The Emperor Shun Zhishi

Chapter 25
Guirui's success not only attracted the attention of Emperor Yao, but also the attention of the three powerful officials.As a minister under Emperor Yao, Gun has always wanted to attack Dongyi. Now that Guirui has opened the market, not only the economy has become prosperous, but also the relationship between Dongyi and Huaxia has eased.Emperor Yao naturally wanted to see such a result, but Gun was very unhappy. If the relationship between Dongyi and Huaxia eased, then Huaxia would find no reason to go to war against Dongyi.

In order to destroy the peaceful relationship between Huaxia and Dongyi, Gun planned to start with Guirui.

One day, Gun came to Danzhu's residence. Danzhu was planning the flood control of Pingyang City, and looked at the city model made of some earth mounds to deduce that the flood might break through Pingyang City in that direction.Na Gun saw Danzhu fiddling with the mould, and pushed all the mounds on the table to the ground.

"When is it, are you still playing this?"

Danzhu looked at Gun's behavior a little abnormally, and was also very surprised.

"I'm deducing the flood, which gate of our Pingyang city is most likely to be flooded."

"Do you know that your position as the crown prince will be lost?"

"Oh, I don't know where to start. When did I, Dan Zhu, become the crown prince?"

"Others don't say it, but in my Gun's eyes, you are the crown prince! Have you heard of Yao Chonghua?"

"Of course, I heard people say that he has established a lot of achievements in Lei Ze, Lishan, and Longshan. It's really amazing."

"Of course it's amazing, and it's still open in Guirui. It's been less than a year now, and the granaries are full of fish and rice, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. I heard that he will inherit the emperor's rule and establish some imperial achievements."

At this time Danzhu finally understood the meaning of Gun's words.

"This is just a legend, right? Besides, if Chonghua is a virtuous person, he would be a blessing to my Huaxia if he inherited your father's lineage."

"Ah!" Gun looked at Danzhu and sighed, "Anyone can say this, except you, Danzhu. You are the emperor's son. For more than ten years, you have conquered all directions and expanded your territory. You made great military exploits. Besides, Xi Zhong said, you are the reincarnation of Emperor Ziwei, but today, you let a young man with no military achievements steal the limelight, and you are still from Dongyi. Think about it. The co-lord of our Chinese people, where will I put my face, where will your face be, your military achievements of more than ten years are not as good as a foreigner?"

Hearing Gun's words, Danzhu fell silent.Gun is an ambitious man. In his heart, he only wants to annex Dongyi by force, and then rely on his military exploits to become the co-lord of China.It's just that Emperor Yao has been unwilling to go to war, which somewhat poured cold water on him, so he had to start with Danzhu and instigate him to destroy the peace between Dongyi and Huaxia.Under Gun's instigation, Danzhu was finally persuaded a little bit.

"What should I do now?"

Seeing that Danzhu finally got into the trap, Gun couldn't help but look very happy, and approached his ear, talking about the tricks to destroy the peace between Dongyi and Huaxia, and gradually the two formed a strategic alliance politically.

The success of the Guirui market gave Shun great courage. After discussing with Ehuang, Nvying, and Cao Muzi, he decided to expand Guirui, increase the number of settlements to twenty, increase the city wall, and plan to build Guirui Become the metropolis of China.Xiao Xingxing believes that the current fiscal revenue of Guirui can support the expansion project in the next five years.

After discussion, Shun agreed to do what he said, and planned to start construction immediately to build Guirui's new urban area.However, a few days later, Shun received a message that Danzhu and Huandou came to Guirui with a cavalry team of more than 100 people, claiming to be ordered by Emperor Yao to take over the Guirui market, and to demand all government affairs of Guirui. It must be approved by Danzhu.

As the son of Emperor Yao, Dan Zhu had made outstanding military achievements, so his words were naturally very convincing.And Huandou was Emperor Yao's important minister. With his help, Danzhu easily seized the leadership of Guirui, and used his cavalry to take over the law and order of Guirui.On the surface, it was to manage the law and order of Guirui, but in fact it was to prevent Shun and Cao Muzi from resisting his ruling power.

