"Bang!"
"This is no longer a simple landlord protest; we must strike hard!"
On March 25, the Liangzhe Road Transport Office used a relay system, changing horses and people, and delivered the official documents to Bianliang at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, ignoring the time for people to eat, go to the toilet and take a short break. In four days, they ran a thousand kilometers to deliver the official documents.
Although the Grand Canal is convenient, it is still too slow. Under normal circumstances, it takes a month to arrive, so this 300-mile express delivery is the fastest way for the government.
At this moment, inside the Bianliang Government Office, Zhao Jun looked at the official document in his hand, and he flew into a rage. He slammed the table and stood up and asked, "Do they think the court is weak and can be bullied?"
"Forehead"
Everyone in the room looked around and thought, isn't this what you wanted to see?
Why are you so angry?
Lü Yijian and Wang Zeng are not here today.
And not only them, Jia Changchao and Fan Zhongyan were not here either.
Lao Lu and Lao Wang took leave due to health reasons. Their health conditions have been very bad recently, especially Wang Zeng.
After all, at this time in history, the grass on the graves of these two people was three feet high. One had died of illness for eight years, and the other had died of illness for two years. It was a miracle that they could survive until now.
As for Jia Changchao, he was also the Minister of Works. Since the beginning of this spring, the water flow of the Yellow River has increased dramatically. Historically, it would flood two years later, causing the Yellow River to change its course. Naturally, he had to supervise the river construction.
Fan Zhongyan went to the Firearms Bureau for inspection after the morning meeting. The Firearms Bureau has not been idle in recent years. After studying muzzle-loading rifled guns and cannons, it has begun to study breech-loading rifled guns and cannons.
Historically, both rifled muskets and cannons were initially muzzle-loading. The popularization of muzzle-loading rifles, for example, was due to the invention of the Niemi bullet. Muzzle-loading cannons, however, remained relatively unpopular due to their difficulty in loading. This was only resolved when the Firearms Department adopted the Niemi bullet and used large lead bullets.
But the most convenient is the breech-loading gun.
This will dramatically increase the firing rate of cannons and guns.
The earliest breech-loading rifle in history was called the "Dresser rifle", and its structure was actually very simple.
It is to use paper shell to wrap black gunpowder to make fixed bullets, and a trigger pointer is fixed with a spring at the back. Pull the trigger to let the pointer penetrate the cartridge case, ignite the gunpowder and shoot out the bullet.
Now that there is no shortage of steel, the Firearms Department has conducted a lot of research and development and has produced this more advanced rifle, which is now in the experimental stage.
Therefore, Fan Zhongyan often went to the Firearms Bureau during this period to see if their experimental results were any improvement over the current muskets.
It can be said that the development speed of the Song Dynasty is still very fast.
Especially in the field of weapons manufacturing.
The only thing lacking is the chemical level that has not yet been reached. If fulminate of mercury gunpowder can be invented in the future, then the level of modern firearms can basically be reached.
At this moment, there were only seven people in the Constitutional Court: Yan Shu, Song Shou, Cai Qi, Li Di, Zhang Shixun, Jiang Tang and Zhao Jun.
Speaking of which, Li Di and Zhang Shixun are older than Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng. They are both in their seventies or eighties, especially Zhang Shixun, who is eighty-two years old this year, but the two are in better health than both Wang and Lu.
Historically, one of them lived to be seventy-seven years old, and the other lived to be eighty-six years old, which were considered relatively long-lived in ancient times.
Seeing Zhao Jun furious, Yan Shu said in surprise, "Hanlong, we're all family. What's the point of acting like this? We agreed to send troops straight away, but you refused. Aren't you implicitly trying to escalate the situation and wipe them out?"
"No, I'm really angry."
Zhao Jun shook his head: "I'm angry because they don't fight back."
"Are you angry at them for not fighting? Haven't you always said that the landlord class is a decadent and backward class? Why are you still counting on them?"
"Everything should be viewed dialectically. Compared to slave society, landlords who only collect rent instead of treating the farmers as slaves and killing them at will are already considered progress."
"So you want them to go further?"
"Yes, if the landlords can transform into the bourgeoisie and promote social reform and development, at least at this stage, it would be considered progress.
"But you've already given them a chance, and they don't cherish it."
"Well, to be honest, I don't want things to get to this point. After all, this will cause unrest in the country."
“Without destruction, there is no construction. Sometimes you have to be ruthless.”
Yan Shu tried to persuade him instead.
Logically speaking, the ancient bureaucracy should have stood on the side of the landlords.
But it just so happens that the Song Dynasty was a strange one.
Because many people in the bureaucracy went into business, using their power to make huge profits and directly combining officials with businessmen, the landlord class's influence within the bureaucracy was not as strong as it was in the Ming Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty court plundered the landlord class no less severely than ordinary people. Many officials simply fabricated charges to ruin the families of merchants and landlords, and then directly seized their property. They did not treat the landlords and merchants as their own people.
Perhaps the landlord class also had representatives in the court, but they were definitely not the top prime ministers in the Constitutional Court. Therefore, the Song Dynasty was a rare dynasty in which the minority bureaucracy did not stand on the side of the landlord class.
Hearing Yan Shu's words, Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Well, one step to heaven, one step to hell. I have given them a chance, and now they have chosen the worst option, so I have no choice but to choose the worst option too."
As he spoke, he looked out the door. It was a bright, clear March day, and he sighed, "Alas! If I could, I'd really like to tell those landlords why they cling so tightly to their land. The world is so big, there's no place like the world to venture out. Even if they sell their land to the imperial court and use the money to build a fleet to sail out to sea, they're contributing to the country."
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