"Three words: imbalance!" Li Dan said categorically: "The imbalance of regional development, cultural level, and circulation distribution has caused these three contradictions, which are the chronic diseases facing the current court."
Zhao Tuo listened to him very carefully. It turned out that Li Dan believed that differentiation was the main source of the three major contradictions. "Why? I don't understand."
There was no one else around at this moment, so he spoke without any scruples. In front of others, Zhao Tuo had to maintain the dignity of an emperor, and he absolutely couldn't say that he didn't understand such words.
Using the analogy of running water in a pond outside, Li Dan told Zhao Tuo that any resource flows from high to low, which is called running water. If this flow is stopped, places that need water will dry up without water, and the water will dry up. Many places lose fluidity, causing waterlogging or rotten water.
"The south now is a bit like a pool, where there is so much water that it is about to overflow. I mean wealth, talent, and all kinds of materials, from grain and silk to minerals and timber.
The reason is the tolerant and tolerant policy adopted by the Egu people after the occupation. Although the extensive management has damaged Han culture, we must admit that they can do anything to the Han people as long as they do not rebel, which in turn promoted the development of commerce and trade. "
Li Dan analyzed: "Why did this happen? It was because the exclusive respect for Confucianism led to the previous dynasties' belittling and contemptuous attitude toward merchants. Now that a ruler suppressed Confucianism, the merchant class was able to rise.
Making money has finally become a way to have dignity, so we can see that many businessmen in the previous dynasty entered the political arena because they were good at business and could bring wealth to the rulers. "
Zhao Tuo gradually understood. The result of this was that his family was able to obtain the status of regiment training envoy as a merchant, which laid the foundation for the subsequent army in Haozhou.
In the historical picture that Li Dan gradually unfolded for him, many families like the Zhao family contributed to the overthrow of the previous dynasty and even directly participated in it.
For example, Guo Zixing's family, who occupied Fengyang (that is, Haozhou at the time), owned many businesses there, which led him to only want to keep his family and not expand his power.
Another example is Liu Futong from Anhui, a wealthy businessman who was blackmailed by imperial envoys and then revolted in anger, and Xu Shouhui, who opened a cloth shop in Hubei, etc.
"After the war, all businesses withered, and the family names were in decline from the end of the Southern Song Dynasty to the beginning of this dynasty. Only merchants' families were wealthy and had enough money to support others or train their children to become officials. This resulted in our dynasty not deliberately belittling merchants. atmosphere.
However, even so, the imperial examination situation in the early years of the Guo Dynasty is simply incomparable with today! One hundred and twenty Jinshi, including three Koreans and one Annan. It can be seen to what extent the Han culture was in decline at that time.
So Taizu greatly promoted literary education and respected scholars. In just twenty years, the number of people who have passed the imperial examination has reached 233. I looked through the records of the Tongwen Library and made statistics.
Among the 100 officials of the seventh rank and above in the imperial court, the proportion of Jinshi origins was less than three after the first imperial examination, but twenty years later this proportion rose to 30%!
In the early years of the dynasty, the ratio of civil and military officials with actual assigned positions was close to one to two, with obviously fewer civil servants and more military officials. However, twenty years later, this number was reversed, and civilian officials became the main force.
From these figures, Your Majesty can see when and how this balance was broken.
The reason why all this happened was that the court's strategy shifted from conquest and occupation to recuperation. However, the side effect was that as the number of civilian officials increased, as their status increased and their authority grew, they began to have a condescending mentality and adopt a derogatory attitude toward military positions.
The emperor relied on cultural people to govern the world, and the control of culture rested with civil servants. The military attachés were said to be a group of people with well-developed limbs and simple minds! "
"Haha, what you said is wonderful, that's exactly what it is!" Zhao Tuofu said.
"Your Majesty, the key here is that the civil servants have control over culture!" Li Dan clicked on this sentence and then continued:
"In this way, things are out of balance. It seems that all the weights (weights) are placed on the civilian side. If the military attache's side is too light, it will tilt up. This is how the contradiction between the two arises."
"Oh!" Zhao Tuo sat up straight and thought for a while: "What do you mean, sir, I should put the son back to the military attache's side?"
"Your Majesty is the king, and the most important thing is to weigh the world!" Li Dan said the last four words one by one:
"In any matter, the highest judge is His Majesty, but this does not mean that everything needs to be decided by His Majesty, but that His Majesty has the highest decision-making power to decide the importance, priority and urgency of things, and to judge whether they are in compliance with the law.
The purpose of measurement is to achieve fairness under the open and clear standards guaranteed by imperial power, so that no matter will be unbalanced! "
Zhao Tuo stared at Li Dan for a moment with bright eyes, then nodded heavily: "Of course! Please continue!"
