The emperor can do whatever he wants, he is willful!
The Minister of Works almost vomited blood.
You can escape from your daughter but not from your wife, right? Why do you only pick on me! There are so many civil and military officials in the court, just look at others!
Every civil and military official in the court lowered their eyes, carefully avoiding looking at Xu Yanmiao, so as to make the other party suddenly remember that there is such a person as him.
The old emperor saw it clearly from above, and raised his eyebrows when he saw it. At present, he did not say anything about the business affairs of the wife of the Minister of Works.
He only said: "The ministers in the court are actually silent, and no one can share the worries for the monarch?"
A group of old men in their fifties and sixties are not as good as a little kid!
Although that method still requires him to take the essence and discard the dross, at least this method is feasible!
After hearing this, all the civil and military officials immediately knelt down and shouted: "I am terrified! I am guilty!"
The old emperor clenched his fists, knocked on the armrests, and snorted coldly: "I don't think you are terrified at all, but you are very brave."
Looking at him, can't you tell how many of them are trying to protect themselves? All
the officials bowed their heads in shame and confessed their crimes repeatedly. But they didn't say what the emperor wanted them to say.
They didn't say anything, so the emperor said, "Since you don't understand, hand it over to someone who does. When it comes to money, I think there are so many merchants in the world, there must be people who know the business. Today I will allow merchants to take part in the imperial examinations..."
After saying this, all the officials felt even more "guilty", and they apologized quickly one after another, but when it comes to the matter of merchants taking the imperial examinations, they all said the same thing -
"Your Majesty! Absolutely not!"
"Your Majesty, think twice!"
"Your Majesty! The rich are unkind! There is no businessman without evil! If they are allowed to be officials, there may be unrest in the court!"
"Merchants are parasites of the country, and they have money! Once they become a trend, it will be difficult to get rid of them!"
"I don't deny that there are good merchants and righteous merchants, but there are more merchants who are counterfeiting and hoarding. If they use such methods in politics, it will be a burden that society cannot bear, and the country will perish sooner or later!"
Some ministers here are for their own interests, and some ministers are truly concerned about the country, but no matter which one, they do not agree to let merchants participate in the imperial examination.
The old emperor's eyes slowly swept from left to right, his expression was ambiguous.
"Prince." He said, "What do you think?"
The ministers were slightly surprised.
They originally thought that His Majesty would first choose the Minister of Works, and no matter what, the other party would protect the merchants because his wife was engaged in business.
The prince came to court today, which was rare. When he was called, he became serious for once: "Your Majesty, I believe that talent, not status, is what counts. A humble person is not necessarily unvirtuous, and a noble person is not necessarily unwise. If a merchant has talent, he can naturally be admitted into the court."
After saying this, he also seriously cited examples in history books of officials who used merchant affairs to benefit the country.
Some officials destroyed their country through economic warfare; some officials used sophisticated financial means to make the economy of one state strong enough to resist two countries; some officials saw that the barbarians relied on trade to get China's iron to cast weapons, so they specifically ordered that only iron pots produced in Guangdong, which were extremely difficult to smelt, could be exported, making it difficult for the barbarians to get the best iron to make weapons, and they could not start a war for a while, and they had to provide cattle and horses to China because of trade...
"Your Majesty, if used properly, commerce can also strengthen the country."
When an official heard the prince say this, he stood up impulsively and said, "Your Highness, you are wrong. Looking at the past dynasties, they all chose to suppress commerce in the first few generations of the founding of the dynasty. Why? It is because people are pursuing profits. Business is already profitable. If one can also become an official, he will be rich and noble, and the benefits will attract people. I don't know how many farmers will abandon their land to do business. In this case, where will the food come from? Where will the cloth come from?"
His eyes were stern.
"Your Highness, there is a precedent in ancient times. Thousands of years ago, there was a country called Qi. The prime minister of Qi bought deer from the State of Chu at a high price. The people of Chu saw the profit and gave up farming to raise deer. Although the King of Chu responded later and began to restore arable land, it was too late. The grain price in Chu rose sharply, and the people of Chu almost starved to death. Later, they surrendered to Qi one after another. This is 'buying deer to control Chu'. It is normal for the people to pursue profit."
It is impossible to expect them to see which farming is more stable and which one will easily capsize if they give up farmland and rush to pursue new benefits, and it is best to do both at the same time.
Many officials were worried about this: "Your Majesty, farmers will really give up farming and go to trade because business is more profitable than farming."
By then, the State of Chu will be their role model.
Even if you want to promote commerce, you have to wait for several generations until the country is stable!
[Eh? Where is the money-grabbing official? ]
Xu Yanmiao subconsciously asked in confusion, but suddenly blocked the official's throat. He didn't know how to explain for a while.
The old emperor laughed loudly.
The whole hall echoed with the emperor's laughter.
He laughed so hard that tears came out, and his body leaned on the dragon chair. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his index finger, and slapped the armrest several times with his other hand.
