The daily morning meeting is somewhat similar to the morning meeting in a company in later generations. It usually lasts for a short time. The issues are usually distributed to various ministries by the palace minister on the first day, so that all civil and military officials can prepare; when the morning meeting is held the next day, all civil and military officials You can express your opinions and opinions immediately without having to think twice. This can ensure that the morning court ends in the shortest possible time, so that ministers at all levels will not delay their official duties due to the morning court.
But after all, it is not calculated based on time, and sometimes topics are added temporarily, so every morning morning meeting has its own length and shortcomings. Today's morning meeting itself only had two issues, and Yang Guang decided arbitrarily, resulting in the morning meeting ending in less than half an hour.
This kind of efficiency may be one of the rare benefits of the Sacred Heart's dictatorship and hegemony.
Yang Ji was a late observer. When he arrived, it was just the time to start the topic of "digging the Grand Canal." After Yang Guang dismissed the courtiers in a few words, he announced that the court was dismissed. In the end, Yang Ji was in Qianqiu Hall. Less than a moment.
It comes in a hurry and goes in a hurry, that's all.
"Uncle Wang, Uncle Wei Wang!" When he left Suzhang Gate, the main south gate of Qianqiu Palace, someone suddenly called him. Yang Ji looked back and saw Yang Zhao walking towards him with a smile on his face. When the ministers saw that the prince had come out, they all bowed to him.
"Prince!" This is the palace, and there are so many ministers watching. Yang Ji quickly stepped forward and performed the courtesy of a monarch and his ministers.
Yang Zhao returned the gift and said with a smile: "Why did Uncle Wang come to court today? I didn't even see you."
Yang Ji said casually: "There has been heavy snow and wind these days, which has also affected the martial arts examinations. It is inevitable that the warriors will not be able to do well in the exams. I have set the time for the competition in the afternoon. There is nothing to do early this morning, so I will Come and listen and feel the morning atmosphere."
"Uncle Wang will definitely have a place in the future prime minister, so it's good to feel it in advance." Yang Zhao also doubted that he would be there, and said with a smile: "I heard that Uncle Wang broke the arms of more than ten corrupt officials in the Ministry of War yesterday who were controlling military exercises. He didn't do anything. Kill them?"
"Of course not!" Yang Ji said with a smile: "I plan to let them do their work first, and after the martial arts competition is over, it will not be too late to hand it over to the court for trial."
"It's very satisfying." Yang Zhao laughed.
The two were talking, and one of them saluted Yang Zhaoshen: "Old minister, I'm here to see the prince."
At first glance, the uncle and nephew saw that it was Yu Wenshu. From what they could see, he saluted Yang Ji with a fist and a smile on his face.
Yang Ji glanced at him coldly, crossed his arms and remained indifferent. He was not despicable enough to be polite to the person who murdered him, and it was because Yang Liang had no evidence, so he would die without any proof. Otherwise, he would have to destroy Yu Wenshu's mansion.
Why did he create Tianmen?
The first task is to find and collect the criminal records of Yuwen and his son. Everything else is unimportant.
Yang Zhao is the prince, so it is impossible that he is unaware of the grievances between the two. Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, he quickly smiled and said to Yuwen Shu: "General Yuwen has a happy face. It seems that he has become rich again recently?"
Yu Wenshu smiled coquettishly, cupped his hands and said: "The prince is joking, the old ministers live on their salaries, and their family is barely able to make ends meet. Alas, the officials in the capital don't have the means to make money like the local officials. Those local officials are full of money."
"No matter how much money a local official makes, he still has to come to the capital to burn incense and worship Buddha?" Yang Ji said in a nonchalant manner: "It is said that a certain general in the capital not only controlled the pig iron business in the Sui Dynasty, but also had three thousand fake men. . These pretenders are all people with strong martial arts skills and huge wealth. As long as they pay enough gambling money, it is easy to get promoted and make a fortune. It is a pity that others only think that this great general is greedy for money, but I think this great general is greedy for money. The general's ambition is not small! If the 3,000 impostors of this general are all good at fire, then this person will control the 30,000-strong army of our Sui Dynasty. If they are all captains, then it will be 150,000-strong army. And I even heard that what is even more terrifying is that this person has been recruiting talents in the name of the Northern Zhou royal family. If this general uses the money in his hands to buy food and use pig iron to forge weapons, I think this general can easily recruit people. There are more than 100,000 troops, right? General, do you think this is true?"
