The ministers looked at each other, and then a censor stood up and asked: "Your Majesty, what should we do if these countries resist or protest against our behavior? Even if they show hostility to us."
"If you dare to reach out, fight back resolutely! The Tang Dynasty is not afraid of any challenge now. By the way, the military headquarters is in Liaoning Prefecture, and all the troops in Silla Prefecture can retreat to the Western Regions." Li Ke thought for a while and said .
"In addition, you should be more open-minded. In the eyes of the nobles of these countries, these fleeing lower-class people are not human beings at all, and they will not take them seriously. Of course, these people have escaped a lot, and these nobles have not People can collect taxes, and they must have ideas.”
"But when they come, the officials and generals in charge of the border will have to talk to them about another matter." Li Ke said calmly.
"Slave trade." Li Ke spit out four words without waiting for them to ask.
"Slave trade?" Everyone was stunned. Didn't the Tang Dynasty not allow non-registered households to exist? Not to mention slaves? Doesn't this... go against Datang's current national policy?
However, although the ministers were confused, no one refuted it, because they all knew that His Majesty was not that kind of person, so if His Majesty said this, there must be His Majesty's reason.
"Whether it's the Harsha Dynasty in Tianzhu, Persia, Arabia or Byzantium, they come to us anyway, whether they are official or private nobles, just tell them that we have various noble families in the Tang Dynasty. The aristocratic families are short of slaves to work with.”
"So we want to buy a large number of slaves. No matter where they go to find them, we only need slaves. Then the slaves can be exchanged for money, cloth, tea, silk, porcelain and other items that can be produced in the Tang Dynasty."
"Of course, my personal suggestion is to pay them directly for the goods. I believe most of them also want the goods. Or pay them money. If you can pay for the Tang Dynasty banknotes, try to pay them for the Tang Dynasty banknotes."
"When the time comes, you have to tell them that when they buy and trade with us, Datang, we will give priority to Datang's banknotes."
"Of course hard currency, gold and silver are also available. When their hard currency becomes less and less, they will naturally use more and more Tang Dynasty banknotes."
"And after the slaves here entered the Tang Dynasty, we did not treat them as slaves, but as common people."
"To put it bluntly, we want to buy people with money." Li Ke looked at them and said.
"Before these people entered the Tang Dynasty, we had already set a price for them. In other words, we used money in exchange for people."
Li Ke's words stunned everyone. Are you buying the common people? What kind of trick is this? They have never thought that there is such a way.
The question is, how much will it cost?
"Isn't this a huge waste of the Tang Dynasty's finances? Is this...reasonable?" These ministers were all stunned. This felt very unreasonable.
"Of course it's reasonable. You don't think the people who bought it back can't create value, right?" Li Ke said with a smile.
The current courtiers of the Tang Dynasty are no longer what they used to be. Their thinking is at least much more advanced than that of the courtiers of the Tang Dynasty before. When Li Ke asked this question, they somewhat understood.
Of course people can create value, otherwise, why would so many people buy Kunlun slaves before? But according to His Highness, those bought back are treated as ordinary people.
As for ordinary people, can the value they create really be comparable to that of slaves?
"Actually, this is not difficult for the court to deal with." Li Ke looked at them and said.
"First of all, we can use these purchased people to open up a large amount of undeveloped land. Previously, many people were unwilling to immigrate due to insufficient population in the Tang Dynasty, or because of immigration issues."
"But these bought people are different. They can be placed anywhere we want. And these places can be used to develop land."
"If possible, we can sell these areas to be developed to these wealthy families. They have the development rights for a certain period of time. For example, within a certain number of years, the profits generated by all the materials on this land belong to them. ."
"Of course, the premise of these profits is that they are not allowed to violate the laws of the Tang Dynasty. For example, timber can be mined, but soil erosion in the mountain forests must be ensured, and indiscriminate felling is not allowed."
"On this land, for example, the food grown by the people, or other crops grown, are allowed to have the right of first refusal at the same price. For example, if the people grow mulberry and hemp, and they want to buy it, they can buy it at the market price. Under the circumstances, they are allowed to have priority in purchasing.”
"But, if these people want to settle in this place, the aristocratic families need to pay. Of course, the court allows them to collect one-tenth of the national taxes in these places." Li Ke said with a smile.
Everyone was stunned for a moment at this condition.
In other words, it seems that the court is spending money, but in fact it is the wealthy families who are spending the money, and they are also spending money to develop a certain area that has not been developed by the Tang Dynasty, and this area allows the wealthy families to operate for a certain number of years.
This sounds like there is nothing wrong with it, but is this condition a little too few?
"Your Majesty, I don't have much objection to this, but is this tenth too little?" Gao Jifu, one of the courtiers, hesitated for a moment before standing up and asking.
"Do you think this tax will be the main income of these aristocratic families?" When Gao Jifu asked, Li Ke understood what he was thinking and couldn't help but ask with a smile.
"Isn't it?" Everyone was a little stunned.
"You have all overlooked something." Li Ke sighed, "Allow them to develop local resources. Mineral resources are their biggest income. With the continuous development of Datang, the mineral resources needed will inevitably increase. More and more are coming.”
"With the current transportation and other conditions in the Tang Dynasty, if it was expensive to move people from other places in the past, I don't need to say more about the price, right? The point is that just moving people is useless, only to form local settlements and form villages and cities. , only then can we gradually have enough population to employ people for development.”
"In fact, these people alone can bring them huge profits. After all, most of the income of these people must come from farmland income, and most of these farmland incomes are brought by the court, but in these places Of course these people have to participate in the commercial operations and the daily necessities purchased by the people."
Li Ke probably told them his thoughts.
