Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 554 "On the Prosperity of the People and the Strength of the Country" (Special thanks to book friend Yifeng66 for the monthly ticket!)

Seeing that the response from the ministers was good, Chai Zongxun ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to print another 100,000 copies and distribute them to the provincial governors, prefects and governors of various prefectures for their reading and to solicit their suggestions.

According to the current official system of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Inspector is in charge of government affairs, the Assistant Magistrate is in charge of public security, and the Prefect is in charge of the economy.

After three months of feedback, Chai Zongxun revised and supplemented more than ten difficult-to-understand contents, and named the book "On a Prosperous People and a Strong Country". It was officially promulgated throughout the country in early March of the 50th year of Kaixi.

Once published, this book was immediately regarded as a guiding principle by millions of business students across the country of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and it also became the "Bible" for tens of millions of people doing business and running workshops to learn how to run a business.

In less than two years, private printing workshops in the Great Zhou Dynasty had responded to market demand and printed 20 million copies of "On a Prosperous People and a Strong Country", which was so popular that it was said that "paper was in great demand in Luoyang".

"On a Prosperous People and a Strong Country" written by Zhou Shizu was regarded as the pioneering work of economics by Chinese and foreign scholars in later generations, and Zhou Shizu Chai Zongxun himself was also regarded as the founder of economics in later generations.

During these years, in the 48th year of Kaixi, the number of concubines in Chai Zongxun's harem exceeded 5,000, and the number of princes finally exceeded 100. Now there are 105 princes and 110 princesses.

On the sixth day of the third month in the fiftieth year of Kaixi (1009), there was an early morning court session.

The national government implementation situation last year has been comprehensively counted, and the emperor and his ministers have made an annual summary.

The Prime Minister, the Minister of Personnel, Kou Zhun, came out and said:
“Your Majesty, since last year, our Great Zhou has been peaceful and prosperous, the economy has developed rapidly, and public security in various places has been excellent.

The national treasury's tax revenue for the whole year reached 4 billion taels of silver, of which 2.5 billion taels were domestic taxes and 1.5 billion taels were maritime trade taxes.

The national treasury spent 3.7 billion taels, with an annual surplus of 300 million taels. Of this, the administrative expenses of more than 1,600 prefectures and cities across the country totaled 1.7 billion taels, military expenses amounted to 600 million taels, and people's livelihood construction expenses amounted to 2.4 billion taels.

All over the country, except for Tibet, Kievan Rus, and Maya Continent, which still need annual financial subsidies from the court, the rest of the regions have surpluses that can be turned over to the national treasury. "

There are now 360,000 officials and 1.35 million clerks in the country of the Great Zhou. On average, a county government has between 100 and 200 officials.

The imperial court does not pay salaries to the local celebrities in the Local Celebrities Bureau, but serving as a local celebrity brings enormous fame and economic benefits, and the people are proud of it, so many people run for the position.

The Vice Minister and Minister of Revenue Ding Qi came out of the class and said:

“Your Majesty, according to statistics at the end of last year, the population of our Great Zhou has exceeded 350 million, of which the Han population accounts for 250 million. Your Majesty’s national policy of using money to encourage Han people to have children has been very successful.

Of the national population, the agricultural population is about 140 million, accounting for 40%; the industrial and commercial population is 210 million, accounting for 60%.

There are 6.25 million workshops and 5.7 million shops in more than 1,600 provinces and cities across the country, of which 1.87 million are specialized in maritime trade.

Among the families in the country, about 10% can afford enough food and clothing. Most of them live in remote mountainous areas or have disabled people. Every family has a house, and their children can go to the "National School". There is a way to change the family's destiny through imperial examinations.

About 60% of the families are well-off. Each family has a house, horses or oxen. Half of the families can send their children to private schools run by local celebrities. The average annual per capita meat consumption is 30 kilograms and eggs 50 kilograms.

