Wentang

Chapter 718
At this time, Yanci County in Dizhou has become a prosperous city second only to Chang'an, even far surpassing Chang'an in terms of commerce, and is currently the largest commercial capital on earth.

This can be seen from the constant flow of ships in Bohai Bay.

Especially in the area where the Yellow River empties into the sea, the boats spread continuously for dozens of miles.

The emperor wanted to pass through this place, so it was reasonable to say that the waters should be sealed off to prevent other ships from entering.However, the impact of doing this in Dizhou is too great. It can be said that the money lost by stopping here for one day is more than ten thousand.

After Yue Shan asked Li Shimin for instructions, he decided not to block the waters.

That's what I said, but it's impossible to really ignore everything, and the forces from both the military and political circles in Dizhou have been mobilized to maintain order.

There are government servants standing guard and patrolling everywhere on the street, and there is a law enforcement boat on the river at intervals to direct the water traffic.

The little gangsters, hooligans, and the like who have been banned repeatedly also knowingly hid, for fear of being caught.

As for the merchants, they have been notified a long time ago. Today, no one engages in privileges and the like, and they have become good citizens who abide by discipline.

When Li Shimin and his party came to the water surface of Dizhou, what they saw was such an orderly picture.

Li Shimin was very happy to see this scene, and praised the government of Dizhou for their dedication and responsibility, and the people obeying the law. This is the scene of a peaceful and prosperous age.

Before other people boasted that they are all saints and saints, Yue Shan took the initiative to stand up and expose:

"Fake, although Dizhou is very prosperous, the corresponding personnel are mixed with fish and dragons, the public security is relatively poor, and the order is also relatively chaotic. The current appearance is knowing that the saint is coming, and I deliberately acted it out for you."

"..." Everyone was speechless.

Li Shimin also gave him a helpless look, do you think I'm stupid to know that this is a show?Do you understand that everyone in the sedan chair is carrying you, you are so straightforward that you make everyone look bad, okay?

Dizhou Yanci County has a very high status in the Tang Dynasty, and every time the imperial court writes a summary report, this county will be mentioned separately.

But for Li Shimin and others, this is a very strange place, because everything here is beyond their comprehension.

How did a piece of saline-alkali land suffering from floods suddenly become the most affluent place in the Tang Dynasty?
The taxes contributed by Dizhou in a year topped a wealthy road, and various businesses controlled by the imperial court handed over millions of cash to the imperial court.

We must know that ten years ago, Datang's annual tax payment was only about 300 million yuan in money and food.

Here is the largest salt field in Datang?This is a good reason, but there are many places with salt, why haven't other salt-producing places become richer?

Water transportation is convenient?Shencheng’s water transportation is also convenient, and Suzhou and Hangzhou behind it also have the traditional salt production areas of the Central Plains Dynasty. Why didn’t they become rich there?
This is where they are puzzled.

They also sent people to do an investigation, and the investigation report was very thick. After reading it, they found that they had benefited a lot and seemed to have found the secret of Dizhou's prosperity.

But when they were about to copy it elsewhere, they discovered that it was almost impossible.

The most successful copy of the Dizhou model over the years is Ezhou in Hubei Province. Prince Li Chengqian went there to sit in town for a year. Taking advantage of the convenience of the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Han River, some shadows of Dizhou gradually appeared.

But it's just a shadow.

But even this 'shadow' made everyone excited, which proved that the Dizhou model can be replicated, but they haven't mastered the knack of it.

As for why he didn't ask Yue Shan directly... Li Shimin asked, and he also said, it was useless.Others can't ask, this involves exclusive knowledge, and asking someone to inquire about this kind of thing is the same as stealing a teacher.

In short, they no longer had any hope of getting detailed information from Yue Shan, and they sent people over to observe and make records, hoping to analyze the reasons.

In the past, they all learned about Dizhou through other people's investigation reports, and they were always separated by one floor. Today, they finally came to Dizhou in person, so how could they not take a look.

So Li Shimin took his confidants into Dizhou City to conduct field inspections, while others stayed behind to change ships.

Sea-going ships have a deep draft, especially large sea-going ships cannot walk in many sections of the inland canal.

For example, the big boat that Li Shimin was on would definitely not be able to reach Chang'an, so he had to change it to a flat-bottomed boat here.It just so happened that he could take advantage of the time to change ships to visit Dizhou.