Yang Zhao was secretly shocked. It was not a secret that Yu Wenshu was good at collecting fake children. It was just that everyone thought that Yu Wenshu's covetousness of the fake children's property was a sign of self-destruction. However, few people realized that these fake children were concentrated. The strength to rise. Recalling that Yuwenshu had always claimed to be a descendant of the Northern Zhou royal family, he couldn't help but become wary.
Yu Wenshu's face changed slightly and he said coldly: "I don't know what King Wei means by this."
"I'm not talking about General Yuwen, what are you worried about? But I think there is no airtight wall in the world, so if you want others to know, you have to do it yourself! And I happen to know many of this general's lies, and I want to learn from them. Dogs turn into humans, and these pretenders who want to be humans happen to have a lot of shady evidence about this general." Yang Ji chuckled and said, "For example, this general sent his family to tell Yang Liang, you said that I, Yang Ji, was going to Youzhou to capture Dou Kang, and asked Yang Liang to send troops to intercept and kill me on the way. Although this person only sent a verbal message, he forgot that Bingzhou was under Yang Liang's rule at that time. It is easy to follow a person. Although Yang Liang did not arrest him, he still knew the basics. Although the evidence in my hand is insufficient, I feel that if I follow the clues and investigate, I may eventually find sufficient evidence for this general to rebel against Sui Fuzhou. .”
Yang Ji's meaningful words made Yu Wenshu's expression change again and again, and his heart couldn't help but beat. He was very passive now. He didn't know what Yang Ji wanted to do or how to take revenge on him, let alone him. How many fakes he has controlled, and how many criminal evidences have been collected from the fakes.
But he was an old and cunning man after all. Although he was in a state of confusion, there was no trace of panic on his face. He pretended to be calm and bowed his hand to Yang Zhao: "Prince, I have military affairs to attend to, so I'll take my leave first."
He glared at Yang Ji, turned around and left.
Yang Zhao knew Yang Ji very well and knew that what he said was more of a threat than any real evidence. As soon as Yu Wenshu left, he said seriously: "Uncle Wang, Aye now relies on him as a close confidant. Not even Yang Su. You shouldn't offend him like this to the death."
Yang Ji stared at Yu Wenshu's back and said with a smile: "Don't you think he is already very angry? If he has a clear conscience, why should he be so frightened? I will teach you a saying today, that is, 'Don't do anything in your life. If you do something wrong, you are not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night. And Yu Wenshu obviously did something wrong, so everyone is at war. For a person with a heart as solid as ice, he was so frightened by me. Do you think the crime he committed will be small? ?"
Yang Zhao turned around and saw that Yu Wenshu left in an unusual hurry. Even some ministers greeted him but ignored them, appearing very absent-minded. At the same time, it also gave him a feeling of being a guilty thief and running away.
He turned to Yang Ji and asked, "So?"
"So?" Yang Ji smiled: "For some criminals, sometimes we can judge whether they are guilty or not without real evidence."
Yang Zhao shook his head: "Without real evidence, what's the use?"
"At least you can guard against him, lest you get tricked by him without knowing it."
"Indeed." Yang Zhao glanced around, then took Yang Ji to a remote place and asked in a low voice: "Uncle Wang, do you think Aye's idea of opening the canal is a good one?"
Yang Ji looked around. Although they were standing in a relatively secluded place, the ministers next to them still deliberately slowed down their pace. The jealousy in some people's eyes could not be concealed. After all, Yang Zhao has been named the prince, but Yang Ji and the prince are talking and laughing, and have such a close relationship, which will really make many people envious, jealous, and hateful.
He smiled: "It's definitely good, but if you rush for success, it will be harmful to the present and beneficial to the future."
Yang Zhao sighed and said with a wry smile: "That's right. But you can also see Aye's attitude. He clearly wants to dig right away."
