I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 68: It turns out that overthrowing Zhu is also based on seniority
Zhao Zicheng had no intention of hoarding the farming skills for himself or monopolizing them for profit. Instead, he planned to promote them to the whole nation for the benefit of the country and the people. It was enough for him to earn some fame and reputation.

After Lu Jian conducted an investigation, he went back to tell Li Zhixian and others, which actually cleared Zhao Zicheng of suspicion and was also conducive to the promotion of these agricultural technologies.

After Lu Jian thought he had figured out Zhao Zicheng's fundraising method, he went to see the situation of Yang Zhi's hired labor service out of fear that his friend would go astray.

Yang Zhi's soldiers had already recruited the original 500 regular soldiers, but there were still 500 temporary laborers under his supervision that he had not had time to recruit.

Lu Jian excused himself to visit, and Yang Zhi welcomed him without hesitation. He also said that their camp was short of people skilled in engineering coordination, and that Captain Lu's willingness to come and provide guidance was something they had been looking for.

After a quick look, Lu Jian discovered that Yang Zhi's soldiers weren't really working on the dikes or embankments. They were only occasionally helping out with the heavy lifting, moving earth and rocks. The rest of the work, like digging silt and other dirty tasks, was done by the laborers.

Some of Yang Zhi's soldiers were even recruited by Zhao Zicheng to work in a large blacksmith's workshop outside Gusu County, where they were tasked with swinging hammers and doing other laborious tasks that required little skill. The rest of the time, they were engaged in military drills, clearly receiving high pay for little work.

Seeing that Zhao Zicheng had actually allowed someone to open an iron workshop, Lu Jian couldn't help but feel a little worried. He thought that Zhao Zicheng was dissatisfied with Yang Zhi's military equipment and wanted to manufacture weapons privately. However, Yang Zhi also explained to him openly:
"Zhao County Magistrate felt the tools left by the predecessors were not working well enough, so he had someone open a blacksmith shop to forge them. These were just tools for encouraging farming and repairing embankments, not weapons. Lu Duguan is one of us, so why would I hide it from you?"

The reason why Yang Zhi dared to speak directly to Lu Jian was, of course, because he had received instructions from Zhao Zicheng.

Zhao Zi said he knew that if he wanted to invest in Suzhou's technology-driven farming, even investing in a blacksmith's workshop, he couldn't completely hide it. He could only put on a veneer first, starting with creating new tools and implements, so that his colleagues around him would get used to the situation and stop being suspicious. He could then slowly consider the military equipment next year.

The road must be walked step by step.

Moreover, after Zhao Zicheng took office, he observed the corvee labor, water conservancy and agricultural promotion in the county within just one month, and was able to find several points for improving tools and figured out several new tools with some innovations.

For example, this morning, when Lu Jian came to inspect, he saw a group of soldiers under Yang Zhi swinging big hammers to forge a strange object with a straight blade and a slightly curved handle. He directly pulled Yang Zhi aside and asked:
"Isn't this a weapon?"

Yang Zhi used pliers to pick up two pieces of that thing and let Lu Jian take a closer look. He also gestured to put them together and said, "This is not a weapon at all. This is the mulberry scissors that the young marquis has been thinking about. In the past, silkworm farmers used to cut mulberry branches with hatchets, usually picking low branches to cut more force.

The young marquis advised the wealthy local silkworm farmers to prune the mulberry trees from a higher place so that the mulberry leaves would be lush and abundant next year. The hatchets they used before were very inconvenient, and climbing to a high place would not be effective and could be dangerous.

After getting these long-handled scissors, they save a lot of effort and can easily cut mulberry branches, and they can also reach far. Several wealthy families with the largest silkworm breeding bases have praised their good performance and have already ordered hundreds of them. Now, the young marquis has ordered them to be provided first to the wealthy families who have contributed the most.

Only then did Lu Jian believe that this thing was a pair of gardening shears for pruning trees. He had worked in the Yingfeng Bureau for a long time and had done some research on exotic flowers and trees. He quickly concluded that if he presented this tool to the higher-ups, it might be able to please them a little and gain their favor.

He then looked around for a while longer, and saw some strange objects that he briefly thought were forged weapons. For example, he saw several thick metal rods resembling rolling pins, with matching hinges at both ends. He initially thought they were meant to be spiked with nails to make maces, or perhaps simply be forged into the legendary "Panlong Staff" used by Emperor Taizu.

The so-called Panlong Staff of the Song Dynasty was similar to the later nunchaku or three-section staff, consisting of several hard sticks connected by hinges. A famous saying has been circulating among the people of the Song Dynasty: "Emperor Taizu conquered 400 military prefectures with just one Panlong Staff."

