Chapter 342 My Words
Outside the palace.
Luo Jing took a deep breath of fresh air. A team of beautiful palace maids walked past him, and all the anxiety he had just felt in the palace seemed to disappear.
Faint voices could be heard from the hall, proving that the argument had not yet stopped. Luo Jing couldn't help but think of what his father had said before he died.
"In national politics, there is no such thing as having all benefits and no harm. When people in power implement each policy, they are choosing to get what they need most at the moment.
For example, the imperial court needed a sufficient amount of high-quality copper coins, so private coin minting was allowed.
If one day the court needs something else, it will be time to take back the right to mint coins.
Take this book and read it, but remember, just glance at it briefly and don't be trapped by the core ideas in it. There are some bad things in it. You are not talented in this area and you will be easily misled."
Thinking of this, Luo Jing took a deep breath and returned to the hall, where the debate was still going on.
Luo Jing returned to his seat and sat down. When Liu Heng saw him come back, he smiled and nodded. Then he saw Luo Jing walk into the hall in the gaze of everyone and bowed to Liu Heng.
"Your Majesty, I have a few words to say to the ministers."
Liu Heng was quite surprised, but he still waved his hand and said, "As you wish!"
Luo Jing turned around and took two steps in the hall. He was still a young man, and stood out among this group of middle-aged people. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to speak.
Recalling what his father had said, Luo Jing slowly said, "I heard the arguments between the two parties earlier.
A doctor once said: If you have good goods at the top, you will definitely make a lot of money at the bottom!
Does this make sense?
have!
But people are good and evil, and so are kings.
If you encounter a tyrannical ruler, even if you allow private minting of copper coins, there are so many means of extortion and taxation. Is it possible to ban them one by one?
Hunters will not give up hunting in the mountains just because there are ferocious beasts there.
A fisherman will not give up his boat just because of the dangers at sea.
There is no reason to starve yourself just because you are worried about choking.
Your Majesty is a wise and enlightened ruler. If the coins are taken back, there may be some evil people who may slightly reduce the quality of copper coins. However, as long as the court exercises strict supervision and severely punishes those lawless tyrants who deliberately mint small coins, the situation can be completely controlled.
But if we continue to allow private coinage, I ask all the ministers to think carefully about the rebellion of the King of Wu in the past. Why did he dare to confront the court? It was because he amassed a huge amount of wealth through private coinage, and even became the richest among all the kings without collecting taxes. With his wealth, he raised soldiers and no longer took the court seriously.
I think you all know very well how much harm war can cause to the world.
If government orders cannot be consistent and the whole world cannot be ruled by the emperor, ambitious people will certainly think of rebelling or seeking personal gain.
In the past, it was my father who promoted the policy of allowing private coinage. But gentlemen, the only thing that never changes in this world is change. The five-level nobility system established by King Su in the past, does it still exist today?
Before my father died, he told me and Your Majesty that allowing private coinage was a temporary measure because the people had just experienced the chaos at the end of the Qin Dynasty and could no longer withstand any harm, so this policy was implemented.
My father is very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of this policy.
Taking back the power to mint coins might lead to the prevalence of small coins, but if the power is not taken back, the local governments will surely become more powerful, and the court will lose the sword to check and balance the local governments. It will then have to resort to military force, causing even greater chaos.
Now I want to ask you a question, which is more important, the stability of the country, the consistency of government orders or the quality of copper coins? "
Which is more important, world unity or the money market?
Finally, Luo Jing asked everyone the last question of the book, a question that Luo Xin did not have an answer to.
There is not much difference between these two options for the people. Whether their lives will be affected depends on whether the court will make great efforts to manage them.
Just like how Luo Xin dealt with those who used small amounts of money to force purchases and sales, this established the logic that good money drives out bad money.
Luo Jing directly bypassed the moral issues that both sides were arguing about, and instead directly extracted the real core of the argument.
At this moment, everyone was silent. They were all court officials, officials of the Chang'an court, not officials of the vassal kingdoms. Except for a few officials who came from powerful families, most people naturally stood on the side of the court in this regard.
Liu Heng looked at Luo Jing with a smile on his face.
Jia Yi looked at Luo Jing with an expression of admiration on his face. From these words, he seemed to see the regent prime minister of the past who would never be confused.
In those years, the court's annual revenue increased year by year, while the tax rates of the people in the world kept decreasing, especially the agricultural tax. He still remembered what the prime minister said, "If the court can only survive by levying heavy taxes on farmers, then the court will be on the verge of death. If the court can maintain normal operation under the condition of low tax rates, then the world will be prosperous."
