The Prime Minister, also known as the Xiangbang, is the head of all officials, assisted by left and right prime ministers.
When the monarch is unable to handle government affairs, the prime minister can make decisions on his own. When the monarch and the prime minister disagree, the prime minister does not necessarily have to listen to the monarch.
This position is important, but the person sitting on this position is not very important.
Otherwise, the merchants of Wei would not have invited Ye Zhou to be prime minister of Wei.
The monarch can dismiss the prime minister, and the prime minister can also change his boss. He can be the prime minister of Wei today and the prime minister of Chu tomorrow.
Even in the history of Ye Zhou's own dimension, Zhang Yi served as prime minister of two countries, Su Qin lobbied various countries and held the seals of six countries. The Warring States Period seemed to be full of talents, but there were actually not many celebrities who had the talent to govern the country and were recognized by all the kings.
The monarchs may not be unaware that inviting a prime minister from another country back may bring many hidden dangers.
But they have little choice. After all, if they don't absorb this talent back to their country, it will be snatched away by other countries.
Ye Zhou asked Chen Hou curiously, "What benefits can I get from being the prime minister?"
Chen Hou did not think Ye Zhou's words were mercenary, but immediately replied: "The prime minister is equal to the king! The immortals walking outside are no different from me."
Ye Zhou was silent for a moment. This benefit was not tempting at all. He opened his mouth to refuse, but changed his mind and asked, "Do I have to go to court every day?"
Chen Hou heard that Ye Zhou was softening his tone, and immediately said, "Since he is an immortal, that is not necessary. The immortal can come whenever he wants, even in the middle of the night, and I will prepare a bed for you to come."
The corner of Zou Ming's eye twitched.
It’s a pity that Chen Hou didn’t look at Zou Ming, otherwise he would have swallowed back his last few words.
Ye Zhou: "Okay."
He agreed straightforwardly: "Then do I need to review the memorials?"
Chen Hou whispered, "When the Prime Minister handles state affairs, most of them need to be reviewed."
Ye Zhou: "That's fine, can you give me less?"
The main reason is that most memorials are nonsense.
Chen Hou heaved a sigh of relief: "Of course, of course, I dare not waste the immortal's energy."
Ye Zhou then nodded.
"By the way, that Zhang Rong." Ye Zhou asked, "Do you want to kill him?"
If Marquis Chen said he would not kill him, Ye Zhou felt that as long as Marquis Chen was around, the State of Chen would have no chance of becoming strong. It would be better to wait until Chen Rui grew up before talking about becoming stronger - the premise being that the State of Chen could survive until Chen Rui grew up.
The Lord of Chen said solemnly, "We must kill him. We must not let him live."
"I have already set a date. Three days from now, I will ask Brother Yan to personally execute the beheading at the palace gate!"
"If not, we won't be able to suppress those people hiding in the dark with ulterior motives!" Lord Chen finally revealed some of his hidden anger.
But soon, he smiled bitterly and said, "I really don't have anyone available."
Ye Zhou nodded slightly. He didn't think that Marquis Chen was useless, but that the State of Chen simply did not have the soil to cultivate talents for the monarch.
This system of selecting officials is the king's greatest enemy, because scholars who become officials will not be grateful to the king, but only to the people who recommended them or their families.
It might be better for a big and powerful country, after all, the country is big, there are many official positions, the capital is much bigger, and the king can still have some autonomy.
But Chen was a small country, and all positions were filled to capacity, so the Marquis of Chen could not turn against the aristocratic families, otherwise he would really uproot these families. Then who would fill the vacant positions?
Except for the children of aristocratic families, few common people can even read. How can they become officials?
Therefore, the Marquis of Chen can only use those people. At this stage, the king and the aristocratic families are interdependent. Unless the State of Chen can be strong enough to abolish the aristocratic families and implement the imperial examination system without causing chaos, which has been unlikely in the past hundred years.
In this case, what the State of Chen needs to do now is to promote the children of small aristocratic families who are already on the "edge of bankruptcy" and are about to become commoners. Their talents are not necessarily worse than those of the big aristocratic families, but their origins also determine that unless they go to other countries, it will be difficult for them to be valued by the monarch.