Yang Ji pondered for a while and said, "Maybe there is a way to get the best of both worlds."
"any solution?"
"Sectional contracting."
"What the hell?" Yang Zhao is someone who has interacted with Yang Ji a lot, and is used to hearing weird words, but when he heard this sentence, he still didn't understand and was confused.
"Prince." Just as Yang Ji was about to explain, an official ran over, saluted Yang Zhao and said, "The saint invites you to come to the imperial study room of the Zhonghua Palace to discuss matters."
Yang Zhao nodded and asked these great eunuchs: "Did the saint only summon me?"
"No!" the eunuch replied: "There are also Yang Xiong, the king of Ande, Shesu Wei, the right servant of the minister, Yang Yue, the minister of the internal history, Pei Ju, the minister of Huangmen, Yu Shiji, the minister of the internal history, Niu Hong, the minister of the Ministry of official affairs, and Li Ziquan, the minister of the Ministry of civil affairs. , Xiao Jue, Minister of the Ministry of War, Gao Jun, Taichang Qing, Zhang Heng, the imperial censor, and Yan Bi, the great craftsman."
"I understand." Yang Zhao said to Yang Ji: "It should be related to the canal. Uncle Wang should go too."
Yang Ji frowned and said, "I want to go to the military camp to watch the martial arts competition!"
"You've moved the martial arts test to the afternoon. It's still early now. What's the harm in going to listen?" Yang Zhao said: "And you said that attracting investment and subcontracting are the best of both worlds. Maybe it will be useful."
"Okay!" Yang Ji no longer refused, and went to the imperial study room with Yang Zhao.
The spacious royal study room was warm, and the charcoal burning in the brazier gave off a faint fragrance. The red flames occasionally "crackled" and spewed out two or three sparks, and then went dormant again in the blink of an eye.
Yang Guang, Yang Xiong, Su Wei, Yang Yue, Pei Ju, Yu Shiji and others are all here, waiting for Yang Zhao.
The emperors and ministers of the Sui Dynasty were all very surprised by Yang Ji's arrival. You must know that Yang Ji would not go to court if nothing happened, and he would not go to court if something happened. Only when Liangzhou needed funding from the court, he came and squatted in Shangshu Province every day to ask for supplies. After receiving the supplies, he urged the ministries to send them in time.
After greeting each other, Yang Guang teased: "King Wei can actually go to court, what a rare visitor!"
"Sage, I actually listen every day, but you don't know it." Yang Jirui said shamelessly.
"Since you're here, then sit down." Yang Guang didn't bother to expose him. It might be possible to sit in once or twice. If Yang Ji was among the officials listening every day, then the palace minister would have seriously neglected his duty.
"Here!" Since this was a private meeting and the etiquette was more casual, Yang Ji saluted Yang Guang and sat behind his old cousin Yang Xiong.
"I came to you mainly to talk about the canal." Yang Guang said: "Actually, if you think about it carefully, you will find that the canal consumes more manpower and financial resources than you think."
Yang Guang also knew that forced orders and persuasion had completely different effects. As long as these important ministers were convinced, things would be easier to handle. After saying the opening remarks, he ordered: "Bring up the map of the mountains and rivers of the Sui Dynasty."
"Yes!" The eunuch who was waiting at the door retreated. After a while, he brought up the woodcarvings with different rules, sizes, and colors, and soon spliced them into a painting in the study. A perfectly coherent map of the territory of the Sui Dynasty. The eunuchs fetched another large wooden frame, lifted the map onto the wooden frame, and then all retreated.
This is because Yang Guang disliked the fact that paper and silk pictures could not be recycled. He would immediately discard each picture he drew. After drawing and drawing a battle situation, no one knew what it meant in the end, so he ordered the craftsmen to carve this picture according to the map. Map, and then paint the states of the world with different colors. Not only is it clear at a glance, but after the lines are drawn, they can be used with just a wipe.
"What a good thing!" Yang Ji couldn't help but said when he saw this precise puzzle: "Sage, give me one."
