Hall of Mental Cultivation.
This is the emperor's bedroom of Fu Xiaoguan.
In the study of this bedroom, there were three stoves burning and several people sitting around a round table.
They were the fat official Fu, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Zhuo and his entourage, the Minister of the Imperial Court Nangong Yiyu, the Minister of the Chancellery Meng Changping, and the Grand Marshal Zhuo Bieli.
On the table was a table of delicious dishes sent by Liu Jinming's canteen, as well as a box of Xishan Tianchun.
Liu Jin stood by and waited, looking at the dishes on the table, thinking that he would have to go to the canteen to say hello tomorrow. His Majesty came from the Yu Dynasty, and he thought he would like Jiangnan dishes more. He had to find a few famous chefs from Jiangnan to take good care of His Majesty's diet.
Fu Xiaoguan personally poured a glass of wine for the group and said with a smile: "Now that the court is over, everyone can be more casual. I'm keeping you here not for official business, but just to have a meal together... I say, can you please stop treating me like the emperor? Come on, let's have a drink together!"
Nangong Yiyu and the others did not raise their glasses. He stood up and bowed, "Your Majesty, you are indeed the emperor. An emperor should act like an emperor. Don't try to imitate..." Nangong Yiyu turned his head to look at Fu Daguan, who glared at him, "What's wrong? What's wrong with imitating me? You old guys are just pretentious!"
Zhuo Yixing smiled and tugged at Nangong Yiyu's sleeve, "Sit down. Your Majesty was used to being casual when he was in the Yu Dynasty. This is good."
Meng Changping, who didn't know Fu Xiaoguan, opened his eyes wide. He couldn't understand. The distinction between the monarch and his subjects was a matter of course, so why did His Majesty treat it as a joke?
How can His Majesty pour the wine himself?
Who can eat this meal with peace of mind?
But then he saw Nangong Yiyu actually sat down and picked up his wine glass, and then everyone else raised their glasses, so he quickly raised his too.
"You are the people I rely on the most. From now on, you will have to take on more responsibilities. I am also... lazy. I think the time of this morning court is a bit unreasonable. How about... changing it to the Si hour?"
As soon as he said this, Zhuo Yihang was furious. "Your Majesty, you're so foolish to think of holding a morning court session at 9:00 PM! Doesn't that mean it's time for lunch right after the morning court session? Then should we even get on with our business? This is absolutely not an option. Thankfully, you didn't bring it up in the Golden Palace today, otherwise, you would have been refuted by the ministers!"
Fu Xiaoguan was stunned. I’m doing this for your own good!
This is five, six, seven!
They go to court at 5am every day and don't get home until 6pm, with no Sundays...are there any people so dedicated? Do they get paid well?
Seeing that Fu Xiaoguan still seemed unwilling to give up, Nangong Yiyu also spoke up, "There are so many official duties every day, and now we have to start a new policy. How can we possibly attend court at 9:00 PM? Your Majesty is young and has great ambitions. You must not slack off!"
Fu Xiaoguan swallowed his saliva and said, "Well, even if a dog bites Lu Dongbin and doesn't know how to appreciate a good person, can't I outlast you?"
"Okay, okay, let's have a drink first!"
After everyone drank a glass of wine, Liu Jin hurried over, picked up the bottle, filled it up for everyone, and then went back.
Fu Xiaoguan glanced at the young eunuch and thought that the boy was quite sensible. He would ask Jia Nanxing what his name was someday.
"Eat, eat. Everyone is tired today. Come on, come on, don't be polite."
No one was polite, and the old guys were really hungry.
Then they drank and ate, and even when they were full, no one left.
Fu Xiaoguan took a look and wondered what this meant.
Are you still relying on me?
By the way, Xiu'er is waiting for me tonight.
Then he saw Nangong Yiyu sitting in front of the tea table and making tea... What else could Fu Xiaoguan do?
They are in their sixties and seventies and are still working overtime. You can't just leave these old guys here and run away.
So he had no choice but to sit over there, and everyone gathered around the tea table again.
Meng Changping spoke up: "Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate to liberalize the salt and iron industries."
"Oh, tell me about it." Now it was time to get to work, and Fu Xiaoguan had no choice but to get into work mode.
"The Chen family of Baizhou controls most of the Wu Dynasty's salt mines. This is a deep-seated problem that stems from the founding of the Wu Dynasty five hundred years ago. It was the founding emperor who bestowed these salt mines upon the Chen family, so the state has yet to reclaim them."
"But I believe that Chen has already gained unimaginable profits from the salt mines, and now that the country needs a large amount of silver for development, he should hand it over."
"That's one reason. Secondly, the grain transport is controlled by the Lu family of Jiangzhou. The reason is the same. The Zhou family of Lizhou controls the iron mines, and the Han family of Jinghuazhou controls the weaving industry."
Meng Changping looked at Zhuo Yihang and Nangong Yiyu, and continued, "Lord Zhuo's family controls the largest amount of farmland, and the Nangong family controls almost all of the military's armor and weapons supply... In my opinion, the seven thousand-year-old clans have gained enormous profits over the past five hundred years, which has led to the depletion of the national treasury."
"All of you, my ministers, believe that if you want the Wu Dynasty to develop rapidly, you should take all of this back!"
Nangong Yiyu and Zhuo Yihan exchanged a glance. After a moment of silence, he expressed his stance: "I will write a letter to the clan leader after I return. I am willing to hand over all businesses involving the military."
Zhuo and his party also promised to hand over most of the land owned by the Zhuo family.
Fu Xiaoguan smiled calmly, "Of course I accept your kindness. Now it depends on what the other four families choose. If they don't voluntarily hand it over, remember, you can't force them. Just do as I said in the Golden Palace today, and you will see the day when their families are destroyed."
Meng Changping was stunned. "What does your majesty mean...?"
"A market economy is about fair competition. What are we competing for? The quality and price of the goods. With salt, the white salt from the Chi Le Chuan Autonomous Region is about to enter the Wu Dynasty. With the same price, how can Chen's salt compete?"
"Iron. The iron in Chi Le Chuan is almost free. I've already built a firearms bureau there, so it's easy to set up a blacksmith shop. Pig iron and ironware will also enter the Wu Dynasty. The price will be cheaper than his Zhou family's and they will be more practical."
"As for the grain transport, the shipyard in Jiangzhou is under construction. In less than six months, ships three times larger than Lu's and faster will be available. How can his grain transport compete?"
"As for weaving, the Sima family of the Yu Dynasty, the Wang family of Wofeng City, and others have already come to the Wu Dynasty. Their weaving technology is more advanced than that of the Wu Dynasty. How can the Han family compete?"
As he said this, he looked at Zhuo Yihang and said with a smile, "For example, how does the grain production of Lord Zhuo's land compare to the grain production of my imperial farm?"
"As long as the market economy is successfully established and fair market competition is ensured, you will see a large number of workshops closing down, but more and more high-quality and low-priced goods will appear on the market."
"Gentlemen, please remember this is a powerful weapon that can rapidly propel the Wu Dynasty to prominence!"
"People from those big families will definitely interfere, so Zhou Tongtong, order the ant colony to keep a close eye on them. My knife must see blood before anyone will be afraid!"
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