The headquarters of the General Administration of Jinghu Road of the Southern Song Dynasty was Jiangxia County, Ezhou. This place was later located in Wuchang District, Wuhan City. It was located on the bank of the Yangtze River and was directly opposite the mouth of the Han River. Now the dividing line between the north and south Song dynasties on Jinghu Road is the surging Yangtze River flowing eastward!

In other words, the entire Han River basin opposite Jiangxia County is the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Han River is also an economic lifeline of the Northern Song Dynasty!

Not only should the grain in the Jinghu area be transported north through the Han River, but even the rice, silk, iron, salt and other materials produced in Sichuan have to be transported north through the "Shujiang, Jingjiang, Han River". Jiangxia happens to be located at the hub of the Northern Song Dynasty's economic lifeline.

In other words, as long as Zhao Huan had enough courage, he could order the navy deployed in Jiangxia to cut off the economic lifeline of the Northern Song Dynasty. However, Zhao Huan was naturally timid and did not dare to do that.

Besides, Zhao Kai's Northern Song Dynasty actually did not rely too much on commodity economy to provide military expenditure. If the target was Zhao Huan's Southern Song Dynasty, the feudal landlords of the entire Northern Song Dynasty were willing to not have military pay and bring their own military rations.

Therefore, although the military equipment here in Jiangxia has been increasing, the war has never broken out.

While the war did not break out, Jiangxia's economy showed explosive growth!

This city, located on the thoroughfare of nine provinces in later generations, developed into a trade center between the two Song dynasties in just seven or eight years due to the lifeline of the "Shu River, Jing River, Han River" and the trade between the north and the south.

Moreover, Jiangxia also became the third largest commercial center city in the Southern Song Dynasty after Jinling and Yangzhou, and its prosperity even surpassed that of international trade centers such as Quanzhou, Guangzhou and Mingzhou!

The reason for this situation is mainly because Zhao Kai's policy of "Shiboding Northern Army" was somehow used by the unscrupulous merchants in the Southern Song Dynasty and Sichuan.

The thing is probably like this because the cost of transportation in Chuanjiang River is actually very high. There is no problem using it to transport silk, iron and salt, but it is a loss when transporting grain.

The Sichuan Road Transportation Department has heavy rice transportation tasks every year. These transportation tasks are not distributed through corvee labor, but are contracted to the gang merchants by using the employment service law.

Any businessman is not traitorous, and of course the traitor is also traitorous!

Since he was a profiteer, of course he would not be foolish in transporting rice out of Sichuan. At that time, Sichuan's industry and commerce were relatively developed, with a dense population, and there was actually not a lot of arable land, so the price of grain was not cheap. If you really wanted to transport grain out of Sichuan, you would have to lose money.

So the group of profiteers simply sold the Gang grain in Sichuan and replaced it with pig iron, using the Gang merchant’s duty-free quota and customs clearance convenience (Sichuan Caoshu will not give Gang merchant freight, but will use the quota for tax-free transport of other goods to offset the freight), transport the pig iron to Jiangxia for a high price, and then buy cheaper grain from Jiangxia to transport it to Xiangyang.

At that time, Jiangxia was close to the main copper-producing areas of the Song Dynasty, so the iron prices were high. The miners of the Song Dynasty had mastered the method of immersing copper in the gallbladder water and the method of smearing copper in the gallbladder soil, that is, the technique of replacing copper from copper salt with iron.

This method requires about two kilograms of iron to be consumed for every kilogram of copper produced!

Although there are many copper ores in the Southern Song Dynasty, there are not many iron ores. The pig iron output is not high. Of course, it is enough to deal with military needs, but there is no way to open up copper smelting. Fortunately, Zhao Kai did not expect to impose an iron ban on the Southern Song Dynasty, so the unscrupulous merchants who opened copper ores in the Southern Song Dynasty bought iron at high prices from the unscrupulous merchants in the Northern Song Dynasty and then pulled them back to refine copper.

The prodigal merchants in Sichuan used the money they got from selling iron to buy rice to Xiangyang, and bought donkeys and sheep in Xiangyang to sell them to Jiangxia (the price of livestock in the Southern Song Dynasty was also expensive), and then made another profit. Finally, they purchased some items shipped from Jiangnan or overseas to take them back to Sichuan for sale.

After a while, it’s hard not to get rich!

After becoming rich, Sichuan businessmen bought property and settled their homes in Jiangxia City, and also invested the money they earned in Jiangxia!

That's right, these profiteers did not invest in Sichuan, nor did they go to the Northern Song Dynasty Hanyang Market on the other side of Jiangxia. Instead, they chose Jiangxia in the Southern Song Dynasty to invest. As for the reason, of course, Zhao Kai's bad deeds in confiscation of the land of the scholar-officials was too scary. It would be good to be able to stay away from him.

The merchants on Jinghu Road in the Northern Song Dynasty, of course, like the merchants in Sichuan, prefer to settle their homes in Jiangxia.

Due to the large number of wealthy people on the North Road of Jinghu, Jiangxia County had to undergo a large-scale expansion three years ago. Now Jiangxia County only occupies a lot of land than Jinling Old Town (formerly the capital of Southern Tang).

The market in the city is even more prosperous, with houses already full of buildings. In the streets and alleys, shops are lined up, and the bustling of pedestrians are all over the place.

On the long Jiangxiaguan Wharf outside the city, there are even more ships connected by the meter. Standing on Hanyang on the other side of the Yangtze River and looking at Jiangxia, you will know that Jiangxia is rich.