"Okay!" Yang Guang also understood the military value of this map and said with a smile: "It's a pity that there are no accurate maps for Yizhou, Tingzhou, Xizhou, Shanshan, and Qiemo that you captured, so then Five places, relatively vague.”
Yang Ji hurriedly said: "Assign me some powerful surveying craftsmen, and I promise to cooperate fully."
"..." Everyone was speechless. Could you please stop being so shameless? Are you planning to hire a carver or painter next?
"Okay!" Yang Guang readily agreed to Yang Ji. He gathered everyone in front of the huge map. He used a wooden pole to slowly draw along the Guangtong Canal and said: "From the pre-Qin Dynasty to the present, all dynasties have excavated There are a large number of canals, and their announcements are almost all over the world. There are a large number of canals reaching Guanzhong in the west, Dahai in the east, Jiaozhou in the south, and Youzhou in the north. These old canals have objectively created conditions for us. If we combine these Canals extending in all directions connect with natural rivers and can reach most of the world. In the fourth year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, the late emperor used the channels left by the Han Dynasty and ordered Yu Wenkai to open Guangtong Canal. This canal is south of the Weishui River and east of Nanshan Mountain. , connecting to the Yellow River at Tongguan, with a total length of more than 300 miles, but the entire project started in June of that year and was successfully completed in just over three months."
At this point, he pointed to Shanyangdu in the south and introduced: "In the seventh year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, we started to excavate Shanyangdu in Yangzhou. Shanyangdu starts from Yangzijin in Jiangdu County in the south and ends at Shanyang in the north. It is about three meters long. Hundreds of miles long, it connects the rivers of the Yangtze River and the Huai River. In name, it is excavating, but in fact, the whole process uses the old road of Hangou in Wu State, so it only takes a few months."
"These two canals are said to be excavated, but in fact there are not many river sections involved. The main project is to dredge the blocked old canals and remove the sludge. This is why they were completed so quickly."
Yang Guang put down the wooden pole in his hand and drew a few lines with a long charcoal pen to connect the Luoshui River, the Yellow River, the Bianshui River, the Sishui River, and the Huai River. Then he continued to talk to everyone: "The water transport between the Yellow River and the Huai River , it was already connected by a chasm during the Warring States Period, and was slowly replaced by the Bian Canal in the Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Bian Canal was further renovated, and small boats are still passable today."
"The Tongji Canal I envision is to divert the stream water into the valley water, merge with the Luoshui River in the west of Luoyang New City, flow eastward to Yanshi, and then merge with the Yishui River. It will continue to flow eastward and enter the Yellow River from Luokou in Gongxian County. Then it goes along the Yellow River to Banzhu, passes through Yingze, enters the Bian Canal, and reaches the Huai River. Then it goes east from the Huai River to Shanyang, and can reach the Yangtze River (Yangtze River) through Shanyangdu."
"The section from Luoshui to the Yellow River is mainly about dredging and widening the old Yangqu channel dug in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The amount of work is not large. From Banzhu to Huai, whether to follow the old Honggou channel or the Bianqu channel requires Yan Qing to go Exploration has been carried out. But no matter which way we go, the main project is to connect the old road and the natural river channel. The places that require a lot of excavation may only be the connection points and the straightened parts."
After Yang Guang's detailed explanation, Gao Jun, Su Wei, Pei Ju and others all felt that this project was not actually such a waste of time and money.
The late emperor built the Guangtong Canal with a total length of more than 300 miles in three months. Although many civilians in Guanzhong were employed, due to reasonable arrangements, adequate supervision, and paid labor, nothing happened at all. There were complaints. If the emperor envisioned hundreds of miles of canals, using two to three times the manpower, with reasonable arrangements and adequate supervision, then it could be completed calmly within half a year.
Then think about the huge role that the Guangtong Canal will play in the commercial exchanges, economic development, and cultural exchanges between Guanzhong and China. The persistence in everyone's hearts was faintly weakened.
There was silence in the study for a long time. Su Wei, a servant of the left side of the Shangshu Province, let out a long sigh, cupped his hands to Yang Guang and said: "To the sage, the food consumed by the migrant workers can be provided by the official warehouses of the states through which the canal passes, but the people The department’s warehouse is out of money!”
