who have more assets. The overall tax rate remains at 12, and the tax rate for the poor with less assets has been reduced to below 7.
In this way, the total annual income of the Song Dynasty court could reach more than 300 million strings of cash, but about two-thirds of it would go to the central government, and the local government would only retain one-third.
It can be said that the current Song Dynasty is the best era among feudal dynasties and the most prosperous era in the true sense.
It was not the Northern Song Dynasty in history that was poor and weak and only used higher taxation to keep the financial revenue of the central court of the Song Dynasty high, but the lower classes lived a very difficult life, so that rebellions were endless.
certainly.
The ninth year of the Qingli period in 1049 AD was naturally not completely smooth sailing. It is impossible for there to be a historical dynasty in this world where there is good weather everywhere in the country and there are no natural disasters.
In essence, the harm caused by some corrupt officials in a place is far less than that caused by a natural disaster such as drought, flood, insect plague, etc.
No matter how corrupt the officials are, it is impossible for them to embezzle the food that everyone in the county depends on for survival. That is unrealistic.
But natural disasters can.
Overnight, a county, a state, or even an entire area can be left with no harvest, and the people without food can become victims of the disaster. The disaster can eat up all the food available like a swarm of locusts.
However, there is almost no large-scale turmoil in the Song Dynasty due to natural disasters. Even if there are disasters, they will be quelled quickly.
For example, in the ninth year of the Qingli period, drought occurred in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, including parts of Hebei.
This disaster involved three routes and more than 20 states, affecting millions of people. It was enough to shake an ordinary dynasty and even become the last thing that broke the camel's back in the last years of the dynasty, but it did not cause much splash.
Almost as soon as the signs of the rebellion appeared, the Song Dynasty court immediately mobilized food and supplies to rescue the enemy, and then quickly eliminated them.
It lies in the strong national strength of the Song Dynasty.
From this we can see that the comprehensive national strength of the Song Dynasty has now surpassed that of the Qing Dynasty, which is recognized as the peak of the feudal dynasty, and has entered a new era - the industrial age.
The productivity of the industrial age is enormous, and its ability to resist disasters is much stronger than that of feudal dynasties.
Even though trains were not yet a popular means of transportation, the grain could be mobilized through the Grand Canal to complete disaster relief work and stabilize the domestic situation as soon as possible.
Just based on this point, the political coordination ability, macro-control ability, and grain storage ability of the Song Dynasty have all reached an extremely high level, which is completely beyond the level of the feudal dynasty!
All of this is inseparable from Zhao Jun's transformation of the Song Dynasty over the past decade, from top to bottom and then from bottom to top, a plowing-like reform back and forth.
But this is the Song Dynasty.
Firstly, although the literati in the Song Dynasty seemed powerful, in fact the military power was always firmly in the hands of the emperor. As long as he held the gun, even the most stubborn class could be wiped out.
Secondly, the literati in the Northern Song Dynasty were not as spineless as those in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They might have been spineless, but they still retained a moral bottom line.
Lü Yijian, Wang Zeng, Yan Shu, Fan Zhongyan, Bao Zheng, too many capable and famous officials in history.
Many times, with Zhao Jun as the core, if things are discussed and laid out, then many things will naturally follow smoothly, without too many shackles and constraints.
Otherwise, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, people like Yan Song, Xu Jie, and the Donglin Party owned so much land and property in Jiangnan and were definitely interest groups.
Even if you explain all the pros and cons to the emperor, it will probably be difficult to break through the blockade of the literati.
Therefore, it was a blessing for Zhao Jun, as a political strongman, to appear in an era when the emperor was relatively weak, the literati still had a sense of moral justice, the private commercial atmosphere was strong, and the country did not close its doors to the outside world.
Zhao Jun spent the New Year in Jiangxi. He had originally planned to visit his hometown in Hunan, just as he had done during his previous tour. But unfortunately, plans can't keep up with changes, and there are always delays.
In contrast, Zhao Zhen was much more comfortable. Although he still could not leave the palace and was confined to a small place, he could climb up the city wall to see the lights all over the city.
Yes.
At the end of last year, Zhao Zhen used a steam engine to generate electricity, lighting up thousands of electric lights in the imperial palace.
At the end of this year, the Song Dynasty officially began to build electric poles and lay wires, and generate hydroelectric power through rivers such as the Bian Canal and Jinshui, so that electric lights could illuminate thousands of households.
"Our great Song Dynasty is technologically advanced. We've just established the Great Song Power Grid. Now there are so many electric poles erected in the city. That's a very reasonable thing, right?"
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