Chapter 146

At the age of twenty-seven, during a court meeting, a eunuch reported that Liu Jun, the governor of Songzhou and Marquis of Changning, had returned to the capital to report on his work and was waiting outside the hall.

　　Emperor Yang Shao, who was about to leave the court, was immediately interested when he heard about Pang Jun's return. He said, "Announce him."

　　Pang Jun entered the hall, kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live the emperor."

　　"Hahahaha, Liu Jun, I have been waiting for you for a long time, because you always bring me surprises. Tell me, what have you been like in Songzhou this year, so that the ministers in the court can discuss it."

　　"I obey your order," Pang Jun said after calming down. "When it comes to governing Songzhou, my first priority is to enforce orders, because the first condition for doing things is to implement your ideas. If no one listens, no matter how good the ideas are, they will be useless."

　　"So Marquis Changning is going to kill Zu Chengshou's entire family?!" one of the ministers suddenly asked.

　　Before Pang Jun could speak, Yang Shao said, "Guo Qing's investigation has already reached a conclusion on the case of Zu Chengshou. Now someone is still bringing it up. Are they planning to overturn the verdict on that traitor?" The emperor had made his final judgment, and the minister in the hall who wanted to make trouble was silent.

　　Pang Jun ignored everything else and continued, "After the order was carried out, I did a few things. The first thing was to open up wasteland and build official farms. Official farms are similar to military farms, but the ones who do the farming are not the army, but the government. The farmers hired are only given a certain amount of food and more money. Because Songzhou is sparsely populated, those who work there do not live there for a long time, so they can only be hired with money. This has another benefit, that is, the government will have more food, which is beneficial to places like Songzhou that are short of food."

　　Yang Shao nodded and said, "Yes, but I remember that there are often cavalrymen from the Northern Hu coming to plunder Songzhou. If you cultivate wasteland like this, once the Northern Hu people come to plunder the grass and valleys, won't it be easy to get nothing?"

　　"So the second thing I did was to strengthen the training of the army and request Your Majesty to expand the cavalry. Because the most effective way to deal with cavalry is to use cavalry against cavalry. Songzhou is located in a remote place. Even if the northern Hu people come to raid the valley, they are some small tribes with a small number of people. In the past, there were only about one thousand cavalry. We only need to expand the cavalry team slightly and invite outstanding knights to come and teach. It will be enough to deal with those villains. The cavalry unit can also use this to train and enhance its combat effectiveness." Pang Jun replied.

　　"Okay, that's good, but two thousand cavalrymen, although there is funding from the court, is still a considerable burden for Songzhou, right? What's more, the existence of official farms means more money needs to be spent. How do you solve this problem?" Yang Shao asked.

　　"Your Majesty, this is my third task. I want to find money. Songzhou is rich in furs and medicinal herbs, but lacks tea and silk, which complement the specialties of Jiangnan. Therefore, I have opened a trading place in Songzhou for the collection, distribution, purchase and sale of goods between the two places. This can not only reduce the confusion and vicious competition caused by the seller during the transaction, prevent the buyer from suppressing the price, but also reduce the time spent by the buyer when purchasing due to the scattered goods, saving a lot of costs."

　　Pang Jun then continued to introduce: "Merchants save costs and increase profits, so they will be more willing to come to Songzhou to do business. The taxes they pay will also increase, which will be used to build Songzhou's city defense and army, and in turn protect the official villages and merchants. One thing leads to another."

　　Yang Shao was attracted by Pang Jun's introduction and kept asking, "Okay, but according to what you said to Guo Chonghou before, this method can only be implemented in Songzhou, right? Why can't it be promoted in other places?"

　　"Your Majesty, Songzhou was able to do this mainly because of the following reasons. First, Your Majesty completely trusts me. Your Majesty trusts me and allows me to do whatever I want. Second, Songzhou is located in a remote area and most of the people are poor. In order to survive, they are willing to try various methods and will not encounter too many obstacles. The government orders can be implemented quickly. Third, Songzhou itself is rich in products and the soil is fertile, but it lacks the people to develop it. I use money to lure more people to develop it and stimulate the original potential. That's all."

　　Seeing that the emperor and the officials in the court were all thoughtful, Pang Jun continued, "The conditions in other places are not the same as those in Songzhou, so of course this method cannot be implemented. Moreover, I am just a governor, but I am practicing a teaching and management method that is different from the laws of the Jin Dynasty. If it is not for your majesty's trust, to put it seriously, I am changing my ways and losing the foundation of the country."

　　Everyone in the court is a shrewd person, especially those who are preparing to attack Pang Jun. They are waiting for Pang Jun to finish explaining his policies and then attack him in the name of "changing one's ways and damaging the foundation of the country." However, Pang Jun said this in advance. Pang Jun said this to tell them that he has already anticipated what kind of attack the next person will make on him, so they should not waste their efforts on this place.

　　The reason why Pang Jun managed Songzhou well was attributed to Yang Shao's contribution, which made the emperor very happy. Now Pang Jun accused himself of "losing the foundation of the country", which made Yang Shao prepared. He did this entirely for Songzhou. Under such circumstances, Yang Shao would certainly not be dissatisfied with him, so he waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. You are not even twenty years old, so I sent you to Songzhou, a barren land, to govern it. It's hard for you. However, you can benefit the people there and make remarkable achievements. It is enough to make me feel sincerely happy. I didn't misjudge you, hahahaha." Seeing that the emperor was so happy, those who wanted to make trouble held back their mouths for fear of bad luck.