"Is the imperial court so poor that it has no money?" Yang Guang was also shocked and said to Li Ziquan, Minister of Civil Affairs: "Li Qing, tell me! Where did all the money go?"
"Here!" Li Ziquan cupped his hands and said, "Sage, the court really has no money. In the past few years, I, the Sui Dynasty, have spent too much money. Among them, the person who spends the most money is none other than King Wei."
"Really?" Yang Ji thought about it in his mind, and it seemed that he was indeed the courtier who knew how to spend money.
"That's right!" Li Ziquan didn't give Yang Ji any face. He glared at him fiercely and said, "King Wei, you first spent a lot of money to fight and pull out valleys to clear the way, and then you fought the Turks, so the court gave you another A large amount of money was given to the fallen soldiers and rewarded the meritorious soldiers. After that, you kept fighting and fighting, and the court kept giving you weapons, equipment, money and food. At the same time, you opened a straight road through Yongliang, which also cost money. You even want us to buy farm tools for you, but you think you can’t live a good life?”
"Too much is too much." Yang Ji admitted his mistake and said seriously: "But you still have to buy it for me."
Li Ziquan was almost angry to death. He calmed down and said to Yang Guang: "The second big spender is King Teng. When there was a flood in Henan, the court allocated a large sum of money to Yang Nayan (Yang Da) to relieve the victims, and then He also allocated money to King Teng to restore people's livelihood, build places, and build the Yellow River embankment, and then spent money to King Wei to resettle victims and build places, but after the money arrived in Liangzhou, none of it came back."
When Yang Ji heard this, he roughly understood what was going on. Although the money given to him by the court was actually used, and when the people had money, they also used it one after another. Although it revitalized Liangzhou's economy, There was no commercial tax in the Sui Dynasty, so those copper coins were only circulated in Liangzhou and could not return to the hands of the imperial court.
But for the court, the amount of copper produced in the Sui Dynasty was not high. Once the money representing wealth could not be collected, the court would naturally have less currency for circulation.
After calculating it one by one, Yang Ji finally understood that what Su Wei meant by "no money" was not real wealth, but the copper coins that represented wealth.
Li Ziquan continued: "Although Yang Liang's rebellion has been put down, the court still spends money on rewards and pensions. The Changqian and Xindu that are about to be built will undoubtedly have an astronomical number of approvals. How can there be money to hire workers now? Canal?"
The rest of the people also discussed one after another, discussing whether the canal should be opened. After all, the court has no money.
Yang Guang was not dissatisfied with what Li Ziquan said, but remained silent. Obviously, he had also considered these things. He thought for a while and asked, "Can I use food, cloth, silk, etc. instead of money?"
"I'm afraid not." Li Ziquan said: "Grain, cloth, and silk are the items that people exchange for money. They don't lack these, what they lack is money."
"Where did the money go?" Yang Guang also felt a headache. He never had to worry about money in his life, and the opportunities to spend money in person were extremely rare. At this moment, he really couldn't imagine where the money had gone.
Li Ziquan said: "People have grain, cloth, and vegetables. At most they can buy some oil, salt, and meat. After they have money, they are reluctant to spend it, so they keep it at home."
Su Wei shook his head: "The money collected by the common people is only part of it, and most of it is in the treasury of high-ranking officials and noble families. This is because the money-hungry industries are in the hands of high-ranking officials and noble families. Suppose they make money every day At the end of the day, if you only spend one coin, you will naturally collect the remaining 999 copper coins. In this way, there will be more and more money in each treasury and less and less money on the market."
Yang Zhao glanced at Yang Ji and said, "Uncle Wang, didn't you say that segmented contracting is the best of both worlds for building the canal? Can your method solve all problems?"
"Sectional contracting"?
Everyone looked at each other in confusion as they listened to this unprecedented new word.
"I think it's okay." Yang Ji nodded. He faced the inquiring eyes of everyone and did not show off. He explained: "As the name suggests, segmented contracting means that the court first determines the total cost of the canal, and then divides the specific construction links into According to the requirements of the imperial court, these people undertook the tasks of digging river beds, strengthening river embankments, and building wharves and ports, and earned the price difference."