After Dan Zhu became the de facto city lord of Guirui, he carried out some new institutional reforms for Guirui.It turned out that Shun provided convenience for the people, benefited the people, and paid very little tax, so Guirui would develop.Unexpectedly, Danzhu believed that since Guirui developed, he should get more fiscal revenue, so he tripled the original tax.

Danzhu's taxation policy was opposed by Ehuang and Nvying. Although they were their elder brothers, Ehuang believed that Danzhu's talent was more suitable for fighting than managing cities.But Danzhu didn't listen. He just thought that Shun's approach was too mild. Only by increasing taxes and increasing the income of Huaxia tribes can China's military power be improved.Little Xingxing is very disdainful of Danzhu's approach. From the perspective of modern people, Danzhu's behavior is to intervene in the market by administrative means, which is a waste of money.In the end, not only will it not increase Guirui's fiscal revenue, but it will also stagnate or even destroy the newly prosperous market economy.

Sure enough, after the release of Danzhu's new tax policy, many merchants and handicraftsmen in the market expressed their opposition.In order to avoid taxation, they shifted the transaction location to the suburbs and concealed the relevant transaction amount.There were fewer people in the market, which led to a decline in Guirui's fiscal revenue.Danzhu sent Huandou to investigate, and Huandou blamed Shun's bad management of Guirui for the decrease in financial revenue.In order to increase Guirui's financial revenue, Danzhu used force to manage the market and intervened in all aspects of the market.At the beginning, Guirui's fiscal revenue increased, but it decreased again within a few days.

Xiao Xingxing told Danzhu with the knowledge of modern economics that this tax system will only lead to a decrease in the population of Guirui in the end.Danzhu was dubious, but Huandou even felt that Little Xingxing was talking alarmistly.

"Then, how to govern Guirui?"

Danzhu still asked Xia Shun with some doubts, but he didn't know that it was Xiao Xingxing who answered his question.

"Leave nothing, let the market work, and it won't take long for the market to prosper."

Hearing what Little Xingxing said, Huandou couldn't help laughing.

"Haha, this is a big joke. The people seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. If you don't manage them, people will do bad things. At that time, more people will evade taxes. You still have to govern Guirui like this. It’s better to go home and farm.”

Listening to Little Xingxing's words, Huandou was full of contempt, and Danzhu also felt that Little Xingxing's practice of not managing the market was extremely ridiculous.

"Intervention in the market is wrong. In fact, the market has an invisible hand that will automatically adjust the market."

Little Xingxing tries to explain to them the laws of the modern market, citing Adam Smith's law about the "invisible hand" to guide the market, but this is China 300 years ago, and it is the soul Shun who is in the same body as him. , I don't really understand, let alone Danzhu and Huandou.

As Little Xingxing expected, under Danzhu's management, the population of Guirui decreased by one-third in less than three months, and the tax increase not only failed to increase Guirui's fiscal revenue, but reduced it by as much as half .Danzhu and Huandou still believe that the law is not strict enough, which leads to tax evasion by the people.Huan Dou suggested that the use of corporal punishment for those who evade taxes can stop tax evasion.

Huandou's proposal was opposed by everyone in Guirui's administrative department, especially Ehuang and Nvying. They believed that if Danzhu accepted this proposal, Guirui would become a ghost town within half a year.However, Danzhu finally rejected all opinions and accepted Huandou's opinion. He instructed Huandou to formulate harsh criminal laws to regulate Guirui's business behavior.Those who concealed the transaction amount were punished with black ink, those who evaded taxes and evaded taxes were punished with beheading, and those who dared to resist the government's orders were cut in half.

