Chapter 35: Changes in the World
In this situation, He Xi had to step forward.
If he doesn't come forward, no one will be able to deal with this situation.
But He Xi looked at Muchun's panda eyes and had the urge to laugh. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang already had some foundations when Mu Chun was born, so Mu Chun was born into a wealthy family and had a handsome appearance. After all, half of a person's appearance is good innate and half is acquired. He has been pampered since he was a child and has good food and clothing. Even if his foundation is not good, it will not be too bad.
Muchun is like this. Although he is a little older, he is still a middle-aged handsome guy. Now there are two more panda eyes, not to mention the angry fire in these panda eyes.
It’s actually even more laughable.
It’s just that I really can’t laugh now. He Xi could only use kind words to comfort him, so that he would be forgiven and stop arguing with the other scholar.
Muchun could only endure it.
On the one hand, it’s He Xi’s face. Once a person like He Xi opens his mouth, he has no choice but to obey.
On the other hand, he knows that even if he retaliates now, he can't do anything to the other party? It's nothing more than asking the other party to apologize, but does Mu Chun want an apology?
Does a person like Muchun need a mere apology? What Muchun wanted was for the other party to die. For Muchun, face is sometimes more valuable than life.
To save face, he showed himself to be magnanimous, but in reality, Muchun was ready to wait for the limelight to pass. People named Xue can go and die.
He Xi may not have guessed what Muchun was thinking. But so what?
Not that He Xi didn't want to help the scholar named Xue. But he knew three more things.
First, everyone who can come here is not easy to mess with. There are people behind them. The Xue family in Hedong can be considered to have a long history. From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there are more than 300 people named in history books. And during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, they had their own territory in Hedong. Second only to the top five wealthy families with seven surnames, the Xue family and his son, who dominated Xiliang, were Li Shimin's defeat. Xue Rengui and others were even more famous.
Of course, this is the Ming Dynasty, not the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the Xue family is no longer the same as before. He Xi had never heard of how powerful the Xue family in Hedong was. But there must be a reason why he came here on behalf of Shanxi's local powerhouses.
Even though He Xi hasn't found out the reason yet. But it does not hinder He Xi's determination of this fact. This is not simply a case of the Duke of Guizhou bullying the weak. Do ordinary people dare to beat a Duke of Guizhou without thinking about the consequences after doing so?
He Xicai didn't believe it.
He Xi will not be so kind-hearted.
Second, Mu Ying has a good relationship with He Xi after all. Muying is gone. No matter what the reason is, He Xi cannot help others. Not helping his nephew.
Not to mention, Muchun also suffered a loss.
Finally, it is also based on the strength of the Mu family. Muying is gone. The Mu family withdrew from Yunnan, which had been in business for a long time, not to mention that the army was now replaced by Longwu Xungui and Hongwu Xungui. The strength of the Mu family will continue to decline in the future.
It's unclear how powerful Muchun can be to take revenge on the local snakes in the north.
This may be another reason why Muchun was beaten, and also the reason why Muchun was so angry.
The matter of face seems to be just about face, but in essence, it is a matter of lizi.
He Xi comforted Muchun, and then summoned the mad student.
The first thing He Xi saw was this person's information.
Xue Zhen is famous for Confucianism. Studied under Song Ne. People gathered in Hedong to teach, and hundreds of people worshiped him. Hedong called him Master Xue. Famous in Jinzhong.
He is the representative of Shanxi Confucianism.
It can even be said to be one of the representatives of Northern Confucianism.
He Xi hadn't seen Xue Zhen yet, and she felt like she hadn't seen him for a long time.
As said before, ideas never die.
Unless it is fundamentally refuted, it will be eradicated by force or other means. The fire will be passed down from generation to generation and take root.
He Xi smelled the scent of Song Ne from Xue Zhen.
Without him, He Xi has learned a lot about Confucianism over the years, and he also understands that most places in the north have almost become a white land due to the war in the late Yuan Dynasty, and naturally there is no cultural inheritance. This is also the reason why He Xi's theory quickly became the mainstream in Beijing.
But that doesn't mean that the entire north is like this.
Shanxi is not like this.
As mentioned earlier, Shanxi is the only prosperous northern province left at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The Northern Confucian lineage is also very deep in Shanxi. If you even study Song Ne, you will find that Song Ne actually took refuge in Shanxi during the war.
Their knowledge must be related.
Although it is not a master-disciple inheritance, there must be some inheritance in knowledge.
He Xi suddenly became interested in Xue Zhen.
Soon, Xue Zhen came over.