"Since there is an imbalance, it is necessary to make appropriate adjustments and remove excess weight to achieve an even balance and maintain a balance between the two." Li Dan also made an analogy: "The country is like a scale where the pole is always swinging. God knows when it will cease to be out of balance.
But people must know that the rope of this scale must and can only be held by the imperial power. Everything has to be weighed, and the number is constantly increasing or decreasing.
When the scale beams are relatively balanced, other things need to be weighed. When the next weighing finds that there is still an imbalance, readjust the scales. This weighing task is your Majesty's responsibility. "
"Okay!" Zhao Tuo heard this with great interest and immediately said: "My dear, it's getting late, why don't you bring some food and wine and let's eat and talk?"
"I was negligent." Li Dan quickly apologized and went to the stairs to call Tao Niang and asked her to make soup and side dishes with her own hands.
While waiting for the food and drinks, Li Dan explained to the emperor the two matters of north and south and copper coins. In his view, the imbalance between the north and the south stems from the differences in management strategies between the northerners, who had long been surrendered by the previous dynasty, and the southerners, who finally surrendered.
At that time, the feudal system was practiced in the north, with strict management and many barbaric practices. Everyone advocated practicing martial arts and joining the army to obtain official positions. The Southland is extensive and tolerant, and anyone can do anything as long as they don't rebel.
The Egu people's attitude towards Sinology was limited to the Neo-Confucianism of Cheng and Zhu, and even poetry and poetry were excluded from the imperial examination subjects. This resulted in the rigidity and limitations of literati's thinking.
The literati lost their way of advancement, and most of them turned to commerce, opera, printing and other writing-related industries. Few people participated in the imperial examination. In the great empire of Nuo, only 1,100 people were selected for the 16th imperial examination.
At this time, the understanding that the north was noble and the south was inferior was very common, and the struggle between the north and the south was actually the dominance and cultural priority of the empire.
But in the end, the south was unable to win under the suppression of the Egu upper class. Until the Jianghuai rebellion spread throughout the country, the literati saw the possibility of taking the opportunity to overthrow the Egu rule and re-establish the Han people's authority and cultural dominance.
It was not until Taizu of this dynasty appeared in the political arena to participate in the competition that the literati class, with the help of merchants and landlords, found an Optimus Prime they could rely on, and finally realized their ideal of restoring China.
The Egu people were driven back to the grasslands, and what followed was a liquidation of the warrior culture and the priority of the northerners. The disputes between the north and the south, and between civil and military forces, also intensified.
Interspersed in the middle is the issue of money. Northern Money and Southern Banknote refers to the fact that the North established its own currency system based on the accumulated wealth of the former Song, Liao and Jin dynasties and the massive plunder from foreign wars. It also enabled civilians to nobles who actively participated in foreign wars to generally own large amounts of precious metals.
The south inherited the Jiaozi and meeting vote systems from the Southern Song Dynasty.
After the former dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty, the circulation of copper coins was banned and Jiaozi was widely used, which caused great harm to the people in the north. At the same time, a large amount of precious metals flowed into the south, creating conditions for southerners to conduct commerce and maritime trade.
It is precisely because of this that the phenomenon of poverty in the north and wealth in the south gradually resulted, and the resentment of the northerners against the southerners gradually deepened. This is why there were a large number of northerners in the suppressive army after the rise of the Jianghuai River.
Tao Niang's craftsmanship was passed down from her aunt, and was guided and inspired by Li Dan. Soon, several side dishes and a pot of Yuliuchun were placed on the table.
Zhao Tuo was astonished by the dishes of braised eggplant with double mushrooms, braised tofu with shrimps, pickled fresh casserole, five kinds of braised pork, and steamed seabass with five flowers. He blurted out: "My imperial dining room is nothing more than this!"
Tao Niang was about to retreat when she was startled when she heard this.
Li Dan hurriedly asked the people downstairs how they arranged the arrangements, etc., and then asked her to go downstairs. Then he shook his hands and grinned: "My lord,
You can't compare it like this, and the censor won't make a fuss if it is reported? "
"I know, I know!" Zhao Tuo realized that he had made a mistake, quickly handed over his hand, and then took a piece of bad fish fillet: "So, the origin and essence of these three things seem to be one, but how can we rectify the chaos?
The ministers suggested one item after another, but I always feel that it is quite difficult to implement these items, because what is beneficial to one party will inevitably harm the other. "
"Your Majesty is very wise to be cautious." Li Dan nodded, filled a cup for him, and said:
"An old saying goes: Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies, which shows that the ancients also realized that prudence is very necessary for those in power. What's more, the burden on your Majesty's shoulders is ten times or even dozens of times that of the ancient monarchs?
But..., everything has a solution. If we can solve it head-on, we can solve it head-on. If we can't solve it head-on, we can take a few steps to avoid it. "
"Huh? Is there something in your words?" Zhao Tuo raised his head and said with a smile, "Is there anything specific?"
