In the court battle, the Jiangnan faction indeed lost, but their local foundation was still extremely strong.

Jiangnan, which is dominated by clan power, has a strong foundation among the people.

After hundreds of years of operation, it has already become too big to lose.

Using basic materials such as land, textile machinery, and mulberry mountains, countless people were tied to a chariot with them.

For example, in Jiangning, there are about 200,000 people who rely on the textile industry to make a living. Looking at the entire Jiangnan, the population is even larger. If we really want to completely become each other, let alone anything else, as long as these people master this

If there is a link in the chain that causes you some problems, the entire upstream and downstream business will come to a standstill.

And people who rely on this to make a living need to eat.

If the livelihoods of dozens or millions of people suddenly have problems, the impact will be huge.

Therefore, despite clearly winning a complete victory, Xiao Cheng had to allow Si Jun to overtake them and retreat.

In fact, in the past political disputes in the Song Dynasty, it was a habit not to kill them all quickly. Those who lost were just moving far away.

Very few people would raise a butcher's knife and kill their political opponents.

Because no one knows whether the winner of the next game will still be him?

If he raises the knife, what if he is defeated next time?

This rule was broken when Cui Ang was in power.

But in Jiangnan, Si Junchao and the others felt that they could still reach such a tacit understanding with Xiao Cheng.

Xiao Cheng won, but he did not flee from them. Originally, Si Junchao was ready to go fishing in Lingnan, but now there is still a place for Si Junchao in Jiangning. Although he is no longer the second assistant, Gong

Whenever a banquet was held, he would still be a guest, and Xiao Cheng, the chief minister, would send people to discuss certain policies with him from time to time.

The pioneering group was an idea given to Si Junchao by Xiao Cheng, who was then organized and implemented by Si Junchao.

The Southwest Department has been working on a pioneering group like this for two years.

This pioneering operation began when Xiao Cheng led his troops northward.

Xiao Cheng knew very well that after they all left, Annan's situation would inevitably repeat itself.

Therefore, he asked the wealthy gentry in the southwest to organize such a pioneering group to enter Annan. He did not ask them to maintain the situation, but only wanted them to continue to mess up Annan and never allow this place to relax. Those who were under Qianzhou back then

The chieftains of Jizu Prefecture had been suppressed by Xiao Cheng for many years. Now Xiao Cheng not only let them go, but also gave them sharp swords. Naturally, they set off happily with their men.

For Xiao Cheng, it’s not like killing two birds with one stone!

Some of these pioneering groups made a fortune, while others were unlucky and failed in the struggle with the locals, leaving no trace of their remains.

However, it has no impact on the imperial court. On the contrary, it is more beneficial to the local public security in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi.

This year, people from the Jiangnan faction joined.

Unlike the pioneering groups in the Southwest, which had limited strength because they had been suppressed by Xiao Cheng for many years, the pioneering groups in Jiangnan were very wealthy.

In just one year, these pioneering groups plundered a large amount of wealth.

This is also the reason why Xiao Cheng said that they prefer to miss Shu.

In Jiangnan, it is indeed very profitable, but no matter how powerful they are, they are still reluctant to abide by certain rules because there are still constraints between them.

Now that they have stepped out of the country, they suddenly discovered that as long as the knife in their hands is sharp enough, the rules no longer exist.

The leaders of the Jiangnan faction also felt that since they had lost their power, picking up money in another place would be a good compensation.

After the pioneering groups going south made a lot of profits, those who were originally engaged in maritime business also became interested, so one after another maritime pioneering groups were also established.

But if you want to take the sea route, the cost will be much higher.

Ordinary families can't afford it.

And the Zheng family, as the leader on this road, also gave some families a lot of practical and sincere help, allowing these families to embark on this bloody road smoothly.

The fundamental interests of the Zheng family's pioneering group lie in the Japanese country, and the joint pioneering group of the Si family and the Xu family is now wreaking havoc in Java!

What Xiao Cheng needs most now is stability.

Only when it is stable can the policies formulated by the court be implemented.

Only when policies are implemented can they produce real results, make the country truly rich little by little, and make the military stronger day by day.

