You have truly caused me great suffering!

As Chen Shao left the Funing Palace, he felt that wherever he went, people looked at him slightly differently.

He didn't seem to have any burdens and remained the same as before.

Deep down, he knew that he had been canonized again because of the Yellow River's return to clear.

Many people develop occupational diseases after being emperors for a long time, but Chen Shao did not.

Because he treated being emperor as a profession, rather than truly making himself a lonely figure.

He is in good health, has lovely children, a harmonious and happy love life, and gets along well with his subordinates, working together seamlessly.

Most importantly: Excellent performance

This year, the Yellow River withstood the spring floods, and so far no prefectures or counties have reported any disasters.

This news, once published in the Da Jing Daily, was nothing short of earth-shattering.

It was even more shocking than the destruction of the Jin dynasty.

Some enthusiasts even went so far as to walk the entire length of the Yellow River on their own.

Historically, after Wang Jing of the Eastern Han Dynasty successfully controlled the river, from then until the early Sui and Tang Dynasties, the north was frequently plagued by wars and the population decreased, allowing the forest vegetation to recover.
Soil erosion has been reduced, and the sediment content of the Yellow River has decreased.

Therefore, no large-scale diversions occurred during this period; small and medium-sized floods were extremely rare, and historical records are scarce.

His governance of the river was praised by later generations as "Wang Jing's river management ensured peace for a thousand years."

Then the Tang Dynasty arrived.

When the Tang Dynasty established its capital in Guanzhong, it also liked to build palaces. The key issue was that there were many wealthy and powerful gentry, and everyone wanted to cut down trees to build houses.

During the Tang Dynasty, large-scale land reclamation, palace construction, metallurgy, and brick firing all reached their peak.

Hangu Pass, the foremost of the "Four Fortresses of Guanzhong" during the Qin and Han Dynasties, is located between the Xiaoshan Mountains and the Yellow River. The ancient road was narrow, so narrow that "carts could not travel side by side, and horses could not ride abreast," making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

This very pass was destroyed because of logging during the Tang Dynasty, which exacerbated soil erosion, led to frequent landslides and mudslides, and caused the ancient road to collapse.

The once "deep and treacherous" canyon landscape was gradually filled in by silt, and the terrain was no longer precipitous.

One can imagine how much silt and sand was in the river.

During the late Tang and Five Dynasties period, and throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yellow River breached its banks more and more frequently, becoming an annual occurrence, and the breaches became increasingly severe.

Finally, five and a half years after the founding of the Great Jing Kingdom, this situation was brought under control.

Actually, this is a critical juncture. If it is not treated at this time, it will be very difficult to cure it completely later.

The riverbed has already reached the ground level, so how can we manage the river? Every time there's a heavy rain, the dikes will break.

When Chen Shao issued the ban on logging, it caused great controversy. Fortunately, his high prestige enabled it to be promoted.

At the time, people thought he was promoting coal and helping the coal yard increase sales.

Even now, very few people can connect these two things.

But that's not important. The reduced flooding of the Yellow River will save an astronomical amount of money every year.

If this situation continues, the Great Jing Dynasty will have an inherent advantage over other dynasties, having been freed from one shackle.

Unobstructed waterways allow the canal to function more effectively, facilitating north-south transportation and promoting the rapid recovery of the north, especially the war-torn Youyan region.

The financial, material, and human resources saved can support Chen Shao in doing many things.

After returning to the capital, the people from the palace were busy packing their belongings, as if this place were just a temporary stop. Everyone was about to head to the Summer Palace.

Chen Shao looked at them busily working and almost laughed.

In fact, my cousin Chen Guanglie put a lot of effort into building the palace back then; it was at least much better than the Bianjing Imperial City.

After all, Bianliang was just a military town during the Five Dynasties period, while Jinling was originally the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

There was a strange fragrance in the courtyard. Chen Shao glanced over and saw that the Imperial Garden was full of flowers and plants.

The palace maids who stayed behind took good care of the child, as this was one of the few pleasures they had.

Chen Shao went over and took a look. There were some crops brought back from the fleets that went down to Southeast Asia. He wondered if they could grow them.

Several palace maids were watering the plants, laughing and joking with each other. One of them suddenly looked up and saw Chen Shao, and hurriedly bowed.

Chen Shao nodded and asked, "Do you know how to plant it?"

"I know a little."

Chen Shao rubbed his hands together and laughed, "You have to know this, it's a skill that we Han people have to master."

"Look, watering like this won't work. You need to surround this area with soil first."

Chen Shao gave him a few pointers, and his mood immediately brightened.

Many people, once they reach a certain age or a certain state of mind, will automatically unlock their innate love for gardening.

Whether it's vegetables and fruits or flowers and plants, they can all find joy in themselves.

Chen Shao clapped his hands and led a group of eunuchs and palace maids to the Kunning Palace.