The old emperor swore that he didn't mean it, but the sound of "Where's the money-grabbing official?" really tickled his funny bone. He
was a little dumb, a little confused, and he appeared without knowing anything, like a rabbit that suddenly jumped out of a rabbit hole and landed right on the head of a vicious dog. He kicked his hind legs hard and jumped away again, directly kicking the vicious dog to a daze. The rabbit didn't know what happened. After jumping out a few steps , he turned his head stupidly, looked at the vicious dog twice, and jumped away again in confusion.
Fortunately, Xu Yanmiao didn't doubt it. He thought the emperor was laughing at what the official said.
The old emperor kept sitting crookedly, and without thinking for too long, he smiled and said, "I know you are doing this for Daxia."
Because the problem the official mentioned really existed. Why did the dynasty emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce? Could it be that for thousands of years, no emperor recognized the power of merchants?
"If so, let's put an end to the business tax."
In fact, he had no intention of supporting commerce at this time.
The officials did not know this, and their minds suddenly relaxed. They said in unison: "Your Majesty is wise!"
The old emperor supported his chin with one hand, and the corners of his mouth seemed to be raised, but it seemed not to be: "But the precious banknotes do need to be solved. How about this? In the previous dynasty, there was an official named Zhuaqian Lingshi, who was responsible for official lending. Each department had nine people, each with a capital of 50,000, and they had to pay 4,000 coins in interest to the court every month. After a certain number of years, the court will grant them official positions."
Li is not an official, has no rank, and is paid very low. For a while, the old emperor was thinking about whether he should announce to the whole country that if a clerk can report the corruption of local officials, he can replace them. If so, the old emperor believed that the petty clerks in various places would definitely work hard to keep a close eye on the government officials, and would be more qualified than the Jinyiwei.
But later, the clerks were abandoned because of the
uneven quality of the clerks. "The clerks who catch money are often merchants. Now, I have established a position similar to the clerks who catch money, with no rank or grade, and 36 people. Two people will accompany the emperor every day, and they will take turns every 18 days. When the emperor needs to ask for advice on business, they will provide strategies."
This actually combines the functions of the Shizhong. That is, the advisers around the emperor.
The officials still felt that it was inappropriate, but... T had already refuted it once before, and if it happened again, their emperor was not made of clay and had no temper.
Moreover, if there were only thirty-six people, asking for business strategies, and there was no rank, it didn't seem to be impossible?
Xu Yanmiao realized: [Chinese people always like to reconcile and compromise...]
Before he finished reading his thoughts, he seemed to have seen something else, and turned another corner -
[There are gangsters! ! ! ]
Gangsters? What gangsters?
The emperor and his ministers of Daxia were confused for a while.
Where did the gangsters come from in the court? Could it be that some officials were playing tricks? !
[It's too miserable, too miserable, Princess Wanshou is going to get stye - Yang Wuhou is also blind, can he use something like Yu Ai to replace his white moonlight? Let's eat something good! 】
Others' first reaction: Huh? Princess, have they already arrived in Fujian?
Yang Wuhou's first reaction: ??? I didn't say anything, why can it still involve me?
Although they heard the term "white moonlight" for the first time, their first reaction after hearing it was "bright moonlight" and "visible but not touchable", which roughly understood the meaning.
Feeling the teasing eyes of his colleagues, Yang Wuhou couldn't help but cover his face with the sleeves of his official robe, praying that Xu Yanmiao would quickly say something about stye - so that others would take their attention away from him!
Xu Yanmiao quickly satisfied him - although Yang Wuhou thought it would be better not to satisfy him.
[Even with such a big disaster in Fujian, he still had the mind to hold a grand third-day bath for his son - if other officials hadn't been busy running around, Fujian would have been in chaos long ago.]
[Princess Wanshou came to visit, and he even invited the princess to the banquet - but the bowls, chopsticks, tables and chairs were all engraved with erotic paintings!]
Yang Wuhou's face turned green.
My white moonlight - bah! The talent I've chosen! Yu Ai! Shuzi! With such a name, he actually doesn't keep himself clean! The
old emperor's face turned green. The one who
bumped into the erotic painting was his own daughter!
The Minister of Works' face turned even greener.
His daughter was there too!
The three people's eyes met at this moment, and they reached a consensus at the same time.
This kind of person! Just demoting him from his official position is too easy for him!
Moreover, this person is still doing nothing! He deserves to be punished!
The old emperor suddenly spoke: "Xu Yanmiao, have you ever killed anyone?"
Xu Yanmiao was startled: "Your Majesty, this..."
The old emperor nodded: "No, it doesn't matter-" "
Xu Yanmiao! Come forward and receive the order!"
Then, he spoke out the oral instructions that he had prepared in his mind: "This disaster is severe and the matter is serious. I give you the imperial sword, which gives you the power to cut first and report later. During this disaster relief, if you find any injustice, you don't need to report it and you can deal with it."
After that, he comforted: "It doesn't matter if you don't kill people, Liang Rui can. You just need to tell him who you want to kill."
Liang Rui bowed to the emperor.
Xu Yanmiao quickly accepted the order and thanked him. He looked calm, but his inner voice showed his confusion: [Eh? Isn't this usually given to the highest-ranking officer in the team? Why was it given to me?]
Many officials answered in their hearts: Because they want to find a reason to promote you.