Holding the "Domineering Little Passport of the Tang Dynasty", Li Shimin looked at it from left to right and couldn't put it down.
"The words 'powerful Tang army' don't feel intuitive enough..."
"Why not change it to a million Tang troops? A million troops! It will give people a more majestic and intimidating feeling!"
"what do you think?"
he asked one after another.
He looked like a demon in a daze.
"Your Majesty, it's better not to work on side issues. Whether you are strong or not depends not on flattery, but on actual performance and hard power."
Xu Fenglei said helplessly,
"If the Tang Dynasty could destroy the Turks, even if not a single word was added to the customs clearance documents, the foreigners would still be in awe of every Tang people."
Li Shimin nodded slightly:
"Too……"
"The writing is too exaggerated, and it seems to be self-praising, but it makes me feel inferior."
As he said that, he was about to collect the customs clearance document into his arms, but the next moment, Xu Fenglei stopped him and said:
"Your Majesty, please wait."
"I haven't said my advice yet."
"The Tang Dynasty currently has a huge problem, and the problem lies in this customs clearance document."
"If there are no restrictions and regulations, disaster may occur..."
Li Shimin: "?!"
He was shocked by Xu Fenglei's words. He subconsciously opened the customs clearance document and said:
"Say it, say it!"
"Does Your Majesty know that the Western Region caravans?" Xu Fenglei asked, "They are caravans that go in and out of the country and do business with foreign countries."
Li Shimin nodded.
"Of course I know."
He pointed to the grape wine in his hand and said,
"There are many strange things in the Tang Dynasty, and they are the ones who brought them."
"For example, this thing was purchased from the Kushan Kingdom by a caravan from the Western Regions. The price is as good as gold!"
With that said, Li Er took another sip.
"Then, has Your Majesty ever thought about how they got out of seclusion?"
Xu Fenglei said,
"According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, anyone who wants to enter or leave the Tang Dynasty needs to hold a customs clearance document, otherwise it will be illegal immigration!"
"As for these caravans, do they even have a customs clearance document?"
"As far as I know, Honglu Temple does not issue a few customs clearance documents a year, and there are at least dozens of caravans traveling to and from the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions every year, and the number of entry and exit times is at least hundreds."
"How did they get out? How did they get in?"
Li Shimin: "..."
This question caused him to fall into silence and frown.
"I have never cared about caravans leaving the country."
Li Er murmured,
"I didn't explicitly prohibit it, so..."
"Your Majesty did not prohibit it, but the Tang Law stipulates it." Xu Fenglei continued, "The behavior of the outbound caravan is an illegal smuggling that seriously violates the Tang Law! And the question is here, who ignored the Tang Law and let them out of?"
Li Shimin's heart skipped a beat.
"Border Guard!"
When he spoke these four words, the vigilance of a top politician suddenly rose.
"Yes, they are the border guards. They defied Tang law and secretly let the caravan out."
Xu Fenglei said again,
"Then what prompted them to take the risk of violating the law and open the door to the outbound caravans?"
"I know that those who can form a caravan are those with strong backgrounds and powerful backgrounds. Let alone ordinary people, even the veteran nobles such as Wu Xing Qi Wang are not qualified to eat this piece of fat. The only people who can enjoy it are standing The group of people at the top of the Tang Dynasty."
"Clan, nobles, and important ministers!"
Li Shimin's expression began to look ugly.
"However, no matter how powerful he is and how respected his position is, there is no need for the border guard to care about you."
Xu Fenglei continued,
"As the old saying goes, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. When you reach that place, even the emperor's decree may not be effective, let alone these nobles?"
"However, an interesting phenomenon happened. The guards really cooperated and let him go, and the two sides got along extremely harmoniously."
"Your Majesty, do you think this is interesting?"
Snapped!
The customs clearance document fell on the table.
"There must be benefits flowing between them!"
Li Er said solemnly,
"These so-called 'nobles' must have given benefits to the border guards, even proportional dividends! Only those guards would take risks for the sake of huge profits!"
"Okay, okay..."
"There is such sexual immorality in a place that I didn't notice!"
A burst of anger shoots up!
"Your Majesty, please calm down. In fact, these are nothing, but everyone is just trying to make money!"
Xu Fenglei waved his hand and said in a deep voice,
"If you just want to make money, you don't have to worry about it. There are so many dark and corrupt places in this world. Even the sun has dark corners where it can't shine. How can you, Your Majesty, take care of it?"