Ye Zhou said: "Since I am the Prime Minister, let me handle this matter."
Chen Hou suddenly raised his head and looked at Ye Zhou. His lips trembled as he said ecstatically, "With the help of the immortals, why should our Chen Kingdom not be strong?"
Although Ye Zhou knew that it was not good to interrupt others before they finished speaking.
But he knew with his eyes closed that if he didn't interrupt, Lord Chen could flatter him for half an hour.
So Ye Zhou waved his hand and said, "Lord Chen, take a rest. I'm leaving now."
Lord Chen wanted to keep him, but Ye Zhou had no intention of staying and left the study very neatly.
Zou Ming also followed Ye Zhou away.
"You want to help him? Why?" Zou Ming was a little surprised. He remembered that Ye Zhou was not a nosy person. No matter in the past or in the future, he would help the weak, but that was all. Ye Zhou would not really directly interfere in the affairs of a certain plane.
Ye Zhou walked under the moonlight. He smiled and said, "Maybe everyone has something to do, but I have nothing to do."
Now the supermarket employees are very busy every day, and the only two people in the supermarket who have nothing to do are him and Sarah.
Sarah did it because of her unusual appearance, and he did it because he really couldn't find any place to intervene.
Moreover, as soon as this boss with the title of immortal appeared in the supermarket, Aunt Li and the others wanted to worship him and not ask him to do anything.
He was able to do some work before, but that was because Aunt Li and the others didn't know how to collect cash.
Now that they have learned Arabic numerals and simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, there is nothing left for them to do.
Zou Ming: "I'll accompany you."
Ye Zhou glanced at Zou Ming and did not refuse: "Okay."
Ye Zhou yawned and said, "Go back home and go to bed early tonight. I'll write a plan tomorrow."
If you want to promote small families, you must have a plan. Otherwise, if you suppress the older families but cultivate new ones, wouldn't that be a waste of time?
It would be best if the children of aristocratic families could get rid of the stigma of their original families and truly start serving the country and the people.
Patriotic education is not easy to do. It is not easy to make the concept of family and country deeply rooted in people's hearts through education.
In this case, we need external help.
·
"Your Majesty has collected the grain!"
"Your Majesty has ordered the grain officer to collect the grain!"
People in Linzi City rushed to tell each other. The people were worried and sad. They whispered to each other on the streets and cried out in pain: "Your Majesty! You can't collect any more! There is no more food!"
In recent years, the common people have had a difficult time. Even if they have ancestral property, fields, and domestic slaves, they cannot withstand years of exploitation. When their savings are spent, the masters can only starve with their servants.
A young man yelled in the street: "Your Majesty! If you act like this, how will you face our late emperor in the future? Are you trying to kill us?!"
The scholars also shook their heads and sighed: "We can no longer stay in Chen State."
"The Lord of Chen is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, and he has gained nothing. Although he is not a tyrant, he is worse than a tyrant."
This news has not yet spread, but it has already caused a huge wave in Linzi City.
Countless people, young and old, went to the palace gate. They wore sackcloth clothes, knelt in front of the palace gate, refused to eat or drink, and demanded an explanation from the king.
Those kneeling are the elderly and children, who are the weakest. If the king does not come out and give an explanation, they will kneel and die in front of the palace gate. This is the only way for the people to face the royal power.
When Ye Zhou rushed over, he saw a group of elderly people who were kneeling and sitting in the scorching sun, looking haggard.
Most of them were ordinary people, without a single noble family member among them. They seemed to have cried before and now could not squeeze out a single tear.
The children are all seven or eight years old, and they are old enough to understand things. However, they may not know what they are doing, nor do they know that their lives may soon end here, so when they kneel, they will look at the flying insects and ants crawling on the ground.
But they also knew very well that they had to kneel here, this was what they had to do.
Ye Zhou was not wearing the official uniform that Lord Chen had sent to him. He was only wearing the clothes of ordinary people. He walked to the old man who was kneeling on the edge, turned his head and winked, asking Zou Ming and Chen Shu to move away a little.
