On the 25th day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of the Xuanli reign, he went to the imperial palace and the Secretariat office in Beijing.
Fu Xiaoguan felt a headache looking at the pile of documents on his desk.
These were all the various memorials sent back to the capital from various regions of the Yu Dynasty at the beginning of the new year. They covered a wide range of topics, including normal reports on local governance plans, arrangements for spring plowing, applications for government personnel, and requests for financial support. However, many of them seemed extremely unusual to Fu Xiaoguan.
For example, on the Beiji Mountain outside Xincheng in the north, there seemed to be the sound of a dragon's roar, colorful clouds filling the sky, and thousands of beasts galloping, which seemed to be an auspicious sign.
For example, a widow from a small village in the south gave birth to a baby who could speak as soon as he was born. She said that the orthodox Dayu family would last for thousands of years!
For example, there was a memorial from Puzhou in the west, written by the prefect, which said that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the ninth year of the Xuanli reign, a snowy day fell from a sycamore tree that had already lost all its leaves. A phoenix landed, kowtowed nine times towards the imperial city, and then spread its wings and flew away.
He casually threw the memorial aside and thought to himself, if I were to write it, I would write it better than you!
He picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and started his day's work - selecting those that really needed to be dealt with by the court from the pile of memorials, and then drafting a proposal one by one, stating his own views, and finally sending it to the Minister of the Central Secretariat Shang Yu for review. After another screening, these memorials will enter the Council of State, and will be handled jointly by Prime Minister Yan Beixi and the six ministers, and finally the decision will be made by His Majesty.
If it is an urgent document, then there will be a red seal on the top of the document, commonly known as a red-headed letter, which needs to be processed as quickly as possible.
Fu Xiaoguan didn't have any documents of this kind on hand, so he leisurely flipped through them one by one.
He flipped through the pages very quickly and wrote down his annotations very quickly. The whole morning passed like this, but he did not see even one book about economics among these memorials.
Almost all of them were about farming, and most of them were complaining and asking for money.
For this type of memorial, his comment is often one sentence: It is recommended to solve it yourself!
It was not until the memorial from Yan Xiwen of Yao County appeared in his hand that a smile appeared on his face.
This guy really cared about the development of Yao County. In this memorial, he wrote in detail about the cooperation plan with Xishan, and took the lead in proposing that the development of Yao County would start from the workshop invested by Xishan. He even went further and applied to the court to build a new wharf on the bank of the Yangtze River 50 miles north of Yao County to facilitate the entry and exit of goods and materials from Xishan workshops. This made Fu Xiaoguan look at Yan Xiwen with a higher opinion. This kid is good!
So, for the first time, he carefully annotated the memorial with a few large characters: "This strategy is excellent. Please pay attention to it!" and placed it on the top of the pile.
Then he called the chief clerk Qi Mei and asked him to deliver the approved memorials to the office of the Minister of the Central Secretariat Shang Yu. He stood up, tidied his clothes, and prepared to go off work.
Dong Shulan is coming to visit my father at home today, so I have to go back quickly.
But just as he walked out of the door, Qi Mei came running after him, "Master Fu, wait a minute!"
Fu Xiaoguan turned around and saw Qi Mei running to his side. "Lord Shang wants to see you... Also, Minister Yan is here too."
What the hell!
There is no overtime pay for working overtime!
"Master Qi, do you know what's going on?"
"I don't know, I think it will happen tomorrow."
Tomorrow is the 26th day of the first lunar month, the day of the empress dowager's funeral. He thought of what Yu Wendao had said to him the night before, and could only sigh as he returned to the office and went to Shang Yu's room.
"sit!"
Yan Beixi threw him a word, then said to Shang Yu: "The losses from this snowstorm in the north were enormous, affecting almost the entire Yongning Prefecture, and Pinglingyi and Quyi counties were the worst hit. Hundreds of houses collapsed in the two counties, more than 320 people died, and more than 1,000 were injured. Due to the special geographical location of these two counties, it is really difficult for them to save themselves. I have asked Kangping to mobilize supplies from Lanling City for disaster relief and have the northern border troops mobilize soldiers to escort them. I think the problem will not be too big. However, this is only a temporary solution, not a fundamental solution. Every year, these two counties are like this, causing their people to migrate to other places. The population is getting smaller and smaller, and these two counties are getting poorer and poorer."
Yan Beixi frowned, his eyes heavy as he added, "We have to find a way to cure the root of this problem once and for all. Otherwise... I'm worried that these two places will eventually become two abandoned cities."
Shang Yu also frowned and nodded, replying, "Yes, the snowstorms in the north and the floods in the south consume a huge amount of money from the national treasury every year. But Yan Zai, this problem is not unique to the Yu Dynasty. For thousands of years, these natural disasters have been a frequent occurrence, beyond human control... Is there any permanent solution?"
Yan Beixi lowered his head in thought and sighed.
He also understood Shang Yu's words, and it was indeed the case.