But when Yang Zhi saw Lu Jian picking up the thing to admire it, he poured cold water on him: "This is not a Panlong stick, it's just a machine for shelling beans and rolling cotton.

Two rollers are placed side by side with a hopper on top to fill in the flowers of the white floribunda, so that the cotton seeds can be squeezed out, saving the trouble of manually picking the cotton bolls one by one.

If the distance between the two rollers is shortened, the pods can be placed inside and then rolled, and the beans can be shelled and removed without having to manually peel them one by one. This roller can be hand-cranked or connected to the axle of a waterwheel to be hydraulically rolled, much like a water-powered flour mill.

Lu Jian looked at several things in succession, all of which were agricultural production tools used for farming. He was completely relieved and was too lazy to look at them anymore.

He thought to himself: After returning, I can inform County Magistrate Li, and even report to Prime Minister Zhu if there is a chance, so that the higher-ups will not see that Brother Zhao spent a lot of money to hire soldiers to do things and worry that he will do something wrong.

Brother Zhao did nothing wrong. At most, he used the money and food he collected from the levies to hire soldiers to do labor service, but in fact he also took some private jobs for himself. That's all.

But this was not a problem at all in the Song Dynasty. Not to mention hiring soldiers with money, even the generals of the imperial guards and the wing troops would let their soldiers do private work for them, help them do business or farm to make money.

Lu Jian just felt that it was necessary to remind Brother Zhao to be fair and not to make the officers of other wing army camps and even the militia commanders jealous, thinking that Yang Zhi got the upper hand while other friendly forces couldn't even get a share. Some things should be shared equally.

As Lu Jian was thinking, it was already noon, the time for lunch at the newly built ironworks. Countless large soldiers, who had been swinging their hammers, stopped rushing and instead finished hammering their forging tools before lining up for their meals.

Blacksmithing, like other work, requires heating iron to a red-hot temperature before forging, which consumes a lot of fuel and materials. If you abandon your work immediately upon hearing the sound of dinner, the red-hot iron will cool down in vain and have to be softened again later, which is a huge waste of fuel.

But from the leisurely posture of these soldiers swinging hammers, Lu Jian could still keenly see that these people definitely had no shortage of food and drink in recent days, and Zhao Zicheng's requirements were definitely very strict, and Yang Zhi was also very clear in enforcing military discipline.

Otherwise, everyone would be starving, and who would care if your ironware got cold and wasted labor and fuel? The most important thing was to grab food first.

After the dinner signal sounded, it took a full quarter of an hour before all the soldiers lined up to receive their meals, including Lu Jian and Yang Zhi.

Lu Jian discovered that Yang Zhi ate the same food as ordinary soldiers. For the troops hired by Zhao Zicheng, officers and soldiers all had equal food.

Lu Jian looked at the dish he had just ordered. It was a mixture of old rice and fresh white rice, with some taro chunks and beans. It wasn't particularly good, but he was told that if he didn't eat enough, he could add more until he was full.

In addition to the abundant mixed grain rice, each person also gets a small fish as a dish. This fish cannot be added after you finish eating it, and it is the only one.

There are also some freshly cooked leafy vegetables, which have no taste, and pickled dried radish and winter melon strips that are quite salty. These are pure vegetarian dishes without any oil or water, and you can add them together with the rice.

However, Lu Jian observed that in the end, no one added more rice until they finished eating. This was because everyone's bowls were huge, with a diameter of a foot, as big as flower pots.

In the end, they had just about finished the food provided by the government, neither too much nor too little, and nothing was wasted. There was a little extra, so a few soldiers with really big appetites also finished their plates.

"It's only been less than a month since I followed County Magistrate Zhao, and your soldiers already have enough food. How can this not make other friendly forces jealous?" Lu Jian wiped his mouth after finishing his meal and sighed casually.

"So what? I'd rather be envied than let my own people suffer." Although Yang Zhi was harsh on his soldiers, he was willing to use both generous rewards and harsh laws as long as someone paid.

Lu Jian: "That's true, but now many of the brothers from other camps in this state are jealous. I heard that your camp can get full military pay without any deductions. Sooner or later, you will be envied."

Yang Zhi didn't understand politics, and he felt this matter was unsolvable. He knew in his heart why the young marquis didn't expand the army, hire more men, or show favor to the other camps. Zhao Zicheng wanted loyal confidants who would enforce his orders.

If he hired a few more battalions, he would only be more feared by his superiors and would be exceeding his authority. The key point was that even if he spent money, others would not be loyal to him. Zhao Zi said that there was no solution to this problem and he could only find ways to ease it as much as possible.

