Chapter 38 8. Sealed pile warehouse: a thousand gold is easy to get, but stability is hard to find

After more than 300 years, the Song and Song dynasties, despite their unparalleled achievements in culture, have always been labeled as "poor and weak", and the instigator of this situation was pushed as Zhao Kuangyin.Many people think that in order to stabilize the Zhao family dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin took away the power of the generals and controlled the military power, so that the Liao and Jin invaded the Central Plains for hundreds of years, regardless of the safety of the family and the country, and acted recklessly.As the founding monarch of the Song Dynasty, he established the development direction for the dynasty. His successors followed the rules and adhered to the rules, and proceeded cautiously on the route he established. The most fundamental reason for the great shame and humiliation should be Zhao Kuangyin.

Looking at Zhao Kuangyin's deeds throughout his life, he is indeed entangled in how to maintain centralization and external unity.It has always been his dream to vigorously develop military power to defeat Liao and regain the lost land in the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun; and it is also his heart's hatred that the huge military power will make the regime full of crises.Among the two, he tried to find a sweet spot, but failed to achieve it.His successors can't understand his painstaking efforts, which is difficult even for the founding monarch, so how can they pin their hopes on them?Therefore, on the road of thoroughly implementing Zhao Kuangyin's ancestral precepts, they only managed to strive for stability, but forgot to regain the country.

From the time of Chai Rong, Zhao Kuangyin hoped to recapture the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun. After he became the king of a country, this question appeared in his mind at any time, and he was thinking about the way to achieve it.At the end of the Song Dynasty, countless passionate warriors also took this as their ultimate pursuit, so they were diligently persuading the emperor to make up his mind to march south. Li Fu, the living man, once wrote a letter asking Zhao Kuangyin to send troops to the Northern Expedition, but Zhao Kuangyin said to him: "Now that the foundation of the Song Dynasty is stable, it is not the time to be an enemy of Liao."

Li Fu said: "When your Majesty marched south, he donated a lot of gold, silver and cloth to the Liao Kingdom to stabilize the situation in the north. Now that the Song army has pacified the south, the contribution to the Liao Kingdom has not stopped. It has been like this for a long time. The loss of wealth is a small matter, but making Liao look down on my Great Song is a big matter for humiliating the country's prestige!" Zhao Kuangyin said: "The so-called national prestige is just a false name. If I ignore the country in order to promote the national prestige, it would be too hasty! I understand your thoughts for the country, but it is not wise to send troops rashly."

Li Fu and the others wanted to persuade him again, but Zhao Kuangyin stopped him and said, "That's all for now, there is no need to say anything." All the officials had no choice but to leave the hall. When everyone retreated, Prime Minister Zhao Pu said to Zhao Kuangyin: "Your Majesty has far-sighted considerations. The courtiers only want to enjoy the momentary pleasure. They can't look at this matter in the long run. I misunderstood Your Majesty." Zhao Guangyi, who was the governor of Kaifeng at the time, said disapprovingly: "With the national power of the Song Dynasty, it's just that we haven't found a suitable opportunity now. When there is a good opportunity, there is no need to wait any longer."

Zhao Kuangyin said: "The good opportunity you mentioned is only a good opportunity if we are fully sure that we can win, otherwise it will only lead to the disaster of destroying the country! In the previous wars with the Northern Han Dynasty, the Liao army only However, if some troops were sent to support them, the Song army would be defeated, and now if we wave the banner to challenge the Liao Kingdom, wouldn’t it be self-destruction?" Zhao Guangyi said: "Then shall we swallow our anger?" Zhao Pu said: "Of course not. The reason why His Majesty is not willing to go to the Northern Expedition now is because he has a longer-term plan."

Zhao Kuangyin nodded and said: "Every time a war occurs, the people have to bear huge tax pressure. Now that the Southern Expedition is not long, it will take a long time for the troops to recover, not to mention that we have always lost in the long-term confrontation with the Liao. If How can it be considered as a plan for the country if you show off your courage for a while and let the people suffer?" Zhao Guangyi said: "But isn't the property donated to the Liao Kingdom every year a burden for the people? Those precious cloths are being sent to the Liao Kingdom continuously, as if sent to a bottomless pit. The Liao people will not be satisfied with this .Instead of waiting until they are dissatisfied and then aggressing, we should strike first."

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Isn't the war infestation of the Liao people just for those properties? Now, I give these properties to them, which is equivalent to exchange for the tranquility of the border, and it is worthwhile to prevent the people and production from suffering. For these properties, It has indeed increased the burden on the people, but compared with the losses caused by the war, this burden is nothing." Zhao Pu said: "What Your Majesty has always hoped for is nothing more than the word 'safety'. As long as the country is peaceful and the people are safe, even if you lose some property, you don't have to worry about it. But I don't know if the world understands this painstaking effort."