He Xi's first impression of Xue Zhen was that he didn't look like a scholar, but a military general. Judging from Xue Zhen's physique, given a suit of armor, he could kill a master who entered and exited three times.
No wonder he dared to give Muchun two panda eyes.
He Xi said: "Xue Zhen, do you know the crime?"
Xue Zhen saluted respectfully and seemed to have a very low attitude, but her words were not soft at all. She said: "What is the purpose of this report? I don't know where the mistake is? The imperial court is fighting, and the people in the north are living in dire straits. They are sinking into Between life and death, at this time, the Duke of Guizhou does not want to recuperate, but wants to send a large army to attack the barren land, wasting the national power of the court, shouldn't this be fought? "
He Xi heard this and didn't know what to say for a while.
Xue Zhen's words were undoubtedly correct more than ten years ago. Without him, the accumulation of agricultural society would be quite slow.
A foreign war, something that consumes too much money, is a disaster for ordinary people regardless of victory or defeat.
If you win, ordinary people will not gain anything. Lost the fight. It also requires them to bear the price.
But it's different now.
Today's Ming Dynasty is a preliminary industrial country. Of course, this level of industrialization is still very low. But because of the war, the military industry is a bit surplus.
If we go to foreign countries, we can stimulate the industrial chain. Up and down, millions of people can eat this meal, which can even benefit most of the northern industrial areas.
He Xi just let this matter go, but he actually saw the benefits in this aspect.
Warfare is a special business in a capitalist society.
It is completely different from the logic of previous agricultural societies.
He Xi said: "If others say this, I will not continue talking with them. After all, summer insects cannot be talked about, but as the top scholar in Hedong, if you are only at this level, it will be very disappointing to me. Let me ask you, do you have anything else to say?"
After so many years, He Xi understood one thing.
In fact, the top talents in Ming Dynasty are very powerful. Perhaps, in terms of the average level of talents, Ming Dynasty is far behind later generations. But there may be a gap between top talents and the top talents of future generations, but not much.
But he was much more powerful than the people He Xi had come into contact with in later generations.
Without him, it would be difficult for an ordinary college student in future generations to have access to those elite talents.
Therefore, He Xi dare not underestimate anyone.
Moreover, He Xi has not hidden many things over the years. I even want to make a big statement and let everyone in the world know about it.
If you are an ordinary person, you have no idea what He Xi did and would think that this society is still in the old version of more than ten years ago, which is normal. But the question is, elected by so many people, is the new generation of great scholars in the north really only at this level?
He Xi was deeply suspicious.
Xue Zhen pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, food is the most important thing for the people, and agriculture is the most important thing in the world. Nowadays, people's hearts are scattered, and students think that they should be calmed down and there should be no more distractions."
He Xi understood it as soon as he heard it.
Xue Zhen may not fully understand He Xi’s theory. After all, in this era of information dissemination
The speed is not too fast. But the determination is not completely unknown. The reason why I say this today is because Xue Zhen believes that the situation in the north, or Shanxi, is already very dangerous. This cannot go on any longer.
Where does this danger lie?
Focusing on agriculture, this agriculture is definitely not traditional agriculture.
After all, He Xi carried out a series of agricultural plans in Hebei, trying to find ways to sell agricultural tools to ordinary people, allowing the tenant system to evolve into a farm system and so on.
Although He Xi's purpose is actually to transform the countryside. Adapt to the trend of market economy. Commercialize agricultural products. This will promote the use of banknotes, allow the market to accept more banknotes, and allow He Xi to have more space to issue currency indiscriminately.
In short, there are many reasons. But I have to admit that regardless of He Xi’s starting point, He Xi’s actions actually affected agricultural production. Even during the war, agricultural output in the Hebei region continued to increase. Not to mention, the land reclaimed in the Liaohe River Basin in eastern Liaoning.
This is certainly an improvement in tools, but it is more of a change in thinking.
In the past, there were many additional obligations between tenants and their owners, but this is no longer the case. Many additional obligations of both parties do not exist. Of course, more importantly, you can make money easily.
After the food is produced, it is sold directly. The enthusiasm for production has been greatly improved, and the proportion of farmers in Hebei is very high, and everyone is willing to work hard.
This is why there is such a prosperous situation.
In the past, the Ming Dynasty had many provisions to help farmers develop, but in fact, it was more of a piece of paper. After all, most of the people who actually farmed the land were illiterate.
Therefore, the farmers Xue Zhen talks about are not farmers, but landlords who make a living from the land. In other words, they are the biggest supporters of Northern Confucianism, that is, the northern scholar-bureaucrats.
They were anxious. They feel that their lives are unbearable. Xue Zhen was their representative and one of them, so she showed such impatience at this meeting.
