Bright Spring

After hearing this, Qian Xun bowed and said: "Qi Butang treats people leniently, and I will bow down to the officials."

Qi Tai calmly said: "Otherwise, why would Mr. Qian come to me? Or because I can talk well in front of my colleagues." He paused, then comforted, "Don't worry, Mr. Qian, you That shortfall is not that big, and there is more than one way to make it up."

After the two finished talking, Qi Tai said goodbye to Qian Xun and continued to go to the front hall of the Hall of Martial Arts.

The central bank promoted Song Li and Household Minister Xia Yuanji, both of whom were cabinet ministers, and Song Li was a newcomer to the cabinet.Qi Tai is going to the Hall of Martial Arts at this time, maybe those two are still in the same place, Qi Tai just doesn't have to run around.

Chapter 851 The Bricks on the City Wall

Qi Tai finished today's affairs and returned home early in the afternoon.

He sat on the wicker chair in his study for a long time drinking tea.Next to him was a student of the Imperial College who was studying for him. He was reading the Tongjian, the version of which was Jingben of the Southern Song Dynasty.He had read the book long ago, but sometimes wanted to review it, and he didn't want to bother his eyes; he would find someone to read it, and just sit and listen.

Scholars and officials often come and go in the Qi Mansion. For those scholars who have no status, if they can serve and study in front of Qi Tai, it is simply a job they dream of.The supervisor Qi Tai chose had a very good voice, and he read and wrote well, which sounded very comfortable.

Sometimes, Qi Tai would also listen to some popular books, such as the anti-rebellion book Song Jiang written by the modern literati Shi Naian, Qi Tai found it very interesting.There are exaggerations in the content, but why the people in the book rebelled is also written with reason.

The supervisor finished reading a volume and paused for a while.Qi Tai quickly said, "Let's stop reading today."

The prison student immediately bowed respectfully, closed the books and put them back on the shelf, then cupped his fists and bowed to say goodbye, lifted the hem of his robe, and stepped out of the threshold.

Qi Tai continued to stay in the study room. He turned his chair around, facing the wall, staring at the fake painting of the late crossing of the Xuexi River, meditating while looking at it.

At this moment, his young and beautiful wife Yang Yunniang, who was as old as a daughter, walked into the study. She came up to take away the cold tea and said, "Husband came back early today."

Qi Tai turned his head and said: "The matter is over, come back earlier."

The couple didn't talk too much, usually they would talk about things like food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and they would do their own things after a few words.

But today, Mrs. Yang suddenly said something profound: "Why is my husband always unhappy?"

Qi Tai was a little surprised and said, "Is there?"

Pointing to her own face, Yang said: "I seem to be very sad every day, but everyone in the world is envious of my husband."

Qi Tai glanced at her and said, "Your kindness is hard to repay."

As soon as the words were finished, a commoner servant with hair in a bun came to the door of the study, bent down and said, "My lord, Mr. Gao is here to visit."

Yang immediately said, "It's Xianning."

Qi Tai said: "Call him in."

"Yes." The servant replied and retreated.

Yang welcomed Qi Tai's student, Gao Xianning, to visit, because Gao Xianning was more interesting when he came. He often spoke with a relaxed smile, and he would also tell some anecdotes, and he was not so serious.

After a while, Gao Xianning arrived, walked straight into the study, and came up to greet him.Then Gao Xianning bowed to Yang again: "Master is well." Qi Tai said casually: "Sit down."

Yang said: "You teachers and students are talking, I'll make a pot of tea, and then ask someone to prepare a table of wine and food. Xianning will have dinner at home today."

Gao Xianning said with a smile: "How dare you? Students come here to eat and drink from time to time, shouldn't they pay the teacher for food?"

Yang said: "Then you can't just say nothing."

Gao Xianning smiled and said, "You do your work first." After he finished speaking, he glanced at the direction of Qi Tai's chair, and then turned to look at the fake painting on the wall.

Seeing this, Qi Tai followed Gao Xianning to watch it together. The two watched for a while, and the atmosphere was a bit weird.Gao Xianning stepped forward and sat down on a chair.

"Today, Mr. Qian Shijun from the Shouyu Division came to see me, and we talked for a long time." Qi Tai said.He then recounted the ins and outs of Qian Xun's deficit with Gao Xianning.

After hearing this, Gao Xianning said, "The students think this is an opportunity."

"How to say?" Qi Tai immediately asked with great interest.

Gao Xianning thought for a while, and said: "The bricks on the inner city wall of the capital have inscriptions on them, and the names of the officials of the fifth and sixth ranks above the brick maker are all on it. This is when Taizu built the city wall of the capital, for the reliability of the bricks and stones. Of."

Qi Tai nodded, motioning for him to continue talking.