"What I am worried about is that under the long-term cooperation and profit sharing, all parties will gradually combine to form a huge community of interests."
“What’s in this community of interests?”
"The royal family is involved, the founding fathers are involved, and important officials of the court are involved. If they unite, they can even represent part of the political power."
"And what about the border troops? They have partial military power!"
"Coupled with the huge profits brought by long-term business, they have no shortage of money."
"Political power plus military power plus money, the combination of the three, what a huge political force this is? If they have evil ideas, even for His Majesty, it will be a thorny issue! Not to mention... future generations The king."
Li Shimin: "..."
A chill arose in his heart.
His expression went from a bit ugly to one of indifference.
Anyone who knows Li Er knows that if you are not afraid of his anger, you are afraid of his expressionless face.
Usually at this time, he is already thinking about who to let die.
"Also, there is a critical issue."
Li Er was already in an extremely bad mood, but Xu Fenglei wanted to add fuel to the fire. He just heard him say again,
"Are these caravans heading to the Western Regions really selling some of our Tang Dynasty's specialties?"
"You know, what are the rarest and most popular things in the Western Regions? They are undoubtedly tea, salt, and silk. These have always been directly operated by the imperial court."
"I have a guess, which is not necessarily true...when these caravans sneak across to do business, are they also secretly selling out state-owned goods? Such as tea, salt, and silk?"
"After all, these gadgets are not only cheap to purchase, but also easy to transport and store. As long as they reach the Western Regions, they can be resold for huge profits! If it were me, I wouldn't be able to help selling these goods."
Li Shimin's fist became harder. The more he listened, the harder it became!
"As long as they sell, they are competing with the state for profit! Because they often secretly keep the price lower than the state-owned products, so that they will sell better."
Xu Fenglei said calmly,
"In turn, it squeezes the sales space of state-owned goods. After all, there are cheap ones, so why should you buy your expensive ones? Their private caravans are stable and frequent, and they provide stable supply!"
"In addition, are the goods transported by the caravan to the Tang Dynasty really special products? Could someone secretly buy horses from the Western Regions and sell them at a high price in the Tang Dynasty? Horses are not only expensive and extremely profitable, but they are also a particularly important strategy Supplies, whoever can control 10,000 horses will have a cavalry, and with this capital, it will be enough to separate and become the king!"
Li Shimin: "!!!"
Clan, nobles, important ministers, frontier troops!
Money, war horses!
These things gathered into a community, and even he couldn't help but feel terrified!
The gathering of six people is enough to be more powerful than rebelling against the king all the way!
And this is not the most terrifying thing.
The most terrifying thing is that as time goes by, this community of interests will become stronger and stronger, and its foundation will become stronger and stronger!
As Xu Fenglei said——
It may be okay now, but for future generations of kings, this growing community will become a huge hidden danger, and may even subvert the imperial power!
"The embankment of a thousand miles was destroyed by an ant nest. I didn't expect that my Tang Dynasty already has such a huge ant nest, and I didn't even know it!"
Li Shimin held the customs clearance document tightly and said angrily,
"It deserves to be killed, it really deserves to be killed!"
"I must destroy this ant nest!"
For himself, for future generations, and for the stability of the regime, he must do the same!
"Your Majesty is serious."
Xu Fenglei shook his head and said,
"We can't talk about killing, nor can we talk about destroying ant nests."
"If you really want to kill me, then as far as I know, Changsun Wuji, Yuchi Gong, Cheng Zhijie, Hou Junji and other heroes seem to have their own caravans from the Western Regions."
"Do you want to kill them all too?"
"That's so unfair. Their family has a big business, but they just want to find a way to make money. Your Majesty can't kill them all just because they want to make profits, right? This is not what a benevolent king would do."
Li Shimin's face froze.
In fact.
It's not that he hasn't noticed these outbound caravans, but because they are all heroes from Conglong, he thinks that after they become famous, they can make some money, which is okay... so he turns a blind eye.
It wasn't until he listened to Xu Fenglei's analysis that he realized the seriousness of the matter!
"Then tell me, how should we deal with this matter?"
Li Er looked at Xu Fenglei and hummed,
"Since you brought this matter up, I don't believe you can do anything about it."
Xu Fenglei smiled slightly.