They already had a tacit understanding, and Zou Ming and Chen Shu quickly stepped aside.
But Zou Ming was standing not far from Ye Zhou. If anything happened, he would rush to Ye Zhou within five seconds.
"Why are you kneeling here, old man?" Ye Zhou asked the old man.
Because he never appeared in front of people in the supermarket, no one knew that he was the owner of the supermarket except Wei Shang who had visited before.
The people kneeling in front of the palace gate were all people who had no money to spend in the supermarket, and it was even less likely that they knew Ye Zhou.
Therefore, the old man just glanced at Ye Zhou and couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty has sent people to collect grain! This is the fourth time this year! Where can we get grain! If you collect more, our whole family will starve to death!"
The old man's anger soon subsided, and he said with a bitter face: "My dear, the Chen Kingdom today is no longer the Chen Kingdom of the past! It's the king..."
"What does it have to do with the king?" Ye Zhou raised his voice slightly, and the people around him could hear his words. "Even if someone else becomes the king, Chen will not be better than it is now. Chen has not fought a war for many years, and there are less than 50,000 soldiers at most, and many of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. Who can we fight with such a small number of soldiers?"
Ye Zhou: "If you can't beat others, you will be beaten, and you will have to use money and food to buy peace."
"The State of Chen is now a fish on the chopping block, and the big and powerful countries are the knives and forks."
"But, but what does this have to do with us!" The old man's eyes were red. "We are all common people. We are all common people in every country. Why can the people of other countries live and work in peace and contentment, while we have to starve while guarding the good farmland of Chen State! How can this be justified in the world!"
Ye Zhou: "That doesn't make sense, but you were born in Chen State. If you could go to another country, you would have gone there long ago."
The father-in-law didn't say anything. He couldn't refute Ye Zhou.
So Ye Zhou's voice softened: "Father, it is true that the king wants to collect grain, but why not wait for the king's order to be passed down? Maybe this time it won't be a bad thing."
The old man smiled bitterly: "How can we wait? It will be too late if we wait for the order from the Lord!"
Ye Zhou shook his head: "The king wants to collect grain, but he doesn't want to force it. He wants to buy it with money."
After hearing this, the old people became even more angry: "Money can't buy food nowadays!"
"If we are only given one cent for a bushel of grain, and we have to spend ten cents to buy a bushel of grain, how can we afford it?"
Ye Zhou asked again: "If one bushel of grain is paid ten coins, but you only spend one coin to buy grain?"
This sentence was like a huge rock falling into a pond, creating a huge splash.
"What kind of statement is that?!"
"My dear, are you lying?!"
"My dear, please don't try to make fun of us old bones."
Ye Zhou smiled and said, "Fathers, go home and wait for news. If the king's order is inconsistent with what I said, it's okay to come and sit in silence at that time."
"The sun is very hot today. You can bear it, but the children can't."
After saying that, he changed the subject: "If you want to force the king to take back his order, you should also ask the young men in your family to come, and call you, the old and the young, over. Your sons and grandsons are not worthy of being called gentlemen."
They must have discussed it at home and finally decided to sacrifice the elderly and children.
This is the right approach because the elderly can no longer bring any benefits to the family, and the children are young and can be reborn. Only middle-aged men and women are the most useful force in a family.
But this did not prevent Ye Zhou from looking down on them.
He would rather see all the men in the city rise up in rebellion than see them pushing their old fathers and young children out to die.
The old people didn't say anything, they all wanted to leave. After all, the sun was really scorching and many people couldn't bear it anymore.
But in such a group activity, whoever leaves first will be the traitor, and will be cut off from everyone.
Ye Zhou finished what he had to say, stood up and said to Zou Ming: "Let the king's people come and send them home."
Since he doesn't want to leave, we can only send him back.
In this way, everyone is "forced" and there are no traitors.
Soon, the soldiers who were guarding nearby pulled the carriages over. In order to complete the carriages, Lord Chen gave Ye Zhou a lot of good things, and Ye Zhou accepted them all with a smile.