He first entered the mall openly and aboveboard, where he received officials from Jinkaido and Dizhou who had been waiting for a long time, and even gave them a banquet.

After resting for one night, the next day he pretended to be tired from the long trip and wanted to have a good rest. He declined everyone's audience, and actually changed into casual clothes and sneaked out for a private visit.

The party included Yue Shan, Changsun Wuji, Li Ji, Ma Zhou, Yang Shidao and others, and dozens of bodyguards were guarding all around.

Everyone first wandered on the streets of the mall.

Yue Shan has not been here for many years. To be honest, the appearance of the mall surprised him.Completely different from the original dilapidated county town, this whole is a brand new city.

The foundation has been raised by two meters. Unless the Yellow River diverts, there is no need to worry about being submerged.For this project alone, I don't know how much it cost.

Don't even think about changing to another city, unless the emperor forcibly recruits civilian husbands regardless of losses.

But none of the peasants in Dizhou were recruited, and they all spent money to hire people to work.So such a large project not only did not arouse public resentment, but won unanimous praise from the people... This kind of opportunity to make money is too rare.

After the foundation was raised, the city was rebuilt, the streets were all widened, the main road reached a width of more than ten meters, and the distance between the trails was also two meters.

The roads are all paved with stone slabs or blue bricks, and there is not a trace of mud in the city.

The houses are also very neatly built. All along the street are small two-story buildings with uniform specifications, and every house is a shop.

Moreover, there are sewers on both sides of the road, and there are grid entrances at every other section, which is convenient for pouring dirty water.Every large intersection has free public toilets for people to use.

In such a big city, there is no such unpleasant smell of feces and urine.

What surprised Li Shimin and others the most was that the sidewalk and carriageway were separated by wooden fences on the main road, and everyone kept to the right.

So there are a lot of people on the street. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are crowds of people, but it seems very orderly.Chang'an City was also very lively, but it was too chaotic compared to the one in front of us.

"This road is well planned, very good, who came up with the idea?" Li Shimin asked.

"Hehe, it's just me. I just said that at the time, and I went back to Beijing before I had time to implement it. I didn't expect them to do it." Yue Shan was also very pleased and a little proud.

"You, if you have such a good idea, why didn't you say it earlier? Chang'an can also learn from it." Li Shimin said.

"I can't learn it." Yue Shan shook his head and said, "These railings are dead, but people are alive. If the people walking on the road are not willing to walk according to the regulations, no matter how many railings are repaired, it will be useless."

"Then why are the people in the mall willing to abide by this rule?" Li Ji asked.

Before Yue Shan could open his mouth, Changsun Wuji sighed and answered the question for him:
"Because the mall controls the jobs of countless people, anyone who doesn't obey the traffic rules will be banned from entering the city for three days once, twice for half a month twice, and for half a year three times."

"This punishment is very severe, whether it is for businessmen or ordinary people. No one dares to violate it easily. There is no way for Chang'an City to use such severe punishment."

Yue Shan was surprised at first, how did he know so much, and then he realized that he must have done the investigation.So he nodded and added: "What Duke Qi said is true, but not comprehensive."

"It's also related to the atmosphere. Regardless of the prosperous business in Dizhou, the style of study is also one of the best in the Tang Dynasty. There is one elementary school class for every twenty school-age children here, and there is at least one school in every town."

"I can enter the county school government office to subsidize three renminbi a day for food subsidies, and I don't need to pay any repairs. Even the books are distributed for free by the school. Students only need to bring their own pens, inks, papers and inkstones. Not only that, but all of this is free of charge when you go to the state to study. , and even receive scholarships.”

"In order to encourage local students to study, the governor of the state will personally entertain outstanding students from the county and state schools every year, and award them certificates of outstanding students."

"That's why the reading culture prevails in Dizhou, and every family is proud of their children's education. In the academy, they will first teach the students various rules, and let these students go home and hand them over to their parents..."

"So there are rewards and punishments, supplemented by enlightenment, to have the current situation."

Before Li Ji could speak, Changsun Wuji interjected first, "Even if the government has given a lot of subsidies, studying still costs money. How can the people here afford such a lot of money?"

Yue Shan knew that Changsun Wuji was taking this opportunity to ask himself to help him answer his doubts, but he didn't mean to hide anything, so he said:
"Start from two aspects: first, lower the prices of pens, ink, paper, inkstones and books so that ordinary people can afford them; second, find ways to make ordinary people rich."

