Sheng Shi Merciful Light

Because the king of Chu once again submitted the topic to "preliminarily demonstrate the pros and cons of reopening the border trade", the main topic of today's court meeting is to discuss the reopening of the mutual market.The king of Chu didn't ask for leave today, and he came here to sit in the town after recovering from a serious illness.

Due to several accidents, the officials of the court changed slightly. Li Minzhi, the former Minister of the Ministry of Officials, was involved in the rebellion incident because Li Yizhi, the younger brother who was not up to date in the family, was the face of Princess Yongjia. He was not implicated, but he really couldn't pretend that nothing happened and continue to stay in the position of Minister of the Ministry of Officials, so he resigned voluntarily with a wink.From Nanjun Gu's family, a 50-year-old Gu Jiding came up and became the Minister of the Ministry of Power and Officials.

Gu Ji is a Jinshi granted by heaven for ten years, Erjia Chuanlu, he used to be a court official for a period of time. At that time, his official position was not high, but because of his old age and calm temper, he took a part-time job that was taught on the feast day. The princes have lectured for several years.Because he is a stable and dignified person, he prefers the third prince who is also honest and dignified.

Later, I went to the local area to practice, and I have been the prefect of Yangzhou.After the third prince succeeded to the throne and became Emperor Deguang, Gu Ji just happened to be rated as an excellent first because of the strong embankment and no floods in Yangzhou last year, the high grain yield, and the old relationship of Emperor Deguang. He stayed in Beijing and joined the Ministry of Officials as a servant , Now Emperor Deguang broke the rules and appointed Minister of the Ministry of Officials as an acting official, which is regarded as another confidant of Emperor Deguang.

In Gu Ji's superior position, someone once chewed his tongue in front of Mou Yu. What he meant was to let the King of Chu pay attention to the movements of his courtiers, so that Emperor Deguang would not replace them all with his people.

Mou Yu didn't even mention Mu Ci's premise, because Mu Ci wouldn't care about this kind of personnel transfer.The balance of power and tactics is conducive to stability. This is the task of Emperor Deguang, and Mu Ci will not interfere.

As long as you don't put the cart before the horse, and the replaced person can't even do their duties fairly and efficiently, then Mu Ci will interfere.

It didn't take long for Gu Ji to discover some changes in the court, which were quite different from the original.In the original court meeting, everyone had something to say, although they spoke freely, but there was a hammer here and a hammer here, and some things couldn't be handled well after a long time of noise, and it was easy to go off topic, maybe for some inexplicable reason. In a group, nothing can be discussed.

Now, for the affairs of the court meeting, several topics are set in advance, the goals to be achieved are clarified, and then the proposer makes a statement. Others, whether they agree or disagree, can express their opinions within half a small hourglass (5 minutes). The prime minister concluded that in the end, everyone raised their hands in court to decide, and the emperor said that if it was passed or not, some of them could be resolved in court.

If there is no way to deal with it and it is not urgent, it will be discussed later, and then the next topic, and so on.

In the end, half an hour was left to discuss unexpected issues. After the final discussion, the two prime ministers concluded their speeches and announced the agenda for the next court meeting. Please go home and prepare.

It is said that this is a change that occurred after the King of Chu reformed the time and process of the court meeting.To be honest, the efficiency has improved a lot, so everyone gradually got used to this method of discussion, and they are very convinced of the King of Chu.

Today we are discussing the re-opening of border trade with the four surrounding countries, and the king of Chu has reformed and innovated.Even if there are major events to be discussed in the future, they can be debated.

Seeing that everyone's focus was on re-opening the border trade, and seeing the pale, lazy and tired look of the King of Chu, Su Yan silently pressed the admonition badge in his arms.Originally, he was going to admonish at the court meeting today: The King of Chu disregarded the royal family's dignity, and it was not counted as being a male favorite in the palace.This is a major event that corrupts morality.

Another admonishment is to impeach the king of Chu for taking bribes from Beirong in private, and plans to let the envoys of Beirong go.

But Su Yan is not stupid either, he has not been a censor for long, and he still understands the king of Chu. Although he acts without restraint, he is true for the country and the people.