There is heavy snow every year in the north. If it snows for several days in a row, how can those thatched houses withstand the accumulation of heavy snow!
The entire Yongning Prefecture was considered the poorest prefecture in the Yu Dynasty. It had barren land, numerous mountains, unpredictable climate, and extremely low crop yields. The people had always lived a miserable life.
If the house collapsed again, they would have no shelter from the wind and snow, and they would surely freeze to death.
The Yellow River floods have also been a millennium-old problem. Last year, in the Golden Palace, the Minister of Works, Bi Dong, told Your Majesty that expanding the river would cost millions of silver taels. In the end, Your Majesty did not raise the issue again because there was little silver left in the national treasury after deducting existing expenses.
The reason ultimately came down to the word "money", so Yan Beixi looked at Fu Xiaoguan.
"I have read your 'On the Enrichment of a Nation,' and so has Concubine Shang. Your Majesty alone has not yet had the time to read it. I have not summoned you to discuss 'On the Enrichment of a Nation,' but to ask you: if you were the magistrate of Pingling and Quyi counties, what would you do?"
"Play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses."
"Speak human language!"
Fu Xiaoguan touched his nose and smiled, "I'm not sure what resources those two places have. From what you've said, farming here is definitely a dead end. So why don't we change our thinking? This goes back to The Wealth of Nations. Can't those two places attract investment? Can't we leverage the power of merchants to establish workshops?"
"My Lords, please think carefully about this. If I were the magistrate of those two counties, I would petition the court to reduce taxes on merchants to attract them to build workshops here."
"That place is already poor. If you reduce or exempt taxes...won't it become even poorer?" Shang Yu asked.
"No, Lord Shang, think about it. The farmers there already struggle to make ends meet. If they were to work in the workshops, their income would increase significantly, and they would also be able to generate greater value. These goods would eventually circulate in the market, and during this process, the state would be able to collect tax revenue. And when the farmers have money in their hands, they will spend it. As they spend it, the money circulates in the market, and the state also collects tax revenue."
"This achieves three goals at once. Farmers have become workers, increasing their income and improving their living conditions. Merchants, thanks to tax reductions and the cheap labor force, can reduce the cost of their goods, expand their sales channels, and sell more, thus increasing their profits. The third benefit is naturally the country. The circulation of goods inevitably leads to the circulation of currency. Taxes won't decrease because of the tax reductions in those two places; on the contrary, they will increase. The same is true for the finances of those two counties. On the surface, tax revenues may decrease, but in reality, they will definitely increase."
"Of course, how much it can increase depends on the ability of local officials to attract investment."
Shang Yu has never read "The Wealth of Nations" and is still a little confused about this simple truth. After all, business has always been at the bottom of society in all dynasties.
His thinking was still limited to agriculture, but agriculture in that place could not develop at all.
Not to mention relying on agricultural taxes to support the operation of the two county governments, even if not a penny was collected, the farmers in the two places would still live a life of hunger.
Yan Beixi had read "The Wealth of Nations" carefully many times. He began to accept the views in the book and understood what Fu Xiaoguan said.
However, His Majesty has not yet come to court due to the Queen Mother's incident, so he does not dare to implement this policy.
Of course, he also had many concerns about the policies in this book, especially whether the pursuit of profit by all people would lead to farmers not working on their crops, soldiers not pursuing military careers, and students not pursuing knowledge.
Although Fu Xiaoguan also explained this in the book, and stated that the division of labor in society would only make each industry more specialized, because economic development would inevitably drive the progress of the study of things.
The progress of studying things will have far-reaching consequences. Farmers' production efficiency will become higher, soldiers' armor and weapons will become better, and students do not necessarily have to study the teachings of sages. They can even choose to study the teachings of sages.
At the end of The Wealth of Nations, Fu Xiaoguan even proposed to open a course called "Gewuxue" at the Jixia Academy, to be taught by officials from the Ministry of Works, with the aim of pursuing the truth of things, understanding the causes, and benefiting society.
Of course, he also said that in order to change students' perception of the study of things, they still have to start from economic behavior. Only when they see the huge advantages of it, will some students become interested in the study of things. Otherwise, they will still think about studying hard for ten years just to become an official in the court.
This is a huge systematic project. With Yan Beixi's vision, he knows that if it is implemented, it will be a huge social change, but he doesn't know what the final outcome will be, so it is difficult for him to make a decision.
Yan Beixi pondered for a few breaths and looked at Fu Xiaoguan.
"After Wu Chaowen returns, I want to send you to Quyi and Pingling."
Fu Xiaoguan was startled and said quickly, "I'm busy!"
Are you kidding me?
Send me to that godforsaken place, wouldn't it be nice for him to stay at home?
"I'm not discussing this with you..." Yan Beixi stood up and pounded his waist, "This is an order!"
He walked towards the door and said, "You can go to those two places for a field investigation. I allow you to bring Xishan's assets there."
Fu Xiaoguan stared blankly at Yan Beixi's back, wishing he could slap himself twice. Damn it, this is clearly self-defeating!
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