Li Yue was busy purging the country, and other forces were not idle either.
After Fu Jian defeated Huan Wen, he successively eliminated Kong Te, Qiao Bing, Liu Zhen, Xia Houxian, Hu Yangchi and other forces, defeated the coalition forces of Wang Zhuo and Zhang Chonghua, and captured the two states of Yong and Qin.
Later, Fu Jian personally issued an edict: "From the age of the Duke and below, I will recommend one person each to be a virtuous, upright, filial, honest, talented, talented, knowledgeable, scholar, and a different person. Either he will write a letter to advise me, or he will tell me about it. Hear it carefully and don’t be concerned about high status or low status.”
Specifically emphasizing that no one should be restrained by nobles and lowliest, he was the second force after the Liang Kingdom to vigorously activate the common people from poor families.
So he set up a guesthouse at Pingshuo Gate to entertain people from far away, and built a spiritual platform at Dumen. He made a three-part agreement with the people in Guanzhong, saying that he would do light corvee and pay little tax, not build civil works, pay attention to political affairs, treat the elderly with courtesy, and practice Confucianism.
Rely on talented people such as Yu Zun, Lei Ruoer, Mao Gui, Wang Dui, Liang Leng, Liang An, Duan Chun, Xin Lao and so on.
In addition, Fu Jian practiced frugality, sent envoys to inquire about the people's sufferings, leniently collected taxes, relaxed the ban on leaving the palace, removed useless utensils, removed extravagant clothes, and eliminated all the harsh policies of Jie and Zhao that were inconvenient for the people. In short, people's hearts are filled with great joy.
Not only did Fu fight bravely and decisively, but he also governed the country vigorously and boldly. The war-torn Guanzhong ushered in vitality.
The people of Guanzhong, who originally had some objections to Fu Jian's proclaimed emperor, gradually joined him.
However, Huan Wen's Northern Expedition also severely damaged Di Qin. The death of Prime Minister Fu Xiong and Prince Fu Chang had a great impact.
Fu Jian vomited blood because of Fu Xiong's death and cried out sadly: "God does not want me to quell the evil in the world! How can I take away my talents so quickly?"
Since then, my health has not been good. I have been eating and drinking late at night, and I have worked hard to cure it, but my health has been getting worse and worse.
The matter of establishing a prince was also put on the agenda.
Empress Dowager Qiang recommended her beloved son Jin Wang Fu Liu to be the crown prince, but Fu Liu seemed too mediocre in front of all the descendants of the Fu family.
Fu Jing, Fu Sheng, Fu Fei, Fu Fa, and Fu Shuo were all brave and good at fighting, and they helped Di Qin conquer Guanzhong.
Even Fu Jian performed outstandingly. He and Deng Qiang defeated the Yao family in Puban and captured Yao Lan alive.
Even if Fu Liu is established as the prince, it will be difficult to suppress a group of brothers who are like wolves and tigers.
Fu Jian was greatly worried about this. "After the defeat of the Shi family, all the kings killed each other, and then Ran Min took advantage of the situation and rose up. My son is so... heroic, I'm afraid..."
After Fu Xiong's death, Qin's military power began to tilt toward Fu Jing.
When she first entered Guanzhong, Fu Jing also made great contributions, and Fu Jing has always had great ambitions, and Fu Liu would definitely not be able to suppress him.
"The only one who can defeat King Pingchang is King Huainan!" Lei Ruoer handed over his hand.
The king of Huainan was Fu Sheng, who was brave and warlike. During the battle with Huan Wen, he charged into the battle, beheaded generals and raised flags, killed many Jin troops, and was extremely powerful among the Qin troops.
"Recently, there has been a prophecy about three sheep and five eyes in Chang'an. Could it be that it belongs to King Huainan?" Qiang Ping said.
Fu Liu and Fu Sheng were both born to Queen Qiang, so it was no big deal to the Qiang family, as long as Fu Jing was not born.
Of course the meat must be rotten in the home cauldron.
"Three sheep and five eyes?" Fu Jian naturally thought of Fu Sheng's one eye, "Isn't this... God's will?"
Fu Jian acted vigorously and immediately made Fu Sheng the prince...
It's September, the autumn wind is bleak, and the weather is slightly cold.
However, there was a bumper harvest in various parts of the Central Plains.
