Morning next day.
Fang Zhengyi's gaze occasionally drifted towards Xu Wenshu in front of him.
Even though I used a combination of deception, coercion and inducement yesterday, to be honest I still don't feel confident.
Whether you can speak for yourself depends on today.
Halfway through the court meeting, Xu Wenshu, who had not spoken formally, suddenly moved.
Fang Zhengyi's heart was in his throat...
Xu Wenshu slowly took out a memorial from his sleeve, and the cover of the memorial was exactly the one that Fang Zhengyi had left behind!
"Your Majesty, I have a report to make."
"speak."
"This month, I ordered people to reorganize the account books of the Ministry of Revenue. Although the national treasury revenue has increased year by year in the past two years, I have discovered some problems."
"The food shortage in the past has been greatly alleviated due to the promotion of sweet potato and potato cultivation. I believe that in a few years, people all over the world will no longer have to worry about starvation."
"Therefore, commercial taxes have also increased significantly, but the problem of material circulation has always existed. If this problem is not solved, when the national treasury reaches its peak, tax revenue may not make significant progress."
"Policies must change with the times, so I wrote ten policies to encourage merchants overnight. I believe this matter is of great importance, so please have a look at it, Your Majesty."
Xu Wenshu glanced back at Fang Zhengyi and saw that he was beaming with joy at her.
I couldn't help but take a deep breath, turned my head and suppressed the nausea in my heart.
Ten Strategies to Encourage Businessmen..?
Emperor Jing was in a daze for a moment, feeling as if he had heard this somewhere before.
When the memorial was handed to him, Emperor Jing took a look at it and looked at Fang Zhengyi with a strange expression.
Wasn't this something Fang Zhengyi wrote not long ago? But the wording has changed a lot.
Fang Zhengyi also smiled innocently at Emperor Jing, his eyes were extremely clear.
Emperor Jing understood everything in an instant, his expression returned to normal, and he said, "Guo Banban, read it."
Guo Tianyang picked up the memorial and began to read it.
Guo Tianyang's voice was echoing in the hall, but Fang Zheng's expression became increasingly strange as he listened.
What he wrote...was actually changed by Xu Wenshu!
Compared with the version he wrote, the revised wording is much more acceptable.
But the key point is that he originally advised to open a prefecture as a pilot, but it was eventually changed to a county under the jurisdiction of Hengjiang Prefecture.
But now that things have come to this, Fang Zhengyi can only listen patiently.
Since it was limited to one county, many people did not express strong opposition.
After all, there is only one county. What impact will it have even if there is a huge uproar?
After Guo Tianyang finished speaking, Emperor Jing looked around at all the ministers and said, "Xu Qing, you speak first."
Xu Wenshu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the reason why I strongly advised you to be lenient is based on facts."
"The circulation of goods in the market consists of only four steps: production, distribution, circulation, and sales. There is no problem with the first and last steps, but the distribution and circulation in the middle are of great importance."
"We have had bumper harvests year after year. In the past, when there were no high-yield crops like potatoes and sweet potatoes, people could only barely feed their families with their own labor, and there was no surplus. Now, not only can we feed our entire family, but we can even produce a lot more food."
"And these grains are bought by merchants and then sold on the market. People use the money from selling grains to buy new clothes and other household items, which promotes production."
"As far as I know, there are no less than 20 workshops in the capital that employ more than 100 people this year. This is unprecedented. It shows that the demand for goods among the people has increased greatly."
"In this case, it is imperative to be lenient to merchants! Even if for nothing else, we must consider the idle people created by the high grain yield. The people must not be lazy at home and do nothing."
"But the leniency to merchants cannot be achieved overnight. It needs to be done step by step. So I have read through all the accounts reported by the capital over the years and picked out Pingwan County in Hengjiang Prefecture. This county is located in the key area of Hengjiang Prefecture and connects all directions. It is a place where a lot of goods are exchanged on weekdays. It is most appropriate to use it as a pilot for leniency to merchants. I hope Your Majesty will understand."
Emperor Jing nodded gently and tapped the imperial desk with one hand.
The ministers seemed to be deep in thought, as if what Xu Wenshu had just said seemed familiar to them.
Isn't this what the Mid-Levels Daily has been publishing these days? It talks about production, distribution, sales, and the like.
I didn’t expect that Xu Wenshu would receive such high praise in the Mid-Levels Daily News?
There was silence in the hall for a long time before Emperor Jing said, "My dear ministers, do you have anything else to say?"
There was a hushed discussion below, and Fang Zhengyi's eyes kept scanning the crowd.
Today's matter seems to be easy to handle, but it's a pity that old man Xu Wenshu exchanged a prefecture for a county.
He also knew Pingwan County, which was indeed a good place. If it was managed well, its influence might not be bad.
Now that he has spoken, there is no possibility of changing it.
The key now is to see who opposes and then rush forward to help.
Sure enough, people who opposed it eventually showed up.
Hanlin scholar Yang Yingcai stood up silently: "I have..."
"I object!" Before he could finish, Fang Zheng roared out.
Yang Yingcai's face slowly lengthened and he retreated helplessly.
Xu Wenshu's mind buzzed, and he was completely confused...
Emperor Jing stared at Fang Zhengyi, his expression changing constantly.
Which side are you on? You were the one who wanted leniency, and now you are the one who opposes it?
Fang Zheng turned around and gave Yang Yingcai an extremely ugly smile with mockery in his eyes.
He turned around and said loudly: "I am against being lenient towards merchants! As the saying goes, if a virtuous person has a lot of money, it will damage his ambition. If a fool has a lot of money, it will increase his faults. Merchants' pursuit of profit is even more conducive to this trend. Besides, the rich are resented by the people. The rise of merchants will arouse the envy of other people, which may cause unrest. If people's hearts are impetuous, then the collapse of rituals and music will not be far away."
Xu Wenshu roared in his heart, "Isn't that what I said? You son of a bitch! What on earth do you want to do?"
"Tolerating merchants will cause many problems. Moreover, merchants do not produce anything and can only act as intermediaries to earn huge profits between the people. This is tantamount to competing with the people for profits. This is absolutely not feasible."
As soon as Fang Zheng finished speaking, he began to wink at Xu Wenshu.
"Master Xu, am I right?"
Xu Wenshu's eyes twitched a few times, and he swallowed his saliva and said, "I don't agree with this. If there were no middlemen, the world would have been in chaos. This businessman is like the gears in a waterwheel connecting producers and buyers. Without him mediating resources, it would be extremely difficult for both parties to be established, and the profit is just the reward he deserves."
"The more business merchants facilitate, the more wealth the world will have. If merchants seek profit at the expense of others, how can our Great Jing be better and better every year, and how can the revenue of the national treasury be higher and higher every year...?"
Fang Zhengyi praised in his heart that although old man Xu was old, his heart was young, his reactions were quick, and his memory was good.
......
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