After all, Lord Chen is a king, and his family has been kings for dozens of generations. He has a lot of good things, but they just couldn't be exchanged for money before.
For example, if he dared to sell the bronze lions used as decorations in the hall, or the jade walls, rumors would spread immediately outside.
But selling it to Ye Zhou is another matter. No one will know where these things have gone.
Especially since Ye Zhou could sell him the same thing at a low price.
And the quality is no worse than the original one.
In this way, neither side actually loses.
Not only did Ye Zhou not lose money, he made a huge profit. Lord Chen was so courageous that he even sold his throne.
The throne itself is actually of little value, and the materials may be rare, but the materials are not incredibly expensive.
Its symbolic significance is even greater, and because of this symbolic significance, the system gave it a high price that surprised Ye Zhou - 18 million.
Now Ye Zhou is actually only less than 30 million away from his plane target of 50 million, which is about 26 million short.
Although in Ye Zhou's view, money has become a number, but most of the luxury goods of noble families are sold for hundreds of thousands, and even fewer are sold for millions. Almost all of them win by quantity.
Moreover, they are reluctant to exchange the truly good things or things of commemorative value left by their ancestors for wine, salt, and sugar.
At least Ye Zhou has not yet encountered any unfilial descendants who bring their ancestors' collection of treasures to the supermarket to shop.
He even felt a little regretful.
·
Compared to the turmoil of the common people, who had to struggle for food, the noble families had it much easier. They held poetry and singing parties every day, and the wine served at the banquets was all bought from the supermarket. Many young men from noble families even fell in love with collecting wine bottles. They might not like to drink, but they would still happily walk into the supermarket and buy bottle after bottle of wine, just to take it home and appreciate it occasionally.
A month had passed since the supermarket opened in Linzi. The first merchants who left finally arrived at the capitals of Lu and Zhao with large quantities of goods purchased from the supermarket.
Lu, Zhao and Chen were adjacent to each other. Rather than being neighbors, it would be more accurate to say that they were two powerful countries with the poor State of Chen sandwiched between them.
It was really Chen Hou's luck that two powerful countries served him alone.
The capital of Lu State, Qufu.
Chen Shang sat in the carriage, holding a cup of tea in his hand, humming a country tune in high spirits, and chatting with the girl sitting next to him: "My goodness, look at this tea, it is something that a businessman like me could never drink before."
The girl sniffed the tea and smiled: "Dad, you will definitely make a fortune when you come to Lu this time!"
Chen Shang said proudly: "That's right, they just want to buy more goods in Linzi before leaving. Why don't they think about who gets there first gets to eat the meat, and who gets there later gets to drink the soup?"
The girl asked quietly, "Daddy, are you going to sell all these goods to the King of Lu?"
Chen Shang drank the tea in one gulp, put the empty quilt aside, and then hugged the girl in his arms. He ruffled the girl's hair and said, "This is what you don't understand. If you want to sell it, you must not sell it to the king. If you sell it too expensive, he might detain me, and I won't make a penny."
"If I sell it too cheaply, he'll buy it all. Then I'll lose money, won't I?" Chen Shang snorted twice. "If I want to sell it, I'll have to bleed first."
"I have selected some goods. I will give them to Madam Zhen and ask her to protect me. I will then sell them to the noble families."
The girl asked curiously, "Madam Zhen? Is she the wife of the king?"
Chen Shang laughed and said, "A commoner girl is suddenly favored by the monarch and becomes his wife. Everything that was unattainable in the past is now within her reach. How can she, a mortal, not be tempted?"
The girl was curious: "Does she dare?"
"She comes from a humble background, so she should be more careful."
Chen Shang: "What are we? We are businessmen. Even if she has no desire, we have to arouse her desire."
The girl understood. She was just curious: "Why does Daddy want to work for Lord Chen? Didn't you tell me that merchants don't have a country?"
Chen Shang rolled his eyes: "Did I tell you anything else?"
Girl: “What else?”
