"Today I took the four princes to attend the briefing meeting of the Western Regions Science and Culture Joint Investigation Team, and I was very moved. In those days, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties used the Yellow River Basin as the basis to open up territories to the East China Sea, Hebei, and Jianghuai.
Expanding the soil."
If you want to persuade others, in addition to being well-founded, you also need to know how to express yourself so that the other party can accept it more easily. Zhao Si adopted a roundabout approach.
"It took thousands of years of hard work to achieve the unified territory of the former Qin Dynasty. Then the former Han Dynasty developed Lingnan, advanced into the southwest, advanced into Liaodong, and established Anxi. After many twists and turns, it took many repetitions, and then the thousands of miles of land of the former Tang Dynasty came into existence."
"I worked hard and with the help of all my ministers and ministers, I finally regained the territory of the former Han and Tang Dynasties. I am worthy of my ancestors and worthy of God. Each generation will always be stronger than the previous generation, and the new dynasty will always be better than the old dynasty. We cannot be inferior to our ancestors.
Come on, our territory in the Song Dynasty cannot be smaller than that of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Otherwise, future generations will laugh at us."
Having said this, Zhao Si glanced at the crowd with his right finger and asked politely: "When the Xia people, merchants and Zhou people were whipping up Hebei and attacking Jianghuai, did they ever think that this was a waste of people and money? No.
, they only think about occupying the rich land in front of them and leaving it to future generations."
Zhao Si said word by word: "I have the same idea now. If I have the ability to occupy all the rich places in the world, I will take them all! I wish I could take over all the rich places in the world! The people of the Song Dynasty can't use them now, but
We have children and grandchildren, and they will be born sooner or later!"
Seeing everyone's surprised expressions, Zhao Si smiled slightly.
"History is advancing, and the times are developing. The preliminary research results of the Western Regions Science and Culture Joint Investigation Team show that from the changes in the population, cities and other conditions of the Western Regions from the pre-Han Dynasty, the pre-Tang Dynasty and today, although starting from the Pre-Han Dynasty, many Western Regions
Small countries perished one after another, but in general, the population in the Western Regions is growing, the number of cities is increasing, and the economy is prospering."
"There are also Congling, Hezhong, and Khorasan, Tochara, Sistan and other places in the west, nothing better than this. A very simple example, during the former Han Dynasty, hundreds of Ban Chao could sweep through the countries in the Western Regions. Now hundreds
There are not enough people to bear the casualties of a small conflict between the Gaochang Uighurs and the Kara Khanate.”
"Although Ban Chaoying was both wise and brave, and his subordinates also fought bravely, it is undeniable that at that time, the countries in the Western Regions were small and the people were small. Judging from the collected data, the countries in the Western Regions before the Han Dynasty had only a few hundred households and thousands of households.
It’s considered a big country. What does this mean?”
"To illustrate what I just said, history is advancing, times are developing, places are prospering, and the population is increasing. We will not occupy the remote places in the Western Regions, but there are people who will occupy them!"
"I am a person who thinks a little too far, 'I am less than a hundred years old, but I always worry about a thousand years old.' Now I have under my command a cloud of mighty generals and millions of soldiers. I will leave them alone. It is better to go out and conquer those areas piece by piece.
All the land is occupied..."
Seeing Zongze's face flushed with excitement and wanting to stand up several times to refute, Zhao Si smiled and gestured to him.
"Old Master Zong, don't be excited. I know your worries, and you are afraid that I will follow the same path of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The country is poor and the people are poor, leaving only a false reputation. Are you still uneasy about what I do? If you are not at ease, then we, the kings and ministers,
After more than twenty years of friendship, isn’t it all in vain?”
Hearing that Zhao Si was playing the emotional card again, Zhang Shuye, Zongze and others couldn't help but feel angry and funny. In addition to the Xie Ke family, Liu Ji and other pavilion elders, all of them were veterans of Qiandi or personally supported by Jian Ren.
Close ministers.
Hearing Zhao Si's words, they couldn't help but think of the road they had walked together through thick and thin, and what the officials had done and said. Unknowingly, the resentment in their hearts was gradually eliminated.
No matter what, they all admit that the ambition, foresight, means, courage and ambition of the official far exceed that of the previous emperors of the country, and even the kings of the past dynasties are unmatched. More importantly, he is not greedy for women.
He did not enjoy luxury and was as hard-hearted as iron, just for the sake of strengthening the Song Dynasty and making the people rich.
The official insisted on the Western Expedition, and the officials also believed that he was doing it for the descendants of the people of the Song Dynasty - for a man who said, "I wish I could take advantage of my ability to occupy all the rich lands in the world and leave them to the people of the Song Dynasty."
, for the use of descendants." What else can the emperor say.
There is also Zhao Si's exclamation that "if you are less than a hundred years old, you always worry about a thousand years old." It also moved everyone present.
After twenty years of inspirational innovation and hard work, the Song Dynasty finally succeeded in completing the Three Great Aspirations, surpassing the Han and Tang Dynasties and becoming the most powerful and prosperous dynasty since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
After looking at the great sages of ancient and modern times, how many people can have the opportunity to participate in the creation of such great achievements? What else is there to be dissatisfied with?
The atmosphere in the cabinet hall slowly became harmonious, and the tense secret confrontation just now disappeared.
Zhao Si struck while the iron was hot and continued to explain: "I know in my heart how much I am capable of doing. Regarding the Western Expedition, I will do it according to my ability and will never increase the burden on the national treasury. For example, this Western Expedition is a good attempt.
"
Zeng Baohua received Zhao Si's secret glance and immediately continued: "The most expensive part of this Western Expedition is the mobilization of the flag-protecting troops of the four banners of Qinglong, Xuanwu, White Tiger, and Suzaku. However, we supply supplies along the way and mobilize them at designated points.
After redeeming it, the cost was reduced to the lowest point."
"The cattle and sheep supplied and allocated by the people of the Four Banners to the Western Expedition Army will be cashed and subsidized by the government and trading companies in the form of cattle, sheep, improved seeds, tea, sugar and other materials. As for the materials allocated to the Western Expedition Army, most of them are from trading companies.
A small part of the warehouses and warehouses were allocated from the government's Changping warehouses in Jinshan and Mobei."
"For this part of the expenditure, the Ministry of Planning will settle accounts with various trading companies...as well as the expenditures borne by Hexi County along the way, and the expenditures of Shaanxi, Shuofang, Hedong, and Henan counties when recruiting troops. The Ministry of Planning has counted them one by one."
"This time, the Ministry of Planning approved the issuance of 30 million yuan of treasury bonds by the Ministry of Finance, which is enough to pay for the initial expenses... In the settlement of the first stage of the Western Expedition, various inputs such as seizures, surrenders, and auctions were enough to pay for this
Half of the principal and interest on Treasury bonds..."
After hearing that there was a slight surplus in this Western Expedition, Zongze and several other strong opponents softened their expressions.
At this moment, suddenly there was a loud noise outside, as if someone was quarreling. Zhao Si frowned and asked displeasedly: "What's going on?"
Yu Huatian ran out quickly, and Yu Wenxuzhong and Xu Huiyan, the official of Shangshu Shengzhizhong, also ran out.
After a while, the three people came back and looked at each other. Xu Huiyan stepped forward and reported: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, when an official pointed out the counties, he drew lots and chose Yunling County. He was angry and felt it was unfair. He wanted to
Fazi sneaked into Donghuamen and made a scene in front of the cabinet door."
Zhao Si frowned even more and his face became even more unhappy.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on? Drawing lots to become an official?"