Sui Dynasty: I, Yang Guang, am both scrupulous and stable

Chapter 328 The Foundation of the Industrial Age
The news of Yang Guang's resignation from Li Gang spread quickly in Daxing City, even alarming the emperor.

Early the next morning, Yang Guang was called to talk to the emperor alone.

Before dawn, the emperor had already begun to deal with official duties. Yang Guang couldn't help but sigh that the emperor's life was hard, but this hard work was also a by-product of power. He must have worked so hard to firmly hold power in his hands.

Yang Jian didn't even raise his head and asked, "Amo, there was a bit too much noise in the university hall yesterday."

"Father, those in the university hall who violate the law should be punished."

"Dispose of it."

Yang Guang didn't expect that Yang Jian didn't even question him. Instead, he calmly said it would be dealt with.

"If someone down below disobeys, you have to be beaten, but..."

At this time, Yang Jian raised his head and looked at Yang Guang with falcon-like eyes: "Are you ready to bear the consequences of this matter? Or how do you plan to deal with it in the future?"

"Father, the university hall is now getting on the right track. I plan to promote the technical school through this matter. Now there is a huge demand for skilled workers in Daxing City. The technical school can also allow some young people who are full of energy to have a job. The future development path will be to maintain better stability.”

Yang Jian nodded: "Of course it's a good thing, but Li Gang's disciples and former officials are all over the world. In today's morning court, someone must report this matter, and they are not his disciples and former officials. The civil servants will not respect your actions. Everyone will be forced to take sides if they are in danger, and even if they have no intention of joining you, they will be taken advantage of by someone with intentions."

Yang Guang bowed and saluted: "Thank you, Father, for the advice."

"That's all, it's not a serious matter, but you will be discounted in the minds of literati. It has damaged your reputation as the best poet in the Sui Dynasty."

"Father, those are all admired by others, how can my sons and ministers be considered the best in the Sui Dynasty?"

"No! You are."

Yang Jian was extremely certain about this matter. The young man who told him that the right path in the world was subject to vicissitudes of life, could he be the best in the Sui Dynasty?

Why is his son not number one in the Sui Dynasty?

Yang Jian reminded him again: "If someone in the court makes a fuss about this matter, just respond in a polite and angrily manner. This matter will not cause any trouble."

"Yes, Father."

This is the first time Yang Guang feels Yang Yong's treatment. The emperor is leading you, that is, Yang Yong himself is not on the right path. Otherwise, Yang Jian's step-by-step guidance will make you not afraid if you go the wrong way, he will take care of you.

In the early morning, the ministers reported that they were all major events in the world, and Yang Jian dealt with them one by one.

After a while, someone stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the Vice-President of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Mr. Li Gang, Mr. Li, was ordered to be removed from the position of Vice-President yesterday because he offended His Highness the Crown Prince. Mr. Li has worked hard for many years. You have worked diligently and hard without merit, so please consider it carefully with Your Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince, and it is not appropriate to impose too severe a punishment."

"My minister seconded the proposal."

"My minister seconded the proposal."

Several officials stood up at once. None of them were of high rank, but they were all middle-level officials, and they had the right to speak if they came to the court.

Some of these people are Li Gang's disciples, and some are Li Gang's friends.

Yang Jian looked at Yang Guang: "Prince, what do you think?"

Yang Guang stood up and faced the ministers. He was not afraid at all and said unhurriedly: "Father, although Li Gang does his best in his work in the university hall, he still obeys the orders of his superiors and disobeys them secretly. If this becomes a habit, , the consequences are probably incalculable.”

At this time, Yuan Yan, the first adviser beside Yang Xiu, stood up: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness, Wei Chen had to learn more about it after hearing about it. Because Li Gang and Wei Chen have been literary friends for many years, they know about it. As a human being, he is not a person who obeys the law and violates the law. Please consider this matter with Your Majesty and His Royal Highness."

At this time, Yang Xiu also stood up: "Father, His Highness the Crown Prince has always done things with reasonable basis. I believe that the decisions made by His Highness the Crown Prince are right."

One of these two people is a good person and the other is a bad person. What they say is reasonable and reasonable, and their acting is really good.

Yang Guang was not in a hurry and said in a low voice: "I once ordered the University Hall to be responsible for building technical schools to recruit young technical students and train skilled workers, and asked Li Gang to take charge of this matter. However, after so long, the University Hall has not been established at all. I have done this and asked Li Gang again and again yesterday, but Li Gang still refused. He said that he was not capable enough. Since he is not capable, he should not be able to serve as the vice president of the university."

