Great Wei Overlord

Chapter 380 Merchants participate in politics (six more)
Chapter 383

At five o'clock the next day, Dong Run raised his tent and gathered generals at the East Camp in Yecheng. The red mobile strategic force had already been ordered to go to the "front line", and the counterattack troops left behind in Yecheng were almost all the elite troops of Ran Min's lineage.

Regardless of the equipment of the troops or the fighting style, the elite of the Sixth Battalion are worthy of the title of king.

Dong Run reprimanded the generals: "Anyone who underestimates the military exercise will be executed again!" The generals saw that because of the military exercise, General Dong was deprived of food and fined for one year, and they dared not despise the military exercise anymore.

After all, the elite troops are elite troops. The Red Army is on guard as if it is facing a big enemy, but the blue army scouts have no chance to take advantage of it.

It was when Wei Guo's military exercise attracted the attention of the world.

Ran Ming and the merchants of the Wei Guo Business League began to make a fortune silently.

When Chu Suanzi was shocked to hear that a large number of craftsmen and families in the eight counties of Xuyang had moved, he also thought about sending troops to chase and intercept them, but Sima Xi remonstrated: "Queen Mother, you must not provoke the State of Wei at this time. At this time, there are more than ten Wei troops. Ten thousand troops, Chen Bing and Xu Jing, are moving along the line, and if they anger Wei at this time, there is no guarantee that they will not take the opportunity to attack. At this time, we are in the Great Jin Dynasty, and we have no power to counter Wei, so we can only plan slowly!"

Chu Suanzi sighed secretly, originally Wei Guoxiong was the strongest soldier in the world, if all these craftsmen went to Wei Guo, it would not take long for Wei Guo to become the number one in the world.

Chu Suanzi sighed in his heart, now Yin Fu in the Jin Dynasty will gradually become history, but what advantage does the Jin Dynasty have now?
Is it the danger of the great river?The surging river water can keep the Jin Dynasty safe for several years.

But will the danger of the great river protect the Jin Dynasty forever?

Chu Suanzi shook his head, not to mention the gigantic warships of the Wei State in the Yangtze River, even the five-tooth warships can easily defeat the battleships of the Jin Dynasty. In terms of quality, the warships of the Wei State are not weaker than the Jin Dynasty. The difference is nothing but quantity.

Chu Suanzi checked the relevant information. Selfless officials, boatmen and skilled sailors are all the key targets of Wei State's recruitment this time. I am afraid that the Jin Dynasty's water advantage will no longer exist.

Chu Suanzi secretly asked himself, where should the Jin Dynasty go?Now attacking Wei State again has become a fool's dream. Wei State is changing and changing with each passing day. I am afraid that even if Chu Suanzi has Huan Wen's secret support to attack Wei State, it will be difficult to win a complete victory.

"It's hard to get over the water," Chu Suanzi suddenly had this idea in his head.

The general trend of the world today is even clearer, and the strong rise of Wei State is irreversible.It turns out that Wei State still has a shortcoming in terms of wealth, but now Wei State's grain production is almost self-sufficient.

But it is obviously impossible for Chu Suanzi to swallow this breath. It is not a gentleman to have revenge without revenge. Although Chu Suanzi is a gentleman, but a woman, it does not mean that she will not take revenge.

Soon Chu Suanzi came up with a clever plan. Wei Guo Ranming used money to induce Jin Dynasty craftsmen to relocate to Wei State collectively, and she also came up with a similar plan.

Chu Suanzi summoned Minako Yichuan and asked, "It was previously reported that Lord Wei treated scholars harshly?"

Minako Yichuan thought for a while and said: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, the major gentry of the Wei State are only in charge of government affairs, and all military affairs are controlled by the nobles of the Wei State. , in terms of severe punishment according to the law, relatively speaking, the ruler of the state of Wei treats scholars harshly."

Chu Suanzi said: "In this way, the scholars of Wei State can be regarded as the ruler of Wei State. How many complaints?"

"That's right!" Minako Yichuan said, "Wei's agricultural tax is extremely low, and there is no corvee. Most of the people have their own land, and there are very few tenants under the name of the gentry. The low land rent is rented to tenants. Since then, the income of scholars has been greatly reduced, so their dissatisfaction is natural!"

When Chu Suanzi heard the words, his heart moved, he needed powerful soldiers to conquer the world, but to govern the world, scholars were inseparable.

If the gentry of the Wei State fled in large numbers and made another trip to the south in clothes, then the Wei State would be in chaos without a fight.

Thinking of this, Chu Suanzi was even more proud, and said to Minako Yichuan: "Minako, now you have one task, to instigate the rebellion against the scholars of Wei at all costs."

"The slaves obey!"

Chu Suanzi didn't know that what she thought she was proud of was actually carrying a burden for Wei Guo.

To Ran Ming's surprise, Chu Suanzi was indifferent to the migrating army.

Although Ran Ming made a bluff and successfully delayed the Jin army's interception, they were still within the control of the Jin Dynasty. By land, in places farther along the Yangtze River, the migrating people can only move forward at a speed of forty or fifty miles per day.

But Ran Ming never expected that Chu Suanzi would hold back his breath.

