In addition, the ruler of Lu, Fu Ling, would occasionally come with Xie Bing to appease the surrendered soldiers, so the surrendered soldiers were no longer as fearful as before.
The new Tianjing is now frequently contacting the Northern Hu and Xiongnu, offering conditions in exchange for 50,000 surrendered soldiers. The Northern Hu and Xiongnu are only offering 100,000 taels of silver, willing to ransom a group of people to return.
Moreover, this 100,000 taels was money raised by the Pana family in conjunction with other Lower Guard families.
The new Tianjing government stated that it could only redeem a maximum of 5,000 people out of 100,000. 5,000 was already the limit. The 5,000-person quota was then transferred to the Xiong Kingdom, meaning that only 5,000 of the 50,000 surrendered soldiers could return.
This caused the surrendered soldiers to become disillusioned with their motherland, leading to a decline in morale. Ultimately, the emperor ordered five thousand men to be selected and sent back. He also sent Banaro and a portion of his guards back with him.
Those whose families had fallen out of power were unable to return to their home countries, and many chose to commit suicide.
The government ordered that the matter be reported to the new Tianjing.
A new order to surrender was issued. Initially, no surrendered soldiers agreed. Then, the government ordered all 45,000 men to work in the fields or build roads. With exactly 45,000 men, they could build as much road as they could. Since 45,000 men required a considerable amount of food...
In the State of Lu, sweet potatoes were often used as a substitute, and the cooks there were not very skilled. Every time they cooked sweet potatoes, they were sticky and mushy, like swill. The surrendered soldiers had never eaten anything so terrible. They immediately started banging on their bowls and complaining.
Xie Bing killed several people who were intentionally inciting others to cause trouble, and then arrested those who followed suit and locked them in a dark room for several days.
They only calmed things down after they had to find a chef from the Central Plains.
The surrendered soldiers caused relatively minor trouble, but at night, some tried to escape, causing considerable problems for the Lu and Xie armies. After all, 50,000 men was a significant number, and many were not convinced of the Central Plains people's authority.
When this reached Xie Lanzhi's ears, she felt that the Hungarian soldiers were quite capable and it was normal for them to only recognize their own country.
No one would easily betray their hometown.
Moreover, they couldn't just kill 45,000 people at will, so Xie Lanzhi ordered her men to disperse the surrendered soldiers and spread them out to the central region, the fewer the better.
The surrendered soldiers originally intended to conquer the Central Alliance, and now that they have surrendered and been distributed to various places, it can be considered that they have infiltrated the Central Alliance to some extent.
The Central Plains are a vast and resource-rich land. Fifty thousand people could easily disperse, with no more than a hundred people able to gather together; they were scattered far and wide. In villages, towns, and mountainous areas, they were only assigned labor to build bridges and roads, and to raise livestock.
No one from the Northern Hu and Xiongnu came to visit, and the surrendered soldiers gradually lost hope. Most of them were disappointed with their motherland.
New Tianjing has been busy lately dealing with the issue of the ownership of various regions in the Central Alliance.
Since only two of the ten kingdoms remained—eight had been destroyed and could not be rebuilt—the royal families of several smaller kingdoms had been slaughtered. The remaining scattered troops only began to regroup after the surrender of the Xiongnu, and were not in complete disarray.
Disagreements have arisen within the royal family of the small kingdom.
To prevent internal strife among the smaller states from harming the collective interests, Si Xitong announced that the Eight Kingdoms would not be restored and invited the surviving relatives of the Ma Liu Kingdom and others to reside in the new Tianjing. She also bestowed the title of Marquis of Ma Liu upon the young ruler of the Ma Liu Kingdom.
The other smaller states were divided into dukedoms and marquises, while the remaining two states actively emulated the state of Lu. They were located near the new capital, Tianjing.
As for the land, the new Tianjing was nationalized. The scattered soldiers of various countries were incorporated into the reserve army of the capital's garrison, and Xie soldiers were dispatched by each country to train these reserve troops.
