In late April of the seventh year of Xuanhe in the Eastern Song Dynasty, the Southeast Union Alliance Conference was officially held in Jiangning Prefecture. Compared with a few months ago, the foundation of the Eastern Song Dynasty was expanded, and it was no longer the Union of the Thirteen Prefectures, but the Alliance of the Eighteen Prefectures.

The eighteen prefectures are Jiangning Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture, Jiangzhou, Changzhou, Runzhou, Suzhou, Xiuzhou, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Yuezhou, Mingzhou, Yangzhou, Chuzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Leizhou, and Xingzhou.

There are three main reasons for the increase in the Union Prefecture Prefecture. One is Tong Guan, who returned to the south, and the officers and soldiers of Wang Bing's troops were placed in Chuzhou on the south bank of the Huai River, becoming military citizens similar to the New Zhou Dynasty, giving Chuzhou the conditions to become Hezhong Prefecture.

Second, the smelting owners of Li Guojian finally chose to take root in Taipingzhou, which is rich in mineral resources. At the same time, the porcelain kiln owners who moved out of the area near Xuzhou chose to establish their market in Jingdezhen, Jiangzhou. Therefore, Taipingzhou and Jiangzhou also became Hezhongzhou.

Third, Xingzhou, located in Nanyang, also sent representatives to participate in the Hezhong Alliance. Xingzhou has always been a large base for the Southern Maritime Merchants, so it is natural to join the Hezhong Alliance. It is just that because the distance is too far, it has not caught up with the Hezhong Alliance last year. However, by this year, their delegation has arrived, so of course they have to participate in the Hezhong Alliance.

However, the actual control area of ​​the Eastern Song Dynasty was not only these eighteen prefectures. In fact, south of the Huai River, east of Jinghu, and the entire Guangnan East Road were basically under the control of military forces loyal to Zhao Kai.

However, there are only eighteen prefectures that can have strong industrial and commercial or civil forces that can be self-governed and qualified to participate in the founding of the National Alliance of the Eastern Song Dynasty.

The remaining prefectures and prefectures basically only passively accepted the rule of the Eastern Song Dynasty, and there was no question of participating in the alliance.

In addition, these eighteen Hezhong Prefectures were also places with strong power in the Eastern Song Dynasty. The first round of Qingtian in the Eastern Song Dynasty, which began at the end of the sixth year of Xuanhe, was also concentrated on the territory of the seventeen prefectures among the eighteen Hezhong Prefectures.

In this round, the Qingtian movements in the Eastern Song Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, the Western Song Dynasty, and the Jingchu Dynasty were also different.

First of all, the strength cannot be compared with them, and it is recognized that the Baiqi is legal, as long as there is Baiqi and the initial Tianqi, the Hezhong Government's Tianqi can be re-organized.

Therefore, only hidden fields are classified as official property. However, hidden fields that become official property may not necessarily change the actual users, including hidden fields located in seven or eight Silk Prefectures, allowing users to rent for a long time. As long as they pay lower rent, they can continue to use these mulberry fields in the form of rent.

These lands that have been registered as official fields and can have stable rental income will be included in the name of the United Reserve Bureau and become the guarantee for the Reserve Bureau to issue paper money.

Of course, in Chuzhou, which had just been flooded in Huainan, in Jiangzhou, the front line of the fight against the Western Song Dynasty, in Taiping and Runzhou, which guarded Jiangning Prefecture, most of the confiscated hidden fields would be assigned to soldiers who defended the Eastern Song Dynasty. Including the direct army of King Donghai and Tong Guan, the defeated troops brought by Wang Bing, they could all get land and houses.

The standards for land granting are relatively low, and are awarded according to the standards of 100 acres of infantry, 300 acres of cavalry, and 500 acres of officers.

Unlike the situation in the New Zhou, Western Song and Jingchu, the defense of the Eastern Song Dynasty was not dominated by the army. The Eastern Song Dynasty established a country with naval forces, and the foundation of the naval forces was the industrial and commercial people along the coast and rivers. The land military service system was not suitable for them. Moreover, the naval forces had a high degree of professionalism and were more dependent on completely proprietary professional soldiers.

Therefore, the land military service system was just a supplement in the Eastern Song Dynasty, and the recruitment system was the mainstream. Therefore, even military households and generals who were granted land could receive half of their military pay.

In addition to these soldiers and generals who were granted field, the eighteen Hezhong Prefectures also had their own "Prince Prefecture Army". Except for the Chuzhou Army who were granted field soldiers, the other provincial prefectures were recruiting soldiers.

In addition, the naval army of the Eastern Song Dynasty was unified in the central government. The local naval army was no longer retained, but instead formed a unified Hezhong Navy.

The scale of the unified navy also increased significantly, from only 36 sand-type gunships to 10,000 sailors to more than 200 large and medium-sized ships and 40,000 sailors.

In terms of the number of personnel and ships, it has exceeded that of the Zhou Navy in the north, but its quality cannot be compared with the latter. The main weakness is that there are no large soft sail battleships, and at least no design and construction have been started yet.

The main ships of the Eastern Song Navy in the future were similar to the so-called old gate ships in later generations. They were developed based on the "Truth" class hull with round bottoms or pointed bottoms, high freeboards, low upper layer hulls, and three-masted hard sail artillery warships.

Moreover, the hull is made of expensive teak and a keel is built, which is very sturdy and durable. The number of loaded artillery cannons reaches 36, which can be fully capable of fleet artillery battles.

This type of warship was developed and designed by the Marine and Road Shipyard of the Song Dynasty before the "Central Plains War".