As soon as he arrived at the door, Chen Shao saw Qin'er, Li Shishi's personal maid, which surprised him.

The other concubines in the harem often came to Zhong Lingxi's place to gather, but Li Shishi rarely came to Zhong Lingxi's bedroom.

Once inside, I saw the two sitting together, discussing something.

Chen Shao walked over and naturally sat in the middle. Seeing some fruit on the plate on the table, he picked one up and ate it.

What are you talking about?

Zhong Lingxi smiled and said, "The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, and we need to set up talismans to ward off evil spirits in the palace."

Every Dragon Boat Festival, the palace would "set up food platters and display dozens of statues of the Heavenly Master and the Tiger Mountain, filled with five-colored cattail threads and herbal frost in three-tiered boxes."

The Empress and Imperial Noble Consort would each receive exquisite longevity threads, sachets, and mugwort tigers made by the Imperial Household Department, and then, at their discretion, bestow them upon other concubines and noblewomen.

They also set up a zongzi feast to invite the noble ladies and ladies of the court to eat zongzi.

Moreover, the wives and daughters of these officials, if talented, would present poems to the emperor, which were called "Empress's Pavilion Dragon Boat Festival Poems".

Li Qingzhao once wrote a poem praying for the prosperity of the Song Dynasty's imperial family and the longevity of its emperors:
The first signs of summer are in season, and the golden steeds have already passed the silkworm rearing stage.

May Your Majesty live ten thousand years, and may you have a hundred sons.

Chen Shao lost interest immediately upon hearing this; it was all women's business, including shooting rice dumplings. The rice dumplings (glutinous rice balls) were placed on a golden plate and shot at with small bows and arrows; those that hit the target could be eaten.

Because the dough balls are slippery and difficult to handle, they are very fun and everyone enjoys playing with them, and the trend of imitation continues to spread.

Zhong Lingxi was very playful and talked about it with great interest, even seeming a little impatient.

But ever since Chen Shao came in, Li Shishi's mind was no longer on this. She saw that Chen Shao seemed very happy and wondered if he had achieved some great political success.

She probably never imagined that Chen Shao was happy because he had planted some land.

Although Chen Shao wasn't particularly interested in the palace celebrations, they did provide him with some inspiration.

Now the Great Jing has become prosperous, and the seas are calm and the rivers are clear. There are many people in the world who are happy and at ease.

For festivals like the Dragon Boat Festival, we can hold some celebratory activities, such as dragon boat races.

Last summer, because of the extreme heat, I gave officials a "summer vacation," but they went out to celebrate, and many people died from the heat.

Rather than letting them hold out until then, it's better to start sooner rather than later.

This could be seen as an opportunity to adjust government affairs and demonstrate peace and prosperity. Although the term "whitewashing peace" is a very negative one in later generations, peace and prosperity do indeed need to be whitewashed.

At least let everyone know.

A palace maid from Kunning Palace brought up two bowls of brown sugar porridge. Zhong Lingxi smiled with her eyes narrowed and said, "Sister Lin said I need to drink this to nourish my blood and improve circulation. You should try it today too."

Chen Shao took Li Shishi's spoon, tasted it, and found it really did taste like brown sugar.

Brown sugar is an important export commodity of Dajing, sold to the South and the Abbasid Caliphate, and its profitability is second only to star products such as silk and porcelain.

However, in the sugar-making project, the tribes on the Indian subcontinent were far ahead of the rest of the world.

Thinking of this, Chen Shao gritted his teeth. He was truly upset that his third brother had made the money.

However, he had no other choice in the short term, as the only way to get there was by sea.

The Southern Wilderness itself hasn't even finished fighting yet.

Even if the Southern Wilderness is conquered, it will be very difficult to extend our reach directly to the Indian subcontinent in South Asia.

Instead of scheming about when to take down the Third Brother, it would be better to have the Sinong Temple improve its sugar-making techniques.

Zhong Lingxi glared at her and said, "Isn't it sweet? I really like it, why are you frowning while drinking it?"

Chen Shao scratched his brow and said, "I remembered something, it has nothing to do with the porridge. This porridge is quite good, you should drink more."

Li Shishi smiled, picked up the spoon Chen Shao had put down, stirred it gently, and took small sips of the drink.

Thinking that Chen Shao had just used it, and that it was in front of the Empress, it seemed a bit inappropriate. Shishi took a few sips, and she noticed that Chen Shao was looking at her. Perhaps it was because of what she was thinking, she felt a little embarrassed, and she unconsciously became more careful in her movements, appearing more reserved, occasionally glancing at Zhong Lingxi as if she didn't care.

Seeing that she didn't seem to care much and was focused on drinking her porridge, Li Shishi finally felt relieved.

She didn't want to have a falling out with the Empress.

She was happy as long as the Empress didn't suppress her; she didn't want to compete for power in the harem at all.

All that arguing and fighting will only cause trouble for your young master in the end.