The scattered soldiers from various countries were also very willing to join the capital's garrison. The total number of these scattered soldiers from various countries was 80,000.
The Imperial Guard of the new Tianjing has expanded from 300,000 to 400,000. The addition of new military branches has brought even greater challenges to the logistics of the new Tianjing.
Originally, the food supply was only enough for 300,000 people, but now the pressure has increased by 30%.
Although Tianjing has enough food for the time being, it is inevitable that it will encounter difficulties in the future.
Tax officials have already suggested raising taxes, as Si Xitong hasn't raised taxes for a long time, and raising taxes a little now in peaceful times would benefit the national treasury. This would also allow for both cost-cutting and revenue-generating measures.
Si Xitong needs so many reserve soldiers, but she doesn't want to raise taxes.
This is a problem that every dynasty has encountered. Si Xitong was no exception.
She felt that increasing revenue and reducing expenditure were necessary, but more importantly, it was about increasing the national treasury's income and expenditure. Traditionally, increasing the national treasury's income and expenditure would first involve looking inward for solutions.
The commercial sector in the entire Southern Central Plains, represented by the new Tianjing, was underdeveloped, and trade was not readily available between different regions. Everyone knew that the only option was to expand outwards to the seas and, consequently, to improve the internal economy.
The agricultural economy is now quite simple, self-sufficiency is easy, and people are content with stability and unwilling to travel. Even among merchants, most are still Xie family merchants who travel around. Tianjing merchants prefer to wander in the south and do not like to go to sea. Most tend to be conservative.
After some thought, Xie Lanzhi directly proposed the idea of re-establishing trade with the four Southeast Asian countries. This would enrich domestic agricultural products, using the basic necessities of food, clothing, housing, and transportation as a foundation to expand various industries.
"What the court needs to do is maintain stability and clearly point out a general direction for everyone to follow. As for commerce, it can be left to the merchants, who will know how to do it."
Si Xitong said, "It's a good thing to talk business, but the bad habits of businessmen are always hard to eradicate."
Throughout history, the behavior of merchants has caused considerable trouble for the imperial court. If this mobile population becomes a trend, it will increase the government's governance costs.
Xie Lanzhi said, "Therefore, all dynasties have adopted the approach of blocking rather than dredging, which is to treat the symptoms but not the root cause. In fact, the rulers were even afraid of the movement of people, which led to the neglect of farming."
"Because the foundation of a nation is still food."
"But now we are building roads on all sides and have firearms and artillery. With our superior weaponry, we can deter the enemy and our internal enemies."
"If you are worried about the costs caused by liquidity, then set a rule that the merchants themselves should bear some of these costs, and spread them out."
Si Xitong had previously established a chamber of commerce that dealt with transportation within the capital. Now, the transportation industry in New Tianjing has expanded to the southern region. The transportation industry addresses many issues affecting people's livelihoods.
Agriculture is now highly developed. The transportation industry, along with agriculture, salt production, and water conservancy, has always been a major source of tax revenue for the new Tianjing.
Si Xitong said, "I don't trust others to support me. Does Lanzhi have any good candidates?"
Xie Lanzhi guessed that she wanted to set an example for a national merchant, but also wanted to adhere to tradition: merchants should not enter officialdom, and the military should not engage in business. A merchant is a merchant. Merchants must be kept separate and firmly controlled by the court.
She put forward a candidate: "The Xie family merchants can be the main force in going overseas, but I think Si Bogong is more suitable as the representative figure."
A hint of joy flashed in Si Xitong's eyes: "Let's do it that way."
Soon, at the Prince's Mansion, while Uncle Si was happily telling stories to his little grandson, Si Xitong's imperial decree arrived.
He was ordered to use his connections across the world to establish a merchant group from the Central Plains to travel to the four Southeast Asian countries and reopen the maritime trade routes.
The previous emperors of the Great Jin Dynasty had all considered opening up maritime trade to increase revenue, but the majority of the court was conservative. In addition, the country's strength was gradually declining, so these plans were often abandoned.
