Start a Ming Dynasty plane

Gu Zi opened the door, Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu felt a burst of heat inside the door, and their white faces were flushed red by the high temperature. The two looked inside the door, only to see one who looked very young The young man is sitting in front of a stove on which two wilted sweet potatoes are still roasting.

The two of them knew each other about sweet potatoes, especially after entering Lantian, this thing existed in the form of a street snack. Not far from the hostel, there was a cart selling roasted sweet potatoes, and the sweet potatoes tasted delicious. , waxy and sweet, Gu Yanwu especially likes it.

But this kind of delicacies were rarely seen in the south of the Yangtze River. I don't know if the transportation is inconvenient.

The two stood at the door, Li Chaosheng also turned around to look at this time, and saw two young men wearing Confucian shirts, one who looked a little older was wearing a light yellow and green Confucian shirt, and Another young man's Confucian shirt is light black and slightly blue, which looks very distinctive.

"Come in, it's cold outside."

Seeing the two standing at the door, Li Chaosheng didn't get up to greet them, nor did he act like a corporal, but sat on a chair and said very kindly: It's cold outside.

The reason is also very simple, identity!

What is Li Chaosheng's current status? Although he claims to be Lantian County Lord, everyone should know what Lantian County looks like. This is still a county, which is obviously a province. Now the whole of Shaanxi, even including a large part of Hubei, Henan and a small part of Shanxi are all within the scope of Lantian. Strictly speaking, they should all be Lantian.

Therefore, Li Chaosheng's Lantian County is almost as big as two provinces. You must know that the entire Ming Dynasty is only two capitals and thirteen provinces. Now Li Chaosheng has occupied the second, so Li Chaosheng is not a county honor but a real Northwest giants.

As scholars of Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu, no matter where they go, they will not have any problems facing any Qipin county magistrate. This county magistrate also treats them with courtesy, but in Li Chaosheng they It will not work.

Li Chaosheng, what is that? It is a big warlord who occupies two-fifteenths of the world, and two poor scholars, even if they have a little reputation, they are not enough in his eyes, so Li Chaosheng's attitude has flattered the two of them.

Originally, both of them thought that Li Chaosheng would face them as a superior, but they didn't expect that Li Chaosheng was so approachable and spoke very kindly, as if he was his friend, not aggressive.

Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu stepped into the room, Gu Zi closed the door, the cold wind outside had already blown into the room, don't freeze the county official.

"I have met Li Xianzun."

Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu entered the room, and bowed their hands to Li Chaosheng to salute. Li Chaosheng waved his hands and said, "You don't have to be polite when you come from a long way. Seeing how thick your clothes are, the weather in the north is not suitable for you."

Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu laughed and said, "Yes, the scenery of the northern country is indeed different from that of the southern country."

Li Chaosheng laughed and said, "Hahaha, yes, come and sit, closer to the stove, warm."

"Guzi, bring two stools."

"Yes, magistrate." …

Gu Zi responded, followed by moving two chairs, Huang and Gu quickly thanked them, Li Chaosheng smiled and said, "Thank you, since you are here in Lantian County, you are all guests."

As he spoke, Li Chaosheng picked up a roasted sweet potato that had just come off the stove and was slightly cold, broke it open, handed it to the two of them, and said, "Try the sweet potato I baked myself."

The two expressed their thanks immediately after hearing the words, and immediately took Li Chaosheng's sweet potato. Gu Yanwu started to eat it in a more casual manner. Huang Zongxi was indeed very personable. After waiting for a while, he began to sip.

Li Chaosheng gave Gu Zi a look, and Gu Zi came over with two cups of tea.

"My Lantian is located in the northwest, which is different from the prosperous south of the Yangtze River. I don't have anything to entertain. Let's try our Lantian specialty sweet potato first."

After hearing this, Gu Yanwu said bluntly: "Everyone says that the pasta in Guanzhong is the best. Wheat should be the specialty. Why are sweet potatoes now?"

Li Chaosheng laughed and said: "What is a special product? The so-called special product means that there are many such things in this place, and there are few or none in other places, so it is a special product."

"But now people in Guanzhong, if they have ten acres of land, five acres of land will be planted with sweet potatoes, three acres of land will be planted with corn, one mu of land will be planted with vegetables, and the remaining one mu will be planted with wheat. So now the specialty of Lantian is this sweet potato. Lantian people Sweet potatoes also make up a large proportion of the food, and it can be said that one-third of the prosperity of Lantian is built on this small sweet potato, so I said that the specialty of Lantian is sweet potatoes."

