Good guy!

Was the Song Dynasty rich?

Rich!

Extremely rich!

Was the Song Dynasty poor?

Poor!

So poor!

Wealth refers to the wealth of officials and nobles.

Poverty refers to the poverty of the court and the people.

When people in the 21st century mention the Song Dynasty, they say that the Song Dynasty had developed commerce, but Zhao Ning looked at these fiscal and tax expenditures and realized that no matter how developed the commerce was, this method of spending money could not stand up to it!

What the hell, officials have high salaries.

The annual expenses for officials are too high!

Moreover, the annual military expenditure can no longer be described as flowing water, but as a waterfall!

No wonder that in the late Northern Song Dynasty, Cai Jing wanted to play the game of minting large coins and rolling wool because the expenses were too terrible.

Behind the prosperity, the country's financial crisis has become increasingly serious.

With so much military spending, why is the military still so weak?

It seems that the officials of the Song Dynasty were not polite about drinking the blood of soldiers!

So the question is, how much money do you have left now?

There are still 500,000 guan (consistently equal to about one tael, and based on the grain prices in the Song Dynasty, it is always equal to about 500 yuan).

This figure cannot even cover the salaries of officials, let alone military expenditures.

In other words, the mess that Zhao Ning has taken over now is not only caused by foreign enemies approaching the city, but also the court's accounts are in deficit.

In fact, the fiscal deficit in the late Northern Song Dynasty was always in deficit. There were many reasons for this, which are discussed later.

No money, no fight!

The Song Dynasty had a two-tax law, that is, two taxes in summer and autumn. This year’s autumn tax has not yet been collected.

Another part of the imperial court's income came from prohibition revenue.

The so-called prohibited income is the income of state-owned monopolies.

However, due to the war and the siege of Tokyo City, these are basically in a semi-paralyzed state.

Zhao Ning suddenly felt like a mountain was suddenly pressing down.

The situation he faced was definitely not just as simple as a powerful foreign enemy.

The internal worries are even worse!

The Song Dynasty used heavy taxes from the common people across the country to support the bureaucrats and powerful classes.

And because it faces military threats from several parties, military expenditures increase every year.

Zhao Ning is still not sure how much of the huge military expenditure has been embezzled.

He quickly flipped through the fish scale album again. Although the fish scale album was incomplete, Zhao Ning instantly had the urge to turn the table over after looking at it.

His previous career was dealing with money, and he was extremely sensitive to data and money.

Judging from the limited information in the Fish Scale Book, the current land annexation has reached an outrageous level!

According to some historical records, the state of land annexation in the late Northern Song Dynasty was that the aristocracy controlled more than 80% of the land, and the aristocracy had some tax-free privileges.

Coupled with the policy of not inhibiting land annexation adopted by the Northern Song Dynasty, the powerful were still frantically annexing land.

The intertwined interest groups involved may not be clear for a while.

Half an hour later, Gao Qiu stumbled outside the Wende Hall.

Gao Qiu was shivering at this time, not from cold, but from fear.

Why did the emperor suddenly summon him?

I had already resigned from my job and retired to embrace my sister, and I no longer participated in the struggles in the court. Why did it suddenly come to haunt me?

Along the way, he stuffed Wang Huaiji with a bulging money bag and asked Wang Huaiji in a low voice: "Wang Zhongguan, what's the official news for me?"

"Senior official, I don't know. The official suddenly said he wants to see you."

Gao Qiu felt uneasy, but he didn't ask any more questions. After arriving, he stood outside honestly.

Wang Huaiji walked in and said cautiously: "The official family, Gao Qiu is listening to the announcement outside."

Zhao Ning didn't speak. Wang Huaiji thought he hadn't heard anything and repeated: "Guan family, Gao Qiu is outside listening to the announcement."

"knew."

Zhao Ning continued to flip through the financial and tax expenditures, becoming more and more angry as he read.

This old Zhao family is really used to living in peace and spending money indiscriminately!

For example, it is recorded here that Tong Guan bought an empty city with 1 million yuan!

How much is 1 million pounds?

In the Song Dynasty, especially during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, the court randomly minted coins, commonly known as blindly turning on the printing press. One million coins was equivalent to about 500 million yuan.

An ordinary person in Tokyo earns 20 fen a day, and 1 million guan is equal to 1 billion fen. This ordinary person can live without eating or drinking for 50 million days, or 140,000 years.

This incident happened in the seventh year of Xuanhe, that is, three years ago. At that time, Song and Jin were still allies and they destroyed the Liao Kingdom together.

Tong Guan led an army of 200,000 to attack Youzhou, but was pinned to the ground by thousands of Liao troops and rubbed back and forth a hundred times. Later, Youzhou was captured by the Jin people.

Tong Guan, an old clever guy, discussed with Song Huizong: The officials and ministers have a clever idea. Let’s buy Youzhou Mansion directly without using 1 million yuan!

That's the thing. After the 1 million yuan is spent, it must be found somewhere to get it back. So while Zhao Ji was drawing and writing, he said to Cai Jing: Lao Cai, I have no money, what should I do?

Cai Jing waved his hand: Officials, let’s continue printing money!

Zhao Ning continued to watch patiently, and by the time he had finished reading, half an hour had passed.

He took a deep breath.

Of course, the mess in the Song Dynasty was definitely not caused by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. Many of the policies at the founding of the country were problematic. Over a hundred years of accumulation, the country was riddled with holes.

What was left to Zhao Ning was a great Song Dynasty that was rich on the outside but in ruins on the inside.

Forget it, let's digest these things slowly, and first stabilize the situation at hand.

Everything has to be done step by step.

Seeing that the emperor had finished reading, Wang Huaiji reminded him in a low voice: "Guan family, Gao Qiu is outside..."

"I understand."

After a while, Zhao Ning said: "Let him come in."

"yes!"

Wang Huaiji hurriedly went out. At this time, Gao Qiu was shivering in the snow.

A man in his fifties was as cold as a grandson in the ice and snow.

"Senior official, come in quickly, the official family is waiting for you!"

Gao Qiu quickly took steps forward, but was so stiff from the cold that he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Wang Huaiji supported him.

"Senior official, please slow down."

"I'm getting old."

Gao Qiu hurriedly entered the Hall of Wende.

The Wende Hall was fully heated, and Gao Qiu felt comfortable as soon as he entered.

"I see the official's house, Holy Ann."

Although Gao Qiu no longer has a specific position, his official position is still retained. This is a characteristic of the Song Dynasty. Official positions and positions are separated.

So he calls himself a minister.

Zhao Ning held the book in her hand and glanced at Gao Qiu.

Gao Qiu had a slightly chubby face, thin skin and tender flesh, and looked harmless to humans and animals. His mustache was wet with ice and snow, and his body was shaking uncontrollably.

Zhao Ning said lightly: "You are here."

"I wonder why the officials summoned me?"

"It's nothing. It's just that someone reported you and had some evil intentions. Is this the case?" Zhao Ning continued to read the book with a nonchalant tone.

Gao Qiu suddenly raised his head and looked at the emperor in confusion.

What's going on? I, Gao Qiu, am up to no good?
To be continued...