The first ship, "JD" was built at the Jiangnan Shipyard located in Shanghai. It has been completed and has entered the trial stage.

If the sea trial goes well, more than 30 "JD" types will be built in the future, so that they will be together with sand-type gunships, forming the main force of the Eastern Song Navy.

In order to show the strength of the Eastern Song Navy to the representatives of the Eighteen Prefectures who gathered in Jiangning Prefecture for a meeting, the brand new "Jingdong" warship is now anchored at the Xiaguan Wharf outside Jiangning Prefecture. Majestic merchants and representatives are visiting!

Looking out from most of the north-facing windows of a three-story building in the Donghai Palace on the bank of the Yangtze River, you can also see the tall hull and mast of the "JD".

Wu Meiniang was sitting upright in this three-story building. In a study where you can see the "Jingdong", there was a stack of death sentences that had just been approved for red on the desk!

Those who were about to be killed were all landlords arrested for resisting Qingtian by force on the ground of the Seventeen Prefectures.

Land reform is inevitable to kill people anywhere!

The Eastern Song Dynasty was no exception. Even though the measures adopted by the Eastern Song Dynasty were relatively mild, the heads that cost hundreds of them were still cut off.

The one who approved the death penalty should have been the governor, Zhao Kai, the king of Donghai, but Zhao Kai was soft-hearted and never refused to write. The princess Wu Meiniang was extremely fierce, so she simply criticized the red for her husband. And she also stated the "real decision" in each judgment, which means beheading immediately!

After criticizing hundreds of death sentences in one go, Wu Meiniang was a little hungry and was about to pass on the meal, but an eunuch came to report that it was the Prime Minister of East China Sea Pan Xiao'an and the Political Consultative Officer Wu Haowen who sought to see him.

By the way, the Eastern Song Dynasty has not been officially established yet, and it is just elected Zhao Kai as the governor. The following organization is still the same as the Donghai Kingdom, so the Prime Minister is called the Prime Minister of the East China Sea. As for the political consultation, he is in charge of the Political Consultative Conference. The Political Consultative Conference is an organization similar to the Senate. Now the representatives of the Eighteen Prefectures come to Jiangning Prefecture to attend the Political Consultative Conference.

Therefore, the Eighteen Prefectures Alliance was also called the Eighteen Prefectures Alliance of the Eighteen Prefectures Alliance.

But Wu Meiniang is not sure what kind of final result to be discussed by the Political Consultative Conference.

It is certain to establish a country in the southeast, but it is still controversial whether the lord of a country is Zhao Ji or Zhao Kai.

Judging from the fact that the name of the great meaning is the resumption of Zhao Ji, it seems that he should be the resumption of Zhao Ji. Now the Eastern Song Dynasty still uses the "Xuanhe" year name, which seems to be the same.

But from Wu Meiniang's heart, she was extremely unwilling to accept it...

"See the Empress."

Wu Meiniang's thoughts were interrupted by the voices of Pan Xiao'an and Wu Haowen.

"Oh, are you two here? Please sit down."

Both of them are elders of Wu Meiniang, and Wu Meiniang is very polite to them.

"Pan Xiang," Wu Meiniang pointed to the documents on the desk, "These are all things that need to be beheaded. I have criticized them all, so kill them quickly."

Her words were a little light, and both old men took a deep breath.

King Donghai was hesitant and dared not kill him... His wife was fine, so he criticized Hong for him and asked to kill him as soon as possible!

That would be more than a hundred lives!

"Issued the official to receive the order." Pan Xiao'an bowed.

Wu Haowen took out an envelope and handed it to the eunuch who was serving in the study with both hands.

"Empress, this is a letter sent by my elder brother."

"Dad's letter?" Wu Meiniang smiled, reached out to take the envelope, tore it apart, took out the letter raft inside, and opened it and looked.

After looking at it for a while, Wu Meiniang's beautiful eyebrows frowned.

It turned out that Wu Haogu told his daughter in the letter that King Kang Zhao Gou was sent to Zhao Ji a few months ago!

Wu Meiniang actually already knows the news.

However, Wu Haogu proposed in the letter that Wu Meiniang never thought of might Zhao Kai might not inherit Zhao Ji’s throne!

Because Zhao Ji has Zhao Gou around him!

Moreover, Zhao Ji's health is surprisingly good, he never gets sick, and looks much younger than his actual age.

He seems to be very likely to break the lifespan of the Zhao family king, and he might live to be 70 years old... Zhao Kai is 19 years younger than Zhao Ji!

If a son is a father, he will definitely live better than a father. What if his son dies before his father? If the prince Zhao Kai dies, will Zhao Ji establish another prince or enthrone the grandson?

It's hard to say!

In addition, Zhao Ji is not a puppet without strength. He has Jingchu territory, Xiangyang City and 100,000 new Jingchu troops... If Zhao Ji is restored, will he be willing to be Zhao Kai's puppet?

Impossible!

If Zhao Ji took over real power, who would the foundation of the Eastern Song Dynasty belong to? How would Zhao Kai deal with himself? He would become a good son? If Zhao Kai was so frustrated that he was so depressed that he would return to Zhao Gou again, what would Wu Meiniang do?

Isn’t it a waste of money to get a bamboo basket?

Therefore, the throne cannot be handed over, and Zhao Kai must be the one who takes over.

Only when Zhao Kai became the emperor could Wu Meiniang become the queen, and only when she became the queen could she join Zhao Kai in the dynasty.
Chapter completed!