Princess Le'an and Xiao Niangpi went to pay for a house.
Yang Fan and Gong Yonggu were smoking in a pavilion by the river.
Now, the cigarettes from Xincheng Cigarette Factory have been officially launched. Produced using manual cigarette rolling equipment. Each hundred cigarettes are packed in a tinplate cylinder.
Cigarettes are not cheap nowadays, they were a luxury item in Ming Dynasty. A barrel of cigarettes costs one or two silver. On average, each cigarette costs one cent. You can buy thirty kilograms of cornmeal at this price.
"General Yang, I admire you very much. Since you became an official, you have fought for power, quelled bandits and rebellions, pacified the Mongolian tribes in Southern Mongolia, and annihilated the Zhenglan Banner. You have changed the decline of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years and given our country a chance to rejuvenate. Weather." Gong Yonggu bowed and saluted, and said very seriously.
"You don't have to be like this, Prince Consort. Yang Fan just did something that all the people with lofty ideals in the Ming Dynasty wanted to do. It's nothing." Yang Fan quickly avoided it. It would be inappropriate for him to receive such lavish gifts from a member of the royal family.
Yang Fan knew that Gong Yonggu admired elegance and liked to collect ancient books and Yi utensils. He was a close friend of Emperor Chongzhen's cousin Xin Lebo Liu Wenbing.
Liu Wenbing is cautious and kind, and does not make friends casually. He only made good friends with Wanping Tai student Shen Zhanran, civilian Huang Nilu and Prince Consort Gong Yonggu.
"I am always a little confused when I study. I wonder if General Yang can help me solve my confusion."
Yang Fan was stunned, but he didn't expect Gong Yonggu to ask him for advice. I am not a scholar. I have been in the Ming Dynasty for so long and I have not read a single book by sages. In fact, it is almost the same as being illiterate.
"Brother Gong is laughing at me. Yang Fan is a rough man. He is just a rough man in writing. If you want to read, the book really recognizes me. I don't recognize the book." Yang Fan said with a somewhat embarrassed smile.
"Brother Yang, there is no need to be too modest. I have been studying for ten years, and I have discovered that real knowledge is not found between the lines, but in the mind. The so-called insight into worldly matters is knowledge. If Brother Yang can achieve things that ordinary people can achieve, he must have insights that are far beyond ordinary people. .Maybe it can help me figure it out.”
Yang Fan smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Gong, please tell me. As long as I know anything, I will tell you frankly."
"Brother Yang, where does the wealth in this world come from?"
Yang Fan was stunned. He didn't expect that Gong Yonggu, an orthodox scholar, would ask this question.
"Wealth comes from labor and production. Just like farmers get food from farming, and craftsmen make useful utensils." Yang Fan replied casually.
Gong Yonggu nodded, and Yang Fan's answer was the most common answer. Nothing surprising. The wealth in this world is indeed created by farmers and workers.
"Wealth has been created, but how has it been distributed throughout the ages?" Gong Yonggu then asked.
Yang Fan became serious this time.
He knew that the previous words were foreshadowing, and Gong Yonggu would never talk nonsense to him. But I didn't expect that Gong Yonggu would ask such a profound question.
Yes, the wealth created by farmers and workers in China since ancient times is based on what principles and how it is distributed. This is a confusing question.
Many people live in a muddle-headed life in society and never make any money. I just don’t understand the rules of wealth distribution.
Therefore, wealth will never come into your own hands. Only by knowing how wealth is distributed can we find ways to get a share of the pie. Become a successful person.
Yang Fan clasped his hands behind his back and fell into deep thought.
Gong Yonggu looked at Yang Fan deep in thought and stood quietly behind him without saying a word.
This problem has troubled Gong Yonggu for a long time.
After careful and careful consideration of all the problems faced by Ming Dynasty today, he felt that there was a problem in the distribution of wealth.
Those who produce wealth cannot distribute it and starve to death. This logic was so absurd that he couldn't understand it.
"Have you read "The Book of Shang Jun"? What do you think of Shang Yang?" Yang Fan felt his fingers burning. He must have forgotten the cigarette in his hand just now and was burned by the cigarette butt. He also woke up.
"The laws of Qin are as complicated as Qiu Tu and the network is as dense as condensed fat. It makes the people very miserable. I privately believe that this path to the extreme is the root cause of the death of the second generation of the Qin Dynasty."
Yang Fan nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. This is the common view among later generations of Confucians."
Yang Fan then asked back: "Zhuge Liang governed Shu, changing Liu Zhang's light corvee and low taxation and giving the people rest. The criminal law was severe, the collection was excessive, and the corvee was heavy, but Shu was governed well. In the BC Yuan Dynasty, the court handed over local affairs to aristocratic families. It was the government with the least management in history. Why did it die in less than a hundred years?"
Gong Yonggu was stunned. He had read everything Yang Fan said in history books. But never thought about it in connection. This time Yang Fan compared these things that had happened in history, which made him speechless.
"I dynasty Taizu, expelled the Tartars, restored China, and established a new dynasty. I believe that the fall of the Yuan Dynasty was caused by being too tolerant to the people. Emperor Taizu is known for his strict laws and systems. Everyone must be classified as a scholar. Among the four people of agriculture, industry and commerce. Those who are not among the four people are called Yimin. Taizu massacred Yimin. Even the people's food, clothing, housing and daily affairs must be managed, which is more strict than the Qin Dynasty. People are not allowed to leave their hometown for fifty miles, otherwise they will be executed. But I have been in power for more than two hundred years now. Why?"
"Well, I'm really stupid, please ask Brother Yang to clarify." Gong Yonggu opened his mouth, but he really couldn't say anything.
"Actually, Shang Yang's reform, Zhuge Liang's rule of Shu, and the system of our dynasty all have a common purpose. That is to make a profit. That is, no matter who produces the wealth, the distribution must be carried out by power.
Taizu killed the common people and humiliated the merchants because the wealth they obtained was obtained by their own abilities instead of relying on power.
These people are a threat to those in power. "
Gong Yonggu fell into deep thought.
This has indeed been the case in China for thousands of years. Social wealth has been distributed based on power.
He recalled his early years studying. It is said that Xiao He only bought some poor fields in remote areas, but not good fields.
He said that if my descendants are promising and as diligent and thrifty as I am, these thin fields will be enough for them to live on. If they are not talented, have no future, and do not have the protection of power, they will not be able to keep their good land. Instead, it caused trouble for them.
He remembered reading the "Book of Han" that as soon as his former cousin Dou Ying lost power, his new cousin Tian Fu would immediately buy his land by force. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Jia Sidao wanted to buy the princess's land, but the princess was afraid of his power and did not dare not sell it to him.
"Power is not lasting, and a gentleman's glory lasts for five generations. When power is transferred, the wealth gained by power will also be transferred. It is said that those who understand current affairs are heroes." Yang Fan said.
Gong Yonggu said with shame: "Actually, my family asked me to choose the prince-in-law because they hoped to gain royal protection. This made Brother Yang laugh."
"People in this world just laugh at fifty steps and laugh at a hundred steps." Yang Fan shook his head. "The most difficult thing in the world is to eat. In life, there are old people at the top and young at the bottom. It is extremely difficult to stand up to the current of the world. Who really has the right to laugh at whom."
"Brother Yang, I have thought about it over and over. Today in the Ming Dynasty, those who work in the fields eat chaff, those who weave mats sleep on earthen beds, and those who sell salt drink soup. Why do the producers of wealth not get a share of the wealth they produce? It is because they have no power. ."