The decree issued by Danzhu was immediately implemented, which made Guirui's administrative department very worried.Ehuang was more thoughtful. She discussed with Nvying that Danzhu had always led troops to fight, and had never managed a market. Why did his father suddenly let him manage Guirui.In order to prove his suspicion, Ehuang wrote a letter to his mother, clearly stating what Danzhu did in Guirui, and asked her whether Danzhu's actions were authorized by Emperor Yao.After writing, Ehuang sent the letter to the queen with a flying pigeon.

After receiving the letter from Ehuang, the queen was also very surprised when she learned about Danzhu's management of Guirui, because she didn't know whether Danzhu's management of Guirui was instructed by Emperor Yao.Although Danzhu is her own son, this matter is very important. She first went to Emperor Yao to verify whether it was true that Emperor Yao instructed Danzhu to manage Guirui.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Yao would be furious after seeing Ehuang's letter!
"He acted so recklessly that he dared to use my name to manage Guirui, so the widow arrested him and cut him off."

The empress couldn't help being shocked when she heard that Danzhu was her own son after all, so she begged Emperor Yao for mercy.

"Emperor, calm down, that Danzhu is your own son, so don't be impulsive. Thinking about coming to Danzhu, he also made great military exploits for China..."

"Does he still see me as a gentleman? I am still alive and he is so disobedient. If I die one day, he will not riot in China. In order to prevent him from invading the world, I must get rid of this rebellious son!"

The empress didn't expect Di Yao to be so angry. In fact, he didn't know that Xi Zhong had told Di Yao that Danzhu was the reincarnation of the Seven Killing Star, and that there was a sign of a military disaster. There was a reason why Di Yao was so angry.

"Don't worry, Dijun. Danzhu was born to me. I know what he is like, and he has always been an honest person. There must be some reason for what he did wrong this time. You see, Huandou was with him and brought a team of It must not be so simple for the cavalry to manage Guirui."

Hearing what the empress said, Emperor Yao also came to his senses, thinking that Huandou was also an important minister under him, and to mobilize the cavalry in the Huaxia Alliance, even if there were ten of them, he needed Emperor Yao's authorization, and at this time he did not go through it. Authorized, Huandou and Dan Zhu usurped the management of Guirui, and mobilized 100 cavalry. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that things were not that simple.

After thinking about it carefully, Emperor Yao decided to go to Guirui in person, first to investigate why Danzhu led troops to usurp the management of Guirui without authorization, and secondly, he also wanted to see what kind of person Shun was and whether he had the right to be a leader. What Xizhong said had the aura of Emperor Ziwei descending to earth.

The next day Emperor Yao marched towards Guirui with Houji, Ziqi, and a guard of [-] cavalry.When the empress heard that Emperor Yao was going to Guirui, she decided to go with her. Like Emperor Yao, she wanted to inspect Shun with her own eyes.The difference is that Emperor Yao inspected Shun's ability to govern, and had to verify whether he had the possibility of inheriting the great power in the future, while the empress wanted to inspect Shun's character, whether Ehuang and Nvying would be happy to marry him in the future.

In this way, Emperor Yao took the empress, Ziqi, Houji, and a pair of personal soldiers and drove to Guirui in a mighty way.Emperor Yao's momentum spread to Dongyi, and Gao Tao also planned to go to Guirui.It turned out that after Danzhu governed Guirui, the people of Dongyi and Huaxia were dissatisfied. Some Dongyi people who originally wanted to go to Guirui to go to the market planned to go to Guirui to sell white pottery, but the tax system and new market management laws promulgated by Danzhu , Let everyone lose confidence.Many Dongyi people ran back to Longshan, saying that Guirui had no future, and asked Dongyi people not to go to Guirui to go to the market.After Gao Tao heard about it, he was also very surprised. Based on his understanding of Shun, he should not have managed Guirui so that the people could not live without it.After questioning, he found out that it was Emperor Yao who sent Danzhu to seize the management right of Guirui.But he also felt that with the wisdom of Emperor Yao, Danzhu should not be allowed to govern Guirui. Obviously Danzhu was not like this. He thought that the prosperity of Guirui had a lot to do with the peace of Dongyi and China.In order to find out the truth, he also went to Guirui.Not long after Emperor Yao set off, Gao Tao took Qin Bukong, Dong Bushi, and Xiongtao, disguised as potters, and rushed to Guirui.

