Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 136
It must be a great feeling to want to poop after hearing a few words, otherwise Li Shimin wouldn't be smiling crookedly.

In the imperial study room, the other important ministers who heard Ma Zhou's words also looked at him differently.

"Then how to solve the second problem?" Changsun Wuji couldn't help but ask first.

Ma Zhou replied almost without hesitation, "Your Majesty set up the idea of ​​benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness for our Tang Dynasty at the beginning of his ascension to the throne. Then, why not show the court's letter to the people of the world?"

"How to show?" This time, Li Shimin asked more anxiously than Changsun Wuji.

"Your Majesty, the Hu merchants' sale of goods seems to be a private sale, but it is also a state matter. This year they took away the goods that are not in short supply in the Tang Dynasty. This is their own choice. If you do business, you will make money and lose money. You can't blame others. However, without these Hu merchants selling the goods produced by our Datang, it will affect the internal economy of our Datang.

Therefore, Wei Chen suggested that His Majesty can guarantee those Hu merchants who have lost money in the name of the court, so that those merchants in Datang who have a backlog of goods that cannot be sold can lend a batch of goods to those Hu merchants at market prices. Merchants take our Datang goods back to their own country, and they can make money by selling the goods. They only need to return the money plus a little interest to the Datang merchants who loaned the goods to them.

In addition, isn’t the army we sent always sending Hu merchants back to China? We are not afraid that they will renege on their debts and run away. With a small number of troops, all Hu merchants and Han merchants who are going to the Western Regions are linked together. The team is so huge that I believe they will survive The Xieli and Tuli cannot be gnawed at, and as long as they do something, they will be outraged. At that time, His Majesty only needs to let this general who is partial to the division unite with the armies of the Western Regions, and at the minimum cost, he will be able to defeat the enemy. These two remnants of Turkic forces were all wiped out in the Western Regions. "

"well said······"

In a short period of time, Li Shimin made a poop again. Not only Li Shimin, but also all the ministers present were applauded by Ma Zhou's brilliant plan. But it took a lot of advantages. Not only can it invigorate the economy, but it also lays a minefield for Jieli or Tuli to step on. What is a talent for economical economics?This is the talent for governing the country.

After everyone whispered to each other and confirmed the feasibility of this strategy, Ma Zhou said again, "I would like to inform you, Your Majesty, I thought that as the products of our Tang Dynasty became more and more abundant, the imperial court should also have clearer guidance on foreign trade. , or regulations. Let foreign merchants import goods for Datang under the guidance of the imperial court. For example, this year, the courgettes and white dippers sent by Hu merchants in the Western Regions have already been produced in Datang. I believe there will be more next year. Datang There is no need to buy such items, so there is no need for merchants to send them over.

But our Tang Dynasty lacks gold, silver, copper, salt and iron. For these things, countries in the Western Regions and overseas countries always have countries with relatively large output. We can increase the price to buy these materials from them. In the words of Sun Xiamu, It is to use renewable goods in exchange for their non-renewable goods. If things go on like this, my Tang Dynasty will be rich in all aspects of materials, and the national strength will naturally be strong..."

"Wait, what is renewable and non-renewable, please clarify." Changsun Wuji interrupted Ma Zhou's words.

"Renewable and non-renewable are words that Xiaguan occasionally heard Sun Xiamu say. For example, all the countries in the Western Regions love the silk produced in our Tang Dynasty. Silkworms are produced in our Tang Dynasty every year. We can grow silkworms every year. A steady stream of output, as well as ceramics, grain, etc., all goods that can be produced through planting and handicrafts, we can call them renewable goods, such goods, even if we sell them every year in Datang, they will continue to sell .

As for non-renewable goods, like gold, silver, copper and iron, there are only so many in the world. If there are more in Datang, there will be less in other countries. When all the gold, silver, copper and iron came to Datang, what other country would dare to fight against us? "

All right!Li Shimin heard that he was going to poop again, and he didn't know if Mao Sai had opened up so many times, whether his pleasure was still the same, he slapped the table and said, "This statement is reasonable, it is a strategy to seek the country without using swords and weapons, but to collect the world's sharp weapons. "

After hearing the question of renewable and non-renewable, all the ministers nodded and stroked their beards. They never thought that business and competition are so important to the country. Suddenly, many thoughts popped up, and they fell into deep thought.

Ma Zhou is an active official, and he was summoned by Li Shimin once in a while. Naturally, he wanted to take out all the goods in his stomach. After waiting for a while, everyone had almost figured out an idea, and he said again, "Actually, we in Datang have been unable to supply one item that is in short supply, which has hindered the productivity of the people."

"What?" Li Shimin asked first after hearing the words.

"Salt."

When it comes to salt, the complexions of Li Shimin and the ministers all dimmed. This thing is necessary for the human body, but the output of the Tang Dynasty is very small. The few salt ponds in the Central Plains have been developed by previous dynasties. The quantity is so small that the price of coarse salt has reached tens of pennies per catty, and most people can't afford salt at all.

Without salt, there will be many serious consequences. The most common is edema and weakness. If you are in a state of insufficient salt for a long time, your life span will be very short. Farming is such a big event, but it can be simplified as much as possible!People who do not have enough salt intake are simply unbearable.