"Your Highness, this is a matter of your own free will. Master Li is a great Confucian and an elegant person of our time. To ask him to supervise the construction of a technical school. Faced with a group of workers who are studying technology, it is indeed difficult to force others to do so in the past. To put it bluntly, , an insult to politeness."

As soon as this insulting and polite sentence came out, everyone looked at Yang Guang with some anxiety.

Officials are all human beings, and they mostly use neutral words when they speak, so as not to offend others. If they are charged with disrespect, even if what they say is reasonable, it will no longer make sense.

Therefore, the word "insulting gentleness" is already very serious, but the other party also took it seriously. Li Gang felt that it was insulting to gentleness, but the person he was referring to was Yang Guang.

Yang Guang felt a little disdainful. Is this urgent?
Everyone looked at Yang Guang, and Yang Guang said: "Why do you think that opening a technical school to teach technical workers is an insult to politeness?"

"Although Master Li is not as knowledgeable as Master Wang and can be a guest in the Emperor's Hall, the students under Master Wang are all people with solid knowledge. Let such an old gentleman with a lot of knowledge and talents in the world teach the students who will go to the workshop in the future. The young man who works there has indeed insulted the old gentleman, so I ask His Highness to think more carefully and think about Master Li."

Yang Guang replied: "I would like to ask you, have you ever seen the workers in the firearms workshop?"

"Have you ever seen the workers who dug the canal, or the workers in the weaving factory, the glaze factory, the lumber factory, and the shipyard?"

Everyone looked at each other, but no one answered.

Yang Guang waited for a long time before saying, "Do you know what the tax burden is in Daxing City now?"

Still no one answered, no one knew what Yang Guang meant.

At this time, Yang Guang looked at Yu Qingze, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue at the time. Yu Qingze was a brick in the Sui Dynasty. He could be moved wherever needed. The emperor liked to use him. If there was a gap in the Minister's book, he would move it there and use it. "Yu Shangshu, this is within the scope of your authority. Let me introduce it to everyone."

Yu Qingze really didn't want to participate in any struggle, so he kept holding back nothing to say, and quietly took two steps back, fearing that blood would splash on him, but he was pulled out unexpectedly.

"To put it simply, just talk about Daxing City's tax situation last year."

He walked out helplessly and said: "Reporting to His Majesty the Crown Prince, the total amount of taxes last year was [-]% more than the previous year. Among them, agricultural taxes, including capita taxes, accounted for [-]%, industrial taxes and taxes paid by factories accounted for [-]%, and customs taxes accounted for [-]%. [-]%, and the rest is miscellaneous taxes.”

The total taxation was 2.2 times that of the previous year, of which agricultural tax accounted for 41%, industrial tax 38%, commercial tax 20%, and miscellaneous tax 1%.

You must know that the taxes in Daxing City have doubled in recent years. The national treasury is now very full, and in terms of composition, agricultural taxes still account for the majority. In the Sui Dynasty, each household collected taxes based on their household registration. This is a large portion, but industrial taxes It is also almost time to catch up with the agricultural tax, which is an important model in the transformation of society to industrialization.

Yang Guang asked again: "What is the difference in the total amount of agricultural taxes compared to the previous year? What is the difference in proportion?"

Yu Qingze was really familiar with these data, so he opened his mouth and said: "Because there were more children born in the past few years, and the weather has been good in the past two years, the total amount of agricultural taxes last year actually increased by more than [-]% compared with the year before. However, agricultural taxes have The overall proportion of taxes has been reduced by more than [-]%.”

Yu Qingze did not say the specific amount of money. This is something that only the emperor should know. He only said the proportion.

Agricultural taxes have occupied the most important position in the empire's tax structure from ancient times to the present. The ministers who are not familiar with taxes are a little surprised now. They did not expect that the agricultural and industrial taxes in Daxing City's tax structure are almost equal.

After Yang Guang listened, he said to everyone: "All the princes in the court have just heard what Yu Shangshu said. While the total amount of agricultural taxes has increased, the proportion has decreased. The proportions of industrial taxes and commercial taxes are at With continuous improvement, the Sui Dynasty is prosperous. According to this trend, the industrial tax this year is likely to exceed the agricultural tax and become the most important source of tax revenue in the Sui Dynasty."