Zhou Qian led more than 100,000 slaves to work hard, build water conservancy projects, reclaim wasteland, and connect the Xuxia farmland with the Huaibei farmland. The fertile fields stretched hundreds of miles from Xuchang to Shouchun. A good harvest would yield 7 million shi of grain. , still mainly rice.
On both sides of the Yellow River, there are many kinds of millet and wheat, and there is a good harvest at the same time.
This can be regarded as a rare good year in the past ten years.
With the support of these grains, Liang's supplies were greatly enriched, no more people fled to Jiangdong, and people's hearts became more stable.
Merchants who once disappeared began to flourish again.
In their spare time, people also hunted, picked wild products, and sold them in the city.
Large merchants began to appear in big cities such as Xuchang, Yecheng, Guanggu, Yuncheng, and Pengcheng, and their business scope expanded to Daiguo, Jiangdong, Yanguo, Bingzhou and other places to exchange what they had.
In Li Yue's understanding, business can promote the recovery of national strength faster.
After all, there are many things that the government cannot get, but these merchants have great powers and can get anything.
Dai's livestock, Jiangdong's powerful crossbows, and Yan's fine war horses can all be seen in the market.
However, Wang Meng was strongly opposed to this and continued to write, "The country should be based on agriculture, and merchants should pursue high profits. They can only hoard and drive up prices. This will damage the foundation of the country. This trend must not increase."
This is the first time Li Yue and Wang Meng have different opinions.
Emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce has been the case throughout the ages.
Shang Yang issued a decree prohibiting abandoning farming and doing business, and those who engaged in business without permission were punished as slaves.
In the Western Han Dynasty, merchants were not allowed to wear clothes and ride in cars. In the Jin Dynasty, merchants were ordered to wear white shoes on one foot and black shoes on the other.
Li Yue was noncommittal. Everything has two sides.
Merchants are also a double-edged sword, at least for now they can quickly boost national power.
But Wang Meng's report soon came again, "Guan Ziyun: In a country of ten thousand chariots, there are magnates worth ten thousand gold, and in a country of thousand chariots, there are magnates worth a thousand gold, but what's the point? Many countries have failed, their laws are ineffective, their people are not governed, and they are poor. Wealth is not uniform. Your Highness has promoted the practice of merchants, and the people are all seeking profit. Who will manage the plowing of mulberry trees? Merchants are easy to bribe and betray the country. I hope Your Highness will think more about it. If profit comes from a hole, the country will be invincible. Give it to me. You, it is your responsibility to take possession of it, it is your responsibility to be poor, it is your responsibility to be rich..."
Guan Zhong was a businessman and the founder of the brothel industry. After becoming the prime minister, he opposed businessmen.
If a big businessman with a thousand gold appears in a country of ten thousand chariots, and if a big merchant with a thousand gold appears in a country of thousands of chariots, it means that the wealth of the country and the people has been stolen by the merchants.
As a result, the people and the country fell into poverty, serious polarization occurred, and the country was in chaos.
And "He who has profit from one hole, his country is invincible" means that economic power is controlled by the country and the monarch, and only such a country is powerful and invincible.
Conversely, once the economic lifeline is controlled by merchants, the state becomes the puppet of the merchants.
Li Yue was amazed after reading it. His ancestors had already seen the harm of the barbaric growth of capital during the Warring States Period...
Within two days, Wang Meng's third letter came again. It was full of three to four thousand words and discussed in detail the various dangers caused by the growth of merchants. It listed Luo Pei, a native of Chengdu in the Western Han Dynasty, who had a fortune of more than ten million. This man spent half of his family wealth, used gold and silver to clear the way, and won the Marquis of Quyang and Dingling, directly breaking the Western Han Dynasty's convention that no Marquis could be granted without military merit.
Then, relying on his power, he lent money to the county and state on credit. No one dared to take the credit, and the local government did not dare to say anything. He gradually monopolized the profits of the entire salt well in Shu, making huge profits, more than ten times more than what he had taken out in the past...
The biggest threat to the growth of merchants is that they will definitely infiltrate the government.
The solution proposed by Wang Meng was not to restrict the small businessmen of the common people, but to restrict the big merchants, impose heavy taxes, strictly manage the goods they sell, and at the same time strictly prohibit officials from engaging in business.
(End of chapter)