Of course, it was also because Ma Zhou had worked with Shi Dalang for several months that he knew one of the reasons why the people in Xingfu Village worked so efficiently. I have mastered a salt-making process, which can refine coarse salt into refined salt, which makes the food in Wangjiang Tower taste better than the food in other places.

But this is his own secret recipe for business. Ma Zhou is a moral gentleman, and he will not expose other people's information. He just wants to remind Li Shimin that our Tang Dynasty can live without such a tight schedule. Salt is something that Tuyuhun and Khotan have more. The best thing is that they can pay for them to transport the salt, benefiting the whole people of Datang, and increasing the labor force of all the people.

"In a few years, I will definitely destroy Tuyuhun."

Just like Datang banned the export of salt and iron, Tuyuhun also banned the export of salt and iron, especially the prohibition of salt flowing into Datang. If Datang wanted to buy their salt, the imperial court had to pay a high price and pay a huge amount of transportation costs, so , The price of buying their salt in large quantities was too high, and the court could not accept it.

"Your Majesty is very talented, and it will be a matter of time before Tuyuhun is wiped out, but before that, we can use methods to divide the interior of Tuyuhun, so as to reduce the difficulty of destroying them at that time, and at the same time let us Tang Dynasty get some benefits from it." Ma Zhou laughed when he heard this. laughed.

"Come quickly." Li Shimin and several ministers said almost at the same time.

"The key lies in the merchants. There are quite a few merchants in Tuyuhun. Every year, they come to our Tang Dynasty to sell cattle and sheep leather products. Now the leather products they produce are not easy to sell, so they can't make any profit. Your Majesty should use them to lure them. Your Majesty loves the spirits of my Tang Dynasty very much. If the caravan of Tuyuhun transports the most low-priced salt, then His Majesty can give them the exclusive right to operate the spirits, causing competition between their caravans. At the same time, let Fu Yun be tired of preventing merchants from smuggling. These caravans are supported by the leaders of various ministries. While you can get cheap salt with one pawn, you can sit back and watch Tuyuhun weaken.

In addition, among the countries in the Western Regions, if there is a caravan passing through Khotan, they can also bring some salt along the way. The imperial court will buy it at a price and then sell it at a low price. The price of salt in the Tang Dynasty will drop a lot. "

"Well, this is also a good strategy." Li Shimin nodded when he heard the words. In his words, Li Shimin smelled a strong smell of Sun Xiangfu. When he talked about merchants, he seemed to be inseparable from that kid. Anyway, Ma Zhou also received some inspiration from his communication with Sun Xiangfu.

Just as he was thinking about it, a servant sent up a secret letter from the south. In order to avoid suspicion, several ministers retreated to the outer hall one after another, and Ma Zhou followed suit.

"Are you thinking of all those schemes just now?" Fang Xuanling deliberately approached Ma Zhou and asked.

"Exactly." Ma Zhou cupped his hands calmly.

"With your talents, at least you can be appointed as a member of Zhongshushe." Fang Xuanling meant that he would suggest to the emperor to promote him. Zhongshusheren is a fifth-rank official position and can be close to the center. At Ma Zhou's age, if he is a member of the Central Committee, the speed of promotion can be said to be the highest in the dynasty. You must know that last year he was still a white man who had not entered an official position. In history, Ma Zhou did not climb to this position until 11 years later. Location.

"The lower officials don't dare to have extravagant hopes for Zhongshu Sheren's high position. They just want to continue to serve in the Dushui Supervisor to help the court deal with the drought that may come next year." Ma Zhou heard that instead of being happy, he said with a sad face.

"Will there be a drought next year?" Fang Xuanling was stunned, Changsun Wuji and Du Ruhui also came here after hearing the words.

"The first person to ask this question was Sun Xiamu from the Animal Husbandry Supervision Office. Last year, he concluded through various signs that there would be a small drought this year, and it really came true. During this period of time, the official has consulted many historical records, and even went to the Taishi Supervisor to find Daoist Yuan. After confirming it, I found that the situation next year is not optimistic, so I want to stay in the capital water supervision and make more preparations for the drought that may come next year." Ma Zhou replied truthfully.

"Can it be concluded that there will be a drought next year?" Changsun Wuji, who is the Minister of the Household Department, asked anxiously.

"Not yet, but there is little rain this spring and this summer, and most of the springs and streams in various places have dried up. If there is no snow this winter, I am afraid that there will be a severe drought in the coming year."

Ma Zhou is not alarmist, because after listening to some of Sun Xiangfu's remarks, he checked all the records of droughts and found that droughts usually do not last for one year, at least two or three consecutive years are a cycle. Therefore, recently For a while, he was thinking about how to build water conservancy projects in the Capital Water Supervisory Committee to store water for the Guanzhong area.

This year's drought in Guanzhong has led to a lot of tax cuts for the imperial court. Therefore, Changsun Wuji is most concerned about this matter. Just when he was about to ask the next question, Li Shimin called them in.

"The boy said that the things in the south can be closed, let's discuss what to do!" Li Shimin showed the secret letter played by Sun Xiangfu to everyone.

(End of this chapter)