Chapter 80 The Energetic Zhao Huan
In the Northern Song Dynasty, officials had a seven-day holiday during the Lantern Festival.
There is no harm without comparison. In any case, in 2022, which had just passed before Zhao Huan traveled through time, the longest holiday was only three days.
Zhao Huan was full of energy and started working intensively on the second day of the Lantern Festival.
Zhao Huan called this a sense of ownership. He was the first person responsible for the survival, development, employment and food of the 120 million people of the Song Dynasty.
When you shoulder a heavy burden, you only have two choices: one is to lie down and give up, and the other is to work hard.
Zhao Huan chose the latter.
Among the many feudal dynasties in China, Zhao Huan's favorite was the Northern Song Dynasty, which had a prosperous economy and flourishing culture. Especially during the reign of Song Renzong, the culture reached a booming state.
Zhang Heng, Dou Bian, Zheng Yong, Lü Huiqing, Jiang Zhiqi, Su Shi, Zeng Gong, Zhu Guangting, Zeng Bu, Song Xi, Shi Yuandao, Wang Shao, Liang Tao, Su Weixian, Su Zhe, Liu Yuanyu...
This is the list of people who took the imperial examination in the same year. It's really scary.
The examiners were also not to be underestimated, they were Ouyang Xiu and Mei Yaochen.
Other great figures include Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, etc., who can be called a galaxy of stars.
Later generations have always discussed whether the Song Dynasty was a unified country. The opposition believes that the Song Dynasty had a small territory and that the Liao Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Western Xia Dynasty and other countries were dividing the territory at the same time.
Zhao Huan's goal was to make Song a truly unified country in terms of economy, culture, territory, etc.
Being an emperor is not an easy job, because one has to rely on memorials to decide how to deal with a matter.
Memorials are all written by people, so reviewing them adds an extra workload. Is what this person wrote objective?
No matter how much intrigue there is in the capital, it is restrained because it is under the emperor's nose. Everyone's behavior is within the rules of the game. For example, women are not affected by the disaster, and violent killing is not allowed.
In comparison, local officials were even more unscrupulous. They would poison even the imperial envoys or censors sent by the central government if they disagreed with them.
Many historical events ultimately resulted in the emperor appearing foolish and incompetent, and this was also a reason for this. The memorials the emperor saw were not the same as the facts, so it was normal for the solution to be wrong.
The Northern Song Dynasty did not have nationwide networked surveillance, airplanes, or high-speed trains, so it was impossible to rush to the scene of the incident in the first time and make targeted arrangements.
It can be said that the emperor and the prime minister's handling of events was based on historical experience.
What should you do if a flood occurs? The steps are one, two, three, four.
Among them, if there are those who have been promoted from local levels and have actually dealt with floods, and can make some targeted adjustments, they can be considered wise.
Judging from the current situation, the most reliable method is to place one's own confidants in various key positions in the local area to ensure that there is no collusion between the local authorities.
It’s difficult. The key to the problem is that I don’t have any confidants.
Countless chaotic thoughts flashed through Zhao Huan's mind, but there was no particularly good solution. He could only try hard to understand every word in the memorial.
Zhao Huan wasn't a trained emperor; he was a time traveler. He studied management, economics, organizational science, and other subjects. He also learned the Ten Major Consciousnesses and understood the importance of Genchi Genbutsu.
Most officials of the Northern Song Dynasty did not have this awareness, so some of the false information in the memorials shocked Zhao Huan.
Some of the opponents are not very good, which is probably an advantage.
The following is the report from Xu Jiang, the prefect of Xinzhou Prefecture.
There was a report from Xinzhou Prefecture that a flood had occurred in Xinzhou Prefecture. The prefect Xu Jiang personally led people to reinforce the river embankment. Fortunately, the river embankment was managed to be saved.
However, due to the continuous heavy rains, more than 90 people in Xinzhou Prefecture were killed or injured. One of the granaries was located in a low-lying area, so the grain in the warehouse could not be transported away in time and was completely destroyed by the flood.
It's full of complaints. I don't know whether to say that Xu Jiang is stupid or that His Majesty is stupid.
This memorial was issued in December last year. Xinzhou is located in the area of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province today. Children who have studied geography know that there was a northwest wind at that time and it was impossible for it to rain heavily.
Unless there was a tornado landing on the coast, there was no mention of this in the memorial, and no similar memorial was submitted from nearby areas of Shinshu.
Besides, the prefect Xu Jiang probably didn't even know what it meant to have more than ninety civilians killed or injured. If he really told the truth, we can only say that Xu Jiang was a reckless man who was not afraid of death.
Besides, the people are not fools. After days of heavy rain, they would have run away to other places. Why would they wait to die there? This is treating the people as fools.
And this granary was actually built in a low-lying area. Is he a fool? Or are all the officials in Xinzhou Prefecture fools? No one has pointed out this unreasonable thing.
The exact situation in Xinzhou, whether it was a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, was uncertain. However, the prefect, Xu Jiang, was definitely not a clean man, and it would not be unfair to kill him directly.
If all the local officials were like this, Zhao Huan couldn't believe how miserable the people were living.
Regardless of the dynasty, the prosperity of the capital is incomparable to other places, and Bianliang and even its surrounding areas cannot represent the real situation.
Generally speaking, the situation in the south is better than that in the north, and the situation in the coastal areas is better than that in the inland areas.
Zhao Huan racked his brains, but if he followed the current historical process, it would be a pipe dream to achieve his goal.
After racking his brains, all Zhao Huan could think of was to reduce taxes, reduce corvee labor, encourage the development of commerce, and also to put Song Huizong's extravagant spending habits on the sidelines.
Therefore, we still have to use the time traveler's plug-in to do it. There is only one prerequisite for everything, and that is to have enough food.
To be honest, the Northern Song Dynasty was notoriously prone to natural disasters in history. It can be said that they occurred almost every year. Although there was a method of closing positions, it could play a little role, but it was still a drop in the bucket.
The best way is to make the cake bigger.
Zhao Huan took a pen and began to break down the problem using a mind map.
Way 1: Reclaim land and increase the planting area.
Approach 2: Improve yield per unit area and increase total output.
Approach three: Increase varieties and reduce dependence on rice.
Way four: Dietary structure, animal husbandry and fishing.
When it comes to increasing yields, we absolutely have to mention Yuan Longping. It was he who solved the problem of food and clothing for China's 1.3 billion people.
The problem is, Zhao Huan doesn't know how hybrid rice is hybridized.
However, Zhao Huan did not have to do these things himself. He just had to propose a topic. The rest was to organize a research team familiar with farming and then spend money like crazy.
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