Zhao Guangyi sighed and said: "If this method can be used to stabilize the situation, that is of course the best. However, the lost land in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun has not been recovered so far. I am afraid that the officials and the people will think that our Great Song Dynasty has no power and cannot protect the integrity of the country. And those Yanyun people are looking forward to His Majesty's Northern Expedition so that they can return, and no one can understand." In fact, Zhao Kuangyin is very clear about the thoughts of Zhao Guangyi and the officials, and he also very much hopes that the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun can recover as soon as possible.Shi Jingtang's cession of land in one fell swoop not only allowed the people in these places to be ruled by the Liao people and had to endure very cruel oppression, but also put the northern border of the Central Plains in a very dangerous situation.Yanyun is like a sharp knife inserted into the Central Plains by the Liao Kingdom, providing them with a springboard to invade the Central Plains at any time.The land of the Great Song Dynasty, which lost its protective barrier in the north, was exposed under the iron hooves of the Liao people. How could Zhao Kuangyin, as the king of a country, bear it?

As the king of a country, one must not only establish national prestige to the outside world, but also be responsible to the people.Zhao Kuangyin could not order the Northern Expedition just because of such a plan, because he knew that once he raised his troops, the price he would have to pay would be heavy. Not long after Li Fu's request for the Northern Expedition, Zhao Kuangyin found that the discussion on this incident among the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty had intensified. I don't want to take the whole country as a joke because of my bravery. After the Southern Expedition, a large amount of social wealth poured into the treasury of the Song Dynasty, and through the strategy of controlling the money valleys of various places, the property of tribute from various places also continued to increase.All of these are related to Song's growing national power year by year. The stable environment provided opportunities for the development of agriculture and handicrafts. The prosperity of textile, ceramics, tea and other industries made Song's finances stable, and there were surpluses every year.After this gratifying news was reported to Zhao Kuangyin by Prime Minister Zhao Pu, a new idea gradually formed in Zhao Kuangyin's mind.

Zhao Kuangyin asked Zhao Pu: "Now the surplus silk, gold and silver are placed in the national treasury. What do you think is the best place to use them?" Zhao Pu said: "The balance of the national treasury is used to build water conservancy projects, build roads and bridges, all of which benefit the people. Your Majesty's palace also needs to be repaired to match the nobility of the Song Dynasty." Zhao Kuangyin smiled and said: "The repair of the palace can be done at any time, and it is what I want to do most for the people. But at present, there is one thing that is more urgent than building water conservancy, roads and bridges, and that is Song Dynasty. Liao's border dispute." Zhao Pu asked: "Does Your Majesty plan to use this money to contribute to the Liao Kingdom?" Zhao Kuangyin said: "Of course not! I am also very worried about the people in Yanyun area who are trapped in a foreign country. But at present, Liao is strong and Song is weak. It is not easy for Liao not to invade, let alone regain the lost land What? The ministers are proposing every day, but no one has seriously thought about this problem, so I have to find another way to solve it.” Zhao Pu said: "Your Majesty has never wished for a war to prevent the people from suffering, but if you want to regain lost ground, war is the most direct way." Zhao Kuangyin said: "What I want to do now is to avoid war, but still recover the lost ground." Zhao Pu, Zhao Guangyi, Li Fu and others were very surprised and asked, "What is your majesty's strategy?" Zhao Kuangyin said: "The Liao people invaded the Song Dynasty, and what they wanted was wealth. Now Yanyun and other states have been under their control for decades, and the local production has suffered huge damage. The people are destitute, and no wealth can be squeezed out. And my Great Song State treasury has a surplus every year, if we gather all this wealth, there will be four to five million taels of silver, wouldn't it be a good thing to exchange these silver taels for these lost lands?" This proposal was something that no one had thought about. Zhao Kuangyin saw everyone dumbfounded, and went on to say: "If we send troops to fight, the outcome may be uncertain, and there will be huge military expenditures. If it exceeds four or five million taels of silver, the common people will suffer even more. Wouldn’t it be the most convenient way to exchange these money?” Zhao Guangyi said: "Then what if the Liao people don't agree?" Zhao Kuangyin said: "If the Liao people are unwilling, they can still offer high rewards, and use these silver taels as rewards to reward the heads of Liao soldiers. Even if they buy a head with 20 bolts of silk, their elite soldiers are only 100,000, and they only need 2 million. A piece of silk can destroy it!" All the ministers admired and expressed their support for this decision.Since then, the Northern Song Dynasty treasury has set up a "sealed pile warehouse", and the annual balance is placed in it. When the accumulation reaches a certain level, it will be negotiated with the Liao Kingdom as economic compensation for regaining lost land.Zhao Kuangyin used economic means to solve the loss of land, which not only saved the people and production from trauma, but also saved the country's expenses to the greatest extent, which can be described as a great pioneering work. From the starting point, the policy of "closing piles" was established to protect the people from the flames of war. Although the Liao people were strong, their economic and production levels were not as good as those of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, they had many necessary living materials from the Central Plains. obtain.It is also very attractive to them to obtain these materials through negotiation without going through war.Therefore, the feasibility of this idea is also very high.Of course, this is not praying for peace to the enemy. Zhao Kuangyin is also ready to fight with strong means. He bought the heads of Liao soldiers with silk horses. It is a pity that the idea of ​​"sealed pile treasury" has not been realized, and Zhao Kuangyin died. His successor, Zhao Guangyi, quickly spent the wealth in the pile pile treasury at will, and changed his strategy towards the Liao Kingdom, launching a campaign against Liao. The two wars were defeated and returned, which also caused huge losses to the country, which further proved that Zhao Kuangyin's strategy of "closing the pile library" was the real solution to the dispute between the Liao and Song Dynasties.