Chen Shang smiled and said, "Businessmen pursue profits. If there is profit, we will go."
"Everyone says that the Chen Kingdom is bad and will perish, but I don't think so. If the Chen Kingdom was going to perish, why would such a supermarket appear?"
"Since the supermarket has appeared, it proves that Chen Guo has a special opportunity."
"I don't think the State of Chen is going to perish."
"Chen Guo, you must be strong."
"In that case, why don't I give Chen Guo another hand? What's the point of kicking someone when he's down? Naturally, there are more benefits to helping someone in need."
Chen Shang: "What's more, if the noble families of Lu can be bribed by me, doesn't that prove that the strength of Lu is just an illusion?"
Not only did he want to sell goods, he also wanted to use these goods to bribe the noble families of Lu State, making them beg him to sell them.
The girl smiled and said, "Daddy is going to do something big in Lu."
·
It was unknown when it started, but the noble family of Lu suddenly started chasing after a merchant from Chen.
When this rumor first spread, no one in Lu believed it. Even the Duke of Lu just smiled when he heard it.
Everyone knew that the State of Chen was poor. Apart from food, the State of Chen had nothing else to offer.
The only thing that the merchants from the State of Chen could sell was grain. However, the State of Lu not only received grain from the State of Chen every year, but also conquered more than a dozen large grain-producing cities. Therefore, the grain price in Lu was not high, and the merchants from the State of Chen could only earn a hard-earned living by coming here.
Let’s put it this way, even if you wanted to send money to the merchants of the State of Chen, you couldn’t do so because their goods were really limited.
But as time went by, the rumor not only did not disappear, but became more and more intense.
Children from aristocratic families would be stopped and questioned when they walked on the street.
"Have you ever bought anything from that merchant Chen? What kind of good stuff is it that even the noble families are flocking to it?"
"Sir, please take it out and show it to us, so that we can also broaden our horizons."
Most of the men who were stopped had been greeted by their parents. Most of them kept silent. At most, they would say, "It's just some food. It's nothing new. I have many servants at home, so it's normal to store more food."
However, today, a young man less than ten years old was stopped.
The young man was well-fed, with red lips and white teeth, and he looked as pretty as a girl, but he had a bad temper. When someone asked him about it, he boasted arrogantly, "Of course it's a good thing! You must have never seen it before, not even my father has seen it!"
The soldiers who stopped him were excited and asked quickly: "Young Master, since you know it, don't hide it. Tell us so that we can open our eyes."
The young man raised his chin, ignoring the attempts of the servants around him to stop him - the servants were all stopped by the scholars.
He said proudly: "My favorite is rock candy!"
"What is rock candy? Is it the same kind of sugar as ice?!"
Young Master: "Exactly. I still have it with me."
As he said this, he opened the pouch at his waist and took out a handful of rock sugar.
These rock candies are uniform in size, but not all the same. Instead, they have different shapes like crushed ice, but they are colorless and transparent, and look no different from real ice. Moreover, they are in such hot weather and in the palm of the young man's hand, but they don't show any sign of melting.
Young Master: "It's sweeter than honey!"
The scholar next to him asked, "Sir, can you give me one to try?"
The young man was stunned for a moment. He was a little reluctant to give it up, but under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he could only reluctantly hand it over and said with a pout, "You have to eat slowly. I don't have much. Then Chen Shang won't sell more."
The scholar took the rock candy, said thank you and threw it into his mouth.
As soon as it entered his mouth, the sweet taste filled his mouth, making him tremble all over.
He had never eaten anything like it before. It was really sweeter than honey. He even felt like he had just thrown the candy into his mouth, but before he could taste much of the sweetness, the candy in his mouth disappeared.
The scholar's expression of lingering aftertaste made the crowd burst into great enthusiasm: "My dear! Let me have a taste too!"
"Young Master! I'll give you money in exchange!"
"Young Master!"
The young man was so frightened when he saw the adults pressing towards him, but luckily he had some quick wit. He untied the purse at his waist and threw it into the crowd, then turned around and squeezed out through the gap between the people behind him.
Qufu is crazy.
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