Yang Fan didn't sit down, and neither did Xu Xianchun.
"Where is Brother Yang from? Where is the fairyland?" Xu Xianchun asked with a smile.
Yang Fan felt a little nervous, he was about to start questioning himself.
"Xiaguan was adopted by his master since he was a child. He doesn't know where he comes from or his family's origins. According to the master, he picked him up by the roadside."
Yang Fan knows that it is best not to lose his temper in front of these professional spies. You are no match for them. They are professionals in this field, so he simply blames everything on his non-existent master. Anyway, this person never existed, and there is no way to prove it.
"Oh, I don't know what to call my respected master," Xu Xianchun asked kindly.
He seemed to care about his subordinates, but in fact he was still trying to trick Yang Fan. Yang Fan felt disgusted in his heart. I don't want to hang out with you nine thousand years old. Why do you want to find out what I am doing? If you have the time, you might as well study His Majesty.
"The master's name is Xiaoyaozi" Yang Fan had no way to directly pull over the Tian Long Ba Bu.
"I don't know which sect your master belongs to."
"Xiaoguan did not practice Taoism with the master, and the master never mentioned the origin of the master's sect. He just taught me his own knowledge." Yang Fan said calmly.
"It's such a pity. Yang Qianhu has achieved great success as a young man, and his future is limitless. He will definitely be able to glorify his school in the future. It's a pity, it's a pity. I don't know what kind of knowledge Yang Qianhu has learned."
"This knowledge is relatively rare, Master calls it science."
Xu Xianchun was stunned, obviously he had never heard of this knowledge. "I have never heard of this science. What does this science study?"
"Science is also called natural science, and the scope of research is very wide, such as why the wind blows, why it rains, why the four seasons change, why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, etc."
Xu Xianchun thought for a while, and it was obvious that he had never considered these issues, and he did not think there was any need to consider them. In his opinion, these troubles were the original business of Taoist priests.
There is nothing wrong with praying for rain or something. Didn’t Zhuge Kongming also wear Taoist robes to borrow the east wind? What is reasonable cannot be more reasonable. It's doubtful that Taoist priests don't deal with these magical things.
"Yang Qianhu Young Talent, what do you think of today's Ming Dynasty?" Xu Xianchun put on a sad face and said in a low voice.
Yang Fan felt disgusted, and he really wanted to tell him impulsively, brother, you are already a grasshopper after the autumn, how about Ming Dynasty and you will have nothing to do with it soon?
I had no choice but to repeat my exact answer to the prince.
Xu Xianchun sighed and said, "You guys down there don't know the difficulties that Ming Dynasty is facing now."
Yang Fan said nothing and looked at Xu Xianchun.
"Do you know why we can't do anything to build slaves even though we have an army of one million people? In the past two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, the population has increased from tens of millions to 20 million, but why the tax revenue has been decreasing year by year."
Xu Xianchun looked at Yang Fan.
Yang Fan swallowed his saliva and said with a somewhat ashamed expression, "I don't know."
"Do you know what is the fundamental issue that determines the life and death of a court?" Xu Xianchun asked.
"I don't know about this, sir. Please tell me." Yang Fan dared to ask such a question.
"It's tax revenue. Did you know that the total tax revenue of our Ming Dynasty was only one-eighth of that of the Southern Song Dynasty?"
"So few." Yang Fan, who had been pretending to be dead, said out loud in surprise.
"It is because these scholars, scholars, and civil servants do not pay taxes. And unruly people dedicate their land to them, claiming that it is the land of scholars and evade taxes. However, the taxes they escape fall on the heads of other good people. In addition, the civil servants were corrupt. The annual salt tax of Taizu and Chengzu was more than 13 million yuan, but today it is less than 500,000 yuan. The current tax revenue of the imperial court is only 4 million taels a year. It can no longer maintain expenses and cannot pay the nine-year tax. We can only continue to increase taxes on the common people. Today, the burden on farmers in the Ming Dynasty is nearly ten times that of the Taizu Dynasty."
Yang Fan quickly looked shocked and nodded.
"And these scholars were often involved in business. They did not have to pay taxes and used the court's ships and post horses to transport goods, saving transportation costs. Naturally, other merchants could not compete with them. They went bankrupt one after another, and the profitable business of the Ming Dynasty gradually fell to them. In their hands. They are like locusts, doing whatever makes money, squeezing out any industry they enter. Now the Ming Dynasty’s most profitable industries have basically fallen into their hands.”
Yang Fan still knows something about these situations.
"Do you know how the Ming Dynasty was maintained for these seven years?"
"I don't know, I don't know." Yang Fan looked frightened.
"That's because Duke Wei got 20 million taels of silver for the Ming Dynasty in seven years. He stabilized the war situation in Liaodong and reduced taxes for farmers across the country."
Although Yang Fan knew that Wei Zhongxian and his group were not good people, he was still in awe. No matter what era you can get money from, it is talent and real ability.
"Eunuch Wei is truly a divine man," Yang Fan said sincerely in admiration.
"Yes, so the late emperor treated Eunuch Wei as Duke Xiao treated Shang Yang."
Yang Fan didn't know why he was talking to him about this, so he watched his performance quietly. These old foxes are all born movie stars. They talk about people and ghosts.
If you believe it, you lose.
"Yang Qianhu was at Baihu Station in Luoshitan at that time, with no more than thirty-six soldiers and no more than twelve officers. He could have just done what everyone else did and allowed the slaves disguised as horse bandits to wreak havoc. But you couldn't look down on your subordinates. People lost their lives, which shows that you have righteousness in your heart, even though tens of thousands of people are gone."
I understand, this old bastard thinks he understands himself through these things. A gentleman can deceive others. I am young and passionate, so I use this to fool myself, trying to fool myself into lameness.
When Xu Xianchun said this, he looked at Yang Fan expectantly. He was waiting for Yang Fan to say, Mr. Xu, what instructions do you have, and he will not hesitate to die for the Ming Dynasty, and so on.
Yang Fan also looked at him with respect, and the two of them stared at each other with big eyes. No one spoke.
An awkward atmosphere spread out. Yang Fan didn't even blink. He was joking. When he was in elementary school, he had a cross-eyed competition. No one was his rival. He was afraid of you, huh.
As long as I am not embarrassed, others will be embarrassed.
One minute, two minutes, time passed slowly. Xu Xianchun's cheeks twitched and his smile became stiffer and stiffer.
"Haha, Yang Qianhu will leave for the capital in two days. I need you to work hard along the way to complete this errand." Xu Xianchun's face turned sour and he was defeated.
"Don't worry, sir. I guarantee that nothing will go wrong with your superiors along the way." Yang Fan's expression remained unchanged.
"It's a good thing. When I get to the capital, I will commend the merits of Qianhu in front of Eunuch Wei."
"Your Excellency, you are too polite. This is just the obligation of a lower official."
Looking at Yang Fan's back as he left, Xu Xianchun cursed in his heart: "If you are so naughty at a young age, you will definitely be a disaster when you grow up."