Gao Xianning said, "It's a simple way to turn the heads together, but it's still necessary to use this method; it's just because those turns come from countless prefectures and counties, the sources are different, and the supply is scattered in different places. The imperial court has always distributed them like this for building city walls and making ordnance.

Now the Holy Majesty requires excellent armor and firearms. If we use Taizu's method again, it will fail.A set of armor, from supplying materials to forging armor pieces, is assembled into a complete set. How can each piece of armor be engraved with a name?The materials used have been forged by fire, so how to check the source of the iron materials?

So it takes a lot of rules to make a good and reliable set of armor, or a firearm with precise dimensions and strong strength. "

Qi Tai said: "Qian Xun is inexperienced in the officialdom, and he is very loyal to the Holy Majesty, so he is obsessed with doing it himself. He basically got things done, but left a mess, and now he comes to ask me for help."

Gao Xianning said: "Menshi Mingjian, there is only one Qian Xun. If this matter is changed, it will be very difficult to fail. Even if Qian Xun does it a second time, it may not be able to handle it well."

Qi Tai nodded in agreement.

Gao Xianning said: "If the Holy Majesty asks every time and things like that are done well, then the rules will have to be changed. Let Xia Butang or Ru Butang do it next time and see what he does. Is this an opportunity?"

When Qi Tai heard this, he opened his half-closed eyes immediately, and looked at Gao Xianning with a strange look.

Gao Xianning cupped his hands and bowed, with a meaningful smile on his face.

Qi Tai pondered and said: "The Holy Majesty said some words, some of which are very novel and difficult to understand, related to industry and commerce, and related to currency. At first I was often confused by what I heard, but after thinking about it a few times, I felt quite reasonable and very reasonable. It has a deep meaning. Gradually, it seems to be able to understand what the Holy One intends."

He paused and continued, "At first I didn't understand, because I didn't expect that the Holy One would think so deeply about the specific affairs inside and outside the court when he was always in the army."

The two fell silent, still sitting there, seeming to be thinking and remembering.

At this time, Yang Yunniang walked in with the teapot and cups in person.Seeing the teacher and the student sitting silently facing each other without saying a word, she was suddenly surprised and asked, "Husband and Xianning quarreled?"

Gao Xianning came back to his senses, smiled, cupped his hands and said, "No, no. Mrs. Lao serves the tea in person, the students are rude."

Yang Yunniang shook her head, walked to the table and poured two cups of tea with her own hands.After covering the lid of the cup, she left the study without interrupting their conversation.

Qi Tai said: "You can start reforming from the small to the big, starting with the Nanshu Iron Works. Qian Xun's approach is correct, and it also conforms to the meaning of the Holy One. Use currency and profits as the connection between all links, and divide labor and cooperate.

Spend money to buy iron materials to make charcoal from private mines or government-run mines, and the other party will find a way to provide good materials in order to make a deal; it is not out of being forced to deal with it.And the method of using currency to hire craftsmen can also select craftsmen and obtain skilled craftsmen.

However, the original method of passing government decrees and stipulating the distribution of supply costs among counties; the imperial court did not need to pay, and passed all the costs on to the local governments, but the results were obviously very poor.Moreover, there is no room for delays and supply shortages in various places, and the above cannot continue; mistakes in one link will drag down the overall situation. "

Gao Xianning frowned and said, "Students think that there are three difficulties in Qian Xun's method. First, if the number of weapons produced by the iron factory increases, or if this method is extended to all yamen, then the court will undoubtedly need a lot of coins to maintain it.

The original method for the imperial court to profit from the localities was to let the localities provide regular supplies of real goods to various military settlements and yamen, and the second was to use corvee labor to requisition manpower for free.

Once the court switched to currency to maintain the situation, taxes and corvees would have to be changed.In the past few years, it could be maintained through the central bank mint. In the future, the imperial court worried that too much currency would be issued and minting coins would not be profitable, so they could only try to increase cash money.

Second, the law must be changed to allow private merchants such as business gangs and private mine owners to legally hire manpower; in this way, the imperial court can purchase a large amount of expenses and materials.

This proposal, I am afraid there will be a lot of resistance.This allows private individuals to gather a large number of people, and the court has to guard against their rebellion; or prevent them from coercing a large number of people with their livelihoods and claiming power from the government.

Throughout the dynasties, the imperial court has been committed to maintaining the number of scattered self-cultivating peasant households and weakening the power of the rich, thinking that long-term stability is a measure.It is inevitable that there will be criticism if we do the opposite today.

Third, the students thought that the problems mentioned by Jian Butang were not empty words.A large amount of money flows in all links to maintain the situation; then it is inevitable that corrupt officials will play their hands in it, fill their pockets, and relax purchases for benefits.If the result is still shoddy, but a lot of problems are added, then the loss outweighs the gain. "