As soon as Emperor Yao's team arrived in Guirui, they immediately lifted the management rights of Danzhu's guards and put Danzhu and Huandou under house arrest.After half a month of investigation, Emperor Yao discovered that Danzhu's seizure of power was bewitched by Gun.Regarding Gun, Emperor Yao knew in his heart that he was an ambitious man.Emperor Yao hated Gun's actions, but at this time, Emperor Yao's main task was to conclude a peace treaty with Dongyi, and he did not want a rebellion within China.Therefore, although he knew that Danzhu's usurpation was bewitched by Gun, he did not pursue Gun's responsibility, but asked Danzhu to take all the charges.

In order to eliminate the doubts of the Guirui people about the management of Guirui and boost their confidence in the market, Emperor Yao summoned all the merchants and handicraftsmen from Huaxia and Dongyi to abolish the tax decree issued by Danzhu in front of them. And the decrees restored the more moderate tax system promulgated by Shun governing the Guirui market before.Emperor Yao also adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards the market under Xiao Xingxing's suggestion, allowing the market to regulate resources by itself, and the managers adopted a method of not intervening in the market and only managing public security, allowing the exchange of commodities to proceed freely.When the common people heard what Emperor Yao said, they all praised Emperor Yao as a wise king.

After boosting the confidence of the market, Emperor Yao publicly blamed Dan Zhu and asked him to go to Pingyang City to contemplate behind closed doors for half a year, and he was not allowed to hold any position in the Huaxia Alliance during this half year.In order to avoid the expansion of the attack, Emperor Yao only said that Huandou made a mistake because he was bewitched by Danzhu, and he will not be held accountable.After punishing Danzhu, Emperor Yao appointed Shun as the first consul of Guirui. After being recognized by Emperor Yao, Shun also vowed to build Guirui into a bridge connecting China and Dongyi in front of the people of Guirui. capital.

When the people of Guirui heard that Shun had become the first consul of Guirui, they all shouted long live in unison.Listening to the cheers of the people, and seeing their expressions of joy, Emperor Yao realized that Shun had already won the hearts of Guirui, and he would surely become a wise king in the future.Thinking of Shun being so virtuous, Emperor Yao was also very happy in his heart, and thought he had someone to succeed him.Seeing that Shun is a man of talent and has the support of the people, the empress is naturally at ease about the ownership of Ehuang and Nvying. She basically approves of Shun as a son-in-law in her heart.

When Emperor Yao was giving a speech in Guirui, Gao Tao, Qin Bukong, Dong Bushi, and Xiongtao also hid in the crowd, watching Emperor Yao and seeing that he was handling political affairs impartially and without party or selfishness. Even if his own son made mistakes, he would be punished. Gao Tao couldn't help admiring Emperor Yao a little more.

He simply took off his makeup, and walked in front of Emperor Yao with Qin Bukong and the other three.

"It's really better to meet after hearing about it for a long time. Gao Tao, the leader of the Lower Dongyi Alliance, just met the emperor today. Although it's a bit late, it's still lucky."

Although Emperor Yao had never met Gaotao, he had heard of Gaotao, knew that he was the overlord of Dongyi, and taught the people how to make pottery, so he admired him very much.Seeing him standing in front of him at this moment was also very surprised, seeing him being so humble, he felt a little more admiration for Gao Tao, and hurriedly bowed and saluted Gao Tao.Shun was also very happy to see Gao Tao and Qin Bukong, and hurried over to greet them.Emperor Yao didn't expect that Shun had such a good relationship with Gao Tao and his three courtiers, and he believed that Shun could know people and gain power, so he favored Shun even more.

"Congratulations to the emperor, you have gained a virtuous subject." Gao Tao took Shun's hand and congratulated Emperor Yao. "In the future, if Guirui is built as the capital, it will be a blessing to China."