But what Zhao Zhi, the King of the Song Dynasty who was standing beside the Hanyang Wharf, was seen now was not just the wealth of Jiangxia, but also the strength of the Southern Song navy and the strength of Jiangxia city defense!

On the other side of the Yangtze River, to the south of Jiangxiaguan Wharf is a city wall that is sixteen miles long. The city wall is not tall, but many artillery guns are set up on it. Since this city wall is more than two miles away from the north bank of the Yangtze River, it is difficult for the cannons placed in Jiangbei to hit Jiangxiaguan Long Wall.

The cannons mounted on the long wall can basically block the Yangtze River and Han River estuaries.

In addition to these artillery, on the east side of Jiangxiaguan Wharf, there is a military port with dozens of mud-painted wooden boats connected together to create a water village. The water village is full of warships of all sizes!

Among them are more than ten turtle shell gunships. The iron armor of the warships is polished and reflects the sunlight and emits a terrifying light, as if warning the opponents of Jiangbei, although we are very rich in the Southern Song Dynasty, we are not weak and we are super fierce!

"Twelfth brother, don't look at Jiangxiaguan as solid as a soup, the third brother's navy can't be defeated!"

The person who spoke was King Jing Zhao Qi, Zhao Ji's sixth son, and Zhao Zhi's sixth brother.

Zhao Zhi smiled and replied: "Yangjiang is so old, can the eldest brother still set up defenses everywhere? Although the third brother's navy is weak, his Lu Master is not weak!"

King Jing Zhao Qi smiled and said, "Brother Lu is not weak either. Don't think that is the imperial guard before the Xuanhe crisis!"

"Is that true?" Zhao Zhi smiled, "Aren't it just some iron armored infantry riding vegetables and horses and throwing fried pots?"

King Jing Zhao Qi shook his head and said, "The cavalry of the Southern Army is indeed relatively weak, but the infantry of the Southern Army is not weak. Now the infantry of the Southern Army is all young and strong hired with enough food and salary. And they cannot always be in the army. They can join the army at the age of 17, and if they cannot become military officers at the age of 35, they must be discharged. Therefore, there are no elderly or weak in the army, and they are all young and strong."

Being a soldier is a laborious job, and it is difficult to maintain the state when you get older. Moreover, most older soldiers have to take care of their families and can often spend less time in training, making it even more difficult to maintain the state.

Therefore, it is best to be younger in recruiting soldiers, and to do this, you have to spend more money!

The soldiers must make enough money to buy a piece of land and live and work in peace between the age of 1735.

Zhao Qi said again: "I'll tell you another secret. The Southern Army already has the gunpowder of yours!"

"Is that true?" Zhao Zhi was shocked when he heard this.

The secret of granular gunpowder was kept very dead, and he didn't know how to make it!

King Jing whispered: "The Lu army of the Southern Dynasty was often sieged by the Annan people in Pingnan Port in Chameng. Some gunpowder that was prepared and put into wooden barrels was soaked by the rain because of negligence and turned into flame mud. After being dried, it became pieces of pieces. After being crushed, it was almost the same as your gunpowder.

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In addition, the Jin thief sent someone to Tonghao not long ago, and taught a method of building a bald fort and a very light camel tube that should not underestimate the enemy!"

Zhao Zhi was a little unbelievable and looked back at Zhao Qi, "Sixth Brother, why do you want to tell me these things? Do you want to?"

Zhao Qi sighed and said, "Twelfth brother, when my father died for his country, I was also by his side! He really wanted to pass the throne to the third brother!"

This misunderstanding really made Zhao Huan suffer!

Zhao Zhi hurriedly asked, "Does the elder brother know about this?"

Zhao Qi nodded, "Brother and sister-in-law already know."

"Then what they mean"

"My sister-in-law wants to return the throne of Jinling to the third brother after he is long alive. But the eldest brother hopes that King Jinling can ascend the throne and let the third brother be the emperor's uncle."

Zhao Zhi shook his head repeatedly and sighed: "It's still my sister-in-law who understands the truth!"

The elder brother is the same. How can I let the third brother be the emperor’s uncle? The third brother has 600,000 soldiers in his hand, and they are screaming to attack the Southeast! If there is really a great uncle, the third brother will not be able to stop them."

"Twelfth Brother," Zhao Qi heard something and asked, "What do you mean is that the third brother doesn't want to fight?"

"He doesn't want to fight in the Southeast!" Zhao Zhi whispered, "Shandong has been greatly damaged now. There is no need to go to the Southeast like Shandong. It is the best to take it without a fight! However, the soldiers and generals below are jealous of the wealth of the Southeast and want to rob them clean!"

Zhao Qi put his hands in his arms, as if he was a little anxious, "In the southeast, the official family wants to pass on the King of Jinling, and the royal family and our royal sister-in-law want to return the position to the third brother. But the real headache is the officials who have the power of land and military power below!"

"Who do they support?" Zhao Zhi asked.

Zhao Qi snorted: "Of course it's King Jinling! Only when the King of Jinling ascended the throne can they have hope of maintaining their power. Even if the King of Jinling is defeated in the future, they can surrender to the third brother and the King of Jinling again. It's really hateful!"

Zhao Zhi waved his hand and said, "It's not that the third brother would not harm the eldest sister-in-law, nor would he harm the King of Jinling. By the way, the sixth brother, how is the eldest brother's health now? When will he die?"
Chapter completed!