The Young Master Is Fierce Chapter 238: Trapped in a cocoon
www.lnmao.org, the fastest update to the latest chapter of Young Master Fierce!
On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month of the ninth year of the Xuanli calendar, he went to the imperial palace in Beijing and attended the Zhongshu Provincial Office.
Fu Xiaoguan felt a headache looking at the pile of documents piled up on his desk.
These are all kinds of information that were sent back to Beijing from various places in the Yu Dynasty at the beginning of the new year. They are almost all-inclusive. Normally, they are about governance plans in various places, arrangements for spring plowing, applications for government personnel, and seeking financial support, etc. wait. But there are still many things that are extremely abnormal in Fu Xiaoguan's opinion.
For example, on Beiji Mountain outside Xincheng in the north, there seems to be the sound of dragons roaring, colorful clouds filling the sky, and thousands of animals galloping, which seems to be auspicious.
Another example is that from a small village in the south, a widow gave birth to a baby, and he spoke eloquently as soon as he was born. He said that the great Yu orthodoxy would last for thousands of years!
For example, there is an excerpt from Puzhou in the west, especially from Zhizhou. It says that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of the Xuanli calendar, the sky was full of wind and snow, and a phoenix fell from a plane tree that had long lost its leaves, heading towards the imperial city. He kowtowed nine times and spread his wings.
He threw this kind of excerpt aside casually, thinking that if I were to write it, I would write it more wonderfully than you!
He picked up the tea cup on the table, took a sip, and started his day's work - selecting those that really needed to be dealt with by the court from the pile of excerpts, and then drafting them one by one, indicating his opinions. , and finally sent to Zhongshu for Shang Yu to review. After screening again, these documents will enter the political hall, where they will be processed by Prime Minister Yan Beixi and the six ministers, and finally made by His Majesty.
If it is an urgent document, there will be a red seal on the document, commonly known as a red seal. This kind of document needs to be processed as soon as possible.
Fu Xiaoguan did not have this type of documents in his hands now, so he took a lot of time to flip through them one by one.
He flipped through the pages very quickly and wrote down notes very quickly. The whole morning passed like this, but he did not see even one about economics among these notebooks.
Almost all are carried out around farming, and the most common ones are complaining about asking for money.
For this type of excerpt, his comment is often: It is recommended to solve it yourself!
It wasn't until the fold from Yan Xiwen of Yao County appeared in his hand that a smile appeared on his face.
This guy really takes the development of Yao County to heart. In this booklet, he wrote in detail the cooperation plan with Xishan, and took the lead in proposing that the development of Yao County will be from the workshops invested by Xishan. At first, it even expanded to apply to the court for a new wharf on the Yangtze River fifty miles north of Yao County to facilitate the entry and exit of goods and materials from Xishan Workshop - this made Fu Xiaoguan take a high look at Yan Xiwen. Eyes, this guy can do it!
So for the first time, he seriously wrote a few big words on this booklet: This strategy is excellent, please pay attention! And put this folder on the top of the stack of folders.
Then he called the chief secretary, Qi Mei, and asked him to send the approved notes to Zhongshu Ling Shangyu's official office. He got up, straightened his clothes, and got ready to get off work.
Today Dong Shulan is coming to visit her father at home, so she has to go back quickly.
But as soon as he walked out of the door, Qi Mei ran after him, "Master Fu, wait!"
Fu Xiaoguan turned around and Qi Mei ran to his side, "Master Shang invites you... In addition, Yan Zai is also here."
What the hell!
There is no overtime pay for working overtime!
"What does Mr. Qi know?"
"I don't know, I think it will happen tomorrow."
Tomorrow is the twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month, the day of the Empress Dowager's funeral. He thought of what Yu Wendao had said to him the night before yesterday, so he had no choice but to return to the official office with a sigh and walked to Shang Yu's room.
"Sit!"
Yan Beixi threw him a word, and then said to Shang Yu: "The snow disaster in the north caused great damage, almost affecting the entire Yongning Prefecture, and Pingling and Quyi counties were the most severely affected. Hundreds of houses collapsed, more than 320 people died, and more than a thousand were injured. Due to the special location of the two counties, it is really difficult to save themselves. I have asked Kang Ping to mobilize supplies from Lanling City for disaster relief and let the northern frontier troops. Mobilizing sergeants to **** them probably won't be a big problem, but it's just a symptom rather than a permanent solution. This happens every year in these two counties, causing people in these two counties to flow to other places, and there are fewer and fewer people. Both counties are also getting poorer."
Yan Beixi frowned, his eyes heavy, and said: "We have to find a way to cure this matter once and for all. Otherwise... I'm worried that these two places will eventually become two abandoned cities."
Shang Yu also frowned and nodded, and replied: "Yes, the snow disaster in the north and the flood in the south consume huge amounts of property from the treasury every year. But Yan Zai, this is not unique to the Yu Dynasty. The problem is that natural disasters have been happening frequently for thousands of years and cannot be changed by humans... Is there any permanent solution?"
Yan Beixi lowered his head in meditation and sighed.
He also understood what Shang Yu said, and it was indeed the case.
It snows heavily every year in the north. If it rains for several days in a row, how can those thatched houses withstand the accumulation of heavy snow?