Yang Zhi could only remain silent and not respond to this question.

Lu Jian finished his meal and wiped his mouth. "I've been in the Yingfeng Bureau for many years, and I've thought of a solution. I'll talk to Brother Zhao about it when I get a chance. I can't say it's advice, but we can still be considered friends."

After hearing this, Yang Zhi was quite surprised: "Sir, do you have a good idea? I will take you to see the young marquis right away." Yang Zhi originally regarded Lu Jian as an ordinary colleague, but now he subconsciously changed his address to "Sir" without even noticing it himself.

After a while, Lu Jian was led to the county government office by Yang Zhi.

During the Song Dynasty, the magistrate, county magistrate, and county lieutenant all worked in the same county government office, but they were divided into different offices. The magistrate occupied the main hall of the government office, with the county magistrate's office and the county lieutenant's office on both sides.

In the afternoon, the county magistrate had no official business, so Zhao Zicheng was resting alone in the wing of the county magistrate's office. When Lu Jian came in, he saw Zhao Zicheng sitting there meditating and breathing.

Lu Jian did not dare to disturb him and sat for a few minutes, waiting for Zhao Zicheng to finish the breathing exercise he was doing.

Over the past month, Zhao Zicheng has been practicing the "Wanshou Daozang Xinde" compiled by his future mother-in-law Duan Yuyan when he has nothing to do. He feels it is quite good and has gained a lot from the gradual progress.

Anyway, in terms of government affairs, he is only responsible for conveying his inspirations to the people below and letting them execute them. He does not want to interfere too much in other daily work, and he will keep a low profile this year.

Zhao Zicheng knew very well that this year was not the time to engage in large-scale farming. Things had their priorities. Fang La was about to rebel, and there were two urgent things at the moment: one was to secretly expand the army and train soldiers to improve their actual combat effectiveness as soon as possible, and the other was to climb the technological ladder and accumulate technical skills.

As for developing water conservancy projects and encouraging agriculture and sericulture, those were merely cover-ups and political achievements. They weren't unimportant, but the payback period was too slow. The next few years, after Fang La's defeat, would be the ideal time to engage in large-scale agricultural production.

Zhao Zicheng finished his breathing exercise and stood up. Lu Jiancai smiled and said to him, "Young Marquis, how come you've become so obsessed with practicing Taoism after your trip to Tokyo? This breathing exercise looks quite decent."

Zhao Zicheng smiled calmly, "I'm just practicing for fun, to strengthen my body and cultivate my character. Brother Lu, I've come to visit unexpectedly. Do you have any advice for me?"

Yang Zhixian whispered a few words to set the stage. Zhao Zicheng nodded and sent Yang Zhixian out. He then turned to Lu Jian and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Brother Lu. I'm young and inexperienced, and this is my first time as an official. I'm certainly not cautious enough. What do you think we should do about this?"

Seeing that he already understood the current situation, Lu Jian stopped elaborating and went straight to the point, "I also know that the young marquis is anxious to get things done and wants to benefit the people. He can't tolerate any injustice and can't bear to see his hired soldiers suffer.

But let me be honest, in the Great Song Dynasty today, which imperial guards and garrison troops aren't withholding their pay? Of all the camps around Suzhou, only Commander Yang's camp is fully paid, so naturally others are jealous. If there are too many people gossiping, it will be beyond the county's control."

Zhao Zi said, "Brother Lu, please tell me what to do."

Lu Jian: "I have an idea. The local corvée and the construction projects to be carried out every winter should not be completely decided by the county. Although the county can use the excuse of insufficient funds and grain to reduce the work, in principle, the state government should also coordinate and coordinate.

Each county can raise funds for small matters such as repairing embankments, but in addition to repairing embankments, canals and seawalls must also be built, which are not something that a single county can undertake, and the provincial government must coordinate and divide the work.

Although the prefecture had no plans to repair the canal this year, it had been built last year, and Lord Zhao had offended many wealthy families by levying taxes and levies on them. This year, Wei Tongpan insisted that there was no need for further construction or repairs to the seawall, so each county could act independently.

But since the young marquis has already become so unconventional and has aroused jealousy, it would be better to hand over the power of coordination to Wei Tongpan of the state. Let Wei Tongpan coordinate the winter paddy field repair work in this county and the four counties of Wujiang, Changshu, and Kunshan.

I see that in order to carry out corvee labor and encourage agriculture and sericulture, our county has also built a large ironworks and obtained a lot of new equipment. If these things are only used in the county, they will not be able to bring out their benefits quickly. It would be better to share them with neighboring counties.