As early as the beginning of Ran Ming's plan, he began to arrange the direction of intensive industrial production.

In the meeting hall of Ran Mansion, the periphery has been secretly controlled by the Qilin Guards, and no one can get close to them at all. At this time, Ran Ming is in charge of holding a meeting of great significance!

"Since ancient times, all dynasties have always focused on agriculture. Why?" Ran Ming asked rhetorically.

Although everyone present was literate, and their knowledge was not too extensive, the one who was really knowledgeable was Xue Tao, who was born in a powerful family.Xue Tao wanted to perform well in front of Ran Ming, so he said: "The country is based on agriculture, because food is related to the stability and long-term peace of the country. To enrich the people, educate the people, and seek a long-term life for the country must focus on agriculture and promote agriculture. !"

Ran Ming said: "You are all wealthy people, why are you inferior to an old farmer in social status?"

Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce are the so-called four peoples in ancient times, referring to those who study, farm, work, and do business.That is to say, reading comes first, followed by agriculture, followed by work, and last by businessmen.It can be seen that in the feudal period, merchants had the least status.

Chen Ying was puzzled and said: "You are not talented, please show me your Highness!"

Ran Ming said: "It's very simple, nothing more than two words of contribution!"

"contribute!"

The crowd discussed in private.

Ran Ming said: "How much was the agricultural tax in the past? How much was the commercial tax?"

"Gaozu Han founded the Great Han Dynasty, and set a tax system of five tithes, while the commercial tax was three tithes."

Since farmers’ tax is one-fifteenth and commercial tax is one-thirtieth, farmers actually have to bear the burden in addition to agricultural tax, corvee and forced purchases ranging from tens of percent.

Throughout the feudal era, the burden on farmers basically exceeded [-] to [-]%, or even more.The land under the name of the gentry does not need to be taxed, so many self-cultivating farmers are often overwhelmed and are willing to send their land to the name of the gentry to evade taxes.

Ran Ming said: "Businessmen's status is not low, and they are discriminated against. From now on, I will no longer be discriminated against by the world, and I can be in the imperial court like scholars and peasants? Taxation is not to force everyone to go bankrupt, so this tax system must be within the acceptable range of everyone, but And it can’t be too low, so that the court will have no money to use and no food to adjust. In addition, collecting taxes, I’m afraid it’s not easy, there will be two problems. If those merchants who set up workshops ask you to pay for the annual surplus yourself, and the imperial court collects taxes on it, I think you guys, the report is not true."

It can be said that collecting taxes in this era is not only unprofessional, not only commercial taxes, but also agricultural taxes are completely nonsense, and it all depends on the wishes of local officials.

On the other hand, the local officials dare not touch the big families. These aristocratic families are deeply rooted in the local area. If you touch one, dozens of people will jump out to create public opinion or say hello to relatives and friends above. Can mess you up.

Ran Ming continued: "This tax is actually not dead. You can deal with it according to your actual situation. But what about in the future? The lonely king will always grow old one day. What will we do then? Leave the idea of ​​the system. How should this system be set? Of course, not only rely on those officials, count on them, it is better to count on the sows to climb the tree! Taxes must be formulated by you, and you must have the right to participate in politics!"

Ran Ming painted a bigger picture for them.

The political status of merchants is extremely low. Except for Lu Buwei, who was born as a merchant, and participated in politics as the Great Qin Cheng, other merchants have no political connections at all.

There is another main reason for Ran Ming's efforts to promote businessmen to participate in politics.

This involves a bit of a wide range. In the entire feudal era of China, it is said that foreign relations were mainly based on appeasement, especially in foreign wars. They would rather cede land and pay compensation than fight back in self-defense.This is a history of blood and tears for the Chinese people.Ran Ming carefully checked all kinds of information, and finally found that the Chinese people's war-weariness is not at all the so-called Confucian benevolence and righteousness, nor is it bloodless, but a matter of interests.

why?It is because scholars were the political backbone group in China's feudal era, and they controlled the government to seek the greatest benefit for themselves.We must know that the interests of scholars are mainly land and taxes.

As long as a war is launched, food, farmers, and no farmers need to be recruited. The losses of these gentry and big landlords are huge, and these are all free of charge. This is tantamount to cutting flesh from the gentry.There is a saying that if the needle does not pierce the flesh, it will not hurt.The war makes the gentry feel pain, so they will naturally choose to avoid the war as much as possible to reduce losses.Although their loss is small, the loss of the country's interests is great.

Ran Ming found the root cause of the Chinese people's war-weariness and lack of blood, and naturally found a way to deal with it.That is to allow businessmen to participate in politics. If businessmen are in power, or have a certain right to speak in the court, they will, like the United States in later generations, seek markets for arms dumping, or find dumping markets for backlogged goods, and will start wars again and again.

To put it bluntly, war is about fighting the economy.What is being fought is national power, and national resources are in the hands of conservative landlords. This is a tragedy for the country. They ignore the interests of the country for their own interests, which is really distressing.

Ran Ming felt that if Wei Guo wanted to achieve prosperity and long-term peace and stability, he had to change his way of thinking.Merchant CPPCC is the only feasible way.

(End of this chapter)