Ji Tang

Chapter 924 Changes
Ji Song began to meditate after returning home, but was really disturbed by the emperor's sudden actions.Ji Song was wary of Tubo, but this was something that would happen in the future. The emperor suddenly started planning for Tubo, which surprised him!
He saw all Lu Dongzan's actions, and the reason why he didn't stop him in advance was to catch them all.Now it seems that my goal was successful.If you do this, Pai Ludongzan will probably be angry to death. He has worked hard for so many years, but you have wiped them all out when I am about to return to Tubo. How can he accept this?
Ji Song wanted this effect. Do you really think that no one discovered what they were doing in Datang?The reason why I didn't take action before was because it wasn't worth it, but now I know it's heartbreaking?Bringing the weak and strong predators from the grassland to the Tang Dynasty is simply asking for death.

"Sir, falconry brings news from the south!"

While Ji Song was deep in thought, housekeeper Lao Liu suddenly came to him.Ji Song was a little surprised and said, "Is it the news about Mei'er?"

Lao Liu didn't say anything, handed over the wine in the bamboo tube and left.

Ji Song didn't take it seriously. Although this old Liu was also an elder in the family, he had not been with him for a long time and was cautious in doing things for fear of something happening.

After finding that it had not been opened, he opened it and saw a piece of paper inside. There were not many words on it, but she just stated her plans for a layout around Mingzhou and hoped that the master would support it.

Ji Song burst into laughter. This little girl was really smart. She got the truth of the matter from clues about herself and her family. Although it was one-sided, she also had her own ideas.

The family's large-scale acquisition of ships and private craftsmen could be concealed from others, but how could it be concealed from Wu Mei?Although she had just moved south recently, as the spokesperson of Ji family in the south, with Ji family's influence in the south and the cooperation of Jiangdong and Xuanzhou families, it was difficult to figure it out.

After thinking about it, Ji immediately started to reply. Since the children had this idea, she had no reason to stop it.But it should not be the south, but the north.

But he didn't stop her from planning in the south. This action caught people's attention, and she secretly planned her plan in Dengzhou, a large northern port.

The reason why it is not the south is obvious just by looking at those aristocratic families.The maritime trade they have been most familiar with over the years is the Southeast Asian countries, and they are doing familiar things in familiar areas. This is basically their lineage.It is also prudent for them not to take risks easily.The fact that he can now make plans for overseas development is impressive to Ji.

People who used to only know how to fight within themselves now know how to expand outside?I don’t know whether the emperor Li Shimin suppressed them too harshly, or because things must be turned against each other at the extreme, and they were forced to panic?

But these things have nothing to do with him. Whether they are aristocratic families or nobles, they are actively exploring Nanyang and want to get a share of this unprecedented change. Even the emperor wants to intervene, but he doesn't know how to get involved. How much water was taken.

Ji Song can foresee that in the near future, Nanyang and other places will inevitably become a stage for various forces to compete with each other. By then, all kinds of monsters and monsters will come here to conspire and join forces. You just sing, I Fang's drama on stage is bound to be noisy.

This is a big quagmire. No matter how clean a person is, he will be covered in mud. He has no interest in joining in the fun.

Let them play in Nanyang. Although I can’t go out in this life, my son can.It would be foolish not to seize a territory as big as Yin Di.

If the previous technology could not meet the requirements for long-distance voyages, he would not have thought about it, and maybe he would have to compete with them.But ever since he learned that Mingzhou Shipyard had made a major breakthrough, he knew that the opportunity to open up Yin had come.

Sometimes things are just so unexpected, and you never know where the surprises are waiting for you.

With major breakthroughs in ships, the safety of navigation will be greatly improved, which is where his confidence lies in paving the way for his descendants.

As the great and small families of the Tang Dynasty expanded their business in Southeast Asia, the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry was inevitable. In order to obtain more powerful, safer, larger and faster ships, the families who had accumulated thousands of years of experience would definitely use all their abilities. Build better ships.

No one dares to underestimate these people. The aristocratic families that have accumulated thousands of years of experience have mastered things that even the emperor does not have. These include technological inventions that previously threatened the family's rule, more efficient machinery, and the writings and technological innovations of countless sages dating back thousands of years.