Wealthy families accounted for about 25%, with an annual income of more than 600 taels of silver. Each household had a large house with 20 rooms, more than 10 horses or oxen, and an average of five wives and concubines.

Almost every family has the financial resources to hire a teacher for their children and educate them carefully at home.

About half of the families were extremely wealthy, with annual incomes exceeding 5,000 taels, and they were also the main source of the court's "inheritance tax."

Most of these families were owners or shareholders of workshops and businesses in various state capitals, and the average number of employees per household was over 200.

Thirty-five thousand "poor houses" have been built across the country, with an average of twenty-three in each state and two in each county. There are no lonely or homeless people in the whole country of our Great Zhou."

Chai Zongxun was satisfied with the vast territory he had conquered, which was extremely rich in resources and had a population of just over 300 million.

If the people cannot become prosperous under such a strong national situation, so that "the old can be taken care of, the young can be educated, the poor can be relied on, the needy can be helped, and the widowed, the lonely, the disabled and the sick can all be taken care of", then it is completely because the ruling class is incompetent and has no understanding of economics at all.

Chai Zongxun nodded slightly and said:

“In addition to the prosperity of industry and commerce and the prosperity of the people, the court must also focus on maintaining judicial justice, so that right and wrong are clearly distinguished, and black and white are clear, so that the social integrity of our Great Zhou will last forever and the people will be elegant and polite.

In the future, the imperial court must continue to invest heavily in national education so that everyone, regardless of their wealth or status, can have a path to rise and change their own and their family's fate through their talent and learning."

All the ministers in the Chuigong Hall responded in unison.

Chai Zongxun continued:
"What is the current social security situation in our Great Zhou? How many judicial cases were there last year?"

The new Minister of Justice, Li Di, came out and said:
"Reporting to Your Majesty, throughout the Great Zhou, the people are prosperous and the roads are free of looting.

Last year, there were more than 30,000 cases sentenced nationwide, 70% of which were economic disputes, and only 125 people were sentenced to death.

Li Di was born in the 12th year of Kaixi (971), with the courtesy name Fugu. His ancestral home was Zanhuang, Zhaojun, and he was born in Puzhou.

His great-grandfather Li Zaiqin moved south with his family to avoid chaos and settled in Puzhou. Li Di studied under Zhong Mingyi in his early years and was smart and hardworking since childhood. Before going to Beijing for the imperial examination, he went to Huazhou to study under the prose writer Liu Kai.

In the 36th year of Kaixi (995), he won the first place in the Chinese subject and entered the officialdom.

He successively served as Tongpan, prefect, Zhizhigao, and Hanlin scholar, and achieved outstanding political achievements.

In the 48th year of Kaixi (1007), Chai Zongxun promoted him to be the Minister of Punishments for his excellent performance in the examination.

Chai Zongxun was quite satisfied with the low rate of serious crimes and said:

"In this way, the government can be called wise, the people can live and work in peace and contentment, the people are honest and simple, and the legal system is austere. This can be called great governance."

The new Minister of Industry Feng Zheng came out and said:
“Your Majesty, the “National Highway” of our Great Zhou Straight Road Project has now been opened to all prefectures.

Among the more than 1,600 provincial capitals, two-thirds are connected by "provincial roads" and one-half are connected by "county roads".

The Ministry of Industry plans to invest a total of 800 million taels of silver in the next ten years, with a planned mileage of 1.2 million miles, so that all counties in our Great Zhou will have "county roads" opened, and it is expected that more than 10 million civilians will be employed. "

Feng Zheng was born in the fifth year of Xian De (958), with the courtesy name Dao Ji, and was from Heyang, Mengzhou.

His father Jun served Liu Yun, Duke of Xiangyin of the Han Dynasty, and was later pardoned by Zhou Taizu He.

In the 32nd year of Kaixi (991), he passed the imperial examination in engineering and served as a county magistrate and prefect.

Due to his excellent performance in the examinations, he was promoted to Minister of Works in the 47th year of Kaixi (1006).

(End of this chapter)