The first thing Zhao Jun thought of was going out to sea to find high-yield crops.
Because productivity was limited in ancient times, the population of the Song Dynasty was now close to 100 million, land annexation was serious, and a large number of landless farmers had become a powder keg.
However, it would be difficult for him to carry out land reform immediately, distribute land to farmers and ease social conflicts with his own strength.
So he could only come up with some practical and useful methods, such as going to America to find high-yield crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn to first solve the people's food and clothing problems and then promote social progress.
This is also the development path of the new China in the new era: "First eat enough, then you will have the strength to work."
After Zhao Jun finished the first sentence, he stopped and looked around.
Everyone's eyes were now focused on him, and everyone was listening attentively, like eager students.
Seeing that he was silent, Lü Yijian asked, "Zhao Jun, why are you silent?"
“I want to know what everyone thinks about this.”
Zhao Jun laughed.
"It was very well said. It was truly amazing. I was listening attentively the entire time."
Lu Yijian nodded repeatedly.
"Well, we've been exploring the relationship between productivity and production for a long time these days. Increasing food production is indeed a top priority."
"I remember Zhao Jun once said, 'First seek survival, then seek development.' This sentence best explains the current situation."
"Zhao Jun's thinking on this point is truly astonishing. Your wisdom is enough to make you worthy of being a prime minister of a country."
Several prime ministers and deputy prime ministers were very satisfied with Zhao Jun's words.
It even exceeded expectations, and I felt that the government had really found a treasure this time.
Because the long-term essence of a country is that its citizens must survive and meet basic material conditions before they can look forward to the future and seek a better quality of life.
You can’t even get enough food to eat, but you’re thinking about the industrial revolution?
Therefore, Zhao Jun was able to first grasp the main contradiction and then propose ways to resolve the main contradiction. Such talents and ideas themselves prove that he has the ability to govern the country.
"Yes, survival is the top priority, so I suggested looking for high-yield crops. The sooner we do this, the better."
Seeing everyone's satisfaction, Zhao Jun knew they had passed this hurdle, so he continued, "We can't immediately increase productivity at this stage, and I don't think large-scale reforms are feasible. I need to conduct research before I can proceed. So, the second step I think is to increase revenue and reduce costs."
"Increase revenue and reduce expenditure?"
Sheng Du was the Vice Prime Minister in charge of economics, an area in which he was an expert, so he questioned, "How do you increase revenue and reduce expenditure? This kind of thing still requires your understanding."
"Of course, it's not about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure based on what we already have, but about finding the right direction. I remember you all kept asking me about tea making, and I told you the answer was Jiaozi Shop. Don't tell me, after two or three months, you still haven't made any moves."
Zhao Jun looked at everyone with confusion. Could it be that these guys did nothing?
Zhao Zhen showed a smug look on his face and said, "I have already started to work on these things. Now that the Jiaozi shop in Bianliang has opened, countless people have come to deposit money there. I have also thwarted the tea merchants' conspiracy."
"The tea merchants' conspiracy?"
Zhao Jun was confused. It seemed that a lot of interesting things happened in the Song Dynasty during the time when he was blind.
Zhao Zhen briefly explained the situation and concluded with a smug look on his face: "If it weren't for the great help from the ministers, I'm afraid they would have succeeded."
"Your Excellency is too kind. This is all to relieve Your Majesty's worries."
"This is all due to your Majesty's strategic planning. I dare not take credit for it."
"The emperor has already prepared a plan to deal with this, and we, the ministers, have only contributed a small part."
Several ministers were humble and put the credit on Zhao Zhen.
In fact, the struggle between the literati in the early Renzong Dynasty was quite interesting.
Li Di and Lu Yijian were fighting for power, so they reported on each other. Then, in their memorials, they praised Zhao Zhen's wisdom while belittling their opponent for bringing disaster to the country and the people.
Wang Zeng and Lü Yijian were fighting for power and were also reporting on each other. Lü Yijian accused Wang Zeng of forming a clique for personal gain, while Wang Zeng accused Lü Yijian of corruption.
Zhao Zhen was hesitant, so he asked Sheng Du for advice. Sheng Du set a trap for the two people and gave Zhao Zhen an idea. In the end, Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng were dismissed from their positions at the same time, and then he became the prime minister.
So what later generations thought of as ancient court struggles was a battle of wits and courage between the two sides, with conspiracies and tricks coming out of both sides, and in the end one side made a wrong move and lost everything.
The actual court struggle - bragging about the emperor's wisdom and intelligence, getting closer to the emperor, and then taking the opportunity to report to the emperor, making the emperor hate his opponent and eventually drive the opponent out of the court.
This is exactly the same as the real business struggles in later generations, which are actually about grabbing official seals.
This phenomenon continued until the middle and late period of Renzong's reign. Because Zhao Zhen's character was relatively soft, and his health was not very good in the middle and late period, he had very little time to handle government affairs, which led to the prime ministers in the court becoming more and more powerful.
Later, Fu Bi, Bao Zheng, Wen Yanbo, Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu and others all criticized Song Renzong. For example, Bao Zheng scolded Zhao Zhen because of Zhang Yaozuo, and Ouyang Xiu even criticized the heavens, the earth and the air, saying that Song Renzong was incompetent.
The reason for these two completely different situations is that the prime ministers in the early Renzong Dynasty were basically from the Zongzhen Dynasty, and they were better at saying one thing in public and doing another behind the scenes.
In the later years of Emperor Zhenzong's reign, he was incompetent and made the court a mess. If one did not do as he wished, he would be demoted. Therefore, these prime ministers became accustomed to giving the credit to the emperor and praising his wisdom.
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