"This is the largest salt field in the country. One-third of the people work in the salt field, and the wages are at least ten yuan a day."

"Commerce is developed, and some people can go to the wharf and work for the merchants who come and go. Although they are tired, they can still earn ten or twenty coins a day."

"The Dizhou government government carries out some major projects every year, such as building bridges and paving roads, repairing embankments and sea dams, etc., instead of expropriating corvees, they use the method of hiring common people to work. The common people can also earn money."

"Women who are too old to do physical work, and women who are not suitable for publicity, can do some manual work at home."

"For example, a businessman bought wool from the north and shipped it here, and hired local people to make sweaters or leather clothes."

"When the clothes are made, the merchants can directly resell them in the mall and sell them to other merchants from all over the world... It saves a lot of time running back and forth, and also reduces the risk. The common people have a way to make money, which is called win-win."

"It can be said that there are no poor people in Dizhou, only lazy people. Even a disabled person will not die of hunger if he kneels on the side of the road with a bowl in hand."

"They are well-equipped and hard-working, and almost every family has a surplus, so most of them can afford the cost of their children's education."

Changsun Wuji continued to ask: "The purpose of studying is to become an official. There are very few students who can really pass the imperial examination. What about these students who fail? Are they willing to do hard work?"

Yue Shan asked rhetorically, "Who said that studying is for becoming an official? I said in the book "Education" that academies have two responsibilities, one is to teach people to be a person, and the other is to teach people to do things."

"Conversely, students also have two purposes in the school, learning to be a man and learning to do things. Everyone can understand being a man, but doing things is not just as narrow as being an official."

"After I studied medicine, I went to study medicine. Healing diseases and saving people is doing things. You can work as a shopkeeper or a clerk in a shop, or you can learn a craft. In short, as long as you are knowledgeable, you will be welcomed no matter what you do."

"Take the students of Dizhou Academy as an example. Less than one hundred of them can become officials. The rest of the students were paid high prices by various shops, and even many students who had passed the imperial examination were snatched away by these merchants. gone."

"Reading can change destiny, but the way to change destiny is not just being an official, there are countless paths."

Ma Zhou, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "I'm afraid this is the real reason why people in Dizhou are keen on letting their children study."

"This method is really... Yuehou is indeed a strange person, I admire him." Li Ji said in amazement.

Changsun Wuji also said with emotion: "It's because I'm too narrow...Study is really not just for being an official."

Others also have their own feelings, but they all admire Yue Shan from the bottom of their hearts.

Yue Shan shook his head and said: "It's not that you are too narrow-minded, but that your vision is too high. You are all the pillars of the Tang Dynasty, the elites of the era, and your focus is on military and state affairs. In your opinion, only being king and general is the only way to stand out. "

"However, for the general public, if they can fill their stomachs, change their current poverty, and easily earn money without having to work as coolies every day, they are considered success."

"For politicians, you can draw big pies for the people. But you can't draw too big. If it is too big, the people will think that it has nothing to do with them and have no motivation to pursue it."

"It is necessary to understand the thoughts of the people and draw a big pie that they can touch and touch. Only in this way can they be encouraged and let them obey the management and fight for it."

"Papa papa!" Li Shimin, who was listening silently at the side, couldn't help applauding, and said, "That's a great statement. I've heard about the mysteries of Dizhou for a long time, but I haven't been able to understand it. Hearing Cuilan's words today, I finally understood."

"The sage praised it absurdly." Yue Shan said modestly.

"You must remember these words. You must know what the people need and do it in a targeted manner to govern the world well. Don't be too ambitious." Li Shimin said to the others.

"Sir, you understand."

Then continue to wander around the mall to observe the actual situation here.

The more carefully they observe, the more surprised they are. The way of life, speech and behavior of the people here are very different from the cities they know.

It can be said that everything here gave them a completely different feeling, as if... they had arrived in another world.But everything is so prosperous.

However, Yue Shan knew in his heart that there is nothing truly perfect in the world, and there are many cruelties hidden under the prosperous appearance of the mall.

It's just that the mall is now in a stage of rapid development, and the development has covered up various problems, so people mistakenly think that everything here is good.

But generally speaking, the situation here is indeed much better than other places in Datang, which is true.

From morning to afternoon, everyone was hungry, so they found a restaurant to prepare dinner.

(End of this chapter)