"Actually, what I call a 'community of interests' is just an assumption about the future. For now, they are just relying on their power, taking risks, making money together, and sharing money together."
He analyzed,
"Making money! There is nothing to worry about. The hidden dangers are mainly the border troops. As long as we remove them so that there is no longer any conflict of interest between the two parties, the hidden dangers will naturally be eliminated."
Li Shimin nodded.
"That's right." He responded, "Go on, how do you take it out?"
Snapped!
"Change the laws and make them standardized!"
Xu Fenglei slapped his palm on the table and said decisively,
"It is said that blocking is worse than sparing. Since Zhang Qian of the Han Dynasty opened the Silk Road, the commercial exchanges between our Central Plains and the Western Regions have never been cut off. Each side gets what it needs and benefits from it. What's wrong with that?"
"I believe that the application for customs clearance documents can be completely relaxed. For those who are in need and meet the conditions or caravans, Honglu Temple can issue customs clearance documents. It is not necessary for His Majesty to stamp each copy with a jade seal. In this way, let them Free entry and exit, free travel and business.”
"With the authorization and control of the imperial court, the exchanges between countries have become standardized, and caravans can go abroad openly without the need to bribe border troops and get them to pay a cent."
"When an industry becomes standardized, then those secret affairs will naturally disappear."
Li Shimin's eyes lit up.
"Above and above board, yes, above board!"
He wrapped his left hand around his right fist and agreed,
"Open the trade routes so that the border guards will no longer have the possibility to seek personal gain with their power!"
"In addition, we need to add a few more clauses to the law. Business is allowed, but tea, salt and other items directly operated by the imperial court are not allowed to be operated by any caravan. Violators will be punished as a felony of smuggling! Of course, there is another clause you mentioned, Caravans cannot buy horses on a large scale from the Western Regions. If there are more than three horses, they will be punished as smuggling war horses and the punishment will be increased!"
"In this way, all hidden dangers will be solved! Don't you think so?"
Under Li Er's expectant gaze, Xu Fenglei smiled and nodded.
"yes."
He said casually,
"If Your Majesty can do this, the exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions will be closer, and the country will be more prosperous."
"Your Majesty can also levy ultimatum taxes, customs duties, charge annual fees on outbound caravans, and also levy a large tax on all incoming and outgoing goods!"
"Don't underestimate this amount of money. If it develops, it may be comparable to the agricultural tax!"
Li Er: "?!"
That's right, his eyes lit up!
"Wonderful, wonderful!"
He clapped his hands repeatedly and praised,
"In this way, not only can they make profits, but the court can also benefit from it."
"It's wonderful, it's wonderful!"
"Listen Ming, how did you come up with all this? They say that Bigan has seven orifices and an exquisite heart. I think you have more eyes than Bigan. You are so smart!"
"I want to reward you, I want to reward you greatly!"
A strategy that not only easily resolves hidden dangers, but also brings huge benefits to the court.
He is worthy of being the most capable minister under his command!
"Your Majesty is so complimentary."
Xu Fenglei joked,
"Although my advice was meritorious, I committed a crime today because I beat up the imperial official."
"How about equalizing the merits and demerits? What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Li Shimin couldn't help but grin when he heard this.
"You..."
He laughed and cursed,
"No wonder you are so emboldened when you beat someone. It turns out that you have already made a plan for yourself. What a ghost!"
"Okay! I am not an unreasonable person. You have made great achievements but have small faults. How can I not reward you?"
"Tell me what you wish for, and I will try my best to satisfy you!"
Xu Fenglei smiled.
"Your Majesty is so generous...can I just say that?"
He raised his eyes and looked at Li Shimin.
"Say it, say it!" Li Er waved his hand casually.
"Okay, I said that I will support a navigator to sail, search for overseas treasures, and open up maritime trade routes."
Xu Fenglei cupped his hands and said,
"Navigation is a major event that not only requires financial support, but also the support of the court, especially the Ministry of Industry."
"Without Your Majesty's nod of approval, let alone building a ship and going to sea, we wouldn't even be able to get out of the pass."
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows.
"Overseas treasures? What treasures can be found overseas? It is a more mysterious place than the Western Regions. There is not much navigation-related information left behind for thousands of years."
He said with great interest,
"Why, you want to imitate Qin Shihuang and go overseas to find the Penglai Immortal Island and the elixir of death?"
(End of chapter)