As long as they liberalize these things, all walks of life in Datang will usher in unprecedented development.This is human nature and the human heart.

Now they are still hesitating, but when the Spice Islands in the South Seas are discovered, and when countless wealth appears, without any coercion, in order to obtain more, they will involuntarily take out all the things left by their ancestors.

The emperor is still at the level of solving the problems of the aristocratic family. When the competition for wealth in Nanyang becomes fierce, the aristocratic family's heritage will completely explode. They need ships, goods, and a high-quality population.But where does all this come from?
The Central Plains, and only the Central Plains can get everything they want.In order to gain stability and support from the Central Plains, they would not allow chaos in the Central Plains.Once the Central Plains is in chaos, it will also mean that they will lose this huge, all-encompassing base.

Some people may say that when the family tastes the sweetness, will they turn around and create chaos in the Tang Dynasty with the intention of controlling the politics of the Tang Dynasty?

Ji will answer him affirmatively: Yes, it will definitely happen.

This is the inevitable outcome and is also caused by the disordered greed of capital.But similarly, they were developing, and Datang was also developing. By the time they turned around and wanted to interfere with Datang's political situation, it was already too late.

Their exodus took away technology and population, but what they left behind was wealth, and a steady stream of wealth.The accumulation of folk wealth will inevitably affect all aspects of Datang.

The prosperity of the people at the bottom will cause them to have a strong desire for advancement.In the Tang Dynasty, there were only two ways to study and practice martial arts.This will also lead to more and more scholars in the Tang Dynasty, and the importance of the imperial examination will become more prominent.

After a businessman accumulates a lot of wealth, he will inevitably have more demands. What are they?Eternal history is a circle, a circle that you can't escape no matter what.

There is nothing new in history. What did Tao Zhugong do back then?What did Lu Buwei do?

And when the businessmen of the Tang Dynasty felt that money could no longer satisfy them, they would definitely look for representatives of their own interests in the court.

But whom?
At this time, they will find that the children of the aristocratic family look down on them and will not cooperate with them at all.To people from aristocratic families, money is just a number. How can there be power that makes people obsessed?

If the aristocratic family doesn't work, then look for someone else.

Honorable?

hehe!In Xungui's eyes, they are just fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered, a group of ants that can be trampled to death at any time.

After searching around, they found that they could not find a suitable person to protect their interests.

The aristocratic family doesn't need it, and the nobles look down upon it!
But at this moment, a group they had ignored before appeared in front of them.

poor family.

The poor families here are not the poor families of the down-and-out nobles, but the truly poor families where ordinary people and students passed the imperial examination and became officials.

They are the best among the common people at the bottom, and they can detect the enemy from thousands of troops. These people are definitely the best among people, extremely smart people.The appearance of this group of people gave businessmen hope.

A group of children from a humble family who really have nothing want to go further in the officialdom, and money is an indispensable thing.But the sage told them not to engage in corruption, which was inconsistent with their ideals.

But at this time, the businessmen told them that you don’t need to be corrupt without conscience, or even do anything. Just stand up and help them when they are bullied by others, and you can gain the support of their continuous wealth!

And such a good thing?
Yes, it’s such a good thing, but do you think that’s the end of it?

No, this is the beginning.

When you get used to living a life of fine clothes, fine food, and the company of beautiful women, you realize that you can no longer live without them.Without the support of businessmen, it is difficult to get ahead in officialdom.

In the officialdom, it is not said that one can be promoted by doing good things for the people. This is impossible.Aristocratic families, noble children have their huge family background to build momentum for them.

But what about them?There is nothing, even if you do well, it will not be known.

But at this time, the businessmen told them that as long as they get our support, let alone becoming famous, even if they are a corrupt official, they can package it into a good and honest official, and this approach is what they, the businessmen, are good at.

A businessman who doesn't know how to package is not a good businessman.Wait for them to package their spokesperson as a good official and a capable official.An upright official, a empress of a famous person.Only then did they realize that they were already in a tight spot. The merchants had mastered too many of their secrets. Once they wanted to get off the ship, that would be the beginning of their doom.

Therefore, people from poor families do not have to violate their original ideals and corrupt the people, nor do they have to pay more. As long as they speak up in court when the businessmen need them, they can obtain resources that are not inferior to those of noble families. .