One of the greatest benefits of having Wei Tongpan take over coordination is that it allows the four counties to leverage their strengths and contribute more to their respective areas of expertise. For example, some counties have a relatively abundant labor force but are short on grain and money, so they can contribute more people. Changshu County, with its abundant grain, can provide more rations for corvée laborers. This county was previously relatively evenly distributed, but now that it has a new ironworks and the tools it forges are handy, it might be wise to shoulder more of the burden of ironworks and tools, in exchange for less labor and grain.

There's another benefit to doing this. Each county will still be responsible for the wages of its own laborers and soldiers, but with the support of Wei Tongpan, even if someone starts gossiping, they won't blame you. They can simply say it was a task assigned by Wei Tongpan. If the other battalions can't be hired, it's not our fault."

After hearing this plan, Zhao Zicheng's eyes lit up slightly, and he had to admit that Lu Jian's coordination method did help him divert some of the hatred, and from the perspective of engineering management, it could indeed improve efficiency.

Although Adam Smith's theory was criticized by many people in later generations, his basic idea that "social division of labor brings about improved efficiency" is still correct.

The more a cooperative model allows each party to play to their strengths, the greater the production efficiency can be.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if those who are good at producing labor could produce more labor, those who are good at producing food could produce more food, and those who are good at producing technical equipment could produce more equipment?

Of course, there are problems with doing this, and it will definitely attract new hatred. After a little thought, Zhao Zicheng realized that this method might provoke the officials in charge of corvée work in the neighboring counties of Wujiang, Changshu and Kunshan.

Because they may not have originally wanted Wei Tongpan to coordinate and dispatch this year, Zhao Zi said that if they handed over part of their authority and asked their superiors to guide the work, these people would be forced to hand over part of their power and accept the leadership from above.

However, daily water conservancy projects such as repairing dikes and embankments can be broken down into smaller pieces, without the need for unified coordination at the state level; each county can do its own thing.

Zhao Zicheng pondered this for a moment. He wasn't afraid of offending officials from the other three counties, as his career would undoubtedly rise much faster than theirs. They were simply in different counties, independent of one another, so whether they hated him or not was irrelevant. Zhao Zicheng only wanted to establish his achievements and build his team as quickly as possible, so he couldn't afford to worry about those guys.

However, Zhao Zi said that he was not very familiar with Wei Tongpan. He only knew that this person seemed to be a good official and was honest in history. But if he had a strong desire for control and he was bound by his guidance, that would be bad.

So Zhao Zicheng casually asked, "Brother Lu, do you know anything about the character of Wei Tongpan?"

Lu Jian hesitated for a rare moment before he sighed, "I won't go into other details. Actually, Wei Tongpan also wrote a petition to the government, hoping that the government would practice frugality and reduce the flower and stone tax.

If you ask him for instructions, you must be low-key. Outsiders will just think that he came to you, not that you came to him."

Lu Jian was very considerate in saying this. After all, he was from the Yingfeng Bureau and should not have recommended Zhao Zicheng to be close to officials from the Yingfeng Bureau.

Zhao Zicheng couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart: he had been planning to find an opportunity in the future to submit a petition opposing the Flower and Stone Gang. But he had a good idea: he couldn't be too hasty. He had to wait until the eve of Fang La's rebellion, and it would be best if the timing was as precise as possible, to petition the emperor to abolish the Flower and Stone Gang.

In that way, it can be ensured that Zhu Zhen will not have time to retaliate against him, Fang La will rise up, and then the emperor will get rid of Zhu Zhen, and he will not be retaliated against.

But now it seems that there are still brave men in Suzhou's official circles? Has the magistrate Wei Xian already petitioned the emperor to reduce the flower and stone tax?
It seemed necessary for him to get closer to this Wei Tongpan and form an external support. Furthermore, he was afraid that when he petitioned to abolish the Flower and Stone Gang next year, he would also need to make some minor adjustments.

The "overthrow Zhu" cause has already been advocated by some predecessors. If we judge by seniority, Zhao Zicheng alone is not qualified to quickly gain widespread popularity.

He had to do something more outrageous than Wei Xian in order to stand out.

He decided to visit Wei Tongpan tomorrow and ask the state to coordinate and preside over the corvée and water conservancy affairs of the four counties this winter, and by the way, see how to adjust his future plan to overthrow Zhu.

-

PS: Today's words are just over 10,000. Actually, due to word count adjustments, I can't expect to hit a high point when it's released. It just so happens that I have to deal with farming and internal affairs right after it's released, which is a small low point, but it's almost there anyway. Too much debt doesn't worry you, and too many lice don't itch.

(End of this chapter)