　　"Serve the people and benefit the people. This is what I should do as the governor of Songzhou. As for whether my approach is correct, it depends on Your Majesty and the officials in the court to decide. As for whether Songzhou will continue with the previous approach next year, it will also be decided by Your Majesty and the officials." Pang Jun boldly threw the hot potato of making a decision to the court. I believe that there will be some debate in the court in the next few days.

　　When describing the above-mentioned policy guidelines, Pang Jun intentionally concealed or misled several key details. For example, among the two thousand cavalry, there were five hundred heavy cavalry, and the money spent here was more than twice that of light cavalry. Another example was that most of the merchants who came to Songzhou to do business came from Jiangnan, but he did not make it clear that they went by sea, because he also had to explain the problem of pirates when merchants went by sea. He deliberately did not elaborate on these matters to prevent them from being dug up by interested people and causing trouble for himself.

　　After asking about the policy, Yang Shao started to ask about the battle in Snow Wolf Valley: "I heard from Zhang Fu that you single-handedly led away hundreds of elite Japanese soldiers and even fought with their leader in person. Are those hundreds of Japanese soldiers so powerful that they can change the situation of the battle?"

　　Pang Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the Japanese 'Martial God Camp' is similar to the Divine Clothes Guards of the Great Jin Dynasty, except that the 'Martial God Camp' focuses more on battlefield fighting, while the Divine Clothes Guards are more comprehensive, covering combat, intelligence, and strategy. Their leader is the number one martial artist in Japan, a disciple of Musashi Gorin, who ranks second. It is said that his personal martial arts can rank sixth in Japan. Compared with him, I am still at a disadvantage and can only contain him, not fight him. Your Majesty, if hundreds or even thousands of elites from the Divine Clothes Guards combat camp were deployed in a battlefield with only tens of thousands of people and occupying the terrain advantage, what a great help it would be. What I did was just to act as a bait and lead them into an ambush. I planned it intentionally, but even so, I suffered heavy losses."

　　"Well, thanks to your strategy, my dear minister, these hateful Japanese people suffered heavy losses. It was not easy. So what were your specific considerations when you and Governor-General Fei Lin reported to me before? Tell me."

　　"I obey your order. It is like this. Songzhou and even the entire Liaodong, as well as the northern part of Chaoguo, can be said to be a treasure land that has not yet been explored. It is rich in natural resources, but due to the extreme cold, no one has been willing to develop that place for many years. However, the people of Dongying are different. It is said that Dongying has many mountains and little land. The population of Dongying is large. If they get a large piece of fertile land, it will not only greatly relieve their pressure, but also promote their desire for external conquest. If Chaoguo is destroyed, there will be an endless sea to the east of Dongying, a freezing cold land to the north, and small islands to the south. There will be no other disasters. What will happen to the adjacent Jin Dynasty? I believe everyone knows it clearly, so I think Chaoguo must be preserved."

　　Yang Shao's face changed slightly. He also knew what the demise of the Chao Kingdom would bring. However, his usual perception made him think that Liaodong was a barren land, a piece of stone field. Even if the Japanese took it, they couldn't do anything with it. Who would have thought that according to what Pang Jun said, this was actually a fertile land. He asked Pang Jun: "According to you, we must drive the Japanese back to their island?"

　　Pang Jun nodded: "I'm afraid so, but the Japanese are determined to win or die this time. They have put all their efforts into defending the land they have already obtained. It will not be easy to drive them back. This war may last for a long time."

　　When Pang Jun said this, not only Emperor Yang Shao, but also the ministers present all changed their expressions. The court was most afraid that the war would drag on too long, wasting a lot of time, energy, and money, which would not be worth the cost. However, if this war was not fought, there would be endless troubles.

　　"Marquis Changning, what's the good plan?" The person asking the question was King Yang Sheng of Zhao. He guessed that Pang Jun already had a plan in mind, so he deliberately stepped forward and asked.

　　"To reply to Your Highness Prince Zhao, my method is too slow in effect, and it only treats the root cause, not the symptoms. In four words, relocate the people to the border. The Battle of Liaodong cost a lot, and one of the reasons is the cost of transporting money and grain. If we relocate the people to the border and increase the development of Liaodong, the land fertility of Liaodong will be stimulated and they will bear part of the money and grain. Of course, how much to bear will need to be judged by the officials of the court, Your Majesty, and Lord Fei, but this will indeed greatly increase the maintenance of the war. The money and grain of the Japanese are not hung by the wind. One day they will run out of money and food, and at that time they can only retreat without a fight or even surrender." Pang Jun spoke freely in front of the ministers of the court.

　　Yang Shao nodded solemnly and said, "This matter must be discussed carefully. The three ministers, the six ministers, the Prince of Wei, the Crown Prince, the Prince of Zhao, the Prince of Qi, and the Prince of Song will stay. The rest of you will leave the court."

　　"Long live the emperor."

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　　Shen Luohua: 52 years old, the new leader of Emei Sect, a coquettish and lascivious mature woman. In order to curry favor with Qi family in Xichuan, she took the initiative to assassinate Pang Jun, but was captured and raped by Pang Jun. She was forced by Pang Jun to become Pang Jun's source of intelligence in Xichuan.