Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 77 This is Zhao Guangmei’s conspiracy!

"What is economics? To summarize in a general way, the so-called economics is actually three things: what to produce, how to produce it, and for whom to produce it. The questions remain the same."

In the He Controlling Army, Zhao Guangmei stood directly on the stage and talked non-stop.

Although his stage has been specially treated, such as placing a water tank underneath and designing the top into the shape of a speaker, in fact, if you haven’t practiced it, the sound will still not be transmitted very far when you speak normally. Zhao Guangmei also considered He didn't go on, because he didn't have much preparation, so he talked about whatever he thought of, and if he didn't hear it later, he didn't bother to care.

"Among the three questions, what to produce is the simplest. The current market economic environment in the Song Dynasty has initially matured, so in fact, a basic principle will suffice, that is, you must produce something profitable. Generally speaking, it means losing money. Don’t do business.”

"How to produce refers to the improvement of productivity. In essence, the development of society is the development of productivity. For example, in the Han Dynasty, there were many kinds of rice in the north. Because the ears of wheat were too small, there was not enough to eat. Later, through selection from generation to generation, Planting and improvement, the ears of wheat are getting bigger and bigger, and the invention of the slash grinding wheel has greatly reduced the cost of grinding wheat. People have evolved from eating wheat rice to eating flour. Because the northern region began to eat flour, so more Less land could feed a larger population. The ability of the northern region to withstand droughts was greatly improved, and the dynasty became more stable, which ultimately created the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, in the final analysis, it truly created the prosperous age of Zhenguan and the prosperous Kaiyuan Dynasty. Yes, they are actually winter wheat and inclined millstones. At least in my eyes, the effectiveness of these two things is unmatched by even ten Li Shimins."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was in an uproar.

"Ridiculous! Absurd indeed!"

An unknown old man stood up and was about to scold him.

Zhao Guangmei didn't wait for him to finish, and shouted: "Pan Mei, where is Pan Mei? Throw this guy out."

Then Pan Mei really brought people in and threw them out.

"Let me make it clear that you are begging to listen to what I am talking about today, not me. If you want to hear it or not, if you don't listen, I will do whatever I have to do. You can't stop me. If you think that What I said was wrong, just lift up and leave. It’s best if everyone is gone, so I can get off work early.”

"Of course, I do not deny that Emperor Taizong himself was wise and powerful. Today I am here to talk about economics, not history. I don't want to talk about issues that have nothing to do with economics."

Then I saw Xue Juzheng stood up and bowed and said: "Your Highness, I agree with your point of view, but I am still confused. I wonder if based on your...economic point of view, can it explain the rise of the Khitan and the end of the Tang Dynasty?" What about the chaos in the Central Plains since the Five Dynasties?"

Zhao Guangmei curled her lips and said: "This is still a problem. Since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the precipitation in the northern grasslands has increased significantly, resulting in more abundant water and grass in the Khitan region. During the era of Yelu Abaoji, he robbed 30 Han people as slaves and used the Han people to Mastered the methods of making salt and smelting iron, and because of the profits from the methods of making salt and smelting iron, they established an effective administrative system imitating the Han people. The Seoul City built by these 30 people also provided Yelu Abaoji with This provided a relatively stable financial source, and this financial source provided the real foundation for him to unify Khitan and establish Daliao.

Of course, the Khitans themselves do not admit it, but at least from an economic perspective, the Khitan regime is actually a regime that relies on Han people as its foundation. For the Liao Kingdom, this is an improvement in productivity, and when the Liao Kingdom gets After the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, this trend became more and more obvious. It was precisely because of the existence of the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun that the Liao Kingdom could continue stably for so many years without at least too large-scale civil strife. It fell apart, so it can almost be concluded that once our Song Dynasty decides to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, what will break out with the Liao Kingdom will definitely be a battle of life and death, and the destruction of the country. "

Hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin and all the civil and military officials below were speechless. Even though most people thought that what Zhao Guangmei said was a bit biased, they had to admit that what he said was absolutely reasonable. This is a skill that can truly be used to govern a country.

