After traveling through time, I became Han Zhang’s grandson?

With Mr. Han Zhang's departure from Beijing, the "party struggle" that lasted for half a year came to an end, and at the same time, a new wave of personnel transfers was ushered in.

Zeng Mingzhong, Duke of Yan, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and Minister of Personnel, officially took over Han Zhang's power and became the new leader of the Secretariat.

The Privy Councilor Fu Yanguo also re-entered the Secretariat and formed a new prime minister duo with Zeng Mingzhong.

After the court's "party strife" calmed down, former Deputy Privy Councilor Chen Shengzhi was summoned back to Beijing by Emperor Shenzong, and succeeded him as Privy Councilor and concurrently served as the Director of the Regulations Office of the Three Departments. He worked with Wang Jiefu to discuss the continued implementation of the new policy reforms.

Chen Shengzhi, whose real name was Chen Xu and whose courtesy name was Yangshu, was a native of Jianyang County, Jianzhou (now Jianyang City, Fujian Province) and a prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In the first year of Jingyou (1034), he passed the imperial examination and was appointed as the magistrate of Fengzhou and Hanyang Army, the censor, the right censor, the attendant of the emperor, the magistrate of Yingzhou and Zhending Prefecture, and was promoted to the academician of the Privy Council, the prefect of Kaifeng, and the deputy envoy of the Privy Council.

He was impeached by censors Tang Jie and Fan Shidao, and was appointed as the magistrate of Dingzhou and Taiyuan.

After Yingzong ascended the throne, he was promoted to Deputy Privy Councilor. Because his mother was old, he was sent to Yuezhou.

In the first year of Emperor Shenzong's Xining reign, he was appointed as Privy Councilor, Grand Secretary of the Jixian Hall, and Co-Prime Minister.

Later, because he opposed Wang Jiefu's reform, he was appointed as the military governor of Zhenjiang Army and the governor of Yangzhou, and was conferred the title of Duke Xiuguo.

He died of illness in the second year of Yuanfeng (1079) at the age of . He was awarded the titles of Taibao and Zhongshu Ling, and was posthumously named "Chengsu". He is one of the characters in the historical allusion "Four Prime Ministers with Flowers in Their Hair".

Chen Shengzhi, who was already 57 years old, was arranged to take over the position of Privy Councilor, and he was somewhat mentally prepared.

What are they preparing for? Of course, they are continuing to endorse the emperor and Mr. Han, and the one who accounts for the most is probably Mr. Han, who is currently recuperating at home.

From Emperor Renzong to Emperor Yingzong, all those who took over as Privy Councilors, such as Zeng Mingzhong, Zhang Sheng, or Fu Yanguo, were ruthless stamping machines left to Han by the government.

Administrative and financial affairs were managed and supervised by the great ministers of the Secretariat and the Sansi Yamen.

But in terms of military affairs, the government does not trust anyone except Han.

After all, the person who changed the current situation of the Three Kingdoms of Song, Liao and Xia was this young man who looked unrealistically young.

In a word, "Ask the central government if you have any political decisions, and ask Han Ming if you have any military decisions." This has become a consensus from the reigns of Emperor Renzong, Emperor Yingzong, to the current reign of Emperor Shenzong.

Han Zhang's withdrawal caused another change in the core of the court, but the only thing that remained unchanged was the rule of the strongmen of the New Deal and Reform factions.

The conservatives won the victory in canceling the "expansionary" reforms, but still could not gain the trust of the officials and half of the seats in the central government.

Han Ming seemed to be neither promoted nor demoted, but in fact he lost miserably in this "party struggle". Not only did he fail to promote the "expansion" reform, but he also implicated his grandfather Han Zhang and lost his position as prime minister.

The only bright spot in this struggle was that Han Shipu, who was originally wasting his time in a low-ranking but powerful position, was promoted to the position of Vice Prime Minister ahead of schedule because of Han Zhang's retirement and Emperor Shenzong's guilt.

In this way, three generations of the Han family all became prime ministers and were present in the court at the same time, which was rare in the entire history of the Song Dynasty.

From this decree, everyone could see that Emperor Shenzong loved the Han family, or rather, loved a certain Han.

One can't help but sigh: "The victory of his grace is beyond the reach of famous ministers in all dynasties!"

In August of the first year of Xining, a man named Han submitted a military deployment on "destroying Xia" to the Privy Council.

As one of Han Zhang's old friends, Chen Shengzhi also likes this young Mr. Han very much.

However, matters related to "destroying Xia" still need to be discussed in the court.

"Jingyuan, isn't your plan a bit too bold?"

Chen Shengzhi pulled Han to sit down, feeling very happy. He had been in office for less than a month, and there had been such a major military operation. Didn't this mean that he was about to achieve great things?!

"Lord Chen should understand that now is the best time to destroy Xia."

Han Ming still maintains goodwill and recognition towards these older generations who have risen to the position of prime minister after experiencing political struggles.