Even the late Emperor Xicheng had considered it and sent people to make contact. However, business was infrequent. It was easily interrupted by any incident, and they could only barely maintain their external influence.
The four countries of Southeast Asia know about the Great Jin Dynasty, but they only know about Emperor Wen of Jin a hundred years ago and Emperor Xicheng twenty-three years ago.
Emperor Xicheng still left some influence in the four Southeast Asian kingdoms. Now, his daughter has the potential to rule the Central Plains and then spread to Southeast Asia. The four Southeast Asian kingdoms have long been eagerly anticipating this, as they are far too reliant on the resources of the mainland. Similarly, the four Southeast Asian kingdoms also possess seafood and various rare minerals that are not found on the mainland.
For thousands of years, the four Southeast Asian countries have maintained a sense of dependence on the Central Plains. Even after a twenty-year hiatus, kings continued to pay tribute to Nanjing and maintain contact.
Maintaining ties with the Central Plains has been a consensus among the four Southeast Asian nations for centuries. This consensus can still be effective for the time being.
Sibo Gong accepted the imperial decree to travel to the outer seas. He required that, in addition to the Xie family merchants, outstanding merchants from the Southern Central Plains must also be selected to send representatives to accompany him.
So Gongsun Feng, the wealthiest businesswoman in Shiguo Prefecture, stepped forward.
Gongsun Feng's actions immediately caused a huge uproar in Tianjing. Gongsun Feng was Si Xitong's person. Si Xitong was the first to recommend her for the National Business Group.
The Xie family merchant was replaced by Xie Wei, Xie Fengqing's cousin. Xie Lanzhi specifically chose him.
She also selected two thousand elite soldiers from Xiexia's naval forces to accompany her. Since she knew some basic knowledge about sailing, she specially ordered a batch of booklets for distribution, one for each person.
During the reign of Emperor Xicheng, a considerable amount of knowledge about maritime trade had been accumulated, but it was all written in classical Chinese, making it rather difficult to read. Aside from noble and scholarly families with high literacy rates, many merchants were limited to using common Chinese characters. Therefore, Xie Lanzhi's booklets, simple, easy to understand, and catchy, quickly gained popularity among merchants.
This trip takes them to four Southeast Asian countries, which are countries that have a sense of tributary relationship with China. Therefore, Xie Lanzhi and Si Xitong do not need to worry too much about the four Southeast Asian countries attacking the Chinese merchant corps.
Seven days later, Si Bogong led Gongsun Feng, Xie Wei and other merchants to the four Southeast Asian countries.
News of the trip to the four Southeast Asian countries was kept low-key, not widely disseminated. Later, a renowned scholar named Wei Yuan, who had also traveled overseas, wrote a storybook, *Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms*, describing his vision of the open seas. He described places with gold and silver mines, inexhaustible fish, and even places where there was no winter, only spring. He also described how people ate beans as their staple food when rice was scarce. And so on, highlighting the resources and customs associated with these places.
This story caught the attention of Xie Lanzhi and Si Xitong. Si Xitong immediately promoted the publication of "Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Kingdom," with the imperial court printing one thousand copies. Major bookstores eagerly acquired them, and they quickly became highly sought-after items among students.
Xie Lanzhi paid out of her own pocket to have an artist paint the content and spread it among the people.
Suddenly, "Maritime Atlas" became the most popular storybook and illustrated book among the people, both for its depiction of major judicial cases.
Merchants, seeing the potential for profit, flocked to those who had sailed the seas, asking the scholars to write and publish their own versions. Imitation of maritime maps surprisingly proved quite lucrative. However, they were quickly copied and imitated.
The businessman himself once took the matter to the authorities.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Si Xitong promoted copyright and fined plagiarists. He also explicitly stipulated that identical content cannot be copied and used for private purposes.