"What are the specifics...?" Li Dan drawled his voice and then blinked: "Why doesn't Your Majesty build ships and roads?"
"Building ships? Building roads?" Zhao Tuo was confused again: "Does this have anything to do with solving these three things?"
"Yes!" Li Dan nodded: "The north is poor and the south is rich, the east is humble and the west is noble. In the long run, the gap between the north and the south will become even bigger! Military people mostly come from the north, while civil servants mostly come from the south. The natural chasm in between is nothing more than the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River.
Products in the east are plentiful and prices are low. Shipping them to the west can bring dozens of times the profit, whether it’s salt, ironware, or clothes. All of this comes down to one thing: transportation!
Oh, to make a digression, I went to the Ministry of Industry two days ago and saw the bond copper plates and six-color machine-printed samples they produced. They were very good!
It is exquisitely made, surpassing any jiaozi or meeting tickets I have ever seen since the previous dynasty. It is no exaggeration to say that if someone wants to imitate it, it must be millions of dollars.
It seems that this kind of technology can continue to be improved. In the previous meeting, the Council requested the establishment of a new General Administration of Banknote Printing and Minting to replace the current Banknote Department. It will mainly be responsible for high-end anti-counterfeiting printed matter such as banknotes, tax stamps, bonds, contracts, and various bills. The printing and casting tasks, including the passport are also printed by them.
Talking about transportation, Your Majesty can combine the experience of issuing war bonds this time and issue transportation bonds for road construction and shipbuilding. Building roads and building ships is not the purpose in itself, but strengthening the country's post roads and postal services is the main thing! "
"What is postal service?" Zhao Tuo stopped him and asked.
"The postal service is a system established and directly operated by the state. It includes letter delivery, business and travel transportation, money exchange, etc. It is an institution with the purpose of communicating with the government, commerce, and people."
"Then is it any different from the current inn?"
"The post station serves the official and government, and the postal service, including the post office, serves the private sector; the post station is only for communication and receiving officials.
However, postal services are more extensive and can even include the transportation of parcels, short-distance relay transportation of personnel, and the exchange of money orders. The form is not limited to walking or riding, but can also be combined transportation of passenger carriages, ships, and passenger ships. "
"I seem to understand a little bit." Zhao Tuo patted the edge of the table: "What you mean is that the imbalance is caused by the isolation of the north-south and east-west regions. Therefore, there are huge differences in various places. Therefore, we need to build roads and construct Build bridges and ferries to connect various places." Zhao Tuo frowned slightly: "But if you do this, will the recruitment affect farming too much?"
Li Dan gave a thumbs up: "Your Majesty can think of this question, which shows that you are a wise and wise monarch, and you are destined to achieve a different career!" After flattering him, he extended three fingers:
"I have three artifacts that can help His Majesty achieve his goals quickly, efficiently and economically: four-horse freight carts, cement and animal-powered mixers. With these three items, it will take at most half a month to build a road from the capital to Haozhou. .”
"Are you kidding?" Zhao Tuo stared.
"Of course you are telling the truth, there is no point in joking?" Li Dan added: "Zhu Qing in my house is the representative of the Chamber of Commerce, and I can allocate the people and materials needed by Your Majesty.
There is a great craftsman named Zhu He in the trading company. He has presided over the construction of cement roads from Yugan to Poyang, Anren, and Fuzhou, and also built the Anren Bridge.
Quite experienced in this aspect.
Your Majesty can first try to build a road from Beijing to Haozhou. If it is really good to build more than 100 miles, then I suggest building a road to Pukou Ferry in Chuzhou to achieve smooth communication with Nanzhili, and at the same time open a road from Jinling to Chuzhou There are regular river ferries between Pukou.
How much does this cost and how to issue bonds? Zhu Qing and Zhu He can assist His Majesty in planning.
But this is only the first phase of the project. Promoting the integration of the north and the south and the circulation of materials and wealth is like lifting water out of a pool. It is not as easy as making a waterwheel!
It’s not enough to just build a road; it’s not enough to just build a road, it can take years of careful, meticulous effort.
After accumulating to a certain extent, everyone will suddenly find that everything has changed, and the problems that existed in the past have disappeared in the passage of time. "
"That's the best!" Zhao Tuo happily drank a drink: "To be honest, I couldn't sleep at night thinking about these three things! Apart from building roads, promoting circulation, and making the water in the pool come alive, what else do you have? suggestion?"
Li Dan pondered for a moment: "Actually, it is wrong to think that a warrior is good as long as he can wield a sword and kill people! The army is not only a tool to protect the home and country, but at the same time it should be the embodiment of the country's will, the majesty of the imperial authority, and the morality of the Han Dynasty.