Some private matters can be brought up later, and we must first give way to state affairs, so as not to affect the King of Chu.

While Su Yan was thinking, the topic started.

Emperor Deguang mentioned some of the advantages and disadvantages of reopening the border trade in the examination papers during the palace examination, and brought them up, so that everyone can formally discuss whether to reopen it or not.It is also required to not allow long-winded generalizations and infinite extensions, but to discuss the facts, demonstrate with examples, and present data to reason, and try to be as accurate as possible.

After finishing speaking, Emperor Deguang asked Mu Ci: "Does the Ninth Brother have something to remind you dear ones?"

"Yes!" Mu Ci nodded.

It really does.

Mu Ci said: "The matter is of great importance, so I hope that everyone, no matter whether you oppose or support it, please speak freely. Once a resolution is reached, no matter whether it is reopened or not, there should be no more complaints or even obedience."

This was agreed upon by all, and the discussion began shortly thereafter.

Yang Ye, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, was the first to appear on the list. He was a collateral child of Weiyuan Marquis Mansion in the northwest, and he clearly opposed it.He has the most data on border wars. He re-calculated more accurate statistics on the number of imperial troops who died in the southwestern border due to the four countries' invasion 11 years ago, and the number of people killed at the border.

The original records generally estimated that the total number of military and civilian deaths was more than 30.Yang Ye knew that the re-opening of border trade would be brought up sooner or later. In order to oppose it forcefully, he really found information from various places. After accurate statistics, he got the figures that 19 regular soldiers of the Imperial Army died, 27 auxiliary soldiers, and more than [-] civilians—thousands This is the drawback of fuzzy statistics.

Not only is the registration of the number of deaths that year vague, but even the original population of a village that was slaughtered is not very accurate in the local household registration because there are hidden households who escaped.

But this approximate figure is still credible, and everyone was taken aback.

More than 30 and more than 50 are approaching the 60 mark. This difference is too great. The number of deaths that year was not calculated accurately at all, and no one pointed out such a big omission.

However, some insiders know that in order to negotiate with the four countries at that time, the imperial court concealed the casualties of the army.And the Emperor Tianshou happened to be concubine Xie Chen died of illness in the cold palace, he was careless about politics, and he didn't bother to change it later, which caused the data to be half off.

Yang Ye said that 11 years ago, the border trade between my country and the four countries was open. As a result, the four countries were ambitious and used the obtained copper coins to build weapons. The consequences of the four countries' joint invasion of the Central Plains.

How to do business with robbers?

Mu Ci immediately affirmed that Yang Shangshu had a heart, and he did not lean back lazily, but sat upright with a solemn expression, and gave evidence: "Because the first batch of admissions to the Hall of Martyrs began to accept applications, and a special division of the Privy Council was established. Formed a team and issued application forms to entrust the local government to assist in accepting applications. The number of applications received in the early stage has exceeded 50. Some households have become extinct, or those who are further away have not had time to submit or have not received news."

Only then did everyone affirm that the number of casualties of the Forbidden Army was roughly correct.

Some officials were sweating just now because Yang Ye opposed the king of Chu - who didn't know that the king of Chu and the king of Guangling had colluded and supported the reopening of border trade.But looking at it now, Yang Ye opposed the king of Chu so vigorously, and the king of Chu not only did not blame him, but also seriously proved it... Is this a trend?

Several people saw that King Chu didn't look like he was going to mobilize troops to destroy the opposition party humanely. Combined with his consistent performance, King Chu seemed to never get angry with those who opposed him. As long as there were reasons and evidence, he was very tolerant and kind.

Sure enough, as in the legend, the king of Chu is a wise, benevolent, patriotic, loving, and people-oriented king, with a big heart and a big belly, so I admire him even more.

Therefore, under the dual stimulation of justice and money in their hearts, the opposition party suddenly became so courageous that it was ready to fight, and presented all the examples and evidence of opposition collected at home.I was sure again in my heart that this method of announcing the agenda of the next court meeting in advance is really good, allowing everyone to have sufficient preparation time.