The culture of the Five Dynasties was most pragmatic. Naturally, there was no such thing as Confucius and Mencius. Except for the articles written by saints, everything was heretical. For a while, except for a few stubborn people who still wanted to find trouble, others actually really I started to listen carefully.

Even though Zhao Guangmei's voice was not loud, everyone in the audience fell silent and began to listen seriously.

"As for the chaos of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, in my eyes, it is actually the most important issue in economics and the issue that our court officials need to pay the most attention to: for whom to produce. To put it more complicatedly, it is how production resources and production profits are distributed. one question."

"A stable and prosperous dynasty must match the productivity and production methods. Let's take the Tang Dynasty as an example. The prosperity of the early Tang Dynasty actually came from the centuries-old battles between the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the balance of production relations was explored, because the Guanzhong area was the first to implement Policies such as government soldiers and land equalization were the first to recover from the 400 years of war in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and became prosperous. Therefore, the Sui and Tang regimes relied on Guanzhong government soldiers to suck blood and support from the world, and Guanzhong government soldiers provided support to other regions. A system that provided protection, coupled with the strength of the imperial army, allowed the Tang Dynasty to become the Heavenly Khan and suck blood from all barbarians, thus creating a prosperous age that was almost unique in history."

"Zuo Zhuan has a saying, if you prosper with it, you will perish with it. From an economic perspective, after the early Tang Dynasty, the Guandong region has actually slowly developed and recovered. In the middle period, the Hebei region not only resumed development, but also It has surpassed the Guanzhong region in terms of economy, population, military and other aspects. However, the production model of the entire Tang Dynasty has never been properly adjusted. The Hebei region bears more than [-]% of the taxes of the entire Tang Dynasty, but it also bears the burden of taxes. The heaviest military service, Guanzhong, which has declined, is still tirelessly sucking the flesh and blood of Hebei, which has become stronger. This is the so-called Kaiyuan prosperity. At the same time, it naturally laid the groundwork for the subsequent Anshi Rebellion. From an economic point of view, The prosperous age of Kaiyuan may not be the so-called political clarity, but perhaps it is just the huge inertia of the old production relations before they collapse."

After saying that, Zhao Guangmei felt a little thirsty, turned around, left Zhao Kuangyin and Man Chao Wenwu behind, and went backstage to pour tea.

And all the civil and military officials from the Manchu Dynasty who came to listen to his class were dumbfounded, and no one said a word for a long time.

In this era, almost every insightful person is trying to deconstruct the reasons for the chaos of the Five Dynasties and explore ways to end the chaos. Everyone has had enough of this endless chaos, but after analysis, what can really be said There were really very few people who had something to say. In the end, after pulling it back and forth, they could only come up with the words "the collapse of rituals and music."

What Zhao Guangmei said is very novel, and indeed everyone may not be able to understand it for a while, but in a trance, there is a feeling of being opened to a new world. If you think about it carefully, it seems to really make sense.

At least it sounds much more meaningful than the words "collapse of ritual and music".After a while, Zhao Guangmei came back with a tea cup. While drinking tea, she said: "From chaos to great governance, it is often a process of new production relations adapting to new productivity. Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, every generation of emperors has been essentially nothing more than It is to use one's own prestige and skills to suppress a generation, which is the so-called strongman politics. The foundation of the dynasty is built on the personal qualities of the monarch, so when the monarch dies or has an accident, the dynasty will also fall apart. Because productivity has already occurred Great changes have taken place, but no one has been able to establish a production relationship that can match the new productivity.”

"From an economic point of view, in order to achieve long-term stability of the dynasty, the dynasty must build a political structure that matches productivity and production relations. The essence of production relations is the question of who to produce for."

Speaking of this, Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but interject: "So when you say establishing a trading house, you mean re-formulating production relations? How can you be sure that making money through trading houses is the correct production relationship?"

"I'm not sure, brother, we are the founding generation of the Song Dynasty, so our generation can originally try and make mistakes. As long as the general direction is correct, specific matters can be tried bit by bit until Try until you find the right one. Regardless of whether you admit it or not, the people who control the real productive forces in the world are the civil class, especially the fangbing class among the civil class."

