This sentence stunned everyone present.
At this time, Wei Yunyi smiled and continued: "If you want to conquer, use my own people from the Great Wei."
"But Your Majesty, digging the Grand Canal and building the straight road will require at least hundreds of thousands of laborers. Especially if it is to be completed in a short period of time, it will probably reach a million. If this happens, the people will definitely complain." The Minister of Works said immediately.
The Ministry of Works, because it had to carry out many projects, used more corvee labor than the Ministry of War.
In this regard, nature has the most say!
And corvee labor.
Whatever you do is free of charge.
If there were only tens of thousands of people, it would be fine. But if there were millions, once a riot broke out, it would be a huge deal.
Almost everyone present was quite aware that if a country imposed heavy corvee labor, it would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the people under its jurisdiction. Once this emotion accumulated to a certain extent, rebellion would easily occur.
In history books, how many dynasties were severely damaged or even destroyed at this time!
Therefore, they felt that it was definitely not possible to conscript millions of laborers in the country.
This is digging your own grave!
"You think I haven't thought of this?"
Wei Yunyi shook his head and continued, "I've already thought of a solution. The laborers for these two projects must not only be provided with food, but also receive adequate wages every month. Furthermore, they must be young and able-bodied. Each household is only allowed to have one laborer. The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled are not eligible! At the same time, laborers must have adequate rest time while working and cannot work from dawn to dusk."
"As for rest time, it's from Jishi to Youshi. After this time, you have to put down your work and rest, unless there is a major problem."
"Remember, this is a strict requirement of mine. Once anyone is found forcing corvée labor, the lesser of these penalties will be a salary fine, while the worst is dismissal and investigation!"
That’s right, this is the idea that Wei Yunyi came up with, which can consume national strength without increasing the burden on the people.
Just imagine, if you do corvée labor for a month, you can get a generous reward.
Would they still resist? I'm afraid they wouldn't even have time to be happy.
More importantly.
Paying laborers for labor service added another huge expense to the court.
Although the people have money, the country has no money. In the end, it is still a waste of national strength.
There is also rest time, from Ji hour to You hour.
To put it simply.
That means working from nine to five, and no overtime is allowed.
In addition, both of these projects require a lot of time, which is equivalent to a stable job!
This way, you can definitely have the best of both worlds!
The national strength was depleted and the fortune was reduced, but it did not affect the people.
Even when Wei Yunyi first came up with this idea, he couldn't help but marvel at his own intelligence. It was too perfect.
only.
When he said this.
Everyone present was stunned, as if they had heard something incredible.
It is reasonable to conscript corvée labor and say that they will be provided with food, but now, they have to be paid and given enough rest time?
From Ji hour to You hour?
It only took four hours in total.
Even officials in the imperial court probably can't enjoy it...
therefore.
The five university scholars, including Zhang Zhengming, looked at each other in bewilderment.
Because they had never heard of any dynasty doing this.
Of course, everyone is very clear that if this is the condition, the people will flock to it, and when it comes to conscription, it will definitely be more and easier than imagined.
But the final problem is that this requires too much money. I am afraid that the annual tax revenue of the imperial court cannot afford it...
So, Song Gongwen came out and said bitterly, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, this puts too much pressure on the court. We simply don't have that much money."
As the Minister of Revenue, he calculated that even if only one million laborers were levied, the amount of silver required would be terrifying.
The idea is good, but it is really difficult to implement it.
"I've already said that I don't care about the money."
Wei Yunyi shook his head at this time and continued, "However, I can give you some ideas. The court is short of money, but that doesn't mean others are short of money. You should have understood this when you implemented the land tax system."
"As for how to get the silver, I don't care, but this matter must be carried out no matter what."
"Also, all the things I mentioned must be fully implemented and supervised!"
"If there is even the slightest problem with any of the links involved, I will not tolerate it!"
In this kind of world.
Some things must be suppressed by force.
For example, when conscripting labor service, whether anyone was drawing the salary without paying, whether the silver was not distributed, etc.
The only thing that can accomplish all of this is imperial power. As an emperor, I can choose not to do other things, but I must take this into consideration.
As for the way to remind my father-in-law to get money, it is actually very obvious, which is to take it from the nobles, landlords and gentry who exploit the people.
With these, are you still worried about not having enough money to distribute?
Wei Yunyi also thought that this move might make those people even more resentful towards the court, and it was also a way to ruin their fortunes.
Immediately, he stopped thinking and stood up, looking around, and continued: "Okay, let's stop here for today!"
After saying this, he ignored everyone's reactions.
He walked directly out of the imperial study.
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