"Congratulations, congratulations, you don't know that Chonghua came from the Youyu clan, he is the son of Gusou, he is considered to be from Dongyi, and now he is the consul of Guirui, it is God's will, God wants me to Huaxia Fighting with Dongyi turned war into jade silk, that's why Chonghua was born into this world. In front of you and all the people in Guirui, I swear that in the future, I will give half of Guirui's financial revenue to Dongyi every year to express our Huaxia. The sincerity to establish peace with Dongyi."

When Emperor Yao said these words, the people in the market cheered like a tsunami again.Seeing Emperor Yao's sincerity, Na Gaotao couldn't help being overjoyed.Immediately, in front of the [-] people of Guirui, he planned that half a year later, if Guirui develops and prospers, and Emperor Yao pays half of Guirui's taxes to Dongyi according to his promise, Dongyi will form an alliance with Huaxia.

After three days of Daqing, Emperor Yao took Dan Zhu away from Guirui with his imperial guards.Before leaving, he left Houji to help Shun manage Guirui, and asked Houji to respect Shun as he respected himself, and Houji gladly accepted the order.Gao Tao and Shun also left Guirui after reminiscing about the past, leaving Qin Bukong to assist Shun before leaving.Little Xingxing pulled Houji and Qin Bukong into Guirui's management department and became members of the collective management. They had the right to participate in discussions and decision-making on Guirui's important affairs.

Houji and Qin Bukong are important ministers next to Emperor Yao and Gaotao. Although their knowledge and logic level are not as good as those of modern people's thinking, they have profound life experience and are well-known in history.Little Xingxing also admires them very much. After encountering some difficulties, Little Xingxing always consults them.For some of my own ideas, Little Star will always try to solicit their opinions.After getting in touch with them, Xiao Xingxing admired them very much. Sure enough, the history books are not nonsense. Houji and Qin Bukong have insufficient scientific knowledge, but they have very unique political vision.He thinks that Huaxia and Dongyi are now in an alliance, and Sanmiao is the most uncomfortable. They don't want Huaxia and Dongyi to form an alliance, so they will definitely do everything they can to destroy the Huayi alliance.

Under the proposal of Houji and Qin Bukong, although Guirui was prepared for flood control, he had to raise the city wall to prepare for war.Little Xingxing felt that what they said was very reasonable, and quickly discussed with the management department to collect taxes from the people of Guirui in the form of borrowing money, which was used to strengthen the city wall, build the moat, as well as the city towers in four directions and several arrow towers for defense. .The people of Guirui heard that it was for Guirui's defense cause, and they gave generously in the form of debt.In less than half a year, the military fortifications were basically completed. Shun stood on the city wall and had a bird's-eye view of Guirui City. At this time, Guirui could not be called a metropolis, but the city wall was so thick that it could completely withstand the attack of at least 5 people. .

After the fortifications were completed, Shun, as the consul, ordered a one-year tax reduction as a thank you to the people of Guirui for their support of the fortifications of Guirui.When the people heard about the tax cuts, they naturally shouted long live.

However, at this time, Uncle Wu who was hiding in Sanmiao was very unhappy. Facts have proved that Houji and Qin Bukong are indeed very politically farsighted. After Huaxia and Dongyi signed a peace treaty, Uncle Wu has not had a good night's sleep .Every day, he thinks about how to destroy the alliance between Huaxia and Dongyi, so that Sanmiao can take advantage of it.His first thought was to attack Guirui. Now Guirui has basically become a symbol of peace between China and Dongyi. Only by crushing Guirui can Uncle Wu psychologically destroy the seeds of peace between China and Dongyi.When Uncle Wu was formulating the military action to attack Guirui, he himself didn't know that Xiao Xingxing and others had already thought of this and made preparations, waiting for Uncle Wu's arrival, and firmly believed that once Uncle Wu If you attack Guirui, you will be beaten to death.

(End of this chapter)