After such a cycle for tens or hundreds of years, when these people are connected by the people behind the scenes, the seniors help the juniors, and an interest group linked by interests appears.

They are different from the rigidity of the Xungui Group and the insularity of the Shijia Group.They have a constant supply of fresh blood every year and are full of vitality internally.

They want to be famous and have a lot of people behind the money, but they don't need to exploit the people. As time goes by, their power is getting bigger and bigger.
And this is the beginning and end of the formation of civil servant interest groups in the late Ming Dynasty!

As for whether this model will be replicated in Datang?

Ji can say with certainty: Yes!
Therefore, now one thing affects the whole body, and as the family goes out to develop, a series of chain reactions will occur.The awakening of the people at the bottom, the unwillingness of the business class, the suffering of poor families, and the rise of the bureaucratic class after the implementation of the imperial examination.

Ji Song stood up and went to the window. It was already evening, and another day passed before he knew it.

Looking at the dim moonlight, Ji Song suddenly laughed and murmured: "My Majesty, are you ready?"

In Tai Chi Hall, Li Shimin rubbed his swollen forehead and looked at the document in his hand tiredly.

By now, it stands to reason that Fang Xuanling and others should have gone home.But at this time, the six ministers and the prime ministers of the three provinces in the main hall were too busy to touch the ground, and people kept coming and going.

"Keming, take a look at this!"

Fang Xuanling handed a document to Du Ruhui with a headache and said: "This is a report from Dengzhou. It says that as Dengzhou Port becomes more and more prosperous, the people assigned to them by the court are no longer enough. For this reason, they hired a large number of petty officials to handle government affairs, but capable people did not want to stay in this position without promotion opportunities, so in order to retain these people, they could only keep raising their salaries."

"But a new problem has arisen. The salary of these people has been more than twice that of fifth-grade officials, which makes the current officials very dissatisfied and suspected of being passive and sabotaging their work. Therefore, they gave The two plans of the Chaotang are to reduce the salaries of petty officials, but in order to retain people, I hope the Chaotang will expand the number of port staff and give them opportunities for promotion. The second is to increase the salaries of the original officials."

After Fang Xuanling finished speaking, he smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that there are two establishments, but in fact there is only one, which is to give them more staff to arrange these people. As for increasing the salary? Haha! Once we open this hole, you Do you believe that other local officials can flood us with memorials?"

After reading it, Du Ruhui also rubbed his forehead and said with a wry smile: "Yes, the salary of a helper and unemployed temporary official is more than the salary of a state governor. Let alone them, even I am not satisfied with their position."

"But you also know that the establishment of Mingzhou and Dengzhou is already large enough. You must know that the county magistrate, county lieutenant, and county magistrate are directly appointed by the court, plus other necessary officials. Just less than ten. But look at the two ports now, they have almost [-] staff in total. If the number continues to expand, how can this be done? "

The two of them looked at each other and smiled bitterly. They both looked at the emperor in a daze and made up their minds.

"Your Majesty, this is a document handed over by Yao Chang from Dengzhou Port. I cannot make a decision, so I still ask for your Majesty's Holy Judgment!"

Come on, since you can't solve it yourself, let the emperor decide!

"Oh?"

Li Shimin was curious and thought: What's going on with these two people recently?How many times has this happened?It wasn't like this before!

But the movements in his hands were not slow, but after reading it, his head hurt even more.

"What's going on with Yao Chang? The imperial court has allocated so many people to them, why are they still short of people? Are they all taking my salary and not doing anything?"

Li Shimin said a little annoyed.

Fang and Du looked at each other, and finally Fang Xuanling stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the two ports are extremely busy now, with taxation, inspections, coastal defense, huge warehouses, self-operated official ships, original ancillary industries, and the port's Workers, etc., these all require capable people to manage, and they must be proficient in arithmetic, otherwise they will not even be able to read the account books.”

"As far as I know, there are no less than 10 people under their management now, and they are all highly skilled people. The tax revenue generated by these people for Datang accounts for more than [-]% of the annual tax revenue, and it is still increasing every year."

Li Shimin opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he heard this ratio, he could only bravely wave his hand: "Then add it!"

After saying that, he immediately stood up and walked toward the back hall, as if someone was chasing him.
(End of this chapter)