Opposition rise up!We must block the way to reopen the mutual market to avoid the tragedy of 11 years ago from happening again.

There are more than 56 people, equivalent to the population of two large counties, and most of the soldiers are young and strong.

Daxing Dynasty has a total of 190 states, 300 seven counties, and a total population of only 1000 million. Well, if the young and strong can have [-] million people, how many can fight?

The death rate of the frontier troops has shaken the foundation of the country. If the four countries were not defeated and there were no other big countries on the border, the luck would have been lost.

Under the excitement of the public, some reformers believe that the benefits of reopening the border trade are also great. For example, it can be exchanged for supplies such as horses to ease border friction.

Talking and talking... Everyone started to roll up their sleeves. It is an unavoidable tradition in court meetings to this day.Who said that scholars can't fight?In particular, the king of Chu promoted the status of soldiers, and the Royal Academy of Mingli, run by Emperor Deguang, repeatedly emphasized the importance of scholars maintaining good physique, and martial arts became more prevalent.

The King of Chu was quite reliable this time, so he hurriedly called for a stop, and directed everyone to say: "Come on, let's change the way today and have a debate. Those who have no position stand on the sidelines, and those who oppose stand on the left. On the left, those who support stand on the right, which is called the right. Each party sends three representatives to speak. They can show their own views or refute the views of the other party. If other people want to speak, they can also hold up the wat board and speak by name Please use polite words, with detailed arguments and accurate data, with the goal of persuading the other party, do not talk about irrelevant topics, and do not allow personal attacks."

Everyone was used to hearing the strange ideas of the King of Chu, and with the emperor's approval, they took their positions one after another.

One-third of the opponents are military generals and some civil servants, and one-third of the supporters are mainly nobles.The neutral civil servants and generals stood on the sidelines.

So the court held the first debate in history. The emperor and two prime ministers made the referee, and the king of Chu presided over it. The opponents pushed out Su Yan because the generals were not good at words.One of the advantages of this person after he became a doctor of imperial history is very obvious - his eloquence is super good, and it is not the same when he persuades people to quote scriptures.Of course, Emperor Deguang deeply believed that this was a shortcoming, a big shortcoming.

There are also Yang Ye, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Pei Yan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

The supporters launched King Guangling and Lu Dingguo, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. These two people have a common characteristic-the love of money. Although one is for private wealth and the other is for the treasury, they will really work hard for money.

In addition, in order to win the head, Fang Shanwu, the minister of the Ministry of punishment, was recruited. He is extremely keen, able to see opportunities, and is better at observing words and expressions, fighting psychological warfare, and catching opponents' loopholes from clues.However, it seems that Fang Shanwu doesn't like Beirong people, so how could he agree to reopen the border trade?

The two sides started a verbal battle over the pros and cons of reopening the border trade, each citing their own reasons and trying to be as accurate as possible.Otherwise it will be ruled invalid.

Mu Ci was overjoyed, listened with great interest, sat upright, and leaned forward slightly, looking very interested.

Muci also notes that all of the accounts meet the preliminary criteria of precision.Although this kind of precision has not yet reached Mu Ci's abnormal standard, it shows that the "law of precision" has begun to take effect, everyone has a sense of precision, and the Long March has taken the first step, which is gratifying.

Su Yan talked about the national righteousness to the feelings of the family and the country. His eloquence is so good that there is no repetition. He clearly analyzed the past consequences and future hidden dangers of the mutual markets of various countries. He was full of emotions and made everyone feel ashamed. said.Yang Ye immediately put out one after another casualty data and loss data to support Su Yan, and several generals who lost their family robes came forward to speak out, a disabled soldier of the vanguard battalion told about the barbarism of the enemy, how to cut open the heart and heart , How to rape women, even children.

It can be seen that it has been prepared.

Emperor Deguang had already pulled King Chu to sit with him, leaned over and asked Mu Ci, "I look familiar to the soldiers from the Qianfeng Battalion."

"Of course it looks familiar, it's my guard." Mu Ci said.Most of the people employed by his palace are disabled soldiers and their families. This striker is An Yuan's deputy, so it's good if he can't tell.