After hearing this, Huang Zongxi looked at the sweet potato in his hand and said, "I also know about this. There are people selling it in Jiangnan, but the price is higher than corn. How can it be a staple food?"

Li Chaosheng said with a smile: "The land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, there is no shortage of food. Although this sweet potato has a strange taste, it is too sweet and greasy. If the left food tastes bad, it will get greasy if you eat too much, so it is not liked by the people of Jiangnan. As for the sweet potatoes in the south of the Yangtze River you said are more expensive than corn, that’s mainly because of the high shipping costs, and the high price of sweet potatoes lies in the shipping costs.”

"In fact, the yield of sweet potatoes is higher than that of corn."

Li Chaosheng picked up a sweet potato and took a bite. After hearing this, Gu Yanwu said, "The yield of sweet potatoes is higher than that of corn? How much higher can it be?"

Li Chaosheng smiled and said, "Not much, just a few times."

"How many times?"

Hearing Huang Zongxi's words, Gu Yanwu both cried out in surprise, and the two scholars couldn't care less about their face at this moment, this news was enough for them to cry out in surprise.

After a long time, the two came back to their senses and said: "So, if Lantian grows sweet potatoes, with the size of Lantian, it will be enough to feed the people of several provinces?"

Li Chaosheng heard this and said: "In theory, it should be like this, but it's not realistic. As I said just now, eating too much sweet potatoes will make you greasy and cause malnutrition, so the amount of sweet potatoes planted in Lantian is at most half. , no matter how much it is, it is unrealistic, and the common people have to change their tastes."

After hearing this, Gu Yanwu said: "Li Xianzun, let me say an offensive word. Now there are hundreds of thousands of people in Daming who can't eat enough, and some of them will even starve to death. They all grow sweet potatoes, and the grain produced in Lantian will be able to feed and drink the people in several provinces, and they will not have to worry about freezing or starving.

After Gu Yanwu finished speaking, he looked straight at Li Chaosheng. Li Chaosheng didn't say anything after hearing what he said, but a faint smile appeared on his face. He looked at Huang Zongxi and said, "Do you think so too?"

After hearing this, Huang Zongxi shook his head lightly and said, "I didn't think about it."

Li Chaosheng looked at Huang Zongxi and said nothing, but Huang Zongxi really didn't think about it, okay?No, he thought very clearly. In fact, he didn't agree with Gu Yanwu's views on what it means to encourage people in one province to grow sweet potatoes to solve the famine problem in other provinces.

This is not only unrealistic, but also very naive. Why do you let Li Chaosheng harm his interests in Lantian for the sake of the people in other provinces, and why does Li Chaosheng ask the people under his rule to give up the interests they should have?
This is unreasonable, well, even if the saints per capita in Lantian are all compassionate figures, but even so, do you think that if there is more food in Lantian, people in other places can afford food?
The transportation and sale of grain depend on merchants, and merchants are not profitable. Do you think that there is enough grain in Lantian and the price is cheap, and the grain merchants will sell the grain at a very low price after transporting it out of Lantian?

No, these grain merchants are even willing to burn all the grain with a fire, and they will not be willing to sell it to people in other places at a low price.Huang Zongxi's background was not as noble as Gu Yanwu's, he had a life experience that was very close to ordinary people, and he even personally witnessed that businessmen were doing business with each other.

He deeply understands the shamelessness of businessmen, they are willing to trample on any laws, morals, and even the bottom line of a person for the benefit of them.

Therefore, Huang Zongxi is still a good economist. In his economic theory, he also mentioned an important point of view, which is also known as Huang Zongxi's economic law-the harm of accumulation can never be returned.

So Huang Zongxi didn't agree with Gu Yanwu's so-called righteous deed of sacrificing a province and drinking others, but as a long-time friend and fellow traveler, he couldn't refute him face to face at this time, otherwise who would he be?A shameless villain who steps on his brother's shoulders and shows off himself?

But if you want Huang Zongxi to agree with Gu Yanwu's point of view without conscience, he can't do it. If he follows others like this, wouldn't he become the vassal he despises the most?
So he said that he didn't think about it clearly. To put it bluntly, he wanted to save some face for Gu Yanwu. Looking at Huang Zongxi like this, Gu Yanwu knew that his dear friend disagreed with his point of view. Stinky, if there is something wrong with each other, the two are willing to point it out to each other. Even if there is a big fight over this, it will not affect the relationship between the two.