"Although the imperial court has no money, as Su Gong said just now, dignitaries, aristocratic families, and well-known businessmen have plenty of money. I believe these people will be greatly tempted by the huge price difference of the canal. Since they are tempted, then pay first Open a certain section of canal, and wait until the craftsmen sent by the imperial court have successfully inspected it and feel that the quality of the project is acceptable. Then give them gold and silver of equal value. In this way, won't copper coins flow out?"
Everyone here is an outstanding person, and they instantly understood the meaning of "section contracting". The principle is actually very simple, just like someone building a house, usually the drawings are finalized and handed over to a craftsman. He has full authority to construct the work and give him part of the money. After acceptance, the balance will be paid. The only difference is that the house has been replaced by the Grand Canal.
As Yang Ji said, dignitaries, aristocratic families, and well-known businessmen have a lot of money. One or two people may not be able to afford the huge amount of money to build the canal, but after it is divided into sections, it will be shared by ten, hundreds, or thousands of people.
In order to obtain the huge price difference of the canal, these people also easily accepted the condition of advance payment when they saw that the business partner was the imperial court.
Yang Guang can be sure that as long as the news of the "section contracting" of the canal is released, the famous families will definitely compete to seize one or two sections to dig.
After all, who would care about money?
Su Wei was also impressed and said: "King Wei's method is simply killing two birds with one stone. It not only solves the problem of the court's lack of money, but also saves the court from using its power to disturb the people. The key is that after contracting it to civil society, corrupt and illegal things will never be done. The imperial officials turned to the civil society itself... There was just one thing to worry about."
Yang Ji smiled and asked, "What's the matter?"
Su Wei said: "What if someone has ulterior motives and shoddy quality or cut corners during the excavation process?"
"Yes! This is exactly what I am worried about." Gao Jiong also nodded, and said with certainty: "There are almost no perfect moral gentlemen in the world. Facing the huge wealth of building the canal, there must be someone who is good at materials, They manipulate the quality of the project in order to make more money.”
Yang Ji had already had a clue: "Any family or individual who wins the right to contract must pay a deposit in advance. The imperial court entrusted a person with high status and trustworthy character to serve as the chief inspector, and established an inspection team whose responsibilities There are two: one is to supervise the quality and construction period of the project; the other is to prevent the occurrence of collusion between businessmen and officials, forced recruitment of people, and oppression of people. If the construction period is overdue or the quality is not up to standard, then all deposits will be returned to the state. If there is collusion between government and businessmen, etc. If you do something wrong, you will be severely punished according to the law."
"This is like tying a noose around the neck of the contractor. Instead of worrying about these people playing tricks, we expect them to die. As long as shoddy goods are found during the construction, their construction qualifications will be immediately revoked and their construction qualifications will be revoked." The deposit is confiscated. This method can make money faster than any other business. Of course, the purpose of the imperial court is to dig the canal rather than making money, so the progress of the project will be affected and each contractor will be given ten opportunities to make mistakes."
"What a plan!" Gao Jiong saluted Yang Guang and said, "Sage, if the canal is constructed according to the section contracting method, I am willing to serve as the general inspector."
Gao Jiong had always known that his influence in the officialdom was far greater than that of Yang Guang, Yang Su, and Su Wei. Especially after Yang Su was promoted to Shangshu Ling, there were loud voices calling on him to take over the post of Youpu She.
This is not only his supreme glory, but it is also a deep hidden danger.
Even if you don't do anything in the future, the hidden danger will become greater.
People will say, why don't you do it? Why don't you contact foreign ministers?
What are you afraid of? Is there any hidden secret hidden in your heart?
Yang Su corrupted himself by being greedy for money, and focused on amassing money to enjoy luxury, so as to eliminate the suspicion of the emperors of the two dynasties and ensure peace for the rest of his life. In the same way, if Gao Jiong offends everyone, even if he wants to rebel in the future, no one will respond, then he and his family will be safe.