The entire Yongning Prefecture can be regarded as the poorest prefecture in the Yu Dynasty. The land is barren, there are many mountains, the climate is unpredictable, and the crop yield is extremely low. The people's lives have always been miserable.
If the house collapses again and they have no shelter from the wind and snow, they will definitely freeze to death.
The flooding of the Yellow River is also a thousand-year problem. Last year in the Golden Palace, Bi Dong, the Minister of Industry and Engineering, told His Majesty that it would cost millions of dollars to expand the river channel. In the end, His Majesty did not mention this issue again, because there was no money in the treasury. After excluding the inherent expenses, there is not much money left.
In the end, the reason still came down to the word silver, so Yan Beixi looked at Fu Xiaoguan.
"I have already read "The Theory of Wealth Nations" written by you, and Concubine Shang has also read it. Only Your Majesty has not had time to read it. I called you here not to discuss "The Theory of Wealth Nations" with you, but I want to ask Let me ask you, if you were the magistrate of Pingling and Quyi counties, what would you do?"
"Leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses."
"Speak humanly!"
Fu Xiaoguan touched his nose and said with a smile: "I don't know what resources there are in those two places. From what you said, there is no future for farming. So why don't we change our thinking? Now it's back to When it comes to "The Wealth of Nations", those two places can't attract investment? Can't they build workshops with the help of businessmen?"
"My lords, please think carefully. If I were the county magistrate of those two places, I would apply to the court to reduce the taxes on merchants to attract merchants to build workshops here."
"That place is already poor. If you reduce or reduce taxes... won't it make it even poorer?" Shang Yu asked.
"No, Mr. Shang, please think about it, the farmers there are already hungry. If they work in the workshops, their income will be greatly increased, and secondly, they can generate greater value. These commodities will eventually The money will circulate in the market, and during the circulation of these commodities, the country will be able to obtain tax revenue. When farmers have money in their hands, they will consume it, and the country will also receive tax revenue when the money circulates in the market. Taxes."
"This is a triple win. Farmers have become workers, their income has increased, and their living conditions have improved. Businessmen, because of tax exemptions and cheap labor, have seen their product costs decrease and their sales increase. The wider the market, the more sales there will be, and the greater the profit will be. The third party is naturally the country. The circulation of goods will inevitably bring about the circulation of currency. Taxes will not be reduced because of the reductions and exemptions in those two places. On the contrary, they will be. The same is true for the finances of those two counties. On the surface, tax revenue has decreased, but in fact it will definitely increase."
"Of course, as to how much it can be increased, this is closely related to the ability of local parents to attract investment."
Shang Yu has never read "The Theory of Rich Countries" and is still a little confused about this simple truth. After all, business has always been at the bottom of society in all dynasties.
His thinking is still limited to agriculture, but agriculture in that place cannot develop at all.
Not to mention relying on agricultural taxes to support the operation of the county governments in the two places. Even if they don't collect a penny, the farmers in those two places will still live a life without enough to eat.
Yan Beixi had carefully read "On the Rich Country" many times. He began to accept the views in this book and understood Fu Xiaoguan's words in his heart.
It's just that His Majesty has not yet come to court because of the Queen Mother's affairs, so he does not dare to implement this policy.
Of course, he also has many worries about the policies in this book, especially whether the pursuit of profit by all the people will lead to farmers not working on their crops? A sergeant is not engaged in martial arts? Students don’t care about learning and so on!
Although Fu Xiaoguan also explained this in that book, and stated that the division of labor in society will only make all walks of life more specialized, because economic development will inevitably lead to the progress of inquiry.
The progress of gewu will have a far-reaching impact. The productivity of farmers will become higher, the armor and weapons of soldiers will become better, and students do not have to study hard for sages. They can even choose to gewu. of learning.
At the end of the theory of rich countries, Fu Xiaoguan even proposed to set up a course on Physics in Jixia Academy, which would be taught by officials from the Ministry of Industry. The purpose was to pursue the truth of things, gain insight into the causes, and benefit society.
Of course, he also said that in order to change students’ understanding of the study of objects, we must still start from economic behavior. Only when they see the huge advantages, some students may become interested in the study of objects. Otherwise, they will What I thought was that I would spend ten years in a cold window, just to join the imperial court and become an official.
This is a huge systematic project. From Yan Beixi's perspective, he knows that if it is implemented, it will be a huge social change, but he does not know what the final direction will be, so it is difficult for him to make a decision.
Yan Beixi thought for a few breaths and looked at Fu Xiaoguan.
"After the Wu Chao Cultural Conference comes back, I want to send you to Quyi and Pingling."
Fu Xiaoguan was startled and said quickly: "I am not free!"
Are you kidding?
Send me to a place where birds don’t poop. Wouldn’t it be nice for him to stay at home?
"This is not a discussion with you..." Yan Beixi stood up and slapped his waist, "This is an order!"
He walked towards the door and said another sentence: "You can go to those two places for on-the-spot investigation. I allow you to take Xishan's industry to those two places."
Fu Xiaoguan stared blankly at Yan Beixi's back, wishing he could slap himself twice. Damn it, this is clearly a cocoon!