In order to maintain the emperor's demeanor, Emperor Deguang managed to hold back his jaw that was about to drop in shock, and asked with a wink, "Why is he here? Which side are you on?" Didn't he agree to reopen the border trade?Why do you let your people stand in the opposition camp and still speak out?

Mu Ci took it for granted, "I'm on the side of the facts."

"If it turns out that it's not suitable to reopen today..." Emperor Deguang asked.

Mu Ci took it for granted: "That means it is not suitable for reopening."

Emperor Deguang looked at Mu Ci in amazement.The two brothers didn't deliberately lower their voices when they spoke, and most officials also had expressions of "Are you kidding me?", so a few bystanders and even supporters sneaked into the opponents' camp.

The King of Guangling was calm and relaxed, and he didn't meet Mu Ci's eyes. He directly talked about the demand for border trade with the data, and proposed a new trading method, which Mu Ci once told him about the fixed-point mutual market, and the government only sold mutual market tea. Introduce goods instead of taxation, trade tea with horses, do not directly trade with metal currency, and prevent neighboring countries from using the copper coins obtained from the exchange to smelt them into weapons.At the same time, salt and iron are controlled, and trade is not allowed.

——This obviously dispelled the opposition's biggest worries.

Lu Dingguo, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, even put out a long list of empty treasury data. Although the treasury has money, it cannot support many places that need money, and money is needed everywhere. It is good to have money, which can provide compulsory education, free medical care, The widows, the widows, and the lonely have something to rely on, and there is money for disaster relief, and the army also has soldiers and horses.

By the way, war horse!

A military servant who was in charge of horses immediately turned against him, and took out his statistics on horses from his sleeve and handed them to Lu Dingguo.Emma, ​​the imperial court's war horses are getting tighter and tighter. The number of horses produced in the Xihe Plain is getting smaller and smaller. If we don't add more, the cavalry will have to fight with their own legs in three or two years. This is terrible.

This means that the Northwest will be in a weak position and the situation will be unstable.

However, Lu Dingguo had a heart, and he did not say so at the court, exposing his weakness, but only showed this data to the three ministers of the opposition, and then showed it to King Chu and Emperor Deguang.

The prerequisite for improving all this is to reopen the border trade, increase the revenue of the treasury, and exchange the horses.If the list cannot be opened, there will be a flood of smuggling, a lot of tax evasion, and some people may even carry ironware out of the country.

In short, blocking is worse than sparse.

Emperor Deguang almost drooled when he heard the high estimated total tax payment, and asked Mu Ci, "Is this data accurate?"

"Of course, I asked people to count." Mu Ci confessed very frankly.

Well, the smuggling data was kindly provided by the King of Chu, and the estimated total tax payment was also calculated with his help, so it is naturally very accurate.

Courtier: "..." King Chu, which side are you on? ! !

The author has something to say:

The tea-horse trade market has begun... It's been a long time.

The tea and horse trade that Mu Ci mentioned.

First of all, the imperial court listed items prohibited from trade, such as iron, weapons, etc., which were called trade controlled products and were not allowed to be sold.Only tea, porcelain, cloth, and other daily necessities can be traded, and only the horses, furs and other real objects we need can be exchanged, and copper coins are prohibited.This kind of tea trading with horses can be called "tea horse exchange market".

Taxes are not collected when leaving the country, and taxes are collected in the country first, but you have to change the way.The imperial court issued a quota of mutual market tea, porcelain and silk to the prefectural capitals, and merchants went to the yamen of each government to buy them, so that they could obtain permission to bring the goods into the mutual market for trading. Violators would be punished as smuggling.However, the imperial court did not interfere with the price of the tea-horse transaction, and it followed the market, and the merchants set the price for free trade.The purchase of strategic materials urgently needed by the court, such as horses, is also tax-free for inbound transactions, and some entry taxes are charged for other goods that are not urgently needed by the court. , A lot of information, refer to the tea horse trade in the ancient Song Dynasty.Many settings in this article are also modeled after the Song Dynasty. I like the Song Dynasty very much. After the Song Dynasty fell, there was no real China anymore.