Once the "canal section contracting rights" thought up by Yang Ji are implemented, the families with the ability to "contract" will not only be rich and powerful families, but also have the idea of making a lot of money. During the construction process, they will definitely Government and businessmen collude, cut corners, and pass off inferior products. This also makes the position of chief inspector a hot potato.
The reason why Gao Jiong has a transcendent status in the court is that officials from the aristocratic family are pushing him in an attempt to push him to the position of interest representative. But the aristocratic families were the most unstable forces in the Sui Dynasty and the emperor wanted to eradicate them the most.
If he becomes the chief inspector and carries out official duties and detects all illegal activities, he will immediately become a big enemy who "cut off the wealth of the family", and his so-called influence will disappear without a trace. The most important thing is that this not only satisfied the emperor and ensured the quality of the canal, but also conformed to his principles of life and work. This was much better than Yang Su's "money-greedy" way.
"Whether King Wei's method is adopted or not, I will appoint Gao Qing as the chief inspector, what do you think?" Yang Guang thought for a moment and roughly guessed what Gao Qing was thinking.
Yang Guang's feelings towards Gao Jiong are complicated. His previous dislike for Gao Jiong faded away step by step as Gao Jiong retreated to Liangzhou, donated fields and slaves, and supported the circulation of books, and finally dissipated after Yang Yong's death; now he values him. With his ability, he wanted to elevate him to the position of servant, but he was afraid of his prestige.
At this time, seeing Gao Jiong take the initiative to express his attitude of renouncement of the aristocratic family, it was of course a dream come true. If Gao Jiong handles official business while serving as the chief inspector of the canal, he can safely use it in the future.
As a result, a good situation emerged in the court where Yang Su, Gao Jiong, Su Wei, Yang Xiong, and Yu Wenshu checked and balanced each other.
"Old minister, thank you for your trust in the saint." Gao Jiong cupped his hands and thanked him.
Yang Guang smiled and nodded, and asked Yang Ji, "Do you have anything to add?"
When Yang Ji saw the two of them finished, he secretly praised Gao Jiong like an old fox and continued: "After the Grand Canal is opened, the intersection of Luohuang, Yunhuang, Yunhuai, and the intersection of the canal and natural rivers in the middle... will definitely be Because of the navigation of the canal, it became a rare commercially prosperous town. Before digging the canal, the court could nationalize these places and then sell them to contractors at high prices. As long as they were run well, the court could make a profit without spending much money. To a big canal.”
"How does it work?" Li Ziquan was the chief steward in charge of the Sui Dynasty's finances. Now he wanted to spend less money. Hearing what Yang Ji said, he was immediately moved.
"The Monument of Merit and Deeds!" Yang Ji continued: "The aristocratic families are never short of money. What they are short of is an immortal name. As long as the court lets out the news that the canal is repaired, a canal will be built at both ends and in the middle. The temple enshrines monuments of merit that will last forever. In order to enjoy this reputation and the incense worshiped by sailors for generations, all members of the aristocratic families should donate money. When the time comes, whoever donates more money will be ranked first. And he specially engraved his name in a big name. I’m afraid he will spend all his money just for this first place.”
"This method works!" Li Ziquan also thinks that this method is really feasible. Today's nobles are not short of money, they just think about how to gain a good reputation, especially the Guanlong nobles, all of them are rich, powerful and powerful , but their background is their flaw, so the great tycoons of the Guanlong aristocracy have always been regarded as "upstarts" by the Shandong gentry, and everyone feels extremely depressed. Li Ziquan feels that the possibility of them donating money is quite high. If he hears that someone has surpassed him, he might continue to add more money.
Not to mention these nobles who were not short of money, even he himself was moved. Although he couldn't compete for the first place, he could still stay on the list.
"In that case, let's use the 'section contracting' method to dig this canal." Yang Guang is more active in thinking. Hearing this, he has already made a conclusion in his mind, and he also wants to use this canal as an example to create cooperation between government and business. Example: "Su Qing, Li Qing, and Gao Qing, after we go down, make a detailed plan. Yan Qing, make the preliminary preparations for the canal as soon as possible."
"Here!"