She just hoped that these days could last a little longer.
-
The Dragon Boat Festival has arrived as scheduled.

While the women were celebrating in the inner palace, Chen Shao was having a private meeting with a group of his confidants in the Funing Palace.

Because there weren't many people, and the air outside was fresh and the morning temperature was just right, Chen Shao suggested that everyone discuss things in the courtyard.

The atmosphere in the courtyard was not good.

These people got into an argument while discussing military and political affairs, and couldn't reach a conclusion.

This is quite rare in Chen Shao's team.

But it is actually unavoidable.

Everyone has their own ideas, and there is no standard answer to governing a country.

These people cannot argue in the court; they must reach a consensus in private meetings before their ideas can be discussed and implemented in the court.

Otherwise, it would be difficult for everyone to respect and obey the government's decrees.

Because the ideas of you high-ranking officials are not aligned, many people will wonder if this policy is correct.

Once the imperial court issues a decree, those below must carry it out properly. If too many officials have this kind of thinking, government affairs will be delayed or even impossible to implement.

Actually, their argument was still about where to spend the money.

Although Liu Jizu was from Hedong, he advocated that the current focus of the court should be placed on the southern wilderness.

The Southern Wilderness has a huge impact on maritime trade. If the Southern Wilderness is managed well, the treasury of the Great Jing Kingdom will be even more abundant in the future.

Yuwen Xuzhong, however, advocated focusing the attention on the north.

Having just pacified the desert, there is an urgent need to strengthen our rule and completely resolve the border troubles in the north to prevent a recurrence of the northern barbarian problem that has plagued previous dynasties.

The imperial court has been sending officials out in a frenzy lately, and the Ministry of Personnel's reserve quota is simply not enough. Several people that Yuwen Xuzhong had his eye on have been sent to the Southern Wilderness, which has greatly angered him.

Liu Jizu, however, believed that as long as the imperial court had money, the north would be stable.

Yuwen Xuzhong insisted that the north could also generate a lot of revenue for the national treasury.

The morning sun shone on the trees in the courtyard of Funing Palace, casting long shadows, and the sky was very clear.

Chen Shao listened to their argument without saying a word.

After everyone had been debating for a long time, Zhang Run suddenly realized that His Majesty had not spoken.

Gradually, seeing that neither side could gain the upper hand, both sides turned their attention to Chen Shao, just like Zhang Run.

Chen Shao pondered for a moment and said, "I understand. In the end, it's still a matter of not having enough talented people."

The national treasury has enough money now, so we can develop both the north and the south together. Anyway, neither of these is a losing proposition.

However, the reserves of officials and clerks are severely insufficient.

In fact, the Great Jing Dynasty expanded its territory too much and exiled hundreds of thousands of former dynasty gentry and officials.

Fortunately, the Song Dynasty had a large number of redundant officials, which allowed them to barely manage to cope.

Historically, the Jingkang Incident devastated the north, especially Bianliang (Kaifeng), and many officials were taken to the Jin Dynasty along with the "Two Emperors".

But the Southern Song Dynasty still managed to establish a firm foothold.

why?
One reason for this was that the Song Dynasty's chronic problem of redundant officials turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it had a large pool of officials and could quickly build up its system.

But now, even with the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty, there aren't enough officials.

This doesn't even include the conversion of native chieftains to centrally appointed officials in Yunnan, Guizhou, and other places, which will also require a large number of people in the future.

"In the next three to five years, there will be a major test every year!"

Chen Shao suddenly spoke up.

"Our Great Jing territory has expanded considerably. This year, I plan to set up more examination centers and select officials to preside over the imperial examinations in various regions. This will allow students to be selected and appointed locally without having to travel to the capital."

With such a vast territory, people flocked to Nanjing in droves, and some people spent a year just traveling there.

Many people may have died on the way, having endured hardships and sleeping outdoors throughout the year.

Yuwen Xuzhong frowned slightly and asked, "Your Majesty, is this a temporary measure or a long-term plan?"

"Of course, it's just a stopgap measure."

Yuwen Xuzhong nodded slightly, "Then I second that suggestion."

Others also agreed, saying that the court was really short of people, and it would be good to open a channel to recruit more officials.

In most dynasties, this would have been the time to start selling official positions and titles, which would have generated a large amount of revenue.

Historically, those who sold official positions worried about not having a place to be placed, but the Great Jing Dynasty has too many official positions, the only problem is that you might not want to go.

Chen Shao added, “Those who have served in frontier areas such as the Southern Wilderness, the Great Desert, and Liaodong should be given priority for promotion as an incentive.”

Who wouldn't want to be an official in a place like Jinling?

When officials were sent to other places, they would write poems of exile to express their frustration.

Therefore, Chen Shao wanted to reward those who were willing to take up positions in remote areas.

If they can achieve good results, they should be promoted even more swiftly; these are all potential capable officials. (End of Chapter)