"You may think that the data of Daxing City does not count, but the same is true for Luoyang City. Other cities are also slowly changing, but have you really thought about this huge, even earth-shaking change that is invisible? Is there anything that forms the biggest base of support?”

"Is it Sun Simiao who invented gunpowder? Is it me who came up with firearms? Or am I a talented scholar who thinks it is insulting to be polite?"

"No, none of them, they are workers, workers working in workshops. Without workers, there would be no current prosperity of the Sui Dynasty. And in the future of our Sui Empire, workers will become the largest source of taxes, but we I haven’t taken it seriously yet.”

Yang Guang's words left everyone speechless.

Yang Guang didn't give others a chance to interrupt, and continued: "I think most of you have never been to the workshop, and you don't know what the current crux of the workshop is."

"Among the current workers in the workshop, except for a very small number of blacksmiths and carpenters who have some skills in the past, most of them are farmers who were brought into the workshop to work as workers. The abilities of these people greatly limit the future development of the workshop. Development, they can’t understand the drawings drawn by Yu Wenkai, and they can’t understand Li Qing’s professional explanations, which has made the development of the workshop even more tiring now, not to mention the future.”

"Do you hope that the development of the Sui Dynasty will reach this level? Then places like Goguryeo, Nanchen, and Japan will catch up slowly."

Yang Guang said earnestly: "For the future of the Sui Dynasty, we have to teach those children to read and write. They have to recognize what words are written on the tools in the workshop and be able to read and understand the drawings. Only in this way can we truly understand the craftsmanship." Only if the workshop develops better can Sui Dynasty continue to move toward glory."

Yang Guang's words were so shocking that even Yang Xiu couldn't say anything to refute them.

Li Yuan was the first to stand up and support Yang Guang: "Your Majesty, Weichen feels that what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said is true. Weichen once took charge of the firearms workshop and the national granary for a period of time, and he felt the most deeply. Sometimes he met a worker , if you want him to do something, you have to be taught repeatedly by an experienced worker, because he can’t read and won’t be able to learn it when he’s older.”

In the end, the officials' voices weakened: "Even so, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Master Li Gang will not be said to have been dismissed from office."

"Master Li is highly respected. If he is willing to come back now and serve as the principal of this technical school to get things done, not only will I not punish him, but I will also give him a salary increase."

"This……"

Yang Guang's face was livid: "If you don't teach them, you won't teach them. In the end, young people will have no place to learn if they want to. It's an insult to politeness. What is politeness?"

No one dared to answer Yang Guang's questions.

Yang Guang stood in the center of the hall: "After reading books and knowing etiquette, you should understand that you are loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Now that the country is in need, I am not asking you to throw your life and blood. I am just asking you to lower your status and teach a teacher. Maybe you are talented. Children who are not very good, you feel insulted, but if we really go to the battlefield and face the butcher knife of a foreign race, can my father and I believe the heroic words you swore in the court?"

At this time, Yang Guang almost questioned the official who asked the question. In order to avoid public anger, Yang Guang did not target all the ministers and chose the one who stood out as the benchmark.

This is the so-called shooting the bird first.

At this time the emperor spoke: "What the prince said is reasonable, but the prince is a little impulsive when he is young. Li Gang is really a good person. I declare my will to reinstate Li Gang and be ordered to supervise the construction of the technical school."

The emperor came out to smooth things over at the end, saying something to both sides, but his final decree clearly let everyone know that his thoughts were on Yang Guang's side.

Everyone shouted: "Your Majesty is wise."

Yang Jian looked at Yang Guang with satisfaction. You must know that the previous prince Yang Yong did not have the ability to convince people with reason in the court, and he often had to come out to help. Now that Yang Guang is like this, he only needs to come out and say the final conclusion. Enough.

……

The news that Yang Guang was going to open a school to educate workers’ children came out that day.

In fact, the biggest obstacle to this matter is the aristocratic families. However, due to the implementation of the imperial examination system and the recent years, many of these aristocratic families have participated in workshops in various places. They themselves also know that the benefits that workshops can bring to them are comparable to those of farming. In his eyes, cultivating workers is the same as increasing the number of farmers under his command.

They are just adding more people to work for them.

There must have been great resistance to the implementation of this matter three to five years ago, but now there is less implementation.

Li Gang and Master Li still felt that teaching technical workers was a shame, and he was unwilling to hold the position even if he did not serve as an official. The contempt for the lower class people in this intellectual's heart could not be eradicated, so Yang Guang had to choose someone else to do this job.

Yang Xuangan recommended himself.

(End of this chapter)