In fact, the Great Jin Dynasty already had laws regarding the printing of genuine and counterfeit books, requiring the support of authentic copies. However, printing costs were high, and even if someone copied a book, they would still have to bear the costs, let alone sell it to the common people. Besides, the common people didn't know many characters.
However, three years ago, when the imperial examination system was introduced, Si Xitong Xie Lanzhi had specially funded the construction of many schools in order to open up the path to the imperial examination.
This allowed many children from grassroots families in Tianjing to receive three years of schooling. These children, who had attended school for one or two years, could basically recognize characters and understand storybooks. Not to mention picture books.
With a larger literate population, storybooks sold better. This inspired the development of a writing system that had never been widely used in the Jin Dynasty.
Children who had completed three years of schooling were generally recruited by the Ministry of Works as apprentices.
At least most families in Tianjing were well-off and had the means to send their children to school. Furthermore, Xie Lanzhi specifically subsidized, rather than providing free education, the schools she hired to contribute their knowledge.
These students who failed the exam, if they have no intention of taking it again, can still become teachers and impart knowledge.
Si Xitong valued these people highly and would issue them stipends every year so that they could have a decent life during holidays and continue to contribute to teaching and imparting knowledge.
Xie Lanzhi spent a large sum of money on this project. It seems that making money is now a pressing matter.
Si Xitong reacted faster than her and immediately thought of An Luo, the envoy, and Marilyn, who were being cared for at the State Guest House.
Si Xitong arranged for Marilyn to enter the palace.
Xie Lanzhi instinctively wanted to dodge, because this woman was far too enthusiastic. With Little Phoenix right in front of her, she dared not let Marilyn get any closer, otherwise she would be the one to suffer.
Soon the royal guards went to fetch Marilyn.
Marilyn was still shopping on the streets, hiring ten maids to carry her things. She was very interested in the trinkets of the Central Plains, but not in the new weapons or other crafts produced by the Ministry of Works. In Tianjing, Marilyn felt that there was no better country for eating, drinking, and having fun than the Central Plains, but she was also worried that the time in the Central Plains was relayed by manpower. If only the imperial palace had a sundial and a water clock.
But when they came to the countryside, they could only rely on the night watchman to strike the gong to mark the time.
It was really inconvenient, but in contrast, the roads in Tianjing were very well-maintained, which was much better than the dirt roads outside the castle in Anluo Kingdom.
Especially something like cement; Marilyn wanted to buy the formula to take to her motherland to build the roads there.
Marilyn waved the folding fan she had bought and urged someone to send it back to the State Guest House quickly.
When the guards saw that the young lady had returned, they hurried up to inform her: "Miss Marilyn, His Highness summons you to Jianzhang Palace."
"It seems Your Highness has finally finished your work." Marilyn was overjoyed. She gave the folding fan to the guard, then turned and asked for a carriage to take her to the palace. The guard, left behind, accepted the fan, blushing deeply. Anro's women were indeed open-minded.
Marilyn entered the palace without hindrance, her passionate and fiery personality causing every member of the royal guards to blush. As a result, she became one of the most controversial figures within the palace.
The palace maids thought Marilyn was immoral, constantly flirting with men. Others, however, admired her free-spirited and unconventional personality and lifestyle.
Most of the elite troops admired Marilyn, after all, her beautiful face and sexy figure were undeniable.
However, the people of the Central Plains always expressed their love in a very subtle way, and after a while, no one dared to pursue Marilyn.
This greatly upset Marilyn. When she traveled to the four Southeast Asian countries, she was highly admired and pursued by princes, and even their generals wanted to woo her.
Why is it that once she arrived in the Central Plains, not a single man from there made a move? Marilyn couldn't help but touch her face, doubting her own attractiveness.
Thinking of how she had been deceived in love by women, Marilyn gave up on having a romantic encounter in the Central Plains.
The people of the Central Plains left a certain shadow on her views on love. It's okay not to love, but don't deceive.
Marilyn entered Jianzhang Palace and knelt before the high-ranking princess in the main hall, saying, "Your Highness, what brings you here to see me?"