"With the chaos of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the current structure of the world is like this. Those who control the means of production and war capabilities are Yabing and the several big cities attached to Yabing. In the traditional Han and Tang Dynasties, those who controlled the means of production were The wealthy and powerful landowners have relatively declined, and this is the general direction of current productivity."

"There are actually two ways to achieve a match between production relations and productivity. Either rely on the existing productivity and try every means to adjust a production relationship that matches this, which is the business I am running now. Of course , it does not mean that the new production relations are as simple as crossing the river by feeling the stones, step by step, and trading houses are only the first step."

"Of course, there is another way, which is to forcibly change the productive forces and forcibly restore the production for whom by adjusting how to produce. That is to suppress the tooth soldiers and the emerging citizen class, and use the prestige of our generation to forcefully return society to the Han and Tang Dynasties. By using the productivity of the period, re-elevating the political and economic status of rural landlords and powerful people, and then applying a large number of the old production relations of the Han and Tang Dynasties, we can still achieve long-term peace and stability of the country."

"Obviously, I choose the former, while most of the people who oppose me support the latter, so I am too lazy to argue with you, because both of us are right, and if we can do it successfully, we can achieve long-term peace and stability in the country. Of course, , if you fail to do it, it will cause the country to collapse, so why should I argue with you about this?"

"You say that I compete with the people for profit. In fact, this is a question of who is the people. The landlords and rural powerful are the people, and the soldiers and citizens are also the people. It is nothing more than a matter of buttocks. The profits of the business are taken from the people and used. For soldiers and generals, because soldiers and generals all live in cities, the benefits will inevitably spill over to the several big cities where the army is stationed, and then drive the development of rural areas through the cities. How can we say that the court is not serving the country and the people? What? And if I am not allowed to build a trading company, if I can suppress the army, restore the strength of the powerful landlords, and win over the powerful landlords, this will naturally be good. Therefore, this is the country of Zhao and Song. In the end, I want to share the world with the scholars and landlords. It’s just a choice to share the world with the tooth soldiers and citizens.”

"Well, that's almost it. That's all for today. This is my first and last explanation. If you want to ask me questions, I will answer them if I'm in a good mood. If you want to argue with me or Arguing and debating, I still say the same thing, too lazy to pay attention to you, of course, you can also do my thing, and you do yours, whatever, that's it, I'm tired, class is over."

Then Zhao Guangmei nodded to Zhao Kuangyin and left, while the ministers were still stunned in the long lesson he had just given and continued to taste it. The better the lesson, the more truth they would be able to derive from it.

It's just good quality, good quality, those civil servants suddenly realized that something was wrong, Zhao Guangmei was setting a trap for everyone!

If you chat with the two official brothers behind closed doors, there will naturally be nothing wrong with you.

As a result, you were nagging in front of the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty, but you still said that both paths are right, you can choose them, and if you succeed, the country will last forever. If you fail, the country will be destroyed.

This is all nonsense!
The knife handles are still in the hands of the soldiers!

Then give two ways, one is to share the world with the tooth soldiers, the other is to share the world with the nobles and landlords, this is nothing!Why do I oppose you? I just don’t want to share the world with Ya Bing, and I want to suppress Ya Bing.

The generals in the front row are still listening to the lesson!
Where do these two ways come from?Then who dares to choose the second path? Who can still choose it?What could have been used, what could be covered up with rituals, music, and education, are now stripped naked by you, and those soldiers will most likely understand.

Zhao Kuangyin's face gradually became a little worse.

He had been thinking about these things for many years, but he only had some vague feelings. At this time, Zhao Guangmei was so enlightened that he was suddenly enlightened, but he found that after being exposed, he didn't even have the right to choose.

His original idea seemed to be really inclined to suppress the tooth soldiers and support the old production relations.Now, it seems that we can only create new production relations.

This is a new deal.

Unfortunately, I don’t understand this New Deal, and [-]% of the time, only Lao San in the world understands this stuff. If I go down this road, I can’t do without him.

Hey, thanks to him being our biological brother.

How does this head grow?
(End of this chapter)