Everyone looked at Luo Jing, looking at those young men with childish faces, standing upright in the hall, and asked everyone in a resounding voice, "There are only these two choices, which one do you want to choose?"
Which one to choose?
Which one can I choose?
Of course, the whole world is the same!
It is a consensus among almost all schools of thought that the world must be unified. Even the Confucians who support the feudal system do so because they believe that the loyalty of feudal lords is more lasting than that of officials, and that feudal lords can rule over local areas more stably than officials.
The great Confucian scholars hoped to maintain the emperor's rule through the feudal system, rather than allowing the feudal lords to threaten the emperor in turn. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, countless Confucian disciples died in order to maintain the status of the monarch and the existence of the ritual system.
After Qin conquered the six kingdoms, a great Confucian scholar advised the Emperor Qin Shi Huang to enfeoff the sons of meritorious officials to the various kingdoms in Shandong in order to stabilize the people of Shandong and pacify the powerful people of the six kingdoms. At that time, he was denounced as the words of a corrupt Confucian scholar, but after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, looking back from today's perspective, weren't these words of loyalty and justice?
Those ministers who supported the recovery of the coinage rights could not help but stand up from their seats and cheered loudly: "Cheers!"
"What the Minister said makes sense!"
"Your Excellency is a man of high caliber. This is the right advice for the state."
Seeing that no one spoke, Luo Jing looked at those who had spoken out against him before.
The previously passionate doctor came from the Huang-Lao school and advocated small government, which meant that the court should not interfere too much and let society operate according to spontaneously formed rules.
However, faced with the fact that the government policies of the whole country are consistent, even the Huang-Lao lineage cannot say a word against it.
Which of the two is more important is not a question worth discussing at all. Facing Luo Jing's inquiry, the people who had previously opposed could only say in a deep voice: "What the Minister said makes sense. It is of vital importance that the government orders of the whole country are consistent.
Your vision is on the whole world, while mine is limited to a small corner. This is probably why you have thought of such profound things, while I can only repeat some complicated words here.
I was wrong in thinking this, and I should apologize to Your Majesty. I almost delayed the important affairs of the court."
The debate should have ended here, as Luo Jing's politically correct remarks killed all possible reasons.
Under everyone's gaze, Luo Jing saluted Liu Heng, then walked back to his seat and sat down.
Seeing that no one was talking, Liu Heng smiled and said, "Today, all the ministers have spoken freely, and I have gained a lot from what you said. I think you have no objection to what we have discussed today."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
All the ministers bowed their heads and saluted, then left the hall and left the palace under the guidance of the imperial guards.
Luo Jing and Jia Yi walked slowly behind the crowd. Jia Yi noticed that Luo Jing was somewhat silent, not at all like his usual high spirits, so he asked curiously, "Minister, do you still have any doubts in your heart?"
Luo Jing sighed softly and said, "Mr. Jia, you will be busy after this decree is implemented. There are countless greedy people in this world who dare to risk their lives and break the law. They will not let go of such a lucrative business as minting small coins. If we do not handle it properly, we will be the sinners today.
To be honest, Jing always has a bad feeling in his heart. It seems that what he did today will cause irreversible consequences and will become the root cause of cholera in the world in the future. But after thinking about it, the world now really needs the court to take back the right to mint coins. "
Jia Yi was very smart. He immediately guessed what Luo Jing was worried about, which was the reasons given by the previous opponents. Those reasons were really reasonable and not made up.
Luo Jing was not a politician by nature. He was born with the sentimentality of a scholar and was even more emotional than Jia Yi. Naturally, he would unconsciously think about the drawbacks of these policies.
Jia Yi hesitated for a moment and said, "Minister, if that's the case, you might as well apply directly to His Majesty to monitor the feedback on this matter. It will be enough as long as you ensure that it does not harm the people."
Luo Jing's eyes lit up when he heard this and he said, "What Jia Qing said makes sense. I will ask for this errand when I see His Majesty tomorrow."
————
In the discussion about "coinage", the pros and cons listed different reasons respectively, but what ultimately ended the debate was social stability and consistent government policies, which had nothing to do with the currency itself.
From these debates and their final results, we can see that the ruling class during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han had fully realized the distribution function of currency itself. It was not a medium of commercial exchange, but a stabilizer for regulating society.
It can also be seen that the policy shift during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, that is, starting from the reign of Liu Bang, the decades of recuperation and restoration period was roughly over, and Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty began to build a real ruling system that could govern the counties and kingdoms of the world. In this system, ensuring the stability of the world and building a peaceful order has become the first concern of the rulers of the Han Dynasty, while the continued wild growth and recovery of the economy is in a secondary position. - "History of the Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
