Plane of Immortal Cultivation

Chapter 147

"Culture does not just refer to Confucianism, poetry and poetry. Weichen believes that culture is condensed in the material and free from the material. The history, geography, customs, and traditional customs of a country or nation can be passed down. , life style, literature and art, code of conduct, way of thinking, values, etc., are generally recognized as an ideology that can be passed on between human beings.”

"The most important thing for a country and a nation is to have an independent spirit and culture. Citizens have a sense of national pride, have a sense of identity with the country, and know who they are. This is the spiritual pillar of a country."

"In terms of culture, our Han nationality is much higher than the surrounding barbarians. According to the characteristics of cultural transmission from top to bottom, our Dazhao has an advantage in this regard."

"Now Dali worships Chinese culture very much. From nobles to common people, from etiquette to clothing, they imitate my great Zhao everywhere. According to my analysis, this is also one of the main reasons why Dali and my country have enjoyed good cooperation for many years and there has been no war."

"The Liao Kingdom, Xixia, and Tupan are barbarian states. People on horseback are extremely aggressive. How to restrain their aggressiveness, I think we should start with culture."

The emperor was quite at ease just now, but after listening to Qin Guan's words, he suddenly found that many things that he hadn't understood before had been figured out at this moment.He looked at Qin Guan and said solemnly, "Tell me what to do."

"It's Your Majesty."

"The reason why the Liao Kingdom is strong is because they have a strong army and because they are barbaric. If you turn them into civilized people, they will not do barbaric things. Culture affects thinking, thinking affects policies, and policies affect the general trend."

"That's why I believe that we should vigorously export our culture, including poetry and songs, various Confucian classics, and moral codes of propriety, righteousness, honesty and shame. When they lose their martial spirit, will they still be able to defeat us?"

"The more important one is to spread Buddhist scriptures to them."

A gleam of light flashed in the emperor's eyes: "Tell me what an economic war is."

Qin Guan replied: "Your Majesty, our country has trade relations with other countries, but please think about it, your majesty, we can sell silk, wine, porcelain, all kinds of exquisite things, but what do they have? Liao Kingdom Xixia only has cattle, sheep and horses .”

"If this continues, we will form a huge economic surplus. I understand that because our country's coins are exquisite and full of weight, people in these countries are more willing to accept our country's Zhao currency than their own currency."

"This is our advantage. If one day our currency drives out their own currency, then we will be invincible in the economic battlefield."

The emperor wondered: "Then our country will have less money. I don't see any benefits."

"Your Majesty, this is equivalent to us gaining the right to issue currency in other countries, which can be said to be very beneficial."

"If we have the right to currency, it is equivalent to mastering the pricing power of commodities in a disguised form. For example, the Liao Kingdom sold us 20 guan a horse, and we can sell it to 19 guan. And we export commodities, such as silk cloth, every price A piece of cloth can increase the usual money, and this input and output is a huge profit."

"For another example, we sold a large number of cheaper and better commodities to the Liao Kingdom, such as cloth, table salt, books, porcelain, spices, silk, high-strength wine, etc., which can be exchanged for their medicinal materials, fur, pearls, rams, and bulls. , stallions, etc., but their commodities are obviously insufficient, so they need to make up hard currencies such as gold, silver and copper."

"Think about it, Your Majesty, if things go on like this, it will inevitably make money expensive and things cheap in their country. This is our opportunity."

"Economic warfare can't help but, in extreme cases, can cause the enemy's economy to collapse, such as the money we issue."

"The banknotes are just printed paper, guaranteed by the imperial court. Now merchants in Liao and Xixia are also using banknotes. In fact, we can produce banknotes for foreign trade. The regulations can only be used abroad and cannot be passed in the country. If there is a real war between our country and other countries, you can directly declare that the paper currency used for foreign trade is invalid, which will greatly damage the economy of other countries, and even prevent them from raising money to start the war."

Hearing this, the emperor's eyes brightened even more.

He likes calligraphy and painting, poetry and songs, but he likes money more, because without money, the country cannot function, and without money, he cannot enjoy himself. The first in the world.

Qin Guan's words were something he had never thought of before. They were very fresh, but they also felt very practical.

It caused him a collision of thoughts. In fact, it wasn't just what Qin Guan said, the emperor thought of more.

Isn't the purpose of imperial examinations to find talents for the country? What is a talent? The emperor felt that the Qin Guan in front of him was a talent.

"Go down," said the emperor.

Qin Guan saluted and said goodbye, Li Chaoen sent Qin Guan to the gate of the imperial garden, smiled and said to Qin Guan: "It seems that this time I want to congratulate Qin Guan."

"Thank you too, Mr. Eunuch."

Qin Guan said words of thanks, and at the same time took Li Chaoen's arm.The sleeves of the two were folded together, Qin Guan took out a string of exquisite pearl necklaces from the space, slipped his hand, and the necklace fell into Li Chaoen's sleeves.

Li Chaoen called a little eunuch and told him to send Qin Guan back, then nodded to Qin Guan with a smile, turned and went back to the imperial garden.

Touching the finger-sized pearl necklace in his sleeve, Li Chaoen murmured to himself: "He has talent, learning, vision, and a good life. This son will have a bright future."

Qin Guan was taken outside the Golden Palace again. Those examinees were still working hard to answer the questions, but Qin Guan could not leave. He could only continue to wait in a daze beside the colonnade.

Lu Sheng, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, watched Qin Guan being called away, and then watched him being sent back by the eunuch. This period lasted for an hour. What did the emperor say? After talking to a new examinee for so long, Lu Sheng's mind was spinning. , was extremely curious, but could he call Qin Guan to ask.

In the end, Lu Sheng let out a sigh of relief, forget it, don't think about it anymore, now Qin Guan's matter is beyond his control, and he just told Mr. Zeng about it when he went back.

The palace examination didn't end until the sun was setting. The examinees left the palace in Gongsheng robes. As for the results of the palace examination, they will be announced tomorrow.

Lu Sheng and another examiner finished reading the 75 exam papers as quickly as possible, ranked them, and handed them over to the emperor overnight.

As for the final ranking, it is up to the emperor to decide.

When Qin Guan returned home, Qin Zhang called Qin Guan to the study nervously, and asked in a hasty tone, "You handed in the paper in only half an hour today?"

"Yes father."

"Why do you do that?"

"Because if you don't do this, you can't see His Majesty."

"What, have you seen Your Majesty?"

"Yes, I chatted with His Majesty for nearly an hour."

Qin Zhang was very surprised. He has been an official for so long, and he is a fifth-rank official of the imperial court. Except for the grand court meeting, he usually does not see the emperor, let alone meet the emperor alone, and chat for so long.

"What did His Majesty say to you?"

"Discuss poems and policy articles."

"Your Majesty likes your article."

"I like my poems and prose, but His Majesty didn't say anything about policy essays."

(End of this chapter)