Compared with the current Liao Kingdom, the Song Dynasty can undoubtedly only be regarded as a little brother.

But as long as the little brother is strong enough, like a sharp iron nail standing upside down on the ground, when the Liao Kingdom steps on this huge and crippled foot, he must seriously consider whether the iron nail will pierce his foot.

Wear one pair.

This is what Xiao Cheng wants to do now.

Only then can we talk about the Northern Expedition.

There are many touted prosperous times in Chinese history, but even in these prosperous times, a large number of people did not have enough to eat or warm clothes to wear.

Food is never enough.

Sometimes the so-called harvest is just a corner.

Looking across the country, the food produced right now is far from enough.

Even though the dozens of large warehouses near Jiangning are now full, and the price of grain has been reduced to less than ten cents a bucket, there are still people in many distant places who can't afford it.

Due to road traffic, even if there is food, it cannot be transported. Once it is transported, the price has risen to a level that is beyond the reach of the poor.

Poor mountains and harsh waters bring out unruly people.

If you don’t have enough to eat and are about to starve to death, what else can you do if you don’t rebel?

Therefore, food has always been Xiao Cheng's greatest concern.

Producing more food and improving more crops were the top priorities of the imperial court.

Farming is the foundation, and the experience of instability without farming is the experience summed up by all dynasties with their blood and lives.

But in the south of the Yangtze River, because the silk textile industry was so powerful, a large amount of farmland was converted into mulberry fields to grow mulberry leaves, raise silkworms and spin silk. This is an unchangeable fact. And the food shortage in the south of the Yangtze River has also

It would push up the price of food throughout the Song Dynasty, so Xiao Cheng could only focus on the two lakes and Guangdong and Guangxi.

If you are familiar with Huguang, you will be sufficient all over the world. Xiao Cheng has kept these words in mind!

It's just that although Huguang is being vigorously developed at the moment, it is still far away from the goal of Huguang Mature and World-wide that he wants to achieve!

Unlike the gentry and powerful people in the north who are desperately annexing land and causing a large number of farmers to lose their land, in these places, there is actually a large amount of land that has not been cultivated.

The biggest shortage in these places now is not land, but people.

So now Xiao Cheng's land policy in these places is to encourage everyone to open up wasteland.

Wealthy families are encouraged to occupy these lands in the form of large farms.

Agricultural taxes in the Song Dynasty have always been very low.

Just one out of ten.

When Xiao Cheng came to power, agricultural taxes were fixed in units of acres.

Agricultural tax of twenty cents per acre.

If you produce 300 catties of grain per acre, it only costs 20 cents. If you produce 600 jins of grain per acre, it only costs 20 cents.

This can encourage farmers to think of ways to increase production and income.

The old planting attitude of hoping for a harvest naturally disappeared. Instead, everyone began to cultivate intensively and began to desire high-quality seeds.

In the two provinces, Hunan and Guangxi, Xiao Cheng does not have to worry about land annexation at all.

Or maybe that's an issue that future courts will have to consider.

Now Xiao Cheng only hopes that more land will be developed.

The rise of these large farms also made the pioneering group's slave trade more prosperous.

The Jiangning court headed by Xiao Cheng pretended to be deaf and dumb.

As long as you don't sell the Song Dynasty people as slaves, it's acceptable.

These large farms require a large number of people to work.

Compared with agricultural policies that vigorously encourage the reclamation of wasteland and increase income and production, Xiao Cheng has taken even greater steps in terms of business.

The commercial policies of the Song Dynasty were originally very loose, but when Xiao Cheng came here, the restrictions on doing business were completely relaxed.

Nothing like this exists anymore.

Within the jurisdiction of the Song Dynasty, anyone could go anywhere he wanted.

Every citizen of the Song Dynasty will have a small wooden sign made by a specialized agency.

This small wooden sign is marked with all the identity information and appearance characteristics of the person. With this small sign, you can go wherever you want.

Of course, anyone who wants to forge this little card will have to do it without being discovered. Once discovered, they will be beheaded immediately.

The freer movement of people also promotes the further development of business.

The imperial court encouraged business. When doing business, as long as the value of goods at one time was less than ten guan, taxes were exempted.
To be continued...