They are merely limited by their inherent literati thinking, which leads to some single-minded arguments on military affairs, rather than them truly knowing nothing.

"Since the Battle of Pingxingguan in the third year of Zhiping, the Liao Kingdom lost 80,000 troops and completely lost control of the Xijing Road."

"Although Yelu Hongji mobilized a group of troops from other capitals to garrison Datong Prefecture, it could not fundamentally solve the problem of Xijing Road."

"Therefore, in terms of offensive and defensive power, the Liao Kingdom can no longer arbitrarily interfere in the Song-Xia War as it did in the past."

"Having eliminated the Liao Kingdom, the greatest threat, and with the initial completion of the first phase of military reform and a surplus in the treasury, now is the perfect time to 'destroy the Xia'!"

Since Han's failure in the "party struggle", he has truly witnessed the cruelty of politics.

He now rarely interferes in the affairs of the Secretariat and the Three Departments. Most of his time, he considers the national treasury and finances and thinks about how to carry out military operations to expand the territory of the Song Dynasty.

Han's explanation was concise and clear, helping Chen Shengzhi understand the situation of the Three Kingdoms.

"It seems that now is indeed a good time."

"How about this? I'll let you go first. As for the subsequent deployment of troops and food supplies, you'll need to submit them to the authorities for approval."

Without saying a word, Chen Shengzhi picked up the seal of the Privy Council, first stamped Han Ming's plan, and then signed his own name.

"Then I would like to thank Mr. Chen." Han Ming chuckled and bowed.

On the fifth day of August, Emperor Shenzong simply convened a central meeting. Although the meeting was attended by bigwigs from the political, financial and military sectors, the Privy Council was the main body of the meeting.

Listening to Chen Shengzhi's report on the "Destroy Xia" campaign, everyone except Wang Jiefu and others outside the Sansi Yamen nodded slightly, expressing their approval of this military deployment.

"Mr. Wang, why are you so silent?"

Emperor Shenzong watched everyone's lively discussion. Only the chief officials of the Sansi Yamen, headed by Wang Jiefu, had a serious look on their faces. He couldn't help but ask.

"Your Majesty, I am concerned that the national treasury has just had a surplus and the finances have finally recovered. If we expand our territory now, I'm afraid the subsequent cost of governing the new land will be high."

Wang Jiefu's words were undoubtedly like a bucket of cold water poured on everyone's heads, and everyone calmed down instantly.

"If we were to go to war, we were able to defeat Western Xia despite the hardships during the reign of Emperor Renzong. It probably wouldn't be that difficult to destroy Xia now, and logistics and food supplies wouldn't be a problem either."

"But if we conquer the Xia and occupy the land, then it will indeed cost a lot to govern the place."

Wang Jiefu didn't want others to think that he was a conservative who opposed the expansion of territory, so he quickly explained.

"Han Hou, do you think that what Wang Xianggong said can solve the problem?"

Emperor Shenzong felt that there was nothing wrong with what Wang Jiefu said. If he wanted to expand the territory, he had to be prepared to increase the cost of governance in the future.

"I have a simple planning document here, but I haven't had time to present it to Your Majesty."

Han Ming took out a memorial as if by magic and handed it to Emperor Shenzong.

Opening the memorial and looking at the flourishing calligraphy, Emperor Shenzong could not help but sigh twice: "Marquis Han's calligraphy is now superb, quite like the style of a famous master!"

Han smiled shyly, pretending to be embarrassed. Wang Jiefu, who was standing next to him, saw the other person acting so hypocritically, turned around, covered his face with his sleeves, and coughed vigorously twice.

"Production and Construction Corps?!"

Emperor Shenzong's voice was surprised, and he looked at Han with a strange expression, as if he was wondering why this person always had such strange ideas in his head.

"In fact, the so-called 'Production and Construction Corps' is similar to the 'Tuntian System' of the late Han Dynasty, whereby corps of soldiers were stationed on newly acquired land to carry out preliminary management."

"The imperial court only needs to invest a portion of its financial expenditure and agricultural support in the early stages. In the next one to two years, these 'production and construction corps' will produce the products themselves. This will reduce the pressure on the national treasury."

"As long as they can initially achieve internal self-production, these places will no longer be a burden to the imperial court, but will instead provide tax revenue to the state."

"At this point, the new territory will gradually be integrated into the administrative system of the Song Dynasty and become an inseparable part of it."

"Later, we can disband these military corps and switch to the government-run form of the imperial court to complete the complete merger."

After Han Ming finished speaking, everyone understood the role of this "Production and Construction Corps".

On the one hand, using troops to station and manage new lands can reduce the possibility of indigenous rebellion.

On the other hand, with the partial help of the court, the army should form a production model, be self-sufficient, start an internal circulation, and no longer rely solely on the assistance of the central government.

Once self-sufficiency is achieved, the pressure on both the local area and the imperial court will be greatly reduced.