But Huang Zongxi did not refute him at this time, but chose to shut up, Gu Yanwu could also feel Huang Zongxi's brotherly affection for him.

However, Gu Yanwu didn’t think he was wrong. This year, the Tatars invaded and Shanxi suffered from drought. Food prices in Shanxi soared. In order to relieve the disaster, Gu Yanwu heard that Chongzhen squeezed out 5 taels of silver from internal funds. I also sold some of my gold and silver coins, and took out 2 taels, all of which were used for disaster relief, but even so, it was a drop in the bucket. It is said that Emperor Chongzhen had not bought new clothes for many years, and even the imperial robes were sealed with patches. …

But Lantian has plenty of food, and there are even high-yielding sweet potatoes here. If the people of Lantian tighten their belts, plant sweet potatoes for a few years, and support Shanxi, Henan and other disaster-stricken areas, how many people will be saved?
Chongzhen was able to let go of his glory and wealth, donate money and materials for the victims of the disaster, even don't eat meat, don't wear new clothes, but why can't the people of Lantian do this?
This is Gu Yanwu's idea. Of course, it's not that Gu Yanwu is artificial. It's just that some scholars in this era are so compassionate, even a little naive. Moreover, Gu Yanwu has never been stingy with his property. If there are poor people, he is willing to exchange property for food , help this poor man.

Gu Yanwu looked at Li Chaosheng with piercing eyes, and Li Chaosheng took a sip of the teacup from Guzi's hand and said, "I understand what you're talking about, what you mean is to harm the interests of the people in Lantian, so that you can live thousands of lives in the Ming Dynasty." People, do you need me to be a saint once again, a living Bodhisattva who saves suffering and saves all living beings?"

Gu Yanwu heard the words and said: "Everyone in the world says that Lantian County Venerable is a person who truly serves the country and the people. Could it be that the rumors are wrong, the County Venerable is not the person who is for the country and the people?"

Gu Yanwu's words made Li Chaosheng laugh. Moral kidnapping is indeed a common method in this era, but it has no effect on Li Chaosheng.

Li Chaosheng said with a smile: "Mr. Gu is a little biased. Some people say that Li is a man for the country and the people, and some people say that Li is a tyrant who disrupts the world. If Mr. Gu is willing to ask Zhou Yanru, Yang Sichang These literati, they probably would describe Li as a heinous devil, but Li Chaosheng is Li Chaosheng, just an ordinary person."

Gu Yanwu was taken aback when he heard the words, he didn't expect Li Chaosheng to break the situation like this, followed Li Chaosheng and said: "Li was born as a commoner, and the reason he knows is very simple, that is, his family takes care of his own affairs. I am the magistrate of Lantian County. As long as you take care of the affairs of the people of Lantian, the emperor of Ming Dynasty should take care of the affairs of the people of Ming Dynasty, instead of asking me to sacrifice the interests of the people of Lantian to help the people of Ming Dynasty. If I do this, I will be the real bastard .”

"It's as if your mother is sick, and you have a medicine in your hand. After taking this medicine, your mother will be cured. However, the neighbors around your house are sick, and they also need the medicine in your mother's hand." , and you now have a choice, first distribute this drug to your neighbors, and then, your mother will not die without the drug, but will only be permanently disabled, and the other option is that you leave the drug to Mother, your mother will recover, how do you choose?"

Li Chaosheng looked at Gu Yanwu, Gu Yanwu's expression became ugly when he heard the words, his brows were tightly wrinkled, and Huang Zongxi sighed and said: "Let me answer for Zhongqing. If it were me, I would choose to let my mother recover. The neighbor's Their family members are naturally responsible for their life and death, how can they force it on me?"

Li Chaosheng didn't change his smile when he heard this and asked instead: "Then why did your family Zhongqing open his mouth to sacrifice the interests of Lantian people to save the people of Ming Dynasty?"

Huang Zongxi was speechless, and Li Chaosheng turned his head to look at Gu Yanwu and said, "Gu Yanwu, you can be a saint if you want to, but you can't ask me to be a saint too, let alone ask the people in Lantian to follow you to be a saint. The people in the world seem to be the only one who can save the world. If you are really that great, you should use your own strength to save others, instead of thinking about sacrificing the interests of others every day to satisfy your own feelings of serving the country. My people in Lantian are diligent Honestly, being conscientious is to live your own life well, not to be a saint, but you just open your mouth and ask them to sacrifice themselves for others, why? Just because you, Gu Yanwu, have a big face?"