How could such an army be led by a group of illiterate people, and how could they ideally believe that these illiterate people were inherently loyal and patriotic? Isn't this naive? "
"Well said!" The emperor slapped the table again: "I don't think anyone who says this believes it himself, ha! I don't believe it anyway!"
"So Your Majesty, we should establish a martial arts school. We should have the Imperial Academy, and the military should have the Imperial Academy. This is the true image of a great country.
The National Military Academy is not only a place for personal physical training, but also a place where you should learn geography, firearms application, command of troops at all levels, battle array layout, military discipline and discipline, and military ethics, etc.
I suggest that those who graduate from two years of study can be awarded the title of Commander-in-Chief, Team Leader, and those who graduate from four-year study can be awarded the title of Commander-in-Chief, Zhenfu or Sima.
In this way, after more than ten years, the army will be professional and professional. At that time, civilian officials will no longer dare to look down on any military attaché and problems can be solved quietly. "
What Li Dan wanted to tell the emperor was actually a way to boil a frog in warm water. It's useless to worry now. It's better to take your time and solve it from another angle. Don't treat the head when it hurts and the feet when it hurts.
The meal with the emperor lasted until Wu Shi was about to pass. Zhao Tuo was so happy that he even opened his clothes.
The two people talked to each other. Li Dan talked about being suppressed by his uncle and his failed attempt to seize the family property. The emperor talked about the various constraints he was subjected to, how the veterans, especially Er Yang, controlled the government when he was in power, and his cautious mentality.
"Your Majesty, don't be anxious," Li Dan urged in a low voice: "You are young for a long time, so they have no choice but to fight for time.
At this time, you must stabilize your original intention and slowly support those reliable ministers and scholars. There will be a day in the future when you will stick to your word. Still the same two sentences: Everything has a solution, and you need to be careful in governing the country. "
"Okay! I remember!" Zhao Tuo said and drank another drink.
At this time, the emperor had no intention of returning to the palace. Eunuch Liu was stamping his feet anxiously below, but he did not dare to go up rashly without an order. But Tao Niang is smart and can see his appearance.
At this time, Tao Niang knew that the man upstairs was not a prince, but the emperor of the day. She suddenly thought about it with her eyes flashing, walked over and said with a smile, "At this time, the wine in the pot must have been exhausted."
Liu Kan's eyes brightened, he nodded and said, "Thank you, girl."
Tao Niang pursed her lips and smiled, then she showed her figure at the foot of the stairs and asked softly: "Young Master, please forgive me. I'm here to ask if you need more wine?"
Li Dan was reminded by one sentence and asked her what time it was. He quickly crossed his hands and said, "Unexpectedly, it's already this time. I was negligent!"
Zhao Tuo waved his hand: "We talked thoroughly, I am very happy today, it doesn't matter. But we should go back, lest the Empress Dowager will worry about it."
Li Dan immediately turned back and told Tao Niang: "You ask Lu Jiu to find Shenjie and Mr. Tiedao, and ask them to bring Gao Can, the Duan brothers and Zhou Tu, lead 20 people fully armed, and drive to Gongqiao in a car.
Before, there must be no mistakes! "
Tao Niang agreed and went down. Eunuch Liu was greatly relieved after hearing this below, and hurriedly went upstairs. He first bowed his hands to Li Dan to express his thanks, and then went over to help the emperor. Li Dan walked two steps ahead and felt relieved after watching Zhao Tuo land.
Zhao Tuo looked up and saw a half-moon falling right in the middle of the pillars of Wangyue Pavilion. He smiled and said, "This little courtyard is very nice, but it's a pity that the waterside pavilion hasn't been named yet." Suddenly he felt something in his heart and asked loudly: "Do you have any paper?" Pen?"
Li Dan hurriedly went upstairs, and after a while he took some pen, ink, and paper and spread them on the round stone table in the garden.
He originally thought that the emperor just got interested and wanted to name the waterside pavilion and write a plaque. Unexpectedly, Zhao Tuo turned the paper upright and wrote a couplet first, but it was: Guizhi Chan Palace, a clear clear moon in the first month; Orange well roses , Thousands of people in romantic dreams!
After I finished writing, I took another piece of paper and wrote the inscription: Jingsi Hall. Li Dan was stunned, thinking that it was obviously a waterside pavilion, how could it be called a hall? After a quick thought, he understood what he meant. The emperor told himself:
Although there are ups and downs in the court, I hope that you, my beloved, will remain calm and calm, and that you may seem to be in the thick of it, but in fact, you will stick to your heart and never waver!
He quickly gathered his clothes and bowed deeply to Zhao Tuo: "I would like to thank your Majesty for your teachings and for the gift of calligraphy!"
Zhao Tuo laughed loudly, put down his pen and waved his hand: "That's what I wanted to do. I have a great time tonight. When you come back, we will enjoy the moon together. Let's go, let's go!" After that, he walked out with the support of Eunuch Liu.
